CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council held its lone meeting for the month of July on Wednesday night, just days after a mass shooting wounded nine people on West 6th Street.
Despite the news that the suspect in the mass shooting was arrested the day before, the continuing problem of violence in the city was top of mind for Cleveland City Council's longest-serving member.
Ward 8 Councilman Michael Polensek, who has been a member of Cleveland City Council since 1978, delivered an impassioned 15-minute speech that focused on violent crime in the city. He also soundly criticized Mayor Justin Bibb and his administration for failing to have a single cabinet member attend Wednesday's meeting.
"I have never, ever seen that," Polensek said of the absence of the administration. "This is a standing meeting of city council and no one from the administration took the time nor the respect to show up for this body when all of these members and our staffs have been here since early this morning working on pieces of legislation that they (the administration) requested."
You can watch Polensek's entire speech below:
Gun violence was at the heart of Polensek's speech to council.
"As of yesterday, 101 people have lost their lives in the city due to homicides," Polensek said in opening his remarks about violent crime in Cleveland. "At the present path that we are on, we will hit a 30-year record for homicides in the city, when our population exceeded over 500,000. (Cleveland's population is now at 372,000, according to the 2020 census)
Lost in the headlines from Sunday's mass shooting in downtown Cleveland was another incident on that same day in Polensek's ward. An exchange of gunfire at Mark Tromba Park in Collinwood resulted in the death of a 16-year-old boy.
For the 73-year-old Polensek, the incident was personal. He was frustrated that despite representing Ward 8 and serving as the chair of the council's public safety committee, he was not informed of the shooting by the Cleveland Division of Police. But Polensek was also frustrated that the shooting had happened outside a home on Alahambra Avenue that once belonged to his mother-in-law.
"She lived in that house for 60 years. She could have been on the front porch like she was all the time. The whole front of her house was a crime scene," Polensek told the council, later noting that there had been 93 shell casings in the area from the shooting.
Polensek then pressed the Bibb administration to reveal its plan for bolstering the depleted police force. "There's got to be a game plan. Right now, we are below what we were (numbers of police officers) in 1923. Where is the marketing and recruitment plan we hear is coming? I don't see it. I don't know it."
According to Polensek, residents have asked if the city is defunding the police. "I nope not. I don't want to believe that. But the numbers speak for themselves. We are down 313 officers from where we were in 2020," he added.
"I'm not going to live like this," Polensek declared. "I'm going to be on people like white on rice around here if I don't see a concerted effort to deal with this problem in our neighborhoods. I have not seen it."
In closing Wednesday's meeting, Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin also addressed the absence of Bibb and his administration. "I can never defend the indefensible. The mayor's cabinet should be here. I will be giving a call and having a discussion with the mayor, the chief (Police Chief Wayne Drummond) and the rest of the people in the cabinet. Because it is completely unacceptable that we don't have our partners from across the hall."
On Wednesday, Mayor Bibb was scheduled to meet with Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Det. Jeff Follmer and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8 President Capt. Jim O'Malley in preparation for the city's first "Public Safety Summit" next month. 3News' Lydia Esparra was told no one from council was invited to the meeting.
Esparra reached out to Mayor Bibb's office and received the following response:
"The administration has been working tirelessly, every single day to push Cleveland forward. The city’s problems and violence do not get a summer recess like Council. The Administration works around the clock, showing up every day and doing everything we can to keep our residents safe and ensure they receive the services they need.
"We were informed of the political grandstanding that was going to occur tonight. The Mayor will not subject his cabinet to sit politely for yet another monologue attacking their integrity, ethics, and basic functionality. Real progress takes place with hard work and action, not expressing frustration in front of an audience.
"Continued attacks like these rip at the fabrics of collaboration, are unproductive, and hinder progress, hurting those who need help the most – our residents. We look forward to genuine collaboration with council in the near future, so we can work together to find solutions for our residents. They deserve nothing less."
