Hello! My name is Rebecca Maurer, born and raised in Northeast Ohio, and I’m proud to put my candidacy forward for Cleveland City Council Ward 12. I left to attend the University of Chicago and Stanford Law School but not before working as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Cleveland in 2008. During law school, I came back to town and worked in the Slavic Village neighborhood one summer. When I moved to Cleveland for good in 2015, I already knew that I wanted to invest in that community, so I bought my house through the Slavic Village Rediscovered program.

Beginning a career in housing

Early in my career, I focused my work on housing law. My passion for housing came from seeing what happened to Cleveland during the foreclosure crisis the summer I had worked for the Obama campaign. But my passion for housing also came from experiencing what it was like to have a landlord that did not seem to care about me as a tenant.

When I was 19, I noticed that the heat wasn’t turning on in the apartment I rented from a large property management company. Call after call to fix the issue went unanswered as winter approached. Eventually, I called a tenants’ rights hotline and they told me how to write a letter to my landlord laying out my rights and requesting that the landlord resolve the issue. Within a day of delivering the letter, the heat was on in my apartment.

When the heat came on in my apartment, I felt like I had been given a superpower: advocacy. I knew right then and there that I wanted to spend my career sharing that power with other people.

Watching local government affect the LGBTQ+ community

Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community has also shaped how I see the world. I remember vividly when Ohio passed State Issue 1 in 2004, banning gay marriage. Even while that rule was in effect at the state level, in 2009 Cleveland was one of the first cities in the State to pass anti-discrimination laws that protected the queer community. Local government cannot do everything — the marriage ban was not overturned until the 2015 Obergefell Supreme Court decision. But I saw early on that municipal government could play a critical role in giving dignity and rights to every person.

How I spend my free time

In my free time, I love to garden, and I grow both vegetables and flowers in my back yard. I attend Cleveland sports games whenever possible, and I have a soft spot for TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and (surprise, surprise!) Parks and Recreation. Halloween is always a bright spot in my year –- I’m proud to say that I won the MindsMatter Cleveland costume contest a few years back with my homage to the Guardians of Transportation on the Lorain Bridge!

Rebecca Maurer for Cleveland Council

All of these experiences have led me to the decision to run for Cleveland City Council Ward 12. I want to use my experiences of helping people on my block, in my ward, and across my city to be an advocate for my neighbors at the council level. To learn more about how I’ve worked to make the lives of Clevelanders better, please check out my Track Record page. I’ve also outlined the issues I’d tackle as a member of Cleveland City Council and can be viewed on my Issues page.