School’s out for summer, and so is Cleveland City Council. The legislative body wrapped up its spring session with a day-long committee meeting on June 5. Right after, council held its last Monday night meeting until Sept. 18 (council has just two days of meetings over its summer break). It was the final chance for people to make public comment to council for 15 weeks.

Documenters caught comments about supporting unionized public library workers and preventing gun violence. And they tracked 30+ pieces of legislation. Hear the highlights in this week’s episode. 

Hosted by Lawrence Caswell.

Listen to this week’s Public Meetings Report here:

Show Notes:

Signal Cleveland meeting briefs:

Cleveland Documenters reporting: 

  • Documenters’ Coverage: Cleveland City Council Committee of The Whole – June 5, 2023:
  • Documenters’ Coverage: Cleveland City Council meeting – June 5, 2023:

Legislation:

  • Ordinance to fund home lead investigations 
  • Legislation including increases to parking rates 
  • Ordinance to fund downtown riverfront improvements 
  • Ordinance to upgrade parking meters  a $5-million dollar plan 
  • Ordinance on community benefit agreements 
  • Recently passed legislation on funding violence prevention  

Recordings: 

Other Info: 

Side Hustle: Mikael Ellis works four jobs focused on the LGBTQ+ community (video)

By Jeff Haynes

Mikael Ellis has purposely decided to work at businesses that either primarily cater to LGBTQ+ patrons or have a large clientele from this community.

YouTube video

The Public Meetings Report is a weekly audio rundown of what happened in local government meetings here in Greater Cleveland – in five minutes or less! The show is based on the work of Cleveland Documenters – residents like you who are trained and paid to document these meetings for the public. Produced by Signal Cleveland, Cleveland Documenters and WOVU 95.9 FM. 

Cleveland Documenters pays and trains people to cover public meetings where government officials discuss important issues and decide how to spend taxpayer money.

Gennifer Harding-Gosnell, Freelance Audio Producer(she/her)
Gennifer is a news writer returning to her first love, radio. She holds a MA in Journalism from Kingston University in the UK, and has spent the last couple years as a Cleveland Documenter.

Managing Editor, Community (he/they)
Lawrence, a 2022 Stanford JSK Community Impact Fellow, was most recently field coordinator for Cleveland Documenters, where they led the recruitment of more than 600 Greater Cleveland residents. They bring a wealth of knowledge about journalism, civic engagement and technology. Lawrence has worked in non-commercial media for over 28 years, including 11 years at Ideastream where they focused on civic engagement and media production.