WAS THIS $1,000,000.00 RTA PROPERTY PURCHASE NECESSARY?

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 11:08.

On March 1, 2007 Realneo carried this report about the RTA’s million dollar purchase of a wasted 7 story mill building at 6611 Euclid Avenue. The RTA purchased the building from Cleveland’s DeGeronimo family for a million dollars.

According to the RTA’s James DeRosa, the RTA had to purchase the building because the design for the new Euclid right-of-way for the RTA buses demanded additional street width – and the only way to get the necessary street width was to buy the entire derelict mill building at 6611 Euclid and demolish one bay on the Euclid Avenue side of the building.

After the RTA purchased the building from DeGeronimo, the RTA also hired the DeGeronimo owned company Precision Environmental, to construct a metal stud/metal facade to close the demolished face of the building which had been left for months with no safety railing or other fall prevention barrier.

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Saturday, out of curiosity, I stopped and measured the distance between the remaining face of the building and the new wood rail fence – a distance of about 24 feet at the narrow(west corner ) of the building.

Presently, the remaining bays on the Euclid side of the building (perpendicular to Euclind) measure about 20 feet deep (center to center on the columns) so it is reasonable to assume that the bay which was demolished was also about 20 feed deep.

Maybe I am missing something, but I don’t understand why the building was purchased by the Greater Cleveland Rapid Transit Authority (RTA).

Does anyone have photos of the face of the building before the demolition?

I'll check Google Earth and Street View...

The remaining shell of the building and the lot is for sale..

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This is the kind of

Submitted by Roldo on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 12:15.

This is the kind of investigative reporting we don't get from the PD or Carl Monday or his competitors.

This the kind of mismanagement, if not corruption, that's eating away at our community.

Mismanagement or Corruption?

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 12:40.

We fools put our trust in our Foundations, and community buisiness leaders, and their made government officials to do well for us and they failed. Cleveland is doing worse than the rest of the nation and world because of the people leading here... the same people who wasted $1,000,000 here and there in Philanthropy For The Rich, and left the rest of us so poor.

At the core of this failure is our failing newspaper, failing faster than other newspapers in lock step with the other more failing Cleveland institutions and enterprises in the region.

We trusted our newspaper and they failed all of us. It must be replaced... ideally before it gets any worse there and here.

Disrupt IT

About Investigative Reporter Buster

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 17:53.

I don't know much about Jeff Buster, other than he is wicked smart, went to Harvard, was a successful entrepreneur, is an expert in construction, lives nearly off the grid, has the coolest friends and family in the world, and is nice and good a person as you may have the good fortune to meet. Would that qualify him tp be an investigative reporter? What do you think, Roldo? Does he need to take some correspondence course to get his "license"?

Disrupt IT

6611 aerial sideview before demo

Submitted by Susan Miller on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 16:25.

Here is a aerial side view showing the buildings at 6611 Euclid Avenue prior to demolition of the entire building on the west corner and  face of the adjacent building facing Euclid next to the Dunham Tavern.

6611 had 2 bays removed

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 16:35.

From the photo in Susan Miller's post above it is clear that 2 bays were removed from the face of 6611 Euclid.   

The question still remains: was this necesary to provide the minimum ROW for the Euclid Corridor design?   

Could the ROW been shifted further towards Gallucci's to allow 6611 to remain undisturbed?

 

RTA design issues

Submitted by lmcshane on Sun, 01/04/2009 - 19:59.

There are so many design and structural problems with the "Health Line," right out of the chute...the cement...the confusing orientation of station platforms....the lack of bicycle/stroller storage as promised...

Not to mention the lack of any structured fare collection...so far, I have had three rides and have never been asked to pay... 

And, I am not the only one who disagrees with Steven Litt.  Jeanne Coppola has a few choice words.

Finally, free transit as an economic driver

Submitted by TimFerris on Sun, 01/04/2009 - 21:43.

I didn't think "they" were listening when I began proposing free transit as an economic driver, but I guess they were. Laura, thanks for the report.

We have to remember that inexpensive or free mobility for all is right alongside free public education as a means of hoisting a region up out of the muck by its own bootstraps.

Who could possibly be against it?

What are the savings of doing away with the ticket/fare system, as they seem to be doing already, unintentionally?

What do fares raise each year, anyway, measured against the costs of collecting them--initial costs and ongoing costs?

When I ride the buses, I run into malfunctioning fare boxes fairly often--often enough to make me think they may be a headache and perhaps more trouble than they're worth.