Making an In-Person Public Comment at An Upcoming Council Meeting

Council welcomes public comments at each regularly scheduled Monday evening Council meeting. 

If you are interested in speaking at a Cleveland City Council, please read the revised rules and procedures for public comments and fill out the online form below. 

Submitting a Registration to Speak

Anyone who is interested in addressing Cleveland City Council at a public meeting must register with City Council prior to that meeting.

Registrations may be submitted:

  • By using the online form below
  • In person at Cleveland City Hall, Room 220, 601 Lakeside Avenue NE. Paper forms are available to register.
  • By downloading this form, filling it out, and emailing it to publiccomment@clevelandcitycouncil.gov or dropping it off at Council offices.

Registration Periods

Registrations will ONLY be accepted between Noon on Wednesday and 2:00 pm on the same day as a regularly scheduled Monday evening Council Meeting.

Council allows no more than 10 people to comment at its regularly scheduled Monday night meetings. Registration will close as soon as the first 10 people sign up. Each registrant will be allotted 3 minutes to speak.

Registrations will only be accepted for making comments at the next regular meeting; registrations for any future meeting will not be accepted until the Wednesday before the meeting. Early, incomplete, or false registrations will be rejected.

Notice of Registration

If your registration is successful, you will be notified by email or phone.

Accommodations

If you need assistance due to a language barrier or disability, please let us know at least three (3) days in advance by going here to make a request.

Attending Council Meetings

Cleveland City Council meetings are held in the Council Chamber on the second floor of Cleveland City Hall, 601 Lakeside Avenue, East.

Visitors may park for free at the upper lot behind City Hall after 5:00 pm on days when Council is meeting.

Public Record

Please remember that all registration information and public comments are public records and can be subject to public record requests.

Decorum

Cleveland City Council must maintain orderly, efficient, and productive meetings to ensure the important business of city government is completed. Council has developed a set of rules and procedures that allow the public to be heard in a fair and orderly manner. These rules and procedures apply to all speakers, and Council does not discriminate based on the speaker's identity or viewpoint or the content of the speech. Please read Council's revised rules and procedures for public comments before you register and before you appear before City Council.

Please note: Anyone attending a Cleveland City Council meeting is prohibited from engaging in any action or behavior that substantially interrupts, delays, or disturbs the due conduct of the proceedings of the Council; such conduct includes but is not limited to: handclapping, stomping of feet, whistling, making other loud noises, yelling, or similar demonstrations.  Any person who violates any of the above may be immediately removed from the Council Chamber.

Rules for Speakers
  • Speakers may not yield their time to other speakers.
  • Speakers shall only address the topic they registered to speak about.
  • Speakers' comments shall not be frivolous or repetitive.
  • Speakers shall not use language that is obscene or likely to produce imminent unlawful action. 
  • Speakers shall address all comments to the presiding officer.
Prohibited Items
  • Signs, posters, banners, placards, or similar items
  • Food and drink

 

To sign up to comment in person or online, please scroll down.

Make a Comment In Person at a Council Meeting

To sign up to speak during the registration period (Noon Wednesday through 2:00 pm Monday before Council Meetings) click this button.

You will be notified by email or phone if you are one of the ten people who will speak.


Make a Comment Online

If you would rather submit your comments in writing, please fill out the form below. 

Written public comments will be published on this page and delivered to all Councilmembers before the next full Council Meeting after they have been submitted.


Public Comments

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Tanisha's Law
Dear City Council,

I urge you to vote to pass Tanisha's Law and create a crisis response team that will bring care and not violence. Please honor her legacy and her family's wishes to ensure Clevelanders are treated with the dignity that all people deserve.
Anna Bauer
Tanisha's law
I am in support of Tanisha's law and the proposal to create a new department in the city government to support folks who are experiencing mental health concerns. Please vote in favor of Tanisha's Law to develop a Department of Community Crisis Response which will coordinate non-police responses to people having mental health crises. This is important to so many of us who have, or love those who have, mental health crises.
Hannah Rigel
Tanisha’s Law
In 2022, like Tanisha, I experienced a mental health crisis. I do not have a criminal record. I told a relative I was going to end my life, and they called 911, hoping I would receive help. Police officers showed up to my door. No medical personnel, no EMT’s, no ambulance. They forcibly removed me from my home, letting out my beloved pets in the process. This, combined with being handcuffed and pushed into the back of a police car, caused me to further panic. I begged for an ambulance, pleaded about my claustrophobia. In my panic, I slipped the handcuffs twice. I was body slammed by a large officer multiple times. He ridiculed my physical appearance and my behavior. Finally, they called for an ambulance. I was held extremely tightly against the back of the police car until that ambulance arrived. I had bruises everywhere on my body. I was not allowed to take photos of my injuries in the emergency room, and I begged to do so. I was eventually taken to a mental health facility where my phone was taken, and I again begged the staff to document the injuries. They too refused. This situation was traumatic and destabilizing. Afterward, I was approached in public about my injuries and asked by a stranger if I was safe. It could have been so much worse. Mental health crises are common. Medical personnel and social workers need to respond to these calls, not police officers. If police are involved there needs to be extensive accountability and documentation. Tanisha had her whole life ahead of her. Her life was not defined by a mental health episode. She deserved to find her peace, and instead her life was taken.
Kirsten Bull
Please Support Tanisha’s Law Backed by Her Family
I have worked in special education for 34 years, mostly with students grades K-12 who have struggled with behavioral and mental health issues. There were many times when situations could have escalated into more dangerous, if not more psychologically harmful, situations but trained professionals with an eye on trauma-informed care were able to manage things to a safe resolution. As a constituent, I implore you to involve the Cle Police Department in both training and a specialized division to assist in these situations. Not only can it save lives, it can promote/increase positive interactions with law enforcement, building public trust. Thank you!
Christine Zanoni
Tanisha Law
s a country and as a state, we must do more to protect and support people living with mental illness. I will never understand why the response so often becomes violent and aggressive. While I recognize the urgency and the dangers officers may face, the senseless killings have to stop. I support this law because it aims to change how we treat and care for individuals with mental illness—approaching them with compassion, understanding, and the dignity they deserve.
Ariel Rhea
Tanisha's Law
It is imperative that the City side's with the option that is supported by Tanisha's family that would create a new department. Mental Health department is a necessary addition to the City of Cleveland. Creating this path will allow other neighboring city's to learn and follow suite. Thank you for your time.
Lara Bobel
Tanisha's Law
I support Tanisha's law.
Brian S Hall
Tanisha’s Law
I am in support of enacting the full breadth of Tanisha’s Law to create a new department of community crisis response. People in our communities experiencing a mental health crisis should be supported and offered medical assistance rather than policing, and police officers shouldnt be asked to perform mental health services that they are unqualified for.
Emma Janssen
Tanisha's Law
Please vote for Tanisha's Law, which would create a new Department of Community Crisis Response to coordinate non-police responses to people having mental health crises. If our city had this Department when Tanisha Anderson died, she might still be alive today. The police should not be the first responders in mental health emergencies!
Martha Grevatt
YES to Bus Lanes on W. 25th
Dear City Council Members,

I'm Sara, a concerned citizen of Cleveland Heights. Thank you for your service to the city of Cleveland and all the folks of surrounding areas who are impacted by your leadership. I am reaching out because I want to voice my support for the bus lanes on West 25th Street as part of RTA’s 25Connects BRT project.

As you may already know, the West 25th corridor is one of the busiest corridors in the city, and transit time for buses is often slow as buses must continually weave in and out of parked cars in an already congested area. A dedicated bus lane will improve transit time through this corridor.

Quick and reliable public transit is important to me because good transit brings economic and health benefits to communities, reduces road congestion, reduces gasoline usage and air pollution, and it makes Cleveland a more attractive place to live.

Young people especially prefer walkable communities over suburban sprawl, seeking to live among robust transit, shops, restaurants, libraries, parks, and a mix of housing options. Ohio City is already one of the most vibrant, walkable, livable neighborhoods in Cleveland, but it is lacking in effective, quick, and reliable transit. Filling this transit gap would not only make Cleveland a more desirable place to move to, but would make young Clevelanders more likely to stay instead of moving away in search of a more transit-rich city.

I recently moved back home to Cleveland after living in Chicago, where public transit is effective and well-funded, and it's been a grief to return to using my car to get around, waiting in so much traffic. I hope the W. 25th bus lane will be the first of an increase in funding and investment for our RTA system which serves so many and has the potential to serve so many more!

Thank you for reading my comment and hearing my perspective as a concerned Clevelander.

Sincerely,

Sara Pekar
Sara Pekar