CLEVELAND — Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb made his first State of the City address covering a wide variety of topics.

“Cleveland, the wait for change is over,” Bibb said to a round of applause.

Bibb praised what he believes are accomplishments, such as amending the consent decree to include Issue 24, beginning talks for lakefront development, expungement of thousands of marijuana cases and raising more than $100 million to eradicate lead from Cleveland’s neighborhoods. 

“Following the recommendations of community activists and grassroots organizations, we hired a cabinet-level lead safe strategist to focus on prevention, screening, testing, early intervention and community engagement,” said Bibb. 

Bibb did address issues that frustrated Clevelanders, such as snow removal services that came under criticism during a recent snowstorm.

“We learned the hard way that our policies were outdated, that our people didn’t have enough equipment and our processes were incomplete. But the truth is, we fell short, and I fell short as your mayor,” said Bibb.   

The City Club allowed Clevelanders to ask questions to Bibb. A man from West Park asked about hiring officials from former Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration.

“What do you say to those who question those appointments as more of the same? What do you say to those who question your consistency on your promise to a change in the basic functioning and culture of city hall?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you this, I’m a smart enough leader and I’m true enough to know where I see good talent that wasn’t leveraged in the past, and I’m not going to throw out the baby with the bath water if I don’t have to,” Bibb said. 

Bibb also addressed future goals, such as addressing poverty and violent crime, including using the American Rescue Plan to address the issues. 

“We’ve established a new partnership with the highway patrol to have coordinated traffic sweeps and we will leverage the American Rescue plan to finally fully fund community violence prevention initiatives all across this city,” said Bibb. 

Bibb addressed the pandemic, saying it’s still around. He wants to get 60% of Clevelanders vaccinated by the end of the year, pointing out the current vaccination rate is less than 50%.