RR Citizens more important than Lkwd Children?

[Ryan Salo]

It would appear that City hall would rather keep rocky river citizens happy than protect our children.

Perk construction is laying new concrete for the RTA stations along Clifton Blvd. It is going from the sidewalk to the street. According to Joe Shaffer with RTA they had required the contractors to provide a safe alternate path for walkers. I spoke with Bob from Perk who is a manager and he said the city contract does not allow them to put up construction cones in the street for a path. The city wants the lanes to be open for rush hour. The city offered to have 2 officers right outside of Lincoln, which is good but it doesn't cover the entire walk home for most kids.

belle rta.jpg (582.48 KiB) Viewed 3707 times

Safe kids or smooth commute, I guess we know what the city prefers.

*My message to the mayors office was not returned.

[Jeff Dreger]

Completely unacceptable.

[marklingm]

Ryan and Jeff,

This is yet another example of City Hall's war against OUR residents.

As with the snowy sidewalks, this might be another way to generate revenue for City Hall by ticketing elementary children and their parents as they walk - in the streets - to and from school in this walkable city.

It's already rumored that City Hall is trying to force a property tax on OUR residents to pay for the "Michael P. Summers Recreation Center & Natatorium" at the soon to be vacant Lakewood Hospital location.

Perhaps the property tax alone won't generate enough revenue?

Thank you, Ryan.

Let us know what the mayor has to say if he ever calls you back.

Matt

[Jeff Dreger]

"Mr. Dreger:
I'm not informed, but I'll ask. It may be that the answer is no, but I'll ask how long the time for construction is. Thanks,
Tom" (Bullock)

I'll keep you posted...

[Jeff Dreger]

""Mr. Dreger: We agree that this is unacceptable. Our Public Works Director has already contacted the RTA manager who can direct the crews to address the problem. Your photo was important to calling this to RTA's attention.

Thanks,
Tom"

(Ryan's photo, which I shared in an email)

I guess the follow up question I should ask is who is responsible for monitoring such work and why wasn't it noticed/addressed previously?

[Gary Rice]

Our home, and my neighbor's both had new concrete sidewalks and driveway aprons done during this past Halloween week and you can be SURE that both the contractor AND the city collaborated closely to be sure that there was a protected off-the-street temporary cordoned-off walkway provided so that the kids did NOT have to go into the street.

That was just common sense.

Memo to the City: Be SURE to insure that a temporary passable off-street walkway is constructed and accessible to our students. Keep them OUT of the the streets, except at the crosswalk!

Normally, I'm "back to the banjo" at this point, but let's stay on this and be sure that our students are protected. There may soon be more than one of these projects going on in Lakewood.

[Christina McCallum]

Ryan,

Maybe there are extra Brake for Kids signs around, that could be placed at the edge of the Lincoln property, or as close to the road as a reminder to drivers, RTA, and anyone else who cares that there are kids in the immediate vicinity. I would bet there are extras in someone's garage, but as I'm not in LECPTA anymore, I'm not sure who that person would be at the moment.

I drove by Lincoln yesterday and was surprised that the work ran right along the property with no accommodations for pedestrians, especially given the volume of kids who have to walk along to get to school. My 12 year old even commented to that end.

Christina

[marklingm]

"Mr. Dreger:
I'm not informed, but I'll ask. It may be that the answer is no, but I'll ask how long the time for construction is. Thanks,
Tom" (Bullock)

I'll keep you posted...

""Mr. Dreger: We agree that this is unacceptable. Our Public Works Director has already contacted the RTA manager who can direct the crews to address the problem. Your photo was important to calling this to RTA's attention.

Thanks,
Tom"

(Ryan's photo, which I shared in an email)

I guess the follow up question I should ask is who is responsible for monitoring such work and why wasn't it noticed/addressed previously?

Jeff,

Thanks for the follow-up.

Tom Bullock is always a hoot.

For almost a decade, Tom has given me the standard line of: “I'm not informed, but I'll ask. It may be that the answer is no.”

Come on, Tom!

Get informed!

Make the answer, yes!

In any event, City Hall continues to never take responsibility for anything and simply kicks the proverbial can down the road.

As Ryan sated above, the problem was and is caused by City Hall – not RTA.

Let us know how Tom responds to your direct follow-up questions of, "Who is responsible for monitoring such work and why wasn't it noticed/addressed previously?"

Thanks.

Matt

[Ryan Salo]

After I posted this and a Facebook post I emailed Joe Shaffer, the Director of Engineering and Project Development with RTA.

Joe,

You and I spoke on the phone earlier. Here is an example of the unsafe walking conditions for students and other walkers. I believe this is Belle or Warren & Clifton.

(picture)

Some areas are fine because the home's front lawn is equally graded with with construction zone so they can walk around. There are at least 4 spots like this where the front lawn is highly elevated or obstructed with bushes or other items.

I spoke with one of the Perk workers in person and Bob their manager over the phone and was told the city will not allow them to pu the cones in the street to have a temporary walking area in the street due to rush hour. Do you know if there is any way around this? Obviously no one wants anyone to get hurt.

Thank you for your time!

He quickly forwarded the email to Ken Folk (one of the engineers)

Ken,
Please address.

Joseph L. Shaffer, P.E.
Director
Engineering &
Project Development
GCRTA

I did leave a message for the Mayor and Tom Bullock and didn't receive a response from either. I also believe the new ward 2 councilman lives right at where my picture was taken, not sure why he didn't get this fixed.

It really comes down to planning again. The mayor seems very good at planning for things that make him look good or projects for his friends, but when it comes to the everyday folk, I am really starting to think he really doesn't care about them. (until election time that is...)

[marklingm]

The mayor seems very good at planning for things that make him look good or projects for his friends, but when it comes to the everyday folk, I am really starting to think he really doesn't care about them. (until election time that is...)

Ryan,

You actually thought that Mike Summers ever cared about everyday folks?

Really?

When was that?

Let's not forget that the last time Mike ran for an at-large - contested - election he was tossed out of office by everyday folks.

So, aside from attempting to abolish the entire elected mayoral system in favor of an unelected city manager position, Mike appears to be focusing his attention on the "Michael P. Summers Recreation Center & Natatorium" at the soon the be vacant Lakewood Hospital location.

Safe, clean, and fun isn't that hard ... unless you are focused on planning for things that make the Mayor look good and projects for his friends.

There is a city to run here, Mike.

Focus.

Matt

[Jeff Dreger]

"Thank you Mr. Dreger for your concern about the safety issues surrounding the lack of pedestrian walkways in this area.
I know that Director Beno will make sure this is addressed and a safe through way for pedestrians will be
maintained through construction.

Cindy Marx
Council at Large"

I'll let you know if my follow up questions are answered.

[Ryan Salo]

Kids will be walking to school tomorrow. I didn't look to see if anything was done. Anyone see alternate sidewalks yet?

[Ryan Salo]

I called the police station to ask and was informed they were going to have officers covering the danger spots before and after school. This is great news if that is really happening!!

[Ryan Salo]

This is still not fixed. I called and spoke with Sergeant Gannon and he said he would "look into it" then he hung up.

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I just spoke with the Mayor and he is trying to get RTA and Perk to finish the job quicker. He claims he did not restrict them from blocking a lane.

I told him this is a simple fix, close the lane with cones. I told him I could fix it in 5 minutes. He said he was going to handle it. I hope for the safety of our kids he does.

[Jeff Dreger]

I too noticed that this was still not fixed. Why is it OK for construction crews to block a lane
as they were in front of Lincoln this morning but it's not OK to block a lane for pedestrians to
cross? In hindsight, around Lincoln itself is probably the last place we need extra police
protection as a) there was already an RTA-provided officer there to look out for the
construction crew and b) the kids actually don't need to get around that worksite (once they
get to one of the corners, they can just go up to the school). I had an upset parent talk to
me while I was working the Lakeland crossing this morning and I was shown multiple images
of children walking in the street at various points along Clifton. Even worse, in some the kids
were balancing on the curb - trying to stay out of the street but an even more dangerous
situation if a driver thinks it's OK to use that lane and then a kid loses their balance.
Hurrying up the work is only a solution if that means they're done later this morning. As
Ryan said, this is so frustrating because the solution is so easy and so quick and so cheap
and so obvious and so clearly needed. It's all the more outrageous that that curb lane is
closed for construction crews but not pedestrians. Safety of the citizens is not coming first in
this situation I'm afraid.