Scene at Ward 9 community meeting

This Cleveland City Council Ward 9 meeting was held in the True Vine Missionary Baptist Church on East 105th Street. The room was arranged with about 10 rows of seating and a table at the front, with about 60 people in attendance. Here is the meeting agenda. Candidates for state representative in District 20 were present and canvassing attendees with flyers before the meeting began, including: 

• Eugene Miller, former Cleveland City Council member
• Charlotte Perkins
• Mike Seals

Note: Ward 9 covers most of Glenville and part of University Circle and Collinwood.

The meeting began at 5:30 p.m. with a prayer message from a True Vine church member. Ward 9 Cleveland City Council Member Kevin Conwell was not present until about 6:15 p.m., running late from another meeting. Miller started off facilitating the meeting and introduced Director of Cleveland Public Health Dr. David Margolius, who was joined by Zainab Pixler, Cleveland’s local food systems strategies coordinator. 

New Eastside Market operator questions

Cleveland Department of Public Health (CDPH)

Pixler started by opening up the floor for questions about the new Eastside Market. Pixler said CDPH wants to hear resident feedback and is looking for a new operator for a grocery, shared kitchen and clinic.

• A resident asked what the new market would be like.
  • Margolius and Pixler said CDPH is sending out a request for proposals (RFP) informed by what Ward 9 residents are interested in. Mid-May is the timeline for the RFP to be sent out, which will include a listed deadline for proposals to be submitted.

• One resident asked how the city will determine if the driver of this will be a grocery store, health clinic or community kitchen.
  • Pixler said the ideal would be one operator for all three, but the city would be open to having multiple operators with experience running each of those.

Pixler clarified that the lease with NEON has ended with New Eastside Market.

• A resident asked if the equipment in the New Eastside Market will remain there. Pixler said yes. 

• Another resident asked if it’s the best thing to have multiple services, instead of purely a full-service grocery store. They also asked why the lease ended.
  • Pixler said she can’t speak to why NEON did not work out as the operator. The goal is to have operators with experience that aligns with the above services. Pixler added that the city will continue to own the building.

Power outages

Department of Public Utilities and Cleveland Public Power

Marty Keane, the director of the Cleveland Department of Public Utilities, spoke about the struggles with Cleveland Public Power (CPP) over the last few months. He apologized on behalf of Mayor Justin Bibb and CPP for the extended outage caused by recent storms. He said CPP is recovering and getting infrastructure back online.

Keane said Conwell invited him to address recent outages.

Ammon Danielson, commissioner at CPP, also spoke. He said he would address the questions, “Why the heck is the power out, and why is it out again?”

Danielson said that high winds during Easter weekend caused circuits to break repeatedly, leading to CPP crews working overtime. Danielson spoke about the process for diagnosing circuit outages and what CPP crews do when circuits are broken.

Residents’ power outage questions

Danielson opened the floor for questions:

• A resident asked who folks should call if they or someone else is on oxygen and the power goes out. Danielson said in an emergency, you should call 911 (even when power is out). 

• Another resident and CPP customer asked about power lines down in his backyard and CPP’s relationship with the Illuminating Company (a unit of FirstEnergy Corp.) Danielson responded that CPP does line clearance with CPP lines but cannot touch FirstEnergy or Illuminating Company lines. He offered to share contact information for FirstEnergy that people could call, especially in a safety situation. 

• Another resident asked why it took so long to address a tree that fell on a power line. Danielson said that there are different voltage lines, so it depends what power line it falls on. High voltage lines (higher)  and telecoms lines (lower) are fixed by different agencies. Danielson urged residents to call CPP when there are wires down so that all safety concerns can be met.

 *No presentations given from the Office of Inspector General or Division of Air Quality, though they were allotted time on the agenda.

OneCWRU event

Kate Klonowski from the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Office of Government and Community Relations:

OneCWRU event is a collaborative event between students, faculty, staff and community members in the surrounding neighborhoods on April 18. Klonowski also requested participation in a survey about how the CWRU Office of Government and Community Relations is doing. 

Voting reminders

Cuyahoga County Council Member Yvonne Conwell:

Yvonne Conwell, who is married to Kevin Conwell and whose county district covers the same geographic area as her husband’s, spoke about the importance of voting and reminded attendees to vote in the primary election on May 5. She also encouraged residents to participate in the census in 2030 and to vote in the midterm elections. She introduced several political figures and candidates:

• Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Brett Horton
• Miller
• Perkins
• Seals

Also present were Ward 9 candidates for the Cuyahoga County Executive Committee for the Democratic Party: 

• Patricia Warren, Ward 9 Precinct L
• Leon Stevenson, Ward 9 Precinct E
• Cynthia Smith, Ward 9 Precinct F

See the full list of the Cuyahoga County Executive Committee candidates.

Conwell on CMSD, CPP and voter outreach

Ward 9 Council Member Kevin Conwell:

Kevin Conwell spoke about the expanded, new Ward 9 and the amount of work to be done, as well as the number of phone calls and concerns coming in. Conwell said Iowa-Maple is a school that will need to be torn down. Boys Town was also mentioned, as well as the old Department of Human Services and other infrastructure needs on Eddy Road. Conwell said there is no money left for resurfacing streets off of East 131st Street, but he’ll try to come up with more.

He said Bibb is allocating $60 million for Glenville to build a new Glenville High School, recreation center and YMCA — related to the merger of Collinwood and Glenville high schools.

Immanni Golphin, executive assistant to Conwell, passed out a sign-in sheet and a Signal Cleveland article about the merger of Collinwood High School and Glenville High School. Conwell spoke about the historical rivalry between the schools and the similarities between the Glenville and Collinwood neighborhoods. Conwell said he is committed to keeping young people safe when the schools merge and maintaining Collinwood’s history when that high school closes.

Conwell said he plans to ride around the neighborhood with Warren Morgan, CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD), later in the summer. He said he is waiting given the large layoffs of teachers in CMSD.

Conwell spoke briefly about the CPP power outage and a shooting at a McDonald’s in Glenville on Easter. 

Conwell talked about the need to vote and fill out the census, pointing to the lack of turnout in Ward 9 and how that can impact funding at a local level.

Judge Horton also echoed this sentiment and said “we’re seeing some of the consequences of us not voting before.” 

Seals said that residents should do their homework on all candidates, especially independents, during the primary elections.

Conwell said he will open up Glenvillage as a de facto voter outreach office in the fall to make phone calls on behalf of Democrats and in opposition of President Donald Trump, gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and the massive cutting of public programs.

Three community meetings per month

Conwell said he plans to host three Ward 9 meetings a month across the ward: One here (True Vine), one at former Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Elementary School, and one at Historic Greater Friendship Baptist Church.

He said Ward 9 residents in University Circle recently met at University Circle, Inc., on Magnolia Drive.

Conwell opened the floor for questions and concerns at 6:45 p.m. 

• One resident said a city garbage truck has been parking on her treelawn and tearing it up every year, and she asked about a guardrail.
  • Conwell said the state will not allow a guardrail up on the curb, but he offered to connect her with a city official to explore the issue.
• Another resident asked about CPP paying for food that spoiled during the power outage.
  • A CPP representative stated that no, food is not reimbursed by a utility company. She said the resident would have to file a claim through their insurance company. 

At 6:55 p.m., the meeting ended and attendees trickled out, as church volunteers needed to close the building. Conwell continued to listen to questions and concerns once the meeting ended.  

These notes are by Documenter Tommy Oddo. Documenter Marvetta Rutherford recorded audio.

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If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org  with “Correction Request” in the subject line.