Federal Transit Administration Demands $12 Million from Cleveland Regional Transit Authority

FTA Demands $12 Million from RTA; Mayor Jackson's Public Square Nightmare Scenario Arrives

In the most striking and authoritative corrective to Frank Jackson's Public Square decision-making to date, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has issued a letter demanding $12 million in 30 days from the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA).

So egregious is the city's ongoing violation of a previous contract that the FTA didn't even wait for Mayor Frank Jackson and RTA CEO Joe Calabrese to make their case. The FTA letter, dated Dec. 20, came to light Thursday evening after WKYC broke the story.

The letter is a condemnation of Jackson himself and of the city's arrogance throughout the process. It echoes the grim forecast of city councilman Brian Cummins, who decried the outrageous premise of the current Public Square conversation in a council hearing about the matter on Nov. 30 — the only public hearing to date.

If Jackson insisted on having this conversation after the fact, Cummins shouted, then the city and RTA were legally obliged to keep Superior open while the discussion played out, lest they breach the 2004 agreement tied to the Euclid Corridor Project. Specific federal funds in that grant were premised on ridership numbers in a "carefully designed" Downtown Transit Zone with "high levels of patronage" at Public Square.

Read more: http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2016/12/30/fta-demands-12-million-from-rta-mayor-jacksons-public-square-nightmare-scenario-arrives