CLEVELAND — If you’ve been nervous about parking your car in one of Downtown Cleveland’s public parking garages and lots, you might be relieved to learn city leaders are working to address your concerns.
“Our lighting at night is one of our key issues of safety, and so we need to make sure that our city is well lit,” said Cleveland Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer of Ward 12.
This comes after Cleveland City Council recently passed a law that will require more lighting across all walking surfaces, stairwells and landings to keep visitors like Tristan Plascencia safe.
“The fact that it’s a conversation at all is definitely reassuring,” said Plascencia.
The city will also require parking garage and lot owners in Downtown Designated Districts to come up with a safety plan when applying for a new license or renewal.
Those areas include Downtown Core, Warehouse, Erieview and Gateway due to growing concerns the city has received in these spots.
“We need Cleveland to be better lit at night. It doesn’t mean blaring, glaring lights into your bedroom window. It’s not that. It’s basic safety on our streets and in our parking garages,” said Maurer.
News 5 first told you about these plans when the Bibb Administration presented this legislation to city council in June.
RELATED: Bibb administration proposes new safety legislation for Downtown parking garages and lots
“For me, this latest bill along with my bill in 2024 helps set a formal standard,” said Maurer.
Maurer added the standard began with outdoor parking lots.
We told you about the lighting problems tenants in Maurer’s ward were facing at Broadway Place apartments last September.
“The first bill that I co-sponsored in 2024 helps set the standard for outdoor parking lots and then this next bill tackles these paid parking garages downtown,” said Maurer.
The councilwoman said she’s hopeful the next step will be to work on residential parking garages.
