Governor John Kasich: Plan a visit to Cleveland Lakefront State Park!

Adopt-a-Beach volunteers posing with trash finds from Euclid Beach!

Dear Governor Kasich,

My name is Stephen Love and for the past 3 years, I have organized and coordinated an entirely volunteer Adopt-a-Beach team-(part of a network of Adopt-a-Beach teams throughout the Great Lakes supported by The Alliance for the Great Lakes) at Euclid Beach State Park in Cleveland. Our volunteer group, along with  two other dedicated volunteer groups at Edgewater State Park--The Friends of Edgewater and Drink Local Drink Tap, have had hundreds of people from the community, local schools, colleges and businesses take part in beach cleanups twice a month, picking up thousands of pounds of trash, raising money for trash and recycling bins and signage and creating events and programming that encourage visitors to enjoy and respect our lakefront parks. 

We believe Cleveland Lakefront State Parks (Edgewater, Gordon Park, Euclid Beach, Villa Angela and Wildowood) are public assets to the surrounding communities and serve as a lakefront destination for the entire Northeast Ohio region.   At the same time, we are deeply concerned that our Lakefront parks are chronically underfunded and understaffed.  From leaky toilets in park restrooms and overflowing trash cans, to one park ranger on duty at a time, our Lakefront State Paks are becoming liabilities more than assets.  Recent coverage of the deteriorating conditions in our parks by the press and media have prompted the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to push for immediate improvements of "first impression" items including mulching flower beds, cleaning and opening vandalized restrooms and installing new signage throughout the park. While we applaud these improvements and believe they make the parks more inviting, they do not address the long term infrastructure and ongoing maintenance issues.   

In an effort to address immediate maintenance, littering enforcement and security needs, our three groups are now in the process of launching a volunteer led "Park Ambassador" program to create a safer, cleaner and more inviting park experience. However, all our volunteer initiatives and activities combined will be fruitless in the absence of a long term plan to address sustained maintenance and desperately needed infrastructure improvements.  

That is why on behalf of all of our volunteers and the citizens of Cleveland, we invite you to come visit  Cleveland Lakefront State Park.We would be happy to take you around to see the recent improvements made to the park, the positive impact of our volunteers activities but most importantly, the many maintenance and infrastructure challenges that still lie ahead.  

In the meantime, I would invite you to visit our facebook pages to see some of the great things we are doing to make our lakefront parks better places to visit today and prepare for a better future!
Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach Team, Friends of Edgewater State Park, Drink Local Drink Tap, Urban Beach Ambassadors,
The 2012 Euclid Beach Blast!

You can also visit Cleveland.com/lakefront to see pictures and videos from park goers who are documenting maintenance and bad behavior in our parks.

We want what is best for our beaches, our lakefront and our city.  We look forward to the opportunity to have you visit our parks in person and get a better sense of both the challenges we face and the opportunities ahead.

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You can sign the Change.org petition asking Governor Kasich to visit Cleveland Lakefront State Park here or via our direct link: http://www.change.org/petitions/governor-john-kasich-tour-cleveland-lakefront-state-park# Spread the word and ask others to sign!

Or send your own letter directly to the Governer's office or to his staff via the contact info provided below:

http://governor.ohio.gov/Contact/ContacttheGovernor.aspx

Governor John Kasich
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6117
Phone: (614) 466-3555

Kostura, Nicole
Northeast Ohio Regional Liaison
Email:
Nicole.Kostura@governor.ohio.gov
Office: 216-787-3471