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

The genocide and illegal occupation of Palestinians
On Saturday I had the privilege of marching with hundreds of fellow Cleveland residents. I wish it was under better circumstances that I got to be among those lovely people, but instead we were brought together by a genocide funded by the US and supported by our own city government. I'm not Arab, muslim, or Palestinian. I'm just another white girl that has lived in Cleveland most of my life. But I am so deeply angered and hurt by the events in the news. I'm appalled that this is how my representatives are representing me. How dare you as ellected officials support the illegal occupation and extermination of Palestinian people. And how dare you use your elected power to committ these acts. This is not a representation of me or my city. Anything other than calls for peace and a ceasefire is an abuse of power that the people of this city have allowed you to have. You must condemn the violence and stop the slaughter of the thousands of innocent Palestinian children and civilians. As we chanted on Saturday, the people united cannot be defeated, and the people stand with Palestine even if our government won't.
Katie Martin
Call for Ceasefire in Gaza
Cleveland needs to stand beside the people of Gaza as they are facing unfathomable violence funded by US dollars. As a person who frequents Cleveland’s various businesses and places of public interest, I want to see a city I identify with so closely act for good. Humanitarian aid is not reaching survivors in Gaza due to Israel’s ceaseless attacks, and people will continue to die if we stand by. Please hear the people. Also, to make sure my statements are not misconstrued, know that my support of Palestine does not indicate any animosity toward Cleveland’s Jewish community, and I stand against antisemitism. My issues are with the government of Israel and those who fund its military.
Brie Horvath
Genocide in Palestine
End public funding of an apartheid state and support of genocide
Kevin O’Reilly
Ceasefire on Gaza! No funding Israeli apartheid & documented terrorism
Northeast Ohio and our area has a large Arab/Muslim/Middle Eastern community. Supporting the evil acts of Israel against an indigenous people, without proper context, and dehumanizing them and their right to resistance (PER UN GUIDELINES) against an illegally occupying state. Israel is not an official country. Palestine is. None of the city, community, state, COUNTRY’s money should be going towards the funding of war crimes. It is despicable. A human rights violation before our very eyes. Don’t be cowards in this matter. See and hear the pain of the Palestinian community and all that they have lost. Have heart for those with nothing. Against one of the richest states in the WORLD, they do NOT need Ohioan or American tax dollars to continue to terrorize native people on their land.
Cas Sakach
Palestine
It is with great disappointment that I see Cleveland’s City Council not reconsidering its position on the events taking place in Gaza, Palestine. I urge them to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This is the very least they can do. At most, they should condemn Israel and call for an end to Israeli occupation. Condemning Israel is not antisemitism as condemning black crime is not anti-black racism. As a black Muslim woman, it is unfortunate to see that those with my same background have not clearly understood the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Israel is an illegal apartheid state founded on stolen Palestinian soil. The Holocaust was a grave tragedy that happened in human history. But how many African ingenious groups had a UN to give them land after Europeans flattened them? What about the Rwandan genocide or the Cambodian genocide? The civilians who survived were rewarded with living amongst those who had killed their family members and not the UN or another body handing them secure land and a protected status. The same people many of the councilmen would look up to as heroes such as Malcolm X (a Muslim) and Desmond Tutu, outwardly condemned the state of Israel. Tutu even claiming some tactics used against the Palestinians were worse than South African apartheid. Thus, any act that Palestinians engage in against Israel is ultimately self-defense. The disproportionate story telling and centering of Israel in the media do not match the disproportionate number of innocent Palestinians killed just for existing. If you believe that Muslim or Arab life is of less importance than Israeli or Jewish life, then you must renounce Malcolm X MLK and other black leaders as figures you look up to. It is sad to see that the billion dollars wasted funding this state of terror could be used to fund reparations for African-Americans, which would have a dramatic affect on Cleveland - a majority black city. As well, it is unfortunate that party plantation politics will have one standing on the wrong side of history while Palestinians have showed their solidarity with black life e.g. George Floyd and all the fallen black people who were killed just for existing. Not to mention, many police in highly militarized American cities are trained by Israeli officers. I hope you can truly have a change in heart and understand that Palestinian liberation is our liberation. Join us in stopping the heinous acts of Israel and liberating Palestine.
Noor Abdukhaliq
FREE PALESTINE
FUNDING THE ISRAELI MILITARY WITH U.S. TAX DOLLARS MAKES AMERICAN INDIVIDUALS COMPLICIT IN GENOCIDE AGAINST THEIR WILL. WE THE PEOPLE ARE ANTI-GENOCIDE AND ANTI-ETHNIC CLEANSING. WE THE PEOPLE DO NOT BACK THE UNITED STATES GOV.
Meg
Divest from Israel
I do not want my tax dollars to go toward the killing of Palestinians. There is plenty of causes here in Ohio that need financial support rather than the genocide of a group of people. I am deeply saddened.
Allison
Support Palestine
The city of Cleveland must condemn the genocide happening in Palestine and call for an immediate ceasefire. Cleveland should speak against the violence Israel is responsible for.
Claire Ilersich
Israel palestine
Please condemn the genocide of Palestinian people and condemn the US military support of Israel. The United States backs Israel because they need a military power in the Middle East to bully nearby countries into submission for resources like oil. It's not about justice for Israeli people-- many of them are also against the genocide of Palestinian people.
Andy Schumann
Zionist Occupation Comments
Cleveland City Council needs to divest from Israel and denounce the blatant and disgusting genocide happening in Gaza. The people of Palestine should not be suffering, and these acts supported by our government are disgusting.
Charlie DiFranco