The planners behind the 101-mile Towpath Trail project got some good news this week when the county announced it will receive a nice-sized chunk of change for the completion of the project.
According to the Plain Dealer, the state is going to kick-in $500,000 in grant money. That funding goes into a pot holding an additional $3 million that will be used to spruce up an 11-acre hangnail of the Scranton peninsula. The project includes pumping green life back into the industrial carcass, adding a fish habitat, and threading a 10-foot-wide paved trail through the area. This really is good news for all Clevelanders, because if you’ve been to this particular industrial moonscape lately, you know the only people who use the peninsula now are through-traffic and body dumpers.
As good as the news is, it’s worth circling back on our story from October 2010 about the shady dealings that went on behind the scenes during the purchase of the land on the peninsula for the Towpath project. This included accusations of inflated land appraisals, lost files, and all other types of paper-pushing chicanery.
This article appears in Dec 7-13, 2011.