LifeLongClevelander

If I recall correctly, the beverage guy from Columbus was flying an aircraft that he really didn't know well. The crash off Highland Road was caused by an engine failure in one of the two engines right after takeoff. The pilot heroically managed to keep enough control so that it didn't crash into any houses.

Any airport will have problems on takeoffs or landings; mishaps will occur. At least in the cases mentioned at Burke, the only people who where tragically killed were the occupants of the aircraft. An airport located next to the water will at least lessen the risk to the surrounding areas. Planes have crashed in the water at LaGuardia in New York and National Airport (now Reagan) in Washington D.C. During the air races in the late 1940's, a plane crashed into a house in Berea. Cuyahoga County Airport had a crash that killed 2 people in a house on Bishop Road and another crash near Highland Road that fortunately missed nearby houses in a residential neighborhood.

County airport has its issues as well, including fatal incidents as well. On Bishop Road, there is the remnants of a house foundation that saw two residents along with whomever was in the aircraft killed in a crash. On Highland Road, a twin-engine plane crashed in a back yard that caused the death of the only occupant, the pilot. Fortunately, no houses were hit. There have been others. The residential nature of the location of Cuyahoga County Airport severely limits operations. There are no scheduled takeoffs or landings after a certain time at night. The runway length limits the types of planes that can use it and runway extensions will not happen. All of these things put significant limitations on any increase in flight operations at the county airport. These limitations will not allow it to be a viable alternative to Burke.

Burke received tens of millions in Federal money for improvements. Close Burke and all of that money must be repaid. Cuyahoga County Airport has significant limitations with its runway. There are aircraft that can land at Burke with its 6200 foot main runway that cannot land at the county's airport with its 5100 foot runway. Don't know if restrictions have been modified due to the stopping system that protects aircraft that run off the end of the runway, but previously even slight rainfall would further limit the size of aircraft from using the county airport due to fear of them skidding off the runway. About a decade or so ago, there was a proposal to extend the runway at the county airport. Due to protests, many of which came from Lake County, it ended up being killed. The protection system for planes skidding of the end of the runway came about it as a result.

Agreed. This is not something doable under a Bibb administration. Even if it was initiated, by the time challenges would be exhausted, Bibb would probably be out of office. This would drag on for multiple terms, even if he sees 3 terms like White or 4 for Jackson. With his age, if he is successful in turning Cleveland around, he will have the ability and capital to seek higher offices. As an aside to my comments about the former Newbury Schools, a number of years before the the 2020 merger with West Geauga was completed, there were earlier discussions of merger with that district, before numbers neared the viability threshold. Rather abruptly, the Newbury board voted to end merger discussions. That was the end of it, even though West Geauga was a willing partner, until residents voted out the majority of board members against the merger. They voted in a new pro-merger board majority and that is when merger talks resumed. That is how these mergers occur. Bibb and Cleveland cannot invoke them on their own.

Cuyahoga Heights, Brooklyn Heights and Valley View would fight annexation to the extreme with Cleveland. If annexation were "easy", Linndale would have become part of Cleveland many years ago.

Many of these school district boundaries go back several decades. Unless a school district becomes too small to be considered viable, these mergers usually don't happen. Within the last seven years, there were two different school district mergers in Geauga County. The Ledgemont School District with about 250 total enrollment in grades K-12 merged into the Berkshire School District in 2015. In 2020, the Newbury School District, also with a total enrollment of about 250 merged into West Geauga. In both cases, the district that merged into the larger district, all students were housed in one school building in their final years. Both of these mergers were approved by the school boards of each district. Bratenahl was also an extremely small school district, but it fought against merging into Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Bratenahl took the state to court to fight the merger and lost. In Richmond Heights, there is a district boundary that separates Richmond Heights Schools and South Euclid-Lyndhurst Schools. The boundary is roughly just south of the former Sears building and may date to about a century ago when the area was farmland. The houses on streets east of the mall and west of Richmond Road south of this line all are considered part of the South Euclid-Lyndhurst district. Over many years, Richmond Heights Schools has made several attempts to have the territory in that city part added to their district, especially to have the tax benefits initially from the mall and now Belle Oaks. South Euclid-Lyndhurst will not surrender this territory due to the tax hit it would take and as both districts are "viable" (due to size of enrollment), the state will not become involved. With a total enrollment of over 800 students, the state will not intercede into a forced merger of the Cuyahoga Heights Schools into Cleveland Schools.

Broken down and unavailable EMS squads, fire engines, service department trucks and police cars. Unacceptably long wait time for safety services. Large garbage items not collected. City streets in poor shape. Snow making streets impassable. Understaffed departments across the board. If this goes unchanged, picture all of this with the caption: "Your 2.5% income tax and $511 million ARPA funds at work"

Do these plow trucks serve in other capacities during the year? What do they do if they run out of available trucks for large trash items or road repairs? The plow truck situation has gone back for decades, dating back during the two-year mayoral term of Kucinich. It got so bad in the late 1970's where the city had fewer that 50 trucks to plow streets in the winter. As bad as things were then, the city leased and eventually purchased 50 Unimog medium-sized trucks to assist to clear streets. The only time things improved was under Voinovich when he re-instituted the installation of plow gear on garbage trucks when needed (a practice that existed in the 1950's). This was discontinued when White was mayor. Don't know how many times in recent years the city has announced it has somewhere in the vicinity of 50 trucks available to plow streets to start a winter season. If the city has a major snowstorm, does it have to resort to using fire trucks (that they already have problems keeping in service) to pack down snow to keep streets "passable"?

Suggestions on how to spend some of the $511 million in ARPA funds: EMS Squads - The average age of Cleveland's units is more than double the national average. Some front-line units would not even be suitable as back-up squads in other cities. Aside from staffing issues, this is a big reason the city frequently does not have enough squads available to provide basic coverage is due to breakdowns. Fire Engines - One backup unit recently caught fire at a fire station. The unit it replaced was out-of-service. Other engines needing repair cannot be taken out of service due to not enough backup units available. Police Cars - The city still has a lot of Ford Crown Victoria models in service. The last one rolled off of Ford's production line in 2011. Service Department Plow Trucks - Every winter, the city does not have enough trucks in service to plow streets. If unchanged, what happens when the city faces an s winter with average to above-average snowfall or multiple snowstorms in a short period of time?

You cite many of the reasons why we feel that moving out is rapidly increasing in importance. I would prefer not to have to move, but the overall declining situation is a driving factor. Over the last five years or so, there has been a significant negative turn. City leaders have done nothing to correct long-standing problems or stop others from being minor to more significant (unless they happen to live next to it). The final straw came when gunshot issues were becoming more numerous. We are not alone in our thinking. Some of our neighbors have expressed serious concerns about the problems that are becoming more numerous. A few have stated they are looking to move out (the ones who are open about it) and there are others that due to their situation personal situations can't, but would have done so if they could. I would miss some of my wonderful neighbors terribly, but their decisions aren't predicated on anybody else staying around. We don't want to wait too long where our choices are taken away or it causes suffer a significant financial loss. Negative and contributing to sprawl? Most certainly. Would we be part of the contributing to the problem? Yes on that point,too. As stated, there are suburbs that have survived on a good storied reputation, but things change with reality. When the problems of crime and violence increase in frequency and severity, it makes one to start taking notice. If there isn't a good reputation to fall back on or a negative one already is in place, it makes trying to move all the worse. We don't want to become part of the negative statistics.

Sprawl is a factor of both. There are still good inner ring school districts such as Lakewood that have held up fairly well. However, there have been factors such as changing interest in house designs that have work against it. When one looks at the housing styles constructed from the late 1940's to mid-1970's, there is little demand for new-builds of those styles today. New bungalows are not often built. Split levels, bi-levels and multi-levels are essentially no longer being built. Yes, school districts do suffer the burden of HB920, but there has been a constant call for more money as if it will solve all the problems. More money, regardless if HB920 was rescinded or if the whole school funding situation was overhauled, will not make a difference it the students and their families show no interest in learning. We know teachers who have left higher paying jobs to take ones in lower-paying districts because they were exhausted from having classes year after year filled with mostly uninterested kids. A former neighbor was a teaching aide. She regularly witnessed tests being taken where the first time a book/chapter was opened was at the time of an open-book test; it was plainly obvious. If a student doesn't know the material then, there isn't enough time to process it for a test. Homework isn't assigned or it becomes meaningless. More money put into the schools will not fix the lack of studying. One of the reasons why some of these districts need more money is that they have to overpay teachers to come there or have more in the way of support staff. Another factor in sprawl has nothing to do with schools. It is the decay in the quality of life. When people have to worry about getting attacked or robbed near their own home, it starts getting them concerned. If carjackings occur where people shop at their local supermarket or in their neighborhood, it adds to the concern. If they have windows open at night and regularly hear the "pop pop pop" of gunfire, it makes them nervous. When they get up in the morning and find out that the "pop pop pop" hit their own or a neighbor's house, they start getting scared. When fear becomes a normal part of daily life, it has a way in changing how people think. Some would rather "stick it out" and "not give in" so they don't contribute to the exodus. There are others who don't want to become a statistic or see one of their major, if not their largest, investment see a significant loss in value. There is just too much of a segment of society that no longer gives a darn about where they live and show a lack of concern for their fellow neighbors. This sort of thing has a way of changing how people think and where they want to live. If asked, I wonder what are the reasons these people will give for moving out to Medina County, Lorain County or Mantua,

Without a doubt, there are very successful people who graduated from Brush. The same thing is true about Shaw in East Cleveland, Euclid, Cleveland Heights-University Heights and many other school districts. When a couple is looking for a place to live and potentially raise a family, many will consider the school district depending on their financial position as a significant factor. They will have no way in knowing how their children will perform or what potential needs they will have. They will also consider what kind of learning environment exists as well. What do you suggest using to gauge a child's progress in school? Should no standards exist? How about a basic one like graduation rate? Should children be advanced grade to grade without any regard towards what should have been learned by a certain grade level? Quite frankly, there are school districts that have watered-down their "standards" to where they are basically meaningless. We saw it where our children went to school. Extra credit was handed out like candy at a parade. There was no real learning environment for kids who wanted to learn. Tests were open-book and open-note. Unfortunately, that really didn't help for quite a few as those tests were probably the only times that books were opened. One of the principals advanced all kids to the next grade--no holding any kids back. How does that help? State testing may not be the best solution, but the results of lax standards are exposed when certain basic skills like math, reading, science, etc... haven't been learned by a certain grade level. This sort of thing doesn't go unnoticed by house hunters. When quality education matters, they will go to where they can find it. They will have to pay higher for a house and probably go out further than they would have desired. And so the suburban sprawl spreads.

South Euclid within the last decade or so built out that one area near Anderson and Green Roads. Unfortunately in the case of South Euclid, that city has to deal with having a school district that is in the bottom 10% of the state. For people who don't have school-age children or have the ability to send them to other schools, the school district's performance is of a lesser importance.

Though the cookie-cutter tract houses from the late 1940's to mid/late-1960's has many limitations due to designs, property, etc..., at least they were built significantly better than later construction. I have been in newer houses and what passes as acceptable is extremely disappointing. At least the newer houses do have better insulation, desirable features, improved wiring and no lead in the water lines. No matter how well those late 1940's to mid/late-1960's as compared to newer houses, many need significant work, repairs and upgrades. If a house is worn out, there is only so much that someone wants to take on to bring it up to modern standards. If those prove to be too much of a challenge or other aspects cannot be overcome, it will drive potential home buyers to areas where they are more likely to get what they want or get away from what they don't want. Hence, those things are the cause of sprawl.

The politicians are a part of the problem. They have a sense of empowerment and self-enrichment. Many times, it does come down to what can be done for them. About a nine years ago, the mayor of Mayfield Heights, Greg Constabile, resigned due to improper dealings (and benefits received) associated with land that was eventually used to build new homes in one of the last larger pieces of undeveloped land in the city. There is also an issue with the properties available in many of these older suburbs. There is only so much that can be done with older houses on small lots. Houses with fewer than 2 full bathrooms are not high on the desirability list. Small rooms, one-car garages and lack of storage are also contributing factors. If a house has significant problems, it makes things worse. Cookie-cutter tract homes constructed by the tens of thousands following World War 2 multiply the problem. Housing styles that were once popular aren't being built today. In the end, if a single house is demolished, the size of the lot limits what can be done on it. The only meaningful changes to the housing situation will come if multiple contiguous properties can be acquired and cleared with the combined lots subdivided into fewer new lots is the only reasonable solution. This is where the hurdles come into play with dealing with the entrenched politicians.

It is very, very frustrating to see the very things that you bring up here, but they are quite true. I have been a life-long east side suburban resident. I recall the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood where my grandparents lived. It was where my parents lived right after they got married, before moving to a far eastern suburb in Cuyahoga County. As a young child, I recall going for walks with my grandmother in her Cleveland neighborhood and her having no concerns. Only a few years later, I remember her calling my father as she was terrified about all the gunshots going off at night. Not long afterwards, she came to live with us. Many years ago, Cleveland had a top-notch school system. I don't know for how many years that Cleveland Metropolitan School District has been one of the ten worst districts in the state out of over 600 districts. I still live in the eastern suburbs, not in the same suburb that I grew up in, but in a neighboring one. When we moved in, a large number of the residents were older, empty-nesters or widowed. Some were original owners living in their houses since the mid/late-fifties. Most of them have moved on in one way or another. We see some of the once well taken care of properties are now treated badly. Complaints to city officials have done nothing. Once quiet summer nights are now starting to have more instances of guns being fired. Recently, there was one occasion where it happened in the late afternoon on a busy main street (my neighbor saw it happen). As for the schools, fortunately we had another option and my children were able to attend much better ones. It meant driving and carpooling, but it was worth it. Even the school district that I attended up until recently was one of the best in the state. Relatives with school-age children now live in my old district and that is were they went to school. It has declined so much, they decided to send them to a private school. That top-notch district is now only slightly above the middle of the 607 districts. Basically an average district. Crimes that almost never happened are quite common. It comes down to quality of life. Many parents want their kids to have the best education as possible. We made the decision to send our kids to another school as they weren't learning anything in our local schools. We felt that the district was more interested in moving kids on to the next grade to move them up, rather than to hold them to meeting the benchmarks to earn grade promotion. For us, our family is no longer directly impacted by how the schools perform, but we are still indirectly impacted. Having a school district that is normally ranked around the bottom 5% in the state does nothing to enhance or maintain home value. As for safety, we have to wonder where the next gunshots will go off and how close they will be to where we live. Hopefully, we won't be victimized by property crimes, but even then we are indirectly affected in our insurance rates for all of the other ones that do occur. I would hope that Bibb, Ronayane and all of the other local city/county leaders can do something, but I have my doubts. I don't know what the solution is to fixing the quality of life issues. What I do know is for those who have the ability to get away from from the quality of life issues, many will do so.

In most areas, this would amount to a waste of paint and labor to apply it. CPD is so dreadfully understaffed, they regularly have overtime just to provide minimal patrols. They have trouble responding in a timely manner to all but the most urgent calls. They do not have the time or staffing to make any effort to enforce this. I don't think that RTA's Transit Police have the staffing to regularly enforce it either. If a violator decides flee, will pursuit policies cause the police to not follow? People disregard speed limits, traffic lights/signs, school bus stop signs and construction zone warnings without regard to the consequences that violations would cause. Heaven forbid if ticket violations seem to be disproportionately given out. When Mayfield Village announce it would start ticketing speeders due to large number of drivers exceeding 100 mph on I-271, a certain publication tagged that community as a "money-grubbing Cleveland suburb is the latest to make itself an interstate highway speed trap". Will that same publication accuse RTA of doing the same on either claim?

Budish is corrupt or incompetent, but in the end it doesn't matter. Even if he isn't corrupt, due to his incompetence that has been repeated and repeated time after time, he has a complete inability to do a better job of screening the people he brings on board. Even if nothing is identified before the hires come aboard, where are the checks and balances to flag the questionable or illegal activities? It shouldn't take indictments and probes repeatedly to bring the problems to light. It should also be asked why is there a regular revolving door of key staffers at top levels. Budish is enabling and fostering the dysfunction of the county's government.

Budish created his "image" by hosting those 1/2 hour senior citizen legal shows. It was a carefully crafted presentation that painted him as a caring, smiling, kind individual that goes out of his way to help the less fortunate, especially the "vulnerable" seniors. No politician ever capitalized in campaigning against Budish by using the video segments from his two years as Speaker of the State House of Representatives where his real image as a shrill, obnoxious individual in his true light. Now in his second term as county executive, even the Plain Dealer has called him out as incompetent. He has had almost 7 years as county executive to further damage the county, building on the disasters of Fitzgerald and the county commissioner system before the position was created. Don't know if the county executive position has term limits, but if it doesn't, will the county's residents face the possibility of Budish running for re-election and maybe winning again?

The situation sounds similar to something I heard way back when Cleveland had the lime green (or similar color) for patrol cars. They were so worn out, their top speed was something like 25-30 mph. No concerns about having high speed chases. A fleeing criminal could speed away leaving the officers behind because they couldn't muster the speed to chase. Things have gone full circle.

What price does one put on time? More importantly, what price does one put on safety and security? If you park your car at an RTA facility and it isn't there when you return, any savings are lost. The reality is that RTA's security is not very good. Based upon a $5.00 fare round trip, the cost to drive downtown and pay for parking isn't that much more and you have the convenience of leaving when you want and perhaps more reliability (until the new equipment arrives, but that won't be for at least 5 years from now). I am a transit advocate as well, but I had to put up with being a victim at an RTA lot and putting up with service issues.

Excellent points. The suburban police departments can only hire so many officers from Cleveland, but then there is nothing that says police officers cannot be hired away by other departments from outside the area or outside of the state. Increasing pay may "help" to retain officers for Cleveland, but more money only can only make up for so much. With the extreme staffing shortage, surely the CPD officers are pulling a higher annual income, but that comes at the cost of working longer, stress and burnout. Higher salaries are nice, but factoring in the negatives of the job and if the job still stinks with officers being wary of every action taken, other departments may be far more attractive to go to.

The under staffing issues are scary to say the least. A department that is already spread way too thin translates to increased response times. Increased response times may lead to the perpetrators getting away to only cause more crimes. Then certain people will get on their soapboxes complaining about a lack of a police presence, increased crime and calling for more police protection that won't be there. A lose-lose situation.

Unless you have INSIGHT on the internal workings of the Cleveland Police Department, I would put a lot more weight and credence on comments from an actual CPD officer, @KFM44107 as this individual as a far better idea how their fellow officers think and what is going on behind the scenes (copied from earlier in this discussion): Nothing to do with funding and everything to do with no one wanting to be a police officer in this current climate. Can't find enough qualified candidates. And @KFM44107made these comments in the Cleveland Mayoral Race 2021 discussion: Deny it all you want, but this CPD officer has a very good idea of the impact of Issue #24 on the department. It could be a deciding factor in officers retiring and in those who can leave for other departments. For every Loehmann and Brelo, there are probably a hundred (or more) good, decent officers who if they don't quit/retire from CPD may start having doubts of what negative actions may befall them should they make a split-second decision that doesn't go well. In the end, from the knowledge that@KFM44107 brings from the job, a police department that is already significantly understaffed that will see more attrition (perhaps accelerated) of experienced officers, the loss of good younger officers that would help fill the void to other departments and not being able to recruit enough new ones does not bode well for the future. With the departures of good officers and the inability of the poorer ones from getting hired elsewhere, it may increase the percentages of bad officers in CPD.