CLEVELAND — For as long as anyone has been here, so has the water.
Today, Lake Erie supports life for more an 11 million people, but even with all it has to offer, true development of Northeast Ohio's lakefront has stagnated.
"We have a lake. Places would kill for a lake," former Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish said. "It's not just to have a walk; it's to invigorate an entire community."
Budish argues that for too long, the lake — with its miles of shoreline — has been ignored and unused across Northeast Ohio.
"You look at Chicago, you look at Baltimore, you look at other places that are using their lake. Well, we have not done that here," Budish explained. "It’s actually embarrassing how little use we've made of our lake."
The problems plaguing the region's lakefront development plans are not for a lack of good intentions.. For years, government leaders have talked about making more out of this Great Lake — the 13th-largest globally. And Budish, who served as executive from 2015-2022, made lakefront development a priority. Nearly four years ago, he announced the Cuyahoga County Lakefront Public Access Plan, a public-private partnership to expand access and protect the shoreline.
"I believe a combination of connected paths, trails, and boardwalks along the lake with public access points interspersed would be transformative," he said in a press conference announcing the plan in 2019. "The recreational opportunities would be unparalleled."
Just a few years later, in places like Euclid, you can already see the change.
"What you see now is totally different than what it looked like before," Euclid Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail said. "The cliff was crumbling away. You could not get down to the waterfront."
Gail grew up in Euclid and has spent the last 26 years in public office, eight of those as Mayor. She says the process has been a years-long struggle.
"Not everybody was on board the whole time," she recalled. "There's always a challenge of how you spend your resources, so any city has multiple needs."
Community leaders had to come up with the money and the will to spend it, while also convincing property owners to allow it. Erosion along the beach has allowed places like Euclid to clear that hurdle: The city offered a way to save homeowners’ crumbling yards in exchange for developing a path for others to pass through their properties.
"The private property owners retain some of their private properties," Gail explained, "so the elevation change makes it possible here."
But development comes at an even steeper price in other areas. Monica Cater is one of many being forced out of her home in the Euclid Beach mobile home community in Cleveland, and she told 3News the idea of leaving her longtime home is a painful one.
"I plan to retire here," she said. "All that’s gone."
The Western Reserve Land Conservancy owns the land and is making way for a lakeside park. Matt Zone, a former Cleveland city councilman and current Senior Vice President and Director of Thriving Communities at the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, has high hopes for the future of the space.
"What gives me energy is to know that we're going to create a world-class regional park," he told WKYC.
Back in Euclid, work on the lakefront is still moving, and Gail says they've already seen some benefits.
"I hope it's ever evolving," she added. "I do think that it's changed Euclid, in the standpoint of it's brought a renewed sense of pride."
According to Gail, property values are up, new construction and investments are in the works, and perhaps most importantly, people can enjoy the lake — all in a time when water is becoming a more critical resource across the country.
"It's very important. It's all about access," Budish said. "Rivers are drying up, lakes are drying up, and we have a lake."
Now the Mandel Public Service Executive In Residence at Cleveland State University, he hopes people in and beyond Northeast Ohio will see Lake Erie for what it is, and use it like they've never done before.
"It's starting to happen. The good news is it's starting to happen," he said. "If people understand what we have here to offer, they'll be here."
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