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

 

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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The explosion that happened in Garden valley apartments
My family are victims of the explosion that happened in Garden valley apartments in Cleveland Ohio and we deserve answers what the fuck happened what caused the explosion HELLO PUT THE SHOES ON YOUR FOOT WHAT IF U HAD TO WATCH UR KIDS SUFFER LIKE MY BABIES DID AND THEY STILL ARE OR LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND JUST PICTURE UR BABIES LAYING IN THE HOSPITAL WRAP UP FROM HEAD TO TOE CRYING MOMMY DADDY WHY THIS HAPPENED TO ME AND ALL U CAN SAY IS IDK THAT HURTS LIE HELL WHEN ALL U KNOW AND KNEW TO DO IS PROTECT THEM NOW THEY HURT IN THE WORST WAY AND U CAN'T DO NOTHING ABOUT IT U CAN'T HOLD THEM BECAUSE TOUCHING THEM WILL HURT THEM ALL THEY CAN DO IS HERE UR VOICE CRAZY RIGHT WHO DON'T WANT TO HOLD THEY BABIES WHEN THEY HURT I COULD NOT HOLD THEM THAT HURTS LIKE HELL....THIS WILL CONTINUE
Kyanna Bell
The explosion that happened in Garden valley apartments
Do y'all have a heart wait do y'all got a soul and is y'all in the right state of mind because do y'all remember the shit that happened on June 23 2025 at 7051 Garden valley Ave Cleveland Ohio 44104 hay I remember I will never forget that day 44 families lives changed forever u talk about trauma we live it everyday second by second sound by sounds... Example it's a air conditioner In the window we all know what that is right it's raining outside so my babies here something hitting the air conditioner my kids took off running and screaming it was nothing but the rain hitting the air conditioner that scared the shit out of my kids they never been so scared like that again put our shoes on your foot c
How would you feel and if you got to think to hard then you really don't got a soul u really don't give a fuck right
Kyanna Bell
The explosion that happened in Garden valley apartments
We want answers y'all sleeping good y'all eating good hay look in the mirror y'all still got y'all skin well my kids don't every time they look in the mirror they will be reminded on what happened June 23 2025 my kids was home doing what a kid should be doing playing in they house in they room on they games being kids wtf I'm so angry mad most of all disappointed in the people how this explosion it's not priority to them they just swept it under the rug like f*** it they don't need to know what happened they don't need to know what caused the explosion but all these other fires and buildings caught on fire and I bet you didn't know what happened in but you didn't know I don't fires occurred and what happened hell they probably even know who did it but us no no they don't know nothing they leave us in the dirt like all our f****** stuff we work hard for in the dirt buried type of s*** is this y'all bury people lives and I want to bury what happened that's crazy I lived in Rainbow Terrace for almost 35 years it's crazy that was my life that's everything I build and to lose it all it's crazy I'm too old to start over the f*** is wrong with y'all again I don't like ugly that he ain't fine the beauty but okay hope you're sleeping good cuz we not we all live in your life and we live in fear it's crazy wow it must be nice..My question is What The Fuck Happened Why Did Everything I Worked hard for Why a place I live in for almost over 30 years exploded yes we are struggling now hell I was younger moving better and could do more now my health has declined and I'm getting older it's hard to do it all over again.I sit and think Dame my mom ashes was in that apartment I had lots of stuff that was valuable to me you can't get it back money came by it so now what I'm doing f***** up with all that hurt angry I thank God for these public comments because me standing in front of you all I wouldn't be able to get none of these words out we cry we cry we cry we hurt we hurt we hurt and y'all just live y'all life we don't we would have but we blew up in smoke asshole still no answer..Where is Justice
Kyanna Bell
The explosion that happened in Garden valley apartments
Hay I got a question for y'all what y'all Cook for dinner?I hope it was good did u cook or did y'all order out I ask this because before June 23 2025 I love to cook my kids loved for me to cook a nice meal now my kids say no mommy let order out or let's ask my uncle to cook at his house and we pick it up or have someone else cook and we will pick it up they don't want us cooking in the house they still ask what happened and what can I tell them is I don't know sad right for something to happen to your kids and u can't tell them why or how it happened think about it again put our sh on.your feet.Please find it in your heart or do u got one or is it all about the money fuck the money it can't buy our mental life can it
Kyanna Bell
The explosion that happened in Garden valley apartments
Did y'all sleep well good because I didn't I'm still woke crying praying for him to take this anger this hurt this pain away but it's there June 23 2025 change my life fear I live in I'm always up running from front to the back of the up and down the stairs making sure everything is okay kids stay up all night they only try to rest in the day time this explosion fucked us up mentally I never been so scared in my life like I live now yeah I had a lot going on in my childhood but this explosion took our life away from us I pray y'all slept real comfortable because we didn't GOD bless you all
Kyanna Bell
DATA CENTERS
I am writing to you today to voice my concern about why the city has not banned data centers outright within the greater Cleveland area.
According to the news reports, the 150 MW facility will consume enough power 100,000 homes. Keep in mind that Slavic Village has an estimated population of 29,000. So the datacenter would already require four times the amount of water currently provided to the area, assuming the center consumes the water demand of 100,000 homes. Assuming each house consumes about 530 gallons per day, the datacenter would need is approximately 52.8 million gallons a day (mgd).
Even if CWD has sufficient treatment capacity overall, the appropriate transmission and distribution infrastructure may not be in place for the needs of the data center(s).
In order to bring 52.8 million gallons a day from either the treatment facility directly or from within the grid to the data center, a 60 " ductile iron pipe will be needed. That would be a 5 foot in diameter pipe in order to make sure the velocity of the water within the pipe is not too fast. If Baldwin were to provide the water to Slavic Village directly from the treatment plant, it would be 4.5 miles of 60" pipe which would roughly cost $53.5 million dollars, not including the cost to install said pipe. This assume it is roughly $2,250 per linear foot for a 60" pipe
To get a return on the investment, customer water rates would be escalated to upkeep the current water system in place, plus the cost of the new infrastructure. The more it would cost, the more rates increase. None of these rate increases would even account for the transmission system required to convey, but the rate would increase even further to install transmission lines to the datacenter. Tax returns could help offset the cost for the additional infrastructure, but the contribution would be minimal at best . Using the recently rejected Slavic Village site for example, the tax return to the city would be about $212,000 using effective tax rate of 2.65% if the $8 million assessed market value of the 32 acres using a unit price of $ 250,000 per acre. This does not account for tax breaks either.
Bringing a data center would cause the the water utilities to operate at a net cost, so I ask that a ban be put into place on datacenters. The costs to the residents all over the greater Cleveland area, and Cuyahoga County outweighs the economic benefit of having a datacenter brought into Cleveland.
CHERYLA FRANCIK
DATA CENTERS
I am writing to you today to voice my concern about why the city has not banned data centers outright within the greater Cleveland area.
Data centers need a vast amount of energy . The proposed data center will need 150 MW which is equivalent to 100,000 homes. This will require expansion to the current electrical infrastructure.
To cover the investments needed to accommodate the surge in interconnection requests, many utilities are passing on the costs to their consumers through higher monthly utility bills. Utilities requested more than $29 billion in rate increases in the first half of 2025, double the amount requested in the first half of 2024. Electric rate increases were expected to affect 40 million customers nationwide last year. This is in addition to the rate increases granted by state energy commissions over the previous couple of years. What this equates to is , residential electricity prices rosing by 11.5% in 2025, outpacing inflation. Looking further ahead, prices are expected to increase by up to 40% by 2030 compared to 2025. 
For a house using 1,000 kWh (pretty typical for Cleveland), you're looking at total bills in the $173 to $187 range. That includes both the supply charge and all the delivery fees. if the prices are to rise by 40% as projected, the average bill would be $262. This would be a heavy burden burden for those within Slavic Village who are already under financial constrain caused by inflation and war.
In this case since the energy companies are not publicly ran like water and sewer, tax returns WOULD NOT help offset the cost for the additional infrastructure, but even if it did, the contribution would be minimal at best . The Tax return to the city would be about $212,000 using effective tax rate of 2.65% if the $8 million assessed market value of the 32 acres using a unit price of $ 250,000 per acre. This does not account for tax breaks either.
Bringing a data center would cause the the electric companies utilities to operate at a net cost, so I ask that a ban be put into place on datacenters. The costs to the residents all over the greater Cleveland area, and Cuyahoga County outweighs the economic benefit of having a datacenter brought into Cleveland.
CHERYL FRANCIK
DATA CENTERS
I am writing to you today to voice my concern about why the city has not banned data centers outright within the greater Cleveland area.
Data centers need a vast amount of water for their cooling systems. Water demands from a data center impacts potable water, reuse, and wastewater infrastructure. The specific reason for concern is about the treatment capacity of the water treatment plants in the Cleveland area and impact on customer rates.
According to the news reports, the 150 MW facility will consume enough power 100,000 homes. Keep in mind that Slavic Village has an estimated population of 29,000. So the datacenter would already require four times the amount of water currently provided to the area, assuming the center consumes the water demand of 100,000 homes. Assuming each house consumes about 530 gallons per day, the datacenter would need is approximately 52.8 million gallons a day (mgd). Translating the anticipated demand into Cleveland infrastructure terms, this would fall into the average capacity range of any of the four water treatment plants, as the four plants treat anywhere from 45 to 70 mgd on average.
Of course there are options to meet the propose average demand: either a new plant be completely rebuilt within the city limits, upgrades to any or all plants must occur, or potable reuse system be implemented. A new plant would anywhere between $150 million and $750 million, equating to $3-5 million dollar per 15MGD. This cost estimation does not even consider the transportation costs, operations and staffing costs, and transmission infrastructure and replacement costs as well. All of this would outweigh the tax revenue if the City were to pay to have the drinking water needed for the data center.
To get a return on the investment, customer water rates would be escalated to upkeep the current water system in place, plus the cost of the new infrastructure. The more it would cost, the more rates increase. None of these rate increases would even account for the transmission system required to convey, but the rate would increase even further to install transmission lines to the datacenter. Tax returns could help offset the cost for the additional infrastructure, but the contribution would be minimal at best . Using the recently rejected Slavic Village site for example, the tax return to the city would be about $212,000 using effective tax rate of 2.65% if the $8 million assessed market value of the 32 acres using a unit price of $ 250,000 per acre. This does not account for tax breaks either.
Bringing a data center would cause the the water utilities to operate at a net cost, so I ask that a ban be put into place on datacenters. The costs to the residents all over the greater Cleveland area, and Cuyahoga County outweighs the economic benefit of having a datacenter brought into Cleveland.
CHERYL FRANCIK
Data Centers
the City Council's work is not even close to being done with datacenters despite the rejection of the datacenter in Slavic Village . They are here to take advantage of the fact that there was nothing put into place to deter them initially  from coming to our city.  The permit was rejected based upon drawings not being submitted which is a flimsy reason for rejection of a permit in the sense that it does not prevent them from applying again. If they apply again, what then? What are you all going to do about these datacenters?  What I am trying to get at is that  the representatives of Cleveland  should be doing more to protect "the best interests of the taxpayer" as Mayor Bibb said in his Instagram post yesterday. Data centers are the furthest thing from "best interests". Nobody asked for them nor do we want them and I hope that has been made crystal clear. There should be more legislation put into effect that would deter datacenters from preying upon the natural resources we have in this City.
LEAH DICKERSON
MEMORANDUM ON DATA CENTERS

Does the Mayor and City Council have proof that you are working toward legislation on datacenters? Frankly I am not entirely convinced something is truly being done. I appreciate the reassurance that something is being done from Deborah Gray. However, this would not be the first time that local government claims to be doing something in the best interest of their citizens and then completely drops the ball or worse, goes a completely different direction than the desires of the citizens. 

 Cleveland does not need more empty promises or false hope. Cleveland needs action.
Actions speak louder than words.
LEAH DICKERSON