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Increase in crime blamed for upcoming closure of Huntington Bank branch on Buckeye Road in Cleveland

Customers say the closure would have a negative impact on the community. Many have rallied to make the neighborhood safer in order to keep the branch open.

CLEVELAND — Huntington Bank has confirmed plans to close their branch at 11623 Buckeye Road in Cleveland early next month while citing an increase in crime.

After serving this community on Cleveland’s eastside for 20 years, Huntington bank said an “increase in crime on and near” the location on Buckeye Road has left it no choice. The branch is preparing to close its doors “permanently” on Friday, February 9.

But there's a push in the community to improve safety in the neighborhood and keep the branch open.

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“I don’t have a car. I need something close by,” said Leslie Colombani, who has been a customer for five years. “They shouldn’t close this bank. We need it.”

“I have a safety deposit box here and a business account here so this really is disruptive,” Bob Render said.

Render has been banking at the location since the beginning, and he knows employees and customers have had safety issues.

“I get it. Several years ago, the bank was shot up and that’s when they decided to close the front entrance,” he said.

Now Render is one of many working to keep the branch open and to make his neighborhood a little safer.

“There’s been problems on Buckeye for some time. But there’s never been a strategy to deal with that problem and I think we have the opportunity now to do that.”

Render said in the space of about three weeks they’ve gathered 700 signatures petitioning the closure. They’ve already come to the table with Huntington Bank and Cleveland city leaders.

“It’s not just a bank. We have several businesses that are leaving the city of Cleveland and that’s unacceptable,” Council President Blaine Griffin said.

Griffin lives in the community. He recognizes the safety concerns but calls Buckeye an up-and-coming neighborhood.

“Their concerns are around safety for their employees. We cannot dismiss that,” he said. “We want our partners and our neighbors to be resilient and help us find solutions to this safety issue as opposed to abandoning the neighborhood.”

Huntington Bank declined a request by petitioners to keep the branch open for 90 more days because of what they called “the unacceptable risk to our customers and employees”.

But the bank agreed to keep its ATM open at the location, to keep working with the city, and to assess safety improvements in the neighborhood in six months.

“We have an opportunity to do something transformative not transactional here,” Render said.

Here is the full statement about the closure from Huntington on Wednesday:

In October, we announced that we would close our Buckeye branch in February 2024, due to an increase in crime on and near our branch property. Since then, we have engaged in meaningful conversations with Buckeye neighbors and community leaders about their concerns related to the closure.

Unfortunately, due to the unacceptable risk to our customers and employees, we cannot leave this branch open for an additional 90 days as requested by some members of the community, and it will close on February 9.

We will work with the city of Cleveland in the event actions can be taken to address the safety concerns for our customers and employees. After six months, we will assess if there have been sufficient improvements to safety in this area. We will maintain the ATM at its current location and will continue to work with our community partners to advance programs that serve the Buckeye neighborhood, such as digital empowerment, home repair programs, and local small business entrepreneurship. We remain committed to serving our customers in Buckeye, and we sincerely appreciate their help in seeking a solution that will meet the community’s needs.

Credit: Matt Rascon, 3News

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