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Bibb decries federal cuts and eyes re-election in final address of his first term.
By Rosie Palfy
During his fourth State of the City address, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb had a simple message for residents: “Washington is not coming to save us.” The city’s 58th mayor touted his accomplishments and focused on the future during the final address of his first term at a forum hosted by The City Club of Cleveland at the Cleveland Public Auditorium on April 23.
Instead of giving a scripted speech, Bibb had a live conversation with Russ Mitchell, an anchor and managing editor at WKYC, before answering several questions from residents in the audience.
The mayor started by thanking his “tribe,” beginning with “Momma Bibb,” whom he affectionately called the “first mother of Cleveland,” and his Aunt Deborah. Both were in the audience. He also expressed gratitude for Rev. Dr. R.E. Hedgeman from Bethany Christian Church, who gave the invocation. Bibb noted that Hedgeman was his late Grandma Sarah’s pastor.
He thanked Cleveland City Council and Council President Blaine Griffin. He also commended his cabinet members for their leadership and praised city employees.
Grading His Administration
Mitchell started by asking the mayor to grade himself. “Incomplete is not an option. How would you grade yourself as mayor of Cleveland—A through F?” Bibb replied, “I give us a B.”
The mayor said his administration has taken “an all-of-government approach” to tackle the “challenges” that he “inherited” on day one. The city was emerging from the pandemic when Bibb, a political newcomer, won the 2021 mayoral race. Days before he assumed office, a Cleveland Division of Police officer was killed in the line of duty.
“When I took office, we were dealing with the murder of Officer Shane Bartek. We were dealing with a crisis in confidence of whether or not our city could address violent crime and our public safety issues,” said Bibb. “We were seeing headline after headline, whether or not Cleveland could emerge out of the pandemic effectively.”
The mayor cited the reduced homicide rate and increased police salaries and cadet recruitment as examples. In December, the Office of the Mayor announced that homicides have decreased by 36% since Bibb announced his new Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone Initiative (RISE).
Police officer “attraction and retention” was one of the toughest challenges he faced. The mayor said police officer salaries were ranked in the bottom third statewide in 2022.
“If you wanted to join the police academy as a new cadet, you were barely making minimum wage. … And so we had to do a lot of things to change the culture of our police department to attract and retain new officers,” he said.
In 2024, the Cleveland Division of Police Academy welcomed 134 new cadets—the highest number of recruits since 2019, Bibb noted. In March, the mayor announced a new 3-year police union contract with historic increases in pay and benefits. Bibb said, “It’s pretty rare to have a mayor that can call the police union president and have a good working relationship.”
The city has also “fixed simple things,” like finally having Docusign at City Hall. Bibb noted that the city has its first new website in nearly two decades.
Lessons Learned
Mitchell asked the mayor if there was anything he would have “done differently?” Bibb candidly replied, “I think one of the lessons I learned early on was in order to move fast and be effective, sometimes you have to slow down.”
He cited the reaction to his administration’s last-minute changes to the leaf collection program in 2022 as a “prime example” of “one of the biggest controversies” he experienced during his first year in office. Residents and City Council members objected to the timing of the announcement. In response to the backlash, Bibb reversed course.
“I have my big JD-MBA brain on, and I get the decision memo that we should cut our leaf pickup program because it’s not equitable across the entire city,” said Bibb, referencing his Doctor of Law and Master of Business Administration degrees from Case Western University. “And the JD-MBA in me said, ‘okay, this makes a lot of sense.’ But we didn’t talk to City Council, we didn’t get feedback from residents. We made that decision in a vacuum.”
The State of the City
“We have a promising outlook, but there are choppy headwinds facing Cleveland and facing cities all across the country,” said the mayor. “I gotta be honest, the last 90 days have been very hard for me as mayor. Very hard.”
Bibb is concerned with how looming federal funding cuts will impact residents, local businesses, the health care infrastructure, and programs like violence prevention. He said city and regional leaders need to “double down” to “fight these headwinds” and “mobilize our residents” to “make the case” to leaders in Washington D.C. about “how these cuts are harming our cities.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last 90-plus days since Donald Trump has taken the White House, Washington is not coming to save us,” said Bibb. “We must continue to find ways to be resilient, to make sure our progress can be sustained over time.”
The mayor’s remarks came as the Democratic up-and-comer assumes a leadership role in his party. Dubbed a “homegrown rising star,” Bibb was appointed president of the Democratic Mayors Association in January.
The Cleveland Browns
Mitchell noted that the Haslam Sports Group is “very close” to getting the funding needed to build a domed stadium in Brook Park. He asked, “How likely is it that the Cleveland Browns are staying in downtown Cleveland?”
While Bibb shied away from making predictions, he said there was a “50/50” chance. “I’m not a betting man, and I’m not going to make any bets on what the legislature or the governor will do.” The city and Cuyahoga County have been “aligned” on this issue. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have that alignment with the business community in our city,” he added.
The mayor praised Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne for his support and leadership. He said the city and county have gotten “a lot of flak” in the past for not having “a unified voice” and not being “aligned” about their “priorities” in Columbus and Washington, D.C.
“We’re going to keep fighting to keep the Browns playing good or bad football on our lakefront. And if they do get the money, we’re going to find a way to be resilient and keep Cleveland growing. Because hell or high water, we are going to develop a world-class lakefront that our residents can be proud of once and for all,” Bibb added.
He said residents have been “very clear” and “very supportive” of the city’s fight to keep the Browns downtown. It has “bigger issues” to address, like getting rid of predatory landlords, installing more speed tables, and getting more illegal guns off the streets.
The mayor said the residents he talks to “don’t really care that much” about the Browns. “They care about their jobs, good schools, and they’re concerned about Medicaid and Medicare.”
Policing
The mayor stressed the importance of ensuring police officers “have what they need to fight crime and do their jobs.” Bibb said that in three years, his administration “boosted police pay by 34%” and police salaries are now in the “top third statewide.”
He “got to work” to reduce illegal firearms by partnering with former ATF Director Steve Dettelbach to launch the new Northeast Ohio Crime Gun Intelligence Center in 2024.
“We’re getting illegal guns off our streets” by using data, technology, intelligence, and joining forces with U.S. attorneys and marshals. “And because of this new partnership, we now have a nearly 90% homicide solve rate,” he said. The city also needs “to do a better job” of investing in violence prevention initiatives.
Downtown Safety Patrol
Mitchell asked Bibb how he felt about Cuyahoga County Council’s proposed legislation to disband the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Downtown Safety Patrol due to funding and liability concerns.
“It’s the wrong move,” the mayor said, while also acknowledging that the county “really stepped up” following the July 2023 mass shooting in the Warehouse District.
“We are working to fight crime not just downtown, but all across the city,” Bibb said. “Last time I checked, Cleveland was still part of Cuyahoga County, and so goes the city, so goes the region.”
Bibb noted that the County Executive continues to support the initiative. In a press release issued on April 22, Ronayne said the patrol “has become a trusted presence.” Dismantling the unit “would risk public safety and undo the meaningful progress the Sheriff’s Department has made in building trust and maintaining stability across the County.”
Consent Decree
Mitchell noted that the consent decree between the Department of Justice and the City is 10 years old, and the Cleveland Police Monitoring Team’s latest semi-annual report credited the city with achieving 15 upgrades in several areas. The report said the city continued progressing with Community and Problem-Oriented Policing (CPOP), Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), and use of force.
Bibb said the city has “made remarkable progress” over the last 10 years. “If you look at the training, the culture, and the mentality of our officers now than when it was in 2014, it’s a completely different department.”
He noted that under his leadership, the mayor’s office created a Police Accountability Team (PAT), so it could have an “all of government approach” to be “compliant” with the consent decree.
“We have now achieved nearly 70 upgrades to the decree over the last three years. And so the progress has been made. But I will say this. The DOJ has to stop moving the goalposts… We’ve spent over $40 million in 10 years on the consent decree,” Bibb added.
His administration wants to ensure that the monitoring team “gives us a clear methodology and a clear end date” to say when the city can be compliant. Bibb predicted that compliance will be achieved in “two to three years.”
He acknowledged that “once we are compliant, we still have work to do to make sure that those reforms are sustained to ensure we’re still building trust between police and residents.”
CMSD Budget Deficit and School Closures
The mayor thanked residents for overwhelmingly approving the new school levy in November 2024, but warned of future turbulence. Bibb noted the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is facing a “$150 million deficit” over the next two years.
“We have some choppy headwinds ahead of us at the district,” said Bibb. But he has “full confidence and faith” in the leadership of CMSD CEO Dr. Warren G. Morgan II and Board Chair Sara Elaqad to “ensure we can close this deficit” over the next two years.
“We have islands of excellence in CMSD, but not a system of excellence quite yet.” The district has “made great progress” under Cleveland’s Plan For Transforming Schools, but the mayor said “that progress has to come faster.”
Bibb said the district’s biggest challenge is having “too many school buildings” and “not enough students,” which has led to the district being unable to “divert the right resources across the entire footprint of CMSD.”
“For nearly two decades, we’ve delayed hard choices around closing school buildings” and “reimagining our footprint to make sure we have the quality that our children deserve,” said Bibb. “Now is the time to make those hard choices. It won’t be easy, folks. It won’t be easy. But if we do it the right way, with the community’s support, we can have one of the best public school districts in America.”
Lead Safe Certification
According to Bibb, the city found that existing legislation has made lead safe certification compliance “really hard.” The lead abatement process is “complicated” and challenging for landlords and residents to receive funding. “We need a higher standard.” During testing, they’ve found that some homes were deemed lead safe, “but babies are still getting poisoned,” he noted.
This is “an inflection moment.” He promised “better coordination” and pledged to “work very closely” with the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition and City Council to examine how to improve the city’s current legislation.
Reelection
Mitchell asked Bibb if he expects others to challenge him in the upcoming mayoral race. He declined to make any “predictions” about the upcoming race, but the mayor said he hopes he will be “blessed to get a second term.”
“The only thing I can control is making sure we run a smart, thoughtful, aggressive campaign like we ran four years ago,” he said.
So far, the incumbent mayor has only one declared challenger, Republican candidate LaVerne Jones Gore.
“My assignment ain’t finished yet. There’s still more work to do, and being mayor of my hometown will probably be the best job I’ll ever have. And I’m so honored to be in this role to lead my amazing city,” Bibb concluded.
