2026-10-05 - Health, Human Services and the Arts Committee

01:10Hey.

04:36Cheers.

05:07Good job.

05:33One

05:52yesterday.

06:40And I also

08:38I don't care.

09:36If you

09:47Hallelujah.

10:08That's

11:49That's right.

12:21We're going to start today with a very

12:22busy

12:24crowds air quality

12:26neighboring

12:31programs

12:35or we'll be hearing for passage today.

12:45>> Thank you all for joining. Do you want

12:46to introduce yourself and we'll get

12:47started?

12:49>> Sure. Dave Margolius, director of public

12:51health, city of Cleveland. And to my

12:53left, Zab Pixler, local food systems

12:57strategies

12:59coordinator.

13:00>> Fantastic. And Proud Ward 7 resident

13:02last I checked. I haven't checked in a

13:03second. Uh, where do we begin?

13:06>> Great. Well, thank you. So, um, uh, I

13:09think you have to read in the

13:11>> Oh, do apologize. There you go. We're

13:13hearing here. Ordinance number 116 1166

13:162026 by council members Conwell Griffin

13:19and Hudson by departmental request an

13:22emergency ordinance authorizing the

13:23director of public health to enter into

13:25one or more agreements with the United

13:26States University East 66 Street

13:28Services Inc. and other entities to

13:30support the administration of the city

13:32of Cleveland's community gardening

13:33program known as the summer sprout

13:36community gardening program for a period

13:38of one year with an option to renew for

13:40an additional one-year term exercisable

13:42by the director of public health.

13:44>> Thank you. Um, so I'm going to turn it

13:46over to Zanab in just a sec, but just

13:48the the oneliner is um this is the uh

13:52legislation authoring us authorizing us

13:55to enter into contracts uh to carry

13:58through with the vision from

13:59Councilwoman Hudson that was negotiated

14:01during the budget negotiations last

14:03March uh to take CDBG funded program.

14:07It's been around for as you'll hear many

14:09many decades and uh turn it into a

14:11general fund program administered

14:12through public health. And with that,

14:13Zena.

14:15>> Thank you so much. Good morning,

14:16everyone. Um, so as the director

14:19mentioned, the summer sprout program was

14:21launched in 1976. It's a 50-year-old

14:24program. It has historically been funded

14:27by community development block grant

14:28dollars through the community

14:29development department in close

14:31partnership with many departments

14:32including um well now the development

14:35and the land bank. The program has uh

14:39for a majority of the 50 years been

14:40administered by the Ohio State

14:42University. Funding flowed through the

14:44city to the OSU Extension of Kyahaga

14:47County uh where they purchased supplies,

14:49services, hosted educational events, um

14:53provided technical assistance to

14:54gardeners. Um and as I mentioned, the

14:58land bank is a a critical partner in

15:01this uh providing vacant land to summer

15:04sprout gardens. The water department

15:06also provides discounted hydrant permits

15:08through the summer sprout program. So

15:10folks can access water hydrants to water

15:13their gardens and uh supplies and

15:16services, education and technical

15:17assistance, all core to to this program

15:20provided by the Ohio State University

15:22Extension.

15:24In 2026, we moved the oversight from um

15:27the Department of Community Development

15:29to the Department of Public Health, the

15:31food systems team. Given that it's a

15:34community gardening program, fruit and

15:36vegetable producing gardens, uh it made

15:38sense to align it with a food systems

15:41development team. Uh we are working on

15:43securing funding from the general fund

15:45to support this program. And uh in April

15:49of this year, we hosted a summer sprout

15:50town hall in partnership with the

15:52mayor's office and the mayor where we

15:54heard directly from community gardeners

15:55and urban farmers about the summer

15:57sprout program, but urban agriculture

15:59challenges and opportunities more

16:01broadly.

16:03and we moved some of the administration

16:05responsibilities from the Ohio State

16:07University Extension to my office as

16:09well to support the Ohio State

16:10University Extension in focusing on that

16:14um providing those supplies and services

16:16and providing that education and

16:18technical assistance and some of the

16:20admin work moving to my office uh to um

16:23since I have a little bit more capacity

16:25for that work

16:27in process. Uh we're in the process of

16:29connecting uh collecting renewal forms

16:31from gardeners. Uh we have about um a

16:34little over 50 uh renewal forms from

16:36gardeners uh that are looking to

16:39continue in this program. Uh I have

16:41plans to reach out to other gardeners as

16:43well to help them uh to support them in

16:45filling out the form, make sure that I'm

16:46understanding any capacity constraints

16:48or any challenges in continuing with the

16:51program.

16:52We are working with the water department

16:54to develop anou a memorandum of

16:57understanding to continue to provide

16:59those discounted hydrant permits for

17:01summer sprout gardens.

17:062027 is going to be a big year as we

17:08relaunch this program. Uh we are going

17:11to provide consistent, reliable and

17:14impactful services and supplies to

17:16gardeners to ensure that they are able

17:19to produce uh a a um productive season,

17:23have a productive season. Uh we will

17:26continue to collaborate across

17:27departments to ensure that this program

17:29runs smoothly and that gardeners are

17:31able to access the folks administering

17:34and running this program to um

17:36communicate any challenges, capacity

17:38constraints or opportunities that they

17:40see. We will host more gatherings,

17:42celebrations, and town halls. As I

17:44mentioned, this is a 50-year-old

17:45program. There's a lot of history that

17:47comes with it and a lot of effort that's

17:49been put into this program so far and we

17:51look forward to collaborating more

17:53closely with summer sprout gardeners to

17:55identify u their experiences and to hear

17:58more about their experiences and to

18:00celebrate the successes and the um

18:03experiences of these uh gardeners.

18:06We are also planning to convene a garden

18:08leader advisory council uh again to hear

18:11directly from gardeners and garden

18:13leaders.

18:15And we plan to continue with uh

18:18collecting data, collecting stories, and

18:21communicating out program impact um to a

18:23variety of audiences to ensure that we

18:26continue to put this um program at the

18:28forefront of uh food systems

18:31development, urban agriculture

18:32development, and um overall uh public

18:36health development.

18:38Thank you. And I can take any questions.

18:42>> Thank you very much, Missar. I I'll

18:44start off very briefly. is could you

18:45even just walk us through the the

18:47relaunch? So, has it been on pause? What

18:50is the current status? What are you

18:51relaunching for next year?

18:52>> Yes. So, due to challenges with the

18:56funding source being community

18:57development block grant funding, due to

18:59challenges with um the uh requirements

19:02for environmental um review for

19:06community development block grant

19:07funding, the program was on pause for

19:102026. Um, previously it has had some

19:12challenges before 2026. Um, just uh

19:16working between two large institutions

19:18like the city of Cleveland and the OSU

19:20extension under such a um

19:24uh like a funding source like community

19:27develop development block grant dollars

19:29uh just post a lot of challenges for

19:31both institutions. And so um there was

19:34no contract between the OSU extension

19:37and the city of Cleveland for 2026. And

19:39so unfortunately we were not able to

19:41provide any supplies or services or

19:44technical assistance to those gardeners

19:46this year. I will say there uh are

19:49gardens that were able to continue this

19:52year due to their own seed saving and um

19:54their own ability to fund raise and to

19:56provide um those services and supplies

19:59to their gardeners. Um but as far as the

20:01summer sprout program goes, it was we

20:03were not able to provide those this

20:04year.

20:05>> Understood. And so maybe a similar

20:06question then can you tell us about the

20:08sort of the the scope or spectrum that

20:10uh the program requires for gardens to

20:12enter into it? Do you take every garden

20:14that applies or how do you know who

20:16can't make in the who can't get in the

20:18door?

20:18>> Absolutely. So currently the requirement

20:21for a garden leader um to apply for a

20:25community garden is to take the digin

20:27course that uh OSU extension uh

20:30provides. It's a community gardening

20:32course that's provided to anybody in

20:34Kyhoga County, but is a requirement for

20:36the summer sprout program. I am um

20:39working with the OSU extension to uh

20:42revisit those requirements and see if we

20:44can get other um training courses that

20:47are available um throughout the county,

20:50throughout the state. You know, if

20:51someone has a track record of community

20:53gardening or urban farming, um allowing

20:56them to participate. Uh, but we really

20:58want to make sure that folks are know

21:01what they're getting into and that are

21:02able to commit to this um in the long

21:04term.

21:04>> Makes sense. Is there a size requirement

21:06either too big or too small? No.

21:08>> Oh, that's great. Okay.

21:09>> So, you take all comers just you have to

21:10take the class.

21:11>> Yes.

21:12>> And that acts that provides access to

21:14discounted water. That's if you just

21:16take the class then you can presumably

21:18get your discounted hydrant permit.

21:20>> Yes. So, Summerspar Gardens are all

21:22eligible for would be eligible for the

21:24discounted hydrant permit. It's you've

21:26hear this more than me. That's just the

21:27number one request I hear from local

21:29gardens is water.

21:30>> Just water's expensive, complicated. So,

21:32it's amazing. I I'll hold off from

21:33there, folks. Other questions from my

21:36>> esteemed colleagues?

21:38>> I can go last.

21:40>> Great.

21:42>> Please.

21:44Um,

21:46thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, so through the

21:48chair, I I remember when, uh, you know,

21:49Councilwoman Hudson suggested we

21:51increase the spending. It seemed like a

21:52good idea and we it wasn't an issue. um

21:54through the chair, was it the increase

21:57in funding that switched it from CDBG to

22:00general? When when did we make that

22:02transition officially from CDBG funded

22:04program to general funded program?

22:07>> Earlier this year um to um earlier this

22:11year,

22:12>> but okay, so through the chair, but it's

22:13the general funding dollars that we

22:15didn't weren't able to get out

22:17>> for the assistance

22:18>> through the chair. we're encumbering

22:19that with this legislation that will

22:21allow us to encumber those that

22:22$250,000. So, it went from $0 general

22:25fund to support this program to the

22:27$250,000

22:29in this program, it'll allow us to

22:31encumber the 2026 budget uh funds and

22:34entering a contract with them.

22:36>> Okay. So, through the chair, when we did

22:38the budget and added the money for

22:39summer sprouts, we still didn't have the

22:42legislative authority to for you to

22:43spend it. So, while it was allocated

22:46through the uh budget process, today is

22:49the first day that we're actually

22:50getting around to legislating the funds.

22:53>> Well, through the chair. So, um it was

22:56already allocated for CDBG for last

22:58summer. They just haven't entered into

23:00contract. The budget that you uh uh

23:03authorized went to effect April 1st,

23:052026. So, we knew that would be too late

23:08to enter into contracts for the growing

23:10season from 2026. So the plan from that

23:13allocation was always the first growing

23:16season would be the 2027 growing season

23:18if that makes sense.

23:19>> So the holdups this year are strictly

23:21CDBG related through the

23:23>> for this current growing season through

23:25the chair. Yes, that was the the

23:26anticipation was that they would be able

23:28to carry for that one last summer. Um

23:30but we Zanab under her leadership uh

23:33spent the summer doing a lot of

23:35engagement to come to with this proposal

23:37for you today. Um, and so that wouldn't

23:39have been possible for the 2026 growing

23:41season, but now we'll be in contract

23:44pending this legislation beginning

23:47January for the 2027 growing season. And

23:50that's the goal going forward is that

23:51rather than getting a contract too late

23:53to be able to, you know, help growers,

23:56we'll be, you know, January 1 through

23:58December every year.

23:59>> Okay. And through the chair, this is for

24:01$250,000, but I thought we increased it

24:03by a substantially more by a much larger

24:06margin. No, is this the 250?

24:09>> Okay, my bad.

24:10>> Through the chair, we'll take more if

24:12you have it.

24:13>> Um, through the chair, I wanted to

24:16comment on the environmental review. I

24:17do understand loud and clear the uh the

24:20the strings that come attached to CDBG

24:22funding and that environmental review

24:24process, I know was holding up some

24:25community gardens out in the

24:26neighborhood because people needed to

24:27test soil and all this and it was kind

24:29of uh it was kind of redundant for

24:31people that doing raised beds and

24:32brought in all their back fill that

24:34there was might be something in the soil

24:35itself. But if they're bu growing on

24:37raised beds. They That's why you do

24:39raised beds, right? So, I can appreciate

24:41the uh the desire to get off CDBG

24:43funding. Um through the chair, the

24:45previous CDBG funding uh for this did

24:47not come from council allocations,

24:49right? It came from the uh community

24:50development uh portion of those CDBG

24:54funds, right?

24:56>> Through the chair as in like it the the

24:58neighborhood. I mean, I guess the way I

25:00think of it is council approves all of

25:01that those funds, but yeah, it wasn't

25:03like the specific neighborhood

25:05discretionary wasn't our individual. So,

25:06CDBG gets split between the

25:08administration and city council and then

25:10city council takes our pot and we

25:12distribute it to different organizations

25:14in the neighborhood. That wasn't the

25:15source of of of summer sprout funding,

25:18right? Because CD then hangs on to a

25:21chunk and anybody can apply for it and

25:22that would it's NDA. That would be the

25:25funds that had been previously

25:27supporting summer sprout, right?

25:29>> I believe so.

25:31>> I think we have some kind of Okay. Um

25:33then my last question through the chair

25:35we typically had been using this program

25:38also to leverage funds from the Ohio

25:39State University OSU extensions. Um what

25:42is their contribution to this? Uh I know

25:44that some of their responsibilities were

25:46taken in by department of health and

25:47they're still doing something. So what

25:49is their role in this program now? So

25:51they will through the chair um they will

25:53be responsible for uh sourcing the

25:55supplies and services for the community

25:58gardens that includes the soil, the

26:00lumber, the um tilling services. Uh they

26:03will also be providing educational um uh

26:07opportunities for gardeners, ongoing

26:09education outside of the digin program

26:11and technical assistance and um

26:14continuing to provide that digin program

26:16to continue to um make garden leaders

26:18eligible to apply.

26:20>> Okay. So through the chair, is all of

26:21their contribution in kind and through

26:23materials or do they actually put money

26:24into the pot?

26:26>> All in kind and through materials.

26:28>> All right, Mr. Chair, that's my only

26:29question. Thank you.

26:30>> Thank you, Mr. Harsh. Uh, Councilman

26:32Shaw,

26:33>> thank you, Chair. Uh, appreciate both of

26:36your time today this morning. Um, and

26:38appreciated Director Margolius's time on

26:40Saturday for our cleanup as well. Um,

26:42that was much appreciated. Um, and yeah,

26:45I really glad to see this legislation

26:47come through. I know it's been something

26:49that been discussing. Uh would love to

26:51understand um Zob in terms of other

26:55challenges or things that you've seen as

26:57you've been going through this review.

26:58Can you walk us through some of those

27:00other maybe not just necessarily related

27:02to the legislative things but other

27:04potential administrative or procedural

27:06issues that you kind of see in the

27:07pipeline coming for this?

27:10>> Absolutely. uh through the chair. Some

27:12administrative challenges that summer

27:14sprout gardeners have faced is um the

27:17recordkeeping. Uh some of that uh that

27:20is part of the administrative um tasks

27:23that will be transferred to my office.

27:25Uh the recordeping for summer sprout

27:27gardens was not uh always accurate. Uh

27:31there were some instances where

27:32gardeners were not receiving the emails

27:35that they needed to receive to continue

27:36in the program. they had trouble

27:38accessing the renewal forms and um you

27:42know phone numbers would be incorrect

27:44things like that. Um additionally with

27:47the discounted hydrant permit uh there

27:49was some administrative burden on the um

27:53gardeners there was a a hydrant access

27:56questionnaire that was um shared with

27:59gardeners. um they were told to fill it

28:02out and then it would sent to community

28:04development and then community

28:05development would put together a list

28:06and send it to the water department and

28:08only then could gardeners access a

28:10hydrant permit, a discounted hydrant

28:12permit. Um so uh those are just a few

28:16administrative um uh opportunities for

28:20improvement on the administrative side.

28:24>> Thank you. That that helps. Um so in

28:27terms of those recordeping things you

28:29indicated that would be something that

28:31would be handled by the city going

28:33forward. Um then can you also explain

28:35what's going to be the role of the E66

28:38street services? Um like what what's

28:41going to be their role in this process

28:42going forward?

28:43>> Absolutely. Through the chair E66 street

28:46uh services um has a program a project

28:50called food access raises everyone or

28:52fair. uh they are a trusted uh group in

28:56the community in the food systems

28:57community. Uh they uh specialize I would

29:00say in coalition building and convening.

29:03Uh so their role in the summer sprout

29:06program would be to uh convene gardeners

29:09to uh provide those town halls, those uh

29:12gatherings to um those celebrations to

29:15be able to um gather input um to bring

29:18gardeners together and to um identify uh

29:21opportunities for future years for the

29:23program.

29:24>> Okay, great. Um, and then I think my

29:26final two pieces just the can you walk

29:28me through a little more of like where's

29:31the status of theou with the water

29:33permit and the water department? I know

29:35similar to council member Davis, I've

29:37also heard lots of um concerns about the

29:41future of that. My understanding is it

29:42is capped at some number of years and

29:44the amount of money that it costs after

29:46that years. Can you just walk us through

29:48some of that and potential solutions

29:50that you think could work?

29:51>> Yes, through the chair. Um, there

29:55That continues to be a point of

29:56confusion about the number of years that

29:58um folks have access to the discounted

30:00hydrant permits for summer sprout

30:02gardens. They are always eligible for

30:04they would always be eligible for a

30:06discounted hydrant permit. There would

30:07be no cap on the amount of years. Um the

30:11uh cap on years would be for um uh

30:16market gardens. So, gardens that are

30:18able to um bring in some profit from

30:22their gardens or farms and uh be able to

30:24save up to install a permanent

30:26connection down the line. Um, as far as

30:29the status of theou goes, I have a draft

30:31in my inbox that I will be reviewing and

30:33sending back to the water department um

30:35to be able to um have our directors move

30:38that forward.

30:39>> Okay.

30:39>> Um if we could also get a copy of theou

30:42once it's um approved or done, that

30:44would be helpful. then we can I'm sure

30:46also get it out in the community so

30:48folks have some more clarity on what

30:49those guidelines are. Um I think my

30:51final um question was just um regarding

30:54the capacity if we're doing this in

30:58house um are you right now the only uh

31:01food systems coordinator that we have uh

31:04what what other capacity is being uh

31:06freed up and I don't know if this is

31:07appropriate for the director or either

31:10one but um through the chair wanted to

31:11understand yeah um what are you doing in

31:14terms of capacity and this additional

31:16workload

31:17>> through the chair uh yes I am the

31:19currently the only coordinator um on the

31:22food systems team. I'm really excited to

31:24be um bringing on a specialist, a

31:26part-time specialist um uh who starts

31:29the week of the 19th uh who will be

31:31supporting this program uh more

31:33directly. Um this person has summerrout

31:36gardening experience, knows the program

31:38inside and out and is really eager to um

31:41help improve this program. So we'll have

31:43someone joining my team.

31:45>> Can we what full-time

31:48>> through the chair? her position is

31:50covered through a grant from the CDC uh

31:53via Ohio Department of Health. It's

31:55called the public health workforce grant

31:57or infrastructure grant. Um so that

31:59grant expires November 2027 currently.

32:03Um but we're hopeful that uh it'll get

32:06renewed by by Congress and we anticipate

32:09some news of that by the end of January.

32:11And so at that time, based on the

32:13renewal, we'll be able to look at

32:15rebudgeting um and and potentially move

32:18this position uh to to full-time down

32:20the road. That's the hope. Um we're also

32:23going to um we're also looking at what's

32:26available in the general fund for

32:28another position as well. And so couple

32:30couple things in motion. Um you know, my

32:34uh hope with this individual is they'll

32:36quickly make themselves indispensable.

32:38So that won't give us a choice. Um,

32:40that's that's the hope.

32:42>> That's great to hear.

32:43>> I'd say not best.

32:44>> Look forward to it and um yeah,

32:46appreciate your work and uh I I want to

32:49see more of this capacity being built um

32:52to expand positions. I mean, we know

32:54food systems work is critical,

32:56especially knowing how many food deserts

32:58we have in the city and that we need a

33:01systemic approach to this, not just a

33:02peacemail approach every time a grocery

33:04store closes. So, um, I look forward to

33:06supporting, uh, increasing capacity and,

33:08um, would would champion more budget for

33:10this. So, um, with that, I yield. Thank

33:12you, Chair.

33:12>> Thank you, Mr. Shaw. Uh, Councilman

33:14Conwell.

33:15>> Thank you very much. Uh, Mr. Chair, I

33:18like this here except one piece I want

33:23to have uh, added to this um, to the

33:27chair, to the director.

33:30There's a piece we're that's missing

33:32from this and it's a huge piece,

33:35>> okay,

33:35>> is project management. I'm big with

33:37that. When you do summer sprout, you're

33:40you're creating a system, right? And in

33:44that in that system,

33:46um, you're saying you're not just

33:48planting things or doing things like

33:50that. You you're sitting back and you're

33:53doing an implementation of it

33:55>> and you're talking with key

33:56stakeholders. And then after the

33:58implementation in that community and the

34:00key stakeholders that you're talking

34:02with to make them a part of it, you also

34:05um you go into planning. You just don't

34:08do

34:10a garden here. You go through a planning

34:12phase.

34:13>> And then when you go to the planning

34:14phase, you go through execution of it.

34:18who's going to do how many holes, how

34:21many rows, what tools you need, what

34:24supplies you need, what resources you

34:26need, and then then you close the

34:28project out at the end of the uh the

34:31harvest year. So, a lot of people think

34:33it's just a garden. Here's the chance we

34:36are missing. When we bring children in

34:39to help them with this, there's

34:42teachable moments

34:43>> and those skills that we end up teaching

34:46how to plan, how to u execute, the

34:50children will learn and they'll take it

34:52with them anywhere and everywhere they

34:55go. For example, you are a student at

34:57Rose or at Kennedy um high school. When

35:01you learn that and you join the health

35:03department, you're sitting down with the

35:05team and then in your mind those are

35:07transferable skills. You did the

35:09gardening but you take the transferable

35:12skills on how to plan and how to execute

35:15right along with you and you learned it

35:17from here right here. is teachable

35:19moments that should be in the

35:21manderandum is bringing the children in

35:24teaching them project management there

35:27because then sometime people think how

35:30do I use um history well you use history

35:33because you understand the background

35:35history before you implement anywhere

35:37you go you use mathematics so you can

35:40have that in this project as well these

35:43are teachable skills that we can use

35:46that will be in the project

35:49and we could learn and teach that to the

35:50kids. So I think when you put together

35:53this summer sprout will bring the

35:55children in through the chair to the

35:57director. You see what I'm talking

35:59about?

35:59>> Yeah.

36:01>> Through through the chair. Um so thank

36:03you. Uh part of um Councilwoman Hudson's

36:07leadership with this program is that the

36:08current the previous program didn't have

36:10a a project manager, a dedicated person

36:12on this.

36:13>> Um it was kind of a piece parts. Uh and

36:15so now we do um and then as far as uh uh

36:19the work and helping the the farmers,

36:21the gardeners do project planning that

36:23that is part of this proposal with the

36:24technical assistance provided by Ohio

36:26State Extension Program. And uh the work

36:29for piece workforce piece is something

36:30that that you all passed with us was

36:33that last spring uh with a with a grant

36:35uh to support kids doing doing farming

36:37as well. And so um you got lots of great

36:40lots of great uh ideas incorporated into

36:42this work. Thanks for your leadership. I

36:44love that. look at project through the

36:46chair project management 2022

36:50and there it has uh when you're doing a

36:52project uh a resource analysis in there

36:56and that resource analysis correlated to

36:59how to build a budget

37:01equipment supplies money and people and

37:04people take majority of it because when

37:06you do cost of labor that's in there

37:09that project management software is a

37:12beautiful thing and if you could teach

37:14that to the children. That's a beautiful

37:16thing. That way that it will help them

37:17with their planning

37:20>> and that that's where I'm at. Thank you.

37:22Let me go back to right. Thank you.

37:25>> Thank you, Councilman Conwell,

37:26Councilman Jones.

37:27>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh Mr. Vice

37:29Chairman, Mr. Chairman, um to um the

37:32health director. Um and I'm sorry to the

37:35distinguished ladies making the

37:36presentation this morning. What is your

37:38name?

37:39>> Zanab. Zanab Pixler.

37:41>> Zena Pistol. And just want to make sure

37:44uh Mr. Chairman to director to uh

37:47understand this. Mrs. uh Pistol is uh

37:51this is the first time.

37:52>> Pixler. Pixler. P I X L E R. Pixler.

37:54>> Pixler.

37:55>> Pixler.

37:57>> Pixler.

37:59>> P I X L E R.

38:00>> Did I say it right? Pixler.

38:01>> Pixler. Yep.

38:02>> Did I say right? Okay. Thank you. Um U

38:04Mr. Chairman to Mrs. Pixler. Um the

38:08question I have is this you'll be the

38:10first time the city would have a actual

38:12coordinator

38:13that's running the program that's making

38:15sure everything is organized in a

38:17certain way

38:18>> through the chair in a sense. Yes. Uh

38:22the community development department did

38:24have oversight of this program and part

38:26of the um community development team's

38:28responsibilities were to oversee um the

38:31program. Uh but with uh the switch to

38:34the general fund and with some of the

38:36administrative duties moving from the

38:38Ohio State University Extension to my

38:40office, um it would be a a deeper level

38:44of management.

38:45>> And and Mr. Chairman, to director, we

38:46talked about this early in the

38:48testimony. I think uh Chris Harsh talked

38:50about the proposition of um the the

38:54program and transitioning from one to

38:55another. Can you explain that a little

38:57bit more in depth? Why are we moving

38:58from block grant technically speaking?

39:00Is it because we're not getting the

39:02money on time or is this because we can

39:04get the program out faster?

39:06What is the hang-ups there? And the

39:08reason why I asked the question, Mr.

39:09Chairman, to director, because this is

39:11unprecedented for this particular

39:13program to move out of the block grant

39:15into um uh what we were talking about

39:18general fund. And just a little short

39:20history here, council has always been

39:22careful with moving too many programs

39:24and projects from one program over and

39:27moving money out of the general fund. uh

39:29because the general fund is sort of like

39:31has in years past been a sacred goat in

39:33place where you don't you if you have

39:36other monies to use you want to use

39:38those first. So explain to me why is it

39:41and I know part of this is because of

39:43the I guess the requirements of HUD in

39:47terms of making sure that the soil is

39:48tested and the soil is correct but can

39:50you give me a general idea we've used

39:52this so long why the switch

39:55>> through through the chair I I think I I

39:58look forward to Councilwoman Hudson's

39:59going to speak to that as well but you

40:01you nailed it.

40:02>> You're the director Mr. Chairman so I'm

40:03asking you

40:04>> Absolutely. So through the chair the

40:06just like what you said the speed of of

40:08reimbursement uh getting into contract

40:10is uh often more challenging given the

40:13funding source and the HUD environmental

40:15reviews was a um a hurdle that uh we

40:19don't have to overcome with the general

40:22fund as the source. So yeah absolutely

40:24just as you said. So, so just in

40:25general, just a real quick hit. You just

40:27had difficulties being able to access

40:29the the block grant money

40:31>> uh through through the chair, the the

40:33funding source for the Department of

40:34Community Development, administering it

40:36with Ohio State Extension Program was

40:37supporting the farmers. There were a

40:39number of hurdles that uh Councilwoman

40:41Hudson and her wisdom uh uh advocated

40:44for this to become a general fund

40:46program through public health.

40:47>> Now, the only reason why I, you know,

40:49just put a caution light here uh Mr.

40:52chairman um and to the council to my

40:54colleagues is because you know we're in

40:57some uncertain times and um and I don't

41:02know about how this table feels about it

41:05but I know how my constituency base

41:06feels about it and because of all of the

41:10shenanigans that are going on uh in in

41:13Washington DC and all of the problems

41:15and the slowing down economy and this

41:16this person who's running things are

41:18just devastating every place and scope

41:21that you can think of and some. So the

41:24the issue in my mind right now is being

41:26fiscally responsible sitting here at the

41:28end of this table and um so the next so

41:33just want to put that out there on the

41:34table because I what's concerning Mr.

41:37determent is that if we start have a

41:39string of programs moving from out uh

41:42block grant and other programming

41:44systems uh moving monies into the

41:47general fund is going to inevitably

41:50cause us to have to at some point make

41:52the decisions if we start getting into

41:54tightening times and I've been here

41:56sitting at this table in tightening

41:57times uh where we would have to start

42:00cutting and then it makes us as council

42:03members look bad uh that we've cut these

42:05programs And so I I would encourage uh

42:09you know, Mr. Chairman, to the director,

42:11to the administration to be really so so

42:14careful um in terms of you know, easily,

42:18readily, uh moving into um um uh uh

42:23taking funds out of the general fund.

42:25And so uh with that being shared, Mr.

42:27Chairman, uh to uh the distinguished

42:29lady, can you tell us how many programs,

42:32how many garden sites that we still have

42:34available

42:35>> through the chair? Uh we sent out the

42:38renewal forms uh about a week and a half

42:40ago and we have over 50 gardens that are

42:44uh applying to renew their sites. Uh

42:47this program ideally would support uh up

42:49to 200 gardens as it has in the past. Um

42:52but as mentioned uh with the challenges

42:54over the last year over the last couple

42:56of years um some gardeners have uh

42:59fallen off lost faith in the program and

43:01so we're really eager to build this

43:03program back up to um its historical

43:06status. So how much um and thank you for

43:09you know doing your homework and knowing

43:10h how many people were there in the

43:12gardening program in years past

43:15>> this gu this uh program through the

43:18chair has supported up to um I believe

43:20at the the peak as far as uh the records

43:23that I have access to about 190 gardens.

43:27>> Um Mr. Chairman I have no u more

43:29thoughts on this.

43:31>> Thank you so much Mr. Jones. Uh

43:33Councilwoman House Jones do you have any

43:35questions? All right, then chair

43:37recognizes Councilwoman Hudson.

43:38>> Thank you, and thank you to to Miss

43:41Pixler and Dr. Margolius for for being

43:43here. Um I'm really excited to see this

43:46legislation um coming to to council. And

43:51um also just want to briefly mention the

43:54the importance of community gardens in

43:56general um because of the in light of

43:59the food access issues that we're facing

44:02um nationally, locally, and in specific

44:06neighborhoods especially that are food

44:09deserts. Can you um speak about um the

44:13importance of community gardens and why

44:15this program is is so needed in in

44:18Cleveland and in particular in many of

44:20our neighborhoods that lack uh adequate

44:23access to fresh foods.

44:25>> Absolutely. through the chair. Um,

44:27community gardens are really an

44:30investment not only in food access but

44:33in environmental sustainability, in

44:35public health, in community cohesion. a

44:38community gardens uh with the

44:40opportunity to um receive technical

44:42assistance and education from an

44:44established institution like the Ohio

44:46State University Extension uh really uh

44:50teach folks uh food sovereignty, being

44:53able to grow their own food, being able

44:54to have power over where their food

44:56comes from, knowledge over where their

44:58food comes from. It uh provides, as um

45:02the councilman stated, an opportunity

45:04for young people to get involved to

45:06really um be educated about how food is

45:09grown. You know, so many folks think

45:11food is comes from a grocery store and

45:13um the opportunity to really It's true.

45:16um so many the opportunity to really um

45:19bring in multiple um generations um to

45:24come together to uh grow food is just uh

45:27so impactful on many different levels.

45:30>> Thank you. And you you mentioned the

45:31youth involvement. Um can you also speak

45:34to um you know how uh how youth are

45:39involved in community gardens in

45:41Cleveland in particular the YOU program?

45:45>> Absolutely. through the chair. Uh

45:47community gardens, uh some of the summer

45:49sprout gardens are, you know, right next

45:51to across the street to a school or a

45:54church. Uh they have uh youth

45:56programming through those institutions

45:58that uh bring young people out to the

46:01garden that involve them in the growing

46:03of the food and preparing the food

46:05sometimes and the um education around

46:08cooking and um eating nutritious foods.

46:11uh with the youth opportunities

46:13unlimited program, the YU program, uh

46:16there are gardens that uh do uh elect to

46:19participate in that program that bring

46:21young people to their gardens uh to do

46:24all of the things that I mentioned

46:25addition in addition to learning about

46:27food systems more broadly.

46:29>> Thank you. And it is this is really

46:33really important. And is it fair to say

46:35I know that um I want to I appreciate my

46:38um colleague Councilman Jones comments

46:40about um being mindful of where the

46:42money's coming from. Is it um is it

46:45accurate to say that the um

46:49the contractual difficulties with the

46:51OSU extension were directly related to

46:54uh CDBG as a funding source

46:57>> through the council uh council chair.

47:00Yes. And so, um, it is the, um, it was

47:04the intent of of of it was my intent and

47:07as well as, um, you know, you and, um,

47:11Morgan Tager, the executive director of

47:13fair to, um, help remedy those

47:17contractual difficulties and, um,

47:19getting getting the city's bills paid in

47:21a timely manner by moving the funding

47:24source from CDBG to um, the general fund

47:28dollars. Um, and can you can you speak

47:32to some of the um

47:36con constraints that CDBG has uh when it

47:40comes to um I mean I'm familiar with it

47:43as a council member, but can you kind of

47:45educate the the general public about

47:47what some of those constraints are um

47:50that CDBG had that uh in particular um

47:54how it was applicable to community

47:56gardens

47:57>> through uh the chair. Yes. So, community

48:01development block grant dollars. Um, to

48:03my knowledge, there is no other program

48:05in the country, a community gardening

48:07program that is funded, uh, through

48:10community development block grant

48:11dollars. It was very unique situation

48:14with um, CDBG funding. There is an

48:16environmental review process that we

48:18mentioned earlier that requires a um

48:23intense level of uh soil testing and um

48:28uh not even remediation but um as the

48:32councilman mentioned uh raised beds

48:34which um are

48:36a band-aid um on a much bigger problem.

48:40So, with uh community development block

48:42grant funding, it was a challenge not

48:45only with the environmental review

48:47process, and I will um just to interrupt

48:49myself a little bit, um mention that

48:51that doesn't mean we're not testing

48:53soil, that we're not remediating, that

48:55we're not um uh implementing raised beds

48:58when appropriate. It um the community

49:01development block grant dollars, in my

49:04opinion, were not made for community

49:05develop or for community gardening

49:07programs. um the environmental review

49:10process did not match the the level of

49:13involvement that um it takes to grow in

49:16soil versus build on soil. So um lots of

49:20challenges with the environmental review

49:22process and then the reporting

49:23requirements as well. Uh, as I

49:25mentioned, the administrative burden on

49:27the Ohio State University Extension uh

49:30was just uh outweighed the um the

49:34capacity that they had to be able to

49:35report on on this program.

49:37>> Thank you. And through the chair, would

49:39it be accurate to say that using CDBG as

49:41a funding source has been stifling the

49:44city's community garden program?

49:47>> Through the chair, yes. um at the level

49:49that it was being um invested in from

49:52the community development block grant um

49:54funding. Um and due to all of the uh

49:58work that went into managing the

50:00program, it really um didn't match the

50:02level of investment that uh CDBG was um

50:05allocated for.

50:06>> Thank you. And I I know that um there

50:09was some mention of the uh the

50:12discounted access to water. Um can you

50:17what what is the what is the rate

50:18difference between being um involved in

50:22the summer sprout um program with OSU

50:24extension? What what is the discount

50:26that's available to community gardens?

50:28So, uh, theou proposes that, um, the

50:33through the chair, theou proposes that

50:35the, um, rate for community gardens and

50:38eligible urban farms and gardens outside

50:41of the summers brow program would pay

50:43for the cost of the permit plus two MCFs

50:46of water, which is a a measurement of

50:48water. Um, and then, uh, the cost of a

50:51permit plus three MCFs of water for an

50:54extended growing season. So it really

50:56estimates the amount of water that a

50:58site is going to use for the growing

50:59season um and provides them with that

51:02discounted rate versus measuring the

51:04water that's um being used and charging

51:06them for the season.

51:08>> So the hydrant permit is included um

51:11with the uh program cost for a community

51:13garden to be um with summer sprout or is

51:18there a separate charge

51:20>> through the chair? sure if I'm

51:21understanding your question correctly,

51:23the summer sprout gardeners would be

51:25responsible for the the cost of the um

51:27discounted hydro permit.

51:28>> Okay. Thank you. And um

51:33uh I'm going to go back to CDBG. Is is

51:35it through the chair um did CDBG also

51:40prevent um community gardens from um

51:44operating a farm stand or selling their

51:46excess produce

51:48>> through the chair? Yes. um on um my

51:50understanding is that with community

51:52development block funding um you are not

51:54to make money off of the investment. Um

51:57with the investment from the general

51:59fund, we do have the opportunity to work

52:01with gardens to explore a market garden

52:03model to establish a farm stand um and

52:06to uh sell their produce. Um, in my

52:10vision, I really see folks um interested

52:13in a market garden graduating from the

52:14summer sprout program and exploring and

52:17um being more independent outside of

52:19outside of the program.

52:20>> Thank you. And then um also with CDBG as

52:24a funding source, were there also

52:26restrictions um regarding accepting

52:29donations

52:30from you know like maybe outside um

52:35outside organizations to uh donate

52:38either equipment or money towards a

52:40community garden

52:42>> through the chair. I um I don't know is

52:45the short answer. I have heard from

52:47gardeners that they were told um that

52:49they were not to accept donations from

52:51outside organizations, whether that be

52:53uh materials or um funding. Um but I I'm

52:57not sure if that's connected to the

52:59community development block grant.

53:00>> Sure. Thank you. And um just to just to

53:03be clear too um the the purpose of this

53:06legislation

53:08is to um get a fresh start in 2027 so

53:12that we have the um contractual

53:14obligations

53:16um addressed ahead of time um and can

53:20you can you tell me um when are garden

53:24contracts normally signed? Like when

53:26should they be signed uh before growing

53:29season? through the chair. Uh, do you

53:32mean licenses? Yes. Um,

53:34>> thank you. Sorry.

53:35>> It's okay. I just wanted to make sure I

53:37answered appropriately. So, um, ideally

53:40the um, licenses for uh, community

53:44gardens that are um,

53:47uh, exploring opportunities for land

53:49through the city's land bank would be

53:51signed well before the growing season

53:52starts. So, in February, March. um with

53:55hydrant permits especially the growing

53:57the extended growing season I believe is

53:59March through November. Um so getting a

54:03permit before the permit is active uh is

54:06ideal.

54:07>> Okay. Thank you. And I believe my time

54:08is up but I just want to um just thank

54:10you for being here and um really looking

54:13forward to this uh new roll out of the

54:16city's uh summer sprout community garden

54:18program.

54:19>> Thank you. Thank Thank you so much,

54:20Councilwoman Hudson, for your leadership

54:21in making this program and

54:23reinvigorating it, making it have a new

54:24life. It's going to benefit the entire

54:26city. Absolutely. Uh Councilman Jones

54:28had requested an additional uh

54:30>> Beccanites

54:36we are going to um be um uh renewing

54:41from this year to last I mean to next

54:43year which is 2027. Those site

54:45locations. I think you stated there were

54:48Mr. chairman to director 19 locations in

54:50the city of Cleveland

54:52>> through the chair over 50

54:54>> is over 50

54:55>> at this point um and so absolutely we

54:57can provide that list as as it comes in

54:59>> and and then I want to Mr. chairman,

55:01just take the opportunity to thank Ohio

55:03State University for um being involved

55:06with this program over the years and um

55:09really doing a really outstanding job

55:11and I really appreciate I'm I'm trying

55:14to think of um of the young lady, she's

55:17uh that was is running the program. Do

55:19we know who's running the program now?

55:22through the chair. The director of the

55:24extension is Nicole Deose. And um one of

55:27the educators that I've been working

55:29closely with on this program is Morning

55:31Robinson.

55:32>> Who?

55:33>> Morning Robinson.

55:34>> Miss Robinson. So she's been doing the

55:37program for quite some time now.

55:39>> Both Nicole and Morning have been

55:40involved in the program for quite some

55:42time. As part of the summer sprout

55:45funding, um they do also hire a

55:47coordinator to support with their

55:49capacity.

55:50>> Okay. And Mr. Chairman, you know, other

55:52than just being uneasy about the funds

55:55coming out of block grant, I would, you

55:57know, suggest that maybe we should have

56:00the leadership sit down and talk about,

56:02you know, where we are because one of

56:04the things um that is been not only just

56:07for your program being able to operate

56:11and functionally be stable, it's been

56:13difficult it sounds like using block

56:15grant money. Is that correct, Mr.

56:17Chairman? to director

56:19>> to chair. Yes.

56:20>> And so it appears Mr. Chairman to

56:23director that

56:25everyone

56:26you know from my understanding uh so Mr.

56:29Chairman to director is having a

56:30difficult time over the years dealing

56:32with block grant. Would that be a true

56:33statement Mr. Chairman to director?

56:37>> Through the chair it's often

56:39challenging.

56:40>> Yes.

56:41>> And so Mr. Chairman given the fact that

56:43we have struggled and we've heard the

56:45testimony Mr. chairman of the director

56:47talk about how difficult it is using

56:50block grant money uh and how it has uh I

56:53can only speak for myself uh been a

56:56challenge for us with our local

56:57development corporations and uh Mr.

57:00Chairman um in years past um we even

57:03tried to put legislation on the table to

57:05push forward for our local development

57:08corporations because Mr. chairman, they

57:10are the meats and potatoes of our

57:12neighborhoods and our communities. And

57:14unfortunately, because of whatever

57:17restrictions that we're not totally

57:19fully aware of, um they we continue to

57:23struggle each year with block grant

57:25money. And um and as many of us are

57:28aware, I guess apparently um we're

57:30supposed to at some point sit down and

57:32talk about how we deal with block grant.

57:35Is that is that the direction that we

57:37would be looking to go? to Mr. Jones, I

57:40believe we're having CDBG hearings in

57:41two weeks. So I

57:43>> and and Mr. Chairman, one of the things

57:45that I would suggest is is what has

57:48always been a problem when we sat here

57:49and we talked about CDBDG. I think uh at

57:53that time um um one of the proponents

57:57who really dug deep into it was the

57:59former Councilman um Jones

58:02and um Barier Jones and and Mr. Jones

58:07talked about uh how we are encumbering

58:10our own program here in the city. So I I

58:13would suggest that we look at all the

58:15ways and means when we're talking about

58:17block grant not putting the yoke uh from

58:21our side of the hall uh on top of these

58:24uh funds and making it very difficult

58:26for us to be able to use it. And uh I

58:30would also suggest the leadership look

58:31at uh Mr. chairman. Um, other cities and

58:35how they use best practices. Um, this

58:38has been a consistent struggle, Mr.

58:40Chairman, uh, for 30 over 30 years using

58:43block grant money. And it it makes no

58:46sense to me that the director would have

58:48to come to us to go into to dip into the

58:51general funds uh, in order to use those

58:53funds for this particular program which

58:55has been on the block grant for quite

58:58some time. I think for the existence of

59:01the program, is that correct, Mr.

59:02chairman to director

59:05>> to the chair. Yes.

59:07>> And so, Mr. Chairman, um we find

59:09ourselves uh in a real

59:14defined space. And if we don't try to

59:18figure out on this side of the hall and

59:20the other side of the table how to use

59:23these funds, um I believe, Mr. Chairman,

59:26we're we're going to face some very

59:28difficult hard stress moments in time.

59:31So, I would suggest that these two weeks

59:33here, um, we look at best practices, see

59:35what other cities are implementing, how

59:37they're getting those funds out quicker

59:38and faster than what we are. Um, but

59:40unfortunately, it just seems like, uh,

59:43we just don't have the we just have not

59:45had the capacity to achieve or

59:47accomplish that. So, with that being

59:49said, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that.

59:51Just wanted to put that on your radar

59:52radar screen. I do support the program

59:55and and I certainly look forward to

59:57trying to see how we can uh get our

59:59garden areas spruced up. I know we got

1:00:01one that's really working really well,

1:00:02but at one point in time we used to have

1:00:04several in our neighborhood and I think

1:00:05all of them are now no longer in

1:00:07existence. So, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

1:00:09>> Thank you, Mr. Johnson. With that, uh,

1:00:11no further commentary from our side.

1:00:12Thank you so much for presenting today.

1:00:14We're going to sign on.

1:00:16>> Thank you.

1:00:28See, so uh by the power vest in me,

1:00:30ordinance number 1166 2026 is hereby

1:00:34approved. Please sign up.

1:00:38>> Please. Next up will be the air quality

1:00:42legislation for uh discussion purposes.

1:00:45Ordinance number 387205

1:00:48by council members Conwell and Griffin

1:00:50by departmental request as amended that

1:00:53various sections throughout chapters 251

1:00:56to 2 91 of the air pollution control

1:00:59code are amended and repealed as enacted

1:01:02or amended by various ordinances

1:01:04supplementing new sections throughout

1:01:05these chapters and enacting new chapters

1:01:08266 268 and 299 of the air pollution

1:01:11control code relating to fugitive

1:01:13emissions indoor air quality and

1:01:15penalties.

1:01:16Uh with that, I know this has been a

1:01:18topic of much discussion for well over a

1:01:19year. So excited to see uh how we can

1:01:22move this forward. I I'll let you all

1:01:24take it away through the chair. Thank

1:01:26you. Uh with me to my left is the chief

1:01:28of air pollution outreach, Christina

1:01:30Yoka. It's part of the division of air

1:01:32quality, and she's really been um doing

1:01:34a ton of work on uh an update to our air

1:01:38pollution control code. Last updated

1:01:40substantially in 1977.

1:01:43Um, she has been working on this for

1:01:47many years. Um, and I'll just speak to

1:01:50to to my time working together with her.

1:01:53This was a priority uh for her and her

1:01:55team, you know, from when I started in

1:01:57August 2022. Like it was last updated in

1:01:591977. Some of the words in the old

1:02:02legislation like are just things that

1:02:04don't exist anymore. Um, and and uh the

1:02:07fees were last updated I think 2002,

1:02:10something like that. So, we've been

1:02:11doing a ton of work on this, ton of

1:02:13community engagement. Um, we presented

1:02:15the results of that to this health

1:02:17committee in February of 2025.

1:02:21Um, so some of you weren't here at that

1:02:23time. Um, and so this is an opportunity

1:02:26to come back and continue this

1:02:28discussion. Uh, as you saw on the

1:02:30agenda, we're not putting pressure on

1:02:32you all to to consider a vote. This is

1:02:34for discussion purposes only. And but

1:02:35with that, I'll turn over to Christina

1:02:37Yoka.

1:02:41Good morning everyone. Thank you so much

1:02:43for bringing this for a discussion

1:02:44today. As already indicated by the

1:02:47director, we are looking at the

1:02:48Cleveland Air Pollution Control

1:02:49Ordinances that were adopted in 1977.

1:02:52For a little bit of background and

1:02:54context, the city of Cleveland was one

1:02:56of the first municipalities to have a

1:02:58department of smoke abatement. So, we've

1:03:00been working on air pollution issues

1:03:01since the 1890s.

1:03:04In the 1940s, the division of air

1:03:07quality as its current form was

1:03:08established when two different

1:03:10departments were joined together to be

1:03:12able to address local air quality

1:03:13issues. And then bring us to 1977 when

1:03:17the current version of the air pollution

1:03:19control code was updated. So next year's

1:03:222027, if we go into 2027 without making

1:03:26any changes, that will be 50 years that

1:03:29we have had the same ordinances

1:03:31protecting the health and quality of

1:03:32life of Cleveland residents. So, we are

1:03:34going into this looking at what are the

1:03:36current needs of Cleveland residents,

1:03:38what are the current technologies, and

1:03:40what are the current best practices that

1:03:42can help us achieve better results for

1:03:44our residents.

1:03:47Before I jump into the full air code, I

1:03:49just want to highlight a couple

1:03:50activities that we've been working on

1:03:51for the past year that will also be

1:03:53improved by the passage of the air code.

1:03:55The first is that last year the city's

1:03:57anti-ding ordinances were updated, were

1:04:00amended. Um, so our division has now

1:04:02been actively working on installing

1:04:04signage to make residents aware of the

1:04:06anti-diling ordinances. Um, putting

1:04:09through a public education campaign and

1:04:12rolling out a an employee education

1:04:14campaign about the personnel policy.

1:04:17Last year, we conducted a series of

1:04:19residential interviews where we went to

1:04:20residential homes and we interviewed

1:04:22them about their air quality

1:04:23experiences. So, how is their quality of

1:04:26life affected? How is their health

1:04:27affected? and what are the things that

1:04:29they would like to see moving forward

1:04:31and what are their ideas and their

1:04:32suggestions.

1:04:34We also initiated an inhome asthma

1:04:36management program. So, this is where we

1:04:38offer services to Cleveland residents

1:04:39that if there's a child in their home,

1:04:41we will go in and provide a just a

1:04:44visual assessment of what's going on and

1:04:46different recommendations of how they

1:04:47can improve that. And then finally, this

1:04:50was our fourth year of administering the

1:04:51electric lawnmower rebate program. This

1:04:53program has resulted in over 150 tons of

1:04:56air pollution emission reductions. It's

1:04:58been very successful and we're happy to

1:05:00do it again next year in the fifth year.

1:05:03All of this work that we're doing is

1:05:05intended to improve the health and the

1:05:07quality of life for the Cleveland

1:05:08residents and air quality has a

1:05:10significant negative impact on the

1:05:12health of our residents. The map that

1:05:14you're looking at that shows pediatric

1:05:16asthma rates within the city of

1:05:18Cleveland. We have some neighborhoods

1:05:19where the pediatric asthma rates are up

1:05:21to 30%. And the national average is 8 to

1:05:2410%. So our residents are dealing with

1:05:28um this as a significant issue. Why are

1:05:30we so much further um why do we have

1:05:32such a higher rate than other

1:05:34communities? Um and as you can see,

1:05:36there's over 15,000 asthma symptoms that

1:05:39are associated with air pollution

1:05:40exposure. So these are asthma attacks.

1:05:42This is use of your inhaler. Um just

1:05:45wide range of things. But asthma isn't

1:05:47the only thing that's affected by air

1:05:48pollution. Air pollution has been

1:05:50associated with cardiovascular disease,

1:05:52respiratory disease. Recent work has

1:05:55looked at dementia um and birth

1:05:58outcomes. So there is a wide range of

1:06:00health issues that are affected by air

1:06:02pollution. And then if you look at it,

1:06:04there's an economic cost to it as well.

1:06:06There are estimates that over $330

1:06:08million in the city of Cleveland are

1:06:10spent on managing air pollution related

1:06:14symptoms, going to the doctor, managing

1:06:16your health. So there's a significant

1:06:18impact to the residents um because of

1:06:20their exposure to air pollution.

1:06:25So that again brings us to where we are

1:06:26today. As director mentioned, I've been

1:06:29working on this for quite some time, but

1:06:30it wasn't just me. Um when I was brought

1:06:33on in early 2018,

1:06:36um we started looking at having a series

1:06:38of community engagement sessions and

1:06:40meetings with stakeholders for things

1:06:42that they would be interested in seeing

1:06:43for an updated air pollution control

1:06:45code. Um so we have looked at the data

1:06:47from our complaints. We've talked to

1:06:49stakeholders. We have talked to

1:06:52residents while having tableabling

1:06:53events about the things that are of

1:06:54concern to them. We've done a

1:06:56significant technical review of the

1:06:58things that are currently in the code

1:06:59and again words that technologies that

1:07:01are no longer used. Um and we received

1:07:04technical support from US EPA on some

1:07:07aspects of this code. Where we are most

1:07:09recently is that since we updated the

1:07:11code or since we submitted the proposal

1:07:13last year, we've also reviewed um the

1:07:17recommendations that we received from a

1:07:18variety of stakeholders to see what is

1:07:20feasible, what can we do, and what helps

1:07:23us achieve the goal of improving health

1:07:25outcomes in the city of Cleveland.

1:07:29The full file is about a 100 pages and

1:07:33so I'm not going to go through a 100

1:07:34pages today. I am just going to talk

1:07:36about a couple highlights of what we are

1:07:38proposing within the code. These are

1:07:40things that people responded to the most

1:07:42and these would be what we would

1:07:43consider the probably the biggest

1:07:45changes. Um, so this is just intended to

1:07:47be a highle overview, but again I'm

1:07:49happy to answer any questions about

1:07:50anything related to the code at the

1:07:52conclusion.

1:07:54The first big concept that we're

1:07:56delivering with the air pollution

1:07:57control update is this idea of

1:07:59cumulative impacts. Cumulative impacts

1:08:01understands that it's not just one thing

1:08:03in an environment that affects an

1:08:05individual's health. It is a multitude

1:08:07of environmental factors. There are

1:08:09social vulnerabilities. There are wide

1:08:11range of things that impact an

1:08:13individual's health. And when it comes

1:08:15to air pollution, that might also mean

1:08:17multiple sources on your street. So you

1:08:20might be okay with one source, but when

1:08:22there's multiple sources, the

1:08:23compounding impact is going to have an

1:08:25effect on your health. And that is the

1:08:27approach that we took when trying to

1:08:29update this code is how can we look at

1:08:31health holistically and not just in a

1:08:34silo.

1:08:37So one of the first rules that I want to

1:08:39talk about is the cumulative impact and

1:08:41installation permits. Um one of the

1:08:43things that we would be compelled to do

1:08:45under this code is every five years

1:08:47create a health impact report. So this

1:08:50is looking at those different health

1:08:51conditions that are affected by air

1:08:52pollution. Looking at environmental

1:08:54variables within a community and

1:08:55establishing a baseline. So what is the

1:08:58baseline of health in our community for

1:09:00conditions that are affected by air

1:09:01pollution and this would be changed this

1:09:04would be updated every five years so

1:09:06that we can see any changes and trends

1:09:08in population health. Um, but one of the

1:09:11things the impacts that it has is that

1:09:13there would be a relative ranking system

1:09:15that looks at how different

1:09:17neighborhoods are impacted the most. And

1:09:19depending on what that ranking score is,

1:09:22we might request additional requ have

1:09:24additional requirements for facilities

1:09:26and industry that are located in those

1:09:28neighborhoods.

1:09:30The picture that you see on the screen,

1:09:31that is a complaint that we responded

1:09:33to. And those types of conditions are

1:09:35not uncommon for us to respond to. Um,

1:09:37what you're seeing is a dirt road. the

1:09:39vehicle is driving down and it's kicking

1:09:41up all that dust.

1:09:45And so then that brings us to the next

1:09:47key aspect of it, health impact

1:09:49assessments. A health impact assessment

1:09:51is a common tool that's used in a lot of

1:09:53different municipalities, different

1:09:54states, uh looking at how a new factor

1:09:58might impact the health of a community.

1:10:00So it's looking at all the health

1:10:02impacts, it's looking at the

1:10:03vulnerabilities, and it also the other

1:10:05key thing is it involves community

1:10:07members. there is a requirement for

1:10:09community members to have a say in

1:10:11what's going on within their community.

1:10:13The biggest change that we've made, so

1:10:15if you've seen the previous version of

1:10:16the proposed code, um is that we've

1:10:19introduced an amendment um to this code

1:10:23if it were authorized would allow health

1:10:26impact assessments. However, they would

1:10:28not be effective until we come back to

1:10:30city council with more detailed

1:10:32guidelines of what would be required in

1:10:33the health impact assessment and then

1:10:35you would vote on it again at that

1:10:36point. The reason for this is that we

1:10:39heard from community we heard both from

1:10:41community advocates that they wanted

1:10:43more clarity about the protections that

1:10:45would be in place for residents and we

1:10:46heard from industry that there wasn't

1:10:48enough direction to them to understand

1:10:51what would be required of them. So the

1:10:53compromise that we have proposed is that

1:10:56we engage in an exhaustive stakeholder

1:10:59process to have the different

1:11:00stakeholders that would be affected by

1:11:02this help us create and establish what

1:11:04those guidelines are. And that way all

1:11:07affected parties they have their

1:11:08interests represented in the final

1:11:10guidelines.

1:11:14The next part that I want to hit on are

1:11:16the air permit fees. Um the current code

1:11:18does authorize u air permit fees that

1:11:20are on an annual basis. These fees as

1:11:23mentioned earlier they have not been

1:11:25changed in quite some time as well. So

1:11:27there will be a fee increase but the

1:11:29important thing is that the these fees

1:11:31would then go into an emission

1:11:33mitigation and reduction fund. So the

1:11:36purpose of this would be to provide

1:11:38economic incentives for facilities and

1:11:41industries to adopt cleaner technologies

1:11:44and we would help support them in that

1:11:46process. So there would be grants that

1:11:47would be available to them. This these

1:11:50dollars would also be available to

1:11:51residents. So are there community

1:11:53projects that residents feel could help

1:11:55them mitigate the impacts of air

1:11:57pollution on their community? So it

1:11:59would be providing both mitigation

1:12:01efforts and reduction efforts so that we

1:12:04are reducing the impact on the

1:12:06community.

1:12:08The uh picture that you're seeing that

1:12:10is a partnership with the western with

1:12:12the Cleveland Tree Coalition where we do

1:12:14about twice a year now we'll do a tree

1:12:16giveaway. Um and so those were some of

1:12:18the trees that we gave away last year.

1:12:23The next is the formal establishment of

1:12:25the indoor air quality program. Um

1:12:27indoor air quality can be two to two to

1:12:29five times worse than ambient air

1:12:32outdoor air. And this would formally

1:12:34authorize us to enter residents home and

1:12:36provide different services. Um the one

1:12:39service that I mentioned at the

1:12:40beginning of this this uh presentation

1:12:42was it's called the B project breathe

1:12:44easy every day and that's intended to

1:12:46help pediatric asthma. But part of the

1:12:47challenge is that we might go into a

1:12:49home provide guidance and a visual

1:12:52assessment we don't have any funding to

1:12:53help these residents. There might be

1:12:55infrastructure challenges within their

1:12:56home that we're not able to support. So

1:12:58even if they do things like change out

1:13:00carpeting, if they still have a severe

1:13:02mold issue, these things are not going

1:13:04to be addressed. Um, so what you're

1:13:06looking at on the screen on the left is

1:13:07Yet Mitchell. She's our environmental

1:13:09program manager. She recently presented

1:13:11on this work at the National Healthy

1:13:13Homes Conference in New Orleans. She was

1:13:15invited to participate and she was um

1:13:18she's next year she is helping to

1:13:20coordinate the indoor air quality

1:13:22association annual meeting here in

1:13:23Cleveland.

1:13:27Vehicle idling. um the amendment last

1:13:30year to um to change the anti-dolling

1:13:33ordinance that that was a great step. Um

1:13:37it really it's you know we've installed

1:13:39the signage the screen that you see if

1:13:41you've noticed those signs at MUNT um we

1:13:43recently installed those. But one of the

1:13:46other complaints that we get are from

1:13:48residents where they're located next to

1:13:49a facility or an industry and you have

1:13:52worker vehicles that are there to

1:13:54perform their job function, but they

1:13:56might be waiting for a couple hours. And

1:13:58so part of this concept is that making

1:14:01sure that those facilities are are

1:14:04enforcing and making sure that vehicles

1:14:06that are on their property are not

1:14:08idling when they don't have to be

1:14:09idling. So this would extend it so that

1:14:12facility and industry would be

1:14:13responsible for making sure that those

1:14:16vehicles are not idling when they're on

1:14:17their property.

1:14:20And then just finally the last thing

1:14:22that I want to bring up um I think we

1:14:24all experienced the 2026 wildfires and

1:14:28unfortunately those are coming more and

1:14:31more common. We will experience it

1:14:33again. The one of the things that we

1:14:36have within the current proposal is that

1:14:38all city departments will be required to

1:14:41have a city operations plan so that when

1:14:43there are days where there are extreme

1:14:45wildfire events or other extreme air

1:14:47quality events, operations must be

1:14:49changed so that they're not contributing

1:14:51to the problem, but also worker safety

1:14:53is and making sure that employees are

1:14:55protected. Um, I came in that day to

1:14:58several voicemails and complaints from

1:15:00residents about um, city employees

1:15:03working during these conditions and

1:15:05doing things that exacerbated the

1:15:07conditions. So, we want to have plans in

1:15:09place to make sure that that does not

1:15:10happen again in the future. And with

1:15:13that, that was the final point that I

1:15:15wanted to touch on, but I am happy to

1:15:16answer any questions that the committee

1:15:19has.

1:15:21>> Thank you very much. This is a it's a

1:15:24short presentation and a very big piece

1:15:25of legislation. So I appreciate you

1:15:26summarizing so effectively. Um I I'll

1:15:29just start off you know where to even

1:15:33start but but on my mind um

1:15:37demolitions and asbestous I I know there

1:15:39were some additional dust regulations in

1:15:41this legislation. Could you explain what

1:15:43is proposed?

1:15:44>> Right. Um

1:15:47uh through the chair to the committee.

1:15:49Um, so there are I I'm not as familiar

1:15:53with the asbestous regulation, so I

1:15:54don't really want to speak to them. Um,

1:15:56but we do want to control dust at

1:15:59demolition sites so that it's not

1:16:01getting out into the community. Um, so

1:16:04through this as well as like through

1:16:06work practice plans that are part of

1:16:07this code, um, it would basically just

1:16:10provide additional guidance around what

1:16:12is what is expected and ensuring that

1:16:15dust is controlled at demolition sites.

1:16:18>> Great. It's I mean it's a big issue for

1:16:19a few ne neighbors in my neighborhood.

1:16:22House gets demolished, the person

1:16:23demolishing it has apparently as we can

1:16:26understand a free reign to let whatever

1:16:28was in that house turned into dust

1:16:29without any sort of regulatory oversight

1:16:32or especially if they're a smaller scale

1:16:34land owner they can just tear it down

1:16:36and who knows what we're breathing

1:16:37afterwards. I worry about asbesus and

1:16:39lead particular. So understanding

1:16:40there's a an avenue here for increased

1:16:43enforcement is important. The maybe what

1:16:45I'll ask to next is the does the

1:16:48department right now have the ability to

1:16:50enforce fines or does it require you to

1:16:52go to court or prosecute?

1:16:55>> Um through the chair there is currently

1:16:59there is legislation um there is

1:17:01currently I don't know the exact number

1:17:03within the current error code um that

1:17:06there are civil penalties that could be

1:17:08enforced. Um, through my experience, we

1:17:12have not in there have not been any

1:17:14civil penalties that are enforced and so

1:17:16I'm not as familiar with what that

1:17:17process would entail.

1:17:18>> Understood. It's I guess do you know why

1:17:20they were not enforcing those?

1:17:23>> Um, through through the actually I don't

1:17:26have a good, you know, background

1:17:27information on that. It's one thing that

1:17:29stood out to me too in reviewing the

1:17:30legislation was sort of three strikes

1:17:32and you're out rule where the administr

1:17:35would have increased authority after

1:17:36three violations to I forget the

1:17:39terminology. I want to say issue a stop

1:17:41work order but that's not correct. Could

1:17:42you tell us more about that

1:17:43>> through the chair? We actually do

1:17:45currently have the authority under the

1:17:46existing code to issue a um a seal. And

1:17:51through a seal, that would mean that if

1:17:53there is something that is occurring, we

1:17:54could go to that facility and we

1:17:57physically put a seal on their door and

1:17:59require them to stop working. Again,

1:18:01that's something that's only

1:18:03historically been used in very extreme

1:18:04circumstances. The three strike rule is

1:18:07that really what we're trying to

1:18:08accomplish when we're working with any

1:18:10type of facility or industry is that

1:18:12there are a lot of times that we want to

1:18:14give organizations the benefit of the

1:18:16doubt that they might not necessarily be

1:18:18aware of the existing regulations and by

1:18:21trying to give them multiple chances to

1:18:23correct the issue. Um this gives them

1:18:25time to adjust their their processes and

1:18:28be able to address it before moving into

1:18:31any more serious enforcement action. But

1:18:34the serious enforcement action is

1:18:36potentially at the end of all that

1:18:38process, right?

1:18:39>> Yes, that is that is correct.

1:18:41>> Okay. The um it's just meaningful for

1:18:44residents to know that like hey, things

1:18:45could stop. If things aren't getting

1:18:46better, there is the potential for the

1:18:48government to step in and do what

1:18:49government does, which is stop. Um can

1:18:52you tell me more about the anti-idling

1:18:54legislation? So you mentioned that this

1:18:56council had passed uh I guess resonant

1:19:00based anti-itling legislation but are is

1:19:03industry exempt from that or my

1:19:05understanding was that this looks at a

1:19:06fleetwide you know five plus vehicles

1:19:08situations. Can you just tell us more

1:19:10about what was actually passed last year

1:19:11and where the gaps are?

1:19:13>> Sure. Um the city's anti idling

1:19:15ordinance has been on the books since

1:19:172007. Um and it is enforceable under uh

1:19:20public safety. The amendment that was

1:19:23introduced last year and adopted is that

1:19:25public health also has enforcement

1:19:27authority and we were required to

1:19:29install signage and in addition that's

1:19:31where another three strikes rule comes

1:19:33in where the first is a warning, the

1:19:35second is a um penalty and then the

1:19:37third is a minor misdemeanor. Um so

1:19:40there is existing legislation and um

1:19:43facilities are not exempt from that as

1:19:45well. the where we're proposing within

1:19:48the current air code, which this was

1:19:49actually this was proposed prior to the

1:19:51amendment last year, um is that we also

1:19:55want to be able facilities are

1:19:56responsible for maintaining certain

1:19:57actions on their properties. And so what

1:20:00we want to be able to do is go to those

1:20:03facilities where they do have these 1520

1:20:05vehicles um and say that they need to

1:20:07implement different practices to ensure

1:20:10that those vehicles that are on their

1:20:11property are also following the

1:20:13anti-dolling legislation. Could you say

1:20:15that again just to make sure I

1:20:16understand it?

1:20:17>> Sure.

1:20:18>> Mr. I appreciate.

1:20:21>> Yes. So there is so so the current

1:20:25antiiding legislation does not exempt

1:20:27facilities or industry. Um so that's

1:20:29that's number one. The second thing is

1:20:32that what we often experience is that

1:20:35there are worker vehicles. So these may

1:20:37be heavy duty vehicles, medium duty

1:20:39vehicles that are arriving at a job site

1:20:42prior to the start of the workday. These

1:20:45vehicles are then waiting an hour, two

1:20:48hours. Sometimes we've had heard of um

1:20:52trucks showing up in the middle of the

1:20:54night and waiting for the because

1:20:55they're delivering something. Um, so

1:20:59they're these vehicles are out there for

1:21:01a long period of time and what we're

1:21:03saying is that as an industry, as a

1:21:07business, you know what's happening on

1:21:09your your property. And so you should be

1:21:11putting in operational practices to

1:21:14prevent the vehicles that are coming to

1:21:16your property from lining up and idling

1:21:19for two, three hours before there's even

1:21:21any work being performed.

1:21:23>> It's I appreciate you slowing it down. I

1:21:24understood it that time, so I'm

1:21:25grateful.

1:21:26>> Yes. Um, that makes a lot of sense, too.

1:21:28And maybe briefly touching on vehicles,

1:21:31I I read in here, I think a a right to

1:21:33charge for EV vehicles. That seems like

1:21:35a big deal, too. It's something I'm

1:21:36really excited about. Can you tell us

1:21:37more about the right to charge?

1:21:39>> Yes. So, so the right to charge

1:21:41essentially what this is saying is that

1:21:43that if you're living in something an

1:21:45apartment building or you are a tenant

1:21:47that you do and you have an electric

1:21:49vehicle, you can't be prohibited from

1:21:51charging your v your vehicle on the

1:21:54site. that you need to be you need to

1:21:56you have the right to be able to charge.

1:21:58This is does not say that the landlord

1:22:00or tenant needs to be responsible for

1:22:02the electrical costs or installation

1:22:04costs. This is simply just trying to

1:22:06reduce a barrier to residents being able

1:22:09to charge their electric vehicles on

1:22:10site.

1:22:11>> It's and to dig in for a moment, condos

1:22:13can currently prohibit this kind of

1:22:14activity as well. Even though you own

1:22:15your condo, you can't charge your

1:22:17vehicle. Is that right?

1:22:18>> That that is what we're trying to

1:22:19mitigate.

1:22:20>> Yeah. Fantastic. Okay. just an under an

1:22:22undertold story I think in this really

1:22:23impressive legislation. Um indoor air

1:22:27quality. So reading through this one of

1:22:28the things that came to mind immediately

1:22:29was neighbors in apartments who smoke

1:22:31who who the odors are wafting over and

1:22:33you are losing the quiet enjoyment of

1:22:36your habitation. Can you tell us more

1:22:37about I mean what I'm excited about is

1:22:39empowering my residents to be able to

1:22:40call a number and create enforcement

1:22:43actions against bad actors they live

1:22:45near. Can you tell us more about how

1:22:46that process might work?

1:22:48>> Sure. Um so we currently let's say in

1:22:51the last year we received about a

1:22:53hundred indoor air quality complaints

1:22:55and those ranged from cigarette smoke,

1:22:59marijuana smoke, mold, sewer backup.

1:23:03There were yes we get quite a few sewer

1:23:05backup uh complaints. Um the purpose so

1:23:09with the indoor air quality program one

1:23:10of the our responses when we get that is

1:23:12that we do not have any enforcement

1:23:15authority to make a resident stop

1:23:16smoking in their home or to stop smoking

1:23:19marijuana in their home. Um we do not

1:23:21have the enforcement authority to do

1:23:23that. One of the actions that we do take

1:23:24is that we provide them with resources

1:23:27for the quiet enjoyment letter which is

1:23:29that states that when you're with your

1:23:30own home you have the right to quiet

1:23:32enjoyment and not have a nuisance. Um if

1:23:36there is a landlord, if there's kind of

1:23:37a resident dispute, a lot of times we

1:23:40will refer that to community relations

1:23:42so that they can provide a mediator. Um

1:23:45and so those are some of the actions

1:23:47that we're currently taking. The indoor

1:23:49air quality program though um how we

1:23:52would currently address it. There's some

1:23:53of those things I think would need to be

1:23:56looked at at additional legislation

1:23:58beyond this air code. Um because it is a

1:24:00challenge to say to a resident that they

1:24:02can't smoke in their own home. Um, so I

1:24:05do think that that would be an

1:24:06alternative legislation piece that we

1:24:08would have to consider. Um, but it what

1:24:10it does do is it authorizes us to go

1:24:12into the home. And the other thing that

1:24:13I'm excited about it is by authorizing

1:24:15and establishing this indoor air quality

1:24:17program. when we look at that emission

1:24:20mitigation fund and those dollars is

1:24:22that that is the indoor air quality

1:24:24program is something that I see could be

1:24:26a recipient of those dollars so that you

1:24:29could purchase air purifiers, you could

1:24:31purchase other things for your home that

1:24:33would mitigate its impact. Understood.

1:24:34It's I'm going to keep myself at 10

1:24:36minutes and hop on to the back end of

1:24:37this as well because there's so much to

1:24:38talk about, but I'll leave you with a

1:24:39couple stories. One is that um as you

1:24:41know I have a 16-month old daughter and

1:24:43we were touring daycarees recently. One

1:24:45of the best daycarees that we toured had

1:24:47an overwhelming odor of marijuana

1:24:49throughout the building because of

1:24:51apartments upstairs smoking. And there

1:24:53had been multiple complaints. The

1:24:54property management had, you know, tried

1:24:56their best, but that's an unacceptable I

1:24:58I don't we can't have infants and

1:25:00toddlers smelling smoke, marijuana,

1:25:02cigarette smoke, whatever it is, they

1:25:04need to be safe from that kind of behav.

1:25:06So, the idea that we can start to

1:25:07enforce our laws to protect children in

1:25:09those scenarios is essential to me.

1:25:11Relatedly, I took a tour of one of the I

1:25:13turns out I represent more CMSD schools

1:25:16in my ward than others. I have 10, which

1:25:17is a lot. So, so doing a doing a grand

1:25:20tour uh at a school recently was

1:25:23discussing legislative affairs with the

1:25:25principal and they tell me I I mentioned

1:25:27their air quality is coming up for

1:25:28discussion. They like, "Oh, good. Half

1:25:30my kids have asthma." And I'm like, "Is

1:25:32that is that right?" And she's like,

1:25:33"Well, let me think about it." And she

1:25:35goes through the classes in her head and

1:25:37she's like, "Yeah." Doing the math.

1:25:38Yeah, yeah, yeah. 11 out of 20. Yeah.

1:25:40and 11 out of 20 they buy the generic

1:25:43inhalers in bulk at a CMSD school. And

1:25:45we should be clear uh CMSD students are

1:25:47disproportionately lower income,

1:25:48disproportionately black,

1:25:49disproportionately of color. We it's

1:25:51super clear the kind of population that

1:25:53is harmed by our air quality in this

1:25:55community.

1:25:56>> Unbelievable to have the majority of

1:25:57children with asthma. Um, last thing

1:26:00I'll leave you with is that it's my hope

1:26:03that we can use this as an opportunity

1:26:04to re reinvigorate this discussion

1:26:06around air quality that we can figure

1:26:08out you you've proposed an amendment

1:26:10that seems to go a long way to to

1:26:11figuring out the next steps assuaging

1:26:14industry concerns. Would like to talk

1:26:15about that more. Hope to hear about it.

1:26:17As well as other ticky tacky amendments

1:26:19that may need to be made, but my my goal

1:26:21is to figure out what are the things

1:26:22that have to happen to pass this by the

1:26:24end of the year. I I think we're close.

1:26:26Um, but I'm glad that you guys are here

1:26:27figuring this out. So with that, um,

1:26:30Councilman Conwell, do you have anything

1:26:32your prerogative as chair? I can come

1:26:33back to you later.

1:26:34>> All right. Next up is, uh, Councilman

1:26:37Jones.

1:26:40>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You asked some

1:26:41questions. I was kind of, um, just

1:26:43listening to you, you could have held on

1:26:44a little bit longer. Um, one of the

1:26:47things that, you know, I think, Mr.

1:26:49Chairman, and and the presentation, if

1:26:52we could go to the screen that shows the

1:26:54map.

1:26:59Uh, Mr. Chairman, to the director, can

1:27:01you kind of explain to us what we're

1:27:03really fundamentally looking at here

1:27:04with all these red locations?

1:27:07>> Through the chair, to the council

1:27:09member, what we're looking at is that if

1:27:10the location is red, the diagnosed

1:27:13pediatric asthma rate in that area is up

1:27:16to 30%.

1:27:18The green areas, that's where it's going

1:27:20to be much lower. It might be around 5%.

1:27:23So what you're looking at is the warmer

1:27:26the color, that's the higher the

1:27:28pediatric asthma rate. And as you can

1:27:30see, the burden is not the same across

1:27:33the city. There are certain

1:27:34neighborhoods that tend to have higher

1:27:36rates.

1:27:38>> And Mr. Chairman, do do we know what's

1:27:41causing that?

1:27:45>> Through the chair, to the council

1:27:46member, asthma is caused by a wide

1:27:48variety of variables. Some of it is

1:27:51genetic. Um and one of the issues that

1:27:54we see too is that um different

1:27:58environmental variables will exacerbate

1:28:00it. So an individual may have asthma

1:28:03that's under control. So they're not

1:28:04using their their rescue inhaler,

1:28:06they're not experiencing significant

1:28:08asthma attacks. Um but then when they

1:28:11are experiencing things like poor air

1:28:12quality, their asthma is uncontrolled.

1:28:15So this map doesn't show controlled

1:28:17versus uncontrolled asthma. Um but that

1:28:20is one of the effects that we see from

1:28:22poor air quality and other environmental

1:28:24conditions.

1:28:25>> And Mr. Chairman um to uh Miss Christina

1:28:29Yoka. So we do see a real big huge

1:28:34difference. It seems like the east side

1:28:36is more impacted

1:28:38uh than everywhere else. And it also um

1:28:42and I don't see any further maps off. H

1:28:46how did you get this information, Mr.

1:28:48chairman uh to Miss Christina Yoka

1:28:51>> through the chair to the council member.

1:28:53This data is from a partner of ours

1:28:56health partnership. They have a

1:28:58cooperative agreements with the local

1:28:59medical institutions to provide

1:29:01diagnosed asthma rates. So the data from

1:29:04this map is from a partner of ours who

1:29:08has diagnosed rates from local health

1:29:10institutions.

1:29:12>> And Mr. chairman. So I I would you know

1:29:14we had um talked about this um because I

1:29:18know that um water pollution control is

1:29:20going to be doing some tunneling now on

1:29:23the west side of town and they started

1:29:27doing the tunneling in my neighborhood

1:29:29and um and who knows how many tons of

1:29:34methane was released

1:29:36>> uh in our communities. And when you look

1:29:39at this particular map here, you do have

1:29:42a number of industries that are here.

1:29:44Can you tell me, Mr. Chairman, um to um

1:29:47the director of the health department,

1:29:50what kind of tools do we have or legal

1:29:53remedies to resolve this uh picture here

1:29:56because it is disproportionate? And I

1:29:59wouldn't say, oh, Mr. chairman, I I

1:30:02don't know if it's farreaching to say

1:30:04that uh more of the people on the east

1:30:06side may have a DNA defect which will

1:30:08cause asthma compared to if you look on

1:30:11the west side of this chart. So I I

1:30:14would say Mr. Chairman that there has to

1:30:16be other causes and then what is our

1:30:18legal remedies to resolve this issue

1:30:21>> through the chair? So this piece of

1:30:24legislation uh for discussion today is

1:30:26what we're proposing as as one of the

1:30:29remedies to help overcome decades of uh

1:30:32disinvestment uh from structural racism

1:30:35that lead to the map that you see in

1:30:36front of you.

1:30:37>> And so the question, Mr. Chairman, what

1:30:39is the legal remedy we have right here

1:30:41right now that we have on the books that

1:30:43could help us? And if the chairman

1:30:45doesn't, no disrespect to the director,

1:30:48if Miss Christina Yoka can answer it,

1:30:50someone needs to answer it because the

1:30:52issue is major. And when I see this, I

1:30:56my spirit is turned upside down. And so,

1:30:59uh, Mr. Chairman, you know, uh, the the

1:31:02pollution that was, uh, released in my

1:31:04neighborhood, I don't even think we even

1:31:06had air pollution control come out there

1:31:08and even check. And if you come out to a

1:31:11site location, Mr. chairman. And this is

1:31:13where it gets really critical because we

1:31:15can sit here and talk about proposals

1:31:17every day. I had proposals after

1:31:19proposals. I mean, so many proposals I

1:31:22can't even remember all the proposals.

1:31:23But at the end of the day, we're still

1:31:25suffering on the east side of the city

1:31:26of Cleveland. So the the question is

1:31:29really, you know, and this is where we

1:31:31have our problem, Mr. Chairman, and our

1:31:33disconnect. We're a city that we're

1:31:35paying a lot of money. How much money

1:31:36are we paying in and putting all this

1:31:38together? This production of of of the

1:31:40whole department. How much is that set?

1:31:42How much is How much are we paying for

1:31:44air pollution control quality impact

1:31:46here in the city of Cleveland? Mr.

1:31:48Chairman to director

1:31:52>> through the chair. We have nine

1:31:54full-time general fund positions.

1:31:56>> So, what's the total of the budget, Mr.

1:31:58Chairman to director?

1:31:59>> Through the chair. I'll get back to you

1:32:00with that information. I don't have

1:32:02>> Would it be best to say it's over a

1:32:03million?

1:32:06>> The chair. I'll give me a minute. I'll

1:32:07look up the number.

1:32:08>> And Mr. chairman. And this is not

1:32:10putting a director on the hot seat or

1:32:12Mrs. Christina Yoko on the hot seat.

1:32:14This is just a council member sitting

1:32:15here at the end of the table who've been

1:32:17waiting for some kind of legal remedy

1:32:19for quite some time from its city. The

1:32:22city has a responsibility, Mr. Chairman,

1:32:24to protect its citizens. And part of

1:32:26that protection is putting the necessary

1:32:28laws in place to protect their health.

1:32:32And that's what we're talking about

1:32:33here. Is that correct, Mr. Chairman to

1:32:35director?

1:32:37>> The chair. Yes. And so, Mr. Chairman, to

1:32:39uh Mr. Christina Yoka, um have we uh

1:32:43given out any tickets or any legal taken

1:32:45any legal actions against anybody that

1:32:47you could recall uh since the time

1:32:49you've been here, Mr. Chairman, to Miss

1:32:52Christina Yoka

1:32:55>> through the chair to the council member,

1:32:57we do issue violations quite frequently.

1:32:59Um so, these are notice of violations.

1:33:00They are an administrative violation and

1:33:04at times they resolve the issue. um and

1:33:08at times we need more help in resolving

1:33:10the issue. So I agree with everything

1:33:12that you've just said in terms of re

1:33:14needing these additional steps and that

1:33:16is the heart of this proposed

1:33:17legislation is that when we look at the

1:33:20current laws that are on the books, they

1:33:23don't quite go as far as we need them to

1:33:25solve the problem that's on the screen

1:33:26right now.

1:33:27>> And and Mr. Chairman, thank you Mrs.

1:33:29Joker. The question was was have we

1:33:31taken any legal actions? Have we been in

1:33:34court? Have we dealt with the the bad

1:33:36parties that are involved with causing

1:33:38this negative powerful impact of which

1:33:41you have eloquently stated here uh is

1:33:43economic impact on our communities. So

1:33:46if we're talking about a half a billion

1:33:48dollars or a little bit over half a

1:33:50billion dollars of impact here. So what

1:33:53have we done legally to make the city

1:33:55whole and protect the citizen's health?

1:33:59through the chair to the councilman.

1:34:02The

1:34:03where there have been actual fines that

1:34:05have been issued that has been through

1:34:07Ohio EPA to specific facilities that

1:34:11violated specific state rules. Um so

1:34:14there has been action um at that level.

1:34:18Um but at the local level addressing

1:34:21some of these issues, we have issued

1:34:23violations that are administrative in

1:34:25nature. Um but there has not been

1:34:27specific legal action um to

1:34:31>> Mr. Chairman, this is where we need to

1:34:32really start, you know, quit playing

1:34:34around with it. We we should have um uh

1:34:38some legal remedies in here. Uh we

1:34:40should have some examples of some bad

1:34:42party players, which I can name off a

1:34:44few. Um and I'm I won't do that here at

1:34:48the table because it would be

1:34:49unprofessional. Uh but what I will say,

1:34:52Mr. chairman is the fact that um we're

1:34:55sitting here playing around. Uh we need

1:34:58to know exactly who why this these maps

1:35:01are read, who are the bad players, how

1:35:04do we legally take remedy uh actions to

1:35:07remedy the problem. And if we're just

1:35:09sitting here just talking about it and

1:35:10spending money uh and and not really

1:35:13taking any fundamental legal actions

1:35:15because I would endeavor to say, Mr.

1:35:17chairman to uh the health director. We

1:35:20have never taken any legal direct legal

1:35:22actions that I can recall sitting here

1:35:24at this table where we took someone to

1:35:26court and we sued them uh and sued them

1:35:29for the bad quality of air that they're

1:35:31producing uh and the negative impacts

1:35:33because I sat here in 2018 and we talked

1:35:37about how bad those blooms were out here

1:35:40uh on this lake and we talked about um

1:35:43what actions and this was I don't know

1:35:46if you recall that. Do you recall that

1:35:48uh Mr. chairman to uh Mrs. Yoka

1:35:51>> uh through the chairman to the council

1:35:53member the my background in

1:35:56environmental work I'm familiar with the

1:35:58algal bloom issue but it's not something

1:36:00that I have worked on in my professional

1:36:02life but yes I am familiar

1:36:03>> so so we talked about it and then it

1:36:05just went away and I don't want that to

1:36:07be the situation here Mr. Chairman that

1:36:09we just talk about the problem and then

1:36:11the next thing you know it goes away

1:36:12until we come back and talk about it

1:36:14again. So I would ask Mr. chairman, if

1:36:16if the director can uh site and you can

1:36:20give it to us later anytime that the

1:36:22city has took any legal action against

1:36:25anybody and um I would love to see that

1:36:30and um and then I would suggest Mr.

1:36:32Chairman in this legislation that you

1:36:34have you you put teeth in it. You know,

1:36:36if you find someone who's who's a bad

1:36:38player on the market space, we should be

1:36:40able to go after him as a city. And

1:36:42then, Mr. chairman, when we look at this

1:36:45particular map, it's devastating. Look

1:36:46at the east side. It it it is the worst

1:36:49I've ever seen it. And so, you know, now

1:36:52that they're proposing to do more tunnel

1:36:54digging and and breaking up that shale,

1:36:57Mr. Chairman, um I would suggest that

1:36:59air air quality uh should be a major

1:37:03player in watching that and seeing just

1:37:06how much how many tons of methane is

1:37:09released in the neighborhood. I would

1:37:11probably say, Mr. chairman. Um, in my

1:37:13neighborhood, we were complaining about

1:37:15the cancer rates that had increased

1:37:17along that entire route. Uh, an entire

1:37:19section of our neighborhood was

1:37:21impacted. More people got cancer than I

1:37:23can ever shake my hand at. And so, when

1:37:26I say to you, Mr. Chairman, when I sit

1:37:28here at this table and we talk about uh,

1:37:30air quality and its impacts on health in

1:37:32the city of Cleveland, uh, we should

1:37:34have some kind of legal remedies in

1:37:37place to protect our citizens. And with

1:37:39that being shared, Mr. chairman to the

1:37:41director. I would love to see more

1:37:43opportunities where we have legislation

1:37:44that fundamentally shows us where our

1:37:47problems are, tells this council what

1:37:50we're going to do legally to remedy the

1:37:52issues so we can keep our citizens safe.

1:37:55Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

1:37:56>> Thank Thank you so much, Councilman

1:37:57Jones. The passion it's shared widely.

1:37:59Uh Councilman Harsh.

1:38:03>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have six

1:38:05questions and we might have answered

1:38:06some of them already. So, uh, through

1:38:07the chair, uh, we started off, you

1:38:10mentioned the lawn mower rebate and

1:38:11there was a tonnage of pollutants

1:38:13removed, but through the chair, how many

1:38:14lawnmowers have actually been purchased

1:38:16through that program so far?

1:38:20>> Through the chair, we I would like to

1:38:22get back to you with an exact number.

1:38:24It's around 900, but we can get back to

1:38:26you with an exact number.

1:38:28>> Through the chair, that is a larger

1:38:29number than I was expecting. through the

1:38:31chair. We We had a widget on our website

1:38:33for a minute that it had the progress,

1:38:35but at one point we took it down, but it

1:38:37was pretty cool. Yeah.

1:38:37>> Through the chair. I hope that bodess

1:38:38well for the uh was it is it an ebike

1:38:41rebate or something we're doing too?

1:38:42Yeah. So, I hope that that bodess well

1:38:44for interest in that as well. Um cool.

1:38:47Uh

1:38:48uh second question, um regarding the

1:38:51fees, uh this would be page nine of the

1:38:54um said, uh the collected fees can be

1:38:56used for grants to facilities to upgrade

1:38:58their equipment. And then the next

1:38:59bullet, uh, fees can be used for grants

1:39:01to local businesses. So would I be wrong

1:39:04to to guess that we could find somebody

1:39:07for violating air quality standards, but

1:39:10then give that fine back to them to buy

1:39:12the equipment they need to not violate

1:39:14air quality standards or how does that

1:39:16work?

1:39:17>> Through the sher council member, the

1:39:20fines that would

1:39:22this wouldn't be funded through the

1:39:24fines. It' be funded through the penalt

1:39:26fees that are on an annual basis.

1:39:28Theoretically with the way the code is

1:39:30written, you are correct that they could

1:39:32potentially receive a violation and then

1:39:34could potentially receive support from

1:39:36us to upgrade any equipment. A lot of

1:39:39the though when I think about penalties

1:39:42and why a facility may receive a

1:39:43penalty, it's going to be for not

1:39:45following the rules and it that might

1:39:47not necessarily be a equipment upgrade

1:39:50that they need. That is an operational

1:39:51procedure that they need to change. So

1:39:54theoretically, yes, that is correct.

1:39:57that could happen through the way the

1:39:59code is currently written. Um but we

1:40:01would need to really look deeper into

1:40:04what that might actually look like.

1:40:09>> Sure. So as a part um to the committee

1:40:12um director just asked me to share an

1:40:14example and so for example one of the

1:40:16things that we want to look at are also

1:40:18vehicle emissions. Um, so one example of

1:40:21vehicle of a potential grant would be to

1:40:25support a facility that can put on

1:40:27what's called onboard idle reduction

1:40:29technology. So these are devices that

1:40:31can go on to different types of vehicles

1:40:33to reduce their idling when they're not

1:40:35in use. So this is a way of reducing

1:40:37emissions.

1:40:37>> That that's fine. My question is about

1:40:40the fees collected and then the

1:40:41rerouting of those fees. So I just want

1:40:43to stay on that real quick. So through

1:40:44the chair if a uh so so everybody will

1:40:46pay a certain fee for their permit. Uh

1:40:48that'll be just sort of an annual thing.

1:40:50You apply for a permit like a a landlord

1:40:52applies for a rental registry or

1:40:54something. You would pay a fee to the

1:40:55city for whatever air what however the

1:40:59structure works. And then those funds

1:41:01would be used to either help with

1:41:03investment or uh grant for local

1:41:06business to for mitigation uh efforts

1:41:09that that can clean the air. I presume

1:41:11>> through the chair to the council member.

1:41:13That's correct. Okay. Through the chair,

1:41:14then I guess my central question is

1:41:18when or if an industry or company is

1:41:21fined or assessed a fee for violating

1:41:25the air quality standards, does the

1:41:27payment of that then exempt them from

1:41:29having to adhere to those standards or

1:41:32uh so uh

1:41:36I can speed down the highway every day

1:41:39and just pay a ticket and keep speeding.

1:41:41>> Um And that's kind of the I guess the

1:41:44analogy. Does that does that make sense?

1:41:45You would the fee itself exempt them

1:41:48from the standards

1:41:49>> paying the fee

1:41:50>> through the chair to the council member?

1:41:51No. No one would be exempted from paying

1:41:53the fee. The only exemption that exists

1:41:55is that if they're also paying a state

1:41:57of Ohio fee, then they have their fee

1:42:00reduced.

1:42:00>> So through the chair, am I just hung up

1:42:01on fines? And we're not even talking

1:42:03about fines. We're just talking about

1:42:04application fees.

1:42:06>> Yes, that's correct.

1:42:06>> Okay. Okay. Okay. So I'm I'm in the

1:42:08wrong point. to the chair. They they

1:42:10currently pay a permit fee, you know,

1:42:11and have for decades. It's just this is

1:42:13just increasing.

1:42:13>> Okay. So, we're not talking about fines

1:42:15for violating the air quality standards.

1:42:18>> That's correct. These are air permit

1:42:19fees that are on an annual basis.

1:42:21>> That's on me. Sorry about the wasted

1:42:24time. Um through the chair, this is a 98

1:42:26piece 98 page piece of legislation. So,

1:42:28my hats off to you and Councilman

1:42:30Conwell who are going to read every page

1:42:31of it, let us know what all the uh gory

1:42:33details are. Um but I I I will be asking

1:42:36more questions as we talk about this

1:42:38more about the actual uh I think the

1:42:41Councilman Jones question the

1:42:42enforcement mechanisms for violations.

1:42:44Um but moving on for now uh the third

1:42:47question was the indoor air quality uh

1:42:48as you noted is two to five times worse

1:42:50than the outdoor air quality and I think

1:42:52it would be uh logical to say that all

1:42:54indoor air was once outdoor air like we

1:42:56don't manufacture air inside of our

1:42:58houses. It came in from the outside

1:42:59where then we add stuff to it and and

1:43:01right so through the chair Do the

1:43:05efforts in this ordinance address indoor

1:43:08air quality for residential since that

1:43:10seems to be a major driver of asthma?

1:43:13>> Uh through the sher council member. Yes.

1:43:15That's why we're trying to address

1:43:16indoor air quality because of those

1:43:18health effects.

1:43:19>> Right. And so through the chair, you

1:43:20said that when you gain access to enter

1:43:24a unit

1:43:26through the chair, how is that access

1:43:27being gained?

1:43:28>> Through the chair, that is currently by

1:43:30invitation from the resident. So, a

1:43:32resident may invite us to come take a

1:43:34look and we will go based off of their

1:43:35invitation

1:43:36>> to the chair because we don't really

1:43:37know what the quality of their indoor

1:43:39air is from the outside. We're just

1:43:40looking at the outside air out there.

1:43:43>> Correct.

1:43:43>> Okay. Um I was a little bit confused

1:43:45about how I thought it was you were

1:43:48saying that we would have increased

1:43:49access to monitor in interior air.

1:43:53>> I wasn't sure how we were getting there

1:43:55>> through through the chair. This

1:43:56formalizes our authority to enter the

1:43:59home. Um, but then the one one of those

1:44:01areas that I think that this also helps

1:44:03support is through that emission

1:44:04mitigation fund that we were just

1:44:05discussing.

1:44:06>> So before you go, formalizes our

1:44:09authority to enter the home,

1:44:10>> right?

1:44:12>> With the blessing of the tenant and

1:44:13resident or against their will. Like

1:44:16what do you mean?

1:44:16>> With the blessing. Yes. We we our

1:44:19intention is not to go into a home

1:44:20uninvited. And um for example, this is

1:44:23not the same. This is not

1:44:24>> we don't get air quality warrants.

1:44:26>> No. No, we do not. We do not. So this is

1:44:29with the blessing of the tenant that

1:44:31wants us to enter their home.

1:44:32>> But through the chair, you're currently

1:44:33allowed to go into any home that you're

1:44:34invited into. So if the tenant want to

1:44:36talk, I don't understand the formalizing

1:44:37part.

1:44:38>> Yeah. I I think that one of the things

1:44:39that the formalizing part does, you

1:44:41know, and I guess the enforce the entry

1:44:43part, yes, that's important to us, but

1:44:45also it is the access to the emission

1:44:47mitigation fund that we feel would would

1:44:49strengthen the program.

1:44:51>> Okay. Um

1:44:54uh through the number four was already

1:44:55handled. Uh number five, something about

1:44:58clean air days. Uh oh, through the for

1:45:02the the Canadian wildfires. Uh through

1:45:04the chair, is it a recommendation that

1:45:06we uh give have clean air have dirty air

1:45:10days the way we have snow days? Like how

1:45:12does is that a recommendation that we

1:45:16call off city work because of air

1:45:17quality some days?

1:45:18>> Through the chair there. Yes, there

1:45:20there are some provisions that we need

1:45:22to adopt and we actually I want to say

1:45:24I'm very proud of the emergency

1:45:25management office for what they did this

1:45:26year during the 2026 wildfires and their

1:45:29coordinating aspect with the division of

1:45:30recreation center to open up um the rec

1:45:32centers as clean air locations. However,

1:45:36where we're proposing that this goes a

1:45:38step further is that there should be

1:45:40something like an inclement weather day

1:45:41where certain activities um are

1:45:43postponed on that day. for example, is

1:45:46that if there is a maroon air quality

1:45:48day, do we need to be mowing the grass

1:45:50that day? And so what we're asking from

1:45:52other departments would then have plans

1:45:54in place where they're not contributing

1:45:56to the issue with certain practices.

1:45:59>> Yeah. Through the chair, that's going to

1:46:00be a tough one because you're talking

1:46:01about just a lot of human behavior. All

1:46:02right. If there's a T-ball game

1:46:03scheduled, there's a T-ball game

1:46:04scheduled. Some people want to play and

1:46:06some people won't. Um but uh I I I can I

1:46:09get back to that. I'm running out of

1:46:10time. So um through the chair, my last

1:46:13question is about the EV charging. Um

1:46:14the right to EV charging. Uh rights

1:46:17usually imply or some kind of like

1:46:19responsibility. Um so how do we uh

1:46:22operationalize a right to EV charging

1:46:24across the city?

1:46:25>> Um through the chair. I think where this

1:46:28would come in play is that if a resident

1:46:30wants to be able to have access to EV

1:46:32charging within their apartment, within

1:46:34their condo, um then they can't be

1:46:35denied that. And so then that would be

1:46:37that would follow some sort of appeal

1:46:39process or since it's under the air code

1:46:41coming to our office and you know we

1:46:43would be um we would be the authority to

1:46:46ensure that they have access.

1:46:47>> So through the chair I don't have an

1:46:48electric vehicle so I don't plug it in

1:46:50either. Um are we talking about the

1:46:52landlord can't deny you running an

1:46:54extension cord out to your car or are we

1:46:56talking about the landlord has to

1:46:57install an EV station on their rental?

1:46:59>> Um through the chair there I believe I I

1:47:02do need to look at the language exactly

1:47:04as it's written. Um, so it' have to be

1:47:06done in a safe manner. Um, and it does

1:47:08not compel the landlord to pay for it,

1:47:10just that it they can't deny it. So I

1:47:12want to give an example. Say, say a

1:47:14condo association wants to install

1:47:17charging stations for their residents

1:47:20and they have the funding to do it or

1:47:22how whatever the mechanism is, then that

1:47:24can't be denied. Denied.

1:47:27>> Okay. I The condo one is always weird.

1:47:29Just condos are just weird. Um, I I can

1:47:32imagine some condos say you can't even

1:47:34run an extension cord out of your garage

1:47:35to your own car because I've seen people

1:47:37running cords out of their garage.

1:47:38That's how they charge it. Okay. Um, I

1:47:41think that was all the questions I had.

1:47:42Uh, Mr. Chair, I think my time's expired

1:47:43anyway. So, I'm glad that we're talking

1:47:45about this. It's been a year and a half

1:47:47and there's still, I'm sure, more work

1:47:48to be done, but uh, thank you for

1:47:49bringing it to us.

1:47:52>> Thank you, Councilman Arch. You're

1:47:53always welcome back on the list. There's

1:47:55>> plenty to ask about.

1:47:56>> Oh, boy. Uh, Councilwoman Hudson.

1:47:59>> Thank you, Mr. chair. Um, thank you for

1:48:01being here. I know that my office

1:48:03provides uh quite a bit of outreach to

1:48:05you. Um, as did my, uh, neighborhood

1:48:08block club before I was on council. So,

1:48:11um, I appreciate everything that you're

1:48:12doing to help improve the air quality

1:48:14for the citizens of Cleveland. Um, can

1:48:16you talk about what regarding air

1:48:18quality, what is the city responsibility

1:48:21versus what is the state responsibility?

1:48:25um through the chair to the

1:48:26councilwoman. The division of air

1:48:28quality is a what's called a delegated

1:48:30local air agency. So what that means is

1:48:33that we are the contractual

1:48:34representatives of Ohio EPA to enforce

1:48:38state and federal rules. So in terms of

1:48:40what the responsibilities are, we are

1:48:42the boots on the ground representatives

1:48:44for Ohio EPA when it comes to air

1:48:46quality matters. Um but then we also

1:48:49serve the dual function of the local

1:48:52local ordinances and enforcing the local

1:48:54ordinances.

1:48:56>> So through the chair um you enforce

1:48:58state law as well as local law

1:49:01>> through the chair. That's correct.

1:49:02>> And so uh through the chair if there is

1:49:04a violation of state law, do you refer

1:49:06that to the Ohio EPA?

1:49:08>> Through the chair to the councilwoman.

1:49:10We if we observe a violation of a state

1:49:13law and some federal laws then what we

1:49:15do is we will issue a notice of

1:49:17violation. Um if that problem if

1:49:21whatever the issue has not been resolved

1:49:23then there is a step to escalate it to

1:49:26Ohio EPA where they will then take a

1:49:28greater role in enforcing the issue. And

1:49:32to the councilman's questions earlier

1:49:34about fines and penalties that's often

1:49:35where fines and penalties may come in.

1:49:38the Ohio EPA will work with the Ohio um

1:49:40attorney general to come up with

1:49:42whatever the resolution is, which could

1:49:45be fines, penalties, adopting new techn

1:49:47or additional technology, whatever the

1:49:49case might be.

1:49:50>> And through the chair, um you know,

1:49:52we've heard, you know, on the news about

1:49:55changes to the uh federal EPA. Um how

1:49:59has that affected Ohio EPA or the work

1:50:03that you do here in the city of

1:50:04Cleveland? through the chair to the

1:50:06council member. There's yes, there have

1:50:09been a lot of changes that are occurring

1:50:11at the federal level that what we view

1:50:14as weakening some standards. Um, our

1:50:19work still continues. We are still

1:50:22enforcing the state rules as best we

1:50:24can. Um, but it does mean that there are

1:50:28some standards that have been weakened

1:50:30that will could potentially have a

1:50:31negative impact on local air quality.

1:50:33>> Thank you. and through the chair. Um

1:50:34these standards would be for um um

1:50:38perhaps the biggest offenders um

1:50:41industry

1:50:42um

1:50:44people whose businesses whose um and who

1:50:49are in an industry that are historically

1:50:51known to cause air quality control

1:50:53issues through uh through the chair to

1:50:56the council member. There have been um

1:51:00there have been situations set up where

1:51:02local industry can um request an appeal

1:51:05from the federal government to be exempt

1:51:07from certain standards.

1:51:08>> And can you bring back the map again

1:51:12with the the heat zones and Oops.

1:51:15>> Yeah.

1:51:18>> Okay. Thank you. And um I I believe is

1:51:20it accurate to say in our in our corner

1:51:22of the world here that um you know the

1:51:26wind patterns move west to east

1:51:29>> through the chair to the council woman.

1:51:31Yes, that's correct.

1:51:32>> And so um you know I noticed that a lot

1:51:35of the the red and dark orange um you

1:51:38know um colored um areas of the city are

1:51:43east of the uh industrial valley. And so

1:51:47would it be accurate to say that um it's

1:51:51it's a strong possibility that the the

1:51:53poor air quality in these parts of the

1:51:55cities are caused by the businesses in

1:51:58industrial flats. Through the chair to

1:52:00the council member, I would say that

1:52:01they are associated and that that is a

1:52:03potential effect. Um I do want to just

1:52:07acknowledge though that there are other

1:52:08variables such as the location of the

1:52:10highways. These residents are also being

1:52:12impacted by transportation sources. But

1:52:14yes, that's correct. uh air pollution

1:52:16doesn't stay in one location.

1:52:17>> Okay. So, um in addition to being caused

1:52:20by businesses, poor air quality um is

1:52:23also caused by proximity to um highways.

1:52:27Is that correct?

1:52:28>> Yes, that's correct. Um and and through

1:52:31the chair um

1:52:35are there any other um you know

1:52:38stressors that would impact human health

1:52:41um present other than highway traffic or

1:52:44um industry

1:52:47>> through the chair to the council woman.

1:52:48There's there are a lot of stressors in

1:52:50the environment. So there's the

1:52:51industry, there's the transportation

1:52:52sources, there's the condition of the

1:52:54house. Um, so if the residents are

1:52:57living in older homes that are not being

1:52:59maintained well, that's also going to

1:53:01affect their health. Um, it's, you know,

1:53:04proximity to a wide variety of sources

1:53:06and stressors.

1:53:07>> Okay. Thank you. And I, you know, I have

1:53:08to note that the this ordinance, um,

1:53:11ends in a 2025. So, um, you've been

1:53:14working on this for quite some time. Is

1:53:16that correct?

1:53:17>> Yes, that's correct. And can you also um

1:53:19briefly say what are the hurdles that

1:53:21you have to overcome in order to get

1:53:23this legislation passed and why is it

1:53:25taking so long through the chair to the

1:53:28council member? This is a complex piece

1:53:31of legislation as was noted. This is now

1:53:33at 101 pages with the most recent

1:53:36amendment. Um so there are a lot of

1:53:38nuances and there are a lot of

1:53:40stakeholders that are affected. Um, we

1:53:42have community advocates that feel that

1:53:44we need to take a step further in this

1:53:46legislation, that we're not doing enough

1:53:49to address these issues, that we're

1:53:50maintaining status quo. And then we also

1:53:53have stakeholders that feel that we have

1:53:57not provided enough guidance and that

1:53:58we're doing too much. So when you

1:54:01propose to change something that hasn't

1:54:03been changed in 50 years, you're trying

1:54:05to move a system that hasn't moved in a

1:54:08long time. and we're trying to be fair

1:54:10while also with the primary goal of

1:54:12improving health outcomes.

1:54:14>> Thank you. And um is it fair to say that

1:54:17some of the the biggest offenders are

1:54:19also um pushing back on this legislation

1:54:23>> through the chair to the council member?

1:54:24There has been a lot of public notice

1:54:26about those that are opposed to it.

1:54:28and um

1:54:31through the chair um can city law

1:54:34supersede state or federal law or are we

1:54:37bound by um what's decided in Columbus

1:54:40and in Washington

1:54:43>> through the chair to the council member

1:54:46there is the potential

1:54:50we we we don't know where this

1:54:51legislation after the legislation passes

1:54:54there is the potential for it to be

1:54:55challenged um but I think that that

1:54:57would be a better question for our

1:54:58lawyers who have more experience in

1:55:00addressing that issue.

1:55:01>> Okay. Thank you.

1:55:04>> Um yeah, I just want to say thank you

1:55:06for your work on this. I umo

1:55:08wholeheartedly support updating our air

1:55:11quality laws um in particular to improve

1:55:15the health of our citizens. So, thank

1:55:17you for your work.

1:55:18>> Thank you.

1:55:19>> Thank you, Council Member Hudson. I will

1:55:21take my prerogative as a as a lawyer. I

1:55:22play one on TV these days. But the Clean

1:55:24Air Act does allow for other

1:55:25jurisdictions to use the Clean Air Act

1:55:27as a ceiling. I'm sorry, as a floor, not

1:55:29a ceiling. So, we can go above and

1:55:30beyond federal law and complicated in

1:55:32practice in the state. Who knows? Home

1:55:34rule is a tough one, but there should be

1:55:36room for something like that. Um,

1:55:39Councilman Shaw,

1:55:41>> thank you, Chair. Um,

1:55:44>> u I'll make it quick. I just wanted to

1:55:46follow up on um Councilman Harsha's

1:55:48question about the lawnmower rebate

1:55:50program. Um I I would love to understand

1:55:52some more of those numbers on what it's

1:55:55been. My understanding you said 900 is

1:55:57that to date of the program or just this

1:56:00past year.

1:56:00>> Uh through the chair to the council

1:56:02member that's to date for the for the

1:56:04program and that's approximate. I would

1:56:06like to provide an exact number but we

1:56:07can provide the exact number of those

1:56:09that have participated.

1:56:10>> Yeah, that that would be great. I I if

1:56:13if possible uh breakdown by like wards

1:56:15would be great. Um, I mean, I'm thinking

1:56:18through, you know, what other ways I can

1:56:20put my discretionary dollars towards and

1:56:22making sure that our residents are able

1:56:24to get these quicker would be to me

1:56:26makes sense. Um, so would love to

1:56:28understand that. Um, the other question

1:56:30I had was regarding the idling. Um,

1:56:35that would apply to our city departments

1:56:38as well. Is that correct? uh through the

1:56:41chair to the council member. The anti-

1:56:43idling ordinance applies to city

1:56:44departments and there is a city of

1:56:46Cleveland personnel policy that applies

1:56:48to employees of the city of Cleveland.

1:56:50>> So when we see city uh trucks and

1:56:56vehicles that are not potentially

1:56:58following these uh idling policies, what

1:57:00what should we do

1:57:02>> through the uh chair to the council

1:57:03member? Um I think you can refer those

1:57:06to our department. You could also refer

1:57:07them directly to the department that

1:57:10they're within. Um, but we are also

1:57:12working through an employee rollout

1:57:14campaign. This is one of those personnel

1:57:16policies that's really easy to overlook.

1:57:18Um, so we have a employee rollout

1:57:20campaign to make sure that employees are

1:57:22aware of it as well.

1:57:23>> That's that's helpful. And you know, I

1:57:25personally I think I've I've seen one

1:57:28too many times. Um, it's it's actually a

1:57:31lot of times it's public safety

1:57:32vehicles. Um, when we are blocking

1:57:34parade routes, I understand, right? um

1:57:37those are they want to be able to move

1:57:38quickly but at the same time it's been

1:57:41constant hours and hours of uh vehicles

1:57:43just idling and as um a former truck

1:57:46driver uh my truck had an anti- idling

1:57:49mechanism where after you know 30

1:57:52seconds or a minute it actually shut off

1:57:53by itself. Are those types of gadgets

1:57:55something that we've looked into for

1:57:57implementing for our fleets for our

1:57:59department so that we actually aren't

1:58:01dependent on humans uh kind of doing

1:58:04this when we can have an automated way

1:58:05to do it

1:58:06>> through the chair to the council member.

1:58:07I would love to see that enacted. I

1:58:09would say one of our partners in this

1:58:10work has been the Cleveland Office of

1:58:12Sustainability. Um they have worked with

1:58:15MVM on um analyzing different fleet

1:58:18options. Um so that is something that we

1:58:20would love to see is just take the human

1:58:22element out of it.

1:58:23>> Yeah. I'd love to yeah understand more

1:58:25and I'm sure I can follow up with the um

1:58:27sustainability folks and um Chief

1:58:30O'Keefe I yeah personally I think go

1:58:32moving towards just having a mechanism

1:58:34be implemented makes sense. It would

1:58:36reduce the burden on our um employees as

1:58:39well. I'm sure they have a million other

1:58:41things that they're attending to but

1:58:43this is important as well. So we'd love

1:58:44to kind of see what more we can do

1:58:46there. Um terms of going back to the

1:58:49enforcement piece about

1:58:52can you walk us through a little more of

1:58:53what are the challenges you see to the

1:58:55um enforcement that enforcement

1:58:57challenges you you you referred to

1:58:59earlier

1:59:00>> uh through the chair to council member I

1:59:02just want to make sure I understand

1:59:03correctly under the current code what

1:59:05are the challenges that we have with

1:59:06enforcement or

1:59:09just I want to make sure I understand

1:59:10correctly. I I think we we've kind of

1:59:13gotten to it a little bit, but I know

1:59:14when um Vice Chair Davis was asking

1:59:17about why there hasn't been enforcement,

1:59:19I know you were able to come up with a

1:59:21great just wanted to understand more on

1:59:24the background on that

1:59:26>> through uh through the chair to the

1:59:27council member. The way our division is

1:59:29structured is we have nine general fund

1:59:31staff and then the rest of the staff are

1:59:33through our Ohio EPA grants. what we

1:59:36have historically done is that if there

1:59:38is a state rule that might be a little

1:59:41bit more have a little bit more teeth to

1:59:43it that is historically what we have

1:59:45utilized. So I I my

1:59:48hypothesizing as to why we are where we

1:59:50are today is that a lot of our focus in

1:59:53the past has been utilizing state rules

1:59:55and not taking advantage of the state

1:59:57the local rules that we have in place. I

1:59:59see that that makes sense. And I think I

2:00:02um share my colleagues desire to see a

2:00:05greater enforcement from our city as

2:00:07well. Um and maybe that's a separate

2:00:09conversation with some other part of the

2:00:10administration or the law department

2:00:12perhaps. Um but it's I know Councilwoman

2:00:15Hudson has been um focused on the

2:00:18illegal dumping for example where we're

2:00:21too often not enforcing the rules that

2:00:23we have ourselves. And I think if we

2:00:25want to be a serious um stakeholder with

2:00:28the others in our community, they're

2:00:30going to have to see us kind of back up

2:00:31what our words mean on paper with some

2:00:33legal actions. Um so I I look forward to

2:00:37kind of seeing more what we can do

2:00:38there. Um I I think those were really

2:00:42all I had for now. Thank you

2:00:44>> to the chair. So just to respond

2:00:45briefly. So, um, what Christina is

2:00:48saying is that, um, so we do do a ton of

2:00:52enforcement on behalf of the state and

2:00:54we have a whole team of enforcers and

2:00:56health inspectors. And so, what this

2:00:58would allow us to do is to add more

2:01:00teeth on the city of Cleveland

2:01:01enforcement, but we are the Ohio EPA.

2:01:03We're the local delegated authority. So,

2:01:05we're we're we're in court. We're

2:01:06working closely with enforcement

2:01:08lawyers. And so, this just gives us more

2:01:10more teeth and and opportunity to

2:01:11improve health in our community.

2:01:14>> Thank you for that. Yeah, making sure it

2:01:16happens is always the big question.

2:01:18Thank you. It was very funny. Um, next

2:01:20up, uh, Councilman Conwell, who may have

2:01:23stepped out. And so, Councilwoman House

2:01:26Jones,

2:01:29>> um, yes to the chair, to the team here.

2:01:31Good morning. Um, thank you all for um

2:01:35the work that you've put forth for the

2:01:37legislation that's um, in front of us.

2:01:40Um

2:01:42there was a couple of questions um that

2:01:47I had regarding the cumulative impact

2:01:50assessment.

2:01:52>> Um if you can just share how you have

2:01:58made the determination that it would be

2:02:02I guess just a point of information

2:02:04through the chair to the team. has the

2:02:07department embarked on work of doing

2:02:08cumulative impact assessments and what

2:02:11has what's the current like status on

2:02:13that

2:02:14>> through the chair to the council member.

2:02:16Uh one of our projects that we've worked

2:02:17on most recently is called the clean and

2:02:19CLE project. This is the community

2:02:21leverage expanded air network in

2:02:22Cleveland project. That was our initial

2:02:24foray into looking at how do multiple

2:02:27environmental stressors impact a

2:02:29community. The data that we utilized for

2:02:31that was through what was formerly the

2:02:32USPA environmental justice index uh

2:02:35screening tool and that looked at

2:02:38environmental factors. It looked at

2:02:39social vulnerabilities to identify

2:02:41census tracks that were likely more

2:02:44susceptible to the impacts of air

2:02:45pollution. And so as we're working

2:02:47through the clean and CLE project that

2:02:49was the basis for the work that we did

2:02:52as we move forward into hopefully this

2:02:55um actually codifying this work um we

2:02:58would be looking at a similar type of

2:03:00framework where we would be looking at

2:03:02these different environmental stressors

2:03:03and social vulnerabilities and utilizing

2:03:06those to establish where those um where

2:03:09those areas of concern are. This is not

2:03:11something that is unique to the city of

2:03:14Cleveland as well. Um, this is where we

2:03:16had technical assistance from EPA on how

2:03:18to do cumulative impacts. And there's a

2:03:20variety of states as well as local

2:03:22municipalities that have looked at

2:03:24cumulative impacts as a foundation for

2:03:26their work too.

2:03:28>> And through the chair, when when did you

2:03:30all do this?

2:03:31>> The for this uh through the chair to the

2:03:34council member, the clean project was

2:03:37initiated in we received the grant in

2:03:392022. The work started in 2023 and where

2:03:43we are right now is we are finalizing

2:03:45that project and developing a

2:03:47comprehensive report out to the

2:03:48community of what was all accomplished

2:03:50within that project.

2:03:52>> Okay. So um to the chair um to the team

2:03:56here you've started it in some form or

2:04:00fashion through a grant that was um that

2:04:04we received and so as you are proposing

2:04:07now is to make it a part of the work of

2:04:10the department moving forward um with a

2:04:15renewal of every five years. Is that

2:04:18correct? through the chair to the

2:04:20council member. Yes, we would be looking

2:04:23at the health effects would be looked at

2:04:25every analyzed every five years um so

2:04:27that we're we're continually

2:04:29re-evaluating it. Um but there is a

2:04:31little bit of a separation between what

2:04:33we did with clean and sale clean and

2:04:35CLLE and what we're doing here is um I

2:04:37think they're complimentary work but

2:04:39this would be taking um what we're

2:04:42hoping to accomplish with their with

2:04:44affecting community health to a

2:04:46different level.

2:04:47And then um following up to the chair to

2:04:50the team. So looking at how

2:04:56when this is passed, how will the

2:05:00workload be different for our personnel

2:05:06and

2:05:08what is the investment necessary to do

2:05:11something like this that we are not

2:05:13accustomed technically of doing? uh

2:05:16through the chair to the council member.

2:05:17That's an excellent question. Um we

2:05:19don't want to propose something that

2:05:20we're unable to accomplish. One of the

2:05:22things and I'll just give you an

2:05:24examples of how we've been preparing for

2:05:25this. Um we have a staff member on my

2:05:28team that's a health outreach

2:05:29specialist. Their specific function is

2:05:31industry engagement. So what we've been

2:05:34working on are industry toolkits for

2:05:36things like idling and inspections and

2:05:38whatnot um to make it easier for them so

2:05:41to prevent violations. this individual,

2:05:44should this code code pass, they would

2:05:47be managing the air pollution mitigation

2:05:49fund. So they would be processing the

2:05:51grant applications and you know looking

2:05:54at the facilities getting the word out

2:05:55about this opportunity. So we've been

2:05:57preparing through this staff member.

2:06:00They're providing a great service right

2:06:01now and this would build on their work.

2:06:04Um we so we have a good team already in

2:06:07place that have been preparing to switch

2:06:10our workload to some of this

2:06:14Okay. Through the through the um through

2:06:18the chair to the team, I know you

2:06:20indicated that some of the team So give

2:06:23me an understanding of what type of team

2:06:27would be

2:06:29designed to actually do this work.

2:06:31That's what I'm trying to get understand

2:06:32because it's not necessarily clear.

2:06:34>> Yeah. Through the chair to the council

2:06:35member. Um I currently we currently have

2:06:38myself and seven other staff members on

2:06:40the outreach team. There's a program

2:06:42manager, three health outreach

2:06:44specialists, two enforcement

2:06:45specialists, and one indoor air quality

2:06:47specialist. The indoor air quality

2:06:49specialists, their work um will be

2:06:53consistent with what they've been doing,

2:06:55but they would also have the capacity to

2:06:56take on some of these additional

2:06:58components from this project. The two

2:07:00enforcement specialists, they currently

2:07:01respond to state of Ohio complaints and

2:07:04do state of Ohio inspections. I would

2:07:06likely shift their workload over so that

2:07:08they're focusing more a larger

2:07:10percentage of their time on city of

2:07:12Cleveland. The health outreach

2:07:15specialist who is currently doing

2:07:16industry engagement, they would be

2:07:18working on managing the grant

2:07:20applications. And then the other

2:07:22outreach specialist that we have that

2:07:23serve education components, um we would

2:07:26work with them to just to fill in those

2:07:29communication pieces that are needed.

2:07:34I will go I know I'm going to stop at

2:07:36this well no through the um I'm going to

2:07:38move on to a couple other places but I

2:07:42guess I would like to see if I guess

2:07:44once we get into operation hearings to

2:07:46really flesh this out more um because

2:07:48I'm trying to just really understand how

2:07:51we will be able to get quality work

2:07:53there. Um my next question is in regards

2:07:56to the air quality emission reduction

2:07:58fund. Um what is the proposed amount

2:08:02that you all are projecting to get when

2:08:06this is up and started?

2:08:07>> Uh through the chair to the council

2:08:08member, it's approximately 330,000 a

2:08:11year.

2:08:13Um and that would be for the grants

2:08:15themselves as well as administering the

2:08:16grants. and through the so when you talk

2:08:21about grants what do you for um foresee

2:08:26as the typical amount of

2:08:31the the type of work to do the

2:08:33improvements how do those um

2:08:39complement one another

2:08:41>> uh through the church

2:08:41>> or if they do or don't I I don't

2:08:44>> know what your

2:08:46>> through the church to council member.

2:08:48Um, so I think that there would be a

2:08:49couple there would be a tiered approach.

2:08:51So, um, so first there are would be

2:08:53small community grants available and so

2:08:55those would probably be smaller. I

2:08:56envision those probably in like the $5

2:08:57to $10,000 range. Um, potentially

2:09:01support something like the lawnmower

2:09:03rebate bro program as well. Um, for the

2:09:06business side of things though, that's

2:09:07where they would be potentially larger.

2:09:10Um, there is a program through the Ohio

2:09:12Development Air Quality Authority where

2:09:14they provide loans and small grant

2:09:16assistance to facilities. And so I see

2:09:19those being probably a little bit closer

2:09:21to like the $25,000 range. So that but

2:09:24what we would want to look at is the

2:09:27investment and then the emission

2:09:29mitigation potential. So per dollar of

2:09:32investment, what does that mean in terms

2:09:34of um emissions that are reduced?

2:09:40Okay. Um and then I will say the well um

2:09:44final two one is through the chair um to

2:09:47the team. Uh can you talk a little bit

2:09:49about the work um the work practice plan

2:09:53that's being like proposed and how we

2:09:56actually

2:09:57see it being communicated enforced held

2:10:01to a standard

2:10:04>> through the chair to the council member

2:10:05a work practice plan. These are just

2:10:07different activities or operations a

2:10:09facility might have to adopt. Um the way

2:10:11we have proposed it is that this would

2:10:14be something that we could require of a

2:10:16facility. I particularly see this during

2:10:18like nuisance complaints like odor and

2:10:20fugitive dust issues. Um the way this

2:10:22would work is that if this is a

2:10:24violation, if we do observe some issues

2:10:26going on at a facility, they they would

2:10:28be the ones that are developing the work

2:10:30practice plan. So they're telling us

2:10:31what they can do to resolve the issue.

2:10:34This is then a document that we have

2:10:36that is enforceable that they have

2:10:38submitted to us a work practice plan of

2:10:40how they're going to address these

2:10:41issues and then if the issues continue

2:10:43um past that point then we would be

2:10:46looking at that escalation of

2:10:47enforcement

2:10:48>> and then through the chair to the team

2:10:50what who would be responsible for

2:10:55enforcing this monitoring this

2:10:58>> through the chair to the council member.

2:10:59It'd be us. It'd be our enforcement

2:11:00specialists that are on our staff. the

2:11:02two.

2:11:03>> Yes.

2:11:07Okay.

2:11:09Okay. Um Okay. Thank you.

2:11:15>> Very good. Thank you, Councilman House.

2:11:16Jones. Uh Council Councilman Cowwell,

2:11:18>> thank you very much.

2:11:23I was listening to

2:11:26you're you're pretty good to the chair

2:11:28and u

2:11:31the push back

2:11:33because it's going to set a precedence

2:11:35also and the push back is your uh is

2:11:38your lobbyist from down state to the

2:11:41chair and uh once you push something

2:11:45like this here comes another here comes

2:11:47another here comes another piece of

2:11:49legislation. So, they're going to push

2:11:51back on it. So, what we have to do also

2:11:55uh is to find out when it's going on

2:11:58down state and then we we bring some

2:12:01people down there and um to speak on our

2:12:05behalf, you know, because the lobbyists

2:12:08are not they're going to speak on on the

2:12:09behalf of the uh big business. I mean,

2:12:12and that's just the truth. That's just

2:12:14how it goes because it's um down there

2:12:17they u they'll get to the state reps and

2:12:19the state senators and majority of the

2:12:22time um we're not down there and we're

2:12:25not down there to um to fight for

2:12:28legislation like this and um the other

2:12:31piece that I'm glad I was sitting back

2:12:33listening to uh to the chair tell you

2:12:36you're going to manage it but I'm not

2:12:38happy with the five years. So when you

2:12:40manage it, are you going to do through

2:12:42the chair pre-esting and post testing

2:12:45before the five years? Because one thing

2:12:48about policy, it can shift on you.

2:12:50Legislation can shift on you. As soon as

2:12:52we uh let's say we pass the legislation,

2:12:56it could shift the next day or whatever

2:12:57the case may be. But if you have

2:12:59pre-esting and post- testing, then

2:13:02you'll see the uh the outcome measures

2:13:04through the chair to the uh the

2:13:06commissioner, right?

2:13:09>> No.

2:13:10Okay.

2:13:13>> Okay. So, but you're doing a good job.

2:13:14You're doing a good job. You're

2:13:15narrating uh well, you're not looking at

2:13:18any notes. You studied it. You you

2:13:21prepared before you u came in front of

2:13:23the um the committee. I know you studied

2:13:25and everything. So, uh but going through

2:13:29five years. So, what kind of testing?

2:13:30You mentioned evaluation, but you didn't

2:13:32bring us anything. And then when the

2:13:34when the council person act uh talked

2:13:37about the workload and she wanted to

2:13:39know what um who's going to do what how

2:13:42you going to cross trainin people that's

2:13:45interior and the housing as well as the

2:13:47exterior and the outer scope of it. You

2:13:50don't have you you never talked about

2:13:51the workflow chart. Bring that when we

2:13:53do operations uh uh hearings through the

2:13:57chair to um I forgot your name. I'm

2:14:00sorry.

2:14:00>> Christina Yoka.

2:14:02>> Right. um bring that um when you come

2:14:04for the operations that need to happen,

2:14:06director, we need to be able to see

2:14:07something al also. But my question is uh

2:14:12let's say look at asthma on the east

2:14:14side. There's a lot of babies dealing

2:14:15with asthma there. So what about these

2:14:17stoves? The stoves are the corporate. I

2:14:20mean they're they're they're the villain

2:14:22as well through the chair.

2:14:24>> Through the chair to the council member

2:14:25>> gas stoves.

2:14:27>> Yeah, gas guest stoves. I know that that

2:14:28has been a big issue in recent years.

2:14:30there was a local program that had

2:14:32funding to swap out gas stoves for

2:14:35electric stoves. Um, unfortunately, I

2:14:38believe that funding was eliminated, so

2:14:40they no longer have that. Um, but you

2:14:43are correct that when cooking with a gas

2:14:46stove, it does release um a lot of

2:14:48pollutants into the home. So, it would

2:14:50be better either to have an electric

2:14:51stove or to have hoods so that those

2:14:54emissions are at least being removed

2:14:56from the household.

2:14:58Do we have any dollars there to uh

2:15:01Cleveland Housing Network, Cleveland

2:15:03Housing Network? They were uh that were

2:15:06administering the um gas stoves through

2:15:09the chair. Do we have any funding for

2:15:11that

2:15:12>> through the chair to the council member?

2:15:13Not at the moment. Um there is not any

2:15:16funding specifically for that.

2:15:19>> Well, do me a favor. Especially with the

2:15:22lawnmowers when people don't know

2:15:25if we we would had a let's say we had a

2:15:27risk analysis a risk lawnmowers uh uh uh

2:15:32uh gas stoves

2:15:35you give it to us. We can put it in our

2:15:38newsletters so we can let the residents

2:15:40know. Uh you're you're the supervisor

2:15:42over outreach. You can let us know. We

2:15:46constantly let people know. We let them

2:15:47know in the schools and we let other key

2:15:49stakeholders know if you guys can do

2:15:51that. Do you have one through the chair?

2:15:54>> Uh through the chair to the council

2:15:55member. Do we have a newsletter or do we

2:15:57have

2:15:57>> risk risk risk analysis?

2:15:59>> Oh, a risk analysis. Um so through the

2:16:01chair to the council member, we have a

2:16:02variety of reports that our epidemiology

2:16:04team have conducted around lung cancer,

2:16:06heart disease, and other health

2:16:08conditions. Um infant mortality. Um, but

2:16:11in terms of like the risk analysis,

2:16:13there's we have a lot of historical

2:16:15data, but this is something that we need

2:16:17to take a deeper dive into and that

2:16:19would be a part of the next step of this

2:16:21legislation is conducting that risk

2:16:24analysis so that we can have a better

2:16:26micro idea of what's going on within the

2:16:29neighborhoods.

2:16:30>> Yeah, because you could do the chair

2:16:31again. You can give that to us and we

2:16:34could put it in our newsletters at our

2:16:37community meetings. we could let them

2:16:39know about the risk

2:16:41>> and that will help out so we don't have

2:16:42so that way the mothers

2:16:44>> there or fathers

2:16:46>> fathers also father child bonding

2:16:48they're not walking with their children

2:16:51over the stove and and and that with the

2:16:54gas stove so they'll know because we

2:16:56have to know and I keep things down the

2:16:59other thing I think is a u is hurting us

2:17:02on the east side is well that summer

2:17:05sprout is a good thing also Because

2:17:07vegetation, we need to have that in the

2:17:10urban area. Vegetation and um the air

2:17:14the trees uh sometime we used to be for

2:17:17a city on the east side and uh many

2:17:20people have uh we let the trees die. We

2:17:22used to have a tree farm also. Did you

2:17:24guys know that?

2:17:25>> We had a tree farm in the city of

2:17:26Cleveland. We would go in and we we

2:17:28plant trees directly.

2:17:30>> Did you know? We had tree farms and we

2:17:33would um do that because of the air and

2:17:35the the skin cancer uh because we don't

2:17:38have it. If you drive

2:17:41um let's say in Glenville, my area I

2:17:43have Glennville, Columwood, University

2:17:45Circle and University Circle trees,

2:17:49there's trees there. They fight for the

2:17:51trees.

2:17:52>> When you cross Ashbury and go north, you

2:17:56have less trees. I noticed it during my

2:17:58walk and me and the director our two and

2:18:01a half hour walk you know I walked all

2:18:03the time we have less trees so we need

2:18:06trees that's very very important through

2:18:08the uh through the chair

2:18:11>> through the chair to the council member

2:18:13I I agree 100% that's where we have

2:18:15worked with organizations like the

2:18:16Cleveland Tree Coalition to host tree

2:18:18giveaways to residents we have actually

2:18:20one on Thursday night that's coming up

2:18:22um so we agree with you that those are

2:18:24good they're they provide such a value

2:18:26to the service both the mental health,

2:18:28physical health, they really do.

2:18:31>> So I we we're in agreement,

2:18:33>> right? So where is this tree giveaway?

2:18:35>> Um the tree giveaway, it's with us with

2:18:38new new pant CDC. Um so we can provide

2:18:42information and the details.

2:18:43>> That's on the west side. Is that

2:18:44correct? I have nothing against the west

2:18:46side, but we need that on the east side.

2:18:48We see the majority of the uh issues and

2:18:50concerns.

2:18:51>> I don't think that's west side.

2:18:53>> It's not west side. Let us know. um

2:18:55through the chair that was formerly I

2:18:56believe it was the Buckeye CDC

2:18:59>> east side. No, but I'm okay west side

2:19:02get it east side because as a city

2:19:03council member you really can't look at

2:19:06I mean we do it and I cringe

2:19:09>> when we look at just our wards but we're

2:19:11here writing policy and implementing

2:19:13policy that affects people that travel,

2:19:17work and live in the city of Cleveland.

2:19:20So I'm very very concerned about west

2:19:22side, east side, southeast side, all of

2:19:24that because you're a cle really you're

2:19:26a Cleveland city council member and you

2:19:28have to look at macro and not just

2:19:30micro. So I mean if it was there on the

2:19:33west side it is what it is but I needed

2:19:36um for my ward as well.

2:19:38>> So I'll talk with you about that and if

2:19:40I have to champion with the trees. Do

2:19:43you know a young lady named Cassie

2:19:44Pitman through the chair? She wants to

2:19:46come and uh narrate. She's from Case

2:19:50Western Reserve uh University and she's

2:19:53talking about um redlinining through um

2:19:56environmental uh research

2:19:59>> through the chair to the council member.

2:20:00I am not familiar with her, but I'd be

2:20:02happy to discuss chat with her.

2:20:03>> Yeah, I'll have her do it. Matter of

2:20:04fact, the director knows her also.

2:20:06Cassie Pitman.

2:20:08>> Yeah, she's coming here and she's going

2:20:10to narrate and she have her students.

2:20:12They're talking about the risk and the

2:20:14issues and concerns with the environment

2:20:17which is very important. Get us that

2:20:19risk analysis also because that way we

2:20:22can share it with our residents.

2:20:24>> What was the other one I wrote down?

2:20:26State

2:20:27>> health impact assessments. How you doing

2:20:30that?

2:20:30>> Yeah.

2:20:31>> Narrating that

2:20:32>> through the chair to the council member.

2:20:34There's the health impact assessment

2:20:36guidelines. um with this proposed

2:20:38amendment, they would be defined in the

2:20:40next stage of the legislation. Um but

2:20:42just as generally speaking, the way a

2:20:44health impact assessment is done is you

2:20:46look at existing health conditions, you

2:20:47look at population, you look at

2:20:48different environmental variables, you

2:20:50look at the specific proposed project,

2:20:52what does this project say it's going to

2:20:54do, who could potentially be affected,

2:20:57and then you bring this project to

2:20:59community members and you share it with

2:21:01them. and then you incorporate their

2:21:03comments and their feedback into

2:21:05whatever the project looks like. That's

2:21:07generally speaking what a health impact

2:21:09assessment looks like. Um, but what the

2:21:11amendment of this legislation proposes

2:21:14is that we will then take this

2:21:15information out to the affected

2:21:17stakeholders. So that's community

2:21:18advocates, that's industry, that's

2:21:20facilities, nonprofit organizations, and

2:21:23come up with which specific variables

2:21:24would be determined. What is going to be

2:21:27required on the health impact

2:21:28assessment? for example, how many times

2:21:30do you have to have a community meeting?

2:21:31Um, how many languages does the

2:21:34information need to be in? And they

2:21:35would help us define what those

2:21:37guidelines are. Um, and that would be

2:21:39the next piece of legislation subsequent

2:21:41to this. and we need you to um through

2:21:44the chair to uh

2:21:48I want to meet with you as well as with

2:21:50the director so we could look at other

2:21:51key stakeholders like like the schools

2:21:54>> as well because you know through the

2:21:56chair when you have children when they

2:21:58start thinking about um the environment

2:22:01then they'll tell their parents about

2:22:03the environment also and um it's just

2:22:06like well all you guys younger than me

2:22:10when when I was growing up the seat belt

2:22:12issue

2:22:13>> and um people would not put a seat belt

2:22:16on but it was the children who would

2:22:18tell their parents matter of fact it was

2:22:20my generation would tell their parents

2:22:22to buckle up.

2:22:23>> So when you reach out to the children in

2:22:27the schools then they would tell they

2:22:29would talk with them about the

2:22:31environment. Mommy daddy we need

2:22:33vegetation mommy and daddy we need trees

2:22:36all of that. through the chair to a

2:22:38council member. We um we actually do

2:22:39have a school engagement project program

2:22:42um where we lead them through different

2:22:43types of environmental initiatives. We

2:22:45have projects where students come up

2:22:46with their environmental question and

2:22:48like we talk to them about how to do the

2:22:50research around it. And we're also

2:22:52looking at how do we expand our antiink

2:22:54education campaign to schools.

2:22:56>> Well, you know what, duty chair uh uh

2:22:59councilwoman um Nikki Hudson is

2:23:01championing the summer sprouts. We could

2:23:04put that in the scope of the U summer

2:23:06sprouts as well because it's all

2:23:09teachable moments. I'll yield in a

2:23:10second, Mr. Chairman. That could be

2:23:12integrated in there. Do you do you think

2:23:14council woman? Of

2:23:16>> course. Anyway, we can bring kids into

2:23:20>> to cultivate it. I'll yield. I'll talk

2:23:22with you and the director um later.

2:23:24Thank you.

2:23:25>> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We're

2:23:28we're going to wrap up on this subject

2:23:29very shortly, but I first I I know I

2:23:31have to say I'm really glad to hear the

2:23:32federal EPA helped design your

2:23:34cumulative impact analysis. That was

2:23:36what what a level of credentiing that it

2:23:37sounds like. I'll have other questions

2:23:39on the odor regulation and declaring the

2:23:41uh air pollution alerts. I think that's

2:23:43fascinating and really important. My

2:23:44colleague, Mr. Jones, has some final

2:23:46questions and then we'll wrap up from

2:23:48here.

2:23:48>> And thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I will

2:23:50um be brief because I know that you have

2:23:52another piece and I know that there's

2:23:54another meeting after um after taking a

2:23:56closer look at the particular piece of

2:23:58legislation is quite a piece. And um and

2:24:02when I say quite a piece, I want to

2:24:04thank the chairman for uh allowing us to

2:24:07actually have the review here. And I

2:24:10want to thank him also for holding a

2:24:11piece of legislation so we can go over

2:24:13it again because there's so much that's

2:24:15here uh that we did not talk about uh

2:24:18and we did not even express. So the

2:24:21first question, Mr. Chairman, that I

2:24:22asked the director was um you know what

2:24:25the department budget was. So I found

2:24:27that out so he doesn't have to worry

2:24:28about what that is. Uh Mr. Chairman, we

2:24:31do have nine um people who work in the

2:24:33department. Is that correct? And Mr.

2:24:35Chairman, uh Mrs. Yo, Yoko. Did I say it

2:24:39right?

2:24:39>> Yoka.

2:24:40>> Yokas. Thank you for correcting me. Um,

2:24:43Mrs. Yoka talked about having additional

2:24:46staff uh with the Ohio EPA. How many

2:24:49staff people do we have uh in total

2:24:54>> through the uh chair? About 40 in the

2:24:57division. Um so about 30 are covered

2:25:00under the

2:25:00>> So we have 30 30 people in total.

2:25:03>> 40 about 40 in total.

2:25:04>> 40 in total. Mr. determined how many of

2:25:07these uh uh people are actual

2:25:09enforcement people

2:25:12>> through the chair um almost all of them

2:25:15are enforcement people monitoring

2:25:18permitting and enforcement.

2:25:20>> So so Mr. Chairman do we also and uh

2:25:24talking about blast furnaces because I

2:25:25know there's been a lot of changes a lot

2:25:27of um u particulars cut out of this

2:25:30particular piece of legislation. So, how

2:25:32are we handling um because we showed

2:25:34that map earlier and in that map it

2:25:36showed uh a a negative impact on the

2:25:39east side. Do we know, Mr. Chairman, to

2:25:41the director, what industries are

2:25:42located in those geographical areas that

2:25:45are contributing to this impact?

2:25:48>> Through the chair, to the council

2:25:50member, we do have very detailed lists

2:25:52of the facilities that are regulated

2:25:54within the city of Cleveland. Um and

2:25:56each are going to have different types

2:25:59of emissions and their different types

2:26:00of pollutants are going to have a

2:26:01different health effect. Um so we do

2:26:03have the the data of where

2:26:05>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can you give us

2:26:06a list of those uh businesses that are

2:26:09impacting us and then Mr. Chairman when

2:26:11we come to talk about the next

2:26:12presentation would like to really get

2:26:14into the the nitty-gritty and and and

2:26:17really take the jacket off here to

2:26:19really fundamentally look at how we do

2:26:20enforcement in the city of Cleveland.

2:26:22And Mr. Chairman, earlier in my

2:26:23testimony, I asked the director to um

2:26:27tell me what legal actions or remedies

2:26:30that we have went through or maybe have

2:26:33started going through to deal with that

2:26:35that disproportionate map that we saw of

2:26:38how negative the east side of the city

2:26:40of Cleveland was devastated and um

2:26:43knowing which industries are there. And

2:26:45then also, Mr. chairman. Um, do we have

2:26:47a ongoing map that shows uh, you know, a

2:26:51a a pattern um, so to speak, from one

2:26:55year to the next year, etc., etc. that

2:26:58you show earlier in your presentation?

2:27:01Have we gotten better, Mr. Chairman, to

2:27:04um, Miss Yoka, or have we gotten worse?

2:27:07through the chair to the council member.

2:27:09There's for the years that we have

2:27:12asthma data available, I would say it's

2:27:14been relatively consistent. I don't know

2:27:17that it's gotten worse and it hasn't

2:27:19really gotten better.

2:27:20>> And and then, Mr. Chairman, um would

2:27:22like to know of any legal remedies that

2:27:25were put in place. And then in here, you

2:27:27have fines and fees. Um so would like to

2:27:30have a listing of those fines and fees

2:27:32broken out. Um and then also, Mr.

2:27:35Chairman, um would you consider in this

2:27:37piece some of the highlighted pieces of

2:27:39the legislation? So why there's

2:27:41omissions and then giving explanations

2:27:43on those omissions uh as you have you

2:27:46know entire pages you've have kind of

2:27:48like crossed out would like to know why

2:27:50that was and and and kind of showing the

2:27:54differences and and what I'll do Mr.

2:27:55chairman just to help. I'll go through

2:27:57each one of these pieces and then I'll

2:27:59uh ask questions for each one and if you

2:28:01could make that available to me then

2:28:02that way I'll be be able to better

2:28:05understand why we're we're doing this

2:28:07and and Mr. Chairman what it really

2:28:09fundamentally comes down to is is why do

2:28:12we pay and why do we invest and then

2:28:16where is the progress because Mr. Mr.

2:28:18Chairman, when I sit here at this table,

2:28:19if we've been sitting here talking

2:28:20about, for an example, block grant money

2:28:22and then the failure of being able to

2:28:24use it, it seems like, and I'm using as

2:28:26an example, it seems like we shouldn't

2:28:28be keep languishing on the same issue uh

2:28:31one year in, one year out, one decade

2:28:33in, one decade out is still the same

2:28:35thing. So, it seems like, Mr. chairman,

2:28:37we're wasting money, time, energy, and

2:28:39at the same time, unfortunately, we have

2:28:41no legal remedies to deal with the

2:28:43negative, powerful, profound impact on

2:28:45people's health and the death that has

2:28:47happened in our communities based upon

2:28:49the failure of us to be able to hold

2:28:51accountable uh bad party players in our

2:28:54city. So, with that, thank you, Mr.

2:28:56Chairman.

2:28:56>> Thank you so much, Mr. Jones. Thank you

2:28:58so much for presenting today, Moka, Mr.

2:29:00Margolius. um the urgency, the need for

2:29:03progress, I think we all share and we're

2:29:04really excited to work together and

2:29:05again come back before the end of uh

2:29:07before the December recess to pass

2:29:09something. I think that has to be the

2:29:10imperative. Thank you all.

2:29:11>> So, November 30th, we'll well the next

2:29:13health committee will will

2:29:15>> there's committee the whole too. Just

2:29:16I'm going to put that out there though.

2:29:17We should

2:29:18>> we're close enough. Let's get this done.

2:29:19>> Okay,

2:29:20>> let's get it done. Next up, Home for

2:29:21Every Neighbor. I I know we have a

2:29:23chair's meeting at noon. I I'm going to

2:29:25stick around here just to wrap up this

2:29:27uh hearing. folks can go to the chair's

2:29:31meeting as they desire. I think it's

2:29:32just important to you guys waited so

2:29:34long. So, appreciate you all being here.

2:29:40>> All important stuff today.

2:29:42We appreciate uh your attention on these

2:29:44three really important issues. I mean,

2:29:46it's exciting for us to to talk about

2:29:48summer sprouts, air pollution. And as

2:29:50you've seen, we've been working on this

2:29:51a couple years, and this here is uh one

2:29:54of the prides of uh the Cleveland

2:29:56Department of Public Health, our home

2:29:57for every neighbor program. So, I'm

2:29:59going to turn it over to Liam Hagerty,

2:30:02the leader of this program, who will

2:30:03introduce his team uh either at the

2:30:06beginning or as it comes up in their

2:30:07presentation.

2:30:08>> Thank you, director. Through the chair,

2:30:10um I can introduce the team now, and

2:30:12some of us will present as well. So, to

2:30:14my left is Connor Merritt, who is the

2:30:16lead of our unit acquisition team. These

2:30:18are all public health employees. Uh with

2:30:20one exception to the left of Connor is

2:30:22Evan Garcia who is a fellow from the

2:30:25Cleveland Foundation who has joined us

2:30:26for the last uh few months and will be

2:30:28here through next July. And then at the

2:30:31end of the table is Lonnie Williams who

2:30:34is the project coordinator and leads our

2:30:36case management team,

2:30:39supervises the supportive services that

2:30:41we provide to folks. So I want to thank

2:30:43you all for the opportunity to be here

2:30:45today and to share the our work with the

2:30:47committee. and we have just a very brief

2:30:49presentation and and open to any and all

2:30:51questions. So, just wanted to give you

2:30:53some updates about where we are with the

2:30:54program. Uh, city council has been very

2:30:56supportive of this program from the

2:30:58start and we wanted to keep you updated

2:31:00on where we are. So, this is an

2:31:02initiative that began back in July of

2:31:042024 and to date we have now housed 225

2:31:08people directly from the street um

2:31:10through this program. Um, we have also

2:31:12been a pathway for some additional

2:31:14folks. You know, we had some folks who

2:31:16we did not house in the program, but you

2:31:18know, maybe they needed assistance with

2:31:19first month's rent or they had children

2:31:21who were living with a family, another

2:31:24family member temporarily. Um, and then

2:31:26once they moved in, once the parent

2:31:29moved into housing, the children would

2:31:30come live with the parent. So, in total,

2:31:32239 people have have received have had a

2:31:36pathway to housing through this program.

2:31:38Uh, we have worked at 77 campsites

2:31:40around the city of Cleveland and and

2:31:42closed all of them. and house the folks

2:31:44staying at them. We have housed at least

2:31:46one person from every single ward in the

2:31:49city. It's it's more than one person but

2:31:50at least one from every single ward in

2:31:52the city. Um you know we are continuing

2:31:55our work. So we have housed 41 people so

2:31:57far this year and we are on track to

2:31:58house another 21 in the next uh week or

2:32:02so. It's really I put two weeks but

2:32:04since I put this presentation together

2:32:06uh it's sped up and it will probably be

2:32:08in the next week or so that those other

2:32:1021 are housed. Um, just in terms of the

2:32:12speed that we work and the way in which

2:32:14we work, once we target a campsite, um,

2:32:16we're able to house folks in about 11

2:32:18calendar days from the the day that we

2:32:20do intake, 75% of the folks that we've

2:32:23worked with have been homeless for a

2:32:24year or longer. That's really been true

2:32:26from the start of the initiative. So, we

2:32:28continue to find housing for folks who

2:32:30really have not been served previously

2:32:32through any other program. Um, and you

2:32:34know, the way that this has played out

2:32:36across the city is, you know, a very

2:32:38significant reduction in in the

2:32:40unsheltered population, both anecdotally

2:32:42and datadriven analysis. Um, and then,

2:32:46you know, there really has been a

2:32:47virtual elimination of long-term

2:32:49campsites. It's not that there are no

2:32:50campsites in Cleveland anymore, but in

2:32:52terms of the fact that sites do not um

2:32:54exist for months on end, sometimes years

2:32:57on end. Um, not to say that we still

2:32:59don't have work to do, but that has been

2:33:01a a real result of the work. Um, and

2:33:04another thing that we're proud of is

2:33:05we're now now able to respond to

2:33:07outreach and housing requests quickly.

2:33:09So, just a couple examples, we are

2:33:11currently wrapping up work um at a site

2:33:14on 79th and Cedar, which is right on the

2:33:16border of W 5 and six, and then a site

2:33:18at Belmont Park, which is in W 12. And

2:33:20both of those sites were sites we we

2:33:22learned about less than a month ago, and

2:33:24we've already been able to house folks

2:33:26from those sites. So that's the speed

2:33:27that we hope we can continue to work. Uh

2:33:30the other update is just about the fact

2:33:31that this program is not just about

2:33:33housing. Um and in fact for those that

2:33:35have followed the program from the

2:33:36beginning, our pace of housing, as much

2:33:38as I feel like we're still working

2:33:39quickly, is is not the pace we were at

2:33:42initially. We housed 150 people in the

2:33:44first eight months of this program. Um

2:33:46and that housing surge allowed us to

2:33:48greatly reduce the population of the

2:33:50unsheltered homelessness in Cleveland.

2:33:52Um but then once we did that, we wanted

2:33:54to make sure folks stayed in housing.

2:33:55And so, you know, taking recommendations

2:33:57from council or hearing from folks in

2:33:59different wards. Um, just wanting to

2:34:01make sure we're doing the most that we

2:34:03can for our participants. And we've

2:34:05really focused on intensive supportive

2:34:08services. And so, just a quick overview

2:34:10of what that looks like. You know, once

2:34:12a participant moves into a unit, they

2:34:14meet with their housing navigator.

2:34:15Again, Lonnie is the person who

2:34:17supervises that team. Uh, but for the

2:34:19first 60 days of of their time in

2:34:21housing, they they get a visit every

2:34:23week. And for the next, you know, 61 to

2:34:26180 days, they get a visit every other

2:34:28week. And then for the last six months

2:34:30of the program, typically we're trying

2:34:32to meet once a month. Sometimes that

2:34:35needs to be increased if folks are still

2:34:36working on stabilizing and and need a

2:34:38little more intensive support, but we

2:34:40really frontload the support because we

2:34:42know that, you know, people are

2:34:43transitioning from homelessness into

2:34:45housing. They're transitioning from

2:34:46living in a tent or sleeping on the

2:34:48train all day to now sleeping in an

2:34:50apartment. And so learning all of those

2:34:52skills that come with with having a

2:34:54lease and being a good neighbor. So

2:34:57again, by having folks see our our

2:34:59participants pretty regularly, that

2:35:01helps us focus on stabilization issues,

2:35:03making sure folks are good neighbors,

2:35:05respond to concerns from landlords or or

2:35:07neighbors about um our participants and

2:35:10and uh the way in which they're living

2:35:12in their units. And you know, coming

2:35:14with not just showing up every week,

2:35:16it's also trying to deliver some

2:35:17important services. So within 90 days,

2:35:19we work to make sure that our

2:35:21participants have all of their

2:35:22identifying documents. And within six

2:35:24months, the the goal is that all of our

2:35:26participants would be linked with the

2:35:28appropriate behavioral health, medical

2:35:30health, um substance treatment,

2:35:33substance misuse treatment, peer

2:35:34support. Um if they're not signed up for

2:35:37medical insurance, that we get them

2:35:38signed up. If they're not signed up for

2:35:40some type of income, whether that's, you

2:35:41know, a different benefit program,

2:35:43social security, getting them connected

2:35:45to workforce development and working.

2:35:47You know, some of our folks are working

2:35:48from the beginning, but what whatever

2:35:50place they're in, our goal is to get

2:35:51them to a place that they will be able

2:35:53to come off our subsidy and still remain

2:35:56housed and still remain successful. Um,

2:35:58and you know, by six months, again, they

2:36:00should have developed a plan for where

2:36:03they're going to go after we stop paying

2:36:05their rent. Um, so that, you know, they

2:36:06have long-term success. And I'll I'll

2:36:08hand it over now to Connor so we can

2:36:10talk a little bit more about how these

2:36:13services have played out in our service

2:36:14delivery and and more about our program.

2:36:16Uh good morning everybody. Just to

2:36:19highlight a little bit on our outcomes,

2:36:22we've had 159 participants graduate from

2:36:25the Home for Every Neighbor program. 35%

2:36:28of those folks transition to Eden

2:36:31permanent supportive housing or a

2:36:34different CHA voucher. 18% secured a

2:36:38different transitional housing

2:36:39opportunity. So that would be a

2:36:41residential treatment facility, a

2:36:43rooming house for example. and 10% of

2:36:45our participants uh self-resolved.

2:36:48Uh we are really proud of the services

2:36:51we've been able to provide. Almost 90%

2:36:54of all of our participants have obtained

2:36:56their documentation and 78% of our

2:36:59participants have obtained medical

2:37:00insurance. Um, as Leah mentioned, our

2:37:03approach to case management really

2:37:05focuses on the fact that our population

2:37:08has a lot of specialized needs. And so

2:37:10we encourage our case managers to

2:37:13connect our participants where

2:37:14appropriate to those outside agencies.

2:37:17And so 84% of our participants have been

2:37:20connected to some other outside agency,

2:37:22whether that's medical care, behavioral

2:37:24health, peer support, addiction

2:37:26treatment, etc. Um almost half of our

2:37:29participants are engaged in workforce

2:37:31development or some sort of employment.

2:37:34And just as a fun fact, over 10 animals

2:37:37have been connected to veterinary or pet

2:37:39care services.

2:37:42Um one of the ways the Home for Every

2:37:44Neighbor program has really grown um is

2:37:46in our approach to landlord engagement.

2:37:49Um so we currently have 27 firms that

2:37:52provide housing for our our program. Um,

2:37:55and over half of those firms have

2:37:56multiple units with the Home for Every

2:37:58Neighbor program. And I think that's

2:38:00indicative of the type of partnership

2:38:02we're trying to have with these firms.

2:38:04We're trying to build relationships that

2:38:06we can leverage to increase housing

2:38:08access for our folks. And as a

2:38:10consequence, we have made over 200 units

2:38:13available to individuals experiencing

2:38:15unsheltered homelessness. And we're

2:38:17really proud to say that there's not one

2:38:19neighborhood in the city of Cleveland

2:38:20that has a significant concentration of

2:38:23our units. Um, in fact, the neighborhood

2:38:25with the highest concentration of those

2:38:27200 units only constitutes to about 8%

2:38:31or 9% rather of our entire portfolio.

2:38:34Um, and our average rental cost is um,

2:38:38you know, well within the fair market

2:38:39rates for the city of Cleveland. We have

2:38:411,100 for a one-bedroom and,300 um, for

2:38:44a two-bedroom. And as we continue to

2:38:47interact with the private rental market,

2:38:49we are of course running into many of

2:38:51the frustrations that residents

2:38:53interacting with the market um

2:38:55encounter. And so we've been really

2:38:56clear in being able to share information

2:38:58about landlord responsiveness and

2:39:00performance with our outside partners as

2:39:02our participants hope to get other

2:39:04vouchers. Um, we've really relied on the

2:39:06assistance of Evan Garcia here to help

2:39:09um, identify code violations and

2:39:11identify when landlords are going out of

2:39:13compliance and so we can work with them

2:39:15to address quickly. Um, and we have a

2:39:17really strong relationship with Legal

2:39:19Aid as well as the Northeast Ohio

2:39:20Coalition for the Homeless and we can

2:39:22connect participants to those legal and

2:39:24tenant advocacy resources when

2:39:26appropriate.

2:39:31And then just in closing, just kind of

2:39:33talking about the the future of the

2:39:35program and and our hopes and and kind

2:39:37of goals as we look um into the rest of

2:39:41this calendar year, but also into next

2:39:42year. You know, we will continue our

2:39:45core mission, which is to engage folks

2:39:47living in encampments that are

2:39:48unsheltered in the city. And so, you

2:39:51know, we we have a workflow that works

2:39:52for that. And so, we will continue to do

2:39:54that. But the thing that we've also

2:39:56learned um or at least

2:39:59shifted our focus a little bit is that

2:40:02there is a significant

2:40:04subpop within the unsheltered

2:40:07homelessness community of folks who may

2:40:09not stay in an encampment long term, but

2:40:12that doesn't mean that they're not

2:40:13unsheltered. What that usually means is

2:40:15they're sleeping in their car. They are

2:40:17sleeping on the RTA all day. Um they're

2:40:20sleeping in one doorway one night,

2:40:21another doorway the next night, maybe

2:40:23staying at a friend's house for a few

2:40:24days and then back outside. Um, while

2:40:29that can be anyone experiencing

2:40:30unsheltered homelessness, the the more

2:40:33typical person that fits into that

2:40:35description is someone who is a youth or

2:40:37young adult, so 18 to 24 years old, as

2:40:40well as folks um who identify as LGBTQ.

2:40:43And so because of that, we have um

2:40:45started a partnership with an

2:40:47organization called A Place for Me. Uh

2:40:49they used to be part of the YW.C.A. and

2:40:51now they're their own separate

2:40:52organization. They provide supportive

2:40:54services and case management to folks 18

2:40:57to 24 who are at risk of or fa or

2:41:00experiencing homelessness. And then the

2:41:02LGBT center which provides a lot of

2:41:04services not just around housing. Um but

2:41:07both of those organizations have helped

2:41:09us identify folks that they know who are

2:41:12experiencing unsheltered homelessness

2:41:13but may not be in an encampment. And one

2:41:16of the the uh special parts of the

2:41:18connection with a place for me is their

2:41:21case managers case managers will

2:41:24continue to work with the clients they

2:41:26refer to us even after we house them

2:41:28which means that doesn't add to the case

2:41:30load of our team. It allows our dollars

2:41:31to go farther because we're providing

2:41:33the subsidy without also having to

2:41:34provide the supportive services. So it

2:41:36allows us to house more people without

2:41:38asking for more money. Um, and then in

2:41:41terms of the LGBT center, um, you know,

2:41:43folks would spend all day at the center

2:41:45because it's a place they feel safe

2:41:46during the day and then they have to

2:41:48find some place each night, but it's

2:41:49typically, like I said, not an

2:41:51encampment, but it doesn't mean that

2:41:52they're not riding the train all day

2:41:54when they're not at our not at the

2:41:56center. So, there's still folks who this

2:41:57program was designed to serve. We're

2:42:00just taking the extra step to make sure

2:42:01we can find them. And as we head towards

2:42:03the the winter, um, as I said, we will

2:42:06continue to engage encampments, continue

2:42:08to house folks and work in collaboration

2:42:11with the seasonal shelter providers to

2:42:12make sure there's nobody spending a

2:42:14night outside in Cleveland over the

2:42:16winter. Um, and happy to take any and

2:42:19all questions. Again, thanks for the

2:42:20time.

2:42:21>> That's beautiful. I I'll take the

2:42:22prerogative to speak last on this, but

2:42:24so Councilman Conwell, you're up first.

2:42:32I like the way you uh you gave us uh

2:42:38this is good. The data director uh you

2:42:41know they gave us uh you know evaluation

2:42:45processes in here and their goals what

2:42:48they were um doing and um objectives. I

2:42:53like that. And uh other people uh way to

2:42:58look at the way they just narrated this

2:43:00and had this lined up is it's is very

2:43:03very good. I like that. And the

2:43:04presentation is very great also. So it

2:43:07killed some of my questions I was going

2:43:09to ask you guys. I want to meet um

2:43:12director with the um you're you're the

2:43:15director of homes right for every Yeah.

2:43:17I want to um meet with you. I don't want

2:43:20to visit the sites because I believe in

2:43:23u confidentiality.

2:43:26You know, you don't want to be walking

2:43:27in their apartments and looking around

2:43:30and to to see those things. I mean, you

2:43:32got case management. You'll take care of

2:43:34that through the chair. You'll you'll do

2:43:36that anyway. And before we come, you'll

2:43:38let us see the numbers. And um and but

2:43:41if we do, we'll probably just pass by

2:43:45it. and that because they want to keep

2:43:47their I mean you want to keep that

2:43:49self-esteem and those kind of things. So

2:43:52so through the chair do you as the case

2:43:54manager uh you do an individual service

2:43:58plan with each and every uh one of the

2:44:02uh the people that come in? How many

2:44:04people you say you have in there now

2:44:06>> through the chair?

2:44:09>> Are you saying how many uh case managers

2:44:11do we have?

2:44:11>> No, not not just case managers. So it's

2:44:14not one size fit all.

2:44:16>> Absolutely.

2:44:16>> You have some that have other issues and

2:44:18concerns. So I'm saying you you have to

2:44:22do an individual

2:44:24service plan and through the chair. Do

2:44:26you do that as the case manager?

2:44:29>> Yes, we do. So I I manage a team right

2:44:31now. We have uh four um we call them

2:44:35navigators, but they do they provide

2:44:37case management services and we have a

2:44:39contracted navigator as well. uh and

2:44:42what their role is. Okay, what their

2:44:44role is and when meeting with our

2:44:46participants, we assess their their

2:44:49entire situation. Um you know, do they

2:44:52you know, what are their needs right off

2:44:53the bat uh just their basic needs number

2:44:56one and then we're assessing uh as best

2:44:59we can uh because a lot of this is

2:45:02self-report. So are we assessing their

2:45:04mental health needs, we're assessing

2:45:05their um do they have any physical um

2:45:09barriers? uh we're accessing their

2:45:11ability to uh be able to gain uh find

2:45:15employment, things like that. And then

2:45:17it's the navigator's role throughout

2:45:19that throughout the year to connect our

2:45:22participants with those necessary

2:45:24services. So it's it happens right at

2:45:28the encampment when we're doing our

2:45:30intake. Uh we're gathering that

2:45:32information and we're planning uh from

2:45:34day one on how to, you know, address

2:45:36those uh those needs.

2:45:38>> I like that. And and I like what um your

2:45:41director mentioned also um sorry I can't

2:45:44remember everyone names but um how you

2:45:47stabilizing them

2:45:49>> you know and I see when you get them

2:45:51their uh birth certificates as well as

2:45:54their um driver's license you you

2:45:57knocking down barriers to employment so

2:45:59that they can get uh jobs and they can

2:46:02master their own destiny. So I like that

2:46:04as well. So you're knocking those things

2:46:05down. You stabilizing them. You you

2:46:08connect them to other key stakeholders

2:46:10that they need and you're navigating

2:46:12them and they're going to be there for

2:46:14how long

2:46:15>> through the chair.

2:46:16>> The how long are the navigators going to

2:46:18work? We're we're

2:46:18>> working the navigator the participants

2:46:20the participants

2:46:21>> that they're uh our our program length

2:46:25ideal program length is uh 12 months for

2:46:27the subsidy. uh but we have extended um

2:46:31you know when we found that there's need

2:46:33there there are instances where uh 12

2:46:35months has not been long enough and so

2:46:37you know we're not in the business of

2:46:39unhousing people so uh we'll continue to

2:46:41work with them until you know they have

2:46:43a viable uh and sustainable housing plan

2:46:46afterward

2:46:46>> you know what I would do and I'll yield

2:46:48after this um and director this what I

2:46:52would do

2:46:54um if you had a uh when they complete

2:46:59the pro their program if you had an

2:47:02alumni group that they're successful and

2:47:07this person is successful and then um

2:47:10let's say you had 12 or 14 people in

2:47:13alumni group sometime that case manager

2:47:18might become stale but if you had Kevin

2:47:21who was successful that's working for Al

2:47:24Cole now or he or or she there in

2:47:27college, whatever the case may be, that

2:47:30alumni group will could come back and

2:47:32help to pull them in in that direction

2:47:36where they need to go. And that that's

2:47:38what thing I'm saying

2:47:40>> through the chair. I I appreciate that

2:47:42uh suggestion, Councilman. Uh one note

2:47:45is that we do try to incorporate folks

2:47:48with lived experience of homelessness on

2:47:49our team so that we do have folks who

2:47:51have been through it before. We utilize

2:47:53a lot of peer supporters and that

2:47:55organization a place for me that I

2:47:57mentioned. Uh their core model is that

2:47:59their case workers, their navigators are

2:48:02folks who have lived experience. So

2:48:04we're trying to incorporate that

2:48:05already, but I appreciate the suggestion

2:48:08as a way to continue to kind of build a

2:48:10network for folks.

2:48:11>> And I yield since you're doing that. And

2:48:13I like the um presentation. I like um so

2:48:17you do pre-esting and post- testing as

2:48:19well.

2:48:21Okay. Now, so with your evaluation,

2:48:25because you know a good evaluation, you

2:48:27could sell a good evaluation and you

2:48:29could get other funding. Have you looked

2:48:31at that

2:48:33uh through the chair? A couple of the

2:48:35things we have had Connor as well as now

2:48:38Evan as a fellow and we've also

2:48:39partnered with case and um with uh is

2:48:43looking at some of the public health

2:48:44outcomes of housing in terms of the

2:48:46results that simply housing someone can

2:48:48can play in terms of all of their other

2:48:51social determinance of health and the

2:48:52the the different uh aspects that the

2:48:55program can bring. So yes, we are we're

2:48:57we're doing that and we're continually

2:48:58evaluating the best way to measure

2:49:00success. For the sake of time,

2:49:02management, I yield. I got to I need to

2:49:04get some more.

2:49:06>> Thank you very much, uh, Mr. Chairman

2:49:08and I'll remind folks that we are a

2:49:09little overdue for the chairman's

2:49:11meeting. So, um, we're going to do our

2:49:13best to get through this, but next up is

2:49:14Councilman Jones.

2:49:15>> Thank you, Mr.

2:49:18I want to be in that meeting as well.

2:49:20Um, one of the things is is that I

2:49:22wanted to ask is that is 63%

2:49:26of the people that have been placed,

2:49:28what happened to the other 37%

2:49:32through the chair. Yes, thank you for

2:49:33that question. So, um you know, we've

2:49:35had some folks who um have I think we

2:49:40put self-resolved on the

2:49:41>> I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

2:49:42>> I think we had self-resolved on the the

2:49:45slide.

2:49:45>> You're saying they're self-resolved. So,

2:49:47we had that on the slide. We've had some

2:49:48folks who we've simply uh lost uh

2:49:51contact with, but they have not

2:49:53reemerged into the homeless system. So

2:49:56in terms of folks that have actually

2:49:58definitively returned to homelessness,

2:50:00our number is around 8 to 10%.

2:50:02>> So we really don't know.

2:50:03>> Well, for for about 20% of the folks,

2:50:06you know, they've they've stopped

2:50:07engaging.

2:50:07>> I know, but we really don't know. You

2:50:09just presuming here with the table. So

2:50:11I'm if you you either know, Mr.

2:50:13Chairman, um or you just don't know.

2:50:15>> Yes. Through the chair.

2:50:16>> So just say I just don't know

2:50:17>> for about

2:50:18>> and then that way it helps me to go with

2:50:20the next level questioning. So Mr.

2:50:22Chairman, let me ask this question. you

2:50:24got 27 firms. So, Mr. Chairman, uh to

2:50:27the director, the 27 firms, uh can you

2:50:29make or provide a list for us where

2:50:31those who those people are?

2:50:33>> Uh through the through the chair, uh

2:50:35it's 27 property management firms that

2:50:38we partner with. Um we have I believe

2:50:41currently right now we are paying rent

2:50:45currently right now we have about a 100

2:50:48units that we have in our portfolio.

2:50:50>> Right. So the question Mr. chairman is

2:50:52just knowing who what list who who we're

2:50:55working with. So

2:50:56>> if you could make that available, Mr.

2:50:58Chairman, to the distinguished

2:50:59gentleman, I'd be appreciative.

2:51:00>> Of course. Of course.

2:51:01>> Okay. So now the next the next question

2:51:03is um I I saw the the the cost there um

2:51:07on on the piece and um and and I just

2:51:11want to because I had an opportunity,

2:51:13Mr. chairman um to the director to kind

2:51:15of like touch into this a little bit at

2:51:17one point in time. And I was very

2:51:19disappointed and I was disappointed at

2:51:23the fact that the city was on the hook

2:51:26for damages that these people did in

2:51:29these particular units. And um some of

2:51:33just absolutely to me just didn't make

2:51:35any sense. You knew what they were doing

2:51:37was damaging the facility. You it just

2:51:40obvious damage that was done. How do we

2:51:42deal with fundamentally, you know, on

2:51:45the city's dime um dealing with

2:51:48difficult people who destructively

2:51:51uh destroy the floors, destroy the home,

2:51:54and tear up these units that put us on

2:51:58the

2:52:01space of being accountable to it or

2:52:03having to remedy it by paying for it?

2:52:05>> Uh, sure. through the chair and I'll let

2:52:07uh my coworker Lonnie dive into more of

2:52:09the case management uh technicalities,

2:52:11but just to answer your question, you

2:52:13know, we the lease is between the

2:52:16participant and the property management

2:52:18firm. The property management firm does

2:52:20sign an agreement to participate in our

2:52:23program, but there's no legal document

2:52:26at any point that the city signs that

2:52:29says that we are on the hook for

2:52:31damages. There are certain cases in

2:52:34which, you know, we want to preserve a

2:52:35property management relationship. We

2:52:37might say, "Hey, after you deduct from

2:52:39the deposit, maybe we can try to work

2:52:41something out and we'll make that unit

2:52:43available to another participant." But

2:52:45there's nothing actually legally making

2:52:47us accountable to this.

2:52:48>> And I guess the question would be, and I

2:52:50don't want to labor this because I don't

2:52:52want any extra comments because I want

2:52:54to get to the next piece real quick, of

2:52:55course.

2:52:55>> And so, so the issue is is that we have

2:52:58paid um and so on that side of it, Mr.

2:53:01chairman to the director. I appreciate

2:53:03you know um just being a organization

2:53:07institution of our word. Um one of the

2:53:09things that are concerned to me is

2:53:11participants who have an opportunity to

2:53:14be in a nice facility to be in a nice

2:53:16place. Um we need to be able to set the

2:53:18tone that we can't have you uh being as

2:53:21destructive. And then there's families,

2:53:23Mr. Chairman, to the director who don't

2:53:25don't have homes. And there's a lot of

2:53:27people who are out there homeless that

2:53:28if given the same opportunities, they

2:53:30will be absolutely appreciative of the

2:53:33environment that they have been given to

2:53:34move off the streets uh and and to have

2:53:37a warm, safe place to stay. So, so, Mr.

2:53:40Chairman, I think that at some point we

2:53:42should have some kind of, you know, and

2:53:43I believe we do. Um, and we can talk

2:53:45offset where there's some some

2:53:47guidelines for those people who do we do

2:53:50pull off the streets that they take care

2:53:52of these properties uh that they take

2:53:54care of these facilities that they don't

2:53:55they're not all wild and destructive as

2:53:58some of these facilities I've had an

2:54:00opportunity to take a look at. Moving

2:54:02on, Mr. Chairman, um, are we using ARPA

2:54:06funds still on this program

2:54:07>> through the chair? No.

2:54:09>> Okay. So, so how much money are we

2:54:11spending on this program, Mr. Chairman

2:54:12to director?

2:54:14uh through the chair the the allocation

2:54:18uh general fund allocation is 1.9

2:54:19million annually.

2:54:23>> You say it's 1.9 million.

2:54:25>> Yes. Okay. And then Mr. Chairman um I've

2:54:30had the opportunity to go to some

2:54:32homeless shelters and some of the

2:54:34conditions and are deplorable and Mr.

2:54:38Chairman, I would ask, you know, um, in

2:54:42particular, you know, I know that

2:54:44funding has been cut from the county to

2:54:46some of these programs and I know one of

2:54:48the programs and this at some point, Mr.

2:54:50Chairman, if we could really talk about

2:54:52the homeless problem in downtown. Um, we

2:54:55we have an issue. Uh, it's a major

2:54:58problem. Uh, I'm not the only person

2:55:00talking about it. There are others who

2:55:02are talking about it. It seems like it's

2:55:04it's unraveling. It's gotten out of hand

2:55:06for the last 5 years.

2:55:08um different business owners who still

2:55:10remain in the downtown area are

2:55:12concerned about it. And I've had even an

2:55:15event I went to the other night which

2:55:16was a fundraiser talking about uh the

2:55:19environment and why they chose one

2:55:21location versus another location to have

2:55:23a actual fundraiser in downtown. So my

2:55:27question would be Mr. determine um to

2:55:30the director um what are we doing with

2:55:32the lakeside site um and has it is it

2:55:35overpop populated uh can we find some

2:55:38other sites or are we looking at other

2:55:40locations um and then lastly are we

2:55:44getting more people who are homeless now

2:55:45than when we've have in the past is the

2:55:47number growing or is it lesser Mr.

2:55:50chairman to the distinguished gentleman

2:55:53>> uh through the chair um

2:55:56you know so just as an important

2:55:58distinction is that this program is

2:55:59working with folks who are homeless and

2:56:02unsheltered so they are not staying in

2:56:04homeless shelters they are sleeping

2:56:05outside so to the comment about the

2:56:08population I think we both anecdotally

2:56:11and uh with data can show that there are

2:56:14less people sleeping outside in the city

2:56:16right now

2:56:16>> so there's the decrease however I would

2:56:19say that the entire home I don't want to

2:56:23make that statement to then come off

2:56:26that the homeless population is

2:56:28decreasing in general because we see

2:56:29significant cuts to the safety net to

2:56:31rental assistance higher cost of living.

2:56:34So I think there's a lot of indicators

2:56:36that the homeless population is growing

2:56:37but in terms of the unsheltered

2:56:39population in Cleveland I think that

2:56:41that has decreased uh measurably because

2:56:44of this program. I think when it comes

2:56:46to, you know, the homeless problem

2:56:48downtown, so to speak, um, again,

2:56:51there's a distinction between folks who

2:56:53are sleeping downtown on the city

2:56:55streets versus folks who are sleeping in

2:56:57a homeless shelter and then spending the

2:56:58day downtown because the shelter asked

2:57:01them to leave in the morning. And so I

2:57:02think they're two different things. Um,

2:57:04and folks do have a right to to be

2:57:06downtown during the day. So, or during

2:57:09the night, it's a public space. But in

2:57:10terms of that question, I think it's an

2:57:13important distinction. And additionally,

2:57:15uh, and you know, if the director would

2:57:16like to comment as well, but you know,

2:57:182100 Lakeside is really under the

2:57:20purview of the office of homeless

2:57:22services, which is county government.

2:57:23And so I don't think there is

2:57:25necessarily a space for the health

2:57:28department to talk about homeless

2:57:30services and how that shelter is being

2:57:32operated by the county government.

2:57:34>> Well, the reason why I asked and the

2:57:36basic question was, and I know you you

2:57:39kind of got in there and wanted to edit

2:57:40up a little bit. Let me just share this

2:57:42because this is significantly important.

2:57:44And the question was, are we increasing

2:57:46or decreasing? And that was the actual

2:57:49question. And so your response is no

2:57:53response.

2:57:55>> Uh through the chair again, my response

2:57:57is that I think there are a significant

2:57:59less number of people that are homeless

2:58:02living on the streets of Cleveland. But

2:58:03in terms of the general population, I

2:58:06don't think there is uh I don't know

2:58:08those numbers off the top of my head as

2:58:10I don't work at the shelter, but I don't

2:58:12think the shelter has seen a decrease in

2:58:14population of people accessing shelter

2:58:16services.

2:58:16>> And so if I wanted to get your services

2:58:18from my neighborhood because I've never

2:58:20called you um how would you help me?

2:58:24>> Uh through the chair, we would be very

2:58:26happy to help any folks that are

2:58:28unsheltered in your neighborhood. I've

2:58:29called before once and you wasn't the

2:58:31person and I didn't get any help. Not

2:58:33only did I call once, but I called three

2:58:35times and didn't get any assistance. I

2:58:37don't know if this is the same program

2:58:38or you're the same person that was doing

2:58:40the homeless piece at that particular

2:58:42period of time, but there was a young

2:58:43lady who we received ARPA funds to help

2:58:46with the homeless situation. And I'm not

2:58:48sure if she's still in existence, but I

2:58:50caught her three separate occasions and

2:58:51wasn't unable to really get any

2:58:53assistance from her for a homeless group

2:58:55that had camped out in my neighborhood.

2:58:58Well, again, I would be hap through the

2:59:00chair councilman, I would be happy to

2:59:02have that conversation with you to

2:59:04figure out how we can get out to those

2:59:05folks. As I mentioned at the beginning,

2:59:07we've housed someone from every ward and

2:59:08so we are trying to be all over the

2:59:10city. So, if there's folks in your ward

2:59:12we haven't gotten to yet, again, we want

2:59:14to know. One of the challenges about

2:59:15unsheltered homelessness is folks are

2:59:18not on the radar because they're not,

2:59:20you know, signing in at a shelter every

2:59:21day. They're staying in an abandoned

2:59:23building or sleeping in their car. So,

2:59:25our efforts are to try to find those

2:59:26folks and and we rely on council and,

2:59:29you know, other members of of the city,

2:59:31whether it's police or first responders

2:59:34who find out about someone to let us

2:59:35know. So, I'd be happy to have that

2:59:36conversation

2:59:37>> and and thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the

2:59:38work that you guys do down there. Den,

2:59:40when I sit here at this table and I hear

2:59:42you talk about 1.9 million and over 200

2:59:45units and I make a phone call over to

2:59:47one of you guys, I would hope that we

2:59:49will also have the opportunity to be

2:59:51able to to tap into those services as

2:59:54well. And I think that we do, Mr.

2:59:56Chairman, to uh the director, have a

2:59:58problem uh with what's happening

3:00:00downtown. Whether you want to look at it

3:00:02one way or look at it the other way,

3:00:04it's an issue and it's an issue that

3:00:06needs to be resolved. It's an issue that

3:00:08had been talked about and discussed in

3:00:10the '9s and now it's rearing its head

3:00:12back again and it's causing problems for

3:00:15for resources and people who want to

3:00:17come down to the city of Cleveland and

3:00:19be utilize the city. So, um without

3:00:22being accustomed. So, so Mr. Chairman, I

3:00:25just share that information to you,

3:00:27director, that it is an ongoing issue.

3:00:30Um, and um, I'm a council person that's

3:00:33been sitting here at the table for a

3:00:34while, and I heard my colleague, Carrie

3:00:36McCormack, constantly talk about

3:00:38downtown being one of the engines that

3:00:40helped to provide the funding for the

3:00:42rest of the city of Cleveland. So, I

3:00:44think that what's important is we have

3:00:45to make sure that everyone gets have an

3:00:48opportunity, but at the same time, we

3:00:50have to make sure that we're funding.

3:00:52and I know that the county is funding

3:00:54that, but I am concerned about how we

3:00:56work as a city to make sure that people

3:01:00who are homeless have all the amenities

3:01:01possible. Thank you.

3:01:03>> Thank you, Councilman Jones. Very well

3:01:05taken. Uh, Councilwoman Hudson,

3:01:09>> thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you all

3:01:10for being here today. Um, I appreciate

3:01:13um the work that you've done. I I've

3:01:16reached out to you recently about some

3:01:18um encampments in in in Ward 11. and and

3:01:23W 12 across the street from W 11. And I

3:01:26I I appreciate your attention to those.

3:01:28Um can can you kind of just walk me

3:01:31through what some of the barriers are to

3:01:34getting folks housing?

3:01:39>> Um sure. Through the chair, um I think

3:01:42many of the most common barriers are

3:01:44lack of identification. A lot of

3:01:46individuals don't have their necessary

3:01:49identifying documents. Um but we also

3:01:51see individuals who have um you know

3:01:55open warrants. We have people who are

3:01:57charged for you know public consumption

3:02:00of alcohol um but they have nowhere

3:02:02privately to consume it. Um and so those

3:02:04become barriers. These kind of charges

3:02:07that they acrue just by nature of being

3:02:10unsheltered. Um those really become

3:02:12significant barriers for our folks. But

3:02:14of course the um you know I think one of

3:02:17the biggest ones is we have landlords

3:02:19and property managers tell us uh nearly

3:02:22every week that certain properties or

3:02:25certain neighborhoods are you know

3:02:26completely off limits for our folks

3:02:29completely off limits for any voucher

3:02:31tenant in the city. um and shutting off

3:02:34entire swasts of the city is is really a

3:02:37barrier to folks who want to be close to

3:02:39family, who want to be close to

3:02:40employment, who want to be close to

3:02:42resources, but we can't make that happen

3:02:44for them because of those firms. So, I

3:02:46would say that those are just a a high

3:02:48level overview of some of the biggest

3:02:50barriers.

3:02:51>> Okay. Thank you. And do you through the

3:02:53chair, do you have the capacity to house

3:02:57every um unsheltered person that you um

3:03:00encounter? So through the chair and just

3:03:02to

3:03:03>> I'd like to just add a little bit to

3:03:05that uh about barriers. Um

3:03:08>> these are not barriers per se. Um but a

3:03:11lot of times some of the assistance

3:03:12traditional assistance programs that

3:03:14exist to help folks exit homelessness

3:03:15are pretty prescriptive in the types of

3:03:17units or what households look like. So,

3:03:20our program is designed to have

3:03:22participants identify what their

3:03:24household looks like and then we find

3:03:26units that match that need as opposed to

3:03:29you need to be a single adult, you need

3:03:30to not have any pets, you need to not,

3:03:32you know, want to live with your

3:03:33friends. And so, I think that's also a

3:03:35barrier, not in the sense that someone

3:03:37wouldn't rent to them, but that they

3:03:38can't get assisted that matches their

3:03:40need. Um, in terms of capacity, you

3:03:42know, as I said, we've we've housed, I

3:03:44think, 41

3:03:48people so far and on track to house

3:03:50another 21. I think we had budgeted to

3:03:52house between 80 and 100 uh this year

3:03:56given the funding. And at this point, I

3:03:59think I'm hopeful that we will get close

3:04:02to that. And again, the reason why we

3:04:04would get close to that is because of

3:04:05what the need is, not what the funding

3:04:07is. So, I think we feel good about our

3:04:09ability to work with the folks that are

3:04:11outside, but again, uh to the

3:04:13councilman's point, there are folks that

3:04:14we may not be aware of. And so, it

3:04:17continues to be a moving target to

3:04:18determine what's the true need. We're

3:04:20trying to work collaborative with the

3:04:22county to better understand what the

3:04:23true number of unsheltered homelessness

3:04:25is so that we can, you know, make a plan

3:04:27to truly house everyone.

3:04:28>> Thank you. And in your in your response

3:04:31um through the chair, you mentioned that

3:04:33um folks have the ab ability to identify

3:04:35what their own household looks like. So

3:04:38if you do have um you know um a a you

3:04:43know individuals who are friends or

3:04:46would like to live together, you're able

3:04:47to accommodate that

3:04:49>> through the chair. Yeah, we have been

3:04:51able to find housing for every

3:04:52participant that we've identified. There

3:04:54has not been a single person that we

3:04:56said we would work with that we

3:04:57ultimately had to say we couldn't find a

3:04:59unit for you. Um, you know, I think as

3:05:02part of good case management, when folks

3:05:06say that they want to live together, we

3:05:07have a conversation to make sure that's

3:05:09really the most uh, again, it's always

3:05:12their choice, but we also try to help

3:05:14them assess, you know, is this better to

3:05:16maybe focus on yourself right now and

3:05:18get your own place, you know, but um,

3:05:20yes, we're able to accommodate people's

3:05:21needs. and again if they're um genuine

3:05:24in their needs and genuine in sort of

3:05:26expressing who is part of their

3:05:27household.

3:05:28>> Okay. Thank you. And I you know I I

3:05:31appreciate the clarification earlier

3:05:32that Home for Every Neighbor is

3:05:34targeting people who are unsheltered. Um

3:05:39and I you know personally have had to

3:05:43I've

3:05:45as council member I get frequent um

3:05:48outreach from residents about squatters.

3:05:51Um, and so do you currently um you don't

3:05:56because they're technically sheltered.

3:05:57So is that

3:05:59>> uh through the chair? So I would say

3:06:01someone living in an abandoned building

3:06:03and staying in a in a building that's

3:06:05not their own that doesn't have adequate

3:06:07water, electricity, heat that those

3:06:09folks are unsheltered. And I think

3:06:10that's part of the population group that

3:06:12we're trying to have a better

3:06:14understanding of to make sure that we

3:06:15are reaching everyone who is truly in

3:06:17need. Again, folks who are in a building

3:06:19are a little less visible than folks

3:06:21sleeping in a doorway or in a tent, but

3:06:24uh that is our goal to get to those

3:06:25folks as well. They would qualify. It's

3:06:27just about finding them.

3:06:28>> Okay. So, I mean, and especially as the

3:06:30weather is getting colder, um is it

3:06:33acceptable for me to reach out to you

3:06:34when I um have a situation with um

3:06:38squatters and and and including and when

3:06:41you know sometimes these um buildings or

3:06:45or vacant homes, you know, they get

3:06:47condemned and then I'm concerned about

3:06:49people, you know, being put out um even

3:06:52though the situation they were living in

3:06:54was substandard. Um again it's not

3:06:57outside. So can I reach out to you um

3:07:00when those situations come up

3:07:02>> through the chair? Uh certainly again I

3:07:05think we are trying to get a better

3:07:07understanding of what unsheltered

3:07:08homelessness looks like in every single

3:07:10ward. And so if it it looks like folks

3:07:12in abandoned buildings, uh we want to be

3:07:15able to respond to that. And the more

3:07:16information we have, the better we can

3:07:18then develop a plan. You know, I think

3:07:20one of the challenges sometimes with

3:07:21abandoned buildings or condemned

3:07:23buildings is the order to vacate is

3:07:25posted. And while we can move quickly,

3:07:27sometimes we can't move quite that

3:07:29quickly and a person needs to be out

3:07:31within 24 to 48 hours and we can't find

3:07:33a unit for them. But if we have a sense

3:07:35of the properties and where maybe those

3:07:37orders are coming soon, we may be able

3:07:39to strategize. So really, we're open to

3:07:41doing that for sure.

3:07:42>> Okay. Thank you. Um it it has also um

3:07:46you know people have asked me and I I

3:07:49think I understand but I was wondering

3:07:52if you could just clarify um why do we

3:07:55provide um an apartment for folks rather

3:07:59than providing like a a a room or a a

3:08:02group setting for for people? Wouldn't

3:08:04it be cheaper to um you know have a have

3:08:09a group living situation

3:08:12>> uh through the chair? I think um

3:08:17for a number of reasons. I think one

3:08:20we're trying to meet folks where they're

3:08:23at. And in the same way that you know

3:08:26many programs only say you can have a

3:08:29single adult. You know it's it's

3:08:31limiting in terms of what the household

3:08:33looked like. It it's limiting for folks

3:08:35who have pets. I think we have housed

3:08:37Connor mentioned 10 pets we got services

3:08:40to. I think the number of pets we've

3:08:42housed is closer to like 50 now. So

3:08:44there just is some limitations to that

3:08:46type of housing. What I will say is that

3:08:48we have had folks transition from our

3:08:50program into that type of housing if it

3:08:51really is the best um place for them

3:08:55long term. But our goal is really to get

3:08:57people off of the street as quickly as

3:08:58possible, acknowledging that

3:09:00homelessness is a crisis. living outside

3:09:02is um a ter a terrible situation and one

3:09:05that every day spent outside is going to

3:09:07make someone's situation worse. So,

3:09:09we're getting them housed and then

3:09:10assessing what their long-term success

3:09:12is.

3:09:13>> Okay.

3:09:13>> Thank you very much.

3:09:14>> Through the chair, just one other note.

3:09:16I I also would say sometimes uh single

3:09:19room are a little more affordable, but

3:09:21the difference is not that different in

3:09:24in terms of what it would cost the

3:09:26program. And so, I think it allows us to

3:09:27have more flexibility for our

3:09:29participants.

3:09:29>> Okay. Thank you for that clarification.

3:09:31I appreciate it and thank you again for

3:09:33the work that you're doing.

3:09:35>> Thank you, Council Member Hudson.

3:09:36Councilman Shaw,

3:09:38>> thank you, Chair. Um I I'll make it

3:09:40brief. Uh I know these are some of these

3:09:42concerns. Um we we've we've talked about

3:09:45before. I think I kind of want to put

3:09:47some of these on on the record and just

3:09:49as we think through the future, which of

3:09:52course I'm very supportive and I I made

3:09:54this point to the director is I I want

3:09:56to have a clear narrative of not just

3:09:59what's been working, but what hasn't

3:10:01been working as well so that we can

3:10:02pitch and figure out what the next steps

3:10:05are and also just expand the funding

3:10:07because we know we need to address some

3:10:09of those gaps. And I think u just you

3:10:12know I wanted to understand kind of

3:10:13think through what the future of

3:10:15partnerships are. I know we are having

3:10:17some of our partners who are going to be

3:10:18withdrawing potentially or um

3:10:21partnerships that have already ended and

3:10:22what that looks like with our internal

3:10:24staffing. Um wanted to understand and

3:10:27you you can

3:10:30certainly take your time if you want to

3:10:32address it. I don't mean to um continue

3:10:34this on more, but I'm concerned

3:10:37especially with the news, right?

3:10:38Metaninoia um not being able to open

3:10:41this um winter kind of what that impact

3:10:43will look like and how can we make sure

3:10:45that nobody dies outside in the cold,

3:10:47which we've had, you know, almost every

3:10:48year. It's um kind of really at the top

3:10:50of my mind. Um triaging the level of

3:10:53care at the onset. That's been something

3:10:55that we've talked about. I I want to

3:10:57continue pushing for an act team uh to

3:11:00bring together at the table. Um that's

3:11:02something that I'm uh hoping the rest of

3:11:04my colleagues will support as well

3:11:05because um my understanding is that a

3:11:08disproportionate amount of our resources

3:11:11has been going to a lesser amount of

3:11:12people who have higher acute needs. And

3:11:16if we want to address that in the

3:11:17future, some of the best models that

3:11:19I've uh talked through has have been

3:11:21about having um certified mental health

3:11:24doctors on team that can take those

3:11:26cases off the outreach folks and the

3:11:28case managers. So, that's obviously

3:11:31going to require more funding and I know

3:11:32that's always a fight with the general

3:11:34revenue dollars. Um, but I I want to

3:11:36kind of make that narrative clear and

3:11:38help um council work through that as

3:11:40well. So, I look forward to that. Um,

3:11:42want to make sure that we continue

3:11:44having and put some um implements some

3:11:48guidelines into place to prevent bad

3:11:50landlords from profiting off of this,

3:11:52right? Um, I know that's been something

3:11:53that we certainly saw when we were at

3:11:55Legal Aid, not with this program

3:11:57obviously, but just rather badly

3:11:58landlords um, getting the benefit of

3:12:02public subsidies in the form of lesser

3:12:04oversight. So, I want to make sure we

3:12:06have some um, guards for that. And then

3:12:08finally, just doing some know your

3:12:10rights trainings for clients um and

3:12:12staff as we move more of this stuff in

3:12:14house on what are the ways that all of

3:12:17those individuals involved can

3:12:18understand what kind of the protections

3:12:21they have um actually are um educated

3:12:25and empowered to make their own

3:12:26decisions in the future. So it's not as

3:12:28much of a system that they're being um

3:12:30you know pushed through, but rather that

3:12:32they have more agency in that as they go

3:12:34through it and um evolve. But um I I

3:12:36know we're at time here. So I just

3:12:38wanted to kind of put those on the

3:12:39record and um encourage um my council

3:12:43colleagues to think about what the

3:12:44future of this program looks like

3:12:46because I know for at least my office.

3:12:48We've called Home for Every Neighbor

3:12:49folks probably every week if not every

3:12:51other week um at a minimum. Uh because

3:12:54the need is so desperate and I know our

3:12:56ward isn't the only one. And we've

3:12:58actually just Councilwoman Hudson and I

3:13:00just in our last weekend's cleanup were

3:13:02just talking with some of our community

3:13:04members where we've seen an influx of

3:13:06unhoused folks and people coming from

3:13:08the jail all kinds of places that almost

3:13:11seem to be getting dumped off in

3:13:12Cleveland um because so many of our

3:13:14suburbs don't have the services and the

3:13:16infrastructure to be handled to be able

3:13:19to handle the these people and we want

3:13:20to make sure that we actually provide a

3:13:23a safe environment for them and um

3:13:25they're not put at greater risk. So, um,

3:13:26with that, I yield, chair. Thank you.

3:13:30>> Thank you very much. Uh, Councilwoman

3:13:32Gray.

3:13:33>> Thank you. Thank you, uh, Chair. I just

3:13:35have a a couple, um, questions. I want

3:13:38to echo, um, Councilman, uh, Hudson, um,

3:13:42sentiment on squatters. Um, thank you

3:13:45for that, um, Councilwoman. um cuz uh

3:13:49that is a um

3:13:52about high volume of squatters that we

3:13:55continue to deal with in all our wars in

3:13:58the city of Cleveland. So I just want

3:14:00you uh expand on how even those

3:14:04squatters squatters are they considered

3:14:08homeless because they're squatters

3:14:10living in abandoned buildings. So

3:14:12wouldn't they, you know, so would they

3:14:14be considered homeless

3:14:17>> through the chair

3:14:18>> chair to the um director?

3:14:20>> Yes, we would consider those folks

3:14:22unsheltered. Yes.

3:14:23>> Go unsheltered. So chair

3:14:25>> homeless. Unsheltered homeless.

3:14:26>> Unsheltered homeless. So, chair uh to

3:14:29director,

3:14:32uh do you um have a data and or do you

3:14:36work with um housing court because they

3:14:40have the squatters law and when they do

3:14:43get evicted? I know they work with NEOK,

3:14:46but but is there a percentage of data on

3:14:51when they go through the system? Do they

3:14:54and they work with Neoch, you know, do

3:14:57you work with Neoch, you know, with them

3:14:59to find them a place with a a home of,

3:15:02you know, home for every neighborhood

3:15:06>> uh through the chair. So, NEOK has been

3:15:09a contracted partner since the beginning

3:15:11of the initiative. um their contract is

3:15:13actually coming uh to a close in

3:15:16November. And so we are in process of

3:15:18developing some new partnerships um

3:15:21prioritizing behavioral health uh as as

3:15:24the partnership because of some of the

3:15:25need identified for some of our most

3:15:28challenging participants who just have a

3:15:30lot of of barriers and need to be

3:15:31connected to some intensive services. Um

3:15:34to your question about folks living in

3:15:36uh condemned properties or abandoned

3:15:38buildings, we have begun conversations

3:15:40with building and housing and we're

3:15:42trying to develop a workflow so that we

3:15:43can identify properties that have folks

3:15:45living in them that are unauthorized so

3:15:47that we can get them connected to

3:15:48services. Um again, I'll extend the same

3:15:51invitation that I extended before. Happy

3:15:53to sit down with you about your specific

3:15:56ward to understand where some of those

3:15:57properties are and how we can engage

3:15:59with folks. Again, as I I mentioned

3:16:02before, you know, the timeline is

3:16:04important. We work very quickly, but if

3:16:06we find out about someone about to be

3:16:08evicted today or tomorrow, it's pretty

3:16:10difficult to get them enrolled and into

3:16:12new housing. But if we have a little bit

3:16:14longer runway, we might be able to

3:16:15engage with folks and and help get them

3:16:17connected. And again, there's some of it

3:16:19is just about making that first

3:16:20connection because folks may qualify for

3:16:22other services. They may be seniors,

3:16:24they may be veterans, you know, they

3:16:26they may be part of a subpopul that can

3:16:28help them transition to housing without

3:16:30going through our program, but if they

3:16:32truly are, you know, without any other

3:16:35resource, you know, we'd be happy to to

3:16:37figure that out.

3:16:38>> Okay. Thank you. because I didn't had a

3:16:40couple of resident just text me about um

3:16:44the um squatter uh situation, you know,

3:16:48that they're dealing in their on their

3:16:50streets asking about the assistance of

3:16:55helping them to get the squatters out,

3:16:57you know, off their um off their street

3:17:02into a better um housing situation. So,

3:17:07thank you for that. And I just have one

3:17:08more question, chair. Um, the second

3:17:11question is that

3:17:13uh I had a couple of um homeowners, no I

3:17:18had a couple of landlords

3:17:20uh that had apartment complex that uh

3:17:24came to me to let me know that they had

3:17:28applied with the uh home for every

3:17:32neighbor so their uh property can be

3:17:35used for the unshelter and for this

3:17:38program. However, uh they had some uh

3:17:42difficulty with getting things set up

3:17:46and also uh had some difficulty when the

3:17:50um you know you know when that property

3:17:52was used for this they said that they

3:17:56had difficulty getting refund which I

3:18:00wasn't aware of how that process and

3:18:03procedure worked cuz I told them that I

3:18:06wasn't part of the initial program that

3:18:10was um set up. So could you just tell me

3:18:14a little bit about how uh how um how

3:18:19landlords can apply for the program and

3:18:23what is the procedure for them um

3:18:28getting paid, you know, to use their

3:18:31property for the program per se cuz they

3:18:34just brought it to my attention and then

3:18:37I did not continue on to investigate it

3:18:40because they said they was going to go

3:18:42ahead and reach out to the director of

3:18:45health and resolve it cuz I told them I

3:18:48wasn't prepared to even to answer how

3:18:51that process went. So could you just

3:18:53explain a little bit on how that works?

3:18:56So next time when it come to my

3:18:58attention I can tell them exactly where

3:19:00they need to go and discuss that part of

3:19:04getting refunded or how that how that

3:19:07works. I just need to know for my

3:19:09awareness so I can have a better um

3:19:13understanding you know to send them.

3:19:15Thanks.

3:19:16>> Of course. Uh through the chair just to

3:19:18take the first part of your question

3:19:20there. How can landlords apply? We don't

3:19:23you know really have an application

3:19:24process. Most of our engagement with

3:19:27landlord is done um just kind of like

3:19:30networking phone calls. Um, so if you

3:19:31have any property manager, any firm in

3:19:34your ward that would be interested or

3:19:36would benefit from our program, please

3:19:38refer them our way. We are always

3:19:40desperately looking for new partners to

3:19:42engage with. Um, but regarding your

3:19:44second portion, so we do contract with

3:19:47Downtown Cleveland Alliance and they're

3:19:49responsible for kind of serving as our

3:19:51fiduciary. So they manage our our fund

3:19:54of rental payments. They disperse the

3:19:56rental payments directly um into firms

3:19:59bank accounts. Um, and so that's how

3:20:01monthly rental payments are

3:20:03administered. But in terms of, uh, you

3:20:06know, paying out damages, um, there

3:20:08really is no, um, like formula we have

3:20:12for that. Um, but if in the event a

3:20:14tenant were to unfortunately damage a

3:20:18unit in a way that case management

3:20:19wasn't able to proactively address, um,

3:20:22we would encourage that landlord to

3:20:24subtract whatever is relevant from the

3:20:26deposit. um have an itemized documented

3:20:29invoice of what you paid for, what

3:20:31exactly was repaired. Um and then send

3:20:33our invoice send that invoice to us. And

3:20:36if we feel that that unit is is one that

3:20:38we would want to put a participant in

3:20:40again, we'll make sure that the landlord

3:20:42is able to get that unit back up to

3:20:44inspection ready.

3:20:47>> Great answer. No, thank you for that.

3:20:50>> Excellent. Well, folks, I I know we're

3:20:52at time.

3:20:53>> Oh, Counciloman House Jones, please.

3:20:57Thank you um through the chair uh to the

3:20:59team that's here. Um just had a couple

3:21:02of questions. I know we talked about um

3:21:06some of the things that may be happening

3:21:08with those who are unhouse living on the

3:21:11streets and one of the things I've asked

3:21:13about um is do we have an assessment of

3:21:17where people were prior um house prior

3:21:21to being to living on the street

3:21:24and what are the statistics on that

3:21:27>> through the chair. So we do intake with

3:21:29every participant and ask them about

3:21:31their homeless history. So we do have

3:21:34that. I don't have that um aggregate

3:21:37data with me today, but we can share

3:21:40that. Um but we do ask that. And so

3:21:42because part of our

3:21:44uh process is trying to identify what

3:21:47long-term subsidies and resources might

3:21:49be available. And so if someone has been

3:21:50homeless for a significant period of

3:21:53time, they're eligible for some

3:21:55HUDfunded resources as well that we

3:21:57could link them to. So we do ask that,

3:21:59but I don't have that in front of me,

3:22:00but be happy to share that with you.

3:22:01>> Do we have a general idea? Are people in

3:22:04the city of Cleveland? Are they outside

3:22:06of the city of Cleveland? What is the

3:22:08general um sentiment

3:22:10>> through the chair? I would say the

3:22:11typical participant is has been homeless

3:22:15for a year or longer typically in this

3:22:17area. Um there are some folks who have

3:22:19come from outside of the city or even

3:22:22outside of the state, but a lot of our

3:22:24um homeless history for our folks has

3:22:27been, you know, living outside somewhere

3:22:30in this area.

3:22:33>> You said living outside in this area.

3:22:35No, I'm okay. Let me get a

3:22:37clarification. I wanted to know exactly

3:22:40do we have an idea when they actually

3:22:41were housed where they were living.

3:22:44That's what I'm trying to That's what

3:22:46I'm trying to get.

3:22:46>> The the participants we've housed.

3:22:48>> Correct.

3:22:49>> And where they're housed?

3:22:50>> No. No. Prior to them being unhoused

3:22:54being unhoused, right? Like when they

3:22:57were at some point they lived somewhere

3:23:00and then at some point they became

3:23:02unsheltered and then now they are being

3:23:04housed with us. trying to understand

3:23:07where did they come from prior to them

3:23:10being

3:23:12um being unsheltered within the city of

3:23:16Cleveland because similarly as um

3:23:19Councilman Shaw indicated that it seems

3:23:22like there are people that are being

3:23:25for being dropped off within the city of

3:23:28Cleveland. Um and just antidotonally

3:23:31because I do engage in conversations

3:23:35with you know um I would say the

3:23:37spectrum of those who are unhoused and

3:23:41just some of the conversations that I am

3:23:43having with our residents um it's a bit

3:23:47disturbing um where it is seemingly that

3:23:53other communities are

3:23:57washing their hands of it And I'm really

3:23:59trying to get a very clear understanding

3:24:02of what that is because I do believe we

3:24:05in the city of Cleveland are going to

3:24:07have to find some way to hold other

3:24:10communities accountable for what they

3:24:12are not doing and really taking legal

3:24:14action against other communities which

3:24:18are then

3:24:20um causing this financial responsibility

3:24:24because you know we believe we don't

3:24:26want people on the streets and things of

3:24:27that nature. Um, and so that's what I'm

3:24:30trying to get to, but there's never been

3:24:33clear information provided for us to be

3:24:36able to say one thing or the other

3:24:39through the chair. I the point is well

3:24:41taken. I think that there is some work

3:24:42being done at the county level to try to

3:24:45better track the unsheltered population

3:24:48so that there is some data. I mean, we

3:24:49do intake on everyone and and we can

3:24:51aggregate that data to talk about where

3:24:53folks are coming from. Um, and again,

3:24:56that's not been the first uh I don't

3:24:59have that data point prepared today, but

3:25:00we can look at it. And I think that your

3:25:02point is still very well taken about

3:25:03just the the the undue burden that's

3:25:05being placed on city centers when

3:25:08homelessness is everywhere and is often

3:25:10sometimes not addressed.

3:25:11>> Right. I mean, again, and like I said,

3:25:13this hasn't been the first time I've

3:25:14asked this question. And so again, I

3:25:16guess the question to the chair, how

3:25:18long will it take for you all to provide

3:25:19this information at least for this

3:25:20population from those that are in the

3:25:22Home for Every Neighbor program?

3:25:25uh through the chair. We we'll get it to

3:25:26you as soon as we can.

3:25:29>> Is it okay?

3:25:31Um

3:25:35with that, um

3:25:41Okay. So, I'm going just say superior

3:25:44has been a challenge. It is a challenge.

3:25:48And I'm not

3:25:52I'm not going to get into just all the

3:25:54details right now, but um at times

3:26:01I guess my office will just have another

3:26:02meeting with you, you know, the team

3:26:04here because

3:26:06um there is there's a level of a

3:26:10disconnect somewhere along the line. Um

3:26:13and it's just not just over with a home

3:26:15for every neighbor. It's a area and it's

3:26:18actually like

3:26:20superior and St. Claire is just that

3:26:23area really between like 13th

3:26:27to like 18th

3:26:30um just

3:26:33uh the level of um like people not being

3:26:37engaged the level of trash and lit like

3:26:40it is just not

3:26:43it's just not becoming anywhere right

3:26:45and so um I've always tried to think

3:26:48about

3:26:49um how do we all because We all have a

3:26:52responsibility to live here, right? And

3:26:56regardless of our circumstances,

3:26:59we have to um establish foundational

3:27:04this is the expectation, right? Um of

3:27:08how we are going to coexist, live

3:27:11together. And it is just clear to me

3:27:14that we just don't have that foundation

3:27:16cuz our neighborhood um wouldn't look

3:27:19the way that it does regardless of what

3:27:22you are going through. And so um

3:27:27my question would be as part of that

3:27:30because

3:27:34how is it seem or engaged upon for those

3:27:38who are unhoused specifically living in

3:27:41this part of our city

3:27:45like how are we engaging um residents I

3:27:48know there's some transitioning

3:27:50happening with um Neoak back.

3:27:53Um, and um, I just want to know like

3:27:56what is our plan because it just does

3:27:58not look like we have a one that will

3:28:04be productive where

3:28:07everyone understands people still live

3:28:10here. There are people who work there. I

3:28:12mean, it's all of the things, right? And

3:28:14I just don't think we have

3:28:17gotten a a good hold on setting

3:28:20expectations even when um we have

3:28:23unhoused residents that are there in the

3:28:25area.

3:28:26>> Uh through the chair, I appreciate the

3:28:29comments and I think you know a comment

3:28:32I made just a little earlier. I think

3:28:34there is a couple of important

3:28:36distinctions that we are a program that

3:28:38is working with folks who are literally

3:28:41living on the street. Um, and so there

3:28:44are a number of folks who are homeless

3:28:46but are spending their evenings in a

3:28:49shelter. And that particular part of of

3:28:51the city is in the neighborhood where

3:28:53the shelters are. And shelters do not

3:28:56let folks stay 247. And so folks leave

3:28:59and spend time in different parts of the

3:29:02city. Um, and again, we are part of the

3:29:05continuum of care. And so, you know, our

3:29:08role within the continuum is to house

3:29:10folks who are unsheltered, but there are

3:29:12other players as well that work with

3:29:13folks who are sheltered. And so, I I

3:29:15agree with you that I think a

3:29:17collaborative conversation would be

3:29:18great, but I also want to make sure that

3:29:20we have all of the the players involved

3:29:23in that conversation. You know, we've

3:29:25always tried to be supportive of the

3:29:26work that the county is doing and

3:29:28playing our part, but it is a broader

3:29:30conversation. And I and not to take

3:29:32anything away from frustrations that

3:29:34folks feel, but if someone is spending

3:29:37all evening, spending all day outside,

3:29:39but is then going to shelter, like those

3:29:41aren't folks that we have been funded to

3:29:43house or to connect to services. And so

3:29:45we are proud of the work that we've

3:29:47done. We've housed I think almost 50

3:29:50folks in your ward. A lot folks from

3:29:52that very area. So the folks who are

3:29:54outside, we are connecting to housing,

3:29:56but it's not to say that there still

3:29:57aren't folks in need, but figuring out

3:29:59how we collectively can solve that. I am

3:30:02in complete agreement and would be happy

3:30:04to be part of that conversation. I just

3:30:05want to make sure we get everyone

3:30:06involved.

3:30:08>> Again, through through the chair to the

3:30:10team here,

3:30:15isn't

3:30:17aren't you all just separately from

3:30:19there? the team here at the public

3:30:20health are already a part of

3:30:22coordinating homeless services in some

3:30:25form or fashion and I understand we can

3:30:27say it's with the county but the county

3:30:29this is our city

3:30:32and I just I there is a disconnect and I

3:30:35don't I just I don't know how we're

3:30:38going to resolve this. Like I said, one

3:30:41of the biggest things for me is really

3:30:44working to improve the conditions of how

3:30:48a community looks like. When it looks

3:30:50like a trash can, then that's how people

3:30:53treat it, right? And this is just one of

3:30:55a couple of places um in my neighborhood

3:30:59and in the community that I serve where

3:31:02it just looks bad

3:31:04>> and it doesn't. And trash is just one of

3:31:06those things that's a doable thing if we

3:31:08set expectations of how people need to

3:31:10engage. And that's what I'm trying to

3:31:12figure out is

3:31:15whatever we are doing is not working to

3:31:17the tune that it needs to

3:31:19>> and we need to if there's we're talking

3:31:21about having other conversations like

3:31:23what have the conversations have been to

3:31:24this point like and I know my time is up

3:31:27but it is very concerning of like what

3:31:29it looks like here and I just don't

3:31:34>> know what it's going to take to get

3:31:36people to a prioritize it and making

3:31:40sure we have accountab ability for

3:31:41everyone regardless of what your lived

3:31:44experience is. We will not be living

3:31:48um just with trash everywhere.

3:31:50>> So through through the chair, you know,

3:31:52when we started this this work, this

3:31:53home for every neighbor program thanks

3:31:55to this team. There were tents all up

3:31:57and down Superior as you know and there

3:31:59aren't anymore. We've housed nearly 50

3:32:01people in that in that corridor in your

3:32:04ward. And so I I we hear what you're

3:32:06saying. We we share those frustrations.

3:32:08we are a part of a larger continuum as

3:32:10you said and and you all are too. I I

3:32:12think you have a couple seats at the for

3:32:14the uh office of homeless services

3:32:17advisory committee. So I I think it's

3:32:18you know all in us together. Um but but

3:32:22this particular home forever neighbor

3:32:23program 225 folks housed um and and

3:32:27we're really proud of that that work. If

3:32:29you go to other cities right now I mean

3:32:31you walk around you you see something

3:32:33different than than what you see in in

3:32:34Cleveland. And so really really proud of

3:32:36this work and definitely appreciate your

3:32:38support.

3:32:39>> Thanks.

3:32:41>> Thank you all. It's I'll just conclude

3:32:43with it is tough to find a just and

3:32:47compassionate but also effective

3:32:48solution for homelessness. Full stop for

3:32:51the the crisis that I mean we live in

3:32:53America and we live in Ohio and we are

3:32:55forced to deal with the problems much

3:32:56bigger than ourselves at this level. So

3:32:58you all are the front lines from the

3:33:00city's perspective and dealing with

3:33:01those problems. you heard me give this

3:33:02little speech, but it's absolutely how I

3:33:04feel about this subject. Um, you've done

3:33:06a a lot of really tough but essential

3:33:09work in my community and we're grateful

3:33:10for it. Always room to improve and

3:33:11always more to do, but u grip for your

3:33:13your efforts here. We're going to wrap

3:33:15up. Uh, any concluding words from the

3:33:18Home for Every Neighbor team.

3:33:20>> No, thanks for your support. tears in my

3:33:22eyes when when all the council members

3:33:23signed on um in support of this

3:33:25legislation last year and uh we'll be

3:33:27bringing uh the another renewal to you

3:33:30this this spring for for years four and

3:33:33five of the program.

3:33:34>> Very good. Well, thank you all. Thanks

3:33:35for being here. With that, we conclude

3:33:38this meeting of the Health, Human

3:33:39Services, and Arts Committee until the

3:33:41call of the chair.