As a result – the public was kept out of Public Square so that the private sponsors and their clients could make money using space meant for the public.

Oktoberfest is scheduled to be held in Cleveland from September 16-18, 2016.

The general admission fee listed was $10.

The major sponsors are Cleveland Scene Magazine, Destination Cleveland, and Downtown Cleveland Alliance. There are also other sponsors.

 

Big Truck at the entrance to Public Square a.k.a. Jimmy Dimora Public Square @ Superior Avenue & West Roadway! The truck facilitated an elevated stage for event performances.

The public was kept out of Public Square a.k.a. Jimmy Dimora Public Square.

The water feature was turned off and the children were kept out of Public Square a.k.a. Jimmy Dimora Public Square. The area with the water feature was covered with a tent.

Satinder P. S. Puri, Cleveland’s perennial protester was kept out of Public Square a.k.a. Jimmy Dimora Public Square.

The perimeter of Public Square a.k.a. Jimmy Dimora Public Square was barricaded to keep non-paying Clevelander’s out of a public space.

On August 14, 2016, Mayor Jackson was urged via e-mail to open Superior Avenue immediately to RTA bus traffic and reimburse the RTA for the estimated costs. Similar requests were made at the Cuyahoga County Council meetings of August 9 and September 13, 2016.

According to the August 14, 2016 e-mail:

“I urge you to open Superior Avenue immediately to RTA bus traffic and reimburse the RTA for the following estimated costs as per the Traffic Consultant’s Report:

 

$3.5 million for 16-month construction period.

$1 million (annually) for closing Ontario Street permanently.

$4,384 for every day Superior Avenue was closed after the

official opening on June 30, 2016.”

Best regards.

 

Satinder P. S. Puri

MAYOR JACKSON OPEN SUPERIOR AVENUE!

MAYOR JACKSON THROWING RTA RIDERS UNDER THE BUS BY NOT PAYING PUBLIC SQUARE COSTS!

ESTIMATED COSTS TO CASH-STRAPPED RTA AS PER TRAFFIC CONSULTANT’S REPORT OF 2012:

Construction: $3.5 million.

Closure of Ontario Street: $1 million per year.

Closure of Superior Avenue (not opened as of September 17, 2016): $1.6 million per year or $4,384 per day.

WELCOME JIMMY DIMORA PUBLIC SQUARE MIRED IN CORRUPTION!

WELCOME $50 MILLION JIMMY DIMORA PUBLIC SQUARE --- A PRODUCT OF CLEVELAND’S CORRUPT SYSTEM!

*The recently completed Public Square, a bogus project, has been nicknamed the Jimmy Dimora Public Square because of corruption involved in the process.

 

*There was nothing wrong with the historic 218-year old Public Square (opened in 1796 and that under went a senseless destruction starting in March 2015) that a little rehabilitation could not fix. There was no shortage of grass, flowers, elegant trees, granite benches, a fountain, a waterfall, and also a splash pool.

 

The historic Public Square used to bustle with activity. For over 20 years the Cleveland Orchestra held their annual Independence Day concerts in historic Public Square. In 2004 – 80,000 people attended the concert. In 2012 – thousands attended Marine Week.

 

*The main objective of the renovated Public Square is to help the rich and powerful who are expected to benefit from a rise in real estate values while the rest of us will get shortchanged. With billions invested downtown – the poverty rate in the 10-year period (2001-2010) climbed from 31 to 37% -- so the prosperity has not trickled down.

 

*The renovated Public Square reflects the flawed vision of Mayor Jackson who in a 2011 interview said: “I want to see one big square”. According to the Traffic Consultant’s Report of 2012 -- see Reference No 2, the Mayor’s vision was not workable and his honor – instead of one big square had to settle for two rectangles – little knowing that the revised vision was not a workable one either. Both visions came with a heavy penalty on the cash-strapped RTA as discussed earlier.

*Mass deception was used to promote the project. The attached rendering from the office of James Corner Field Operations was shown ad infinitum by the media and the promoters of the project during the promotion of the renovated Public Square – a geometric transformation from a 4-quadrant configuration to a two rectangle shape with a closed Ontario Street and a narrowed Superior Avenue (from 77 ft. 48 ft.) designed for four lanes of RTA bus traffic.

 

The rendering shows the narrowed Superior Avenue with eight bus stops – and only one bus as far as the eye can see conveying the impression of a romantic landscape in an urban setting – totally devoid from the actual reality.

The RTA  makes 4,000 bus trips to Public Square every day. Assuming 50% of the trips along Superior Avenue – there would definitely be more than one bus.

As someone who actively opposed the bogus project (so far there have been over 800 hours of demonstrations first with the Leave Public Square Alone signs and now with the Welcome Jimmy Dimora Public Square signs)  – this was a glaring case of mass deception.

People looking at the rendering were exclaiming: WOW! AWESOME!

 

And in numerous appearances before the RTA Board and Cuyahoga County Council  (available on YouTube) and in correspondence with Mayor Jackson (ten e-mails and two certified letters on which no response was received from his honor) – I stated many times: MASS DECEPTION!

 

Architects are known to have facilitated State propaganda. No matter how much Mr. Corner wants to keep out the buses from his renovated PublicSquare -- that the office of an internationally respected landscape architect produced this deceptive rendering is very discouraging.

 

 

*No full-scale Traffic Test was conducted and no Public Meetings were held. RTA rejected theTest and the Public Meetings – saying it was not their project even though they will be spending millions paying for operating costs.

*No Environmental Impact Statement – explaining presence of HAZARDOUS MATERIALS (Asbestos, Lead, Mercury, etc.) in old electrical utilities buried under Public Square was provided.

*No plan was submitted explaining how ambulances and fire trucks will get around the crowded perimeter roadway.

*Mayor Jackson (“It is what it is is”) did not respond to ten e-mails and two certified letters raising questions about the project.

I also sought the intervention of the well-connected Senior Pastor of Old Stone Church with two e-mails and a certified letter – again there was no response. The Senior Pastor happens to live in the a building facing the renovated Public Square and will benefit, as will his flock, from any rise in real estate values at the expense of the poor and working class people who ride the RTA and who will subsidize the bogus project with increased fares and reduced services.