The barriers border the 600-foot strip of Superior Avenue through the Square and were placed there because of Jackson’s stated concerns about lone-wolf terrorists. These concerns were debunked by local terrorism experts and roundly mocked by City Council.
Nevertheless, the barriers remain, a middle finger to transit activists and RTA, and an eyesore on the $50 million public space that multiple public and private organizations partnered to renovate in time for the 2016 Republican National Convention.
In June of last year, the downtown Group Plan Commission said that retractable bollards could be installed at a cost of $2 million. An associate at James Corner Field Operations, the firm that designed the square, said the installation of bollards would take less than two months once the money had been raised, calling it a “very surgical and quick process.”
Nevertheless, the barriers remain.
In November, a briefly circulating local petition invited Clevelanders to take a page out of West Berlin’s playbook and cover the concrete jersey barrier with graffiti.
“We’re a city that prides itself on claiming it can solve every problem with a mural,” the petition noted, “so why not this one?”
At the time, Scene interpreted the petition as an indictment of Frank Jackson’s lethargy and vindictiveness, which was initially noted by a transit advocate when the barriers were first installed in March, 2017.
“These do nothing,” the advocate told us. “They’re there for the city to prove that they were right all along, and that any kind of solution to bring buses to the Square will be completely ugly. It’s ugly by design … It’s either expedient or it’s tactical. But either way, it’s mind-blowing.”
This article appears in Feb 27 – Mar 5, 2019.
And yet another lovely decision by the completely inept Taxin Jackson administration!!! Until this thief, along with cohort thief Budish are finally recalled from office and sent directly to jail, Nothing will ever change in this poorly-run, outrageously-high taxed, corrupt city!!!
Its time to get these crooks out of office now!!!
It’s disgraceful that Cleveland has fallen behind Columbus and Cinci in almost every category. Those of us striving to build upon a legacy that vastly exceeds that at the roots of our neighboring cities can’t succeed without energized, enlightened government.
Staying positive and infusing encouragement into the business/living community is important right now in Cleveland but the pressure needs to be felt by the Jackson administration right now. He’s been a poor leader for a city with so much potential for way to long. This public square issue is crazy and a microcosm of his tenure.
Despite all the positive physical changes, those barriers keep Public Square looking like shit.
But at least they’re the right color…the same one that predominates in this city…Cleveland Sky Gray!
An ugly barrier for an ugly square, for an ugly city.
It is perfect.
We’ve waited long enough for a safe and attractive solution for replacing these barriers.