RTA -redline "community workshop"

April 18th - 5pm - 9.30pm
April 19th - 8am - 1.00pm

Community Workshop regarding E120th Red Line Station
Community Room, Abington Arms Apartments
11501 Mayfield Road

There is a lot going down in University Circle. FOA will be designing a new home for Clevland's MOCA and MVRDV will be designing the new expansion for Cleveland Institute of Art. Now there is the option for Cleveland to tie it all together by creating a wonderful travel nexus for the GCRTA by refurbishing/re-imagining the E120th Redline Station between Euclid and Mayfield roads.

This station is a rather important one as it serves Case Wester Reserve University, CIA and University Hospitals as well as offers access to the University Circle collection of cultural institutions and various neighborhoods around Euclid and Mayfield. Over the years the existing 120th station has gathered some rather questionable accolades such as "Station you don't want to be at after 6pm", "Most akin to reeking of stale urine", "Best place to bring new visitors you hate", etc and is in dire need of becoming something more functional, pleasant and with the current movement of design in the area, wonderful.

The attached photo was the first I had heard of a specific date/time for a community workshop regarding the planning of said station. I discovered it on Friday (the 13th) whilst jumping off the red line early to make my way to Tremont for the ArtWalk. The notice asked for an RSVP by Friday. I don't know when this was posted (I am responsible for removing one "free guitar lesson style" pull tab) but it seemed to generate enough interest to at least have two other people pull tabs. I am concerned that I didn't see one of these at the Triscuit station or at Tower City (my two regular stops) since one has a gigantic lot and collects a lot of riders and Tower City which is a major nexus.

I also noticed nothing on RTA's website. In fact, during various google searches the only thing that actually came up was Green City Blue Lake (who know EVERYTHING) so I have no idea how anyone was really supposed to know about this thing.

Regardless, there is opportunity here for those interested in making sure that a major cultural gateway in Cleveland is designed with, well, attention to things that are typically overlooked, you might want to swing by a workshop. I know it is too late to RSVP so pack a lunch or dinner and bring your own notepad and camera. There is a lot of possibility and potential here and careful attention will have to be paid to an area and structure of such importance so that it doesn't get screwed up. We don't need any more examples of poor public spaces in Cleveland.