Mayor Justin Bibb touted waterfront development momentum and crime reduction along with other 2024 milestones in an annual report released last week.

Why it matters: The mayor is eager to celebrate quantitative and qualitative achievements as he mounts his 2025 reelection campaign.

Zoom in: Bibb focused on progress made in public safety, housing and neighborhood development, the lakefront and technology.

The intrigue: He acknowledged the "strong political headwinds" in 2025 — a likely euphemism for the Trump administration — that could jeopardize some of these projects.

🚔 The RISE Initiative

Increased pay and incentives for Cleveland police officers led to a recruiting class (52 cadets) larger than the previous four combined.

By the numbers: The Summer Safety Plan resulted in more than 700 arrests and nearly 400 guns recovered.

• The city's homicide rate dropped by 26% last year.

The latest: There is still a deficit of more than 240 officers on the force, and Cleveland is planning a marketing campaign in 2025 to entice recruits.

🏘️ Housing and neighborhood development

The city rapidly rehoused more than 100 chronically homeless residents through the Home for Every Neighbor program and launched an affordable housing fund that it hopes will grow to $100 million toward helping developers build affordable units.

• An effort to reinvigorate the city's southeast side has allocated more than $7 million for home repairs and small businesses.

The latest: On Sunday, the city opened its first seasonal shelter for the unhoused in response to plunging temperatures.

🌊 The Lakefront

The city created a nonprofit development authority to carry out the North Coast Master Plan and won major federal resources for a pedestrian land bridge connecting downtown to Lake Erie.

• The $60 million grant will also convert the downtown portion of State Route 2 into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard.

💻 Municipal technology

Bibb unveiled the city's new online 311 system last September, which allows residents to submit and track requests for non-emergency services.

• The city also created an Open Data portal with up-to-date stats and information in a number of areas (public safety, health, housing).

East Cleveland not only had the lowest 2023 median family income in Ohio, according to new five-year estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

• It was the lowest in the entire United States, among municipalities of 5,000 people or more.

Stunning stat: It's also the only Ohio city to have a median family income below $40,000.

Between the lines: Cleveland's not too far behind. With a median family income of $48,900, it's seventh-lowest in the state.

🤐 Cleveland Councilman Joe Jones is the subject of an internal misconduct investigation that Council President Blaine Griffin sought to shield last week. (Cleveland Scene)

• "We are in the process of making dramatic cultural changes to make sure we hold everyone accountable," Griffin said. (Cleveland.com)

🍽️ A local family has transformed a dental office on the southeast side into Doc's on Harvard, a new upscale restaurant. (Cleveland Magazine)

💸 The Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation has given a $90 million grant to the Cleveland Jewish Federation to transform Jewish day schools in the area. (Crain's Cleveland Business 🔒)

So that's how it feels to get punched in the mouth?

State of play: The Cavs got clobbered for the first time this season, wilting before the swarming Oklahoma City defense in last week's rematch that felt like it was over the moment it began.

Record: (36-6); Last week: (34-5).

Weekly slate: Loss at OKC (134-114); Win at Minnesota (124-117); Win vs. Phoenix (118-92).

Yes, but: The Cavs are a resilient bunch and responded as good teams should.

• They dispatched two competitive Western Conference opponents, including a surging Phoenix, to right the ship.

🔟 Weekly winner: Tristan Thompson.

• The wily veteran has been called into active duty with Evan Mobley temporarily banged up. He played 26 minutes off the bench against Phoenix — his most this season — and grabbed 10 rebounds.
• He has also been the most vocal locker room champion for the Cavs' All-Star candidates.

0️⃣ Weekly loser: Isaac Okoro, who has missed 12 of the last 19 games with a nagging shoulder injury and has been held scoreless in three of his last five outings.

🎯 Stat du jour: Darius Garland — on active 50/40/90 watch — surpassed Mark Price on the Cavs' all-time three point leaderboard.

• With 805 total threes, Garland now trails only LeBron James (1,251) and Kevin Love (1,096).

What's next: Wednesday at Houston; Friday at Philadelphia; Saturday vs. Houston; Monday vs. Detroit.

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The Internal Revenue Service is sending $2.4 billion in stimulus payments to approximately 1 million eligible taxpayers who didn't receive 2021 COVID recovery relief payments.

The big picture: The special payments are as high as $1,400 per individual and should arrive by late January, if they haven't already, the IRS said in a news release.

How it works: The payments are for taxpayers who didn't receive the Recovery Rebate Credit in 2021.

• The Recovery Rebate Credit is a refundable credit for individuals who did not receive one or more Economic Impact Payments, also known as stimulus payments or stimulus checks.
• No action is needed for eligible taxpayers to receive these payments, the IRS said, noting the payments will be direct deposited or sent by paper check.

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