The councilpeople were steamed. This Transportation Committee hearing had been arranged in the harried aftermath of the announcement by Mayor Frank Jackson and Calabrese, two weeks ago, that the 600-foot strip of Superior Avenue through Public Square would remain closed to buses permanently. The announcement came at an evening press conference with very little warning to the media and no warning at all to the city’s legislative branch (council), who felt variously “concerned,” “insulted,” and “ashamed” by the Mayor’s secretive decision-making process. The outspoken Councilman Zack Reed likened the decision to that of a dictator. “It’s like Fidel Castro,” he told Scene after today’s meeting.
The tone throughout the morning’s proceedings was one of consternation. Comments by both council members and the public were edgy, perturbed, alarmed. It’s not uncommon for council to lament the lack of communication between the Mayor’s office and themselves, but rarely have individual council members been so vocally opposed to the actions of Jackson.
There was even talk, by meeting’s end, of finding ways to overrule Jackson’s decision, or else complicate it. Though Committee Chair Marty Keane advised that there was no legislative action to be taken immediately — this morning’s meeting was merely to send a message, he said — others suggested the possibility of legislation down the road: a refusal to vacate the right-of-way on Superior, for instance. Reed said council should not let this go away, and said he would support legislation to block the administration from removing the Square’s bus shelters or installing bollards on Superior.
Conspiracy theories voiced in private by jilted riders and locals who’ve seen versions of this script play out before were voiced in public by council members: Kerry McCormack, in whose Ward Public Square resides, wondered whether or not this had been the plan all along, to secure funding for a public space and then pull the rug out from transit riders. Zack Reed accused Jackson of collusion with downtown property owners and Forest City execs who view with contempt, he suggested, the “low-lifes” and “thugs” who ride the buses. (Reed, to dramatize his remarks, read comments from Cleveland.com.)
To make matters worse, when Joe Calabrese departed for his flight, so too did almost every representative from the Jackson administration. Chief of Staff Ken Silliman, Safety Director Michael McGrath, Development Chief Ed Rybka and reps from the division of traffic and engineering processed out of City Hall Rm. 217, where council meets. The crammed and baffled public, who attended (in some cases) in the hopes of addressing the decision-makers directly, muttered disdainful “wows” while council members inquired what the hell was going on. Only Freddy Collier, the city’s director of planning, remained for a portion of the public comments that followed.
The hearing had gotten off to shall we say a bumpy start: Silliman literally read the press release produced by the city after the announcement — the city and RTA will work cooperatively to mitigate the operational impact, blah blah blah — and then James Muhic, the Safety Department’s traffic commissioner, conveyed the city’s safety concerns. Among other things, the city claimed to fear that if Superior remained open to buses, unsupervised children would flee from their parents into oncoming bus traffic; confused and drunken drivers would drive onto Superior and wreak havoc — downtown Cleveland has become a multi-pronged magnet for weekend revelers, recall, and alcohol simply must be reckoned with; “lone-wolf terrorists” would use Superior to attack gatherings on the square by car, the splash park for example. Think of the Children! Think of the Ohio State tragedy! Both councilmen Keane and McCormack hastened to remark that terrorism had “nothing to do” with buses on Public Square.
Councilmembers took turns decrying Jackson’s backroom maneuverings and called the city’s safety concerns “laughable” (Brian Kazy). McCormack spoke of his experience with transit in Madrid and said that vehicular interaction is a condition of urban parks. Jeff Johnson wanted Calabrese to talk about ridership demographics — working class people, women and minorities need to be put on the table, he said — and many spoke of the disquiet and resentment among their constituents. This was all in direct opposition to the mysterious “overwhelming support” that Jackson cited as the second-most-critical reason (behind safety) for his decision.
In public comment, riders voiced their displeasure with the decision, testifying to the delays caused by the re-routing around the square. (Robert Mavec, the city’s commissioner of traffic engineering, had suggested that the delay was only 2 minutes or 2:30 max, but riders spoke of delays as long as 10 minutes.)
The RTA Citizen Advisory Board presented a letter “vigorously opposing” the closing of Superior Avenue. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 268 President Ron Jackson spoke on behalf of drivers, who opposed the closure as well. UH Bikes General Manager Alex Baca called the decision a “gross negligence of transparency” by Mayor Jackson and reminded council that “anything that holds RTA back also holds bike share back.” Nora Hoxha, from the Downtown Cleveland Residents’ Association, spoke of an ongoing survey. About 250 people had responded, she said, and results appeared to be mixed. Akshai Singh, representing Clevelanders for Public Transit, read a letter outlining that group’s opposition:
“We want to know how the administration, without taking public input, decided to renege on the guarantees of the Group Plan Commission, RTA, and public input process to close Public Square to buses,” he read from the letter. “We’d like to know how the prior $120,000 traffic study (from a non-biased independent firm) has been considered, as explanations have been highly inadequate. We’d like to know why previous agreements with FTA to create a transit zone with dedicated lanes were disregarded… We’d like to know who in the administration rode public transportation during this study during peak rush hour times, which routes, and when they rode public transportation, if ever, around the square with riders.”
Apart from the transparency issues, Cummins regarded as preposterous the Mayor’s having made the decision without ever having opened Superior. How can we know it’s a safety hazard if we haven’t even tested it? He was also “incredulous” that the Square’s alleged popularity was being used as evidence that Superior must remain closed.
“What has changed?” He shouted. “So there’s a lot of people attracted to the Square? I’m pretty sure I remember the designer saying that that’s what the hope was…”
Cummins also cautioned the administration to remember that $12 million wasn’t the only money at stake.
“It’s not only about [$12 million] that might need to be repaid to the FTA,” he said. “I’ve confirmed with RTA that over $78 million has been awarded to them through Federal Transportation dollars. Any Federal transit awards are at risk in the future if we continue to be at breach with the FTA. We’re trying to minimize the issues that we’re discussing here!”
This article appears in Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2016.
This is so frustrating. This is a prime example of where common sense should prevail : close the square during events, weekends or farmers markets. Open the square during business hours, etc. If people are worried about (and incorrectly in my opinion) of “low life thugs” being there and ruining the square, those people wont be there waiting for buses during events etc.
What a lot of these people fail to realize that there are so many hard working adults who love to rely on this method of transportation. I live in Gordon Square and save $100s per month taking the bus and not having to pay for downtown parking. Since the public square closing I have taken the bus substantially less. The amount of time it takes for getting through the square is awful – negatively affecting both buses AND small car traffic. All the money I previously paid to the RTA now goes to ABM parking. What a shame.
We are so capable of doing better. I hope we do.
Council members – particularly those with mayoral ambitions – love to bluster when plenty of media members are hanging out for a couple juicy sound bites at a committee hearing. But the majority fall in line when it comes to a real vote. It’s part of the silly game that has crept along for decades — and makes re-election a near slam dunk.
I stayed till the very end of the 3.25-hour long meeting.
I spoke from abridged prepared comments and also submitted a detailed copy of my comments for the record.
This is what I said:
Good Morning!
My name is Satinder P. S. Puri.
I am a community activist, live on Cleveland west side in Councilman Kazys ward 16 and love riding the RTA.
The renovated Public Square a.k.a. Jimmy Dimora Public Square, because of the corruption involved — — is a 50 million dollar bogus project built with cheap materials and mostly paved with hard surfaces.
So far there have been nearly 900 hours of demonstrations which continue unabated.
There was also a ten-day long hunger strike to protest the corruption.
There was nothing wrong with the historic 218-year old Public Square that a little rehabilitation could not fix.
The renovated Public Square reflects the flawed vision of Mayor Jackson who said: I want to see one big square.
According to the Traffic Consultants Report the Mayors vision was not workable.
So his honor instead of one big square had to settle for two rectangles the current configuration.
Well, the revised vision was also unworkable because of penalties to the RTA.
Mayor Jackson was aware of the penalties but went ahead with the project anyway.
Mass deception was used to promote the bogus project.
Mayor Jackson never responded to ten e-mails and two certified letters raising questions about the bogus project.
The bogus project is not good for Clevelanders nor RTA riders but definitely good for downtowns property owners who should expect an appreciation in their property values supported by RTA riders the poor, working class, senior citizens, disabled, and others who will get screwed with increased fares and reduced services.
This is called the Cleveland Way.
Now City Hall is expressing spurious safety concerns for children. If you walk downtown you are likely to see more dogs than kids among the 14,000 residents.
On non-event days I dont count more than 50 to a hundred people even with the band playing.
At a given time — there are more people outside Public Square than inside totally oblivious of this so-called masterpiece in urban park design.
The day after RNC left I was the lone protester in an almost abandoned Public Square.
Mayor Jackson has thrown RTA riders under the bus by not opening Superior Avenue and not reimbursing RTA for the costs incurred:
1 million dollars annually for closing Ontario Street;
1.6 million dollars annually for closing Superior Avenue;
and $3.5 million dollars for full closure during the 16-month construction period.
Mr. Chairman — now that we have a renovated Public Square and the RNC was here this summer — all Cleveland needs to make it big time — is a Trump Tower.
I am submitting a document for the record.
Thank you for your attention.
Sam – thank you for this coverage and for not deleting the comment by Mr. Puri. I trust you will also not delete my comment and link to further comment http://realneo.us/content/fantasyland
And, PLEASE – your adulation of Cummins is grossly misplaced. Cummins is a shady, no-good liar. He has destroyed community in his ward and will (Please dear GOD) be replaced in 2017, by someone who actually will be responsive to residents. There is a super-secret RTA plan for the West 25th St. corridor that only folks at Neighborhood Progress know about the details. Cummins is a buffoon making every effort to get political support from the folks who will benefit from this future plan.
Just listening to Will Burge on WTAM with Zack Reed.
Zack Reed contends that Public Square is now a “playground” and you don’t have buses running through “playgrounds”. So it sounds like he’s siding with Mayor Frank “Adolf” Jackson. But then he counters with statistics regarding RTA ridership, 60% middle aged female. Sounds like he’s in disagreement with Mayor Frank “Adolf” Jackson.
There is no middle road here.
Federal funds were provided to Cleveland on the basis of there being a Western hub for the Health Line. Superior was not torn up and grassed over. It was left in place. New bus shelters were placed on Superior in the square. Obviously, this was done to accommodate a federal requirement. Now Mayor Frank “Adolf” Jackson, acting on his own, has decided no bus traffic through the square via Superior. This is the same guy who wants to wiz away $1 million for a dirk bike track for a family member.
Zack Reed says there needs to be dialogue between RTA, the city and federal authorities. Little too late for that Zack. Should have been done way before a shovel was poked into the ground on the project.
Open up Superior to bus traffic as posted by “downtownofficeworker”. Close it for special events, which are usually held on weekends. No harm, no foul.
Regarding Mayor Frank “Adolf” Jackson. The voters of Cleveland need to wake up and realize he’s a buffoon and needs to be replace. But not by Zack Reed. He’d be just as bad.
If Cleveland wants to truly be “The Best Location in the Nation”, leadership needs to be revamped. Cut the mayor’s staff in half. Reduce City Council to 5 members. Columbus is twice the size of Cleveland. They have 7 Council members and they run their city so much better than what we have here.