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Good afternoon and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we're devoted to creating conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday, August 21st.

I'm Jan Roller.

As a former board chair of both the City Club and the Cleveland Cuyahoga County Port Authority, it is a special pleasure for me to introduce today's speaker, Jeff Epstein, President and CEO of the Port Authority.

Jeff assumed the position less than a year ago, in September of The Cleveland Cuyahoga County Port Authority was created in 19 as a major priority of Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes.

The governing board consists of six appointed directors by the City of Cleveland and three by Cuyahoga County.

Yet many people in Cuyahoga County, even people who are actively involved in civic affairs, may not fully appreciate the breadth of the port's work or the role it plays in our regional economy.

The port is the only local government agency whose mission is solely focused on job creation and economic vitality in Cuyahoga County.

The port's president and CEO has been described as one of the most significant leadership positions in our region, overseeing maritime operations, innovative development financing, and complex projects that help shape both our economy and our waterfront.

Just to name a few examples, the port has provided development financing for some of our region's most prominent projects, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Bedrock's Riverfront Development, Flats East Bank, and the Eaton World Headquarters.

The port established a cruise line in 2017, and this year it welcomed 55 cruise ship calls.

It has led the effort to stabilize the hillside at Irishtown Bend, one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in our region.

And most recently, the port created a new cross-lake truck ferry service connecting the Port of Cleveland with Milo Harbor in Wheatley, Ontario, creating a shortcut across Lake Erie rather than requiring trucks to travel around it.

So when Will Friedman moved on from the position as head of the port, the board conducted a national search.

But in the end, the directors didn't have to look very far for an outstanding candidate.

Jeff Epstein was already deeply engaged in many of the projects central to the port's mission.

At the time, he was serving as the City of Cleveland's Chief of Integrated Development, where he oversaw four departments and nearly 300 employees working to advance Mayor Bibb's vision for economic growth and community revitalization.

In that role, Jeff was developing new financing tools, driving catalytic investment in real estate and infrastructure and launching the North Coast Waterfront Development Authority.

Jeff is a native Clevelander who came home after earning his bachelor's degree in public policy studies from Duke University and his law degree from Georgetown University.

Before joining the City of Cleveland, he served as executive director of Midtown Cleveland, Inc.

and the Cleveland Health Tech Corridor.

In 2018, he was named Smart Business Nonprofit Executive Director of the Year.

So we are very fortunate to have someone with such deep experience in economic development, real estate, infrastructure, and our community leading the Port Authority.

Now, a reminder for our live stream audience.

If you have a question for our speaker, you can text it to 330-541-5794.

That's 330-541-5794, and the City Club staff will try to work those questions into the second half of the program.

but for now, members and friends of the City Club of Cleveland, please join me in a warm welcome for Jeff Epstein.

Thanks, Jan.

It's great to be here.

Before we get started, I wanted to just acknowledge the civic community here in Cleveland had a big loss this week in the passing of Dr.

Flasey Kaver.

Doc, as we know him from RTA, left us too soon, and I know all of us who had the privilege of working with him over the years, had tremendous respect for his charisma, his professionalism, and the excellence he brought to his role.

And I'd asked us to take a quick moment of silence.

Thank you.

I also, before I get going, want to acknowledge some special guests for me in the house today.

My mother, Dina, my wife, Leah, my son Ezra, sit at the speaker's table as well as my incredible port team and sub board members.

So really, really glad to have everybody here today.

So I brought three objects with me here to talk about the Port of Cleveland.

And one of them is not a captain's hat as my friends and family threatened to buy me when they learned I was taking this job.

So these three are a replica anchor from Irish town bend, a jar of sediment from the river, and a ship's helm.

And they don't seem connected at first glance, but together I think they tell the story of one of Cleveland's least understood public institutions.

I'm someone who really likes symbols and unpacking the connection between a physical object and its deeper meaning.

It may be my Jewish heritage where symbols like a Seder plates, Shabbat candlesticks, have deep, deep personal meaning for not just me but Jews around the world.

It may be my upbringing in Cleveland where symbols like Shaker Square, the arcade, Severance Hall hold deep symbolism of the industrial wealth earned in Cleveland and reinvested back into the community, as well as our tradition of planning forward for generations.

Symbols like Warner and Swayze that Paul outlined or the burning river, symbols of our industrial decline but also symbols of our regeneration and rebirth.

So, what does the port symbolize.

We are a city founded on a river and on the shores of a Great Lake.

For more than 230 years, the movement of goods, people and ideas through this place has shaped Cleveland's destiny.

But ports and maritime trade are not often part of the conversation.

When we talk about Cleveland's future.

The more I'm at the port, the more convinced I am that we can and should be central.

When we think about our region's future.

And I think these three objects can help answer a key question.

What kind of institution does Cleveland need the port to be for the next chapter in our history.

When I think about that question, I'm inspired by two organizations whose leaders met the moment and built the type of organization that I think we as a port should aspire to be.

Destination Cleveland is not just a convention as visitors Bureau, and the Cleveland Metro parks are not just a parks district.

These organizations have used their unique tools and capabilities to change Cleveland's history, creating a robust and growing destination economy that supported our downtown through COVID.

Developing a series of trails and parks that attract new investment and catalyzed development.

Both organizations did so while simultaneously offering tremendous benefit to existing residents without their efforts, our economy and our residents would be undoubtedly worse off.

I believe the port has the potential to play a similar role in our community.

And the three objects I brought today will help explain how the first object is a replica from Irish town bend symbol of an anchor symbolizing the work beneath us, deep grounded, often unseen, like an anchor, much of the ports most important work happens below the surface.

It may not always be visible, but it provides the strength and stability that allow Cleveland and Cuyahoga County to move forward.

There are 203 of these massive anchors installed deep underground to stabilize the Irish town bend hillside, they range in size waiting up to 4900 pounds and extending 220 feet long.

If the anchors fall, the hillside moves.

If the hillside moves, the shipping channel closes.

If the channel closes, thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity are at risk.

This is a powerful metaphor for the port.

Our impact reaches deeper than most people realize.

We are an anchor institution in every sense of the term, physically rooted in Northeast Ohio, economically tied to its future, and responsible for holding steady the systems that support regional growth.

Much of our work happens behind the scenes.

The results support 23,000 jobs and $7 billion in annual economic activity.

So what do we do beneath the surface?

We build the infrastructure that few people see, infrastructure that protects our air and water and sets a critical foundation for investment and growth.

I'll give three examples.

First, Irish town bend.

This project represents 10 years of planning, 30 years of 30 months of construction, $65 million invested, 203 of these pipe piles and anchors, and deep, deep civic partnerships.

It shows our grit and our collaboration.

It enables an urban park.

It adds an incredible amenity adjacent to public housing.

It opens up the shore of our river to the public.

But once the park is built, the work underneath, the bulkhead, the stabilization, the anchors will be largely invisible and below the surface.

Second, on our docks, we have continually invested in the dirty and difficult work of rebuilding our infrastructure to support heavy vessels and equipment.

$50 million in investment over the last decade to shore up aging infrastructure and make us competitive for the types of cargo we increasingly see coming through the port.

Projects adding concrete, bulkhead, shingles, trench drains, nondescript, often overlooked, but critical infrastructure.

Third, energy and water.

We are a national leader among ports in doing the little and big things as steward of our lake and river.

We are implementing a $95 million EPA clean ports grant, solar panels on our warehouse to power the port, electric cranes and forklifts and reach stackers, stewarding our environment.

Several years ago, we implemented a water filtration system to filter almost every drop of raw water that runs across the hard surfaces of the port, stewarding our lake and mitigating the impacts of industry.

What do we do beneath the surface?

Not only do we build critical infrastructure, but we also help businesses and our economy.

And what you see above the surface is only a small piece.

Iron ore.

If you've spent time on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, you may have seen giant vessels like the Sam Lodd or the American Courage carrying piles of big black material.

But did you know that material is iron ore mined in Wisconsin and Minnesota, transported to Cleveland through the port, mixed underground in our tunnels and shipped up the river to Cleveland Cliffs?

The impact this has on our economy is substantial.

2000 jobs, steelworkers, miners, cars, manufacturing.

Our rapidly growing Great Lakes cruise ship business will bring a record 55 cruise vessels to Cleveland this year, bringing new visitors to learn about our incredible city.

Docked at the port and hidden by the stadium, you may not see these ships, but their passengers are fanning out daily across our region, spending money and enjoying our cultural amenities.

Below the surface, we help manufacturers of all sizes mitigate the severe impacts of tariffs through our Foreign Trade Zone program.

29 active sites across five counties with 14 additional on the way.

While we may not get the big headlines around new development, like Bedrock's Cavs Clinic Peak Performance Center, Sherwin-Williams' new headquarters, the new Gateway 66 development in Huff, below the surface, we are enabling these projects through our Capital East program, which enables savings on sales tax paid on construction projects, construction materials for development projects.

This is a critical gap filler for real estate projects in Cuyahoga County, most of which do not pencil out without some level of subsidy due to our low market rents, yet these projects create jobs, housing and amenities for our communities.

An anchor does its work beneath us and out of sight, so does much of the port, but when the foundation is strong, businesses can invest, neighborhoods can grow, and an entire region can move forward with confidence.

What would it mean for our community to better see and understand all the port does below the surface?

What are the other foundational investments the port can help to make or help our community?

And how can we use the foundations that we've built together to build greater confidence and investment?

There's a lot to learn from the anchor and from understanding what happens below the surface.

An anchor keeps us grounded, but a port in our community should not just pick up from below the surface, and it cannot simply stay in place.

It also needs movement, and that brings me to the dredge jar.

This is a jar of sediment dredge from the bottom of the Cuyahoga River.

Sand, water, mud, stone.

At first glance, it doesn't seem particularly remarkable, but this jar exists because rivers move.

Water carries sediment.

Ships stir the channel.

Time reshapes the river bottom, one layer at a time.

If that material accumulates unchecked, movement slows, navigation becomes harder.

Eventually, the channel that connects Cleveland and the world becomes less effective, and that's why this jar reminds me of the port.

At our best, the port is an institution that creates movement.

We help goods move.

We help capital move.

We help projects move, and ultimately, we help Cleveland move forward.

Progress is rarely automatic.

Often, it requires someone to remove obstacles, connect partners, and create conditions that allow forward motion.

That's what the jar represents.

So how does the port create forward movement, removing barriers, amplifying progress?

I'll share four examples.

Let's start with the basic and literal contents of the jar, river dredge.

Each year, sediment created by the movement of ships, by weather, by waves, raise the bottom of our harbor and river, threatening the ability of vessels traveling our waters.

We work with the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the river twice a year, removing 250,000 cubic yards of dredge each year.

That's enough to fill Huntington Bank Field 100 feet high.

That's a lot of dredge.

The dredge can't simply be placed back in the water.

It has to go somewhere.

For decades, dredge was placed to create land at the end of Rockefeller Park on the east side of Cleveland.

Today, that is the Lakefront Nature Preserve, a tremendous sanctuary offering some of the only lakefront hiking paths on the east side of Cleveland.

The future plan for dredge is a component of something we call CHEERS, the Cleveland Harbor Eastern Ambainment Resiliency Project.

That's a mouthful.

You can understand why we gave it a snappy name and an acronym.

CHEERS is a collaborative approach to solve many community problems.

North of the shoreway, connecting to the East 55th Marina to Gordon Park, CHEERS will add a break wall to protect the shoreway from waves and ice.

It will restore a natural wildlife habitat on Lake Erie.

It will add 100 plus acres of public green space and waterfront access to the east side of Cleveland.

Together with the work the Metro Parks has done at East 55th and Gordon Park, this lakefront access and projects have the potential to do for the east side what Edgewater Park did for the west side.

It will help stimulate growth in neighborhoods pocked with vacant land bank lots.

And it will provide a place to put the next 20 years of dredge.

Metro Parks, ODOT, ODNR, black environmental leaders, city of Cleveland, layers of community partners coming together and collaborating.

And CHEERS is not just an idea or a plan on paper.

With our partners, we've raised $15 million of state, local and federal money towards design and implementation.

A permit application for the first phase, the early action habitat loop, is pending with the Army Corps.

Steering our lakeshore, creating impact, moving the east side forward, solving problems together.

Third, layered finance.

Many projects come to the port for the same reason a vessel might enter harbor.

They need help moving to the next step of their journey.

There may be a financing gap, a capital constraint, a market challenge, a piece of the puzzle that traditional financing cannot solve.

Our role is often to help restore momentum.

Each year, we move real estate and business growth projects forward across Cuyahoga County.

Through bonds, capital leases and other tools entrusted to us by state law, we help move projects from the planning table to groundbreaking, from vision to reality.

This work supports housing projects.

The former Medical Mutual Building, Rose Building downtown, Gateway 66 and Huff, Warner Swayze in Midtown, the Bell Oaks Richmond Mall development in Richmond Heights, hospitals and nonprofits, UH, Metro Health, the Park Synagogue Arts Campus in Cleveland Heights, waterfront projects like the Foundry and Cavs Clinic Peak Performance, business attraction and expansion Sherwin-Williams and Valor Acres in Brexville.

Over the last 18 months, we've helped 35 projects totaling over $1 billion of bonds.

That's impact.

Fourth, the Economic Growth Fund, created to be even more intentional about supporting growth, but with purpose and creativity.

Some of the most important projects in our communities can find themselves stalled despite their potential impact.

They may face appraisal gaps, limited operating history or other barriers that make conventional financing and the port's conventional tools difficult.

The fund provides another tool to help those projects keep moving because opportunities that can create jobs, housing, investment and community benefit should not be lost simply because they encounter obstacles along the way.

What I like about this jar is it reminds us that progress is not a destination.

It's a process.

Rivers are never still.

Economies are never still.

Communities are never still.

They are constantly changing, adapting and moving forward.

How can the port remove the next barrier to progress?

How and where should we be focused on driving movement and growth, but with purpose?

Two symbols down, one to go.

Movement is good, but it has to be in the right direction.

And that brings me to the third and final symbol, the ship's helm.

This represents the work before us, leading, steering and aligning.

A helm is not an engine.

It doesn't create power.

It sets direction.

And in a region filled with talented businesses, institutions and civic leaders, direction matters.

Steering and conflicting or competing directions can keep us turning in circles, leading to movement and activity without impact or results.

The helm represents two kinds of leadership, knowing when to steer in new directions and lead, and knowing when the community has chosen a direction and aligning the port's tools to help reach it.

So where is the port helping the community grow by steering in new directions?

Jan mentioned the recently announced Cross Lakes Truck Ferry, first of its kind in the Great Lakes.

This will enhance trade routes, adding a competitive logistics advantage for regional businesses with the ability to avoid congested highways and bridge crossings, lighten the load on truck drivers and minimize air pollution.

We're continually asking how we can use our freshwater maritime port to do more for the community and our businesses.

And this is a great example.

It showcases our ability to think creatively about a service and activity that we and any other Great Lakes port have never provided before in the Port of Cleveland's nearly 60-year history.

Container service.

12 years ago, the Port of Cleveland was the first U.S.

port on the Great Lakes to develop the capacity to handle containers.

This year, there will be four.

My predecessor, Will Friedman, and our current COO, Dave Gutile, had the vision and the courage to make an ambitious big bet on containers.

We're staring at a long, slow decline in cargo volumes across the Great Lakes, driven by the rapid adoption of containers as the preferred means of cargo transport.

The results proved both its potential and its challenges.

The St.

Lawrence Seaway, our only direct access point to the Atlantic Ocean, has physical limitations that put Great Lakes ports at a severe disadvantage for handling containers.

Ultimately, this was too much to overcome, as container volumes to the Port of Cleveland have dropped, and our once-regular container shipping schedule is now sporadic.

But we don't grow unless we take big bets.

Calculated, thoughtful bets.

And sometimes, despite all of our planning, they don't work out.

But what do we learn when we fall short?

We aren't taking no for an answer, and are looking to play a leadership role in a coordinated Great Lakes feeder network, which could overcome the seaway issues that cause problems for us getting started.

One thing we learned is that no one port can solve the complex container puzzle alone.

Working together towards a common goal, container volume can become a sustainable business for the Port of Cleveland and our peers along the Great Lakes.

And if we can make that happen, even at a relatively modest volume, we can give a competitive advantage to our region, help attract new jobs, grow manufacturing not just in Cuyahoga County, but throughout the Midwest, improve supply chain resilience, and create long-term growth opportunities throughout the Great Lakes.

Where is the Port helping our community grow by steering alongside others?

Mayor Bibb has outlined a series of priorities under the banner of the Cleveland era.

Waterfront development, sites and business attraction, and housing.

County Executive Renane has outlined a number of priorities around the blue economy and transit-oriented development.

How can we, as the Port, line up our tools to advance our shared goals?

On waterfront development, we're collaborating with the North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation.

I see my friend Scott here today on ways we can use our financial tools to support the development.

We're looking at physical connections between the Port and the new development once the stadium comes down.

Connections that can create visibility and transparency into the Port, while leveraging our maritime history to create an authentic and memorable lakefront neighborhood.

One that carefully balances our maritime and industrial past, present, and future with the need to leverage our waterfronts for broader public benefit.

We've supported multiple phases of Bedrox Riverfront development.

Our role in Irish Town Bend and Shears is helping to accelerate public access to our water.

We are aligned in steering in the right direction on the same direction on waterfront access and development.

On industrial growth, we're partnering with the Site Readiness Fund, and I see my friend Rick Barga here in the audience somewhere.

There he is.

You moved on me.

On a variety of ways to help finance new factories and unlock more capital for site prep, we will be a lead financing partner on the first vertical development in the midline and want to be the go-to partner to finance even more deals to bring living wage jobs to the community.

The Port has never historically been involved in housing, but as a city moves forward with its Housing Innovation District, its legislation just passed this week, and landing a modular housing developer, we've been right by their side offering up creative financing solutions, along with our friends at the Land Bank, to help advance these priorities using our bonding authority and our balance sheet to help these deals move faster.

On transit oriented development, we've been working with RTA, county planning, the city, and others to accelerate RFPs on key transit oriented development sites.

Developing buildings on excess RTA land can not only boost ridership, it can develop new revenue streams for RTA.

We are also thrilled to welcome RTA's first new rapid transit cars in 50 years through the Port of Cleveland later this fall.

On the blue economy, we are fully aligned with the county's Freshwater Institute, and I see Emily here today, and our shared goal to train the future maritime workforce here in Cleveland.

We partner with Argonaut and CMSD students to learn how to captain Flotsam and Jetsam, our debris harvesters which work to keep the river clean.

Along with the Great Lakes Science Center, Freshwater Institute, and others, we co-hosted the first Splash Freshwater Exploration Day, opening up the port to the public for tours, and showcasing water technology and maritime careers to hundreds of youth.

We're aligned and steering in the same direction on the blue economy.

We are setting our course towards impact, collaboration, and growth with purpose.

We're working to define where we can lead, where we can convene, and where we can rally our resources.

Later this year, we will complete a new strategic plan, ensuring we are turning the helm in the right direction.

What does it mean for governments and civic partners and businesses to think about the port as a leader and a partner in regional economic growth?

When and where should we lead, follow, convene, finance, or partner?

Three symbols representing the diverse impact the port can have and providing a roadmap for how the port can continue to evolve to meet the moment.

In one project, we can see all three symbols come together, an example of the role the port can play when our tools are in full alignment.

Through a collaboration with the city, Site Readiness Fund, and many others, the modular housing manufacturer, MMY, will build a manufacturing facility and a vacant factory on the midline in the central neighborhood.

Anchor, below the surface of this project is the financing the port will provide through the Economic Growth Fund.

Not to mention the history of this building, which made the Hewlett Iron ore unloaders that are part of the port's maritime history.

Jar, the project will enable the movement of homes across Lake Erie through the port, the movement of residents into new affordable homes across our community, and the movement of an eyesore back into productive use.

Helm, the alignment of leadership, city, county, state, port Site Readiness Fund, Cleveland Foundation, on creating jobs and solving our housing crisis, marching in the same direction towards ambitious goals.

This is a great example of how aligning the anchor, jar, and helm in all of the port's powers and tools can lead to even more powerful impact.

When all three work together, the port stops becoming a collection of programs and projects and becomes a catalyst.

Ports are often thought of as places, a dock, a ship, a stretch of shoreline.

But the longer I've done this work, the more I've come to believe the port is really a connector between river and lake, between Cleveland of the world, between capital and opportunity, between the city and the county, between civic actors, between today's challenges and tomorrow's opportunities.

I'm proud to lead a small and mighty team of 19 people who work every day to deliver the kind of impact I've talked about here today, and it is tremendous impact.

The development, jobs, and commerce we support are substantial.

23,000 jobs is impactful by any measure, as is 35 projects and a billion dollars of bonds.

But the scale and challenges facing us demands that we build on that foundation and ask what more this institution can contribute.

I felt this sense of urgency in our community during my time in midtown.

It intensified every day I walked into 601 Lakeside during my four years of service to Mayor Bibb and the residents of the city of Cleveland.

Economic growth has remained too slow.

Our county isn't growing.

Residents and neighborhoods are still bearing the burden and negative impacts of redlining.

Employers are struggling to find workers and too many residents are disconnected from opportunity.

I won't go on because the point isn't to catalog our problems, but to understand the urgency and obligation that we as a public agency and public servants must have to do more and to be held accountable for it.

So in the 10 plus months I've been at the Port of Cleveland, virtually all of our conversations have centered on how we do more.

More to meet the moment in need.

More to learn where we've been and why.

More to lead toward impact and growth to determine what we do next and think carefully about who we do it for.

So what type of port does Cleveland and Cuyahoga County need for its future?

Our community does not simply need a stronger maritime port.

It needs a port that uses every tool it has to strengthen regional growth, protecting the foundations beneath us, removing barriers that stall progress, and helping align our community around a shared direction.

This is the institution I left City Hall to lead.

and the institution our team, board, and partners are working together to build.

Thank you very much.

Hi everybody, I'm Dan Moulthrop.

We're about to begin the Q&A.

If you've just tuned in to our live radio broadcast on WKSU, you've been listening to Jeff Epstein.

He's the President and Chief Executive Officer at the Port of Cleveland.

We welcome questions from everyone, City Club members, guests, and those joining us via our live stream at cityclub.org or our live radio broadcast on 89.7 WKSU Ideastream Public Media.

If you'd like to text a question for Jeff, please text it to 330-541-5794.

That's 330-541-5794, and we will work it into the program on your behalf.

You will receive extra credit if your question contains a symbol or a maritime metaphor.

You're the right cup of tea, let me just tell you this.

Thank you.

But let me challenge you here, okay?

You are woefully understaffed, woefully understaffed.

Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, L.A., Houston, that's the aspiration here.

And if I could suggest to you that one of the huge problems that you have is people don't know what the hell you do.

I mean, you've got a huge marketing communication issue.

How do you deal with that?

The second one that is dramatically, dramatically underused is your financing capacity.

People have no idea of what your financing capacity is.

So let me suggest those are two issues that, you know, you need to work that I think could take us to the promised land of the four that I just mentioned.

How do you address those?

Great.

Thanks for the question, Jose.

So I think on scale of staff, you know, it's interesting, those East Coast ports you mentioned, they handle tens and tens of millions of tons of cargo a year.

They are a different animal.

We went to a couple of port conferences over the last few months.

And I'm reminded of how tiny the port of Cleveland is by comparison.

I drove through the port of Rotterdam.

It took 20 minutes on a highway to get from one end to the other end of the thing.

So, you know, I think we are continually working to be as efficient as we can with our public dollars to have the appropriate staff to use consultants and partners.

And, you know, if you map out, and our team is starting to do this now, not just our team, but all of the third parties that we use for different aspects and consultants, you know, we're sizable.

And I think as opportunities are demand and as we find ways to grow greater impact, I know our board is very supportive of growing, but growing smartly.

I think in terms of marketing community, you're right.

It's one of the reasons I'm so excited to be here today.

We've got an incredible marketing team led by Kiara Cotton on our team and are really doing more to get out in social media, more to get out in the community to developers, more to communicate the kind of tools that we've done.

We had, I think, you know, record year last year in terms of the number of projects we touched.

We're probably heading towards a record year this year, and I expect that stuff to keep growing.

So we're doing all we can, but, hey, you all now know what the port does.

So help us spread the word.

Share with your colleagues and partners what we do.

This is a text question.

Can you describe in greater detail how the port's economic development financing actually works?

Who holds the debt?

Who makes the money?

Why is this the work of the port?

Great.

So yeah, I'll explain the tools in a little bit more detail.

Our most common tool is the capital lease program.

This enables us to enter into the chain of title for a development project, lease it back to the developer, and that exempts them from paying sales tax on construction material.

So it's a gap filler.

We issue bonds that kind of flow through the debt for the developer.

So the port itself is not taking any risk.

As long as the development gets up and running, there's no debt that really technically needs to be repaid there.

They're kind of paper bonds.

And that is a tool that Ohio gives port authorities.

There are 60 port authorities in the state of Ohio, believe it or not.

There are only three or four that have actual water.

And the bulk of what those port authorities do are these capital lease deals.

Our other most common tool, we have the ability to issue bonds as a public agency.

Somebody always has to pay back those bonds.

There are people that are buying the bonds and expect a return.

And the common program we use for that is called our bond fund.

So we have a pool of reserves.

We are rated A minus by S&P, trying to get that up to A. And we can then issue debt, long-term fixed rate debt to projects.

Typically, that looks like a first position, monetizing a TIF, like really strong security.

But we can extend 10, 15-year bonds at 5%, which is below market rate.

And so on those projects, ultimately, we're taking the risk, but we're putting our rating out there and our reserves against them.

The new program that I mentioned, the economic growth fund, is a way for the port to start taking a little bit more risk on projects and putting us in a position where we can be a creative lender and problem solver.

So we're creating an additional reserve fund.

Our board approved putting $3 million into that reserve.

And we can issue debt to ourselves and then lend that out on projects.

We're running that risk through that extra credit level.

But that will enable us to say, hey, here's a great community project like MMY, building modular housing.

They don't need long-term fixed rate debt.

They might not qualify for our bond fund because they're a relatively new company.

But we can provide capital, shorter-term capital, more flexible capital to that project.

So that's a quick primer and more detail on our finance programs.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

My question is, what can we learn from ports around the world or around the country?

And where might we be able to leapfrog them where maybe they're tied to legacy systems?

Yeah, that's a great question.

And I think there's lots to learn.

Every port, if you've seen one port, you've seen one port.

They're all different sizes, scales, have different mixes of things.

I think we are continually learning a lot, particularly around sustainability and electrification, particularly from ports in Europe.

We are continually talking with our peer groups.

There are about 12 or 13 peer ports on the Great Lakes that are the most common to us and share some similar challenges.

I know we've had a lot of talks over the years with ports that are on the kind of inland waterway system in Europe that also don't have direct ocean access.

So lots to learn.

And I think on the flip side of that, one of the reasons I took this job was seeing what the Cincinnati port was doing, really using their finance tools super creatively.

They're aligned with their land bank there, which is really interesting.

So Ricardo and Joan and I have been scheming a lot.

I think the Ohio ports that have these development finance tools, we get together a couple of times a year to kind of share notes and I think are all working to play an important role in our communities.

Hi there.

Thank you very much for your earlier mention of the American Courage and Sam Laud.

Those two vessels have been inextricably linked to my family's prosperity over the last 25 years from my father's work at Main State Maritime.

I'm also an economics student at Case Western, starting to write my thesis on the Jones Act.

Obviously that's a very contentious issue, as I can hear some giggles from the room, but not to put your PR team in any issues.

I'm wondering, one, if with the recent administration's waiver, if you can kind of walk through the changes in some of the ports and the vessels that you've seen come through, and then if you're able, I guess some of your personal opinions about how the Jones Act is in play in the city of Cleveland.

All right, so we're going to get a maritime education lesson here, so everybody buckle up.

So the Jones Act is a long time federal statute which requires that vessels traveling between US ports be American crewed and American flagged.

And it has, you know, the justification for this was really a national security justification, as well as protecting American jobs.

So the vessels that are doing all our iron ore traffic are Jones Act vessels.

The Trump administration has recently suspended the Jones Act based on high oil prices, trying to drive down prices.

And I think, you know, the interesting thing about the Jones Act is it has, you know, in some ways, anytime you put in place a law that restricts competition, it creates artificial markets with side effects that you may or may not anticipate.

And in particular, we have built, you know, we have built very, very few new American vessels over the last 20 or 30 years.

So almost all of the Great Lakes fleet is 30, 40, 50 years old.

We've lost a lot of our shipbuilding capacity.

And again, whether this is related or not, these are all kind of pieces of the fabric.

And so because you've then restricted competition, it prices at a certain level.

And does that make us potentially a little less competitive for cargo?

Potentially.

I don't have a I think it's a it's a very it's a very nuanced and complex topic that I think there are pluses and minuses to to the Jones Act.

I don't think we've seen much impact to us.

The port of Cleveland since and Dave's confirming since the suspensions.

But we'll we'll keep monitoring.

How do you Dave?

All right.

With 55 Great Lakes cruises stopping in Cleveland, what can the port of Cleveland do to improve the arrival experience for visitors?

I love that question.

So I don't know if anybody's seen it.

How many people have seen any of these cruise vessels docked in Cleveland?

Oh, a lot of you have.

All right.

So, you know, they pull in and we've got a little customs facility that they walk through and then you're on the parking lot next to the stadium.

So it's not great.

That said, I've heard from folks on the cruises and the cruise captains that Cleveland is one of the favorite stops and that we have a better set up in many ways than other cities.

So I can't imagine what those look like.

One of the things that we're working and talking a lot with Scott and his team about is when the construction starts next to us, how do we think about improving that experience?

So instead of walking into a parking lot, you know, maybe you're walking into the customs facility and on the other side of that customs facility is a is a shopping area, a coffee shop and you're walking into a neighborhood rather than a parking lot.

So that that I think is coming.

And I think there's some really interesting opportunities.

One of the pipe dreams I have, which will get to maybe three or four years from now, we visited I mentioned I would visit the Port of Rotterdam.

One of the reasons I went out there was they have something they built there called Port Lantis.

So it is a multi story port museum and visitor center that talks all about the impact of maritime shipping on Rotterdam's history.

Every middle school kid through this facility is right on the edge of the port.

And how cool would it be to have a customs building right next to the port with a customs facility and a port maritime history center and educational?

We could work with science center with Freshwater Institute.

It'd be great.

So that's medium term short term.

I think we're looking at a couple of different ideas for how we can enhance that gateway experience right now.

We're actually in the midst of taking down our old Buckeye booster crane, which hasn't been working for eight years.

It's on that eastern dock.

We're going to save some pieces of that.

I'd love to do some sculpture right near the entrance.

I had a conversation with David Gilbert the other day about getting a script Cleveland or something like that out there, but trying to do more to kind of make it feel welcoming there.

This is a text question.

By creating a strong urban core in Cleveland, we can generate regional impact in Northeast Ohio.

What impacts do you see from the ports current work on our border and counties?

So I think a lot.

About two thirds of the finance deals that we've done are city o Cleveland.

About one third of them are outside.

So we do finance all across the county.

And if you think about the maritime impacts, there are plenty of companies that are throughout Cuyahoga County that benefit from goods that are coming in through the port.

So we've got a bunch of steel coil sitting at the port that's going to go out to Lincoln Electric.

We have stuff coming in for Swagelok.

So I think this core argument is great.

I mean, the stronger the core, the stronger the county.

But the work that we're doing, I think, really, really supports both.

So I know economic equity is a huge passion of yours, and the port is uniquely positioned to play both a supportive and a leadership role in boosting economic opportunities in communities across Cleveland and across Cuyahoga County that have been disinvested in for generations.

So what do you see as the opportunities are looking forward that the port can play both that leadership and supportive role?

Great question.

I'll share a couple of ideas.

I think first, I went through kind of our financing tools, and I think historically our financing tools have been, you know about them and you know who to call and you call and we do it.

We've really been doing a lot of work to outreach in the community to reach deeper in finding smaller developers, minority developers.

We're also working on right now retooling our capital lease flagship program, which historically we've only been able to use for projects of more than $10 million to be able to work for projects that are $2 to $10 million.

So, I think we're kind of an economic growth fund I think is another way that we can be a lot more flexible in the name of economic equity than we historically have been able to do.

But I think Cheers is another tremendous example of work that we're doing that is place based and I've really challenged our team a lot to think about, you know I mentioned like the alignment of the jar and the anchor and the helm.

Were doing all this work in in Clair on Cheers.

How do we get deeper into St.

Clair Superior with our financing tools with with other pieces of work that we do, and really kind of doubling down and aligning there.

And I think third, you know, we've been having a lot of conversations I mentioned around housing around the city's housing innovation district focus on on how we can help play a role in, you know, organizing dollars and addressing the housing crisis.

So I think those are three areas we're really working on.

This is a text question.

I didn't hear anything about recreational boating.

How does it fit in and what are the ports responsibilities and obligations in that regard.

That's a great question so we have very little to do with with recreational boating and the port area is all is all larger maritime vehicles.

We do work really closely with, with the Coast Guard, with the city on on those navigation channels and kind of recreational boating, and obviously we've supported plenty of waterfront access projects, and I think it's interesting I mentioned in my talk, maybe it's worth highlighting here.

I was, I was at a port conference and talking to the port leader, who was bemoaning all of the people coming and wanting kayaking and recreational boating and that was getting in the way of industry.

And I, and I kind of said well I actually feel like we've got a pretty good balance here.

And I'm looking at Jim from flats for but, you know, the future of our river and our lake has to be both we have to figure out how to make space for for recreational access and recreational boating and industry and maritime, and I actually think it's the blend of those two things that make us really cool and authentic and unique.

And so there's always going to be some tension there.

But I think we're continually working to try to navigate that Hi Jeff We are very aware of your commitment to our children in Cleveland, over the years that you've worked in so many different positions, our sister city in Baltimore, the port of Baltimore 35 years ago invested in the inner harbor maybe 40 years ago and as they did that as well created the living classrooms foundation, which is mission is drip to drive all of the Baltimore children to understand the Chesapeake and the water that's there in the city.

Fast forward those years, every child who graduates from the district there has not only the stewardship of, and the mindset, but understands they belong.

What's the plan for us as our, as our North Coast changes and how is the port, thinking about driving that.

Yeah, it's a great question.

So I'll say a couple things everyone we've been engaged with with youth directly and indirectly for, I don't know how many years with Argonaut and Davis aviation and maritime 10 years, and we support them every year.

And I mentioned the Flotsam and Jetson program that works with school kids, and we've been having a lot of interesting conversations with Argonaut which is the nonprofit that kind of supports that high school on additional maritime training opportunities not just for students but for for adults in terms of maritime credentialing so that's certainly a partnership I think we would love to build.

And I think we've had a lot of great conversations with Emily, and the freshwater team and with Kirsten the Science Center about, you know, additional ways we can get involved you know the Science Center right now is working on a clean water tech exhibit which would be really cool and look, the waterfront can be a living classroom for a lot of our students there are lots and lots of maritime jobs, not just in Cleveland but across the country.

So showcasing that as as a career opportunity is a great way for us to help.

Our thanks are deep thanks to Jeff Epstein for joining us at the city club today forums like this one are made possible thanks to generous support from individuals like all of you.

Thank you members and friends of the city club I'm Dan Moulthrop.

Have a great weekend.

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