City of Cleveland, and other agencies in Northeast Ohio  - take clusterf#%k approach to repairing infrastructure-WC Reed Field is being "remediated" in Spring 2014 at ever increasing dollar amount (currently 3 million) of CERCLA funds. Meanwhile, no one plans to address the 100+ year old Denison Interceptor:

(BTW- how can I find out why City of Cleveland is spending 4 million on "redo" of Tremont Playfields-Clark Field?)

Underground Mysteries

“What we do is tunnel,” says Marlene Sundheimer, Director of Law for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD). Under our feet is a vast, intricate system of pipes, ladders, and other infrastructure we never think about—but it’s profoundly vital to our quality of life. Now, the Cuyahoga Land Bank has joined that system with an agreement to acquire and demo properties to help NEORSD in its mission.

Why does the Sewer District need properties? Simply put, NEORSD is continually improving, burrowing, creating and repairing pipes for collecting sewage, which moves along the pipes toward its final destination: a wastewater treatment plant. Recently, NEORSD entered into a “consent decree” with the U.S. and Ohio Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs)—a 25-year, $3-billion series of capital projects called "Project Clean Lake" that will reduce sewer overflows. That commitment covers deep tunnels, storage tunnels and improvements at treatment plants, the construction of relief sewers and green infrastructure projects like rain gardens and bioswales to manage stormwater runoff.  In order to dig tunnels, build sewers or install bioswales, NEORSD needs to acquire properties, test for asbestos, and perform other demolition-related tasks.

The Land Bank has agreed to help facilitate property acquisition and demolitions for the NEORSD. “Those folks at the Land Bank have been very helpful to the Sewer District,” says Julie Blair, Assistant Director of Law. “They know everything about foreclosures of abandoned properties, so they’re a terrific resource.”
The agreement went into effect in July, and the NEORSD is acquiring its first property on East 109th Street. “These are green infrastructure projects,” Sundheimer says. “They’re a way to utilize vacant properties, and also to help relieve blight in the neighborhoods."

Sign indicates Albert M. Higley company got this contract - to keep residents out of their park and taxpayer cost for this travesty has risen daily from 1.5 million initially to now estimates of 5 million dollars.  What are they using for "surveillance" ...drones???

See especially this story that relates to WC Reed field debacle - Cummins gave away part of WC Reed Field to developer NRP - Foster Pointe this subsidized senior housing complex is now burdened w/sewer gas that has forced residents to move out and caused many to become ill - under Cimperman - the City also tried to give away another portion of the park to Riverside Cemetery - the "contamination" is a convenient way to prime the area for redevelopment. This post at REALNEO shot to over 1000 hits because there is obviously an attempt to prime the east side of the park for additional multi-unit housing (to capitalize on the views) and scare the existing (few) owners out of their properties :

http://realneo.us/content/who-hogar-community-re-investment-llc-based-phoenix-district-columbia-llc-buying-bank-owned-

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Same game being pulled in Cleveland Heights.

From Garry Kanter: 
For those of you keeping score at home, this Turkey Ridge 15 year, 100% tax abatement fiasco is really just Meadowbrook-Lee Phase II (or III or IV or ...)



Here's a (very handsome) concerned citizen speaking out at a city council meeting in August, 2012. (He starts at 7:30.)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-IghEKLrsH0#t=451

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It's all about the land...even religious communities are greedy...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/nyregion/24jersey.html?pagewanted=all&...

See how Rokakis primed use of EPA funds for WC Reed Field - in 2010.  As he - assumed role as Land Bank manager - though it nominally is controlled by Gus Frangos....

Thank you Jim McCarty for the follow-up http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/06/epa_cleanup_of_contaminated_ol.html

Jenita McGowan- please know that this effort is laudable, but not cost effective given the fact that the program should also PROTECT existing oak trees from senseless destruction.



The City of Cleveland engaged the EPA and embarked on an overkill "remediation" of WC Reed Park that threatens to destroy stately oak trees that already SERVE the community by filtering our air, reducing thermal sink effects and contributing to the quality and aesthetics of our neighborhood park.



We have been unfairly denied use of our park - to serve as a test case for this pot of federal $$ monies - while other more "contaminated" parks, like Clark Field and Morgana Park are left to "endanger" residents.

So, the City will be installing saplings to be ravaged by the out-of-control urban deer population, while at same time axing healthy and mature oaks that could and should be around for another hundred years or more. Senseless.

http://realneo.us/sites/all/libraries/fckeditor/editor/skins/default/fck...

This is a video from a community discussion held in an east suburban church - the whole presentation is punctuated with bad jokes and "har, har" behavior from the '"father" of the Land Bank movement.  

Note: Geauga and Medina counties have not jumped on the band wagon.  Wonder why??  Could it be that the "rich" folks know their own  scam, when it bites them in the ass? 

Oh, and now the 100,000 tree program (purchased from a nursery in Lake County) - how INSPIRATIONAL !

WAKE UP People - we are being robbed and the next "Land Bank" sleight of hand involves issuing bonds in Cuyahoga County to continue demo'ing and feeding the mob industry.

http://www.change.org/petitions/cuyahoga-county-land-bank-organization-remove-gus-frangos-as-president

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UPDATE 5/1/2014 City of CLE Assistant Department of Capital Projects - Don Kaysch resigned and will go to Lorain Metroparks - this leaves a MAJOR project w/o oversight.  Kaysch's supervisor is Robert Vilkus 216-664-3577.  THIS is the first project of it's KIND - a so-called remediation of a public park with FEDERAL dollars - with residents birth-90+ surrounding the area to be remediated.  

Could it be that Mr. Kaysch did not want this on his conscience?  

Recent photos taken in WC Reed Field - so called contaminated site - which is only a City of CLE rush on federal monies for their future "reimagined" city c/o Land Bank Duo - Rokakis-Frangos  and their crony Brancatelli who replaced Cimperman in the ward.

http://freindsofwcreedfield.ning.com/photo/green-healthy-grass-which-will-be-covered-with-mud-by-the-epa

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WE need OUR Money NOW!!!  More demos!!!  http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/09/pass_50_million_demo_bond_to_save_our_neighborhoods_editorial.html

 See video of Rokakis and Bracatelli - Mark Gillespie, formerly of PD, works for Thieving Communities at 24:07 in the video 

EPA has a hearing tonight at St. Barbara's church for local residents who want to understand the so-called "remediation" -

At this point - I am personally grateful that some of the trees (oaks) will be preserved - but the whole project is unneccesary-- and causes-- and will continue to distress our neighborhood.

http://epa.gov/region5/cleanup/wcreed/pdfs/wcreed-tree-survey-nodate.pdf

I filed a FOIA to receive second round of test results that pulled samples from the park and nearby resident homes - and it is obvious from the tests that there are far less invasive ways to address the so-called contamination (for example, results for exposure to PAH  on ball diamond are next to nothing) -Claude Cornett, an independent environmental consultant with extensive experience - confirms:

The soil sampling at most residential sites that I have data for showed risks of less than one in 10,000 of cancer from exposure to associated PAHs.  While any risk is undesirable, the average  lifetime chance of an individual in the USA getting cancer is about 44% http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancerbasics/lifetime-probability-of-developing-or-dying-from-cancer  (with up to about half from man-made pollution).  The degree of cancer risk indicated by the sampling at most residential sites for which I have data in the vicinity of Reed Park (and the surface soil in the baseball diamond) was not high enough to warrant spending the limited tax money available to remediate - given the need for funds to remediate much higher risks from other sources.  It is likely that surface soil contamination in many other portions of Reed Park also do not pose enough risk to warrant remediation under the Superfund policies with which I am familiar.

In an email I presented to Rob Portman's office:

And, so many other questions remain- from resident C. Davis:

) The Action Memorandum dated July 16, 2013 was signed FOR not BY Director of the Superfund Richard Karl. I can't read the signature, not sure if this is important maybe it was signed with his approval but.....and then of course all that redacted stuff. 

2) on the 2nd page of the same action memorandum, it states "There are no significant or precedent setting issues associated with WC Reed Field AND THE SITE IS NOT ON THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST"

3) From the EPA page on Mill Creek Dump (Mid-Atlantic Superfund), one of the "similar" sites referenced on the EPA Responds to Questions April 2014 I found this: "Our country's most serious, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites can be cleaned using federal money. "TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR FEDERAL CLEAN-UP MONEY, A SITE MUST BE PUT ON THE NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST" And WC Reed ain't on the list.

So, City of Cleveland and EPA screws over residents of Brooklyn Centre with bogus meeting tonight - where we hear same old crap - only it gets worse - after Joe Cimperman got City/EPA to save our 60 year old oaks - Tony Brancatelli makes his own decision to destroy and KILL all the trees in WC Reed Park - residents be damned. What a waste of my time and a punch in the face to all of us who have worked so hard to protect and save the trees in our park - this is why no one wants to live in this goddamned city....

  Dear Councilman Kelley -

 * correction 10 - six transect the park, three on perimeter w/Horizon Denison School, one adjacent to long-time resident John Baran.

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PLEASE Call Mayor's Action Line 216-664-2900

PLS - bombard Brancatelli 664-4233 AND Brian Cummins  664-4238/333-5453 who started this mess- with calls to save our majestic 60+ year old oak trees - cost alone to remove oaks is colossal waste of taxpayer dollars after Councilman Joe Cimperman and EPA determined thtat TREES could be saved with remediation of the park. Please share with media 

More photos at Friends of WC Reed Field http://freindsofwcreedfield.ning.com/

 
A long time resident (family has lived in Brooklyn Centre over 100 years) - has asked the City of Cleveland to add adjoining properties to WC Reed Field.  If the City refuses - we will have confirmation of what we have known for some time- that City of Cleveland is screwing residents out of their park and planning some "development" to capitalize on the "FREE" land.

February 10, 2016

Cleveland City Council

601 Lakeside Avenue, Room 220

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Committee of Finance

Chair:  Kevin J. Kelley – Ward 13 (kkelley [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Vice Chair:  Phyllis Cleveland – Ward 5 (pcleveland [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Members:

Dona Brady – Ward 11 (dbrady [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Anthony Brancatelli – Ward 12 (abrancatelli [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Kevin Conwell – Ward 9 (kconwell [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Martin J. Keane – Ward 17 (mkeane [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Mamie J. Mitchell – Ward 6 (mmitchell [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Terrell H. Pruitt – Ward 1 (tpruitt [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Matt Zone – Ward 15 (mzone [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Committee of Municipal Services and Properties

Chair:  Kenneth L. Johnson – Ward 4 (kjohnson [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Vice Chair:  T.J. Dow – Ward 7 (tdow [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Members:

Anthony Brancatelli – Ward 12 (abrancatelli [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Brian J. Cummins – Ward 14 (bcummins [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Jeffrey Johnson – Ward 10 (jjohnson [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Brian Kazy – Ward 16 (bkazy [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

Zachary Reed – Ward 2 (zreed [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org)

To the Council members of the Committees of Finance and Properties:

SUBJECT:  Restoration and Improvements for W. C. Reed Park

We request that the City promise of W.C. Reed Park restoration and improvements be accomplished by December 2016.  The restoration includes a baseball field, basketball court, playground equipment, sidewalks, parking lot paving, and tree planting to reestablish the missing tree canopy, wanted for its beauty but needed for its air quality, at this treasured community park.

We have been told no funds are earmarked for this restoration and/or improvement and that the Jackson Administration has indicated that this project with park improvements are expected to be part of a 5 Year Capital Plan.

In 2009, $276,000.00 was committed by then Councilman Brian Cummins (Ward 15) for this park improvement. Today, unfortunately, these dollars are woefully short of the estimated total cost, and it appears that no account was earmarked for this purpose.

In 2011, W.C. Reed Park became part of Councilman Joe Cimperman’s Ward 3.  Councilman Cimperman continued the quest for park improvements started under Councilman Cummin’s tutelage.  A series of public meeting were held to pick features and design for the new and better park the community would receive.  At those meetings, long time members of the community continually told City officials that the park was built on a landfill which could hold nasty surprises.

In the fall of 2012, W. C. Reed Park was closed to the public due to soil issues.  While closed the U.S. Federal EPA contractors removed all park equipment and most of the park trees.  To install a soil barrier to protect the public.  The costs of this Federal EPA project has amounted to millions of Federal Tax Dollars.

During public meetings concerning the soil issue and EPA cleanup plans, everyone was led to believe that once the EPA project was completed a new park, fully funded, would be constructed and trees planted.  This design plan was made public during the meetings and there was never any “IF” involved as to the new park being constructed when the U.S. EPA cleanup was completed.  During the cleanup, W.C. Reed Park became part of Councilman Brancatelli’s Ward 12.

In the spring of 2016, with no signs of complications with the EPA cleanup, the City of Cleveland will take over the management of the park land and be responsible for the new park improvements.

In the four years that W.C. Reed Park project has moved, albeit slowly, this public piece of land has had the oversight of three council people, the surrounding neighborhoods and schools have been without a beloved park, and now, we are told that this parcel may remain fallow for the foreseeable future.

That outcome is unacceptable.  We, respectfully ask that the funds needed to complete this promise of a new, improved park be found and that a promise becomes action.  An additional 5- year timeline is much too long.

The support and a reply from these Council Committees concerning this matter are requested.

Deeply Concerned,

Dane Reich

President, Southwest Citizens Area Council

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Ken Sillman - Jackson's Chief of Staff replies and promises $500,000 in the 2016 budget - will post updates soon.