PHOTO BY DEBBIE SADLON
Thursday, April 19, 2012; NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) office at the United Building, 2012 West 25th Street: Sally Follett is the Volunteer Coordinator at NAMI Greater Cleveland. May is Mental Health Month.

PHOTO BY DEBBIE SADLON
Friday, April 20, 2012; NAMI Greater Cleveland Annual meeting, Hilton Garden Inn, 1100 Carnegie Avenue: Board of Directors Treasurer, Dianna Bell (right) and volunteer Sakeenah Francis (left)–the recipient of The Scott Adamson Memorial Peer Award

PHOTO BY DEBBIE SADLON
Thursday, April 19, 2012; NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) office at the United Building, 2012 West 25th Street: Michael Baskin is the Executive Director at NAMI Greater Cleveland. NAMI is dedicated to helping improve the lives of people affected by mental illness.

by Lynne Meyer

(Plain Press, May 2012) Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Abraham Lincoln.  Ludwig van Beethoven. Winston Churchill. Ernest Hemingway. Isaac Newton. Michelangelo. Terry Bradshaw. Mike Wallace. Buzz Aldrin. David Letterman.

Actress, president, composer, political leader, writer, scientist, artist, sports star, news reporter, astronaut and talk show host. These individuals are from all walks of life. They all have one thing in common, however — mental illness.

 The fact is, one adult in four  — approximately 58 million Americans — experiences some kind of mental disorder in any given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Given this statistic, chances are pretty good that you know a loved one, a friend or a colleague with a mental illness — be it depression, bipolar, schizophrenia or an anxiety disorder.

Fortunately for Greater Clevelanders and their families and friends touched by mental illness, there’s help available from the Greater Cleveland Chapter of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to helping improve the lives of millions of Americans affected by mental illness. The non-profit organization was founded in 1979 and has affiliates in every state and more than 1,200 local communities across the country. NAMI has a vital mission of advocacy, research, support and education.

The Greater Cleveland chapter of NAMI (NAMI GC) is located in the heart of Ohio City – on the sixth floor of the United Office Building, right at the corner of West 25^th Street and Lorain Avenue. NAMI GC has a staff of four full-time and six-part time employees. With the assistance of volunteers who receive services and also family members, NAMI GC provides information, referrals, education programs and 28 free support groups throughout the Greater Cleveland area. A board of trustees and a medical advisory board help guide the chapter.

According to Michael Baskin, executive director of NAMI GC, “Mental illness affects everyone in one way, shape or another, whether someone has a mental illness himself or herself, or it’s a family member, friend or colleague.”


NAMI GC offers three key programs to help those touched by mental illness. The Family-to-Family education program provides information about the biology of the brain and family coping skills. The NAMI Basics program is for parents and caregivers of a child or adolescent living with mental illness. The third one, called Peer-to-Peer, is a 10-week experiential education program, two hours a week, for individuals with serious mental illness who are interested in establishing and maintaining wellness.

Mental health myths

The stigma about mental illness is a major problem, according to Baskin, and there are a number of myths that NAMI of Greater Cleveland works to dispel. “The most prevalent myth is that mental illness is the result of a weakness of character. In reality, it’s a product of the interaction of biology, psychology and social factors.”

People also presume that individuals with mental illness are violent and unpredictable. “In reality,” he explains, “they’re no more violent than anyone else. In fact, they’re more likely to be victims of crime than to be perpetuating them.”

Another myth about mental illness is that people can’t get better from it. “It’s important to note that mental disorders are illnesses and are treatable,” Baskin notes. “Some disorders are manageable with medication and behavioral therapy; others require more intense treatment. Most people get better, and many can fully recover.”

Mission to combat stigma

NAMI GC uses awareness and education to combat mental health myths. “Our community education program includes our walk-a-thon each September, which is the largest mental health walk-a-thon in the state,” Baskin says. “About 2,000 people walk, and $150,000 is raised. There’s also a car wash and a music event attached to the walk.”  NAMI GC’s annual meeting each April is another fundraiser for the organization. “These and other funding sources enable us to provide education programs to help combat the stigma of mental illness,” he states. 

Another program, called In Our Voice, helps raise awareness and provide accurate information about mental illness. “The individuals who participate in this program first attend one of our support groups and then volunteer in some capacity. They may then become willing to tell people about their experience with mental illness,” Baskin explains. Dianna Bell is one such volunteer.

Dianna Bell, 31, was diagnosed with depression when she was about 21 and then later diagnosed in 2007 with bipolar. “I’ve dealt with the extremes of severe depression as well as mania,” she explains. “I began using NAMI’s services in 2008 by attending a support group.”

Bell has been stable since 2009. “I wanted to find a way to give back to the organization that had helped me so much and also give back to the community,” she recalls. “By joining the In Our Voice program, I share my story with patients in the psychiatric areas of hospitals and help give them hope.”

Bell, who was also featured in a local women’s publication and did an interview on a local TV station in late 2011, had some fears about how going public and speaking out would affect her professionally. However, she says she hasn’t experienced any negatives. She has been in management with a local financial institution in Ohio City for the past five years. “They’ve always stood behind me, even when I was really ill,” she states. Bell also serves as the Board Treasurer for NAMI GC.

Bell mentions two more mental health myths – that people with mental illness can’t be productive members of society and also that people should be able to “just get over it.” “Mental illness isn’t a character flaw,” she states. “It’s an illness like any other physical illness and needs treatment.” She encourages individuals struggling with mental illness to seek out support services like those offered through NAMI GC.

Baskin and Bell agree that others can help combat the stigma surrounding mental illness by talking about it, educating themselves and not judging someone who has a mental illness.

For more information and referrals, call 216-875-7776 or go to NAMI’s website at www.namigreatercleveland.org

PHOTO BY DEBBIE SADLON
Friday, April 20, 2012; NAMI Greater Cleveland Annual meeting, Hilton Garden Inn, 1100 Carnegie Avenue: NAMI Greater Cleveland staff. Top Row (L-R): Bridget Murphy, Special Events Coordinator; Becky Fela, Peer Support Specialist; Michael Baskin, Executive Director; Evelyn Rivera-Mosquera, Bilingual Outreach Coordinator; Ellen Riehm, Community Education Coordinator. Middle Row (L-R): Terri Miller, Consumer and Family Program Coordinator; Marsha Mitchell-Blanks, Multicultural Outreach Coordinator; Kari Kepic, Helpline Assistant. Bottom Row (L-R): Sally Follett, Volunteer Coordinator and Liz Krull, Office Assistant.

by Renee Borghesi

(Plain Press, May 2012) The Breen Center at St. Ignatius High School was brimming with Ohio City residents for the Annual Meeting of Ohio City, Inc. on Wednesday night. Earlier in the day of April 18^th, residents were voting on four new Board of Trustees members, by-laws, and a neighborhood improvement project. As the voting continued at the Breen Center later that night, the lobby became crowded with lines of voters, the mingling of friends and neighbors, and those enjoying the food brought in by Soho, the new restaurant on West 25^th Street. 

President of the Ohio City, Inc. Board of Trustees Damon Taseff kicked off the evening by naming the ways the city has recently come together to promote change. From the Market Square renovations, establishing SID (Service Improvement District), turning the empty space on West 25^th where Moda once stood to Mitchell’s Ice cream, and the city’s first Easter Egg Roll, Ohio City has been changing for the better.

 “In 2012 let us make this a safer neighborhood.” Ward 3 Councilman Joe Cimperman declared. “Let us make us a healthier neighborhood, let us make this a more cohesive neighborhood, and a neighborhood that serves and houses and loves anyone…”

Indeed, Ohio City is on its way. Potholes are being fixed; landscaping is being done; the West Side Market is hosting the International Market Conference; and, even in troubling economic times, more businesses are popping up in the city.

Eric Wobster, Executive Director of Ohio City, Inc., said in the last two years thirty new businesses have started up in Ohio City, which he dubbed “the small business capital of Cleveland”. The thirty businesses joined 200 locally owned businesses in the neighborhoods, creating 400 jobs. According to Wobster, there are also over 50 non-profit agencies in Ohio City.

Taseff remarked that voting during the day alone was double the total last year. As the ballots were being counted, local people and businesses were recognized.

A number of awards to Ohio City residents were handed out, from Joy Machine’s Alex Nosse to St. Patrick’s Deacon Bill Merriman. In addition, five Ohio City Neighborhood Award Winners were announced via video. Joel Elvery and Lynn Phares won the Arts & Culture Award for their Mechanic Street House Concert, Crop Bistro received the Commercial Preservation Award, the West Side Market Tenants Association won the Legacy Award, Alex Gleason (Old Angle) won the Residential Preservation Award, and the Presidents Award went to LAND studio. The video can be found on Ohio City Inc.’s website at www.ohiocity.org.

Results came in early the next morning. The four newly elected members to the Board of Trustees are Octavia Davis, Dolores “Lola” Garcia Prignitz, Al Mancuso, and Erick McLaughlin.

Davis is an Ordained Minister of Mount Zion Fellowship of Savior Church and a member of the Neighborhood Voices Coalition. Prignitz, a volunteer for Minds Matter Cleveland, won another term on the Board. Former president of the Parish Assembly (Council) and Near West Theater volunteer Mancuso won a spot on the board. The fourth spot went to McLaughlin, an active West 38^th Street resident and employee of University Circle, Inc.

The winner of funds for a neighborhood improvement project was the Ohio City Tee Ball League Equipment and Shed. This is the first tee ball league and it will kick off Saturday, June 16^th at Fairview Park. The League serves children on the Near West Side. The Tee Ball League equipment and shed beat out other neighborhood projects that aimed to continue the beautification of Lorain Avenue bus shelters with local images that showcase the city’s diversity, and the expansion of pubic art at Dunbar and Orchard Elementary schools.

Four by-laws were also voted on. The decision to extend membership application deadlines and nominations for Trustee applications that fall on a weekend or holiday to the next business day was approved, along with allowing the Board to meet in an executive session upon a majority vote of Trustees present. The by-law that would allow Board members to vote on any resolution by secret ballot upon motion and three affirmative votes by Trustees was rejected.

PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Thursday, April 19, 2012, James L. Stricklin Crisis Center, 8315 Detroit Avenue: The James L. Stricklin Crisis Center, closed briefly in early April after Bridgeway, which ran the mental health crisis center, announced it was closing. The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board, which is responsible for planning, monitoring and coordinating funding for mental health services in Cuyahoga County, and the Ohio Department of Mental Health have reopened the Stricklin Crisis Center. The ADAMHS Board is seeking a new agency to run the facility.

by Chuck Hoven

(Plain Press, May 2012) On March 28, Bridgeway, a local mental health agency headquartered at 8301 Detroit Avenue, announced a decision by its Board of Trustees to cease operations. In announcing its closing, Bridgeway said it “currently owns 22 properties in Cuyahoga County, employs 82 individuals and today serves 565 clients a day across six programs, including 3 residential facilities, 16 independent living sites and the only crisis stabilization unit in Cuyahoga County.”

In announcing its decision to close, the Bridgeway Board of Trustees cited severe cuts in mental health funding for community services and drug and alcohol treatment funding over the past decade in the state of Ohio. The Board of Trustees decided “Bridgeway could not reduce its expenses without jeopardizing client care and therefore must close.”

While Bridgeway originally planned to continue operating in April while helping clients to transition to other programs, its request for funding for the transition was denied by the Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County (ADAMHS). The ADAMHS Board, which plans, monitors and oversees funding for drug and alcohol addiction and mental services in Cuyahoga County, decided to begin immediately operating Bridgeway programs and services on April 3^rd.

In announcing the April 3^rd decision by the ADAMHS Board, David J. Lundeen the Chief Executive Officer of Bridgeway and the Community Care Network, which oversees the finances of Bridgeway and the Cleveland Christian Home, said: “Our top priority has been and continues to be Bridgeway clients and their transfer to other agencies in an orderly, dignified manner. We are very, very glad that Bridgeway clients will receive continuity of care during this difficult process, and that the ADAMHS Board plans to move consumers, staff and programs to new agencies in a wholesale manner. That is a good outcome for clients and staff. While this process is occurring, we will begin taking steps to dissolve the organization.”

The ADAMHS Board and staff took immediate action. On April 20^th, ADAMHS Chief Executive Officer Bill Denihan said, “The transition is going smoothly. I’m thrilled that it is going so well.” Denihan said that the 400 Medicaid clients that received outreach services and home visits from Bridgeway were contacted by ADAMHS staff and offered assistance in finding a new provider. Two provider fairs where scheduled in April, one at the ADAMHS office in the United Building at 2012 W. 25^th and a second at Bridgeway at 8301 Detroit. According to a spokesperson for ADAMHS, before the second provider fair scheduled for April 20th, all but 75 of the Medicaid clients had picked a new provider.

ADAMHS also sponsored a job fair for former Bridgeway employees. Other area mental health providers have hired some former Bridgeway staff, said Denihan.

Denihan expressed his pride in the ADAMHS Board staff and area providers for their response in assuring continuity of care for mental health clients during the transition period.

Denihan says the ADAMHS Board reached an understanding with the union that represents Bridgeway employees (Service Employees International Union District 1199) to allow ADAMHS to enter into independent contracts with former Bridgeway employees that work with roughly 110 clients in the residential homes, group homes and the Stricklin Crisis Center.  The temporary contracts are with fifty-five employees, including two psychiatrists, said ADAMHS’ spokesperson Scott Osiecki.

Denihan says, with the independent contracts, former Bridgeway staff members continued to provide services at the residential and group homes without missing a beat.

Denihan said a request for proposals have been issued to area providers inviting them to bid on providing services and administering the residential apartments, group homes and the crisis shelter. He said the providers who receive the contracts would hire staff for the facilities. He said the providers will be encouraged to consider hiring Bridgeway’s former staff members which he called “a pretty committed staff.”

While the ADAMHS Board is working to aid in the smooth transition for Bridgeway’s mental health consumers, the Community Care Network, which provided administrative services for Bridgeway, has agreed to continue operating the Pharmacy at Bridgeway’s Detroit Avenue office at least until the end of April, maybe longer depending on foot traffic, says Community Care Network’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Jim McCafferty. After that, McCafferty says a Central Care Fill at its Scranton headquarters can send out medicine to case managers or the various group homes. McCafferty said Pharmacy Coop, headquartered on Carnegie Avenue, a partnership of Cleveland Christian Home, Guidestone and Murtis Taylor, will provide the pharmacy services and continue servicing prescriptions of clients who wish to use that option.

Community Care Network is also taking responsibility for coordinating the complicated process of sorting out what will happen to the over 20 properties owned by Bridgeway. McCafferty says the emphasis will be on transferring responsibility for the residential properties to the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) or to new providers. Nonresidential properties can then be sold to pay off some of the debt. McCafferty says the ODMH has 40-year forgivable mortgages on a number of the properties. He says 1/40^th of the equity in the properties was transferred to Bridgeway each year, but ODMH maintains a large equity in some properties. He said the independent living homes on the rear of the property at 83^rd and Detroit Avenue are federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) properties. He indicated that Bridgeway also owes Key Bank over a million dollars.

On April 20^, McCafferty said over the next few weeks all the stakeholders in the properties would be meeting to discuss how to sort out which agency will take responsibility for the various properties. The Community Care Network will be meeting with the ADAMHS Board, the Ohio Department of Mental Health, HUD, Key Bank, and some providers that have expressed interest in assuming responsibility for running some of the facilities. McCafferty noted the sad nature of the dissolution of the Bridgeway properties. “We are all – Key Bank included – trying to do this with the best interests of consumers at heart,” said McCafferty.

Referring to the demise of Bridgeway, ADAMHS Executive Director Bill Denihan said, “There is great sadness that this organization with so much history of providing mental health services in this community has reached this point.”

The roots of Bridgeway on the Near West Side stretch back to its beginnings as the West Side Community Mental Health Center in 1973. The nonprofit organization later changed its name to Bridgeway after merging with Hill House. When Bridgeway’s long time Executive Director Ralph Fee retired in 2004, (Plain Press, August 2004) the administrative functions were transferred to the Community Care Network, while Bridgeway continued to run the service programs.

In a letter to Bridgeway clients discussing its closing, Bridgeway’s Board of Trustees said their decision to close came after “a series of major funding cuts that have reduced this once leading organization from a $13 million agency with 250 employees and 4,000 clients to a $4.5 million organization with 82 staff and 1,000 annual clients in just seven years.”

“In an environment where state funding for mental health services has been reduced by 70% over the past decade, it is not unusual for these things (agency closings) to occur,” said Denihan. He said it is a testimony to the strength of local mental health provider organizations that more organizations haven’t closed due to the State funding cuts.

PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Thursday, April 19, 2012, James L. Stricklin Crisis Center, 8315 Detroit Avenue: The James L. Stricklin Crisis Center, closed briefly in early April after Bridgeway, which ran the mental health crisis center, announced it was closing. The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board, which is responsible for planning, monitoring and coordinating funding for mental health services in Cuyahoga County, and the Ohio Department of Mental Health have reopened the Stricklin Crisis Center. The ADAMHS Board is seeking a new agency to run the facility.

by Chuck Hoven

(Plain Press, May 2012) On March 28, Bridgeway, a local mental health agency headquartered at 8301 Detroit Avenue, announced a decision by its Board of Trustees to cease operations. In announcing its closing, Bridgeway said it “currently owns 22 properties in Cuyahoga County, employs 82 individuals and today serves 565 clients a day across six programs, including 3 residential facilities, 16 independent living sites and the only crisis stabilization unit in Cuyahoga County.”

In announcing its decision to close, the Bridgeway Board of Trustees cited severe cuts in mental health funding for community services and drug and alcohol treatment funding over the past decade in the state of Ohio. The Board of Trustees decided “Bridgeway could not reduce its expenses without jeopardizing client care and therefore must close.”

While Bridgeway originally planned to continue operating in April while helping clients to transition to other programs, its request for funding for the transition was denied by the Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County (ADAMHS). The ADAMHS Board, which plans, monitors and oversees funding for drug and alcohol addiction and mental services in Cuyahoga County, decided to begin immediately operating Bridgeway programs and services on April 3^rd.

In announcing the April 3^rd decision by the ADAMHS Board, David J. Lundeen the Chief Executive Officer of Bridgeway and the Community Care Network, which oversees the finances of Bridgeway and the Cleveland Christian Home, said: “Our top priority has been and continues to be Bridgeway clients and their transfer to other agencies in an orderly, dignified manner. We are very, very glad that Bridgeway clients will receive continuity of care during this difficult process, and that the ADAMHS Board plans to move consumers, staff and programs to new agencies in a wholesale manner. That is a good outcome for clients and staff. While this process is occurring, we will begin taking steps to dissolve the organization.”

The ADAMHS Board and staff took immediate action. On April 20^th, ADAMHS Chief Executive Officer Bill Denihan said, “The transition is going smoothly. I’m thrilled that it is going so well.” Denihan said that the 400 Medicaid clients that received outreach services and home visits from Bridgeway were contacted by ADAMHS staff and offered assistance in finding a new provider. Two provider fairs where scheduled in April, one at the ADAMHS office in the United Building at 2012 W. 25^th and a second at Bridgeway at 8301 Detroit. According to a spokesperson for ADAMHS, before the second provider fair scheduled for April 20th, all but 75 of the Medicaid clients had picked a new provider.

ADAMHS also sponsored a job fair for former Bridgeway employees. Other area mental health providers have hired some former Bridgeway staff, said Denihan.

Denihan expressed his pride in the ADAMHS Board staff and area providers for their response in assuring continuity of care for mental health clients during the transition period.

Denihan says the ADAMHS Board reached an understanding with the union that represents Bridgeway employees (Service Employees International Union District 1199) to allow ADAMHS to enter into independent contracts with former Bridgeway employees that work with roughly 110 clients in the residential homes, group homes and the Stricklin Crisis Center.  The temporary contracts are with fifty-five employees, including two psychiatrists, said ADAMHS’ spokesperson Scott Osiecki.

Denihan says, with the independent contracts, former Bridgeway staff members continued to provide services at the residential and group homes without missing a beat.

Denihan said a request for proposals have been issued to area providers inviting them to bid on providing services and administering the residential apartments, group homes and the crisis shelter. He said the providers who receive the contracts would hire staff for the facilities. He said the providers will be encouraged to consider hiring Bridgeway’s former staff members which he called “a pretty committed staff.”

While the ADAMHS Board is working to aid in the smooth transition for Bridgeway’s mental health consumers, the Community Care Network, which provided administrative services for Bridgeway, has agreed to continue operating the Pharmacy at Bridgeway’s Detroit Avenue office at least until the end of April, maybe longer depending on foot traffic, says Community Care Network’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Jim McCafferty. After that, McCafferty says a Central Care Fill at its Scranton headquarters can send out medicine to case managers or the various group homes. McCafferty said Pharmacy Coop, headquartered on Carnegie Avenue, a partnership of Cleveland Christian Home, Guidestone and Murtis Taylor, will provide the pharmacy services and continue servicing prescriptions of clients who wish to use that option.

Community Care Network is also taking responsibility for coordinating the complicated process of sorting out what will happen to the over 20 properties owned by Bridgeway. McCafferty says the emphasis will be on transferring responsibility for the residential properties to the Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) or to new providers. Nonresidential properties can then be sold to pay off some of the debt. McCafferty says the ODMH has 40-year forgivable mortgages on a number of the properties. He says 1/40^th of the equity in the properties was transferred to Bridgeway each year, but ODMH maintains a large equity in some properties. He said the independent living homes on the rear of the property at 83^rd and Detroit Avenue are federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) properties. He indicated that Bridgeway also owes Key Bank over a million dollars.

On April 20^, McCafferty said over the next few weeks all the stakeholders in the properties would be meeting to discuss how to sort out which agency will take responsibility for the various properties. The Community Care Network will be meeting with the ADAMHS Board, the Ohio Department of Mental Health, HUD, Key Bank, and some providers that have expressed interest in assuming responsibility for running some of the facilities. McCafferty noted the sad nature of the dissolution of the Bridgeway properties. “We are all – Key Bank included – trying to do this with the best interests of consumers at heart,” said McCafferty.

Referring to the demise of Bridgeway, ADAMHS Executive Director Bill Denihan said, “There is great sadness that this organization with so much history of providing mental health services in this community has reached this point.”

The roots of Bridgeway on the Near West Side stretch back to its beginnings as the West Side Community Mental Health Center in 1973. The nonprofit organization later changed its name to Bridgeway after merging with Hill House. When Bridgeway’s long time Executive Director Ralph Fee retired in 2004, (Plain Press, August 2004) the administrative functions were transferred to the Community Care Network, while Bridgeway continued to run the service programs.

In a letter to Bridgeway clients discussing its closing, Bridgeway’s Board of Trustees said their decision to close came after “a series of major funding cuts that have reduced this once leading organization from a $13 million agency with 250 employees and 4,000 clients to a $4.5 million organization with 82 staff and 1,000 annual clients in just seven years.”

“In an environment where state funding for mental health services has been reduced by 70% over the past decade, it is not unusual for these things (agency closings) to occur,” said Denihan. He said it is a testimony to the strength of local mental health provider organizations that more organizations haven’t closed due to the State funding cuts.

(Plain Press, August 2011) John Marshall High School, originally slated for demolition in September of 2011, received at least a one-year stay from the Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) until September of 2012.

Retired structural engineer Satinder P.S. Puri is leading a campaign to save John Marshall High School from the wrecking ball. The campaign has the support of the John Marshall Alumni and is featured on their website. Puri believes that public officials are beginning to pay attention since he delivered a letter, with over 600 signatures supporting renovation of the school, to Mayor Frank Jackson.

At it’s July meeting, the Bond Accountability Commission, which monitors the school facilities plan, discussed the prospect of renovating the school. CMSD CEO Eric Gordon announced that the entire school facilities plan would be reviewed and updated.

Puri believes there is a need for review and greater public participation in the process. In November of 2010 at the first public meeting, held to discuss plans for John Marshall’s future, Puri says that the only option presented to the public was to build a new school. Puri contends that the proper way to present the plan would be to present two options– building new and renovation. The costs and benefits of both options should have been presented to the public for review and discussion. The public was never surveyed as to whether they wanted a new school or to preserve the existing structure, said Puri.

CMSD made the decision back in January of 2008 to tear down the present structure and build a new school, Puri said. Documents he received indicate that the cost of renovating the building were dated later than January 2008 when the plan to build a new school was approved by the Board of Education. Preliminary analysis of data by the Bond Accountability Commission (BAC) presented at its July meeting indicates that the cost of rehabbing John Marshall is substantially less than the cost of demolition and building new. The BAC analysis indicates that an Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) report, issued in 2008, estimated the overall renovation cost at $42.51 million. The BAC report indicates that the budget for demolition and replacement of Marshall is $50.03 million. However, Bond Accountability Commission report indicated that under Ohio Schools Facilities Commission rules the locally funded portion of the project would most likely be higher if the district chooses renovation over building a new building.

Puri walks the John Marshall neighborhood with a two-wheel shopping cart with a sign urging onlookers to “Save John Marshall.” Puri carries a letter to Mayor Frank Jackson urging him to save John Marshall. Since Puri began his campaign in May of this year, over 1,000 petitioners have joined in the effort by adding their signature to the letter to Mayor Jackson. Puri is also distributing yard signs to further promote the campaign.

Puri, who as a structural engineer worked with some of the world’s top architects, calls the John Marshall building “an architectural gem.” Puri says, “The building is unique. It has features you don’t see in other buildings.” He notes elements of Greek architecture in the building. He says the carved stonework on the building’s exterior would not be easy to do today because the crafts people to do that type of quality work are rare today.

Also, he says, the existing John Marshall campus contains a swimming pool, an underground track and an auditorium. A new building would not contain these features and new schools are being built with cafeterias that double as auditoriums – which Puri notes offer inferior performance space.

Puri says that John Marshall, designed by British architect George M. Hopkinson, and built in 1932, is a designated landmark. Hopkinson designed 17 Cleveland schools, including John Hay High School and Rhodes High School – both landmark schools that have been renovated as part of the CMSDs’ school facilities program.

Puri says the renovations of John Hay and Rhodes high schools prove the district has experience rehabbing landmark buildings. He wants the John Marshall community to receive the same respect given to supporters of the other two landmark high schools.

“The right of a community to hold onto their heritage is a basic right,” says Puri. He has strong feelings that once a building is declared a landmark, it should remain a landmark. He quotes from the Landmarks Commission mission statement, “to encourage the preservation of historically and architecturally significant buildings and historic districts in the city of Cleveland.”

When Puri began the campaign in May of 2011, the demise of John Marshall was imminent with the building slated to be demolished in September of 2011. The John Marshall alumni were hosting a wake and open house at the school to say farewell to their beloved building. Puri attended the event and urged alumni to support his efforts to call for renovation rather than demolition of the building. Over seventy alumni student signed the petition to the mayor and the John Marshall Alumni Association joined in the campaign to renovate the existing school rather than build a new building. The campaign is now featured on the John Marshall alumni website at www.jmhalumni.com.

After the alumni event, the campaign began to gain momentum with alumni from all over the United States and even a soldier in Afganistan joining in the petition drive. As fate would have it, the CMSD delayed the demolition for another year due to difficulties in finding space to accommodate Marshall students during the demolition of the building and construction of the new school.

At the Kamm’s Corners Fourth of July parade, Puri joined the John Marshall Alumni float and marched through the West Park neighborhood urging an estimated crowd of 10,000 onlookers to help Save John Marshall.

Satinder P.S. Puri believes that once a decision is made to “preserve our history” all the other problems related to financing the project can be resolved.

Editor’s Note: To learn more about the campaign to Save John Marshall visit the John Marshall Alumni website at www.jmhalumni.com or call Satinder P.S. Puri at 216-251-3978.

PHOTO BY NORA RODRIQUEZ Thursday, July 21, 2011; John Marshall High School, 3952 W. 140th St: Satinder P.S. Puri, a retired structural engineer, shows off the architecture of the high school. Puri is currently challenging the school district to renovate the building instead of tearing it down and building a new one.

PHOTO BY NORA RODRIQUEZ Monday, July 18, 2011; Merrick House West Youth Program, 3388 W. 41st St: Isaiah Linder sets up pins for a bowling match with other participants in the youth program. The program is for children from ages 6 to 15 and provides them with a snack, homework help and various other activities.

PHOTO BY JOE NARKIN: Wednesday, July 6, 2011; Cleveland Cold Storage Building, Abbey at West 14th: The Ohio Department of Transportation demolishes the structure to make way for the new Inner Belt Bridge. Completion of the bridge is expected to be in 2013 at a cost of more than $287 million.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY CLEVELAND METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DISTRICT The City’s Board of Education voted to approve Eric S. Gordon as the Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Gordon is an Ohio City resident.

PHOTO BY NORA RODRIQUEZ Thursday, July 21, 2011; John Marshall High School, 3952 W. 140th St: Satinder P.S. Puri, a retired structural engineer, shows off the architecture of the high school. Puri is currently challenging the school district to renovate the building instead of tearing it down and building a new one.

PHOTO BY NORA RODRIQUEZ Monday, July 18, 2011; Merrick House West Youth Program, 3388 W. 41st St:Grace Rose and Dezinee Norris hold up signs they decorated at the youth program.

PHOTO BY NORA RODRIQUEZ Friday, July 8, 2011; Augustine Rainbow Camp, Saint Augustine Church, 2486 W. 14th St: Chelsea Taylor, counselor, and Kelly Finitsas, age 10, play a game while waiting to attend the next activity for the camp day.

PHOTO BY NORA RODRIQUEZ Friday, July 8, 2011; Augustine Rainbow Camp, Saint Augustine Church, 2486 W. 14th St: Mykalah Melton, 5, signs a card for a staff member. At the camp, the children learn, play games and work on various projects.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL MCDONALD Sunday, July 10, 2011;Vigil for Miguel Reed-Torres, West 98th Street: Over 50 people gathered to remember Miguel Reed-Torres, age 9, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Friday July 1st 2011. A woman later turned herself in to police and was arrested for aggravated vehicular homicide.

PHOTO BY NORA RODRIQUEZ Saturday, July 23, 2011; Ambassador in Sports Soccer Camp sponsored by Scranton Road Bible Church, Luis Munoz Middle School Field, Castle Avenue and Scranton Road: Jacob Rentas, age 7, practices dribbling the ball through various cones on the field.

PHOTO BY NORA RODRIQUEZ Friday, July 8, 2011; Augustine Rainbow Camp, Saint Augustine Church, 2486 W. 14th St: Adam Rawlings, junior counselor, leads campers in a camp song and dance while waiting for the last activity of the day to start. At the end of each week, all the campers come together to participate in a group activity.