In a Substack published last week, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb outlined efforts and initiatives of a 90-day action plan to stabilize and activiate downtown.
About halfway through that stretch, the mayor’s reported he’s been meeting with developers, employers and lenders to help figure out how he and City Hall can best steer Downtown towards its ideal rather than fall flat and simmer.
By June 20, Bibb wants to show Clevelanders that City Hall can lend its public hand to keep Downtown worthy of the pages of the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Efforts that include “doubling down on tenant retention,” nudging a return-to-office drive, “directly intervening” in distressed buildings and “activating Downtown retail.”
Every little step forward is an important one, he said. “Growth doesn’t just come from big deals, it comes from building momentum one tenant at a time.”
The time is now — as it always is, of course — but Bibb is promising results.
“Because Downtown is not in decline. It’s in transition,” he wrote. “And cities that succeed in this moment will be the ones that confront that transition head-on.”
But what do downtown residents and visitors want?
In interviews with downtown business workers and those who frequent the area, Scene heard a common call: improve public safety and offer more retail.
“They have to keep the roads clean,” said Matt Kocaoglu, a supervisor at Cleopatra Ink, a tattoo studio that opened up off Prospect Avenue in December. “You know, sometimes we have homeless come in and we cannot do anything. We would like the city to do something.”
Cedric McMickle, 48, returns to Cleveland every couple of months to visit his 23-year-old daughter or the property in Cleveland Heights he owns. He often stays downtown or with his mother in Glenville.
McMickle, who now lives in Las Vegas, sees Downtown from the lens of both a tourist and a native Clevelander.
“Say this is my first visit to Cleveland, and I go to Public Square—our main hub,” McMickle said, sitting at a table inside the Arcade. “I’ll walk at night. I’m a guy and I don’t feel safe. I do not feel safe walking in front of Tower City after 8:30, 9 o’ clock at night.”
“I even tell my daughter, ‘Don’t do that,’” he added. “But she still does it anyway.”
Catherine Ashley was out walking her dog in front of Skyline 776 on Tuesday. When asked what the city could do to better downtown living, her mind shuffled through her typical week. A (better) coffee shop. A casual hookah joint (not one in a sweaty club.)
She then looked down Euclid to Public Square.
“What makes it unsafe is because there are people out here who need help. And we’re not giving them help,” Ashley said. “We’re giving them police. And that’s not the answer.”
Yet, City Hall’s influence only travels so far. Empty storefronts, like those plaguing Euclid or Superior avenues, ultimately depend on the skills and tactics of smart real estate brokers or proactive property owners. Not Bibb’s word.
“Honestly, I just want a place to buy clothes,” said Tim, 24, a sales specialist who moved into East 4th Living earlier this year. “I’m planning a trip to Greece. And when I saw the nearest Target is, like, a ten-minute drive away, I was like come on, man.”
“There should be somewhere downtown I can buy a shirt,” he said.
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