January snow canceled Mayor Justin Bibb’s ceremonial swearing-in with special guest Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend mayor and Biden transportation secretary.
The event would have given Bibb prominent local stage time with a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender. The two have similarities. They’re both Midwest mayors who previously worked as consultants, Buttigieg at McKinsey & Co. and Bibb at Gallup.
But the snow didn’t have the last word. Mayor Justin and Mayor Pete crossed paths — and cut a quick video for social media — at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting at the end of January.
Bibb promoted some of the big swings of his second term, such as developing Cleveland’s waterfronts and making City Hall “move at the speed of business.”
Buttigieg threw in a good word for Bibb in the video that went out to the former transportation secretary’s 3.6 million Instagram followers.
“The problem-solving, the focus, the attention to the basics coupled with the big vision I think is really going to carry Cleveland forward,” Buttigieg said, “and it’s why I love spending time with great mayors.”
They agreed to try again at a Cleveland visit in the spring.
Goldman get-together
Here’s one more tidbit from the mayor’s recent travels. On a mid-December trip to New York City, Bibb met with John Waldron, the president and chief operating officer of investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The mayor’s office said it was part of Bibb’s effort to talk up his development plans, which he has branded the “Cleveland ERA.”
“Mayor Bibb is making an intentional effort to proactively pitch investors on why now is the time to invest in Cleveland,” City Hall spokesperson Tyler Sinclair wrote to Signal Cleveland.
Waldron was born in Cleveland and serves on the board of the Cleveland Clinic. Sinclair said that Bibb and Waldron keep in touch about happenings here in town.