Zack Reed focuses on neighborhoods, crime, and pandemic in 2nd run for Cleveland mayor

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - For 17 years, Zack Reed represented the Southeast of Cleveland. But now, the former city council member is running for mayor of Cleveland for the second time.

When asked what made him want to run for mayor again, Reed said, “I wasn’t seeing any progress.”

Reed said part of the change of command means being transparent and accessible to the community.

“I believe if the CEO of Sherwin Williams, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital picked up the phone and said, ‘I need to talk to the mayor,’ they would have the opportunity to talk to the mayor. Why can’t Miss Jenkins, who lives on 154th and Kinsman, come talk to the mayor?,” he asked.

Going out into the neighborhood, Reed said, is the key to knowing what’s going on in communities, many of which he believes the current administration ignored. He believes they put too much focus into downtown.

“Thirty-four neighborhoods in the city of Cleveland. There’s no reason in the world why every Ward, why every community, and neighborhood in this city is not a part of the renaissance in the city of Cleveland,” said Reed.

Crime is also a focus of his campaign.

“We’ve looked at it through the criminal justice lens, and it has not worked. What I’m saying, Tiffani is, we have to start looking at it from a public health lens,” he said. “Yes, we’re going to have to hire more police officers. Yes, we’re going to have to give them the technology and equipment that they need. Yes, we’re going to have to hold them accountable.”

He also believes more needs to be done when it comes to the pandemic.

“The fact that we’re less than 40% of the people vaccinated in the city of Cleveland, that’s unacceptable,” he said. “I don’t want to see small businesses have to shut down again. I don’t want to see children have to learn from home again. The mayor of the city of Cleveland should be out here on the front lines. They should be holding clinics.”

Copyright 2021 WOIO. All rights reserved.