Just wanted to drop a quick line of THANKS to the Berea Police Department.

We recently had a child and needed to make sure the car seat was in properly. I e-mailed them and Officer Tom Walker came out to check it, he gave us some info on it and other places to follow up with to make sure it was in there correctly since 80% of car seats are not in right!

State Issue 1 is on the ballot on November 7. It is an amendment to the State Constitution to allow the state to sell bonds, that is to borrow money, in the amount of $400 million, for "conservation" and "revitalization".

This issue is a boondoggle meant to benefit the bond dealers and a few well-connected companies. The bond dealers will make millions in commissions. The companies will benefit by having the state clean up "brownfields" that are the companies responsibility. Certain people or companies will reap expensive contracts to do the work.

It is stated that Issue 1 will not increase taxes. However, it will take money out of the State's general fund to repay the loans with interest. The amount to be borrowed is $400 million. The interest will be over $220 million and by some estimates as much as $600 million.

Issue 1 also allows continuous borrowing when the initial amount is partially paid back, without limit. This means perpetual borrowing, commissions to bond dealers, and interest payments. It will be a continuous load on the State budget, which the citizen taxpayers will pay.

Berea residents will be pleased to learn that on Friday, May 19th, the new President of RTA, Mr. Calabreeze, voluntarily withdrew all of RTA's Red Line extension proposals. This was done at the recommendationof NOACA's Transportation sub-committee Chairman who, after taking a straw poll of sub-committee members, suggested to the RTA representatives that there were two things that could happen: let thecommittee vote on the RTA Red Line proposal, which in all likelihood would result in a defeat which would kill any chance of further consideration, or voluntarily withdraw its proposal and go back to thedrawing board. RTA's President elected to voluntarily withdraw RTA's proposal.

The withdrawal came after comments from Mayor Biddlecombe who expressed Berea's opposition to the RTA plan, and a Brook Park presentation outlining the value and transportation needs and opportunities that exist with the IX Center and Aerospace Technology park. Mayor Coyne followed up this presentation with comments about RTA not seeing the bigger picture, the political mess involving the IX Center and airport expansion. My sense of the outcome of all of the remarks was that until the airport expansion and IX Center issue is resolved, it is unlikely that we will see any RTA extension proposals into Berea or anywhere else.

I wanted to bring Berea Town Forum members and those interested in our city up to date on the American with Disabilities Law.

I spent the day May 4, 2000 with Attorney Skye Pettey from the Ohio Legal Rights Society. Armed with level, ruler, ADA law and a copy of the 1999 road improvements schedule provided by the City. (anything that preceded the present City Engineer as far as any improvement are concerned there just doesn't seem to be any records in existence???)The law requires that beginning in 1992 any street resurfacing or improvements also requires the addition of curb cuts....the small sidewalk that leads from the sidewalk down the tree lawn to the street. The law is very specific in its requirements. We checked all the curb cuts down by the contractor for 1999 throughout the City and found none in compliance with the law. The same contractor has been given another over $500,000 contract to do more work in the City....meaning more of the same type of work will be done unless the law is enforced.

Those that walk or use the public sidewalks know the condition of some of them in the City. In my Westbridge Drive area the sidewalks are so hazardous we measured some uprooted by the tree roots to the point of being a foot up in the air...people can't walk them, children can't ride bikes on them, no skates, and mothers push their children in their strollers in the streets because the sidewalks are too hazardous and dangerous.. we all have are forced to use the street, yet nothing is done! While I ask for curb cuts in my area and it is ignored, and we walk across peoples lawns to cross the street, in the High street, Runn street area they have curb cuts...but NO sidewalks!

My understanding is the next step will be the City will be contacted by the ADA and told to get into compliance with the law. If the City refuses it will mean litigation. The Law is the same for all cities...and Berea is no exception. The worst non-compliance and curb cut is in front of City Hall. This was found to be very interesting that even in front of the city hall the work was not done according to specifications deemed in the Law. Nothing seems to be done or have been done to correct any of these mistakes throughout the City.

There is a rather good debate that is going on a different forum. Please join in the discussion at: http://www.cleveland.com/forums/traffic/index.ssf and let our voices be heard for those against the rapid train expansion.

He was at Parknoll Elementary School listening to the 3 rd. and 4 th. graders reading their well prepared Presidential and Famous Ohioan speeches. What a wonderful man this Mayor is to take time out of his busy day to listen with interest to 16 children read 3 minute speeches. When they were all through he stepped forward to tell the children how proud he was all of them and then he chatted in the hall with parents and teachers. Thanks for being a role model Mayor and for showing children that they are important not just saying it.

Those of us who were active in the last election tried to tell everyone that the Trupo hand picked and supported candidates would be an extension of the previous administration. Expect more of the same.

Good luck.

In an article in Thursday's News Sun, The city's cost at the "Riverside Gardens" development is described. $260,000 has been authorized to pay the developers for work done there.

The city gave the land for the development to the developer for $1.00. At the time the then-proposed project was being discussed, a bridge across the river was to be included, with the city paying for the bridge, an amount of $10,000, as I remember, and the developer would install it. The bridge shown in the model was an attractive one, painted white and with flower baskets along the railings. Also, the developer would landscape the river bank, including a walkway where citizens could go to view the river. Now if you look there, there is no room for the walkway, and little space for landscaping. Instead, there is a series of ugly steel bridges there. When I questioned Mr. Caprini at a later Planning Commission meeting related to another proposed development, he stated that HE had paid a lot of money for the bridges, and they are of very high quality; perhaps high quality for an industrial application, but not for a lovely river view. He also stated that the walkway would still be made.

Now, the city is paying him $260,000. Who authorized that? I have attended most of the council meetings, and never heard any mention of any of this. Why was this kept from the people? What can be done to stop this squandering of public money?

If you happened to read my Letter to the Editor, printed in The Plain Dealer on Thursday, 2-17-00 (regarding the manner in which the PD covers Brook Park Mayor Thomas Coyne), you missed two key sentences. The PD cut them out. It is common for newspapers to edit submitted letters for space and clarity, and I have no reason to believe that the material was removed for any untoward reason.

Still, the omission could easily blur my meaning with respect to the issue of airport expansion.

Following the sentence, "The airport runway issue is a red herring" I wrote: "Given the very real space constraints at Hopkins, it will never be able to meet the air service needs that are expected in the coming years. The only responsible answer is to build a second airport, one more centrally located to the region."

I just had to say that when I started out for work both today(1/21) and yesterday, the crews that clean the streets in the city did a great job. I had no trouble getting through my side street and the main streets looked as if it had only rained.

Just a quick comment about life in the condo's. If I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to have my front door open up to a street, I am assuming I would be dumb enough to tell everyone that I love it to, because I was dumb enough to buy it in the first place. Those condos downtown are horrible, it gives an overcrowded feel and there is no two ways about it.

Tonight I had a conversation with Jim Connell, Superintendent of Berea Schools, regarding his new condo in downtown Berea. His response when I asked how he liked living there... a very emphatic "I LOVE IT!!!" Neighbors will be moving into the other units soon and he is excited about his new home. So there you have it, a very satisfied new resident.

The comment period regarding the planned, first-stage expansion of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is fast coming to an end. The original deadline was the 29th of December. It has subsequently been extended 30 days by the FAA.

Comments are being solicited concerning Cleveland's plan to lengthen one runway, and to essentially move another. The new configuration would be similar to the one that exists now (two parallel runways, running northeast to southwest), the change primarily being that more separation would exist between the runways, and one would be longer than it is now. The modifications would allow larger aircraft to use the facility, and would permit simultaneous takeoffs and landings.

Personally, I have no objection to that plan; I see in it no harm to Berea. (Cleveland's long-term plan to create a new runway -- through the IX Center -- WOULD, I believe, pose a threat to Berea. That issue, however, is not the one about which the FAA is currently seeking comment.)

What I DO object to, however, is the change in Hopkins takeoffs (to the southwest) that involve "fanning out." The fanning-out procedure involves the planes' turning from the direct runway heading to either the left or right "as soon as possible" after takeoff. The new takeoff procedure is intended partly to insure safety, partly to get planes on their destination headings sooner, and partly to spare Olmsted Falls residents some of the inconvenience of air traffic over their city. My personal belief is that the last of these considerations is the dominant one. (If you've been reading the papers lately, you know that O.F. has retained a lawyer to fight the expansion plan.)

I believe that the new takeoff procedure spares Olmsted Falls at Berea's expense. While it seems to be true that planes are indeed "fanning out," they seem to be turning left (southward, toward Berea) far more often than they are turning right. If you live in the western side of Berea, you've no doubt observed the greatly increased air traffic over our town, and the convoluted takeoff patterns (some planes actually make SEVERAL turns in an obvious attempt to lessen noise over Olmsted Falls).

I have met with Mayor Biddlecombe, Councilman Malott, and members of Berea's staff, and I believe they are working to protect our interests with respect to this matter. Still, I urge you to express your views directly to the FAA:

Mr. Ernest P. Gubry
FAA Airports District Office
Willow Run Airport, East
8820 Beck Road, Suite 1
Belleville, MI 48111-1294
FAX: (734) 487-7299