Community Circulator is Critical to Seniors, Families and a Developing Lakewood

[lrodriguezcarbone]

Several candidates for city council have shared their policy positions on bringing back the Lakewood Circulator. I strongly believe we should do so and I also believe it is fund-able by utilizing a variety of funding sources, including corporate sponsorship, smart municipal budgeting and grants.

Being from a Health and Human Services background, it often happens that many policy decisions regarding budgeting in this area are made without direct input from professionals responsible for caring directly for the community. I felt it was important to seek out information on the needs of our seniors and families by speaking directly with the Lakewood Department of Human Services, who work with our seniors day in and day out. They were kind enough to meet with me, provide a tour of the senior center, and talk about the challenges and opportunities in helping to provide critical services to Lakewood's seniors.

The biggest area of concern highlighted at the meeting was senior transportation. The Department of Human Services has helped some seniors access rides via Uber for a fee to the resident. They currently provide a ride to and from the senior center and trips to Giant Eagle if they are scheduled in advance with a suggested donation of $3.00 per round trip. They have also contracted with Senior Transportation Connection to subsidize rides scheduled in advance for a fee to the resident. In addition, Lakewood Human Services recently qualified for a grant from the Lakewood Hospital Association for a pilot program that provides transportation to medical appointments for disabled residents aged 18-59 free of charge.

There are still gaps to transportation for our seniors, many on fixed incomes, who cannot afford to be transported to everywhere they need to go.

Our Human Services department, who received less than 1% of Lakewood's 2019 budget, has done phenomenal work while also being a department who is responsible for supplementing their income with alternative sources. It is wonderful when neighbors pitch in to help, but volunteerism can be short lived and we need something we can depend on for our seniors. It’s time to think about what we can do to help them age in place in Lakewood.

It just so happens that re-establishing the circulator will not only help in doing this, but will also be a value add for everyone in Lakewood.

It will increase independence and mobility for our seniors by providing no-cost transportation, and provide alternative transportation options for families to access our parks, schools and community institutions. It will also reduce traffic congestion and the need for parking, decrease our carbon footprint, and bolster Lakewood's economy by increasing foot traffic and revenues for Lakewood businesses. Additionally, the circulator will create jobs and not reinforce the gig economy which provides no benefits to workers.

It is also important to point out that before the circulator was discontinued in 2009, the Lakewood #804 circulator, according to RTA’s 2009 Circulator statistics report, had the highest annual ridership of all circulators in Cuyahoga County at about 212,000 riders and has the lowest cost per rider at $2.22. Lakewood is an aging community and the need for this transportation option is likely even higher still ten years later.

The circulator will benefit more than just seniors; many in our community are living in poverty. One way to measure poverty in Lakewood is to look at the percentage of households receiving food stamps. In Lakewood, there are 3,371 households receiving food stamps with an average annual income of $18,000. The ward with the highest amount of those households is Ward 4, but in Ward 1 there is one census tract that has nearly 11% of the households on food stamps.*

The circulator can help those families by providing greater access to local transportation to shop or get to medical appointments. In my view, not only is this the right thing to do, not just for our seniors, but the entire community. It is an overall win for all of Lakewood.


*Source: statisticalatlas.com

Laura Rodriguez-Carbone, Candidate for Lakewood City Council, Ward 1

[Bridget Conant]

We live at the far west end of Lakewood. The circulator was nice because the high school kids took it down Detroit to home and saved me a trip up to the school to pick them up. Plus less gas and traffic!

I always thought the bus should have made stops at the high school - they had to walk down to Pick-n-Pay or whatever it was called at that time. (Finast?)

[Dan Alaimo]

Can someone refresh me on the history of the circulator? How it was started? Who was responsible? Why it was curtailed? Who was responsible? What ideas have been proposed since then to re-start it?

[Bill Call]

The Lakewood circulator was very successful. It was discontinued because circulators in other cities were not as successful and RTA could not cancel the services in those cities and continue the service in Lakewood. It would have been politically difficult.

A circulator that had Lakewood Park as a regular stop would be very successful and would help solve the parking problem at the park. It can be called the Healthy Lakewood Circulator.

The financing of the circulator by the The Three Arches Foundation and Healthy Lakewood Foundation would serve the mission of the Foundations and serve the people of Lakewood. AND since these Private Foundations were funded by the people of Lakewood it is right and just.

[Bridget Conant]

Bill Call wrote:

The financing of the circulator by the The Three Arches Foundation and Healthy Lakewood Foundation would serve the mission of the Foundations and serve the people of Lakewood. AND since these Private Foundations were funded by the people of Lakewood it is right and just.

Well, that would just make too much sense!