PHOTO BY MARY JO HOVEN

Monday, September 4, 2023; Cudell Commons Park, W. 98^th Street, just North of Madison Avenue: A view of the Bald Cypress tree from below. The tree is one of about forty mature trees that Friends of Cudell Commons Park would like to save from being torn down to make way for a new school building for Marion Seltzer School. Residents say the Cleveland Metropolitan School System’s plan presented to the community for the new school in March of 2022 did not involve removing the trees in the park. Friends of Cudell Commons Park say the school district changed its plan sometime between March of 2022 and October of 2022.

by Abe Kurp

(Plain Press, October 2023) The effort to save the trees at Cudell Commons Park received a boost on Tuesday September 19 when Judge Nancy Russo granted a restraining order, temporarily halting the plans of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) to demolish a portion of the park to make way for a new Marion C. Seltzer school. The restraining order will remain in effect until October 30.

   The plaintiffs in this case are predominantly residents of the surrounding neighborhood, who have created the advocacy group Friends of Cudell Commons Park. Former Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich has also lent his support to the cause and is also a plaintiff in this case.

   The group contends that, while students deserve a new school, it should not come at the expense of vital green space and dozens of mature trees. They also argue that Frank Cudell, the prominent local architect who gave his name to both the park and the surrounding neighborhood, gifted the park to the city upon his death in 1916 with the intention that the land should always be a park.

    “It’s very important not to forget that Frank Cudell intended this land to be a park forever – not until the city decided it was done with it and they wanted to build a school here,” said Nikki Hudson, who spoke on behalf of the Friends of Cudell Commons Park at a rally on September 20.

   Brent Eysenbach, who also spoke at the rally, said he hopes that CMSD uses the time between now and October 30 to meet with the group to create a better plan that works for everyone. However, according to Eysenbach, CMSD’s lawyers have threatened a countersuit against members of the group on grounds that their efforts are causing unnecessary delays to the project.

   “We find it outrageous that the school district would entertain using taxpayer dollars to sue their own residents over maintaining a public park,” Eysenbach said.

   A representative for CMSD told Cleveland.com that the district has not begun any countersuit. Additionally, according to Patti Choby of the Cobalt Group, who has worked closely with the district on plans to build this and many other schools, CMSD and its partners engaged in a years-long effort to inform and engage the public about the plans for this new school.

   The residents, however, say that many parts of the planning process happened behind closed doors, with little to no notice to the public. Hudson pointed to a land swap deal between the city government and CMSD that was finalized in March 2021. In this deal, Cleveland city council voted unanimously to trade the portion of the park that CMSD plans to build the new school on in exchange for the site of the former Waterson Lake elementary school in the Gordon Square area.

   “It was passed 16 to zero with no input from the public, no signs posted at the park that our park was going to be taken away, no notices in the mail to nearby residents,” Hudson said. “Honestly, I’ve gotten more notice about a neighbor building a garage than was given about the trading away of this park.”

   Eysenbach added that the land swap occurred during the pandemic, when many residents were concerned most about the immediate safety of themselves and their loved ones. Meanwhile, he said, the city government and CMSD were so focused on the possibilities for redeveloping the Waterson Lake site that they lost sight of what was best for its students.            

“Our city and CMSD planners prioritized commercial and residential redevelopment over the needs of the school and over the needs of the children,” he said.