March 9, 2018 The Honorable Kevin Kelley Council President Resurfacing Cleveland City Council 601 Lakeside Avenue, Room 220 Cleveland, Ohio 44114 Re: 2018 Residential Street Allocations Dear Council President Kelley: Before I begin, I would like to state, it’s “Ground Hog’s Day” once again. I just received the entire list from the Administration with regard to the 2018 Residential Street Allocation per ward. We have spoken about this during pre-budget meetings, during the actual budget hearings as well as during reconciliation at the Finance Committee Table just this last week at length. I believe you understand the importance of maintaining our infrastructure in the city as you have stated, and that you, yourself, have street and road issues in your own ward, as all of us do. However, Kevin, let me make myself perfectly clear. I am not happy with how the Administration continues to allocate residential street resurfacing dollars and why they continue to create “winners and losers” in this process; which at one time was fair and equitable. Once again, five (5) wards received the bulk of the resurfacing funds and four (4) of the five (5) received the bulk of the funds last year (2017) as well. I officially and publicly question the rating system that has been established by the Administration and their consultant. Every member of City Council could rate streets based on their own experiences, complaints and personal inspection. I did just that in the past, working in concert with my development corporations and neighborhood groups before submitting my resurfacing list to the City. No one is going to tell me that one section of the City over the past two years continues to have the worst streets. In the case of the northeast side specifically, we are in the secondary Snowbelt and no one, once again, is going to tell me that our streets are in better shape than the rest of the city. I know better. Mr. President, we were also told at the table that there would be $12 million allocated for residential resurfacing but according to my calculations the list totals $10,536,920. If you broke that out per ward it would be $619,818.82. If you were to divide $12 million by 17 wards it would be $705,882.35. Therefore, as you can see, once again, based on the list enclosed, the bulk of the resurfacing goes to less than half of the wards. Kevin, our residents are paying more for income taxes and property taxes than ever before and we have far less police patrolling our streets than we did in 2001. Yet, the level of violence we are all experiencing is unprecedented. If that isn’t bad enough the residential streets across our city neighborhoods, for the most part, look like something out of Baghdad. A fair and equitable distribution of residential street resurfacing is not only a must but it should be nothing more than common sense and common decency based on road conditions city-wide. The funds allocated in my ward are totally inadequate just as they were last year. The rating system is flawed and I don’t agree with it nor do my constituents. We are actually going backwards. Finally, I am appealing to you on behalf of the Body to level the playing field, for this is just not right as to what is taking place here. Council cannot continue to give up its legislative authority. I, for one, don’t understand what happened to the resurfacing funds that were allocated in the past for these wards whose roads are supposedly in such bad condition. We keep hearing that somehow the road issues were not addressed in five or six wards by past Leadership. Where did the funds go? I utilized the funds allocated to my ward as efficiently as I could and supplied additional dollars, whether it be UDAG, NEF or Casino funds. Those members who did likewise, are now, in essence, being punished under this new so-called “improved rating system.” I look forward to talking with you and our colleagues regarding this matter. Quite frankly, we need to discuss this entire issue in a Caucus meeting. This has to be aired out. I may be reached at my office at (216) 664-4236 or by email at mpolensek@clevelandcitycouncil.org. Sincerely yours, Michael D. Polensek Michael D. Polensek Councilman, Ward 8 CC: All Councilmembers Attachment