CLEVELAND — With the government shutdown entering its third week with no end in sight, most federal buildings and national park sites remain closed, but Northeast Ohio's largest remains open to visitors: Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
"One of the unique things about the Cuyahoga Valley National Park is that it doesn't close," said Greg Peckham, president and CEO of the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. "So right now we are making sure that the public understands what they can and can't do in the park right now. So the trails are still open, parking facilities are still open, restrooms are still open."
That's why Amy Gray of Elyria said she really wouldn't have noticed the shutdown if it hadn't been pointed out.
"The restrooms were open and they were clean so as far as we could see everything looked to be running smoothly," Gray said.
She came for the colors, and so did Gail Flanagin of Tampa, and while she said they didn't disappoint, the shutdown did.
"I'm disappointed for the employees that are not getting paid and disappointed for us because we drove quite a ways to get here. Once in a lifetime thing, we're out," Flanagin said.
That's because she was hoping to collect a national park stamp for her collection, but because of the shutdown, the visitor center is closed.
"I thought this was still open today," said Bob Goodall of Michigan, who was also collecting stamps on a several-state swing of national parks, the last three coming during the shutdown. "Shenandoah was open the other day, so we were able to go in and get our stamps there."
The afternoon visitors paused to take pictures of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, which is still running.
"The education programs largely are continuing to go on the conservancy is hoping to manage those in the absence of the park service," said Peckham. "So our biggest role right now is letting people know what they can and can't do."
They're hoping to do their best during the shutdown, he said, so that the park's neighboring communities don't miss out on the fall tourism dollars.
"The gateway communities, the Peninsulas, the Cuyahoga Falls, the places that really generate a lot of their economic activity from visitors to the park. Making sure that people are still patronizing those places."
The leaves in the park appear to be changing faster, though, than opinions in Washington, where not a single senator has changed their vote on reopening the government since the shutdown began Oct. 1.
"This can't continue to go on, this is ridiculous, this is no way to run a government. We look stupid to the rest of the world," said Senator Bernie Moreno, who told News 5 he is urging his colleagues in the Senate to lower the threshold on the number of votes needed to reopen the government from 60 to 55, the number that they're currently stuck at.
"I hope that what we can do is get either five more Democrats out of 44," he said. "Or we lower the threshold from 60."
Something he says that would need the consent of the entire Senate, which, given the ongoing divide, isn't likely to happen.
"I just look at this from a fresh set of eyes... and I think sometimes people who have been here too long get stuck on certain ideas," Moreno said. "Whether you think there's too many federal employees or not, this isn't the way to deal with it."
