Some Cleveland health advocates say Cleveland City Council is obstructing legislation that could make its residents healthier.
In 2020, the city declared racism a public health crisis and vowed to determine strategies to address structural racism and reduce health disparities for Clevelanders.
Now, ahead of the city's first council meeting of 2025, advocates said the council isn't following through on its promise to tackle health inequities.
Yvonka Hall, executive director of Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition, held a press conference Monday at Cleveland City Hall calling for Council President Blaine Griffin to act on ordinances making restaurants report sodium content in meals, mandate testing of all children for lead and ban flavored tobacco and menthol.
“We have had four years of stall on all these legislation pieces that we have come to the city with," Hall said. "Literally, we've had this gatekeeper that’s stopped everything.”
Ashley Hebert, with the Center for Black Health & Equity, said she wants council to start with public conversations on the health policy ideas they’ve proposed.
“Let's let them go through the democratic process to work out any issues, have discussion and inform the public of what our advocacy and local public health entities are working on," she said.
When reached for comment, Griffin said he reviewed the proposals but believed education campaigns would be better than punitive ordinances on local businesses that would be difficult to enforce.
"Council knows that health disparities are one of the things that drive racism and quality of life in our community," he said. "At the end of the day, we'll look at, and we'll continue to look at these policies. But if they don't make sense, or if this body does not see an outcome, then we're not just going to pass legislation just to make people happy."
Griffin added childhood lead testing is mandated by Medicaid, for which a majority of the city's children are qualified.
