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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Joseph "Joe" Santiago |
| Address |
Cleveland, Ohio , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
Unknown
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| Contributor | ... |
| Last Modifed | None Entered
Jan 26, 2007 01:06pm |
| Tags |
Hispanic - Gay -
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| Info | Councilman Joe Santiago was elected to represent Cleveland’s Ward 14 on November 8, 2005. He is the second Latin-American Councilman to be elected to serve the residents of Cleveland.
Previous to being elected, Councilman Santiago held the position of Food Service Director for Normandy Manor in Rocky River, a nursing home with 150 bed capacity.
In the early 1970’s,l Councilman Santiago’s parents purchased the home he now lives in. Councilman Santiago attended Buhrer Elementary School and graduated from Saint Michael’s eighth grade in 1981. He then attended the Cleveland School of the Arts for ninth grade and transferred over to his neighborhood high school-Lincoln West for the rest of his education. After graduation he worked as a cook at Holy Family Cancer Home for two years, he then decided to join the United States Navy in 1988. Councilman Santiago holds a BS in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. He is certified in nutrition management by the Metro Community College of Nebraska, completed the Culinary Institute of America’s cooking program and graduated in the top five from the US Navy Mess Management School.
Councilman Santiago served in the Liberation of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm. He served as an Enlisted Aide to the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon and has traveled throughout the United States and abroad. After the Councilman’s ten-year naval career, he returned to his childhood home and became active within his community. Councilman Santiago is well aware of the issues that concern his neighbors within Ward 14 and the entire community. Indeed his commitment to improving the community began in his own back yard when he took on the renovations of his 120 year old home.
Councilman Santiago led the Holmden*Buhrer*Rowely Block Club as chairman from 1997-2001, relinquishing this chairmanship to run for Cleveland City Council in 2001. He served as a board member of Tremont West Development Corporation for six years and served as 1st Vice-President for two terms.
Completion of the Jennings I-76 Freeway and the unintended use of West 14th Street as a marginal road created unsafe conditions for the children and residents along West 14th Street. Under Councilman Santiago’s strong leadership, the city administration was successfully lobbied for additional stoplights, crosswalks, signals and police enforcement to West 14th Street. In a win-win situation, traffic and safety improved for all residents of Wards 13 & 14.
Councilman Santiago’s concern for traffic and neighborhood safety led him to start a Traffic Committee. He contacted all surrounding neighborhoods (Ohio City, Clark Metro, Detroit Shoreway, St. Clair Superior, Payne Sterling, Slavic Village and Downtown Neighborhoods) and worked to unite them so that they could work together in solving major safety issues due to reconstruction of the I-90 Innerbelt, which divided these communities in half during the 1950’s.
Through the Councilman’s efforts, the neighborhoods united and formed a larger traffic committee, the East-West United Neighborhoods Traffic Coalition. This Coalition encompassed all the neighborhoods surrounding Cleveland’s Innerbelt. The primary concern was to ensure that the residents and businesses were protected and included in the decision-making process regarding traffic impact.
Due in part by the influence of the Traffic Committee, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) formed an Innerbelt Study. Councilman Santiago represents a coalition that includes community leaders and representatives from City Administration, Greater Cleveland Growth Association, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Eco-City Cleveland, Federal Transit Authority, Cleveland Playhouse Square Foundation, St. Vincent Hospital, Cleveland Convention Center and Visitor Bureau, among others. This collective voice will play a part in deciding the outcome of the Innerbelt study and the future of our neighborhoods and the impact of traffic.
One of Councilman Santiago’s main initiatives is to improve the safety within Ward 14. Before coming to Council, he sat on the Second District Police Community Relations Committee and served as Co-Chair for the BOBCAT Patrol formed in 1998. In an effort to get to the source of many problems created by underage curfew violations, Councilman Santiago helped create and staff curfew Sweep for minors. Councilman Santiago is a graduate of the Citizen Police Academy and Cleveland Leadership Program offered at Cleveland State University.
The community responded to Councilman Santiago’s successful activism and elected him as their representative on Cleveland City Council. He intends to make every effort to make Ward 14 safe, affordable and united.
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