Gloria Ferris

Here’s the coverage from WKYC of the ODOT debacle on I-71.

CLEVELAND- Interstate 71 between Fulton and West 25th Street is on Ohio’s top 25 list of noisy stretches of highways.

But the Department of Transportation’s wish to put in noise walls is sparking a very noisy debate.

The Brooklyn Centre neighborhood that surrounds the highway is battling to keep its identity and avoid being confused with Old Brooklyn.

"We are the gateway to the city of Cleveland. (Those walls) look like a welcome to East Berlin, " neighborhood activist Tim Ferris said.

ODOT wants to put in faux brick concrete walls already installed further south on the highway.

"We’re not a typical suburb. We don’t want a typical suburban noise wall," said Councilman Brian Cummings.

Trees abutting the access roads were cut down this week sparking more outrage.

Opponents say ODOT needs to have some green-friendly alternatives for noise abatement.

They are proposing a vegetation noise wall concept being used in Europe and Canada.  It’s about a dollar-cheaper per square foot than concrete. But ODOT’s concerned about possible maintenance costs.

ODOT says it will study green alternatives for the future. But it wants to act fast to build walls to make sure more than $2 million of Federal money is not lost.

"What they are proposing is something that has not been tested or proven in Ohio," said ODOT spokeswoman Jocelynn Clemings.

"I’d like to get a say. I’m a taxpayer. It’s going to make us more forgotten than we are now," said resident Laura McShane.

Some residents who live close to the highway want the walls.

Awilda Soto’s backyard is a showplace of statues and landscaping. She’s lived next to the highway for 25 years.

"I like it because we’re not going to have as much wind or noise and will have privacy.  I wish it here tomorrow," she said.

This situation is the latest of many where residents or businesses feel ODOT is pushing its own agenda without regard for their concerns.

ODOT rejected proposals to put a bike line on the Innerbelt Bridge.

Midtown businesses are upset ODOT plans to eliminate Innerbelt interchanges they regard as essential routes for their customers.

A task force recently recommended ODOT update its transportation planning process to allow more consideration of human, economic and environmental impacts of what it builds.

http://www.wkyc.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=97278808001

Cleveland: Angry residents fight highway noise wall

I just got this email from Tim regarding a flash mob protesting the destruction by ODOT district 12 of the gateway to our park neighborhood. Please, be there. We’re going to try FaceBooking this as well. It should be a salutary way to start a Friday evening.

Dear XXXXX–

I just got off the telephone with Tom Beres of WKYC Channel 3 News. He has time in his schedule tonight to do a spot at 6:30 PM (1830 if you want to think this is a military operation) about ODOT ‘s unwelcome incursion into the previously green and peaceful Brooklyn Centre.

We need as many people out there as the berm and the access roads can handle–there’s more room now since there are fewer trees. We will be assembling between Fulton Road and Pearl (West 25th Street); I will try to get police support to control traffic and keep things moving. (We will be past the rush hour.)

All of us in Brooklyn Centre are affected by what ODOT has done by destroying the trees against our wishes. Everybody visiting the zoo or MetroHealth is affected. People entering the city from the western approach are affected. It is not too late to make ODOT put the trees back and make a natural, green solution for our noise problem.

Please, show up, especially if you live in  Brooklyn Centre or in Tremont and will have to pass by the enormous monstrosity of  ODOT’s 20-foot high walls daily for the next few years, closing our neighborhood off, limiting admittance of light and air–the negative impacts are many and varied.

If you despise government overspending and pork, show up. These things are 165% of the cost of a superior green solution, at least.

If you despise bad design, show up. Canada and Germany and now Vermont have viable green solutions that look and function better than this ODOT concrete crap.

If you are offended at having government workers operate with arrogance and impunity, and immunity from adverse consequences, show up. These ODOT punks answer to no one; Lee Fisher and Ted Strickland can’t control them; having ODOT determine our neighborhood’s future is tantamount to being walked by your dog.

If you think first impressions count, show up. Brookside Park, the ZOO, Brooklyn Centre, Riverside Cemetery, and MetroHealth are all part of the same visual approach, welcoming people to the neighborhood and to the city. These hot concrete walls, devoid of trees, change the entire visual statement. Instead of saying welcome to our park neighborhood, welcome to the Forest City, they shout out, Welcome to Cleveland, Now go home.

Again, we’re getting together to get our pictures taken, all of us, at 6:30 PM tonight on the access road to the south of I-71, behind Riverside Avenue, entering from Fulton and proceeding towards Pearl.

This is what the young people call a Flash Mob. We will assemble, have the TV people do what they can, get our pictures taken, and demobilize.

The more the merrier. See you there. Car pool, ride bikes, walk, ride motorcycles, do what you can to conserve space, but show up a little prior to 6:30 PM.

–Tim Ferris & Gloria Ferris

(writing to assemble a media event for Tom Beres, which, as he pointed out, rhymes, sort of–Ferris/Beres)