The Observation Deck

After readin the last Observer paper, I started to think about Ted Nagel's "City Of..." article.
http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/read/2014/10/28/city-of

RTA Clifton Enhancement Project...

Sold to us as a $16 million dollar effort by the state and RTA to make Clifton a beautiful
Boulevard, with more trees for Lakewood the city of trees, and better service to all. But in
moments of the agreement being signed, Lakewood gets no trees, no median, just little
"Jack-In-The Box" fast food places lit up in front of private residences.

How does this happen? Why isn't City Hall fighting to protect residents and property values?


Right it does say enhancement? Right? Our leaders promised this was a great thing. Right?


Beautiful Bus Shelters, well, the size of Film Drop off stores from the past.


With advertising starting to pop up.

What is great if you bought a house and invested in Lakewood is...


They light up ALL NIGHT LONG, think what that saves for a porch light and energy bills!

Meanwhile in Cleveland where leaders stood firm...


Trees ready to go in.



All they planted in Lakewood was SIGNS! EVERYWHERE!

So where Cleveland got tunnels, beach access, trees we got...




And to prove it, just past their sign is a pole with signs going 24 feet into the air!


It is amazing! A sign 22' in the air.


There are signs so often, that it makes one wonder just how bad it is?

In Rocky River along RTA's 55 Bus Line, where residents were not as blessed as Lakewoodites.


They must feel terrible not getting enhancements!


Their crappy old bus shelters with bushes covering utility boxes. How old and retro!!!

Here with the help of our Leaders and Planners we are cutting edge, cool, hip, GREEN!



And I have this terrible feeling when the City of Trees becomes the City of Signs...





THE TREES WILL GO.

Ever have a friend that continually hurt themselves while telling you, their friend or
family member, "No, I am fine, this is really good, it is how I planned it..."

Intervention...

Clifton Boulevard with over 1,000+ signs, not counting traffic lights, business signs, realestate
signs, but signs a driver would be required to read. averages one sign every 17 feet.

To compare average or a minimum of 1 mile...

Lakewood = signs are 16.7 feet apart.
Clifton to Baltic = 1 sign every 27.8 feet apart

Public Square East to East 21st = one sign every 12.7 feet apart
including Playhouse Square.

Rocky River 55 RTA Line West 2 miles = 1 sign every 60.5 feet apart.

West 25th from Detroit Ave = 1 sign every 29.5 feet apart.
to Train Avenue 1 mile

Which means outside of Downtown, Public Square, Playhouse Square and Cleveland State,
no place we found even comes close to the number of signs per foot as on Clifton
Boulevard,
a residential street in the ultra cool Lakewood.

It has to be more dangerous than texting, a sign every 20 feet, some of them 24' in the air?


Follow the signs on the enhanced Clifton to...


... the nicest Taco Bell in the world...


or so they will tweet, tweet, tweet....

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Jim - it is completely ridiculous! I think it's your seventh photo, of Bunts, that really highlights how absurd the street looks. Because repeating signs about buses every half a block is really useful.... no one is currently following any of these. I work downtown and take Clifton every day, with the road/median work still going on in Cleveland we are down a lane, so the bus lane is currently nonexistent - I don't know if that's 'allowed' but drivers are using it. I'm curious to see if people follow the signs after we get the lanes opened up again. When the bus stops were first built I thought, well, they look nice, better than the old ones but the old ones weren't bad.... then they started putting up the adverts and they look awful. I did not realize they were lit up ALL NIGHT - I do not ride the bus, and have no idea of the bus schedules, how late do they run?

Amanda Tabor wrote:When the bus stops were first built I thought, well, they look nice, better than the old ones but the old ones weren't bad.... then they started putting up the adverts and they look awful. I did not realize they were lit up ALL NIGHT - I do not ride the bus, and have no idea of the bus schedules, how late do they run?

Amanda

Watch.

One of the very real problems is with people needing to read so many signs to traverse what must
be America's most dangerous or complicated 3.2 miles. One is looking all over.

Meanwhile, Busstops, Uverse, ATT, and other boxes are now blocking vision needed to pull safely
out onto Clifton. A street where cars regularly go 40mph.

Working on how all of this ties together.

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When I voted at Emerson School last week, a young man who knows me asked if we could address the overabundance of new signs on Clifton in the City Charter. He said there are way too many, and that they are a huge eyesore. I thought he was was kidding about the charter. He was not. I told him that I hadn't really noticed the new signs, but I would look. I also told him that we don't amend the charter for that kind of thing.

After voting, I paid more attention as I drove on Clifton. The amount of signage is ridiculous. It is an eyesore.

I feel sorry for people who have that in their front yards.

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Just give it up.

From the outside looking in it looks like no one cares. I mean, if no one at City Hall is interested in saving Lakewood Hospital why would they care about a couple of signs?

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Jim,

Forgot to mention your great photo. Dead on! It really shows off the autumn foliage.

Steve

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Here are some interesting questions of jurisdiction.

What entity can authorize the installation of these signs--- City of Lakewood? RTA? If it was either or both then what are the resolutions that passed them? If it was Lakewood Council, who introduced the ordinances and who voted for it? Was there any debate? If it was RTA then what was the position taken by any of our representatives (trustees)?
If a car is driving in these lanes against the appropriate times which law enforcement force is authorized to issue a citation? In which court would such a citation be heard? Even though a violation occurred in Lakewood if these signs were installed under the aegis of RTA then maybe a citation would be heard or contested in the County Common Pleas Court.
What's to keep the Regional Sewer District from posting sh***y signs anywhere they want to?
Do you have to pull over if an RTA transit cop pulls you over?
Will Lakewood Police intervene and tell them to go after fare jumpers and leave the commuters alone?
Does Lakewood have to authorize advertising at the new bus stops?
Did the design of these stops pass the Architectural Review Board?

The answer to these questions should keep the Lakewood Law Department busy for awhile.

Stan Austin

Mr. Mayor (aka Safety Director)

TEAR THESE SIGNS DOWN!!!!!!!!

Stan

55 Line
Your questions are good, but, we did W117 to Baltic, half as many signs.
We did Rocky River West, same 55 line. 1/4 as many signs.

In 2012 I mentioned in a thread about Detroit Avenue...
"When the light was coming down this sign was installed, while waiting for the the other sign to be
installed. I swear I am not trying to say Lakewood has developed a sign fetish, but, it always makes
me think... how much more?"

Christoipher Bindel, a City Hall apologists answered...
"For all of you complaining about the annoying traffic signal issues, I know it sucks, but it will get better. if you can remember back when they did it on Clifton, the lights were awful for about 2-3 months while they figured out the calibration. While i think that is a little long my self, I am just trying to convey that right now it is annoying but its not how the lights are going to stay. They will work out the kinks. and if I remember hearing right, the cameras actually work the same as pressure sensors without having to be installed under the asphalt. They look for traffic back up so they can change to avoid jams before they occur. I could be wrong, but that was my understanding."

Detroit is worse than ever 2 years later, they are screwing traffic up so bad in Birdtown it has to be
one way, and now Clifton is an absolute hideous visual and driving nightmare.

We now know Ed FitzGerald was not a guy who really saw large pictures or paid attnetion to detail, and his hand picked crew is now running this city.

DEAR GOD, where is it all headed?

This city no longer cares about the residents, not at ALL ZERO.

"You will not even notice the Uverse Boxes..."


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Jim,

As an adult with un-diagnosed ADD I am really glad they put signs up at every intersection. As soon as I pass one I forget and think about something else, and then 4 seconds later I am reminded. It really helps me stay safe....

BTW - I can get my daughter to LHS in record time now in the "bus lane". I called the police department again and was told the city isn't enforcing it so I enjoy the quicker trip.

Jim, You're spot on about the sign fetish. Every weekend my wife and I walk our dog in Lakewood park and every weekend we cringe at the absurd amount of signage placed there. And it's not just the number but the tone of those signs, almost all of them start with "No..." or "Don't..." Friends from out of town have commented on the ham fisted approach of those signs in Lakewood Park. As a small act of civil disobedience we always finish the walk by taking our dog into the gazebo past the "No dogs in the Gazebo" sign. That always puts a smile on my face as I think of those control freaks in City Hall. By the way I've got an idea for some serious signage in the next election, "No to Summers and Siley". Lakewood deserves better.

At least those signs in Lakewood Park a referenced with linkages to the Lakewood Revised Code.

The signs on Clifton have no citations. Who put them there?

I actually like the new bus shelters...I think they look very nice.

The "Cleveland State Line" motif is good branding.

If I remember correctly, I thought the original plan was to have it look uniformed all the way down Clifton from Cleveland to Rocky River but everybody in Lakewood complained that Clifton was just repaved and we didn't need to spend the money to redo it. I personally, wanted to put in the center median and was frustrated because so many people (citizens) were opposed to it.

Also, the signs are terrible and makes a street that use to be beautiful to drive down look like brookpark rd. I just sing the classic, by Five Man Electrical Band, "Signs Signs everywhere are signs, blocking out my scenario and breaking my mind.... "

Joseph Hildebrandt wrote:If I remember correctly, I thought the original plan was to have it look uniformed all the way down Clifton from Cleveland to Rocky River but everybody in Lakewood complained that Clifton was just repaved and we didn't need to spend the money to redo it. I personally, wanted to put in the center median and was frustrated because so many people (citizens) were opposed to it.

You have just touched on a big problem in this city and on this particular website. Revisionist History! When the discussions were occurring, it was all "how dare the city let RTA change Clifton!" Now today it is "why didnt the city fight hard enough to get all of these goodies from RTA?" I digress...

However, I remember the discussion and decision making similarly. Also, a lot of people upset that the median locations would cut off access to certain streets so that they could not turn left on all of them, pushing more traffic on those that were accessible. Not letting RTA have its way with Clifton Ave because I remember it being a proposition that to get the funding, we had to accept all of the changes whole hog with little input. For all of these reasons, I remember that Lakewood opted out.

Personally, I am witholding judgment on the medians and plantings in Cleveland. I am not completely sold on them. I am curious as to how these structures and plantings will weather, how the changed traffic patterns will go, how they will be maintained and if the plantings will survive and thrive. Could be a big giant eyesore in a short matter of time.