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).

If ODOT's the entitled jocks—plotting to jettison bike lanes on Euclid corridor in favor of a striped shoulder and insisting that physically nothing has changed—then it's fitting that Cleveland's insurgent bike nerds huddled to form a response this week.

Bike advocates insist that operationally and legally there would be changes, gosh darn it, that bicyclists will not have the same assurances to their fair share of the road.

Meanwhile, pieces of the puzzling ODOT action are starting to spill out of that black box in Columbus. Those who attended the 60 percent design review meeting two weeks ago say that ODOT officials used the word ‘discontinuous’ to describe the bike lanes on Euclid Avenue. Yet, the lanes were drawn with American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ guidelines, the road tested national best practices which call for a bike lane to merge with the general traffic lane at the intersection.

Discontinuous, the nerds figured, can only suggest that ODOT has a problem with the bike lane ending before the intersection to accommodate the merging of traffic and the ability for cars to turn right. The crisis highlighted one thing: Ohio has a design standard for right turn only lanes, but did they for roads with one general travel lane (that is, one lane for both straight and right turns like Euclid Avenue in its redesigned state)?

On Monday, Jan. 26, Mayor Campbell’s Bike/Pedestrian Advisory Committee met and addressed the Euclid Corridor bike lanes right off. One attendee of the meeting observed that RTA chief Joe Calabrese sidestepped the controversy, despite the appearance of a document summarizing the 60 percent meeting including ODOT’s intention to remove bike lanes for a striped shoulder.

Reportedly, Calabrese said that RTA still plans on delivering bike lanes in Euclid Corridor. Others in the room, who aren't as confident that ODOT will deliver, made suggestions to the city of Cleveland that it create its own local street design guidelines that endorse the AASHTO standards for bike lanes. The same attendee noted that the city seemed receptive, especially after it was pointed out that it would grant local control to the street design on Euclid and throughout the city. For their part, the city and RTA stated that they support the bike lane configuration on Euclid as seen in the picture (right).

The mayor's bike/ped committee also addressed the City Racks program, which the city of Cleveland has been trying to push into gear for close to two years now. Wisely, the planning department has decided that rather than allocate the bike racks by ward, the racks will be distributed by retail district. The city has identified 43 districts, each could receive more than one. Recreation centers, of which there are 96 locations, will be first in line to receive racks too.

The city has said that the City Racks program could start in summer 2004 if ODOT backs off on requirements for an engineering study and drawings for each rack. The city is arguing that a singular template should be enough to receive blanket approval. If ODOT doesn’t agree with the latter and makes the city jump through the former hoop, it could greatly extend the period of installing racks. If not, the city could place its bulk purchase for 500 racks and follow through with its plan to install 300 racks in 2004 and 200 racks in 2005.

Also moving ahead as planned is the creation of a pedestrian promenade with public art and a bike lane on the south/outer lane of the Detroit-Superior Bridge. Apparently, the county engineer has received a dozen responses to its RFP which it will review and select a firm from in February. The best-case scenario is to have the work completed in late summer 2004.

During this year's Super Bowl, you'll see ads sponsored by beer companies, tobacco companies, and the Bush White House. But you won't see the winning ad in MoveOn.org Voter Fund's Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest. Apparently, CBS refuses to air it. The ad shows a series of clips of kids working manual labor jobs and ends with a message about guess who’s going to be paying for Bush’s $1 trillion deficit?

Moveon.org, the grassroots Democratic campaign supported as well by millionaire George Soros wrote the following screed about being snubbed by CBS. "Meanwhile, the White House and Congressional Republicans are on the verge of signing into law a deal which Senator John McCain (R-AZ) says is custom-tailored for CBS and Fox, allowing the two networks to grow much bigger. CBS lobbied hard for this rule change; MoveOn.org members across the country lobbied against it; and now the MoveOn.org ad has been rejected while the White House ad will be played. It looks an awful lot like CBS is playing politics with the right to free speech."

MoveOn.org adds that CBS also rejected an ad from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). To watch the ad that CBS won't air and sign the petition to CBS to run these ads. MoveOn.org will deliver the petition by email directly to CBS headquarters.

January 27
The Ohio EPA will hold a public meeting to examine data and propose options to improve the water quality of Tinkers Creek. This tributary of the Lower Cuyahoga River was identified by EPA as needing further work due to higher than acceptable levels of sedimentation and pollution. Join OEPA officials in the discussion at Solon City Hall, community room, from 10 a.m.-noon.

January 28
Citizens concerned with the future of the Lake Erie watershed are invited
to voice their opinions at an informational open house on the Balanced Growth Initiative of the Ohio Lake Erie Commission (LEC). Draft plans developed by the task force are now ready. Drafts of "Linking Land Use And Lake Erie: A Planning Framework for Achieving Balanced Growth in the Ohio Watershed" and "Best Local Land Use Practices" will be presented from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, Huntington Reservation, 28728 Wolf Road, Bay Village.

Attendees are invited to submit comments orally or in writing at the informational meetings. Comments can also be submitted by e-mail or by surface mail to the LEC, 1 Maritime Plaza, Toledo, Ohio 43604. Comments will be accepted through February 18, 2004.

The draft documents are available here.

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.”

Transit legislation to open national wildlands for exploitation
As the 108th Congress reconvenes on January 20, 2004 there is an issue with the TEA-21 reauthorization legislation that bears close watching. At issue is the interest of some legislators to change the language in Sec. 4(f) of the massive transportation bill. This is the section of the bill that provides protection for historic sites, wildlife refuges and PARKS when siting highway projects.

During the Environment and Public Works Committee's drafting of S. 1072, the TEA-21 reauthorization, Senator Voinovich expressed an intent to introduce amendments to streamline the environmental review process to move highway projects expeditiously. Reportedly, Senator Voinovich discussed two major Sec. 4(f) amendments.

One would follow the Bush administration recommendation that state departments of transportation be allowed to site rights-of-way that would only cause minor impacts on parks, wildlife refuges and historic sites. Under current law, the language states that highway construction can impact these valuable public resources only if there is no prudent or feasible alternative.

A second Voinovich amendment would eliminate Sec. 4(f) altogether, with the understanding that the National Historic Preservation Act already provides protection to historic areas. The TEA-21 reauthorization, S. 1072, will most likely be considered by the full Senate in the last or 2nd week of February. That is when Sen. Voinovich would introduce his amendments to weaken statutory protection for parks during highway construction. Sen. Voinovich is interested in hearing from stakeholders on this issue. To contact him.

More Safe Routes to School needed from transportation bill?
In early February 2004, the US Senate is scheduled to vote on the new transportation bill. The bill currently contains language creating a national Safe Routes to School program, providing money to communities for infrastructure and education projects. But there's a move afoot in the Senate to strip the program from the bill entirely. Bike advocates are asking for calls to both U.S. Senators to support Safe Routes to School in SAFETEA, S 1072, and fully fund the program at $250 million a year.

The Senate bill currently calls for only $70 million a year for Safe Routes, while the House bill calls for $250 million a year. Under the Senate funding level, some states would not receive enough funding to make more than a few infrastructure improvements. S1072, SAFETEA, is the Senate's version of the six year reauthorization of TEA-21. Most of the $255 billion in the bill goes to states for highway construction. Senator Mike DeWine is interested in hearing from his constituents about this matter.