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BIBB, GRIFFIN ANNOUNCE CITY ABORTION POLICIES POST-ROE, INCLUDING “REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FUND”

CLEVELAND MAYOR JUSTIN BIBB

and City Council President Blaine Griffin announced last week a suite of city policies related to reproductive healthcare. The policies emerged, they said, from weeks of discussion in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

These policies are circumscribed by a commitment to non-enforcement and non-prosecution. In the first announced policy, City Prosecutor Aqueelah Jordan has pledged that neither she nor any city attorney will participate in charging abortionrelated crimes. She effectively joins Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O’Malley and other district attorneys nationwide in refusing to deploy court resources to prosecute private medical decisions.

Cleveland police personnel, too, will not waste time and energy investigating abortion-related criminal charges. These will now become “the lowest priority for the use of City resources, including personnel, time, and funds,” a press release announcing the policies said.

In terms of its own resources, Bibb and Griffin say that they are currently working together to introduce legislation that will create a $100,000 Reproductive Freedom Fund. This city money would be used to cover the costs of Cleveland residents seeking abortions out of state. As Scene has previously written, these expenses include not only the cost of the procedure itself, but travel, lodging and potentially childcare and lost wages. The fund would be geared toward travel costs.

Both Bibb and Griffin affirmed their support for abortion as healthcare and access to abortion as a human right.

“We must do everything in our power to defend a woman’s right to choose what happens with her own body - not allow government or activist judges that control,” said Griffin, in a press release.

Two additional policies relate to the human resources department. The city affirmed, as Bibb did weeks ago, that Cleveland HR will continue to “explore the city’s options” for employee health insurance plans. They are still making efforts to determine if all city plans cover elective abortions out-of-state. Additionally, the city has committed to not sharing employee related to pregnancy status, including information that identifies a doctor or patient, except in the cases of medical emergency. This non-disclosure commitment is to ensure that pregnancy-related information is not wielded against employees in the prosecution of abortion crimes.

Lastly, the city says that is drafting an amicus brief in the case currently before the Ohio Supreme Court that seeks to overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban.

“As we hear about more and more extreme measures being considered at the state level, my administration will continue to look at all possible options—executive, administrative, legislative, and from the bully pulpit,” said Mayor Bibb, in the release. “Reproductive rights are human rights, and I am committed to protecting those rights to the maximum extent that I can.” -Sam Allard

Clevelanders came out in droves to oppose drastic new abortion restrictions.

Photo by Madeline Fening

University Circle Starbucks is 4th in Cleveland, 200th in Nation to Unionize

The University Circle Starbucks on Euclid Avenue is the fourth location of the popular coffee shop to unionize in Northeast Ohio.

The National Labor Relations Board tallied the votes late last week and announced that workers there voted 11-9 to form a union. The University Circle store follows in the footsteps of counterparts at W. 6th Street downtown, Mayfield & Lee in Cleveland Heights, and Clifton Boulevard, near the Cleveland/ Lakewood border.

The location is now the seventh Starbucks store in the state of Ohio to unionize. And Starbucks Workers United, the union representing stores across the country, noted that no store that has filed for a union election in the state has lost.

But the University Circle election was more contentious than the previous three in Cleveland, where unions were voted on unanimously. In University Circle, a string of recent terminations and threats, alongside slashed hours for employees known to be supporting the union and constant anti-union messaging from management, jeopardized the result for the union’s supporters.

“They pulled out everything to try to union-bust us, and we still won,” said Ken Walker, a former shift supervisor who was fired in recent weeks. “I was written up for things that I didn’t do, and they fired me two or three days after we filed charges against the company with the NLRB. This victory shows that Starbucks’ retaliation won’t work. Workers are stronger than Starbucks’ union-busting tactics.”

In recent weeks, workers and their organized labor allies have been demonstrating at locations across town to protest union-busting. Rallies at the W. 6th location and at the University Circle location precipitated the latest NLRB votes.

The University Circle vote is also a significant milestone for Starbucks organizing efforts nationally. It is the 200th store to form a union since December 2021, when a Starbucks location in Buffalo, New York became the first to do so, launching a national wave that has not yet

UPFRONT

crested. -Sam Allard

A Report on Fare Evasion from the Cleveland Documenters

People who don’t pay public transit fares in Cleveland can get a criminal record, spend up to 30 days in jail, and owe up to $250 in fines. More than a dozen community members have publicly addressed Cleveland City Council in 2022 about that reality, sharing this message: No one should face that kind of punishment for not paying transit fares.

Despite that advocacy, and the council introducing legislation to create an option for lesser penalties, the consequences will likely remain the same—a possibility of incarceration and a maximum allowable fine 100 times greater than a one-trip ticket for adults – because the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) follows state, not city, law.

The number of riders cited for the nonpayment of transit fare, known as fare evasion, is low relative to total ridership. GCRTA Transit Police cited riders for fare evasion 79 times total in 2020 and 2021, according to Robert Fleig, GCRTA Public Information Officer. Ridership was 15.9 million in 2021, equating to about one fare-evasion citation for every 883,000 riders, he said. Cleveland Municipal Court records show that the riders charged in the city between 2019-2021 were mostly Black—about 83 percent.

“The decriminalization of transit fare evasion is a social justice issue. It is a class and poverty issue. It is in some ways a racial justice issue, which [the city] just declared to be a public health crisis,” said Clevelander Mark Schumann at a January meeting.

Public commenters, mostly speaking on behalf of advocacy group Clevelanders for Public Transit (CPT), demanded that City Council:

Decriminalize fare evasion (so people aren’t charged with a crime).

Eliminate or reduce possible financial penalties.

Remove the possibility of jail time for fare evasion.

Several council members, with support from Mayor Justin Bibb, introduced legislation in April that would amend existing city law to lower the potential financial penalty for fare evasion to $25. It would also remove the possibility of jail time. But, as public commenters pointed out, the proposed law would still classify fare evasion as a fourth-degree misdemeanor, carrying the potential of a criminal conviction and the costs and consequences that come with it.

“Just as no person would ever expect to go to jail over a parking ticket, no person should ever go to jail over a bus pass that costs $2.50,” Natalie Ziegler, CPT vice chair, said in April. Ziegler commended the council for its proposal but said it needed to go further. “The proposed legislation must protect against the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction.”

Ziegler, noting that existing state law still carries stiffer punishment for fare evasion, also said the city must ensure RTA cites only the city law.

Ward 3 Council Member Kerry McCormack, a lead sponsor of the city’s pending legislation, told Cleveland Documenters that because RTA chooses to cite the state code, the council’s amendment would be “largely symbolic.”

Regardless, CPT would like to see the legislation passed.

Alex Rubin, a volunteer with CPT and a member of the coordinating committee, said the legislation, warts and all, would be a departure from the status quo. And, Rubin hopes the city would use its leverage—namely that the mayor appoints the most board of trustees members (4 of 10)— to influence GCRTA’s policy choice.

“It’s up to the mayor and City Council to sort of determine how important this issue is to them and how much leverage they want to expend,” Rubin said.

How can people cited avoid criminal charges?

Adults who pay a $25 administrative fee to GCRTA within 72 hours of being cited for fare evasion will not have a criminal citation filed. Otherwise, GCRTA will refer the citation to court for criminal prosecution. Adults can pay those fees here and in person at GCRTA’s Customer Service Center in Tower City. GCRTA issues riders under 18 a written warning for the first incident. The second citation, and any after that, require them to pay $25 within 30 days, or else GCRTA sends the citation to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office. People under 18 can pay fees here and at Tower City.

No adult paid the fee to avoid criminal processing in 2020; one did in 2021. The Transit Police did not cite anyone under 18 during those years, according to Fleig. In an interview with Cleveland Documenters, neither Michael Gettings, Deputy Chief of Police, nor Floun’say Caver, Chief Operating Officer, could answer why so few people pay the fees.

What’s the reason for the dropoff in citations from 2021 and 2020?

GCRTA gave no explanation for the dropoff. It isn’t something Transit Police would spend time analyzing, said Gettings, who added that fare evasion accounts for a small fraction of the department’s calls.

What fare evasion law does GCRTA cite, and why?

The GCRTA Transit Police enforce fare evasion under Ohio code 2917.41(A) in all 59 municipalities in Cuyahoga County, instead of using city codes, for consistency, according to Fleig. GCRTA — to the best of its knowledge — has never cited the city law.

How do the existing state and city laws compare?

The state law, as currently written and enforced, has been in effect since 2003. City Council enacted the relevant section of the city code in 2009. City Council amended the code in 2013 by adding more behaviors to legally be considered misconduct on public transit and making a first violation of fare evasion a fourthdegree misdemeanor. Until then, the city code said a first violation was a minor misdemeanor, which carried no possibility of incarceration and a maximum $150 fine.

The state law specifies that 75 percent of each fine paid for violating the law goes to the treasury of the county where the incident happened. The rest goes to the body operating the transit system — in this case, GCRTA. The city code does not specify where fines must go.

That provision doesn’t influence GCRTA’s decision to cite the state code, Fleig said.

What’s the status of the pending legislation?

McCormack delayed discussion of the city’s pending amendment at a June 1 Transportation and Mobility Committee meeting. McCormack, who chairs the committee, said in the meeting that the city’s attorneys were looking at the matter, and given the robust public input, he was putting the legislation on hold for the moment, as noted by Documenter Christina Easter.

Some public commenters asked the council to enter a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with GCRTA requiring the transit authority to cite only the city code, if amended, not the state code. Would GCRTA consider that?

Gettings and Caver dismissed the idea of adopting city-specific policies regarding fare evasion in any of the municipalities GCRTA operates in. GCRTA gets its authority from the state, not any one city, they said, adding that GCRTA has to remain regional with its policy.

“Our authority extends wherever service extends,” Gettings said.

-Doug Breehl-Pitorak, Cleveland Documenters ‹

DIGIT WIDGET

4

Cleveland Clinic’s ranking in the annual U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals list. For years, the Clinic was the nation’s second-best hospital, behind Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic. This year, it dips below Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. and NYU Langone Hospitals in New York as well.

10, 13

Ages of Cleveland sisters who were raped and impregnated by their mother’s boyfriend in 2021. Last year, only one was able to obtain an abortion in Ohio. (The 13-year-old was beyond the 22week threshold.) With a six-week ban now in effect, neither would be able to receive reproductive healthcare in the state.

84

Age of Cleveland’s “Rebel Priest” Fr. Bob Begin, who died this week. Begin was the longtime pastor at St. Colman’s parish in Detroit-Shoreway, and was known for his activism against the Vietnam War and his advocacy for the poor.

scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene

1:15:00

Typical length of commute for Northeast Ohio worker traveling by public transit to jobs that would take a typical car commuter only 20 minutes.