CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland City Council on Monday refused to accept petitions calling for repeal of an ordinance that allowed for tax dollars to go towards improvements at Quicken Loans Arena.

Accepting the petitions, given that the city already has entered into a contract on The Q deal with Cuyahoga County and the Cleveland Cavaliers, would "unconstitutionally impair an already executed and binding contract," Deputy Clerk of City Council Allan Dreyer said in a memo to the Greater Cleveland Congregations, a social activist group that led the petition drive.

Ultimately the city agreed to take custody of the petitions, but they are not considered filed in terms of triggering the referendum process.

The petitions, circulated in Cleveland by the Greater Cleveland Congregations and several other groups, was an effort to stop The Q deal unless greater benefits to aid neighborhoods is worked into the deal.

The coalition gathered 20,000 signatures in less than 30 days toward repealing the ordinance that authorized the deal.

Cleveland City Council approved the deal last month in a 12-5 vote. Mayor Frank Jackson signed the ordinance into law the next day, and signed contracts on the deal later that same week.

The coalition sought to file petitions with the clerk of council following a news conference on the front steps of City Hall. The GCC, along with the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, Service Employees International Union Local 1199, AFSCME Ohio Council 8 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 268, have called for a community benefits agreement to be attached to The Q improvements deal that would target money into neighborhoods for job development, community improvement and for help addressing mental health and addiction issues.

Speaking at the news conference, Rev. Jawanza Colvin of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church told the crowd that the support for the petition drive shows the public wants more, particularly in neighborhoods that continue to wrestle with issues like unemployment, poverty and crime.

"We say with a loud voice: A better deal or no deal at all," Colvin told the crowd.

Afterward, when the group sought to deliver the petitions to the clerk of council, Colvin and Rev. Richard Gibson were rejected. Among those meeting them in the foyer was Council President Kevin Kelley, who said their lawyers advised that the petitions should be rejected.

That drew an angry response from Colvin.

"You all are better than this," he said. "I am trying to afford you every respect you are due."

But Colvin viewed the rejection as outrageous.

Gibson, along with Colvin, held out their arms, ready to be handcuffed, saying if council wouldn't accept the petitions, they would not leave.

"We are ready to go to jail," Gibson said.

Kelley told them that would not happen and eventually the GCC leaders broke away to discuss their next move. They hoped to meet with attorneys for the city and perhaps with their own.

Eventually the city agreed to take custody of the petitions, but they are not considered as formally filed, Kelley said.