CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb, a former Barack Obama intern and banker who won the Cleveland nonpartisan runoff election for mayor in November over then City Council president Kevin Kelley to become the city's fourth Black mayor and its second youngest behind former mayor Dennis Kucinich, delivered his first state of the city address on Wednesday evening at the Maltz Performing Arts Center on the campus of Case Western University where he earned both an MBA and a law degree. More than 1,000 people attended the in-person, open-to-the public event that was also streamed live.

“We said that Cleveland can’t wait, and we meant it,” the mayor said during opening remarks, a reference to his campaign slogan, one that helped to catapult him to the city's highest political office. "Cleveland, the wait for change is over.”

He said that as soon as he took the leadership helm as mayor he began making progressive changes for the betterment of the city, and that Cleveland is on the rise. Deemed the poorest big city in the nation in 2019  by the Center for Community Solutions with 114,000 people living in poverty, including 37,700 children,  the city remains steeped in  poverty,  prompting the mayor to say during Wednesday's speech that Clevelanders "have to do more with less."

Billed as a look back at the mayor's first 100 days in office since he officially stepped into the role on Jan 3, Wednesday's state of the city was hosted by the City Club of Cleveland and also included a question and answer session of previously chosen questions submitted by Cleveland residents. Several members of the 17-member city council were there as well as members of the mayor's newly appointed cabinet, and the city's top brass, including interim police chief Andre Drummond and higher ups.

Cleveland's first new mayor in 16 years, who, per state law, also control's the city's public schools, Bibb laid out several initiatives he plans to address as mayor, including public safety, economic growth, community development, and education, and he spoke on his achievements in office thus far. They include a bailout of the Westside Market in cooperation by city council, the filing of a motion in Cleveland Municipal Court by the city's chief prosecutor that ask the city's judges to expunge some 4,000 low level marijuana criminal records, and what the mayor says is a much needed $10 million project for upgrades at Shaker Square on the city's east side that is in the workings.

The mayor said that public safety is his first priority, and he spoke about the city's response to the pandemic. He also promised to fight poverty tooth and nail, and said that he is committed to revamping the Burke Lakefront Airport and working with city council to develop an ambitious budget.

The mayor asked for patience as he carries out what he called a progressive agenda that will improve city services and make Cleveland a sustainable city and one that residents can be proud of.

"I did not promised that I will be a perfect mayor but I did promise I will do my best every day," said Mayor Bibb.

The mayor spoke about the tragedy regarding the New year's Eve carjacking and shooting death of slain Cleveland police officer Shane Bartek, and also took the opportunity to call for an end to the escalating gun violence in the city after the recent passage of Senate Bill  215 by Ohio lawmakers, a new state law that permits Ohio residents to carry concealed handguns without a permit.

"This moves the needle on gun violence in the complete wrong direction, and undermines our ability to keep cities safe," he said.

The city's 58th mayor, Bibb said that Cleveland, a largely Black major American city of some 372,000 people and Ohio's second largest city behind Columbus, has the mechanisms to someday become a great city and that he is determined to carry out the demands that voters called for when they put him in office last year

"I am committed on delivering on the changes you called for," said Bibb.

The mayor said that police reforms and accountability are upmost to improving the city, as well as the  full funding of the new Community Police Commission, which is mandated by the voter adopted Issue 24, a charter amendment for police reforms that Cleveland voters overwhelmingly approved in November. According to the mayor, Issue 24 will be taken seriously as the city and the U.S. Department of Justice remain parties to a court monitored consent degree for police reforms that implemented in 2015

Bibb, 34, walked away with 63 percent of the vote when he upset Kelley via last year's mayoral election. It was a  political shakeup that stunned some old heads, including outgoing four-term mayor Frank Jackson, 75 and a Kelley ally, and some members of city council who also supported Kelley's candidacy like  east-side Councilman Blaine Griffin, Jackson's former protege and now the city council president. A former city council president and the city's third Black mayor, and its longest serving mayor, Jackson opted out of seeking an unprecedented fifth term last year.

The mayor is also poised to revamp the city's largely Black Cleveland Metropolitan School District, which is under the control of the city mayor as to a state law that took effect in 1998 when the state of Ohio and the school district were released from a a longstanding desegregation court order. The mayoral control law eliminated an elected school board and replaced it with appointees of the mayor, who also controls the schools multi-million dollar budget that is funded primarily by taxpayers.

Cleveland sits in heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County, the second largest of Ohio's 88 counties, and most of its residents live in poverty. It is the most segregated city in the nation behind Boston and most Blacks reside on the city's east side and Whites on the west side, the two sides separated by the Cuyahoga River.