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).

Advocates of sustainable transportation (i.e. considering things like stormwater runoff, bicyclists, pedestrians, etc. when building roads) may not get the lump of coal in their stocking they were expecting from Congress this year. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved its TEA-21 renewal plan last week. The $255 billion, six-year package bolsters Congress’ efforts to show progress in reauthorizing the nation’s surface transportation law, according to national nonprofit Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP).

TEA-21 is the legislation that pays for every federal and state highway improvement project (including state routes such as Lorain or Carnegie roads) in the country. Most of the money will go toward the federal match on everything from (the proposed) widening I-71 to rebuilding the Innerbelt.

In passing the law, the Senate did not change the rules on how states disclose the use of their federal matching funds, a somewhat controversial decision because of the large amount of money it’s assumed states now siphon out of their transportation funds to pay down debts (Ohio being a state in constant debt, and, with their lack of seniority in the state assembly, its no wonder urban communities are not getting their proportional share of transit dollars. For proof, read CSU Professor Ned Hill’s report Slanted Pavement).

STPP reports that committee leaders—Senators Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Jim Jeffords (I-VT), Kit Bond (R-MO) and Harry Reid (D-NV)—strongly defended their bill, which largely embraces key features of the Bush Administration renewal plan, known as SAFETEA that was released earlier this year.
Led by environmental and public health groups, the strongest criticisms have been leveled at the bill’s many new proposals recasting how transportation agencies evaluate the effects of their decisions on clean air objectives and how environmental and other project reviews are conducted, STPP continues.

Bruce blog believes that the prior statement refers to federal policies that prioritize funding for motorized projects over non-motorized projects. For example, TEA-21 pays for transportation funds such as CMAQ (Congestion and Mitigation Air Quality), the pool of funds each metropolitan region uses to mitigate the pollution caused by congested streets. Northeast Ohio received $10 million in CMAQ funds last year and a study of NOACA allocations shows that more than 80 percent of it was used for traffic signal improvements. In more progressive metropolitan regions such as Portland and Austin, CMAQ funds are used for timing traffic signals AND building bike lanes.

If the TEA-21 rules don’t change the accounting of how bike lanes (which have been shown to induce more bike riding) reduce pollution by taking cars off the road, fewer metro regions will feel compelled to change their thinking. With stronger federal guidance, NOACA might be able to apply more CMAQ funds toward its new policy of routinely accommodating bikes in all new street design.

The good news from TEA-21 came from the amendments, which include a new set-aside program within each of the states to fund stormwater mitigation projects. Approved on a 10-9 vote, the amendment directs states to reserve two percent of their annual Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds for state and local government stormwater projects, giving priority to those in violation of the Clean Water Act. Amendments also passed to increase funding for rail crossing improvements, to authorize a study to address passenger as well as freight rail needs, and to raise annual funding for the bill’s Safe Routes to School to $70 million, up from $50 million.

Comments from Federal Highway Administration’s Michael Armstrong in last week’s Plain Dealer had local bike/pedestrian advocates up in arms. Armstrong was quoted saying that the proposal to add a separated bike lane on the outside of Central Viaduct bridge is against federal policy because of safety concerns.

In fact, counters bike advocate Ryan McKenzie, cities have already done this sort of thing—within federal guidelines too (see picture, right, of Seattle’s bike bridge). The guidelines state, "In any case where a highway bridge deck is being replaced or rehabilitated with Federal financial participation, and bicyclists are permitted on facilities at or near each end of such bridge, and the safe accommodation of bicyclists can be provided at reasonable cost as part of such replacement or rehabilitation, then such bridge shall be so replaced or rehabilitated as to provide such safe accommodations." (23 U.S.C. Section 217)

McKenzie wrote to Innerbelt Committee Chair Craig Hebebrand after the article appeared, thanking him for expressing support for the bike lanes on the bridge, which would provide a direct connection between Tremont and points south, and the central business district. He pointed out that Innerbelt consultants Burges & Niple expressed interest in accommodating this travel via a north-side, barrier-separated ped-bike path as well.

While McKenzie supports the bike lane on the bridge, he admits that dropping a bicyclist or pedestrian off at the intersection of Carnegie and Ontario is “a nasty place to be dumped right now. But you don’t build a 75-year facility (the Central Viaduct Bridge) on existing conditions when those conditions might be fixed,” he says.

McKenzie addresses the safety question by asserting that the consultant can design a safe, multi-modal facility. One that allows emergency vehicles to pull over on the highway berm and access the path at several points. The proposed lane is 16 feet wide, McKenzie says, plenty wide enough to accommodate an emergency vehicle if needed.

It would be policed the same way as the towpath or any other bike trail, McKenzie says, with bike patrols and passing vehicles. “It's possible they could add monitoring cameras, too, since they're talking about that for traffic monitoring anyway,” he suggests.

Observations on the drive to work: This is a new feature to the Bruce blog that will run alternatively with “Observations on the train to work”. The writing is based on a combination of reporting and just plain keeping an eye out for change around the city. This week on the drive to work...Bruce blog noticed while sitting at the light at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario that the soft limestone cladding on the ticket booth of Jacobs Field facing the corner is separating from the structure. The problem, it appears, is that the stone tiles are visibly bowing under the weight of the steel beam above, which appears to be separating and sagging at the joint creating more pressure on the booth. Bruce blog wonders how long it will be before the entire stone façade on the ticket booth will come undone and what’s causing the steel beam above to separate and bow?

Did you know…Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis has figured out a way to put money where our mouths are on smart growth. Rokakis started the Housing Enhancement Loan Program (HELP). This linked deposit loan program allows homeowners in eligible communities to borrow money to repair or remodel their homes or rental property at interest rates three percentage points below a bank’s market interest rate for home improvements loans.

HELP is a cooperative effort between the County Treasurer, the County Commissioners, 33 eligible communities, and the six participating banks to stem the tide of outmigration and reduce urban sprawl. The program sets aside approximately 10% of the county’s core investment portfolio which is used to reduce the interest rates on home improvement loans. HELP’s goal is to encourage property owners to make improvements in existing housing stock. Reinvestment of this type helps communities retain and enhance its tax base, thereby stabilizing local school districts which are heavily dependent on property taxes. Communities were deemed eligible for the program if the residential property appreciation rate was less than 2% per year adjusted for inflation (roughly the county median).

As of November, the Treasurer’s Office has made 4,750 loans totaling more than $57.5 million. Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and Lakewood, respectively, make up the top three communities where HELP loans were made—totaling more than $25 million in home improvements.

Apparently, Vice President Dick Cheney will be raising money for the Bush-Cheney re-election at a $2,000 per plate fund raiser Monday, Nov. 24, 2003, 4:30 at the Cleveland Clinic Inn (on Carnegie between E. 96 and E. 100). A group opposed to Bush Administration energy and environmental policies will lead a rally at the event.

"Let Cheney know that Clevelanders have been watching from the outside the development of his closed door corporate polluter friendly energy policy (blood for oil) and then ramming it through the Congress,” writes Laurel Hopwood of Sierra Club.

If you're interested, meet at the Antioch Baptist Church, 8869 Cedar Rd., Cleveland (on the corner of E. 89th and Cedar) at 3:45 p.m for a rally at the Intercontinental Hotel and Conference Center, 9801 Carnegie Avenue.

I like your slang, Freekly, for the Free Times. The Free Times finger under the nose can provide good information. However, I often feel sour after reading the paper's editorials, the nose and the finger. I'm not so sure we
need more ranting about how bad things are.

I hear other Freekly readers grouse about this too. While Tom Mulready hasn't cornered the market on optimism at the Freekly, the paper would be even more sour without his column.

Bruce blog is well done and points to positive developments. This makes a read worth looking forward to.

This is news Cleveland needs now, and you have news no one else publishes. Keep up the good work.