Walled Off and Plagued by Pollution and Truck Noise, Conversations Begin on Connecting, Improving Lakeview Terrace

Lakeview Terrace, one of the first public housing projects in the country, is an island. Separated from Ohio City by the Shoreway, buttoned up between salt mines and limestone distribution to the east and the Flats to the west, the 22 acres with 27 buildings have for years been given little attention as development continues around them.

While the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority is in the midst of a master plan for the area, Ohio City Inc. and OHM Advisors have also begun a study and conversations with residents on how to improve quality of life for those living in the 500+ units.

But at a meeting this past Tuesday, the two sides seemed to be focused on different points of emphasis.

With 57 attendees in the audience, ideas of how to bring the street and sidewalk quality up to par, how to better direct truck traffic, or how to—almost ironically—allow the 1,100 Lakeview residents to connect more efficiently to Lake Erie were discussed.

Hence the reference for the $100,000 study: Lakeview Connects.

Gauging interest in a proper bridge to Wendy Park to the north, asking who exactly rides their bike and where, the three presenters expressed interest in making Lakeview more a part of Ohio City. Maybe some bike lanes? A new mid-rise? Scooter sharing?

"How do we better connect Lakeview Terrace with the rest of Ohio City? The rest of the Ohio City neighborhood? And with the Flats neighborhoods, as well?" Matt Hils, an OHM Advisors planner hired for the projected year-long study, said. "What we are trying to achieve here is to blur the lines better between the existing Lakeview Terrace and the surrounding neighborhoods."


Blurring the lines, to borrow the phrase, seems a bit difficult.

In OHM's hour-long presentation, situated in the basement of the Malachi Center on Superior Viaduct, the team ran through a slide deck of possible to-dos—from repairing the nearby Willow Avenue lift bridge to better guiding 18-wheeler traffic from the "conflict point" of West 25th and Detroit to building off the nearby Lakefront Trail connector.

Questions on the slide deck were very much in the survey phase: Where is it challenging to walk? Where do you bike versus drive? Where don't you feel safe enough to walk or bike?

"I've seen bicycle riders fall," said Marvin Johnson, a truck driver for Ontario Stone Corp., a limestone distributor situated on River Road close by. Johnson said that the meager road conditions on Washington have caused "thousands of dollars" in vehicle damage.

Johnson added, "I wouldn't even drive a nice car down there, if you know what I mean."

Tom McNair, the executive director of Ohio City, Incorporated, said that the study, which he hopes will come to a close this summer, paired nicely with CMHA's current planning.

It's why, McNair told the audience, "We're kind of at a very unique moment of time here."

But McNair's interest isn't new. In 2014, when the Detroit Shoreway was being restudied by the Ohio Department of Transportation, McNair saw the time was ripe for a transportation study of the neighborhood north of the bridge. He took a $10,000 grant and listened to residents' concerns. ODOT, McNair said, listened too: The wide travel lanes around West 25th and West 28th were cut from 14 feet to 11. Murals, including one by artist Glen Infante, were painted on both sides of the bridge.

Yet, McNair always contemplated the division. At a recent Spring Jam, a spring break event for teenagers at Lakeview, McNair asked the kids in crowd which neighborhood they lived in.

"No one saw themselves in Ohio City," he said in a phone call. "Why? Well, they've been completely isolated!"

Former residents who attended Tuesday's meet agreed, and then some. Those interviewed by Scene expressed concern that OHM's presentation was too heavy on the infrastructure—and too eager to make Lakeview into Ohio City—and too light on the serious concern of air quality.

Because Lakeview Terrace is situated to the east of salt mines and lime stone distribution, as well as the Morgan Water Treatment Plant, it's directly in the pathway of harmful pollutants carried by westward wind. Moreover, thousands of trucks run next door, making Lakeview into, as McNair said, "the perfect storm" of pollution.


"There's a lot of health problems that come from growing up [at Lakeview]," Pam Salmon, who raised "two and a half" children at the Terrace, said. "I'm talking asthma. COPD. Breathing issues. All of that. I’m interested in why we’re talking about restructuring and everything, and why we’re not talking about the quality of the air."

Salmon, along with her friend Darnetta Wade, seemed piqued by the promise of actualizing a decent link to the Cuyahoga River, or to Whiskey Island, yet focused on their personal histories at Lakeview and other quality of life issues.

On December 7, 2019, Salmon's daughter, LaKeita, died from respiratory problems that Salmon is convinced stemmed from Lakeview's shoddy air. (Salmon herself carries two inhalers with her everywhere she goes.)

Both the air and the cacophony of trucker engine noise, along with rising crime rates, led Salmon and Wade to vacate their long-time homes. For Wade, a severe stroke in 2011, which she partially attributed to her living conditions, was the final cut. (Whitnye Long Jones, a clean air specialist at Ohio City, Inc., told Scene that she's distributed seven air quality monitors in the neighborhood. She said she's "unaware of any lawsuits" related to polllution.)

"I lived down there for 25 years," Wade told Scene. "We raised a family here. And now, only my 85-year-old mother is left. And she hates the noise from the truck drivers."

And for Salmon, who returns to Lakeview from time to time—especially for improvement meetings like Tuesday's—living by the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is somewhat of a step up.

"It's noisy," she said. "But you install soundproof windows. You get used to it."

Coming soon: Cleveland Scene Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting Cleveland stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter