Upfront

AN AMTRAK STATION AT TOWER CITY? HELL YES.

Courtesy All Aboard Ohio

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

at the nonprofit passenger rail advocacy group All Aboard Ohio (AAO) has voted that Tower City should be the site of Cleveland’s new Amtrak hub, given the significant increase in daily train departures proposed by Amtrak with funding from the Biden administration.

In Amtrak’s vision, Cleveland would see 22 departures every day, including an intrastate route connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. All Aboard Ohio says moving the train hub back to Tower City, where the Cleveland Union Terminal was built in 1929 and located until the 70s, “finally makes sense.”

“It didn’t make sense with Amtrak running just one or two trains each day in the middle of the night,” said Ken Prendergast, AAO’s Public Affairs Director, in a press release. “But it does make sense for Amtrak’s proposed Cleveland mini-hub in bringing significant new passenger traffic and business activity to downtown Cleveland.”

Amtrak currently operates out of its “Lakeshore Station” off the Shoreway near E. 9th, and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson has said that he›d like to incorporate an expanded Lakeshore Station into a comprehensive lakefront development plan that includes a new land bridge.

AAO says it would not oppose expansion at the existing site, but that Tower City would offer considerably more multi-modal connections, as Tower City represents Cleveland’s central bus and rapid transit hub and could offer additional connectivity with the expansion of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and a relocated Greyhound bus hub. AAO says that Greyhound, which currently sees five times more yearly passengers than Amtrak, “would likely follow” Amtrak to a new hub.

Furthermore, unlike a lakeshore hub, a Tower City station would not have to contend with freight train traffic. (An Amtrak spokesperson, for the record, told Cleveland.com that the agency would welcome a community conversation about “improving or relocating” the Amtrak station.)

The Tower City hub would be an expensive endeavor. Prendergast told Scene in a follow-up conversation that a new station could cost something like $400 million, which would include the construction of the station itself, a parking deck and significant track work to reconnect linkages that were severed after the Union Terminal closed in 1977.

“But the point to make is that this going to cost a lot of money regardless of location,” Prendergast said. “Look at what the city’s trying to do with the land bridge. That’s a couple hundred million. And rerouting the 70-plus freight trains per day would cost another couple hundred million. This is a big slice of pie. But Cleveland is the mini-hub that Amtrak wants between Chicago and the East Coast. People have to understand: We’d be busier than Seattle or Milwaukee or St. Louis, all of which have anywhere from 500,ooo to 1 million passengers per year.”

Prendergast said the good news is that Sherwin-Williams has donated to the City of Cleveland the riverfront property on which its current research and development facility sits. That could be demolished, and the western portion of a new station could be build around the Federal courthouse.

“I hate to see them go to Brecksville,” Prendergast said of Sherwin’s R&D staff, “but they’re vacating that site, and this is really Cleveland’s last chance of doing something at that location.”

Prendergast moonlights as the city’s most well-connected real estate blogger. He said that Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock Detroit, which owns the Avenue at Tower City, is currently considering building an office for Rocket Mortgage connected to Tower City, or another repurposing of the property which could impinge on a potential new station.

“Something’s cooking down there,” Prendergast said. “And if Bedrock builds something without a 25-foot clearance for trains, we’re done.” -Sam Allard

Momentum for Public Comment in Cleveland Grows with New Council Support

With the recent addition of Collinwood Councilman Mike Polensek, the coalition of Cleveland City Council members supporting an ordinance to establish a regular public comment period at City Council meetings has grown to seven.

At a press conference on the

steps of City Hall last Monday, Polensek joined his colleagues Kerry McCormack (Ward 3), Basheer Jones (Ward 7), Jasmin Santana (Ward 14), Jenny Spencer (Ward 15), Brian Kazy (Ward 16), and Charles Slife (Ward 17). They all publicly embraced the proposal of the activist organization Clevelanders for Public Comment, drafted by Ward 3 resident Jessica Trivisonno. They plan to introduce legislation soon.

The seven council members’ support adds momentum to an issue that has become central in the 2021 municipal elections. Ward 12 city council candidate Rebecca Maurer launched her campaign earlier this year with a public engagement pledge that asked both incumbents and challengers to support three policies to increase civic engagement and promote a better relationship between City Hall and residents. An official public comment period topped that list.

Others have ardently signed on, recognizing the insularity of City Hall as a key reason for voter apathy and abysmal participation in local elections. Mayoral candidate Justin Bibb was in attendance last Monday, holding one side of the Clevelanders for Public Comment banner. The press conference on the steps of City Hall was symbolic, event organizers said: Residents should be welcomed by city government, not barred at the gates.

Clevelanders for Public Comment, as an organization, has been gathering support citywide for months. Ward 4 activist Michelle Jackson noted in prepared remarks that many issues in Cleveland divide the city, east vs. west. But support for public comment has united citizens across town. A letter to City Council President Kevin Kelley calling for a public comment period and other good government reforms was signed by activists and organizers in all 17 of the city’s wards. Kelley responded to that letter last week, providing conditional support for a public comment period, pending the recommendation of council’s “Research Policy Cluster. (Kelley has been Council President for years, many have noted, and if he seriously supported public comment, he would have instituted it long ago.)

Kelley has noted in the past, and noted in his most recent correspondence, that public comment is already permitted at council committee hearings.

Jessica Trivosonno said Monday that while this is technically true, there currently exists no formal, predictable process to sign up. Comments are extremely rare at committee meetings, and are only allowed after personal outreach to the committee chair.

Trivisonno’s proposal, which was written after extensive research into the policies of peer cities, calls for a 30-minute comment period at Monday evening council meetings. Those wishing to comment may sign up in advance via a form that must be available online and in hard copy. Each commenter may speak for a maximum of three minutes, until the 30-minute allotment expires. As proposed, those who sign up but are unable to speak due to time constraints would be given priority at the following meeting. Under the proposal, the same protocols would apply to council’s committee hearings, with comments limited to the committee’s business.

Councilwoman Jenny Spencer, speaking Monday, said there was a crisis of democracy in Cleveland. She referenced the dispiriting 2020 election turnout in Cleveland.

“Touchpoints with local government matter,” she said. “While public comment is not a cure-all, it will contribute to a culture of citizen involvement and engagement, and it will help to build trust between elected leaders and residents. We can implement public comment, and we should implement public comment.”

Earlier this week, Clevelanders for Public Comment announced the additional co-sponsorship of Ward 1 Councilman Joe Jones and Ward 9 Councilman Kevin Conwell, which would give the ordinance majority support when it is introduced.

-Sam Allard

The Race to Replace Ken Johnson on Cleveland City Council Begins to Heat Up

Since his arrest on corruption charges in February, Ward 4 Cleveland City Councilman Ken Johnson has yet to resign, though he has now been suspended from office by the Ohio Supreme Court (see below). In fact, according to the 2021 candidates’ list at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Johnson has pulled petitions and intends to run for the seat again. Unthinkable.

But 12 candidates have now pulled petitions to run in Ward 4, more than in any other Cleveland ward. One of them, Ashley Evans, is a lifelong resident of the ward who has worked for Policy Bridge and Ridall Green Partnership. She formally launched her campaign Thursday.

“I am running because I believe Ward 4 needs new and innovative servant leadership,” she said, in materials sent to the press. “I know that Ward 4 deserves conscientious and active representation. We are a community in distress because of the neglectful actions of those who we trusted to be stewards of the area. I am committed to working with you, the individuals who make Ward 4 a community.”

Evans attended Kent State University for her undergraduate degree and then both Cleveland State University’s Levin College and Ashland University for graduate degrees, in urban studies and business administration, respectively.

She said that as a city council representative, she wants to ensure that all residents have access to reliable city services. She wants to improve health outcomes and make Ward 4, which includes portions of Buckeye-Shaker, Kinsman, Mt. Pleasant and Union-Miles, a more attractive area for commercial and residential development.

Among her policy priorities, she said, was ensuring that residents have opportunities to engage with City Hall via public comment at City Council meetings.

Without mentioning Ken Johnson’s name or the alleged financial crimes which led to his recent arrest, Evans painted herself as the antithesis of the incumbent.

“I’m committed to lead our community with integrity, compassion, and faithfulness,” she said. “Along my path, I have learned two things. First, the education I received in the classroom is second only to the lessons I learned growing up in Ward 4 and secondly, service is the most authentic example of love, and I genuinely love our home here in Ward 4.”

Another new candidate for the seat is longtime Cleveland Public Library employees Erick Walker. The 52-year-old Mt. Pleasant resident launched his campaign Monday.

In an interview with Scene, Walker said he’s running because his neighbors are fed up with Johnson’s absent leadership. While the criminal allegations against him are upsetting to residents in Buckeye-Shaker, Kinsman and Mt. Pleasant, Walker said that equally upsetting has been the councilman’s lack of actual representation.

“He’s not engaged,” Walker said. “He’s not out in the ward.”

Walker said he intends to listen to resident concerns and wants to encourage a culture at City Hall where residents have far more input on the priorities of city leaders.

“We’ve got to follow their lead,” he said.

That’s one reason why Walker is such an ardent advocate of public comment. Before Covid, Walker was a regular attendee of City Council meetings and said he could never express his concerns unless he managed to corner a councilperson one-on-one.

The big concern in Ward 4 is poverty, Walker said. And as councilman, he said he would explore creative ways to alleviate the worst social and economic outcomes for residents. One of his ideas is to advocate for a CMSD trade school akin to Max Hayes on the East Side.

“Some young men and women just don’t want to go to college,” he said, “and we need to teach those people some type of trade, and get them on a path to building wealth.”

He also said he’d like to explore formal partnerships with local unions to offer training or apprenticeships to adults.

Walker was born and raised in Cleveland and, since 2017, has lived in the house he grew up in near the intersection of Union and Kinsman, where Wards 1, 2, and 4 meet. He has worked for the Cleveland Public Library for 26 years and served in the U.S. Army Reserves, to help him pay for college at the University of Akron.

Though he has no experience in public office, Walker is an elected board member of SEIU 1199, the union that represents library workers. He told Scene he thinks he has the leadership qualities, and the willingness to listen, that will set him apart from the other candidates in Ward 4.

“I know the potential this ward has,” he said. “And this community needs someone who is honest and transparent and who cares about the well-being of the people. There are some challenges, but we are resilient. I want to bring that back.” -Sam Allard

Ken Johnson Suspended from Office, City Council Doesn’t Deserve to Help Appoint His Successor

When reporter Mark Naymik published an avalanche of stories in 2018 documenting financial misconduct in office by Ward 4 Cleveland City Councilman Ken Johnson, council leadership did nothing. Johnson kept his seat.

When, three years later, the FBI arrested Johnson and indicted him on corruption charges, city council leadership did nothing. Johnson kept his seat. When Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost then moved for Johnson to be suspended, council did nothing once again. Johnson kept his seat.

But now, after a panel of retired

Ohio Supreme Court justices have reviewed the evidence against Johnson and decreed the obvious — he is suspended from office — council leadership will get to step in and help appoint his successor.

In a statement Tuesday morning, city council said that they respected the decision of the Supreme Court panel and would work with Cuyahoga County Probate Court to find a replacement for Johnson, one who would “represent the best interests of the residents of Ward 4.”

What a laugh riot. The residents of Ward 4 haven’t had their best interests represented in decades, and the idea that the same council leadership who sat on their hands after Johnson’s alleged crimes had been meticulously exposed now cares about them is science fiction.

The residents deserve to elect their next councilperson, not to have the process mucked up by a council whose deepest commitment in recent years has been thecircumvention of democracy.

The timing could not be worse. Municipal elections are right around the corner and for the next few months, council members will be focused chiefly on securing their seats for the next four years. Much of their campaigning will occur during council’s annual summer recess. It’s not exactly an environment, in other words, where a new appointee can learn the ropes.

The probate court judge doing the appointing should take this under advisement. They should either decline to appoint anyone and simply wait for the election to determine Ward 4’s next representative; or they should install a placeholder bureaucrat to mind the paperwork until the election, one who has no intention of seeking the seat.

Otherwise, the residents will be sidelined yet again.

The timeline is familiar. A similar situation occurred during council’s last election cycle in 2017. Council leadership orchestrated the resignation of Councilwoman Mamie Mitchell, who had been suffering from dementia, to install Blaine Griffin. They timed his appointment elegantly, so that he could avoid a controversial Q Deal vote, but ensured his incumbent status and access to council funds before the September primaries.

This move was decried by a crop of challengers in Ward 6, who noted that installing Griffin so close to the election didn’t make sense, unless the goal was to ensure the playing field would not be level. Griffin may well have won regardless, but council couldn’t resist handicapping the race in favor of their favored candidate anyway.

A significant number of candidates have already entered the race for council in Ward 4, in fact more than in any of the city’s 17 wards. They are eager to right the ship after years of disengaged leadership from Johnson. They should be allowed to campaign for the seat without city council putting its thumb on the scale. – Sam Allard

As Ohio Legislature Proposes Anti-Trans Bills, NCAA Threatens to Withhold Events

In an apparent warning to Ohio and other states considering antitransgender legislation, the NCAA said it will only stage events in places where transgender studentathletes won’t face discrimination.

“The NCAA Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports,” the college sports league said in a statement posted by its board of governors. “This commitment is grounded in our values of inclusion and fair competition.”

That could be a big deal as states, including Ohio, consider anti-trans bills.

As the Ohio Capital Journal reported in March: “An Ohio state Senator introduced legislation last month that would prevent transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports at state K-12 schools and universities. Senate Bill 132, sponsored by Sen. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, would require schools to separate student athletics by sex, not gender. The legislation would apply to public schools as well as public and private colleges and universities.”

A similar bill was introduced in the Ohio House.

Sports Illustrated reported in March that nearly 550 college athletes signed a letter to the NCAA demanding the organization withdraw its championships and other events from states that pass or are considering passing the transgender bans.

Republican lawmakers are pushing for similar bans in more than 30 statehouses around the country, according to a tally by the ACLU. The push echoes the controversial “bathroom bills” pursued in Texas and other states to keep transgender people from using public facilities.

“When determining where championships are held, NCAA policy directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing

an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected,” according to the NCAA’s statement.

Cleveland has recently played host to early rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and will again in 2025; it is also slated to host the 2024 women’s final four and the 2026 NCAA men’s wrestling tournament. -Vince Grzegorek

Cuyahoga County Chief of Staff Bill Mason: All Employees Must Return Full Time June 1

In an email that took Cuyahoga County directors by surprise, Executive Armond Budish’s Chief of Staff, Bill Mason, decreed that beginning on May 1, all county employees must begin a staggered work schedule with three days in the office and two days at home. On June 1, all employees would be expected to report to work in-person full-time.

In the April 16 email, which Scene obtained from a county employee, Mason wrote that it was time to re-evaluate the county’s work-fromhome policy. He said two of his top priorities were “providing the best possible service to the community and protecting the health” of employees and that the return-to-work policy was being implemented after he’d reviewed proposals from department directors. Mason said he would consider granting out-of-office work schedules beyond June 1 upon request.

“That’s a huge part of this,” county spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan told Scene, when confirming the email. “But the current plan is that people will be returning to work on June 1. The staggering that begins on May 1 is to ease people back.”

Madigan said that county buildings had been retrofitted for Covid safety, and that as a public sector entity, the expectation was that employees would show up in person to provide optimal service to the public.

“I’m shocked that anyone was surprised by [Mason’s email],” Madigan said.

But employees who contacted Scene and spoke on background said that they and their supervisors were indeed taken off guard, that in fact they first assumed the email had been sent in error.

To complicate matters, Mason sent the email Friday afternoon and has taken the current week off. Budish’s communications chief, Eliza Wing, officially departed last week as well, and there has been no followup communication from Budish or representatives from county communications.

County employees told Scene that many of their colleagues were unhappy with the news, especially because, they said, their productivity had gone up while at home and, in some cases, grant dollars had been spent to improve remote work conditions.

From a logistical standpoint, some employees brought their work desktop computers home. A staggered schedule would be burdensome, if not unworkable, because they’d have to lug equipment and files from home offices to work offices and back. There is still some concern, too, about the safety measures and social distancing at county office buildings.

Mason’s email ended by encouraging all employees to get vaccinated and said the county was studying a proposal to require the vaccine prior to returning to work. Employees told Scene that if implemented, that policy would “cause a major uproar.” - Sam Allard

DIGIT WIDGET

20 million

Approximate total visitors to the Cleveland Metroparks’ 18 reservations in 2020, a record.

18

Total deaths, as of April 12, on Cleveland’s streets, according to Vision Zero CLE, the local organization working to eliminate traffic fatalities.

43%

Decrease in number of children aged five and under enrolled in childcare in Cuyahoga County between September 2019 and September 2020, according to new research by Case Western Reserve University.

$585.31

Amount, on average, that people in Ohio would spend to abandon their partner and kids for a week after a year-plus of quarantine. scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene