'Our Neighborhood Deserves Better' Community Group Says Of Possible CLE Prison Site

CLEVELAND — The residents of Slavic Village "deserve better" than a new prison being built in their neighborhood, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio said Monday.

Cuyahoga County officials are considering building a new corrections center in Slavic Village, News 5 reported last week. The prison would be approximately 40 acres and located near I-77 and Fleet and Pershing avenues.

"Cuyahoga County’s misguided and secretive pursuit of a new jail site in the Slavic Village/North Broadway area is a flagrant slap in the face to all the young people who find hope and inspiration at our flagship Broadway Boys & Girls Club. It is also an affront to all the families and businesses in a neighborhood still reeling from the foreclosure crisis 15 years ago," the Boys & Girls Clubs said in a statement.

Instead of residential Slavic Village, the Boys & Girls Clubs officials recommended pursing spaces in industrial and warehouse districts. Constructing the prison in a neighborhood still looking to bounce back from the 2008-2009 financial crisis would "set back the community."

"The county had a moral obligation to engage the community in this decision. It failed to meet that obligation in spectacular fashion," the Boys & Girls Clubs added.

Residents in Slavic Village worry their children — who don't have a nearby high school in their neighborhood — would move through elementary school only to see a prison looming nearby, Cleveland 19 reported.