More West Side Market debate

Some vendors are criticizing Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin on social media for his comments to Signal Cleveland and others about the West Side Market. Griffin said the city can’t afford to spend $15 million in federal COVID relief money on the landmark – as Mayor Justin Bibb has proposed – in light of bigger needs in neighborhoods. 

Vendor Kate’s Fish, often a critic of the city’s poor management of the market, tweeted, “So funding the @Browns stadium with public tax dollars is more important than funding the @WestSideMarket with free federal dollars?” 

The vendor then mocked Griffin’s potential to some day lead the city, adding, “Good to know, best of luck w/that mayoral campaign.” 

At Monday night’s council meeting, some of Griffin’s colleagues rallied to his defense. 

Ward 10 Council Member Anthony Hairston said the council president had been “unfairly targeted.” 

Ward 9’s Kevin Conwell, who represents Glenville, called the West Side Market money a “slap in the face” of neighborhoods where grocery options are few and far between. 

“How can you do that when you have people walking with crutches and canes and they’re going to a gas station just to get some food?” he said. 

Kerry McCormack, whose Ward 3 is home to the West Side Market, responded: 

“The best way to sink our city is pitting neighborhood versus neighborhood,” he said.

Bibb told reporters after his State of the City speech that he welcomed the conversation with council. He said the market is a regional asset that needs money for upgrades – if not from federal money, then from city bond or General Fund dollars. 

“We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the American Rescue Plan dollars to address some of the long, structural, systemic, capital infrastructure needs that we failed to address as a city,” Bibb said. “And we still own the asset, so we’re still on the hook.”

Cleveland police in Akron

The City of Cleveland, which has a shortage of police officers, sent officers to Akron this week. They were there to help Akron’s police department manage crowds reacting to a special grand jury’s decision Monday to not indict eight police officers involved in the shooting death of Jayland Walker. Sergeant Jennifer Ciaccia, the Cleveland Division of Police public information officer, said the city sent some bicycle officers, but she didn’t say exactly how many. Bike patrols have been a visible and vital part of the city’s crowd control efforts at past Cleveland events. Cuyahoga County’s Sheriff Department told Signal Cleveland it has not sent any deputies to Akron.

Back on the presidential campaign trail

Former Cleveland mayor and two-time presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is back on the campaign trail. This time, he’s campaigning for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (the son of Robert F. Kennedy), one of several Democrats challenging President Biden, who is expected to announce his re-election bid soon. 

Kucinich introduced Kennedy at his kick-off event in Boston this week. Kennedy, once best known as an environmental activist, has been criticized by his own family and health experts for his anti-vaccine views and ties to far-right groups. 

“Robert F. Kennedy is the Paul Revere of our time … warning us when water is unsafe to drink … warning us when pharmaceuticals are unsafe to use,” Kucinich said. 

Kucinich generated controversy during the 2021 campaign for Cleveland mayor when he initially refused to say whether he was vaccinated against COVID-19, though he later said he had not been vaccinated because of his personal medical issues.

Bibb and the “Big Four”

Fresh off his State of the City speech, Mayor Bibb went back on the road to the African American Mayors Association conference in Washington, D.C. 

There, Bibb moderated a panel with the mayors of America’s four largest cities: Eric Adams of New York, Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Lori Lightfoot of Chicago and Sylvester Turner of Houston. 

Joining the 35-year-old Cleveland mayor as moderator was Jaylen Smith, who was elected mayor of Earle, Ark., last year at age 18. 

You can watch the conversation here.

County to talk wage theft

Cuyahoga County Council Member Dale Miller is scheduled to introduce legislation that would bar businesses that have engaged in wage theft from receiving county contracts.

Miller told Signal Cleveland that he would introduce the legislation at the April 25 council meeting.

If approved, the county would join Cleveland in barring businesses that cheat workers out of their pay. Cleveland City Council passed a wage theft law last December. 

Wage theft is shorting workers for the hours they actually worked, but it also includes not paying them for tasks or duties that should be considered part of the workday. These include having workers come in early to do prep work or staying late to clean up. The legislation also would also prohibit businesses that have been penalized or barred from other public contracts for falsifying certified payroll records. Cleveland’s ordinance also addresses payroll fraud.

The county legislation would amend laws governing reasons for barring contractors. Contractors are generally barred for three years. However, depending on the offense, they could be prohibited from doing business with the county for as little as 18 months or for as long as five years. The law currently bars contractors for more than 30 reasons including “collusion to restrain competition,” tax evasion and unsatisfactory performance.

Miller said it is important to also include wage theft.

“Wage theft is more common than is commonly realized,” he said. “It’s very important that employees who work hard to make a living get the wages that they’re entitled to. We’re just hoping to put companies on notice that they have to treat their employees right and provide the wages that they promised them.”

Guardians for Fair Work, a coalition of community and faith-based groups and labor organizations, lobbied both legislative bodies to pass wage theft legislation.