Hotel Bruce

Welcome to the Bruce blog—a weekly update on news, events and issues affecting life in Cleveland. Reporting as it happens on transit, development, planning, environment and arts & culture.

Basically, we write about creative ideas forming, talk to the people who have an inside track on the issues, and sometimes offer a commentary of our own. (For disclosure purposes, Bruce blog is a local, independent writer who also works part-time with nonprofit organization EcoCity Cleveland. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of EcoCity or any other organization).

As the invited speaker at the annual membership meeting of nonprofit group Future Heights held on January 21, Dr. Tom Bier touched off a firestorm among attendees and Heights residents. Apparently, Bier, director of the Center for Housing Research & Policy at Cleveland State University and a Cleveland Heights resident, identified the issues he holds responsible for Cleveland Heights’ problems with white flight. Bier pinpointed the city’s housing inspections department for not upholding code enforcement, and he said white families are not sending their kids to the CH-UH schools because 10 percent of the Heights student body ‘does not value education.’

In response, Future Heights launched a discussion board on its Web site, which filled up with angry letters. Some defended the inspectors while shifting blame to Housing Court judges. One respondee said that he tracks court dates and docket information online and that absentee landlords facing violations are getting off with a slap on the wrist.

“One landlord, even when pronounced guilty, is fined only $75. And the property still looks terrible. My question to you as a longtime resident and prominent citizen is, how does this city find a judicial candidate who is sympathetic to the cause of the First Suburbs Consortium, and who could actually run on a platform of making Housing Court and neighborhood viability a priority?”

Bruce blog would add that conventional wisdom says that code enforcement is similar to a tax, and when taxes get too high, they lead to more outmigration. The city’s point-of-sale inspection policy, which may add costs property owners, is another example of a disincentive to own property in Cleveland Heights. If ‘taxes’ were too high, though, the city of Cleveland Heights should be losing property value, but home sales show that Cleveland Heights’ housing market is not only stable, it has one of the highest appreciation rates in the county.

Bier’s point seems to be that too many absentee landlords are adversely impacting certain neighborhoods, and the city is in a position to do something about it. In economic terms, Cleveland Heights elected officials must ask, ‘is the city’s policy on code enforcement still striking a balance between the needs and desires of property owners and the greater good of the community?’

Another resident, responding to the schools assertion, offers that problem students are in every public school system in the nation. “What about the kid at Orange High who punched a teacher unconscious? How much do you think he values education?…The problem with the Cleveland Hts public schools is all the pseudo white liberals who say they value living in a diverse community but, when push comes to shove, they do not want to send their precious little white children to school with the big, ugly, dangerous black children. That's the one and ONLY problem with the public school system. Racism, plain and simple.”

To read more or post a comment, go to www.futureheights.org and click on Discussion Board.

Local bike advocates spent the week trying to get to the bottom of whether ODOT’s move to jettison bike lanes from the Euclid Corridor will be enforced. At the center of the debate is whether or not ODOT’s district office is basing its decision to remove bike lanes from the $220 million Euclid Corridor Transportation Project on stated ODOT policy.

According to our source, when the higher ups at ODOT were contacted about the actions of the district ODOT representatives in Northeast Ohio, they confirmed that ODOT has no other guidelines than the ones adopted from AASHTO—the national best practices used to design the bike lanes on Euclid. Upon learning this, bike advocates noted that ODOT failed to follow their own instructions on streets, like Euclid, that have ‘choice’ lanes.

How this affects bike lanes on Euclid Avenue may depend on the amount of discretion ODOT reps are shown interpreting the AASHTO guide, according to the source. Bike advocates have observed that ODOT generally has not shown a willingness to compromise on anything but standard street design. Rather, the agency’s recent actions indicate that the agency favors striped shoulders and bike route signs instead of bike lanes. Citing the situation in the Euclid Corridor, one bike advocate noted that ODOT recently approved a striped shoulder with signs on Route 40, although it is not in the AASHTO guide.

Calls for the city of Cleveland to adopt local street design guidelines for bike lanes, perhaps modeled after Chicago’s, continue. Advocates see this as the best possible solution to circumventing ODOT’s command and control style and assuring that bike lanes will be painted into the new Euclid Corridor.

Cleveland Reverend Ben Jiménez was released from jail last week for time served since his November 23 arrest for protesting the US Army School of the Americas. Judge G. Mallon Faircloth of the U.S. District Court in Columbus, Georgia, sentenced 14 people to prison terms of three to six months, with fines ranging from $500 to $1000, The Cleveland InterReligious Task Force (IRTF) reports. The judge released four others on probation of 12 to 24 months. Nine others were sentenced.

Jimenez is associate pastor of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, a member of the Cleveland Nonviolence Network, and a member of the Jesuit community of priests at St. Ignatius High School.

He and two others had been jailed since November 23, protesting their bonds.

Over 100 supporters gathered at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland on January 26 pray for Jimenez and the other prisoners of conscience, according to the IRTF.

In a joint press statement, Jimenez and five other prisoners of conscience wrote: "By training and equipping the armed forces of Latin America, the U.S. military is strengthening the hand of the privileged elites in their efforts to repress unions, farmers, students, and others struggling for justice. The most needed priority for Latin America is not further militarization. As Christians, we hope and struggle for a world of justice and peace."

Forty-four human rights activists were arrested November 23 for trespassing on federal property during the annual peace vigil to close the US Army's School of the Americas (SOA), re-named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001. SOA-trained soldiers include military dictators and death squad leaders responsible for some of the worst human rights atrocities in Latin America, writes the IRTF.

Dozens of area high school and college students attended the November vigil with Jimenez. The Cleveland InterReligious Task Force organized a delegation with students from Magnificat High School, St. Edward High School, Trinity High School, Padua High School, Ursuline College and Hiram College. St. Ignatius High School, Walsh Jesuit High School John Carroll University and the Akron Catholic Commission also organized buses to Georgia.
For more information, email.

February 7
Cleveland's own comix star Harvey Pekar will appear at Vidstar Videos on Coventry from 5-7 p.m. for the video release and to sign copies of Pekar biopic "American Splendor."

February 14
1300 gallery opens "I HEART DICK" a group exhibition featuring the strong female visions of Jennifer Reeder, Martha Rich, Susan Evenson, Desiree Astorga, Shaunna Peterson, Denise Kupferschmidt, Francesca Boyd-Barrett and Victoria Semarjian.

Pulling double duty as curator and exhibitor Victoria Semarjian sheds a little light on the "I HEART DICK" concept: “To love men is not necessarily to be hostage to them. All the artists in this show have their own unique way of identifying their femininity and power as a female. And while the estrogen is strong, there is clearly an alliance with and love for their male counterparts.”

Midwest high-speed rail needs push
The following activist alert appeared in the Ohio Passenger Rail News eEdition.
With the expected release this spring of the state's Ohio & Lake Erie Regional Rail-Cleveland Hub Study, the Ohio Corridor Campaigns is facing its most important year thus far. But this isn't just about the Corridor Campaigns. If you want to avoid seeing this study join its predecessors by gathering dust—rather than momentum—then now is the time for you, your company, your agency or local government, to join the Corridor Campaigns.

While there have been other attempts at starting rail passenger service in Ohio in recent decades, this study, administered by the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC), is the most comprehensive one in more than 20 years. The Cleveland Hub Study (as it is more commonly known) is unlike past analyses by the state which had considered only one or two isolated routes within Ohio. Now, the ORDC is looking at a multi-route system to fill a gap between Amtrak's Chicago-based Midwest rail corridors and those in the Northeast. For more information about the Cleveland Hub Study.

Another reason why this study differs from past efforts is because a constituency is emerging that will not allow it to collect dust. A larger and more diverse constituency needs to emerge more quickly—now. That's why the primary goal for the Ohio Corridor Campaigns in 2004 is to increase the number of memberships and the resources of money, talent and partnerships. With your help, we will increase our public and media relations efforts and enhance our presence among legislators in Columbus and Washington D.C. to advocate for the Cleveland Hub System.

The Ohio Corridor Campaigns is planning several strategy sessions in the coming months at locations throughout the state. If you can help organize or host them in your community, please contact Campaign Director Ken Prendergast at 888-488-8439 as soon as possible.

Last chance to register to vote
Monday, February 2 is the registration deadline to be eligible to vote in Ohio’s Democratic primaries on “Super Tuesday,” which is March 2. You can register at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (2925 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115. Call 216-443-3200 for information) and most libraries. This is the deadline for the primaries. If you miss it, you can still register to vote in November's general elections.