Community Speaks Out at Ward 7 Meeting

By Bruce Checefsky

A packed crowd filled the Cleveland Chinese Christian Church in AsiaTown during the Ward 7 community meeting to listen to City of Cleveland officials discuss plans to resurface Payne Avenue. The project will begin in 2024.

James DeRosa, Capital Projects Dir.

James D. DeRosa, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Capital Projects, and Richard J. Switalski, Division of Engineering and Construction, said construction would not impact the Asian Festival scheduled for May 2024. The project includes replacing an 8-inch water main with a new 10-inch pipe between E13th Street to E30th Street. Sidewalks and a tree lawn with bike lanes are part of the plan. Construction will take 15 months, according to them.

Cleveland Ward 7 executive precinct committeeman Mike Seals asked about employment opportunities during construction for people living in the Hough neighborhood. “We live in the poorest neighborhood in the second poorest city in the country,” he said.

Other items on the agenda included Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) for non-Cleveland Public Power residential and small business customers. This is available through the City of Cleveland to provide a choice to the default supply of electricity.

Sarah O’Keeffe, Director of the Office of Sustainability and Climate Justice, recommended residents wait for the program for a better long-term choice of electricity supplier, which may take a few months to start. Low-income households experiencing high-energy burdens may be eligible to enroll in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) by contacting CHN Housing Partners at 216-574-7100. Her office phone number is 216-664-2455 for questions or concerns. “First Energy is increasing the cost of electricity,” she said. “Community Choice Aggregation through Cleveland Public Power offers a less expensive alternative.”

The city is considering building a land bridge to connect downtown to the lakefront, explained Keshia Chambers, assistant director of the mayor’s office of capital projects, and is expected to cost between $200 million and $500 million, depending on the design. Most of the funds will come from the federal and state government. The proposed land bridge, first unveiled by the owners of the Browns, would be built over the Shoreway and railroad lines, with access to the stadium, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center, and Lake Erie. Concerns arose about development along the lakefront parks, including downtown, as well as proposed development by Cleveland Metroparks at E 55th Street, E 72nd Street, and Martin Luther King Jr Drive. One constituent asked, “Where are we going to fish?”

Coucilwoman Stephanie Howse at the recent community meeting.

Ward 7 Councilwoman Stephanie D. Howse said updates on the redevelopment of Martin Luther King Jr High School at E. 71st Street are changing. Their plans included housing and a school, but the developers, Structures Unlimited based in Maryland, pulled back, leaving the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) to give them 90 days for another plan. “We are coming up with another community meeting to go through the third plan to see if that is something the community wants,” said Howse.

Improvements from the City of Cleveland and private developers took center stage during the meeting, but several people raised issues and concerns about shootings in the neighborhood. “These projects do not benefit the ‘hood’,” said one resident. “We are concerned about the shootings right next door to us,” she said. Howse assured the audience that law enforcement agencies tell her that the overwhelming majority of shootings in Ward 7 are not random, saying, “They are targeted and retaliatory. When I pick up the phone, I hear somebody is attacking people. I hear stuff, but it is months later.” People are not talking to law enforcement officers because the assailants are often the grandson or friend of someone they know, she said, telling residents they need to activate the community to take control of the situation. “We do not have enough money to pay our way out of violence prevention,” said Howse. “It is a collective effort.”

Public Meetings vs. Private Interest

By Bruce Checefsky

In May 2021, the Cleveland Planning Commission held a special meeting without taking steps to notify the public and reporters.

The Commission discussed a proposed elevated park on the Shoreway, and railroad tracks to connect the downtown area and the lakefront.

The Haslam Sports Group is behind plans to include housing and commercial development around the FirstEnergy stadium. Ohio Sun Law Guidelines, available on the Attorney General Office’s website, state that public bodies must establish a reasonable method of alerting the public to the time and location of special meetings. The purpose is to give at least 24-hours notice to media outlets that have requested it.

The City of Cleveland Euclid Corridor Design Review Committee approved a conceptual design for a 57-unit, market-rate apartment development in the Hough neighborhood, despite the lack of advance notice to the public. Famicos Foundation, a nonprofit community development corporation, is the developer for the project.

Chester75, located on the northwest corner of Chester Avenue and E. 75th Street, reportedly received approval from the local design review committee with two abstentions. A search on the Cleveland Planning Commission’s YouTube channel did not find a record of the meeting.

The City Planning Commission sets the agenda for meetings of each design review advisory committee. They work with the local community development corporations to prepare applicants for the meeting. Public notice is required. Any person or organization is allowed time to express their opinions.

Lillian Kuri, an architect, and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Cleveland Foundation, was recently appointed new chairperson for the commission. Kuri is the first woman to serve as chair of the planning commission. She succeeds David Bowen, a principal of Richard L. Bowen & Associates, Inc., a Cleveland firm specializing in architecture, integrated engineering, and construction, over conflicts of interest with his role on the commission. Bowen served on the Cleveland City Planning Commission for 25 years.

“This is an opportunity of a lifetime,” Kuri said in a recent cleveland.com article. “I want to work with the administration to set an agenda.”

Terry McNeil relocated to Ohio after spending more than 30 years in Miami, where he worked in the restaurant and entertainment industry, organizing music festivals and corporate shows. In 2015, he returned to Cleveland to clean out the family house where his grandparents lived on E. 84th Street between Wade Park and Superior Avenue. McNeil visited his grandparents’ home every weekend until moving to Miami. After cleaning the house, McNeil knew he had to live there.

“It was amazing,” he said. “This is a mansion. There is no way we could build this same house for less than half a million dollars today.”

Once he finished with the house, McNeil decided to clean up the neighborhood by cutting grass on nearby abandoned lots and pressuring the city to fix the streets. He even has a Facebook page called Fix Our Streets 216. When it comes to new construction in the neighborhood, he has mixed feelings.

“I have no problem with new development. I have a problem with the design. Most of the homes in Ward 7 are old Victorian-style architecture. You lose the identity of a neighborhood when you start building futuristic buildings,” McNeil said, referring to Park Lamont, the proposed apartment complex on E. 97th Street and Lamont Avenue.

“The planning commission and design review need to be more demanding. City council members need to work harder. When the financial incentives flash in front of their faces, they forget everything about who they are and where they come from.”