A large swath of the majority-Black, high-poverty East Side favored it, including the Central neighborhood, which is the poorest in the city. Meanwhile, the city center – coupled with majority-white, trendier neighborhoods like Ohio City, Tremont and Detroit-Shoreway — also approved it.
In fact, a majority of wards – nine out of 17 – ended up favoring the People’s Budget. But high turnout and ample opposition in the rest of the city was able to overcome those “yes” votes.
Backers of the People’s Budget — which would’ve allowed Cleveland residents to decide how to spend a portion of the city budget – viewed it as a challenge to business-as-usual at City Hall, which routinely subsidizes sports team owners, developers and other moneyed interests. Opponents viewed it as a populist threat to city services, which, they said, would be forced to undergo cuts in order to fund the People’s Budget.
Once Tuesday’s results were tallied, Council President Blaine Griffin interpreted the failure as a win for Clevelanders. But he also saw it as a win for council members who, in his view, successfully educated voters about what council members described as the negative impact of the People’s Budget.
Molly Martin, campaign manager for the People’s Budget, had this takeaway about why the votes broke as they did:
“Those at the heart of inequality in Cleveland voted against the status quo, while those who voted down Issue 38 benefit from it,” Martin said.
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