CLEVELAND, Ohio - Only eight days remain before the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority will be forced to pay the federal government $12 million for not running buses through Public Square.
Local transit advocates want to see city government take action to reopen Superior Avenue to buses before it's too late.
In a rally at City Hall before tonight's City Council meeting, Clevelanders for Public Transit, a local riders' organization, called for members of Cleveland City Council to force Mayor Frank Jackson to reopen Public Square to buses.
"We're trying to make sure they still know we're here," Akshai Singh, a member of Clevelanders for Public Transit, said during the rally. "If they don't decide to move on the Mayor, they're really abdicating their power."
What's been happening
The square has been closed to buses since Aug. 1 when Mayor Jackson chose to ban buses in favor of a unified Public Square. Mayor Jackson has said he would reopen the square to bus traffic if there was no way to keep it closed without harming RTA's operations or bottom line, and if RTA addresses the city's safety concerns.
RTA is on the clock from the Federal Transit Administration to either reopen Superior Avenue through the square to buses or to repay $12 million in federal grants it received for the the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project by Feb. 21.
Because the city will not permit buses to cross Public Square, RTA is not upholding its end of a funding deal it made for the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project, the FTA asserts. The Euclid Corridor Transportation Project established the HealthLine, which runs down Euclid Avenue and ends in Public Square.
Mayor Jackson has said RTA has not been acting in good faith about Public Square and, ultimately, has slowed down the process of reopening the square.
The mayor said he will not reopen the square to buses until potential terrorist threats are addressed and a safety mitigation plan is established. And that means going beyond what K & J Consulting assessed in a security study RTA had it complete on the square.
This story is being updated.
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