Cudell Commons Park, on Cleveland's Westside, is a historic park and an important and beloved greenspace that was donated to the people of the City of Cleveland by Frank E. Cudell in 1906 to remain a park forever. Despite this, in March of 2021, Cleveland City Council passed Ordinance No. 75-2021, an emergency resolution that traded away Cudell Park to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District for the construction of a new Marion-Seltzer Elementary school. In return for the park land, the City received the Watterson-Lake site and the Harry E. Davis site, both of which would be offered to developers. This ‘land swap’ was done behind closed doors and with no notice to the public.

CMSD held a public meeting in March of 2022 and presented a site plan for the new school that did not extend past the basketball courts, sparing the mature trees in the far northern end of the park, and showed a playing field that replaced the current building site. For unknown reasons, CMSD drastically changed its plans and by the fall of 2022 decided on a plan that eats up 44% of the green space at the park, replaces the current building with a parking lot, and requires the removal of 40 trees including a majestic Bald Cypress and other legacy trees near the clock tower. Despite a public outcry about the loss of the park, CMSD has refused to alter or change their plan in any way.

Cudell residents shouldn't have to choose between an updated school and keeping their park. This historic community greenspace with its valuable tree canopy should never have been considered as a site for the new school. We call upon our elected and appointed leaders to act in the best interest of the entire community and submit a revised plan for a new school that protects the green space gifted by Frank Cudell and the mature trees that benefit current residents and also future generations. CMSD’s outdated plan will negatively impact the community's quality of life, well being, and health. The children in our community need access to mature trees, greenspace and a new school. Our community residents, many of whom have no easy means to reach another park, deserve to have continued access to their park and not have it closed off from the public. This is not fair or equitable.

We reject these current plans for a new Marion C. Seltzer Elementary School that necessitate the destruction of our community greenspace, including 40 trees, at Cudell Park, which was bequeathed to our community in good faith more than 100 years ago by Mr. Frank Cudell and his family. While we support and look forward to a new or updated school for the children in our community, the public trust was abused when our park was traded away to CMSD for development parcels in other parts of Cleveland.  This reckless and ill-conceived plan would cause the community to lose a large part of its park plus a significant amount of its tree canopy, which is already below the City’s average at just 15%.

For these reasons and more, we the undersigned, demand both the Cleveland Municipal School District’s Board of Education and its CEO and any other responsible parties immediately pause construction plans and return to the drawing board to create a new plan to rebuild Marion Seltzer School with community involvement and complete transparency and in a way that does no harm to this precious, historic and beloved urban greenspace known as Cudell Commons Park.

*Petition updated 10.10.23 for sake of condensing and clarity.

NOTE: Please do not donate via the change.org site, as that goes only towards the website to support digital promotion.  If you would like to donate to support the fight to protect this historic community park, please visit our GoFundMe page: https://gofund.me/f12d951b