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Where Am I: Resources / Public Comment

Making a Public Comment

Council welcomes public comment before regular council meetings. Fill out the online form below for your chance to make a public comment at the next regular Monday Council meeting.  Please read the revised rules and procedures. 

Registrations can also be submitted:

* In person at Cleveland City Hall, Room 220, 601 Lakeside Ave. NE. Paper forms are available to register.

* If you don't want to fill out the online form below, you can download this form and fill it out, and email it to publiccomment@clevelandcitycouncil.gov or drop it off at Council offices. (Parking at City Hall on the upper lot is free on Mondays after 5 pm when Council is meeting.) If you need assistance, language, or disability, go here to make a request (at least 3 days in advance.) 

Make a Comment in Person

Registrations to speak up to 3 minutes at a regular council meeting can be submitted between noon Wednesday and 2 pm on the Monday before a regular 7 pm council meeting. (Early, incomplete and false registrations are not accepted.) Only the first 10 are accepted.  


Make a Comment Online

If you don't want to speak at a Council meeting, please submit your written comments below. 


Public Comments

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The Browns and City $100M Settlement
I urge the Mayor and Council to reconsider and reject this deal. While $100M is a considerable amount of money, it accounts for less than 4% of the approximately $2.5B total Stadium and District investment, which rightfully belongs within Cleveland City limits. In 1995-1999, it was the City of Cleveland—not Brook Park or any of the neighboring suburbs—that went to bat and invested hundreds of millions of dollars to secure the future of NFL football in Northeast Ohio. At the time, it was clear that the City felt this was a worthwhile investment because a) football is an important piece of Northeast Ohio's culture, and b) because of long-term economic benefits that come from 75,000 people flooding the streets on average once a month. To argue this loss of visitor traffic to downtown would be anything short of devastating for the City, Cuyahoga County, and throughout the Greater Cleveland Region as a ripple effect is simply naive. The City's own economic impact reports confirm this.

Proposing to leave the City of Cleveland for a mixed-use development immediately adjacent to the airport, Haslam Sports Group (HSG) sends a clear message: Cleveland, the battered but still beating heart of Northeast Ohio, isn't worth visiting, and isn't worth investing in. Fly in, eat at HSG-owned restaurants, stay in an HSG-owned hotel, go to a game, and fly out the next day. All without ever setting foot in a single one of Cleveland's vibrant neighborhoods, or experiencing what this great city has to offer. Cleveland's best sales pitch is the experience people have here, but if people never set foot in the city, it is a hard sell due to uninformed national narratives.

There are two equitable options for settlement of this case. First, very simply, HSG abandons all plans to relocate the stadium development outside of the City of Cleveland. The stadium belongs in an accessible, densely populated area, where the investment complements and enhances attractions and amenities, not detracts from them. The City has already agreed to massive contributions, perhaps there are additional incentives that would make this settlement more enticing to HSG? Any urban planner will tell you, this is how revitalization and economic growth begins (Reference Arena District, Columbus). Burke Airport is the obvious solution to the issue of space and parking concerns if the existing land is unsuitable, but there are various other locations throughout downtown and the inner neighborhoods that would be appropriate as well.
The second equitable alternative would be for the City leverage the precedent set in '95/'96 where the City was granted rights to the team's identity prior to the franchise's move to Baltimore. In this scenario, Cleveland would "license" the name "Cleveland Browns" to HSG for (in my opinion) no less than $50M/year as long as the team plays outside the City of Cleveland. That money would be channeled directly into an infrastructure fund to be accessed by developers and companies looking to redevelop areas within the city, particularly downtown and on the lakefront, with special emphasis placed on attraction larger corporations looking to relocate. This scenario, if managed properly, would foster growth and development for decades rather than just a few years, and would go a long way change the current narrative that HSG doesn't believe Cleveland is worth investing in.

Again, I urge the Mayor and Council to reconsider and fight for an outcome that will benefit our city for decades.

Thank you for your consideration.
Mike Simmons
Browns moving
Do not let the Browns move! This is a slap in the face to the people of Cleveland and all of the businesses in the area, including bars, restaurants, hotels etc.

People from the east side will not want to travel to Brook Park. Downtown was the PERFECT in between for east and west siders. Real fans do NOT want this.
Brianne Vuraich
The Takeover of WCSB by Ideastream
I am absolutely appalled at the way that CSU and Ideastream Public Media colluded to take over the student and community-run radio station WCSB. WCSB is a well-loved, valuable resource to many of our local communities, and we will fight fiercely to have it restored to the people who love it— both the volunteers who run it as well as those of us who are loyal listeners. WCSB has been serving our communities for almost 50 years, and most of their budget comes from listener donations. The station has been a part of so many of our lives over the decades, providing a breathtakingly diverse lineup of music, entertainment, and public affairs programming, and providing opportunities for students and community members to gain valuable and wide-ranging experience, as well as the ability to express themselves creatively, have their voices heard, and find their place in the world.

Turning the airwaves of WCSB over to Ideastream to be run as a pre-programmed jazz station is a terrible idea. I can’t imagine that those involved really thought it through before going ahead with this deal, or that they knew what they were doing. I understand that Ideastream seems to just want to take over as many FM radio stations as it can get its hands on, without regard to the impact on the local community. But this is not serving the public interest. And what is the long-term goal, here? WCSB as a student and community-run station has built up an incredibly loyal listening base over these 50 years. Have Ideastream and CSU thought about how long the Jazz-Neo station will run? How much of the community will be served? Will this station still be running in 50 years? Or even 20 years? While there may be a segment of the public who will listen to a pre-programmed jazz station, I can guarantee that no one will love this new station, no one will be passionate about it, and it will never have the life-changing impact on anyone that the real WCSB has had on so many people over the years.

I support the Cleveland City Council Resolution to urge CSU and Ideastream to return radio station WCSB to the students and communities that have built and run it for the past 50 years, to support the station so that it can continue in its mission of serving our diverse communities, and I would like to see a pledge in place that CSU will never again make a decision for the station that leaves the station members out of the process. I look forward to the next 50 years of our beloved WCSB!
Nicole Mallias
WCSB Cleveland
Hello, my name is James Matzorkis and I've been listening to WCSB for 20 years. It's difficult to put into words how much the station meant to me. I love music. It runs deep in my family. For me, this love is so much more than just appreciating artistic sounds. There's a whole new dimension that comes with being embedded in a culture that creates and explores and appreciates music together. Wcsb used to provide a hub for that culture in Cleveland. I got to know many of the DJs personally, attending the shows they promoted, and even having the chance to express myself on stage and on air. We supported each others artistic endeavors personally, and the station did such an enormous amount to facilitate that cultural exchange. Ideastream is cool, but it cannot and will not ever be able to replace what student run radio at CSU did for culture in Cleveland. Thank you for your time
James Matzorkis
WCSB Radio Grab
As a former CSU alumni, and WCSB listener who witnessed a public school sell its radio station for a mentions and a Board Seat! I’m sure you heard this already!
Michael Mochan
Browns stadium
I'm glad the city is getting something from HSG and an happy that we are no longer pursuing these lawsuits. with the demo of the stadium, I hope this allows the city ro re-visit the need for two entrance ramps from lakeside on the new shoreway conversion.
Matthew Murphy
The removal of WCSB from the student body of Cleveland state University.
Hello, I am an alum of CSU, and a citizen of Cleveland. On behalf of myself, my band, and our followers, I'd like to say I'm appalled at CSU's decision to rip the control of WCSB away from the students. It's clear that CSU, and Laura Bloomberg see the community, and the student body as an opportunity for profit. The removal of WCSB from students deprives the Cleveland area of an outlet of music, culture, speech, and community. I urge council members to support the WCSB resolution to have it returned to the students.
Johnathan Polace
WCSB The Power of College Radio
My name is Alexa and I am a freshman at CSU who recently started at WCSB. I was only able to do 7 shows before we were cut off and was looking forward to doing my show for the next 4 years. The only welcoming thing about CSU was the community and friends I gained from joining WCSB. Not only did I make friends, but I planned on using WCSB as a jumping off point for my career. I’m deeply saddened and frustrated by this decision because students like myself were clearly not taken into consideration. I strongly think that returning WCSB to it’s community is the best decision for CSU and Cleveland as a whole.
Alexa Howard
WCSB
My name is Adam Spektor; I am a Cleveland resident, an alumnus of Case Western Reserve University, a former programmer and general manager at fellow college station WRUW-FM 91.1, and have been active in local music on a number of levels over the last decade.

I did not grow up in Cleveland, but upon moving here for school, the very first thing that genuinely made me feel at home was WRUW, and soon after, Cleveland’s deeply-rooted college radio community. As I dug deeper into WRUW, I quickly grew to understand WCSB, and not to count out WJCU, as the friendliest rivals I’ve known in my life. Tuning in to these stations and bouncing around became a part of my daily routine, one that continued until earlier this month. The sheer amount of thrilling music I would likely have never heard otherwise were it not for WCSB was, frankly, among life’s reliant joys, and I’m proud to consider many of the programmers behind the airplay to be among the most brilliant, creative friends and peers I’ve known. And in my travels throughout the U.S. and abroad, Cleveland’s now-once-flourishing and historic college radio scene was one of my foremost points of pride when discussing my adopted hometown.

Beyond the personal anecdotes, as members of council have made mention, WCSB was a vital resource of local and regional community engagement, far beyond the campus of Cleveland State and provided a voice for countless ethnic groups in Cleveland for decades. The sheer history evades my comprehension, as a good amount of it happened before I was born. For all of it to evaporate overnight, for students to be perp walked out by campus police, for nobody on the ground to have notice or deliberation in the process, is insulting, sickening, disturbing, and dangerous. As the leery details of the ordeal continue to emerge, more salt gets dumped callously in the open, untreated wounds of those who volunteered themselves to freeform radio.

I am grateful to see members of council willing to speak out and take action on this matter. I demand full transparency from Cleveland State University and Ideastream, the immediate return of the 89.3-FM frequency to WCSB, and the reopening of its station to its staff and students.

As free speech is actively under fire on the national level, and as we continue to see endless institutions cow-tow in the name of shady financial interests, the sudden silencing of one of Cleveland’s - and the U.S. in general’s - truest outlets for free thought sets a dangerous precedent in dangerous times. I can at least write with confidence that history will continue to find favor in free speech, American college radio, and WCSB.
Adam Spektor
The city and Browns $100 million dollar deal.
As a resident of Cleveland, I urge council to reject this deal. The mayor has sold out the city and its residents.
After nearly three decades of Cleveland taxpayers financing the existing stadium, plus the $33 million the city owes, not to mention the interest, we deserve better. If the Browns can offer a player $250 million, why couldn't the mayor and his team negotiate a more favorable agreement? Furthermore, it's concerning that council was largely excluded from the negotiations. I urge council members to hold out for a better deal that truly benefits the city and its residents.
Vermonte