Dear Council Members,

   (Plain Press June 2026) As a resident of the Cudell/Clifton-Baltic/Edgewater neighborhood, I was highly disappointed to learn that the ‘Municipal Services & Properties Committee’ blocked the ability for Mayor Bibb’s office to enforce ’eminent domain’ to acquire 10022 Madison Avenue (corner of Madison & West Boulevard, located within bordering Wards 11 & 12). I applaud the only two council members, Ward 11 Nikki Hudson & Ward 12 Tanmay Shah, who voted ‘Yes’ in favor of allowing the City to utilize eminent domain to acquire the parcel for the building of a new Fire Station No. 23.

LETTER

   As Council is duly aware, Fire Station Number 23 is a hazard to the first responders working around the clock in that building. Many of us in the community met with Fire Captain McNeilly last year and saw the conditions firsthand. It was astonishing. Not to mention, the numerous cancer diagnoses that have stemmed from that station, and the heavyhearted deaths of two firefighters (Shawn P. Calvey and Brian K. DeGardeyn) who also worked out of Station 23 and whose deaths were linked to occupational cancer.

   For you as Council and for us as a community to allow these conditions to persist is unacceptable. It’s embarrassing for Cleveland. And, frankly, it continues to foster a terrible liability for the City. 

   For a City Council with fifteen members, much of your focus may very well be on your individual wards; however, at the end of the day, each of your successes & triumphs along with losses & failures, collectively impacts us all. Regardless of geographical & ward boundaries, we are one body and one community.

   Council may not have the ability to bring back OUR community’s two lost firefighters, but you certainly have the capability to clear the path for the Bibb Administration and Council Members Hudson and Shah to correct a pressing & very much dire situation with Fire Station No. 23, AND to fix an egregious mistake done under a misleading guise that should absolutely never have taken place under the previous ward’s leadership in the manner in which 10022 Madison Avenue was presented to prospective buyers, who had specific development plans in mind, and ultimately purchased the property.

   As our own community’s first responders have bravely and consistently done for us, may YOU act swiftly as a team & leaders to clear a path for eminent domain for the City to acquire 10022 Madison Avenue, and may Council not allow the hands of time to tick away and claim yet another death or cancer diagnosis associated with Fire Station No. 23. Rest In Peace:  Shawn P. Calvey – National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (July 30, 2024) and Brian K. DeGARDEYN Obituary (October 2, 2023)

Jeon Francis (Ward 12 resident)