CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council this week approved $10 million in funding for improvements at the West Side Market, a political victory more than a year in the making for Mayor Justin Bibb's administration.
According to city records, Council passed an emergency ordinance authorizing the funding on Monday by a 15-2 vote. Ward 16 Councilman Brian Kazy and Richard A. Starr of Ward 5 represented the two "nay" votes.
The move comes over a year after Bibb waged a battle with the Council over funding to cover much-needed repairs and improvements at the historic Ohio City food market. Bibb approached the council last spring seeking $20 million for the market, which proved to be a non-starter. The mayor lowered his ask to $15 million, but Council President Blaine Griffin held firm at $10 million, and that amount was approved by Council last May.
Now, in a belated win for Bibb's vision for the historic market, the council's contribution will end up at $20 million after all.
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Vendors have long pressed for widescale improvements to the aging market, which has long been plagued by frequent infrastructure woes. The most recent issue to beset the market came in April, when a power failure forced the market to close for an entire Saturday, losing vendors thousands of dollars and prompting one business owner to stress the "urgent" need for backup generators. The power issues have persisted, vendors told 3News last week.
City Hall officials have said that the 112-year-old market needs at least $45 million to address the building's outdated infrastructure. The latest round of Council dollars, sourced mainly via ARPA funds, comes two months after control of the city-owned market was handed off to the newly created nonprofit Cleveland Public Market Corporation, a move made as part of Bibb's grand plans for West Side Market's future.
Under the terms of the management agreement between CPMC and the city of Cleveland, the city will keep ownership of the market's property and facilities. Independently, CPMC will manage the market's operation as well as oversee renovations and upgrades.
While the funding will likely draw cheers from West Side Market vendors, who have long been frustrated by decades of "band aid" solutions to the market's physical issues, not everyone on City Council supported the latest round of funding. While Kazy and Starr did not voice opposition publicly, our partners at Cleveland.com report that Starr and other legislators decried spending millions of dollars on a market they see as beneficial to a largely white, affluent community while residents on the east side, many of whom are Black and live in poverty, continue to suffer from a lack of access to fresh food grocers.
"It's shameful that a man can't even go to the store to get an apple," Ward Councilman Kevin Conwell, who voted for the new funding, told the publication.
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