Councilman Joe Jones Issues Apology, Council Tightens Security in Sixth Week of Intense Public Comment

Many in the chamber wore kuffiyehs and Clevelanders for Public comment stickers. Credit: Maria Elena Scott

Cleveland City Council blocked off the first two audience rows in council chambers and had at least 18 police officers at Monday night’s meeting. As at other recent meetings, speakers called on council members to support an Israel-Palestine ceasefire resolution and criticized potential changes to public comment rules, which could limit speakers to talking about only topics under consideration by council.

The restriction, which would limit participation to those up-to-date on council’s agendas and take away an avenue for constituents and stakeholders to bring issues not under council’s consideration to the attention of members and other Clevelanders, was listed in a draft for discussion in a council caucus meeting earlier this month.

“American democracy has been and is a raucous enterprise and those who reject the rambunctious give-and-take ignore the lessons from the Civil Rights movement and the labor movement,” said Ward 17 resident Nora Kelly. “Democracy in action can be untidy and sometimes loud and profane, and those who wish it to be tidier are out of touch with how real change has occurred in the world of politics and labor.”

Kelly, and others in attendance, wore stickers with the logo of Clevelanders for Public Comment, the group behind the successful push to bring public comment back to council meetings.

All public commenters voiced support for a ceasefire, with several public explicitly calling on council to adopt a resolution proposed by citizens supporting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. In council’s November 20 meeting, protestors chanting, “Pass the resolution now,” and, “Ceasefire now,” drowned out the council clerk for several minutes as council President Blaine Griffin urged him to continue.

In council business since, members have responded with different approaches. Both councilman Joseph Jones and councilman Mike Polensek expressed concern for members’ safety in council’s subsequent Safety Committee meeting. Polensek said he was “outraged” and asserted “folks that are making threats against members of the body, they’re going to have to be dealt with.”

Jones said the protestors’ actions prompted him to consider getting a gun, though in a later interview with Signal Cleveland he said, “You cannot bring a gun to the chamber or to council meetings at all,” and that he was referring to looking at, “Further protection.”

At a council caucus meeting Monday afternoon, council President Blaine Griffin instructed members to be “very sensitive” and “very, very cautious” when speaking to and about public commenters.

The ceasefire resolution, which council hasn’t discussed, wouldn’t be a first. U.S. cities, like Akron; Detroit; Atlanta; Providence, Rhode Island; Dearborn, Michigan and others have passed similar resolutions calling for a permanent ceasefire.

“Some people might be wondering, ‘What does that do? A resolution can’t stop a genocide,’” said Ward 3 resident Milo Schumann. “And, sure, this resolution is largely symbolic, but it’s not like council hasn’t done that before. City council has passed resolutions marking October 22 as a day of celebration for the band Kiss, who aren’t even from here, encouraging Congress to pass the Railway Safety Act of 2023, supporting the 2021 Women’s March and condemning Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.”

At last week’s Safety Committee meeting, Jones said most of the protestors didn’t live in Cleveland and that, “What they were talking about had nothing to do with the city business and nothing to do with council.”

Several commenters said they believed council localized the issue when members Kevin Bishop, Blaine Griffin, Kris Harsh, Joseph Jones, Brian Kazy, Kerry McCormack, Michael Polensek and Charles Slife signed a Jewish Federation of Cleveland document saying, “We Stand with Israel.”

Jones also alleged that some in the audience of the November 20 meeting said they supported Hamas. At the time, councilwoman Stephanie Howse-Jones called Jones’s comments “ignorant” and urged him to make the distinction between Hamas and Palestinian people.

Multiple speakers condemned Jones’s recent remarks, in particular, with one public commenter calling for the councilman’s resignation.

“In what kind of city do we tolerate members saying, and I quote, ‘I even told the safety chairman today that I have to go and buy me a gun.’ [Jones] is not here today. Is he scared? Because he knows what he did,” said Ward 11 resident Juan Collado. “No one has advocated for the death of anybody and we have not threatened council or the mayor of Cleveland in any way.”

Jones did later come to the meeting, where he issued an apology and said he’d spoken with a member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

“I want to say to the Palestinian people, or whoever’s involved, that I apologize for my comments that may have offended some folks,” Jones said.

Speaking about his trauma as an African-American man in Cleveland, Jones said that the group in attendance was “great” but maintained that the previous week’s attendees were disruptive. He also told those assembled that he supported peace.

“I don’t mind joining you and helping you with the cause, just as it was when the initial attack had happened to Israel and a number of council members were asked, ‘Do we stand with Israel?’ I had no problem standing up against terrorist attacks on innocent people and, likewise, I stand with you if someone from your organization, CAIR, would say, ‘Hey, would you stand with us for peace in the Middle East?’ Absolutely,” said Jones.

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