January 28, 2005

Chris Ronayne

Chief of Staff

Office of the Mayor

Cleveland City Hall

Hi Chris,

I am faxing information that backs up the statements that I made last night regarding the specifics of the Doan Brook Proposal.   I have been very careful throughout this whole process to avoid the introduction of any personal bias or that of the Cultural Garden Federation membership.  I did meet with Paul Moore late in August to go over the 95% plans, and the changes are not significant, especially with respect  to the area of park that will be regraded or the portion of wall that will be torn down.  I am still not sure how  Dana Ryan could accuse me of fabrication on any of these points.  If I am incorrect I will be the first to apologize, but it appears that he is not clear on the specifics of the project, unless the Section 106 Adverse Effect Analysis document and the Hydrosphere report are fictitious.

I was told by Ben Stefanski, who organized the meeting last night, that it would be a very small focus group that would include yourself, Ben, and two other people that I would select.  I was told that I could not invite additional people.  I was surprised to see Dorothy Adams representing the Glennville community, Perrin Carpenter, Natalie, Darnell Brown and Dana Ryan.  This was a very different meeting than I had anticipated.

 The tone of the meeting last night has been typical of many of the meetings,  especially the smaller groups.  We have been frustrated by what appears to be an unwillingness to deal with the actual data and the anticipated effects of the project.  We do not feel that we can make any legitimate progress under these circumstances.  It does not appear to me that there was any value to the meeting last night.   I hope you will have the opportunity to review the Powerpoint presentation I gave you which I think fully explains our issues and why we do not feel that this not a good project.  I would be very happy to talk to you about this.  Please feel free to contact me at any time,  440 892-6588

Sincerely,

George Parras

President

The Cleveland Cultural Garden Federation