If you’ve ever wondered why Cleveland lags behind comparable cities in development and growth, look no further than the mind-boggling bureaucracy at City Hall.
Wednesday’s Today in Ohio podcast hosts had their jaws on the floor over a story by Cleveland City Hall reporter Sean McDonnell about the city’s contract process taking up to 40 time-consuming steps.
“Well, depending on how you count them, 35 to 40. And we’re talking about a nine to 12 month process, which, as you point out, is absurd and frustrating,” said Courtney Astolfi.
The revelation came during a recent council meeting where the process was laid out. It’s a chief reason business in the city moves at what Astolfi described as a “glacial pace.”
The bureaucratic labyrinth requires contracts to bounce between departments, undergo multiple bid scoring processes and pass through layers of review that may have made sense decades ago but are woefully outdated today.
“This is a system put into place when George Voinovich was mayor,” noted Chris Quinn. “The world has changed. I mean, that was before computers were around. There’s so much better communication tools now. And we’re still working off of a roadmap that was designed when we powered our cars with our feet. It’s just dumb.”
This Byzantine process has real-world consequences. Real estate developers consistently cite the city’s red tape as a major deterrent to investment. A recent comparison showed Columbus approving significantly more apartment permits per capita than Cleveland, with developers pointing directly to City Hall as the culprit.
“This tells you everything you need to know about why we’re so backwards, right?” Quinn emphasized. “This process is ridiculous. Nothing should take this long or involve this much nonsense. And it should be streamlined.”
The Bibb administration is attempting to cut through some of the red tape, but not without resistance. Council President Blaine Griffin expressed concern that streamlining might eliminate important oversight, particularly regarding the Consultant Review Committee that scrutinizes contracts not awarded to the lowest bidder.
“No one expects government to move the speed of business,” said Astolfi. “It shouldn’t. There should be protections in government, but you’ve got to strike some kind of balance here… It can’t be out of hand to the point where people don’t want to do business with the city of Cleveland.”
The tension highlights a challenge: balancing necessary oversight with operational efficiency. However, with 35-40 steps currently in place, there’s clearly room for improvement without sacrificing accountability.
As Cleveland continues to compete with other cities for development, talent, and economic growth, this bureaucratic morass represents a self-inflicted wound. The city has the opportunity to modernize its processes and remove unnecessary barriers to progress, but only if leadership from both the administration and council prioritize reform over preserving an outdated status quo.
Listen to the episode here.
Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from Today in Ohio, a news podcast discussion by cleveland.com editors. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.
Listen to full “Today in Ohio” episodes where Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with Editorial Board member Lisa Garvin, Impact Editor Leila Atassi and Content Director Laura Johnston.
