PHOTO BY LOH

A member of Coordinating Committee of the People’s Budget Cleveland flashes a peace sign. People’s Budget Cleveland launched a campaign for a ballot initiative on Friday May 26^th on Cleveland Public Square. People’s Budget Cleveland hopes Clevelanders will embrace the idea of citizens participating directly in deciding how to spend a small portion of Cleveland’s annual budget.

by Molly Martin

     In 2021, a group of Cleveland residents, PB CLE (now called People’s Budget Cleveland) mobilized around the idea that Cleveland residents should have real power to make real decisions over how public money gets spent. Legislation proposed by People’s Budget Cleveland that would have piloted participatory budgeting in Cleveland was tabled by Cleveland City Council in January of 2023.

COMMENTARY

     The commitment from our people did not waver when nearly 50 people showed up on our coalition call on the day following City Council’s tabling of the legislation. A straw poll followed by 3 months of planning led to this: PB CLE is launching a ballot initiative to enable Clevelanders to vote in November 2023 on a ballot question that would reform the City Charter. The amendment would require that a small percentage of the annual budget is decided on directly by all Cleveland residents using participatory budgeting. Some refer to a People’s Budget (PB) as “revolutionary civics in action” because PB takes democracy beyond elections. 

     The time for this is now. The attacks on democracy in Ohio are relentless. HB 458? That’s Ohio’s latest voter suppression law, which imposes unjustified and discriminatory burdens on the fundamental right to vote by enacting stricter photo ID requirements and eliminating in-person voting the day before Election Day, among other suppressive measures. The August 8 Special Election? Voting yes would make it very unlikely for Ohioans to directly amend the state constitution in the future (so vote NO on August 8).

     Giving residents direct power over a small sliver of the city budget is not to disregard the nuanced compromises that public officials must make. It’s a tough time to work in city government. The movement for a People’s Budget is a movement precisely because democracy is an emergent practice that requires experimentation. And we should be warm to experimenting when 2 of 3 Cleveland residents don’t vote.

     PB CLE’s Ballot Initiative Campaign Kickoff is on May 26th, the start of a 6-week sprint to collect 6,000 valid signatures from Cleveland residents before we get on the ballot in November. Please sign up for a shift to collect signatures at www.mobilize.us/pbcle. Learn more about our campaign and get in touch at www.pbcle.com.

Editor’s Note: The author, Molly Martin, is a member of the People’s Budget Cleveland coalition.