08/05/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 8/5/2008 take public transportation. Most people did not object to the raising of rates, but they objected to cancelling the routes. Councilman Ryan remembered when he and Michael Gareau Sr. were involved in litigation 30 years ago when RTA got established. Of the three municipal routes at that time, North Olmsted was the final city that stood up to RTA and actually ended up litigating. The case was decided by Judge David Matia. RTA was allowed to run competitive routes against North Olmsted. Judge Mata issued an order and the city lost 1 S of the points. But the 16~' point which the city won was very important as Judge Matia said they must not decrease the service to the residents of North Olmsted. We may now have to take a path to address this legally to protect our citizens to make sure public transportation is there for the people who need it. As a frequent rider of the rapid, he is a huge fan of the RTA; but he is also a huge fan of our citizens. He thinks it is critical that the Mayor, Law Director and all of Council came together on this. If we have to take the legal path, that's the way we'll ultimately have to go. There are ways out there that we can defend ourselves, and he really thinks we should. Councilman Orlowski noted that at one time RTA Gen. Mgr. Mr. Calabrese had addressed a committee of Council and stated the only way mass transit is economical is if you go from point A to point B. With these cuts, they're proving their point. If you can't drive to the Park-n-Ride and get off at public square, then they don't want you to be a rider. The services need to be held and restored to our residents. AU,~IENCE PARTIC~~',~TIQN , 1) Dennis Lambert, 25D57 Carey Lane, spoke about the RTA issue. He noted other cities have cut costs by using a flexible bus that hooks up to electric lines to go down the main streets. If they have to deviate to side streets they do so, but come back to the main street and hook up to the electric lines. These cities have cut casts by being innovative but RTA has not. He noted that the RTA management and trustees are not elected and believes they think they can do what they want. He continues to believe that joint operating agreements are a better solution than regionalism. Councilman Ryan said that the mayor's group appoints four members of the RTA board of trustees, the city of Cleveland appoints five members, and the commissioners appoint two members. The city of Cleveland is heavily weighted on that board and the outer suburbs are being punished right now because of that board. But that is the way the state legislature set it up. Mr. Lambert wondered about the need and the cost of the transit police. He noted that the former CTS (Cleveland Transit System) and the privately owned Redifer system on the far east side which he used to ride did not have their own police. He believes the police departments of the individual cities could respond just as well. 2) Jennifer Rudolph, 3329 Walter Road, wanted a clarification on Mayor's report. Last evening, the Recreation Commission had an informal discussion and talked about the ice 11