Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Sarah Rice for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Cleveland is one of the cities that stands to lose the most as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk reorient the federal government and its spending priorities, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: Under the Biden administration, Cleveland and Cuyahoga County secured hundreds of millions of dollars in grants for environmental cleanup, infrastructure, and programs for disadvantaged communities.
Much of that money is now up in the air.
Case in point: Funds from a $20 million EPA grant to clean up the Harvard Landfill and build a solar farm atop it were frozen, unfrozen and frozen again during the first month of Trump's presidency. It's back to being available again.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is vowingto reclaim $20 billion in environmental projects approved by Biden.
What they're saying: Both Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne are refraining from criticizing Trump too harshly as they chart a path forward.
"What I don't want to do is poke someone in the eye prematurely," Ronayne told the Post.
Bibb was recently elected president of the Democratic Mayors Association and said he planned to "hold Trump accountable," but that he and other mayors should be selective in their opposition.
"Will Cleveland be the center of 'the resistance?' I don't think so. But at the end of the day, I want Cleveland to be a symbol of progress."
