x
Breaking News
More () »

Council member criticizes Mayor Jackson for being 'silent' on crime in Cleveland

"If they have a plan, nobody knows it."

One council member in Cleveland says the mayor needs to step up and do more when it comes to violence in the city, while others say everyone must work together to find a solution.

The criticism from Ward 8 councilman Mike Polensek comes after the city reached a hundred homicides for the seventh consecutive year. He says Mayor Frank Jackson has been silent on the issue.

“If they have a plan, nobody knows it,” Polensek tells WKYC.

The growing crime problem in Cleveland has touched almost everyone. The latest victims in the string of violence came Thursday after two men were killed on Cleveland’s east side. It happened on Holly Hill Dr. around 3:30 p.m. in the Lee-Harvard neighborhood, bringing the total number of homicides to 102.

Ward 3 Councilman Blaine Griffin says the violence is unacceptable.

"Everybody has to step up,” he said.

Griffin says the blame doesn’t fall on one person, including Mayor Jackson.

"Pointing the fingers and trying to say the mayor is responsible is not going to solve any crimes," he said.

The ward 3 councilman says he wants more police and more federal resources to help reduce crime in his neighborhood and throughout the city. But, he says he knows the issue of crime is more complex and it’s something that can't be fixed overnight.

‘This is not just about putting police officers on every corner and thinking it's going to solve our issues,” Griffin said. “It takes a lot more community based policing, problem oriented policing to solve these complicated crimes.”

We’ve tried to reach the mayor for the past couple of days about the crime in the city and also the criticism from Polensek.

Jackson declined to do an interview with us, asking us to talk with his communications team. But, in an off-air conversation with WKYC’s Ray Strickland, the mayor talked about his anti-violence plan, trying to get to figure out the root causes of crimes, especially among the youth .

He’s said in the past and during the conversation that the crime is a symptom of a much larger health issue caused by social problems.

Grady Stevenson, one of Jackson's staff members, says the mayor’s plan has worked. He’s created an outreach team that works in communities to eliminate violence.

"We work in Arbor Park and Arbor Park had a lot of shootings going on and our guys went down there and were successful in eliminating those shootings," Stevenson added, saying the plan has been tweaked to get better results.

MORE | Off-duty officers to patrol Cleveland's near west side after Ohio City shooting, councilman says

Stevenson understands the outrage from people in the community, many who have grown impatient with the devastating violence, adding that, “If we take our time and do it right, it will have a long lasting effect and we can see results that will really take hold in the city.”

In response to criticism aimed in the mayor’s direction, Stevenson said, “For people, who say we are not doing anything, come out and work with us in the community…we couldn’t have too much help for our youth…if you got a program and you have an idea that you think will work come aboard and let’s work on that.”

Before You Leave, Check This Out