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Riders Continue to Call on City Council to Reopen Public Square

Mayor Jackson Lacks Authority to Close Public Square

Recently, the Federal Transit Administration granted a one-time, 30-day extension to GCRTA on repayment of $12 million due to the breach of the Full Funding Grant Agreement due to the City of Cleveland’s closure of Superior Avenue through Public Square. While FTA has stated repeatedly that the breach of the agreement is the closure of Superior Avenue, Mayor Jackson asked “What is the breach?” during his December 30, 2016 press conference.

If the specific breach was unclear before, it is crystal clear today. FTA’s January 12, 2016 letter states, “The GCRTA may either 1) reopen Public Square to bus traffic as it committed to as part of the FFGA, thereby repairing the breach, or 2) it can reimburse FTA for the loss of the federal investment.”

The City of Cleveland is attempting to mitigate various impacts to bus service caused by the closure of Superior Avenue through an analysis of operational and financial impacts to GCRTA and is requiring GCRTA to create a safety mitigation plan before allowing bus service to resume on Superior Avenue. These address impacts of the closure of Superior and the City’s concerns, but fail to address the breach itself.

Regardless of delays and operating costs, closing Superior also introduces an additional million turns per year and increases the distance that many connecting riders have to walk between stops and between rail and bus service. The City’s plan fails to address these negative impacts to transit riders.

Furthermore, Mayor Jackson lacks the authority to unilaterally close Public Square. Ordinance 893-03, which Mayor Jackson co-sponsored in 2003, established the Downtown Transit Zone including 24 hour exclusive transit lanes on Superior Avenue through Public Square. Article 11 of Ord. 893-03 states “the provisions of this Agreement may be modified or amended only after receipt of legislative authorization of Cleveland City Council and the GCRTA Board of Trustees consenting to such modification or amendment and in conformity with the Charter of the CITY and the bylaws of GCRTA.”

The permanent closure announced by Mayor Jackson in November of 2016 was out of order, and unamended modifications to the Downtown Transit Zone undermines City Council’s authority. We urge City Council to immediately assert their legislative authority to restore transit access to Public Square in order to remedy the breach as required by FTA.

Clevelanders for Public Transit invites you to attend Cleveland City Council meetings prior to the February 21st deadline to demand that City Council act. City Council meetings will be held on the following Mondays: Jan 23, Jan 30, Feb 6 and Feb 13 at City Hall.

Check out our Facebook events for more information on the City Council meetings.

Riders should continue to contact their City Council Representative citing Ordinance No. 893-03 to reopen Public Square immediately.

More information about Public Square can be found here.