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

Filter By

WCSB
Independent and student-run media is important to our city and to our communities. CSU stripping WCSB of its programming not only silences the voices of the radio show hosts, but the voices of any artists that were played on those shows. Regardless of how the programming may change from its current smooth jazz focus, CSU students and Cleveland residents will never benefit from the current partnership the way they did with the student-run WCSB. Students having the airwaves means a great deal to many Clevelanders, and we see how seriously the students and independent hosts took on that responsibility. Independent and student-run media will always be more important and impactful than corporate media - where the purpose is to appease as many people as possible or risk hurting the bottom line.
Dan Hird
WCSB Cleveland
It is a substantial loss to the Cleveland community. Voted #1 in Scene Magazine just this year, gaining traction more than ever, and now axed unceremoniously by Ideastream. Is it viable for the community, or CSU students to have a deal that fails to outline the opportunities that were enumerated to them? No. Ideastream included benefits to the school and Laura Bloomberg, but nothing about THE STUDENTS. Even if this deal stands, it is wholly unbeneficial to the people that actually live in North East Ohio and populate CSU.

As Profram Director for 2025, and a member since late 2023, i have seen how more and more students have found their place in WCSB's community. We had 24 students and faculty by the end, and 20 applications either training or scheduled to be interview. That's 100% growth almost.

This doesn't even mention the grave harm this merger has done for community members who have stayed with the station out of love, or communities who felt acknowledged and served by the programming the former station had brought.

Bring it back. It is a deal with no one but big-wigs in mind. It fails to serve the community and the students at the public university of CSU.

- Jackie The Dogwolf
Jacklyn B
WCSB Takeover
My adult children have listened to WCSB since they were in elementary school. The original station is where they learned about so many bands they may have never heard of, grew up making brunch with us to the Hungarian hour (that also celebrated part of their heritage) and how to absolutely cherish the new, obscure and historic music that is part of this giant world. It literally assisted in my kids being a big part of how cool they are now! Our kitchen and car radios were ALWAYS on WCSB. We miss the interviews, the extremely varied styles of music, the hilarious commercials, the local updates, world views , the love of Cleveland, and the incredible family that was the Original WCSB.
Danielle Tilk
89.3 take over
89.3 WCSB (before they were plucked off the airwaves) was a cornerstone in the local community. A one stop shop for a variety of music, community events, and local news. Sharing the spirit and grit of this beautifully diverse city to those both near and far. How does the saying go? "You don't know what you got, till it's gone". And now here I am, little over two weeks in, and quoting Joni Mitchell. Dear lord, bring back the WCSB we all know and love.
erika manik
HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF WCSB BY IDEASTREAM
Return the station to the people!!!
Pavel Kucherov
Restoring WCSB's Student Run broadcasting
WCSB has been an education for me. I love listening to music...and do not favor the major radio station's playlists and over commercialization/ads. I have heard so much music and discussion from WCSB in my life, from my Great Aunt and Uncle playing Polka on Sunday mornings back in the late 70's/early 80's to my current 'listen to pretty much everything' WCSB is playing.
More importantly than my personal gain is consideration for the independent live music venues, small business owners, non-profits, and especially the Student DJs... The alleyways and avenues WCSB has carved into the local music Community and also the non-profits benefitting, should be a major motivation to retore student programming. These types of messages will never be received by a younger audience again, unless the original format is restored. Thank you.
Randy Thatcher
WCSB takeover by Ideastream via CSU
I urge the Council to pass the resolution supporting WCSB. This student-run station provided real experience to students and was given away to ideastream in an absolutely underhanded manner. The deal harms students and the diversity of terrestrial radio in the greater Cleveland area, only for vague promises of internships and professional gains for the CSU president to get a board seat with ideastream.
Chris Koehnke
JazzNEO is a LIE because 54% of its current broadcast content is produced outside Northeast Ohio!
Dear City Council Members,

My name is Tom Orange, and I was the WCSB Jazz Director for 9 years before CSU and IdeaScheme Corporate Media pulled the broadcast plug in their secret hostile takeover that silenced the voices of our student-run community.

In truth, close scrutiny reveals that 54% of JazzNEO’s broadcast content is produced outside Northeast Ohio.

Check the schedule:
https://www.ideastream.org/schedule/jazzneo#weekly-schedule

JazzNEO’s only locally-produced shows are the ones hosted by Dee Perry, Dan Polletta and John Simna, plus Live from the Bop Stop.

That’s only 78 hours, or 46% of the 168 hour programming week.

The remaining 90 hours are all nationally-syndicated shows produced outside Ohio.

How does this benefit CSU, its students, our former WCSB listening community, or Greater Cleveland generally?

Doesn’t it make their branding as “JazzNEO” a total lie when the majority of its shows come from outside NEO?

I have emailed Kevin Martin this information, but I humbly request the City Council hold Mr. Martin’s feet to the fire and call him before your distinguished body to let him answer these and other questions in person before you.

Sincerely,
Tom Orange, PhD
XCSB Jazz Director 10/3/2025 - present
WCSB loyal listener since the early 1980s
CSU student, Summer 1986 and Fall 1988
CSU English Department Adjunct Faculty, 2010-2012
WCSB Member/Programmer 2010-2017, 2020-2025
WCSB Faculty Advisor 2011-2013
WCSB Jazz Director 2013-2017, 2020-2025
WCSB Automation Team Member 2023-2025
Tom Orange
Ideastream Takeover of WCSB
With the 89.3 takeover, Ideastream has failed to provide a platform for the vast array of communities and cultures represented in Cleveland. Washed away for corporate advertising and the guise of representation through jazz. Jazz is great, but so many cultures, genres, races, religions, and communities were represented before this takeover. It is heartbreaking that WCSB was taken over without any meaningful alternative provided to the hardworking staff at WCSB. No substitute, no alternatives, just erasure. It is an injustice to the city and the people who connect with the city and the arts therein through public broadcasting like this.
Anthony Liotta
WCSB
WCSB run by students is an important part of the fabric of community in Cleveland. It helps us stay connected to each other as well as this place we call home. The way that this change was made shows that ideastream and csu administration have no respect for the community that depends on this resource and the decades of hard work by so many people that make it possible. Once when I was out of state and someone heard I was from Cleveland they said “Cleveland has great radio right?” We’re known for our unique radio offerings in Cleveland and the rumors are true! That’s why so many people are heartbroken by this rash decision— it feels like our cultural fabric has been ripped apart. It feels like just another layer of gentrification that is watering down the flavor that makes Cleveland the special place we know and love. Please return WCSB to the student run organization that started it and that has run it for 50 years.
Molly Murray