Commissioner Teri Wang

Here’s the low-down on why @216cpc has not heard a case. The Commission received an appeal from Mr. Antoine Tolbert on 2/1/24 arising from a complaint made to the Office of Professional Standards (OPS), the investigatory arm of the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB).

Nick Castele's framing turns a structural police accountability crisis into a story about a mayor’s motivations. Perhaps this is because he can't write about the real structural issues because I've never seen him at a @216cpc meeting or a Consent Decree status conference . The real question is whether Cleveland’s policing system—union contracts, discipline policies, Internal Affairs investigations, and civilian oversight—can actually function without federal supervision or independent civilian oversight. As a former Community Police Commissioner and Chair of Police Accountability—who faced open retaliation and intimidation from Mayor Bibb, Blaine Griffin, and Mark Griffin for pushing real reform—I can say plainly: Cleveland has not built the institutional systems and accountability necessary to sustain constitutional policing without meaningful external oversight. But the public won’t hear these facts and analyses from outlets like Signal Cleveland. That’s not accidental. Signal is funded by the Cleveland Foundation and operates within the same political and philanthropic networks that opposed Issue 24 and meaningful civilian oversight. Signal Cleveland has even published attacks on me that undermined my reform work. Its managing editor, Rachel Dissell, once followed and filmed me while I was speaking with another reporter, after participating in efforts that helped the Community Police Commission violate my First Amendment rights. So, Signal isn’t independent journalism—it’s media protection for the business class, with so-called journalists hiding open defamation and intimidation of dissenters behind the label of “press freedom.”

Cleveland, Ohio: Somewhere there are family and friends who may not yet know what has happened. But before their identities are even known, before their loved ones have had the chance to mourn them, their deaths are already being turned into political theater. These were children. They had lives that will now remain unlived, futures that should have been protected by the adults, the institutions, and the social systems meant to care for them. Instead, they were abused and discarded in the most horrific way. Moments like this demand grief, humility, and honesty, not a rush to turn their deaths into talking points about crime, punishment, or vigilantism. Because the truth is harder than that. Children are not protected by outrage, increased policing, or individual acts of heroism. They are protected by a society with schools that strengthen them, social services that reach them, institutions that intervene before violence happens, and communities that are supported rather than neglected. Safety does not come from momentary displays of toughness or care after something terrible has already occurred. It comes from the steady work of building social conditions in which every child’s life is valued and protected. When two children are found murdered like this, it is not only an isolated crime. It is also a reflection of the social and political conditions we have allowed to persist, conditions in which some lives are protected while others are left exposed to neglect and harm. It forces us to ask what kind of society we have built, and whose lives we allow to matter. Two girls have lost their lives. Their deaths are not only a crime but a reflection of a society that distributes safety unevenly. The task before us is to build institutions and systems that no longer reserve protection for the fortunate few.

Perhaps today’s anti-Trump protest is called “No Kings” rather than “No Oligarchs” or “No Billionaires” because Alice Walton—heiress to the Walmart fortune—is helping bankroll it. When a movement is funded by wealth derived from monopoly and oligarchy, can it truly develop the logic and strategy needed to confront the very economic system at the root of our crises? And yes, I’ll name it: capitalism.

Tremont could have burned last night. So when are we finally going to bury these electrical wires and modernize our grid? This fire scene—two fire trucks responding to electrical wires igniting inside two trees—unfolded at the corner of Jefferson and Professor. Sparks rained down onto a car while firefighters hosed it off to prevent a secondary fire. They were forced to remain on site for an extended period because the Illuminating Company failed to respond to their urgent plea to shut off power. Our political leaders spend their time worrying about protestors burning down the city—but maybe they should focus on how their own negligence will do just that. The Stockyards once burned to the ground but instead of prioritizing safety and resilience, our City Planning Commission and Planning Department just pushed through sweeping new development rules—rules that allow townhouses to be built closer and closer together with little to no regard for fire safety. And they did so without consulting police, fire, or the Fire Examiner—a reckless failure of planning and public accountability. This is Cleveland: a city hollowed out by a development agenda driven not just by corporate speculators, but by philanthropic power brokers like the Cleveland Foundation. Far from acting as a neutral benefactor, the Foundation has helped shape development policy citywide—often aligning with City Hall and private developers to advance a broader revitalization agenda that doesn't always reflect the needs or voices of long-term residents. Even more troubling is the structural conflict of interest: Lillian Kuri, the CEO of the Cleveland Foundation, also serves as Chair of the Cleveland City Planning Commission. While she recuses herself from votes on projects the Foundation directly funds, the Foundation’s broader development priorities—including zoning changes, infrastructure advocacy, and strategic investments—regularly intersect with the Commission’s work. That overlap creates the perception, and potentially the reality, of private influence over public planning—undermining public trust and skewing development outcomes toward elite institutions rather than everyday Clevelanders.

The liberal establishment behind the Consent Decree crippled reform so badly it’s now easy prey for those who hate police oversight. The Commission was our last shot at real accountability—but crony appointees and political interference killed it. Don’t confuse the idea of the Commission with what the Mayor and Council turned it into. The Commission must be reconstructed or the City's public safety forces will collapse.

This is one reason why @CLEpolice has spent over $265K on drones, including one military-grade reconnaissance drone, the Loki MK2. There are strawman arguments being made over drone use: no one is arguing over whether there are beneficial, legitimate uses for drones in law enforcement situations. The real question is whether the Cleveland Police can be trusted to competently and ethically use drones. I think the Division's targeting of peaceful protestors on November 24, 2024, without an authorized police drone policy says all we need to know about the matter, and also the issues facing the Division and why it is unable to sustain its ranks: lack of administrative and organizational competence, exacerbated by corruption especially within its police intelligence units. This is probably true for many police departments across the nation, but it's had a disparate impact on Cleveland's public safety. It's almost karmic: elements of the police mistreat citizens, mistreat internal colleagues, and eventually the whole thing collapses because people don't like to suffer abuse at their workplace or in their daily lives. The Consent Decree was not aggressive enough to resolve these labor and organizational dynamics issues because the Consent Decree is not set up to be a strategic plan for improvement. The no statistically significant change, up or down, for uses of force over the last 10 year span, speaks volumes as to the effectiveness of the Consent Decree. And without robust civilian oversight, we are left again with @CLEpolice managing itself. Time for a new Mayor, new City Council, and new prosecutors. Those are the only routes forward that I see: a complete reconstruction of City and County government, including the police forces.

Yesterday, the Commission again used @CLEpolice to intimidate me after I voiced against the problematic police drone policy at a public meeting. Now they are pushing blatant defamatory propaganda about maintaining decorum and safety— when their intent was to obscure the truth and silence dissent. For months, the Commission has actively obstructed public engagement on the police drone policy. Police Policy Chair Piet van Lier has refused to open the Surveillance Tech Work Group, blocking meaningful community discussion on the policy’s serious constitutional implications. Commissioner van Lier has repeatedly misrepresented who has been involved in shaping the policy and has refused to release public records, even after direct orders from Law Director Mark Griffin. He has also collaborated with local media outlets, including Signal Cleveland, to conceal his role in authoring the original policy—a policy that permitted warrantless surveillance of protestors and other First Amendment-protected activity. These aren’t hypotheticals. On November 24, 2024, a police drone was launched against protestors opposing County investment in Israel Bonds. Those protestors were later maliciously prosecuted by the City for "noise violations." The Commission’s repeated meeting cancellations have nothing to do with safety. They are part of a deliberate strategy to suppress dissent and weaponize procedural decorum rules to violate the public’s rights to free speech and petition. Worse still, the Commission has actively engaged the Cleveland Division of Police in an open conflict of interest to intimidate me—first as a public official, and now as a private citizen—for speaking out against corruption, surveillance abuse, and misconduct within this body. This isn’t governance. It’s repression—cloaked in process and fueled by fear of accountability.

This is reasonable suspicion as German car companies have already bought BYD cars and strip them in an effort to look for useful technology.

Even hippos need sunscreen.

Well, things have gotten so bad in the political establishment that they are allowing Conan O'Brien to host the #Oscars2025 Conan is a sincere comedy genius, and I'm surprised they are allowing his brand of subversive surreality on such a stage.