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Resolution No. 2004-193 WHEREAS, in light of the 30-year working relationship between GCRTA and the cities of North Olmsted and Maple Heights that has so well served the bus transit needs of the residents of the western and eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County, and the obvious adverse economic impact that the "subsidize or merge" proposal of GCRTA will have on both the communities of North Olmsted and Maple Heights, GCRTA should delay implementation of its current plans regarding the suburban bus lines, conduct studies on the impact that elimination of the North Olmsted and Maple Heights bus lines will have on suburban transit needs in Cuyahoga County, consider other proposals that address the transit needs of the suburbs rather than simply resolve short-term budgetary problems, and strategically plan, if appropriate and necessary, on a long- term basis, and with sufficient advance notice, for the eventual acquisition of the NOMBL and Maple Heights Bus Lines by GCRTA; and WHEREAS, this Council believes that current plan of GCRTA regarding NOMBL and the Maple Heights Bus Line is short-sighted and will have a negative impact on the quality of bus service in west and east suburban areas of Cuyahoga County, and that it should not be implemented at the same time that GCRTA is moving forward to spend $250 million on the downtown Euclid Corridor Project, which is designed to address the transit needs of downtown Cleveland, rather than the suburbs of Cuyahoga County; and WHEREAS, the City of North Olmsted is the second largest and strongest retail sector in Cuyahoga County, and, through sales taxes generated at the Great Northern Mall and other retail establishments up and down Lorain Road, provides an estimated $15-20 million each year in revenues used by GCRTA for its operations; and WHEREAS, the actions of GCRTA, and the Hobson's choice it has presented to both the cities of North Olmsted and Maple Heights, will likely have an adverse economic impact on the Great Northern Mall, and other retail properties in North Olmsted which provide significant financial support to the operations of GCRTA; and WHEREAS, the actions of GCRTA, and the Hobson's choice it has presented to both the cities of North Olmsted and Maple Heights, will also have a decided adverse impact on the general fund operations of the cities of North Olmsted and Maple Heights, particularly with respect to a loss of the administrative fees paid by GCRTA and the income taxes paid by bus line employees working in the two cities; and WHEREAS, it is therefore the desire of the Mayor and the entire City Council, in light of the foregoing, to urge the GCRTA Board of Trustees to review the current GCRTA plans with respect to NOMBL and the Maple Heights Bus Line, to consider the negative impact that the alleged economy of scale cost savings will have on the quality of bus service in the western and eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County at a time when GCRTA is expending hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars addressing the transit needs of downtown Clevelanders, and to further consider the financial impact this "subsidize or merge" plan, belatedly proposed by GCRTA management in the last quarter of 2004, will have upon the cities of North Olmsted and Maple Heights, in 2005 and in years to come; 2