Cleveland council members oppose Slavic Village for jail site

CLEVELAND — In a location on Pershing Avenue in Slavic Village, the 40-acre site that used to be the home of a steel mill is now being considered for the new Cuyahoga County Jail.

On the surface, it may seem like the perfect spot. However, Ward 12 Cleveland City Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer strongly disagrees.

“I know it looks like a great location, but it’s right next a key residential area,” Maurer said during Monday’s Cleveland City Council meeting. “We need the jail to be somewhere where it works for the neighborhood and it’s not there in Slavic Village.”

On the county’s website, it says the site in Slavic Village is one of many locations the county is looking at. According to Allegro Real Estate Brokers and Advisors, the industrial site known as the Cuyahoga Valley Industrial Center is the largest industrial development opportunity in Cleveland since the mid-1900s.

Ward 5 Councilman Richard Starr noted that the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio has a location on Broadway near the proposed site and doesn’t want the jail anywhere in his ward. He says kids should be able to walk and know there is a place for them, adding that a Boys and Girls Club is what they should see, not a jail.

“We don’t need a jail in our neighborhood,” he says. “It doesn’t belong in Ward 5 or Ward 12.”

Earlier this month, Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio released a statement condemning what it called a “misguided and secretive pursuit” of a new jail site. The non-profit claimed such construction would negatively impact the community, particularly kids who frequent the flagship club on Broadway Avenue.

“Cleveland ranks No. 1 in the country for child poverty,” the statement read, in part. “Don’t allow the kids in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods grow up in the shadow of a jail. By doing so, you would be sending a terrible message.”

In addition to Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio, Maurer and Starr note that the Slavic Village Development Corporation, University Settlement, Neighbors in North Broadway and many individual residents have all opposed building the jail at the proposed site. 

The proposed new corrections center would be able house 1,900 inmates, and outgoing County Executive Armond Budish is asking County Council for a sales tax extension to fund the project. The new jail would replace the existing one on Lakeside Avenue that is inside the Justice Center.

There has been no final decision on where a new county jail should be built, but the management group in charge of the project gives you an opportunity to respond. Click here for more.