Ord No. 1074-17, which you can read in full below, authorizes the city’s director of finance, Sharon Dumas, to enter into contracts with various companies who will be paid to get rid of the payphones and restore the sidewalks from which they’ll be rooted out.
The ordinance allows for as many as four years to get the work done — an initial two-year time frame, and two one-year extensions, if necessary — but the harsh reality is as follows: Cleveland’s payphones will soon be relegated to memory. The photographers who have so meticulously chronicled this particular emblem of urban decay will have to cast their lenses elsewhere.
For the rest of us: Though we can no longer pay for calls, we can certainly pay our respects. For my part: Thank you, Cleveland payphones. My parents didn’t let me have a cell phone until, like, senior year of high school, so I’m eternally grateful for a few frantic nights in particular, when, by your intercession I was saved from social derision by acquiring the home addresses to new acquaintances.
This is for you:
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2017.
Payphones unlike cell phones do not need to be charged or periodically supplied with batteries. They can always be found in the same places they are installed. They cannot be lost unlike cellphones that can be easily misplaced.Payphones are conveniently located on streets and other public areas, and their presence there can supply needed communication in event of emergency when no other access is available. The fact that only 100 calls a month are needed for payphones to pay for themselves, show that the cost of keeping them in service excuse for removing them looks very much like a red herring. The public is entitled to have public payphones available to use: cell phone ownership does not need to be imperative when payphones have the ability to provide reliable service at any time it is needed without needing battery replacement or charging.