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October 25, 2026

Power Cleveland’s Raul Jimenez asks why he was banned from CentroVilla25

Cleveland Boricua
13 MIN READ

NEWS ANALYSIS · October 25, 2026

CLEVELAND — When a community gathering place reportedly closes its doors to someone who says he has helped promote the businesses inside, the questions reach beyond one person’s access. They concern how decisions are made, whose voices are heard and whether the community can understand the rules governing a place built around opportunity.

Raul Jimenez, the creator behind Power Cleveland, says he has been banned from entering CentroVilla25. In a public Facebook statement, he alleged selective discrimination and asked for evidence, an explanation and, if warranted, an apology. His statement confirms that he is making those allegations. It does not establish the reason for the restriction or prove that discrimination occurred.

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What Power Cleveland offers the city

Power Cleveland operates as a local social media platform connecting an audience with places, businesses and activity around Cleveland. Its public Facebook profile identifies the account as a public figure, lists Cleveland as its location and describes a desire to walk through Cleveland and Ohio showing people the community. The profile displayed approximately 20,000 followers when reviewed.

Recent public posts reviewed include a shared update from a local food business, Cleveland sports content and a Cleveland-related video. Those examples support describing the platform as a source of local visibility and discovery. They do not establish a formal role representing the city, every Latino resident or any public agency.

For a small business, visibility can be valuable: an introduction, a video or a shared announcement can put its name in front of people who might otherwise never encounter it. That is the potential community service of a platform such as Power Cleveland—helping residents discover where to eat, shop, gather and spend their money locally. The material reviewed does not measure how many customers or sales Jimenez has generated.

Jimenez says his work has specifically included supporting CentroVilla25’s activities and promoting its small businesses without charge. That account describes him as an informal promoter and community connector. The full extent of that work, its financial terms and any formal partnership with CentroVilla25 have not been independently verified.

Why he says the decision is unfair

Jimenez’s complaint has several parts. He says he has been excluded while others involved in the same matter appear not to have received the same treatment. He says responsibility has been attributed to him for actions he did not commit. He questions why dialogue or mediation did not come first, and he wants to see the evidence and reasoning behind the decision.

His sense of unfairness also rests on the relationship he describes: someone who says he helped bring attention to the market now says he cannot enter it. That perceived contradiction explains his frustration. Promotional support alone, however, does not settle whether a restriction is justified; the conduct at issue and the rules applied still matter.

“I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking for transparency, accountability, and equal treatment.”

The statement does not identify the underlying incident, the other people involved or the person who authorized the restriction. Without those details, it is not possible to evaluate his comparison with others or determine whether the decision was selective, proportionate or discriminatory.

What CentroVilla25 offers the community

CentroVilla25’s colorful Mercado exterior and outdoor seating area.
CentroVilla25’s colorful Mercado exterior and outdoor seating area. Photo supplied by the contributor. CentroVilla25 official website.

CentroVilla25, at 3140 W. 25th Street in Clark-Fulton, describes itself as a Latino market and food hall. Its offerings include small-business kiosks, a commercial kitchen, cultural programming and space for events and community gatherings. Its stated mission emphasizes community, heritage and opportunity.

That combination serves several needs: entrepreneurs can sell products, food businesses can access kitchen space, and residents can gather around Latino culture. Its mission page also emphasizes support for minority-owned businesses and neighborhood development. These are substantial commitments to a community’s economic and cultural life.

Independent reporting by the Plain Press in March 2026 described affordable business space, technical assistance and entrepreneurial resources at the site. The report identified the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development, also known as the Hispanic Business Center, as the building’s owner.

CentroVilla25 and Power Cleveland therefore occupy potentially complementary roles. One offers a physical place for commerce and community activity; the other offers a channel through which people can discover local places. That overlap helps explain the public interest in this dispute. It does not establish a contractual partnership or an obligation to allow unrestricted access.

A Cleveland investment, built over decades

CentroVilla25 signage on the building’s exterior.
CentroVilla25 signage on the building’s exterior. Photo supplied by the contributor. CentroVilla25 official website.

CentroVilla25’s importance cannot be understood solely through a disagreement on Facebook. The marketplace emerged from years of organizing around a broader ambition: creating a lasting center of Latino business and cultural life in Clark-Fulton. Its official grand-opening celebration took place on May 30, 2025. Cleveland 19’s coverage described a project whose vision stretched back decades and whose supporters included community leaders, philanthropic organizations and public officials. Source: Cleveland 19.

The public investment is documented. In a May 25, 2023 announcement, Cleveland City Council said it had approved $1.5 million in revenue recovery funds for the development. The same announcement identified $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding from Cuyahoga County, alongside corporate support, foundation grants and development tax credits. These figures describe support announced for the project; they are not an audit of its final construction costs or current finances. Source: Cleveland City Council.

The council announcement connected that support to neighborhood needs: helping Latino-owned businesses build wealth, improving access to culturally significant food and creating a place for arts and community life. That purpose makes the project a matter of interest beyond its management and tenants. Cleveland residents have reason to care whether the institution earns and maintains the confidence of the people it was intended to serve. Source: Cleveland City Council.

Public support does not, by itself, establish a right to unrestricted entry or determine the legality of an individual ban. It does provide a concrete reason for public scrutiny of governance, mission and accountability. Asking how a consequential decision was made is consistent with taking the community’s investment seriously.

The entrepreneurs inside are part of this story

Seating inside CentroVilla25’s food hall.
Seating inside CentroVilla25’s food hall. Photo supplied by the contributor. CentroVilla25 official website.

The people with the most at stake may include business owners who are not parties to the dispute. In an April 2026 report, Signal Cleveland described vendors working through an uneven first year, with quiet weekdays, evolving business plans and hopes that additional activity would draw more visitors. Its reporting also described business training, support from JumpStart and the importance of repeat customers and catering opportunities. Source: Signal Cleveland.

That reporting offers evidence of both CentroVilla25’s value and the challenges its entrepreneurs face. The market provides an entry point for business ownership; filling the space with customers is an ongoing task. A successful community marketplace requires more than a renovated building. It needs people who return, recommend a meal, bring a friend and tell others what they found.

This is where the interests of vendors, management and local promoters can meet. Visibility can help a new venture find customers. A well-run venue can give a creator worthwhile stories to share. When that relationship breaks down, the question is whether the dispute can be resolved without damaging those wider connections. No sales records or vendor interviews obtained for this article establish that Jimenez’s reported exclusion has caused a financial loss.

Signal Cleveland’s account predates the current allegation. It should not be read as evidence that vendors support Jimenez, oppose management or have taken a position on the reported ban. It is context for understanding why foot traffic, collaboration and confidence in the market matter.

Visibility is a contribution, and accountability goes both ways

A photograph supplied for this article shows visitors and workers at La Esquina Dominicana inside CentroVilla25.
A photograph supplied for this article shows visitors and workers at La Esquina Dominicana inside CentroVilla25. Photo supplied by the contributor. CentroVilla25 official website.

Community promotion often happens outside official institutions. A person with a camera and an audience can introduce a neighborhood business to people who do not follow a development agency’s announcements. Content in a community’s language can make a place feel familiar and approachable. Those are useful functions even when the person doing them holds no elected office or formal leadership title.

That is the role Jimenez describes for himself. It warrants being understood on its own terms rather than dismissed as merely posting online. At the same time, the value of that work does not exempt a creator from reasonable standards of conduct. A fair assessment needs to examine what he contributed and what, specifically, is alleged to have happened. Neither can substitute for the other.

Jimenez’s statement refers to other people involved in the same matter, but it leaves readers without the details needed to compare their situations. Were their actions the same? Were different rules applied? Were the circumstances materially different? Those questions are necessary to test his central claim of unequal treatment. Their absence is a gap in the evidence, not proof for either side.

A fair process can protect the community and the institution

There are practical ways an institution can demonstrate fairness without turning a dispute into a public spectacle. It can communicate the conduct at issue to the affected person, identify the relevant policy, explain the scope of a restriction and provide a route for review where appropriate. These are standards this analysis proposes; the reporting has not established whether CentroVilla25 already follows them.

A meaningful explanation would distinguish a restriction based on conduct from one based on a personal disagreement. It would also help clarify whether the decision concerns access to the entire property, participation in a particular event or some narrower activity. Those distinctions matter to the affected person and to anyone trying to understand the public allegation.

Management may have information it cannot appropriately make public. If that is the case, it can still consider what can be explained about its process without identifying or exposing other people. A refusal to release private details should not automatically be treated as evidence of wrongdoing. Equally, confidentiality should not become an assumption that prevents a reporter from asking how a decision can be challenged.

The standard should be consistent: hear the complaint, test it against evidence, seek the institution’s account and explain what remains unresolved. That approach offers a better chance of protecting people and restoring working relationships than deciding the entire matter through competing declarations.

How an unexplained exclusion could affect more than one person

The concern is not that every restriction necessarily harms the community. A gathering place must consider the safety and well-being of vendors, visitors and staff. The concern is what happens when people cannot understand whether an exclusion follows a clear rule, a substantiated incident or a disagreement with leadership. The available evidence does not establish which circumstances apply here.

If an exclusion is arbitrary or inconsistently applied, its effects could extend beyond the person excluded. Vendors could lose a promotional connection. Other creators could become reluctant to cover the venue. Residents could wonder whether raising a complaint might affect their welcome. Community organizations could hesitate to collaborate if they cannot understand how disputes are handled.

Those are possible consequences, not documented outcomes of Jimenez’s case. There is no verified evidence in the material reviewed of lost sales, canceled partnerships or a broader campaign to exclude critics. They are reasons to seek answers before uncertainty becomes a lasting source of distrust.

The same care applies to CentroVilla25’s vendors. The small businesses operating inside should not automatically be held responsible for a management decision they may have had no role in making. Turning a dispute with leadership into blanket hostility toward those entrepreneurs could hurt the very people both sides say they want to support.

Could someone else be next?

There is no evidence in the reviewed material that CentroVilla25 plans to exclude other individuals, organizations or entities. Predicting a next target would go beyond the reporting. The legitimate question is whether there is an access policy that applies consistently to everyone, including promoters, vendors, partners and critics.

Who can impose a restriction? What conduct can trigger it? Is the person told what they are alleged to have done? Does the restriction have a defined scope and duration? Can a decision be reviewed? Are comparable situations handled alike? Answers would help the community assess this case and understand how a future disagreement might be handled.

Whether this particular restriction is legally permissible cannot be determined from a Facebook statement. The notice, circumstances and applicable rules have not been established. A community-serving mission does not, by itself, resolve that legal question. The question of public trust remains important regardless.

What it means to be a community center

For a place that presents itself as a hub of Latino community life, welcoming language creates expectations about how people will be treated when relationships become difficult. A community mission is tested through conflict as well as celebration: through consistent standards, a meaningful opportunity to respond and an explanation of decisions when disclosure is appropriate.

That does not require management to disclose confidential information about other people or disregard a substantiated safety concern. It does invite leadership to explain its process, address an affected person directly and distinguish disagreement from conduct that warrants exclusion.

If Jimenez’s account is substantiated and no fair explanation exists, the decision could weaken confidence in CentroVilla25’s promise of connection and opportunity. If important facts are missing from his account, those facts could materially change the story. Responsible scrutiny must leave room for both possibilities.

The answers still needed

No written restriction notice was supplied for this article. The date, grounds, decision-maker, duration and review process remain unverified. CentroVilla25’s response is not included in the material reviewed, and ClevelandBoricua.com has not contacted the organization as part of preparing this article. Its account is essential to completing the reporting.

The concern for what comes next is therefore specific: whether an unresolved dispute will be met with a fair explanation or allowed to deepen uncertainty. A place built to connect a community has much to gain from showing how it handles conflict. Jimenez has publicly asked for answers. The community deserves reporting that tests his claims, hears CentroVilla25’s account and keeps the interests of local businesses and residents at the center.

A person standing among tents at an outdoor market
Additional photograph supplied by the contributor.

Sources and further reading

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This voluntary reader poll is not a representative survey. Responses are self-reported, unverified, and do not establish discrimination or wrongdoing. No name or email is required; technical voting logs are retained to limit repeat voting.

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