On Friday, January 7th, we attended the first City Club forum for 2022 titled “Changing of the Guard: A Neighborhood Plan for the Next Era of Cleveland Leadership.”
As the program notes read, “recently, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress developed a comprehensive platform developed a comprehensive platform focused on municipal modernization, infrastructure, economic development, and housing. Their platform advocates for specific changes for the new administration and council to enact that the organization believes will strengthen all Cleveland neighborhoods…”
to view a copy of the Cleveland Neighborhood Platform please see (http://www.clevelandnp.org/neighborhood-platform/)
The forum, itself, consisted of a panel discussion moderated by Mr. Nick Castele, Reporter/Producer, Ideastream Public Media wherein the panelists were Mr. Jamal Doyle, Executive Director of Greater Collinwood Development Corporation; Ms. Tania Menesse, CEO and President of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress; and Ms. Rosemary Mudry, Executive Director of West Park Kamm’s Neighborhood Development.
During the discussion, all aspects of the Plan were explored as well as its potential to transform Cleveland along with other factors.
Regarding the latter, we were very pleased when our good friend Mr. Fareed Siddiq, who himself immigrated to the United States from Pakistan in 1972, asked a question in which he contended that immigrants and refugees have the potential to be an important force in the revitalization of Cleveland.
In response to Mr. Siddiq’s contention, Ms. Menesse said that she advocated City Hall conducting a robust marketing campaign to attract more foreign-born people to Cleveland and creating pathways for international students to re-settle here.
It was also said that such moves would be very consistent with Cleveland’s history of being very welcoming to immigrants and might be part of the answer to our declining population numbers
Indeed, on these points pertaining to immigration, the rest of the panel, as well as the audience, seemed to agree very much with what was said just as they were with the Cleveland Neighborhood Platform as a whole.
To watch this program, which we deem to be excellent, in its entirety, please see (https://www.cityclub.org/forums/2022/01/07changing-of-the-guard-a-neighborhood-plan-for-the-next-era-of-cleveland-leadership/)
