East Cleveland is closing bars and restaurants along Euclid Avenue at 8 p.m. from Thursday through Sunday and stationing extra officers, sheriff's deputies and state troopers around the city as thousands of Shaw High School alumni converge on the city for its annual reunion weekend. The heightened security comes two years after gunfire tore through the 2024 reunion, wounding nine people and killing one during three separate overnight shooting incidents.
The Shaw High School reunion is a beloved tradition, but this year's version of it unfolds under the shadow of that violence, and East Cleveland officials are not pretending otherwise. According to WKYC, the 2024 reunion weekend left 10 people shot in separate incidents, one of them fatally. Mayor Sandra Morgan called the reunion a proud East Cleveland tradition, even as her administration rolls out temporary traffic controls, business closures and a ban on public drinking, smoking and open containers to keep this year's gathering from spiraling the same way.
Acting Police Chief Reginald Holcomb said the security plan is meant to enforce rules, not scare people away from a tradition that draws thousands back to the city. Holcomb said officials are prepared for any type of incident, and he stressed that attendees must be civil, comply with officer directions, keep emergency routes clear and depart peacefully once the weekend winds down. Officials would not disclose the exact number of officers working the weekend, but the report notes that East Cleveland police, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol have all been planning for the weekend for months.
Barricades and Business Closures Along Euclid Avenue
The city will implement temporary traffic controls on Saturday from 4 p.m. until roughly 2 a.m. Sunday along the Shaw and Euclid corridor, with temporary barricades placed at Euclid Avenue's intersections with Collamer, Burnette, Allandale, Vassar and Wellesley, as well as at Superior Avenue near the Lockwood Avenue approaches. Motorists are being told to use alternate routes, and vehicles parked in posted no-parking zones may be ticketed or towed. The Euclid Avenue business closures, which the city also used last year, are intended to prevent crowds from getting out of control once bars and restaurants would otherwise still be serving.
Mayor Morgan said public drinking, open containers and marijuana smoking outside are all prohibited during the event. Those bans track state law: Ohio Revised Code section 4301.62 bars open containers of beer or liquor in public spaces and vehicles on public roads, while Ohio Revised Code section 3780.36 makes public cannabis consumption a minor misdemeanor statewide, even though Ohio voters legalized adult-use marijuana through Issue 2 in 2023. Official reunion festivities are scheduled to wrap up by 6 p.m. Sunday at the Shaw High School park and event area, distinct from the unsanctioned late-night street gatherings that have drawn police concern in past years.
Regional Backup Fills Gaps in a Thin Department
East Cleveland is bringing in law enforcement resources from across the region, deploying officers on the ground alongside air support overhead. Cuyahoga County Sheriff Harold Pretel said many eyes will be monitoring the event, and his office is providing equipment, intelligence and air support, with deputies from outside Cuyahoga County also joining the weekend response. The Ohio State Highway Patrol will add its own resources, including air support, city officials said.
The regional buildup reflects a department that has been hollowed out from within. Between August 2022 and this past March, 21 current and former East Cleveland police officers were indicted on charges ranging from record tampering and civil rights violations to assault, according to The Observer. The city has said it is working on hiring additional police officers and dispatchers, and East Cleveland officials have acknowledged concerns about staffing levels among both officers and dispatchers heading into the weekend.
A City Under Financial Receivership
Those staffing worries surfaced publicly last month when Mayor Morgan addressed viral social media posts warning of acute police shortages, telling residents the city remains safe despite operating with fewer officers than in past years. Morgan took office in January as East Cleveland's first elected female mayor after winning 84% of the vote last November, succeeding former Mayor Lateek Shabazz, and she inherited a city in fiscal freefall. In February, corporate restructuring consultant George E. Shoup III was appointed financial receiver over East Cleveland, making it the first municipality in Ohio history placed under state receivership, following nearly 13 consecutive years in fiscal emergency, as reported by Signal Cleveland.
City leaders have also placed a proposal on the November ballot to raise the municipal income tax rate from 2.0% to 2.5%, aiming to close a $2.6 million gap in unpaid bills and avoid further service cuts; the rate has not changed since 1982, per the same Signal Cleveland report. With roughly 13,792 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates cited by the EPA, East Cleveland is a small, financially strapped inner-ring suburb that can see its population effectively swell for a single weekend as thousands of alumni return for the reunion.
Lessons From the Last Reunion
Among the 10 people shot during the 2024 reunion weekend was 23-year-old Erin Strozier, who was fatally wounded, according to prior WKYC reporting. That violence prompted authorities to overhaul security protocols for subsequent reunion weekends, and East Cleveland officials say last year's reunion passed without major issues under the revised approach. Officials are hoping this year's expanded barricades, business closures and regional police presence keep that streak going.
The Shaw High School Alumni Association itself operates apart from the late-night street crowds that have worried police in past years. The chartered 501(c)(3) organization has raised more than $200,000 for student scholarships, athletic programs and band trips in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation, according to the association. City officials are counting on that community spirit to define the weekend, even as barricades, curfews and out-of-town patrol cars line Euclid Avenue to make sure it does.
