- riderta.com
The Clevelanders for Transportation Equity and its leading spokeswoman Angie Schmitt say that RTA has confirmed that there is currently no funding to upgrade the Red and Blue-Green Line Rapid Stations at E. 79th St. Those upgrades are necessary for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
From today’s post on OpportunityCorridor.com (the online home of Clevelanders for Transportation Equity):
City officials accused our group of misleading the public about this, but this statement confirms what we have been saying all along: If funding isn’t found for these stations, they will be forced to close.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2014.
If there was a vocal push by influential city, state and federal politicians, with a not-so-subtle threat that the issue was not going to fade away after one weekend news cycle……a few bags of cash would magically be found for the necessary upgrades.
Part of the reason this is so galling is that we are also pursuing a $331 million road project through the same area: the opportunity corridor. It is a big equity issue that so much money is available for a road that is of questionable value to city residents, but we never seem to have enough money to fund transit. This isn’t RTA’s fault. We need the state to make this kind of money available for the kinds of things Cleveland really needs, which is mostly maintenance, not new construction.
Why rebuild the East 79th station Red Line station? It is surrounded by industrial land uses and properties that were recently acquired by owners whose business is manufacturing and trucking, not residential or mixed-uses that support transit ridership. Farther south on East 79th, the Blue-Green line station uses ramps and is already substantially compliant with ADA. It is not in danger of closing, and is in an area that may become even more residential in the future. It’s time to follow All Aboard Ohio’s recommendation and relocate the East 79th station to the Buckeye-Woodland area, as GCRTA, NOACA and Cleveland supported in the mid-1990s — along with relocating the East 120th station to Little Italy-Mayfied, which is now underway.
The East 79th Blue/Green Station is not ADA compliant, Ken. Also, I would hope that your All Aboard Ohio group would actually advocate for transit rather than propose crazy and selfish ideas that actually deprive low-income people who rely on transit access.
If you actually ride the red line, you will find Ken’s comment to be factually correct.
But the city has $30 million to subsidize the business of a billionaire sports team owner.
What a surprise that a group that doesn’t like the opportunity corridor wants to divert funds away from the project. You’d think that an area of the city that’s considered to be one of our crown jewels would have easy access in and out.
Ya Squid, they do, because it was in their lease so they had to do that, and if we lose the Browns, it would cost the city far more money.