Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park Residents Rally Against Displacement, Deliver Petitions to Western Reserve Land Conservancy

A month and a half after the Western Reserve Land Conservancy effectively put an eviction date on the residents of 139 Euclid Beach mobile homes, those opposed to the decision by WRLC to hand the land over to the Metroparks again protested in defiance of what they call mass displacement.

On Tuesday afternoon, in front of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy’s Downtown office at 812 Huron, two dozen gathered for a rally led by Josiah Quarles, the director of organizing and advocacy for the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. Cries of “Housing is a human right!” and “Our community is not a commodity!” were chanted in between speeches admonishing the Conservancy.

Quarles, an ambassador for the United Residents of Euclid Beach, painted the issue primarily through an humanitarian lens.

“We have an opportunity every single day to take a step towards justice. And today is another day,” Quarles said to the crowd of NEOCH workers, Euclid neighbors and media. “Because people and parks can coexist. And the more that we think about housing as a commodity, the more that we think about nature as a commodity, the more that we think about people as a commodity, the further away that we get from our humanity.”

Following the Conservancy’s decision, and news that the residents will have a firm move-out date sometime next year, came a letter by NEOCH urging Clevelanders to boycott the Conservancy.

A month later, in early March, NEOCH disseminated a petition with the hopes of gathering enough attention to dissuade the Conservancy from its current stance. As of Tuesday, the petition, according to 12-year resident Heather Malone, has roughly 4,700 signatures.

It’s unlikely the Euclid Beach residents will be able to do anything to change the park’s fate, but Legal Aid attorney Mike Russell said that a fairer negotiation could happen.

Russell, who has been working on the residents’ case pro bono since February, said the petitioners do want the Conservancy’s decision reversed and renegotiated—though talks have not been successful.

Additionally, they want the Conservancy to come through on its promise of transparency.

“We’re in a phase where we’re seeking information,” Russell told Scene Tuesday. “What studies have been done to show how expensive it would be to repair the infrastructure permanently? What would be the cost impact on residents who choose to live there if they had that opportunity? We’ve requested that information, and we haven’t gotten anything.”

Anthony Beard, a Euclid Beach resident, broached the topic of transparency at Tuesday’s rally, standing next to his son.

“I want the members of the Land Conservancy in this group to answer me one question,” Beard said. “They’re talking about how this cost so much—but does everyone realize that they’re spending $800,000 to move the Euclid Beach art sign from where it rests now into the park? About 1,000 feet! We want to talk about money. What about $800,000 to move a sign?”

Before the rally marched eastward on Huron, towards the County building, Heather Malone and Gillian Prater-Lee sealed an envelope containing the 4,700 signatures, and walked it up the steps into 812’s vestibule.

Malone, sporting a Collinwood ball cap, handed the envelope respectfully to a cross-armed Jared Saylor, communications director for the Conservancy, while expressing her wish for the nonprofit to consider the names inside.

“Please, think about what you are doing,” Malone said to Saylor. “We want you to listen to us. Listen to what the Euclid Beach residents are saying.”

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This article appears in Mar 22 – Apr 5, 2023.