Councilman's Corner

Dear Friends: 

It is hard to believe that it is May already.  It’s still cold but we are all looking forward to all the activities for warm weather.

Thank you to all residents for turning in potholes to the Mayor’s action Line at (216) 664-2900 and to the Division of Streets to (216) 664-2510.  If there are road issues – please do not hesitate to call these in.  Don’t assume someone else has turned them in already.  Be proactive about this.

The Lakeshore Boulevard project, from Marcella Road east, is in the home stretch. I wish to thank everyone for their patience and tolerance during this period.  It was truly like root canal.  The project is definitely needed and there will be additional projects coming to address sewer, flooding and waterline breakage issues.

The construction is well under way on the new MetroParks Pedestrian Bridge, between Wildwood Marina and Villa Angela Beach, and the erection of the superstructure should be taking place during the week of April 27, weather permitting. We continue to have ongoing discussions with the MetroParks with regard to lifeguards at Euclid Beach.  These discussions are productive and I look forward to hearing some good news before the swimming season.

There is still no final agreement between the City of Cleveland and the Department of Justice (DOJ) with regard to their review of the Cleveland Police Department. I, like most citizens, are really hoping to see a strong Community Policing component in the final agreement. Citizens want more police visibility and a greater interaction with the Police Officers in our community and the whole of the City. We need to get back to basic community police where the citizens can look on the Police as protector and the police see the citizens as partners in combating criminal activity. Stay tuned for future updates.

Our neighborhood, like the City of Cleveland, is waiting to hear about the County’s demolition bond.  We have abandoned and derelict properties which need to be razed throughout our community and in the entire city.  The City’s demolition funds have been exhausted and are only being used for forthwith demolitions on severely fire damaged structures or where there is an eminent collapse condition.  The city is hoping to receive several million dollars to address these conditions.  I urge all our neighborhood activists to express their support to our County Councilman, Anthony Hairston, who’s already on board, and County Executive, Armond Budish.

I urge our neighbors to do what you can to clean up your yards and around your property.  It was a rough winter and there is a lot of debris around.  If everyone does their bit our neighborhoods can look better than they do now.

I look forward to seeing everybody at the many upcoming neighborhood events. Please feel free to call me at the office at (216) 664-4236 or email me at mpolensek@clevelandcitycouncil.org.