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

Palestine
CEASE FIRE NOW- END THE OCCUPATION AND GENOCIDE- FREE PALESTINE-FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.
sarah schonhiutt
Council's Inhuman Refusal to Denounce Israeli Crimes
Many have already stated what I believe. Your refusal to acknowledge the overwhelming views of your constituents by passing a declaration of outrage against the death and destruction rained upon Palestinian civilians is reprehensible. Not all of us can afford to visit Washington D.C. to express our indignation, so you, as our local office holders, must acknowledge the horror we all feel.
Brian Houlehan
Ceasefire for Palestine
I am urging Cleveland city council to pass a ceasefire resolution for Gaza, immediately. End the genocide, permanently. Palestinians deserve freedom and peace and to live, as the bare minimum!
Christina T
Palestine Ceasefire Resolution
It is incredibly concerning that the representatives of the Cleveland community have attempted to claim an uneducated position on the illegal occupation in Palestine. As representatives of the law in Cleveland I would have assumed you would be somewhat familiar with international laws, specifically in the legality of illegal settlements by immigrants. Pass a ceasefire resolution immediately and demand an end to genocide.
Sage Patterson
Palestine
The position of city council that genocide of Palestinians is none of their concern, even when their constituents repeatedly speak up about how important it is to them personally, is deeply wrong.
Keith Wilson
People’s Ceasefire Resolution
I am writing to support Cleveland’s ceasefire resolution and support of Gaza during this ongoing genocide.
Nicole Smyk
Disappointment in Cleveland City Council (except R. Maurer & J. Spencer)
I have watched Cleveland City Council meetings on TV 20's for the past many months and every week, I see the lack of humanity and inaction by most of the council to act when as residents, we are begging your to act!!!

Well this weekend marked annual remembrance of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. Our Vice President was in attendance and she stated unequivocally:
"So, before I begin today, I must address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza...As I have said many times, too many innocent Palestinians have been killed...People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane. And our common humanity compels us to act...And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire" You can read the entire transcript at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/03/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-commemorating-the-59th-anniversary-of-bloody-sunday-selma-al/ and view it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRRm_q3uBS8

It is my position as a resident of Cleveland that City Council's relentless attacks on the Palestinian community MUST STOP, and its beyond time to pass a resolution for a cease fire! I thank Rebecca Maurer and Jenny Spencer for being in support of this, but I implore the rest of Council to take the wise advice of VP Harris and call for a ceasefire. I will remember this at election time!
Pam Moore
The People's Ceasefire Resolution
As a lifelong resident of the Cleveland area and a current worker in the West Park neighborhood of Cleveland, I have been gravely disturbed by City Council's refusal to listen to its constituents asking for the most basic of human dignity and respect to be shown towards Palestinians. After weeks of ignoring our pleas, despite multiple revisions of the ceasefire resolution to fit council's various requests, it is clear that the vast majority of City Council works solely for those lining their pockets-- not the people they allegedly represent. With this is mind, I would like to express my wholehearted support for the people's ceasefire resolution. We, the people of Cleveland, join the voices of other Ohioans whose city leadership values integrity more highly than Cleveland's: Dayton, Akron, Athens, Toledo, Yellow Springs, and others. City Council, pass the resolution now! But even if you won't, we the people will.
Celeste Stonebraker
Aaron Bushnell, Palestine
But Aaron Bushnell Ain't Flying Home
I wish the US was fighting for justice
But Aaron Bushnell ain't flying home
I wish the songbirds could sing of true justness
But Aaron Bushnell ain't flying home
I wish no one had to lose their life
But Aaron Bushnell ain't flying home
I wish no one had to suffer strife
But Aaron Bushnell ain't flying home
I wish he was still here
But Aaron Bushnell ain't flying home
Don't want to shed a tear
But Aaron Bushnell ain't flying home
He can't sit on a porch
But Aaron Bushnell ain't flying home
So we must carry his torch
As Aaron Bushnell ain't flying home
A man burned himself for Palestine and all of you are doing nothing except debating procedure. You need to call for a Ceasefire, to divest from Apartheid companies, to restore public comments to the way they once were, and to call for the restoration of funding to UNRWA.
From the water to the water, justice for every son and daughter.
Janos Jalics
Ceasefire Resolution
I would like to urge Cleveland city council to pass a ceasefire resolution for Gaza. Surrounding cities in Ohio, and other major cities, have already passed ceasefire resolutions. You are alienating a portion of the Cleveland population and showing you are complicit in genocide by not passing one. I highly encourage you all to do the right thing — and stand for basic human rights by calling for a ceasefire. Thank you.
Devon Skufca