With $24 Million Grant From Mandel Foundation, String Of Major Eastside Park Projects Move Forward

Some of Cleveland's most anticipated eastside parks projects got a major funding boost yesterday as the Mandel Foundation announced it was granting $24 million toward the assorted efforts.

The money, which was doled out to the Cleveland Metroparks, LAND Studio and the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, will allow for the expediting of the construction of Ohio City's Irishtown Bend Park (via a $5 million boost); for the makeover of the long-neglected lakefront area between East 9th and East 55th (with $5 million), along with a renovation of Gordon Park (with $8 million).

Tuesday's grant announcement also brings some clarity to the most controversial of the park growths. The Western Reserve Land Conservancy will receive $10 million for the area around Euclid Beach, where 164 residents of the mobile home park will be displaced by August 2024. Advocates have pushed for any solution that would allow the residents to stay, but the WRLC and Metroparks have long since finalized plans to shutter the operation, which is currently owned by the Conservancy but which will be transferred to the park.

In interviews Wednesday, grantees affirmed that Clevelanders need to see the forest for the trees: The rehab en masse of dozens of acres of future park space is a wildly important project, they say, for keeping residents living in the city and for connecting eastsiders to the water.

This is "a commitment to making the lakefront more accessible for all," Jillian Svala, assistant program director for the Mandel Foundation, told Scene in a phone call.

A tour of the land last summer, of the vacant Kirtland Park, of the difficult-to-bike-on Marginal Rd., convinced Svala that those portions of Lake Erie's edge deserved easier pedestrian access.

One of the major expenditures of the Metroparks grant—$5 million of it—is to be used to construct a Downtown Connector Trail, meant to fill in the bike lane gap between the Rock Hall and the East 55th Marina. (There are lousy sharrows on Marginal today.)

The same mentality, Svala said, stems into Gordon Park, now a series of baseball diamonds and idled tennis courts engulfed by lingering construction and overgrown grass. Both disinvestment in the St. Clair Superior neighborhood, along with the destruction caused by the construction of I-90, shrunk the care and upkeep that kept Gordon and Kirtland thriving in the 20th century.

The grants will, the Foundation said in an accompanying press release, expedite the benefits of Metroparks' CHEERS lakefront plan by 17 years, "in contrast to the original 20-year timeline."
"That was the whole part in thinking behind this," Svala said. "Bringing the lake back to the people in the neighborhoods that we, for whatever reason, have cut them off from it over many years of decision making."

The Mandel Foundation also granted $10 million to finalize the transfer of Euclid Beach Park.

The land, which the Conservancy purchased for $5.8 million in December of 2021, wasn't bought without pushback. In February, it was announced that all residents would have 18 months to vacate. An advocacy group composed of residents, the United Residents of Euclid Beach, along with Legal Aid Society and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, have battled to stave off the Conservancy's forced exodus, including the gathering of 5,700 signatures to demand action.

But, as of today, the Conservancy's original plans are set in place: the land will be used to connect with two nearby parks—the Villa Angela and Wildwood Marina—when its renovated in the fall of 2024.

"We're going to close down the park, and legally, nobody can stop us from doing that," Matt Zone, senior vice president of the Conservancy, told Scene over Zoom. "We're also going to generously and compassionately compensate the people who live in the park. And that is going to really change the trajectory of that neighborhood for future generations."

Zone, who speaks passionately about expanding the meager 10 percent of Lake Erie that Clevelanders can access, maintained the stance that Euclid Beach residents' compensation, and the well-in-advance notification, are beneficial outcomes, given the situation. "We gave an 18-month notice," Zone said. "That's triple the amount of time."

Roughly $6 million of the Mandel grant, Zone said, will go to aiding Euclid Beach residents in leaving: appraising their homes, aiding them (if possible) in relocating their homes, bankrolling the demolition of the rest, along with balancing the nearly $120,000 in rent delinquency, as of July.

Moreover, Zone said the Conservancy will be giving all residents-in-exodus a "hardship payment" to ease the burden of relocation. Zone didn't disclose exactly how much, except that each payment "would be equal" amongst neighbors.

"When 124 units move off of this site, tens of thousands of people are going to enjoy and access that waterfront," Zone said. "And it's going to become the catalyst that will create an infusion of investment in a neighborhood that hasn't seen it for decades."

Mike Russell, the lawyer for Legal Aid backing the Euclid Beach residents, told Scene in an email that despite the clear loss for Euclid residents who'd hoped to remain put, both he and NEOCH will be monitoring the spending of the Mandel dollars. Along with ensuring the Conservancy abides with the legal process.

"Legal Aid will continue to represent UREB’s interests and we will continue to hold the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to their statutory obligations to Euclid Beach residents as a landlord," Russell wrote to Scene in an email. "Our client is open to exploring all options and focused on just solutions."

Most of the parks projects funded by the Mandel Foundation's grant money will see ground break in 2024 and 2025, now that financial obligations have been met.
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