Cleveland, OH

Cleveland could get women's pro soccer stadium under proposed Ohio House spending bill – Ohio Capital Journal

Published

2 years ago

February 9, 2024

Cleveland could get women's pro soccer stadium under proposed Ohio House spending bill – Ohio Capital Journal

The Cleveland soccer community is thrilled that the Ohio House passed a spending bill that includes a million dollars to create a pro women’s stadium downtown.

Helena, Maia and Chloe Murphy love being on the field, and dad Michael loves soccer, too. He runs the Cleveland Soccer Group, an organization trying to get a National Women’s Soccer League team to the 216.

“It’s so critical that our young girls, including my three daughters, have ‘sheroes,’” Murphy said.

His dreams may become a reality.

The Ohio House passed a part of a spending bill, one that gives $1 million to create the women’s soccer stadium.

“It’s really a chance for Ohio and Cleveland and Cuyahoga County to step up and say, ‘We’ve been very fair in funding men’s professional sports facilities in the state for a long time; we haven’t done anything for women,’” he said. “Here’s a chance for equity, inclusion and really to grab lightning in a bottle.”

Right now, Ohio is competing with several other states for the next pro women’s team in the country.

Cleveland Democratic state representatives Bride Rose Sweeney and Terrence Upchurch fought for this funding.

“I’m really proud of the work that we did to put people over politics and to put money back into the hands of our constituents and our communities that we represent,” Sweeney said.

The building of this stadium could show the league that the state is serious about the bid, Upchurch added.

“This is just another sports team that will just be an economic driver, hopefully a community partner and an asset to the city of Cleveland — along with our many other assets we have,” he said.

But it’s possible that the Senate will take out this money.

This spending bill, House Bill 2, contains two different aspects so far. There is the $350 million one-time funding that came from a surplus from the last operating budget, and there is $1.65 billion in other bondable appropriations — totaling about $2 billion.

This is confusing, which the lawmakers acknowledge.

In plain English — the projects slated to receive the $1.65 billion are typically in the capital budget — however, the House Finance leaders wanted to get the projects done before the full and extensive capital budget comes out.

There are concerns with the amount of funds given, though, Murphy said.

“There has to be substantially more dollars,” he said.

That being said, he and Sweeney share the belief that this is just the starting point of the conversation.

“We love our Cavs, our Browns, our Guardians — our NWSL club would be the fourth major league team in the same breath,” Murphy said.

The bill is headed over to the Senate.

Chamber drama

It would be an understatement to say that House Speaker Jason Stephens and Senate President Matt Huffman have a contentious relationship.

The pair make polite jabs at each other during press gaggles, but behind the scenes seem content with not working with each other.

For example, the Senate passed a proposal dealing with marijuana policy — restricting marijuana possession, lowering THC levels and making it more expensive. The House refuses to take it up because they believe the Senate is “going against the will of the people.”

The Senate passed S.B. 83, a controversial bill overhauling the higher education system. House leadership has continued to let it stall, saying there are problems with it — angering Senate Republicans.

The House passed the previous two-year operating budget in a bipartisan manner, like they did with the portion of H.B. 2. However, the Senate basically decimated the House’s proposal last year — causing them to go into conference committee for an extended amount of time to bargain for their needs.

Huffman is expected to challenge Stephens for House speakership next January. He has a faction of supporters within the House currently, and candidates have told WEWS/OCJ that Huffman has helped support their bid to knock out the Stephens’ team incumbents.

Moving back to the budget:

That one-time funding amount is $700 million total. According to House Finance Chair Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville), the House and the Senate agreed that each chamber would get to decide on half of it — or $350 million.

That was repeatedly echoed throughout the budget process by the representatives. Then, Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) released a statement Wednesday, potentially killing all of the project proposals.

“To be clear, there is no such agreement,” Huffman wrote in a memo to the Senate members. “The bill passed by the House did not include negotiations or discussions with members of the Senate or with the Senate President.”

Huffman never agreed not to touch the House’s half, he seemed to say.

“Approving a large spending bill without additional debate would be irresponsible and an abdication of the duties of the Senate,” he added. “Normally, both chambers work together to create an agreed upon bill. For unknown reasons, the House chose to break from that process.”

House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) seemed annoyed at the president’s claims — and addressed the memo to reporters after the session.

“It was widely published that the House was going to deal with $350 million, the Senate was going to deal with $350 million — which is exactly what we did,” Stephens said.

Edwards said the reason why the House moved ahead of the Senate was because the other chamber was “ready with their projects,” and had asked the House finance leadership. The Senate finance leadership asked the House to put their projects and money up now, he said.

“It was also agreed upon at that time that our $350 wouldn’t be touched by them,” Edwards continued. “Their $350 wouldn’t be touched by us — they get to spend their $350 however they want.”

Huffman doesn’t seem interested.

“The Senate will continue to follow its timeline announced in December for this year’s Capital Budget process which includes the additional $700 million for the One Time Strategic Community Investment Fund, with the goal of both chambers passing a single agreed upon bill later in May or early June,” he said.

Upchurch took a swing at the Senate, as well — preparing for if the other chamber tries to take out the soccer stadium.

“These folks claim that they care about women’s sports; I think that supporting this project is a way to do that,” the Democrat said.

He is referencing H.B. 68, legislation that banned transgender middle and high schoolers, plus college, from participating in athletics with cisgender peers. Advocates for the bill said this would protect the integrity of women’s sports. Opponents argued that supporters have never cared about women’s sports before.

This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

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Cleveland, OH

Man shot on Cleveland’s West Side

Published

17 minutes ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A man was shot in Cleveland’s Cudell neighborhood Tuesday night.

Cleveland Police 1st District officers responded to the 10100 block of Madison Ave around 9:00 P.M.

A man approximately 45 years of age was found with a gunshot wound.

EMS took the victim to MetroHealth Hospital. This incident remains under investigation.

There is no information on any suspects or arrests.

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Cleveland, OH

Leaders in Washington and Cleveland take aim at affordable housing in Northeast Ohio

Published

11 hours ago

June 2, 2026

Press Room

Leaders in Washington and Cleveland take aim at affordable housing in Northeast Ohio

CLEVELAND — Ahead of her Third Annual Housing Expo this Saturday at Tri-C Corporate College East, Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) rolled out her Safe and Affordable Housing Agenda on Tuesday. It’s a series of four bills aimed at lowering home costs while strengthening lead paint and pipe abatement.

“We wanted to bring something forward that would improve the living conditions, to make things more affordable and more accessible for not only the constituents of Ohio’s 11th Congressional District but those who are experiencing the same challenge across the country,” Brown told News 5.

The Housing Supply Fund Act is legislation that encourages the building of more affordable housing by filling financing gaps that are holding back construction. The legislation would establish a competitive program within the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund to address financing gaps that prevent otherwise viable housing projects from moving forward.

“We want to make sure we do not give up on affordable housing; we want to make sure that it is more accessible,” Brown said.

There is also the Affordable Housing Preservation and Protection Act, which is legislation to maintain and preserve existing HUD-assisted housing. This legislation establishes a new HUD preservation authority to provide targeted financing and intervention tools for distressed HUD-assisted multifamily properties at risk of deterioration, foreclosure, or loss of affordability.

The bill is designed to help preserve affordable housing, facilitate responsible ownership transitions, and protect existing federal housing investments serving seniors, working families, and vulnerable residents.

The other two bills introduced deal with the issue of lead abatement. The GET THE LEAD OUT Act of 2026 would create a new federal grant program to replace lead pipes, fixtures, and taps. The legislation would create a broad federal framework to address lead in drinking water and housing by funding removal of lead-based pipe and tap hazards, establishing training and certification requirements, directing federal standards and state programs, and integrating lead plumbing remediation into major housing programs. Brown’s legislation creates new authorities and financing mechanisms to drive national action on residential lead plumbing hazards.

The Removing Existing Pipes with Lead and Advancing Clean Environments (or REPLACE) Act improves existing lead paint and lead pipe removal programs within the federal government. This legislation would amend existing HUD and Safe Drinking Water Act authorities to strengthen lead-paint hazard remediation in housing, improve local implementation capacity, and better coordinate paint and pipe removal efforts.

“We know that this has been a longstanding issue in the City of Cleveland,” she said. “What we’re doing is trying to supplement and amplify the opportunities to be able to address these issues that have long-standing impacts in our community.”

Brown’s announcement comes on the heels of the Bibb administration’s announcement of the creation of the Housing Innovation District, a 1,500-acre swath of land covering St. Clair, Superior and Hough where efforts will begin this summer to repopulate streets that have lost more than half of their homes in recent decades with new housing starting on East 67th south of St. Clair, where ten homes will go up later this year.

A recent New York Times piece cited that among the barriers to building more housing are restrictive zoning and permitting, something the city addresses in this district.

“One of the big things that we’re doing is eliminating permit fees for single-family home construction, which is again a real sort of barrier to this sort of work,” said Tom McNair, Mayor Justin Bibb’s Chief of Integrated Development.

They also established what they call a “Pattern Book,” where they’ve pre-approved designs for certain types of homes in this district to speed up the process.

“When there’s a vacant lot that the city owns, it will be like this is the home you want, this is the lot you want to build on, here’s your permit,” he said.

Congresswoman Brown sees their efforts helping citizens towards the same goal.

“Our legislation would dovetail perfectly into what the mayor is putting forth as well,” she said. “People are doing all of the right things, they’re working hard, but they’re still having trouble getting ahead, and we want to be able to again address that gap as it relates to the opportunity to build wealth in our community, and this legislation will certainly help put people on a pathway to do that.”

Part of that pathway includes Brown’s Housing Expo for constituents of the 11th Congressional District. “It’s a one-stop shop for everything housing, so whether you are a renter or whether you are a first-time home buyer, whether you are looking to renovate, whether you are a senior that’s aging in place. We wanted to bring every aspect of the housing industry under one umbrella, and so we will do that.”

Constituents can register for the free event here.

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