Ronayne Reminds Us Everyone's Welcome in Cuyahoga During Third State of the County Address

There’s no denying that County Executive Chris Ronayne is the leader of the gladly received.

New small businesses. War-torn Ukrainian refugees.

He’s for more humane jails. Parks in the sky. Homeless mothers. Special Olympians. Natural Black hairstyles. Superman and his immortalized creators.

“That is Cuyahoga County,” Ronayne said during his third State of the County address. “We welcome and we lead with a welcoming nature.”

On Thursday, from a podium in the atrium of the Huntington Convention Center, Ronayne rattled off a list of county government’s reasons for praise, from big points earned on immigration, crime, courts, to police and development successes.

But Ronayne’s inclination to welcome—a word he used 18 times in his 36-minute speech—brings up clear questions about how attractive Cuyahoga County must be to battle larger, negative narratives.

Since 2020, the county’s lost roughly 24,000 people, the continuation of a decades-long trend.

The state really hasn’t helped either.

Its Senate Bill 1, which went into effect in June, has led to declining enrollment at several of Ohio’s universities, including about a 30 percent drop each at Baldwin Wallace and Cleveland State. And immigrants, mostly from Latin countries, have been abruptly locked up in detention facilities and/or deported with the help of sheriff’s offices from Geauga to Butler counties.

Still, Ronayne kept his trademark cheer. A cheer that seemed to keep blinders on and keep the focus hyperlocal—whether that be celebrating the county’s win attracting the 2030 Special Olympics, building its new Office of Violence Prevention, soon breaking ground on its new jail, or being the first county in Ohio to ban conversion therapy.

Ronayne shied away from topics too controversial—like massive loss of federal support—and kept his address focused on local wins. Credit: Mark Oprea

There are roughly 380,000 people in Cuyahoga County on Medicaid and some 190,000 that get help buying food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as food stamps. About 28,000 of the latter, Ronayne said, will “be directly impacted” by the passing of Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, which may eliminate such support to those tens of thousands entirely.

A new Cuyahoga Hunger Response Team, used to combat the federal slashing of SNAP, will launch in late October, Ronayne said.

“We’re going to have to face draconian cuts to our kids, our families and our seniors as if we were in COVID all over again,” he told the room. “And we are going to have to apply our best selves with the kindness of Cuyahogans.”

“Together,” he said, “we are strong.”

Although he teased briefly the forming of Cuyahoga LIVE!, the county’s planned music commission, and massive downtown development from Bedrock, Ronayne shied away from addressing anything touchy.

There was no mention in his prepared speech of cuts at Cleveland State, of the Downtown Safety Patrol and its chase policy, of the abrupt destruction of radio station WCSB, or of the Haslam’s sure relocation to Brook Park.

At least until those in the crowd bothered him with such questions.

What, oh what, one asked, do you think of the Browns? Does the Haslams’ $100 million “gift” to the city make up for what’s been a pretty sour breakup?

“I was happy to give a speech that didn’t mention the stadium,” Ronayne said, to laughter. He cited love for the Guardians, the Cavs and Cleveland’s upcoming WNBA team. “There is a lot of other work happening in the county.”