Why is Cleveland’s ‘Climate Mayor’ still riding in big SUVs?

CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found the mayor of Cleveland pushing for cleaner-running cars, yet he gets taken around town by security in very big SUVs.

So, we put him on the spot to explain.

Tuesday, after a news conference, we saw Mayor Justin Bibb get into a seven-seat Expedition. His security detail uses three of those.

But, Mayor Bibb also leads a group called the Climate Mayors and we’ve seen him calling for cleaner-running cars to cut down on pollution.

So, we investigated what he’s saying and what he’s doing.

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In February, the mayor spoke up with a public health group calling for tougher standards for vehicles and more electric vehicles.

“Transitioning to more clean cars benefits cities everywhere,” the mayor said at the time. “We need to achieve the strongest possible vehicle pollution safeguards.”

This week, we asked the mayor to explain riding in the SUVs, yet demanding cleaner-running vehicles.

“You call yourself the climate mayor,” the I-Team said.

“Yes, Yes sir,” the mayor responded.

“I’ve seen you campaign for cleaner vehicles. You get chauffeured around in three very large SUVs. How is that good for the environment?” the I-Team asked.

“I look forward to working with public safety to modernizing our fleet with EV vehicles in the future,” the mayor said.

“But, in the meantime you’re still using those,” the I-Team tried to follow up.

However, the mayor walked away.

His office released a statement, saying:

“While they are more energy efficient, switching to EV vehicles would mean new purchases – of more than $50,000 on average per car – that would come at taxpayers’ expense. As the mayor of a historically-poor city with limited financial resources, we often have to balance competing priorities like this keeping costs at the top of mind.”

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Nonetheless, when the city bought those SUV’s now used by the Mayor, those cost a total of nearly $170,000.

At that time, the city first said those SUVs were bought for Cleveland police. Later, they were assigned to the mayor’s security detail.

For this story, we also turned to Terry McNeil, a watchdog of City of Cleveland services. He posts on social media under FixOurStreets216. He has been pushing for the city to use more modern, clean-running vehicles and equipment for the crews plowing, cutting trees and cleaning up vacant lots.

“He needs an environmental strategist.” said McNeil, speaking of the mayor still using large SUVs. “Certain things he needs to do before he asks us to do things that has to do with the environment. You know, set the example, first.”

For now, the mayor wants change in how you get around, but no change yet for him.

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