Cleveland City Councilman Kris Harsh Will Debate Participatory Budgeting Advocates Before November Vote

PB CLE coalition organizers and members gathered at City Hall to submit the signatures. Credit: Maria Elena Scott

Ward 13 Councilman Kris Harsh and a partner yet to be named will debate representatives from People’s Budget Cleveland (PB CLE) on Tuesday, September 26 at 6 p.m. ahead of the November vote.

Despite opposition from both City Council and Mayor Justin Bibb, PB CLE delivered more than 10,00 signatures from registered Cleveland voters last month to put the participatory budgeting charter amendment on the ballot in November.

Harsh, an outspoken opponent of the proposal, wrote an op-ed entitled “Why Clevelanders should reject participatory budgeting” published in The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com in which he criticized the amendment as a waste of taxpayers’ money and challenged PB CLE to a debate.

“The theory behind PB is that it engages citizens who feel left out of the political process by giving them a new route to civic involvement,” Harsh wrote. “In reality, in nearly every city in America where it’s been tried, less than 5% of residents are involved. In fact, in many cities, it becomes a vehicle for gentrification as residents with the most social capital take advantage of their free time to participate, while those without the luxury of time are left out of the process.”

Council president Blaine Griffin and other members have been vocal in their opposition to the movement, arguing, without evidence, that participatory budgeting would drain money from the city’s public safety budget.

If voters pass the amendment, the way that roughly $14 million dollars of the city’s general fund — about 2% of Cleveland’s annual budget — will be spent will be decided by the participatory budgeting process.

The amendment would establish an 11-member committee–five of whom would be chosen by City Council, five who would be selected by the mayor and one person hired as a city employee. The committee would be responsible for gathering ideas and organizing voting, which would be open to all residents older than 13.

The debate will feature two representatives from PB CLE, who haven’t yet been named, on one side and Harsh and an undetermined partner on the other. The exact “debatable resolution,” or statement serving as the topic of the debate is also yet to be established.

Rhodes High School head speech and debate coach and Hathaway Brown School assistant coach Carrie Cofer will serve as moderator and timekeeper. Cofer has taught and coached speech and debate in CMSD for 24 years and is both the chair and a hall of fame member of the Cleveland District of the Ohio Speech and Debate Association.

According to a statement from City Council’s Office of Communications, originally PB CLE declined to debate before qualifying for the ballot and later asked to debate after Labor day. The statement also specified that PB CLE requested a four-person debate, with two people on each side.

PB CLE organizers say they are excited to participate.

“Admittedly, PB CLE is reluctant to give airtime to a member of City Council who insults our coalition of largely grassroots Black- and people of color-led groups doing civil and human rights work with the idea that we are a, ‘Trojan horse that hides the true intentions of its promoters-to guarantee themselves a paycheck on the public dime without having to justify their worth,'” said PB CLE campaign manager Molly Martin in a statement.

“However, we agreed to debate the merits of the People’s Budget charter amendment because we know that when people hear about it, they love it,” Martin said. “That’s why 184 people collected more than 10,500 signatures and registered 900 voters in six weeks. And that’s why, despite personal attacks from status quo politicians, we’re going to fight hard with our allies to win a People’s Budget in November.”

The debate will take place in Public Hall’s Little Theater, which seats up to 600 people. Entrance will be free and seating will be first-come-first-served. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. before the debate starts at 6 p.m.

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