The Cleveland Plain Dealer missed a nice opportunity to pick up on a major social injustice issue today when they announced with much stupidity and little diagnosis "Lakeview Road in East Cleveland picked as area's worst road: Road Rant [1]"... leading to the usual cackles from the cleveland.commies about how my city should be rototilled and dissolved into Oz... while the big story is why Lakeview Road is the worst road in Ohio, as that is the fault of adjoining property owners MCCO and University Hospitals. Those parasitic corporate charities, along with RTA, if I recall right, have for years been using THEIR TAX-EXEMPT blighted brownfields on either side of Lakeview at Euclid as staging areas for their ego-tripping across Greater University Circle, all leading to MCCO plans to build a $250-300 million coal-fired powerplant [2] AT Lakeview and Euclid, for University Circle institution use... already approved by Cuyahoga County and the City of East Cleveland... now all boarded-up. Work on the Euclid Corridor, the Ireland Cancer Center, and MCCO expansion, featuring a period of years of heavy construction equipment access, has abused our tax-base, roads and trust entirely. All while University Hospitals and MCCO contaminate the neighborhood by burning coal. And the ignorant, disrespectful, inaccurate Plain Dealer declares this EC's fault. This is the PD's fault [3]!
Of course this is the same MCCO that pollutes our community each day with their coal-burning powerplant in University Circle [4], which serves University Hospitals as one of its primary customers - the same MCCO that has plans to build addition coal-burning capacity on the very property that has been used as staging grounds for University Circle construction [5] - the same property that is now being presented to the "Ohio Revitalization Fund" for "environmental" remediation of some sort by Cuyahoga County, where the new mayor of East Cleveland used to work.
How about applying to the "Ohio Revitalization Fund" for "environmental" remediation of my backyard and kids' bedroooms for the pollution spewed on us by these property owners!
Or perhaps they should pay for their mistakes, for a change.
The PD reports, about fixing Lakeview today:
East Cleveland reviewed the condition of Lakeview after the road popped up on the Terrible 10 list, said Ross Brankatelli, the city's new service director. Then he asked an engineer to prepare repaving cost estimates. The project could be done by year's end.
"We really want to do it, but we need to make sure we have the money," he said.
In fact, I was at a meeting last year at the East Cleveland Library, hosted by former East Cleveland Mayor Brewer, attended by representatives of University Circle Inc., Case, Cuyahoga County and the President of Huron Hospitals, Gus Kious, of the Cleveland Clinic (benefiting greatly from their power in my city, as well [6]), where the Mayor made clear he had made Cleveland, MCCO and University Hospitals aware their traffic had destroyed Lakeview and arrangements were being made with them for repair... the Mayor indicated they were paying for the repairs, especially as they plan to build a coal powerplant there and need the good-graces of the community. Why they aren't planning to pay for their damages now, I can't imagine... that is another story the PD seems to miss... along with the whole reality of environmental injustice.
The same people who burn coal in our backyard ruined our road to burn more coal, and they have been on notice to make repairs, yet all that is misrepresented and instead they are championed [7] by the same Cleveland Plain Dealer that ridicules our city as polluted [8], yet never explains why - PURE FRAUD!
And what is the value of fixing Lakeview now - THEY made Euclid into such a worthless mess through University Circle that people need a bypass of the traffic to get to University Circle institutions, like UCI, the Museum, Case, the VA and Clinic, and that is via my neighborhood brownfield route of Lakeview and Wade Park... THEIR mini Opportunity Corridor. I use it daily myself... the Healthline is pure shit at rushhour.
THEY also come shooting down my home-street all day, to bypass Euclid and Superior, especially en route to Huron Hospitals...
THEY ruined our access to downtown... they ruined our neighborhood sidestreets - they pollute us with their commuter-economy - they should stay out of our neighborhoods completely, at this point... stay on THEIR HEALTHLINE, and write some very big checks to pay for the harm they cause.
My city and our people are polluted by the same charities that ruined our roads, and they are not-for-profit so they don't even pay property taxes on these massive parcels they have taken off our property tax roles - OUR Healthline gateway properties intended to bridge OUR city with Cleveland and University Circle, yet instead demolished by neglect - and THEY expect the residents of my city made poorest in OHIO to pay to clean up their shit - we always pay for the University Circle shit - we pay for their shit with our lives. I'm done paying them for anything.
PD... call your buddy Zenty and tell HIM to fix OUR road HE ruined... and tell HIM to apologize to the people of East Cleveland for ruining that road and our health - he knows.
While you have him on the line, ask him what are HIS plans for MCCO and University Hospitals with HIS properties blighting my city, and what is HE planning to do about the pollution from MCCO burning coal for HIM in MY neighborhood, for like 80 years.
Thanks for bringing this all up, PD.