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(upbeat New Age music) (people chattering) (bell dinging) - Good afternoon and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted to conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday, August 19th, and I'm Kristen Baird Adams, president of the City Club Board of Directors and Chief of Staff of PNC's National Regional President's Organization.

I am honored to introduce today's forum featuring a conversation with the Cleveland Metroparks Chief Executive Officer Brian Zimmerman.

Known by many as Cleveland's Emerald Necklace, the rich collection, of course, of 18 reservations ringing our great city, the Cleveland Metroparks has earned the distinction of the best park system in the nation, winning the 2021 National Gold Medal Best in the Nation Award for Excellence in Parks and Recreation.

As you may know, this is the highest national honor in the parks and recreation field, and it's the second time it's been awarded to the Metroparks under the leadership of Brian Zimmerman.

I should note that it's also the fifth time that the Metroparks have been awarded this distinction since their found, it's founding more than a century ago.

This prestigious honor is a clear reflection of the Cleveland Metroparks' long-standing and unwavering commitment to conservation, education, and recreation, a commitment through which it has, it offers thousands of educational and recreation programs and events annually, creates connections to nature, and promotes conservation and sustainability, and of course generates considerable economic impact, totaling more than $870 million a year.

What began with a few scattered donations of land in the Rocky River Valley, the Metroparks has grown into more than 24,000 acres, miles of trails, eight lakefront parks, and the nationally acclaimed Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Brian Zimmerman joined the Metroparks as CEO in 2010, beginning a tenure of growth, of intense growth, and a commitment to service delivery.

Within those last 12 years, the park district has expanded significantly and strategically, increasing access to the 49 communities it serves across six counties, adding more than 3000 acres of protected parkland and forest and revitalizing Cleveland's urban core with the acquisition and transformation of nearly 750 acres of lakefront linking residents, of course, to Lake Erie and, of course, the region's vast network of parks and trails.

In November, voters will be asked to approve a 2.7 mill replacement levee, which will secure operating revenue that supports the park's district, the park district's essential services, programs, and continued enhancements like expanded trail connections.

Today, we will hear the latest updates on the park district's continued progress including its community and economic and, of course, environmental impact.

Moderating today, today's conversation is the City Club's very own Cynthia Connolly, our director of programming here at the City Club.

If you have questions for our speaker, you can text them to 3-3-0-5-4-1-5-7-9-4.

That's 3-3-0-5-4-1-5-7-9-4.

And you can also tweet them @thecityclub, and the City Club staff will do its best to work your questions into the program.

Members and friends of the City Club of Cleveland, please join me in welcoming Metroparks Chief Executive Officer Brian Zimmerman and the City Club's Cynthia Connolly.

(audience applauding) - Thank you so much for being here, Brian.

I wanted to start off just giving everyone a heads up that we have a very deep history between the Metroparks and the City Club.

The founder William Stinchcomb, he spoke here in 1917, just a couple years after we were founded and was also a City Club board member.

So, we have a very deep history, and I think that's really a great stage to kinda set this conversation today of where we're at.

And kind of with the history theme, you are a 105-year-old institution.

It's deeply part of all of Cleveland's lives.

Can you give us a quick history lesson of how the Metroparks came to be?

- Absolutely, and how's everyone doin' today?

(audience responding) The weather out there is great.

We should all be outside in the parks, I think.

(audience laughing) William Stinchcomb would've really wanted that.

I think when we talk about the history of the park and the integration into people's everyday lives, the very first three acres came to us in Rocky River Reservation and now growing to more than 24,444 and still growing.

Our team is busy at work.

Kyle's actually here today.

He's working on a couple of transactions right now that will continue the transformation of this great park district.

But William Stinchcomb, I think he would be very proud thinking of these last two years of the pandemic and finding that place of respite and that place of recreation, being able to find yourself in nature, and really listening to what's going on, knowing that we're a riparian system built off the principles of connecting people, water, and places.

We've continued to enhance those offerings.

And most recently with work done through partners to enhance Rivergate Park, enhance the Towpath through the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail, we've continued to add acreage that matters, connecting people to water and place.

So I believe our founder, I'm only the sixth head of this agency in 106 years.

He served over 50.

I just turned 50, so I can't imagine.

His tenure here was really an amazing thing for this community.

- And you've been with the Metroparks for 12, 12 years?

- 12 years.

- That's incredible.

Well, today as our board chair Kristen Baird Adams had mentioned, you've won the 2021 Gold Medal for Best in the Nation, the highest ranking, highest honor that a park can receive, the second under your leadership, the fifth in the history of the Cleveland Metroparks.

We, this is obvious when you look at the transformation that has happened, particularly in Cleveland's lakefront.

What makes the Metroparks so special?

Like how can it function so much better than other entities in terms of the lakefront specifically?

- Well, I think there's a number of components that tie in.

It's not just one, I would say secret sauce.

I think it's, you know, the staying power from strategic plan and increments of planning.

And when we talked about the levy, I think there's some of the things that the voter affirmation that we will seek in the fall.

But really the, it's excellence in management and leadership, and my team is here recognizing, you know, the hard work that they do every day.

And all the team members that aren't here, they do all the little things that make the park district great, and it's a standard by which you're graded on.

So it's actually very comprehensive.

You can only win it once every five years.

So, if you look at the last quarter century of leadership, we've been held in the highest esteem across the park districts in the country, but that's not lost on what we get to do every day, whether it's education programs, whether it's the opportunity to connect people, but it's truly an honor that all should be sharing in and all of our partners that have helped us really this park district, you know, this amazing asset for the community.

- Yeah, I think it was 2013 that there was announcement that, you know, the city and, and the state of Ohio, and you had come together to transfer the governance of the lakefront to the Metroparks.

And I remember there just being so much excitement and anticipation of what could be.

We, I live in Ohio City, so when I go to the, to Edgewater, I walk now because sometimes they shut down the parking area because it's in such demand.

There's such thirst for this lakefront access.

Can we expect more from the Metroparks in terms of lakefront access?

- I think the answer is yes, and there's enhancements that we continue to look at.

And we're kind of starting on the west side with Huntington Beach, one of the original nine, just most recently saw an upgrade in its restroom facilities.

Now the Noshery and really creating a place-making location in that particular area, really taking advantage of the amazing sunsets.

I think that's one of the things that we should pride ourselves on, that we are a coastal city.

We have coastal resilience.

We're not an ocean, but, you know, we're on the Great Lakes, and when you look at what's going on in the country right now out on the West Coast, or areas where it's drought, or where there's flooding, I couldn't think of a better place to be than Cleveland, Ohio.

So, honestly.

(audience applauding) Having said that, we're not done.

The work that we've done, you know, at Edgewater, and when we talk about the opportunity to connect people and place, the Lindsey Family Play Space that just opened last year to much acclaim is a one of a kind play space.

And it wasn't designed to be your traditional slide and swing.

It was designed to have people interact with each other and be able to play with a level of risk-reward.

I called it a good day when you came home, you know, and you weren't too bloody.

Your jeans were maybe ripped just a little bit, but you learned about being outside, and you learned to take some risks.

And too often we insulate people from having to make decisions.

And in that space, in our nature-based preschools that we've most now, most recently created, they're out in nature every single day.

So, the touching a leaf, jumping over.

If it's raining, they're wearing rain gear.

Their socks get wet.

Those are real life things, but it's that integration into it.

So, when we look at Edgewater Beach House, the work, Wendy Park, the Whiskey Island Bridge connector, very few people will know how hard it was to actually get that bridge built.

Dan Moore being one of them.

Sean McDermott in the office, in the audience, being another.

To go over an active railroad, albeit one of the most active railroads in the country, that is an extremely hard challenge, but it's now completed, and it's absolutely fantastic.

So, access, the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail, coupled with the Red Line Greenway, but continuing moving.

You know, we've talked about this community sailing center concept of being able to have people integrated into the water and then the work we're doing with Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Euclid Beach, Villa Angela, Wildwood, that opportunity to reimagine that space.

And not only that, but the CHEERS Grant, who we're partnering with, lots of difference.

You're gonna hear the theme of this whole talk about partnerships 'cause we don't do this alone.

We do this with many.

And the CHEERS Grant, Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Study, is really this unique opportunity between East 55th and our East 72nd locations to provide a very new access experience on the waterfront.

And our team just most recently secured another $2 million.

So, we're up to $6 million.

The port has acquired 2 million from the Maritime Assistance Grant.

There's more opportunity there.

The National Fish and Wildlife is now up to 4 million.

When it got first announced, it was hard to believe how many people came outta the woodwork, Congressmen, Senators, all wanting to know how we can continue to move this forward.

And it's a symbiotic relationship between the Port Authority, the dredge material.

We talk about, you know, the interstate, but that's not necessarily what this project is about.

Certainly that could be a future study, but recreating some more green space in that particular area, shoring up the shoreline.

- Yeah, yeah, I definitely wanna touch on those partnerships here shortly, but you brought up the Lindsey Family Play Space, and as a parent of a seven and a nine-year-old, that was like just incredible.

It's their favorite place I think in Cleveland right now, and I think some other parents would agree.

What is the Metroparks doing with the play space?

Is that gonna be recreated other places?

How thoughtful and intentional have you been about that kind of intergenerational model of family engagement, you know, for the Metroparks?

- Great question.

At the zoo was actually the very first one.

And my wife and I are parents of an only child, and when you have an only child, they don't have that instant bond with a sibling.

And so, they really have to work hard at friendships and creating things.

And I remember there was a water feature, and Carter wanted to use both of 'em, but he couldn't.

He couldn't move the little reeds, and he couldn't pump the water at the same time.

So, he had to work with another child, and they'd be able, you know, work together.

So, I think part of, you know, the nature-based play concept is to be able to think about how you're using the play space.

And the way we thought that play space would be used, it's certainly doing it, but we have this area that we call the butt slide area.

We thought people would go up it, but it turns out they turn around, and they go down on their, on their.

But that was their creativity, and that wasn't necessarily by design, but it was how they imagined the space.

So, having said that, the Lindsey Family and many others came to, you know, to build that with all philanthropic dollars, and our team built it in-house.

We're also now looking at, a new donor came forward for Huntington.

So that place space, the two swings out there, will get replaced.

We also had a family that donated for Brecksville.

Almost the very moment that it opened, there were 20 kids that were there.

So, their thirst and hunger for those outdoor play spaces and families that can take them and have that very first experience in a park is a very, very prophetic thing.

I grew up using the county parks in Wisconsin and Michigan, and so that's ingrained in you very early on.

So, when we can catch them there, they will grow with us and hopefully turn into jobs.

- Yeah, I know every parent is very grateful for the play space, and it's definitely a point of gathering as well for the community.

Picnics, I've seen a lot of picnics, birthday parties, everything down there.

So it was really great, transformative space.

Moving into Irishtown Bend, another transformative project that we're seeing currently take off.

Before it was like a knotweed-choked hillside, you know, dumping into the Cuyahoga.

A lot of concerns about the sewer line there with the sewer district.

What did it take to begin moving the needle, particularly with Irishtown Bend?

- I think if we can go back just a few years ago when Cleveland Metroparks put in with its partners, the Reconnecting Cleveland plan.

It was really about, how do we take from what we know about the Towpath and its conductivity to all these different communities and actually bring it around to the lakefront?

And so, that's where the conversation in the mayor's office really bringing the teams together.

And I don't believe that representatives from any of the agencies had gotten together before.

So the Port was there, city of Cleveland, the Sewer District, the state of Ohio, Land Studio, Ohio City, everybody was there to talk about, it was really about the trail kind of concept first.

Also looking at the stabilization.

Now that's morphed into a number of different things.

It wasn't without its challenges.

Our friends at the West Creek Conservancy Cuyahoga or the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority, the land, we had to bring all of the land into play into the confines.

Certainly there's one parcel that's still in negotiations right now, but we look forward to hopefully bringing that to conclusion so that this stabilization, the factor of safety.

You know, we have one of the highest capacity steel mills, if not the most capacity steel mill in the country, that there's a tremendous amount of jobs that we need to be protecting.

It's a federally navigable channel, but it has this amazing opportunity to, I would say, create this amphitheater look into downtown Cleveland like no other park in America can do.

- Yeah, it's a really gorgeous view when you're down there, especially at Merwin's Wharf, which is another space that has transformed over the last decade.

You mentioned a lot of the partnerships, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Port Authority, Ohio City Incorporated, Land Studio.

These are public, private, nonprofit entities.

How has, how have those partnerships changed over the last decade?

- I mean, most of it you can see here today, the people that have come out to hear the conversation.

Without partners, it's very hard to do anything.

And I think when I came to town, it took a few years to help develop the relationships.

And you know, there's a authenticness of Cleveland, and you're only one removed from that next person.

And I think when you see the ability to connect the dots and the willingness to, for lack of a better word, lean into hard projects, Irishtown Bend is a hard project and leading into some of these others.

The Towpath took, you know, decades to get done, but there was a staying power of Tim Donovan and Ken Silliman, and there were a lot of folks that brought those things forward.

And when you drop the egos at the door, it's amazing what can happen.

And you have to help understand sometimes, Ed Ripka actually came up to me today.

And it was one of those things where, you know, when you get answers, you can move forward and that's the power of persuasion and the power of opportunity.

And that's what we've been able to succeed at.

That's what Metroparks I think is really good at from a regional side.

We do own land in all the surrounding counties, the 49 municipalities.

We're still trying to grow that through a number of different initiatives.

Looking at the Emerald Necklace, looking at the top portion, looking at the inner ring suburbs, how do we bring trails and trail access?

How do we look at economically disadvantaged areas?

We look at all those things, but our partners can help us.

Cuyahoga County Greenway Plan is an absolutely fascinating and phenomenal tool that this region has helped create through the help of NOACA, the county county planning.

That is really going to be the roadmap by which we're able to continue to connect these communities through either rail corridors, sidewalks, working with ODOT.

Bridge decks, who would think bridged decks are important?

But they're extremely important.

If you think of I-480 in Tiedeman, the sidewalk is only about the width of the table here.

If you can get 10 feet, now you can have traffic go back and forth.

Well, that's now Big Creek then works to connect itself in a different way, which isn't really intuitive right now.

So, those are the positives of people working together.

Our travel and tourism industry, Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, we have so many rich assets here that we can continue to bring people to this region to really learn about what we know already about the Metroparks and other great assets.

- Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the Sports Commission 'cause this is kind of bringing up this whole perception of Cleveland.

I feel like we're now, as a city and as a region, finally breaking, starting to break out of this narrative of Cleveland as this 1969 Burning River.

And you know, it's, we know here that we're more than that, and we feel like a lot of people are sleeping on the city right now.

We've had the RNC here, the NFL draft, a lot of national presence because of some of the work with some regional agencies.

One of my favorite parts was a journalist who had, from the NFL draft had commented that they didn't realize that Cleveland had a beach.

And I'm like, we're on Lake Erie.

Like, what do you mean you didn't think we had a beach?

So my question is, how have you, how has the Metroparks been part of that kind of transformational shift of the narrative, the perception of this city?

- Well, the first and foremost, the transition of the lakefront parks, and I do have to give credit to OD and R. They did a lot of things really well early on.

They put a lot of money in.

They put a lot of time in.

The most recent years maybe were not their shining stars, but it allowed our team to come in.

It allowed for the transfer to happen.

And really a more of a shock and awe approach of taking it over.

Those first three months were so extremely critical of changing that narrative of what people had seen.

And I had likened it to, you know, our team wanted to invite people in, but it was like your living room wasn't quite, you know, ready yet or the kitchen was a little dirty.

And so, we really needed to clean that up.

And, you know, again, partnership, the Sewer District stepped forward immediately and said, "Hey, we're gonna provide a beach cleaner."

We cleaned the beach every day.

Before it was once, maybe twice a year.

And that changes the narrative of perception.

And then you look at the factors of safety and the opportunity, and when you talk about now the crowds and things that are going on, it creates a really unique place.

But one of the pivot points was the Gay Games that came to town, and we partnered with the Sports Commission, Destination Cleveland, and we put a Calypso band on the beach.

And people were taking pictures and sharing it all over.

They're like, "Where are you?

Are you in Miami?

"Are you here?"

And like, "No, I'm in Cleveland."

(audience laughing) I'm like, "Hell yeah, we're in Cleveland."

But it was so neat to see the paradigm shift just even of that event because the sunset was one of those most, you know, amazing ones that set right over the Gold Coast, which, you know, again, we set the beach house with the best views, the bridge deck connecting to the community to bring that together.

But it's all been very, I would say, very strategically laid out, and the work that we're going to do in Euclid, Villa Angela, and Wildwood, bringing that forward.

The work that Mayor Cervenik and Mayor Holzheimer Gail doing in Euclid.

It's not the work of one.

It's the work of many, and there's always partners.

There's always things that you can't see, i.e.

some of the sewers and utilities, and they're a strong partner.

I thank Kyle for coming out today because that matters, and when you can do those things together, you can incrementally grow.

- Yeah, you know, we always joke that Cleveland is definitely Miami.

LeBron said Cleveland is is the same as Miami, and there's this one movie with Bill Hader.

If anyone's seen it, it's hilarious.

Jumping to 2020, you had a record-breaking 19.7 million recreation visitors.

Record-breaking.

Do you see any staying power in that shift, in particularly how Clevelanders and those in our state are interacting with the outdoors?

- Did something happen in 2020?

(audience laughing) - Yeah, there was a little thing.

- A little thing happened.

You know, I think back again to our founder, and you know, his picture hangs right outside of the boardroom.

I think he would look down very favorably as to what's happened over time.

The fact that there were 24,000 acres that people were able to have that place to go.

I saw kids after a rainstorm surf, kind of puddle surfing down that Millstream Run.

My point in mentioning that is they created a memory there out of something that maybe, it certainly will go down in the history, you know, with a pandemic.

But seeing the record amount of visitation, to see that our zoo was closed for a period of time, we found a way to persevere.

We brought through a drive-through concept, and I thought our zoo director and his team were gonna have a little bit of a heart attack when we talked about it.

But I said, "Hey, you drive through "with your maintenance vehicles."

I said, "We know we can fit.

"We know we can do it."

And by gosh they did it.

And the amount of feedback that we got, it's like from different populations said, "I didn't get a chance to go because.

"Now I can."

I will tell you this very first story, the very first car that goes through, there's a little boy standing right on the armrest right through the sunroof.

And the police are like, "What do we do?"

I'm like, "You do nothing.

"Just let him wave.

"Let him keep going."

(audience laughing) It was just, it was fascinating and it was inspiring because that's what we wanted to see.

The animals missed that interaction, the exhibits.

It's really truly, you know, a very unique opportunity to kind of see that big picture.

But, you know, 2020, 2021 golf certainly boomed.

It had that really neat rebound effect.

Very interesting things came out of it.

We used to have 8-minute tee times.

We moved it to 10-minute tee times.

We actually have a much higher customer satisfaction and a throughput rate.

And so, those four hour, you know, four and a half hour rounds are now hopefully 3:53, 4:04, somewhere in there.

So we've tried very hard at that, the chalet time.

There's so many things that we learned out of it, and I think that's how you grow when something like that happens.

And to see all of these wonderful visitors that have created memories.

We have Touch A Truck coming up this weekend, Asian Lantern Festival, Wild Winter Lights.

Certainly we have something for everyone to come enjoy and continue to grow.

- Absolutely.

How's Metroparks managing with staff?

I know that's something that's always been a struggle for a lot of industries right now here in Cleveland since the pandemic.

- You know, it's interesting to see kind of the dynamic of what I would call butts in seats versus this remote working and, you know, knowing that we sit on 24,000 acres.

We run 365 days a year.

We have a police force.

There are challenges, and so we've tried very hard to keep that culture strong with our organization.

And we have most of our staff in.

We've been able to hire.

We've been able to recruit, Certainly we are always working on our diversity initiatives.

The most recent hires, we've got over 40% women.

Our diversity rates are continuing to grow.

We've created programs that are tied to that.

Our idea committee, we went through a workshop with Enlightened Solutions.

So, we're trying to really mimic our community.

We have a very high retention rate.

So many people come to the Cleveland Metroparks, they start and finish their careers here.

So when you get that opportunity, we would challenge you to please apply and try to be part of it.

We're looking at, you know, continuing to grow our hot lunch program for the very first time.

Our outdoor experiences team did that.

And that's what I was talking about, the kids and the kids' experience.

If you have that early on park experience, and you see people that look like you, you will continue to grow with the park district, with park experiences.

And I think that's our way that we'll continue to hopefully thrive in diversity and thrive in these communities going forward.

So, there's a very unique opportunity.

Certain positions are harder to fill than others, which most people know about, but we try very hard to meet where core value number one is our guest focus.

- And you rely a lot on volunteers.

I know the last 10 years I think you had 1.1 million hours logged for volunteer hours.

- It's truly an impressive thing.

And I have to thank all of our volunteers, our trail ambassadors, our docents, and I do not wanna forget anybody 'cause they'll remember it.

It's like, hey, you didn't mention, but thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers.

They do an amazing job giving hours in time and collecting data, whether it be at our zoo, on the movements of the gorillas, whatever it happens to be.

They find they're true passionate in being able to do that.

So, we very much appreciate our volunteer program.

- You can volunteer to log the movements of the gorillas at the zoo?

- Yes.

- That's awesome.

(audience laughing) That's great.

(laughing) - And I will tell you they are very passionate about it.

They have a iPad and they're taking, you know, very good notes of who's playing with who, who's being nice with the other one, how many times has Kayembe moved?

So, it's a very unique thing, but it's very important to have that data.

- I think I saw Chris in here somewhere.

I think we might be, we might be chatting.

So, talking about equity, particularly in green space, I know that the Metroparks has acquired 2300 acres, I believe over the last 10 years.

How are you making sure that the green space that you're acquiring is in the communities that need it most?

- You know, it's interesting, coming to Cleveland from Milwaukee, the park system there was very different.

I worked for a county government that had a county executive and 19 county board supervisors at the time.

There was 156 parks, and a park could be something that, maybe even smaller than this, that was considered a park.

You know, being a regional entity, sometimes it's, there's misconceptions about what we do and what we don't do.

You know, we've had some challenges in certain communities.

It's like, well, we really want you to be in, and we want to be in all communities and serving, but not all locations are quite right.

And one great example is we're working in between Parma and Seven Hills to connect 400 acres of the West Creek Reservation through a trail connection through West Creek into Seven Hills.

Seven Hills then can take us further potentially into the Towpath, which then connects all of those things.

When you look at some of the built-out environments, there are challenges.

There are very much challenges, but our partners at the city, our partners at the county, when roads are rebuilt, can we get protected bikeways that can help connect?

You know, there are areas where, Garfield is a great example, where the Towpath ends on the top of Warner Hill, working with our partners to take Garfield Boulevard down to that particular reservation.

What's not too far from there is Kerruish Park off of I-480.

So, there are more opportunities, and I think if we can keep seeing the future through looking forward and not looking backwards about what hasn't happened, let's look forward to what can happen.

Again, the Greenway, the Green Print Plan from Cuyahoga County Planning, that actually helps give us the roadmap of where to do some of these strategic acquisitions.

Another great example is the work that we've been doing for a number of years in East Cleveland.

We're trying very hard to see where, you know, we can have a synergistic relationship with Forest Hills Park on the East Cleveland side, and we'll see where that continues to grow from there.

- Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the Towpath.

I feel like the Towpath is the spine of the community of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County among others.

What is next for the Towpath?

It's 101 miles now, correct?

And is it done, for those who don't like, you know, rapidly digest all the news about the Metroparks?

Is the Towpath Trail done?

- Well, first and foremost, it's not just the Metroparks.

The city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and Ohio and Erie Canal were the kind of the final four that helped muscle it through the last six, six or so miles into what's now Canal Basin Park.

And there were many, many works of art to get funding through NOACA and all of the other agencies to help to do that.

The ultimate goal would to be at least the three C's, you know, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati.

That would be a very unique opportunity.

We've talked with Marcy Kaptur about can we continue to work on the Northern Rim over to Toledo area and certainly down through to Pittsburgh would be, those would be continuations of this and hopefully that work will continue.

But the Towpath, I believe there'll be a grand opening of the Canal Basin Park that was a partnership of design.

There's also boat docks.

For the very first time we'll have, Cleveland Metro Parks will have its own boat docks there.

We got a maritime, a grant through the BIG, Boating Infrastructure Grant.

So, we're trying to provide safe access for boats and then meet people and bikes at the same location.

So, the Towpath will definitely be something that work, whether it's in Slavic Village, whether it's the trail that will parallel Broadway.

I think there's more opportunities to continue to connect to that wonderful regional asset that goes right through the national park, ninth most visited park in the country.

- Yeah, it's kinda like the La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

It will never be done, ever be done.

The zoo.

I can't leave this conversation without talking about the zoo.

What is the priority right now with the Metroparks and the zoo?

- Well, there's a number of projects that are, we're working on right now.

We're actually finishing up a $3 million addition to the administration facility to have guests flow through better and have the opportunity to have an auditorium that looks and feels just a little bit different, more to modern, modern standards.

We're also working on a $7 1/2 million bear exhibit that was really fully funded by our partners at the Cleveland Zoological Society.

The work they do for the last 50 plus years have been truly remarkable in helping complement the animal exhibits, whether it be the Daniel Maltz Rhino Reserve, whether it's the new dome that went on top of the rainforest.

The big picture that we're looking at, if you haven't seen the cutest baby in America, we have the very first gorilla baby, and it was the 139th year.

Now we're 140, but to have the very first baby, and to see how our teams shepherded that child through, the baby gorilla through some very tough kind of health issues.

The surrogate mother, I don't know that there's a better team in the country that took care of that.

So we're looking at building the new gorilla exhibit, a new front entrance with our partners at Cross Country Mortgage, a new orangutan exhibit.

So there are, I would say, very big lofty goals, and those things will then help be supported certainly by the levy that will be coming this fall.

We've been very good stewards of the tax dollars.

We try to leverage, for every dollar we bring in, we try to bring in 1, 2, 3 more for land.

We try very hard to, we have our clean audits.

We have a budget book that we put together.

So, we work very hard at doing the work for the community.

- Well, that's great.

Moving into kind of where we are right now, we are in an election year.

Back in 2013, I know that there was a levy put on the ballot for the Metroparks, and there will be one again this November.

Can you explain to our audience and our listeners what that is, what it means, and maybe what it is not?

- So it's, yes, it's a great question.

So it's, we have had true voter support for, we have not lost a levy in our history.

So, we're very much appreciative of the community's support that the Metroparks has.

It's not lost on where we need to keep going.

So this, the ask in front of the voters, for the levy will be, it's 62% of our annual operating, so it's a big part of it.

We have about 30%, so 60-30 is our earned revenue.

So when we have the zoo tickets, golf, that brings part of it, and then our grants and donations make up the other part of it.

It's a $2 increase per 100,000 per month going forward, and it really equalizes the tax valuations at the 2.7.

So, it freezes it now for the next 10 years.

- So it gives you more opportunities to do the work that you've been doing and the progress we've been seeing for the last 10 years for the next 10.

- It allows us to continue to be fiscally responsible, protect the assets that have been built for 105 years, and it allows for growth in the communities that we are looking to try to add to the Emerald Necklace.

- Great.

What's next?

What are you most proud of right now?

- Well, there's so many things to be proud of in this historic park system.

I'm proud of the staff every day, the work that they do to bring to the community, whether, like I said, the nature-based play space, the nature-based preschool.

Those things really matter.

Integrating kids into the fabric and letting them grow with us.

Certainly challenging ourselves.

After we got through the pandemic, we really didn't stop.

We had more ribbon cuttings I think that year.

Our team didn't stop moving between Western Reserve Land Conservancy, adding what I would call a very blighted area of old Brooklyn and bringing that online for the community.

That's truly one of the hallmarks of partnership.

I think the completion of the connection to the lakefront should go down as one of the top achievements.

So there's a lot of things to be proud of, but there's a lot of things to look forward to.

Garfield Park Reservation, we're doing a big renovation there.

We've got work to do on the Hinckley Lake Dam.

That's now gonna be 100 years old.

So our goal is to continue to be fiscally responsible, debt free, and protect the assets of the community.

- And we're gonna get ready here for Q&A, and I do wanna just ask one more quick thing before we get started, and you guys can think of your amazing questions I'm sure you have.

Of all the things that you just named, all those opportunities, all those things coming up, what's one of the things you're looking forward to the most?

- The gorilla exhibit at the zoo.

I think having the chance to go to Rwanda and see them in their natural space, and you see how precious and fragile the collection of animals, or gorillas, in the world really are.

We are really that very unique opportunity to help tell the story of conservation, tell the mission of the zoo, but to provide a much better habitat.

So that is by far and away the next best thing.

Now, there's CHEERS and there's a lot of things that go there, but certainly that work we're gonna do there.

- [Cynthia] It's like asking you to pick your favorite kid so.

(laughing) - Sometimes that's easier said.

I only have one.

(audience laughing) - We're about to begin the audience Q&A.

Today, of course, we are hearing from Cleveland Metroparks Chief Executive Officer Brian Zimmerman about what is next for the Cleveland Metroparks.

Moderating the conversation is Cynthia Connolly, Director of Programming for the City Club.

We welcome questions from everyone, City Club members, guests, and those joining us via our live stream at cityclub.org or our radio broadcast at 89.7 Idea Stream Public Media.

If you'd like to tweet a question, please do so @thecityclub.

You also can text questions to 3-3-0-5-4-1-5-7-9-4.

That's 3-3-0-5-4-1-5-7-9-4.

And the City Club staff will do its best to work your questions into the program.

May we have the first question, please?

- Hey, Brian, great job.

Cynthia teed up the question I wanted to ask.

You know, with the success of what's happening at Edgewater Park, and Wendy Park, and Whiskey Island, I live on the bluff.

I look into the park so I often see it closed down.

Talk about that dynamic, what you're doin' to mitigate that, and what does that mean potentially for future expansion along the lakefront at some point in the future?

- You look very relaxed without a tie on today.

(audience laughing) The, I think, you know, it's an interesting paradigm, and I go back to when the pandemic first hit actually.

There were conversations that came out of Columbus that said, "Hey, your park is too busy.

"You need to close it."

And, you know, as a park person and an outdoorsman, it's like, it's hard to imagine that you have to close something or close down access.

But when we were still learning on how things were going to go, there were models by which, you know, more people found the park.

We also try to balance all of the other activities that go on down there, and whether it's a USA triathlon, whether it's fireworks, whether it's an event at volleyball down at Whiskey Island, there's so many things that have happened.

Edgewater Live really helped pull the programmatic elements to that.

Euclid Beach Live bringing people back to the park.

Having said that, the paradigm that we live in right now, the parking lot's full almost every single day.

And from a flow standpoint, we try very hard to be good neighbors as well.

There are certain areas that cars were flooding and creating some chaos up in the neighborhood.

So, you know, certainly I think the work that, that we're working on with the CHEERS study, the work that we can do together at Euclid Beach, Villa Angela, and Wildwood certainly work on spreading the out, spreading it out a little bit.

But then really activating the space because if it's busy in one area, and you're on your bike, you have a connected bikeway by which to get to the next park.

And so, ultimately the goal would to see East Ninth, to East 55th a trail built on the North Side, really taking a look at how we can connect that to the 72nd Trail that's already there and then down to MLK into the cultural area there.

Also, you know, is there a way to move through Bratenahl over into the east side of Cleveland.

you know, through a protected bike lane, whether it's that North Side or whether it's coming down Superior.

I think there's so many opportunities to be able to move people in a different way if one area is full.

You know, certainly, we have challenges in other reservations at times too.

Certain peak times, people, but sometimes you have to adapt, right?

You have to think of it differently.

I can use my bike.

I can park someplace different.

I don't have to rely on a car.

We do have a bus stop there.

So, I think there's just lots of different ways to look at it.

There's no secret sauce.

Certainly we think the roundabout helps, but there's a lot more people there now, so you have to be mindful of yielding and other things.

So, it's been a great, great experience there for sure.

- How do you see any and hope any relationships evolving in the future between the Cleveland Metroparks and Rockefeller Park and the Cleveland Cultural Gardens?

- Well, certainly I think it's, being a non-native Clevelander now, I believe I'm a Clevelander after a decade and a half.

But I think it's one of those very unique things that there are so many ways to look at that conductivity through there from a trail perspective.

I believe it's one of the true assets of the city of Cleveland.

I've noticed a much, you know, larger uptick in some of the maintenance activities that go on there.

Certainly that should always be one of those shining jewels of the region.

But when you look at assets and asset management and the conductivity, it certainly connects to, you know, our museums, you know, the orchestra space, Case Western, the trails.

When you start to see how this community has bridged the gap between some of those things, I think when our partners all, you know, do their best, it will continue to get better and better.

The other activity level, like I said, from East Ninth to 55th, we need to create that conductivity where people can flow back and forth.

So, you know, as long as the agencies can continue to take care of it, I think that's a wonderful thing.

It's a great asset for the community for sure.

- Hi, I have a question from our virtual audience.

The city of Cleveland's population has declined for decades.

How does he see Metroparks role in growing our city, not just our region's population, and how does that intersect with the need for equitable access to quality parks?

- Well, that's a great question.

I think when you look at, you know, the population being below 400, I think there's lots of hard conversations that could happen.

When you look at the model that Nashville's going through right now, and they have more of a uni-government.

Instead of having 60 municipalities, and they have one real model for that.

What that does is puts 'em in a different level for funding and funding opportunities.

You know, the power of many, but certainly we have to balance that.

So I think there's some unique things there.

We have to look at, you know, job creation, job density in areas where we can amalgamate land to attract people.

It shouldn't be hard right now because of the floods, the deserts, the fires, all the other things that are happening in the country.

You know, the work that our chamber can do through Bejou's leadership or the city.

I would have multiple people in multiple parts of the country recruiting with pictures of how wonderful it is here in Cleveland.

And I wouldn't let them come back until they bring companies back with them because the only way we're gonna get better is.

We know what we have here for assets, right?

We know, but others need that narrative in that story.

And you have to go out there and bring people to this region, and we have some of the most amazing assets.

The work that Bryan Stubbs is doing with the Water Alliance.

There are a lot of wonderful things this community has that other communities would literally die for to have.

And so we need to keep highlighting those things, the quality of life, the cost of living.

There are so many wonderful things that we have here that aren't available anyplace else.

So, we need to keep our foot on the gas in the mayor's office, and the county executive's office, and our chamber's office bringing businesses here.

And then certainly I think creating that atmosphere where people can feel included into the conversations and how we listen to the community, how our transportation network looks through the Regional Transit Authority.

There, all those things all need to work together to make the the ecosystem better.

- Good afternoon.

You talked about how many municipalities wanna be a part of the Metroparks, and you've done some great things in the first ring suburbs.

What do you use to evaluate future projects and future partnerships with municipalities?

- Well, that's a great question.

There's no real secret sauce, but I will tell you one, one example of a municipality in the southern part.

You know, it's, sometimes leadership is different and priorities are different.

You know, an ecosystem in the city of Solon, former administration was really looking at job creation.

And that was a good thing between bringing Nestle and Nestle's jobs here into Solon.

With new mayoral leadership, there was a new and renewed sense of, hey, let's use these trail quarters, the old rail quarters, and let's put something together.

Well, we're now partnered together to create a regional trail system into, you know, another community.

And that's a very, very big deal.

So, sometimes it's just a matter of being able to break down some of the barriers.

Where are we actually at?

And sometimes it's challenging, right?

There's certain communities that we've had to work on with residents about some of the fears and the persuasion.

One of the great shining examples, we built a trail between North Royalton, Broadview, and Brecksville, and, you know, certain communities had certain angst.

And I will tell you, each one of the mayors in those communities stepped up.

We had community meetings, and we addressed those concerns.

One particular is a very unique one.

One individual wanted a fence, and we said, "Okay, we'll put a fence up "so that you can't see the trail.

"No problem."

Month goes by, can you put a gate in it 'cause I'd like to use the trail?

(audience laughing) So, you know, all I'm saying is there's a right time and a right place for everything.

And what the city of Euclid has been able to do with their planning and their folks.

It's truly remarkable, the power of persuasion, but it should not be lost on us, the fact that regional partners help.

And so the Clean Ohio funds that come out of the state of Ohio, Grace Gallucci's leadership at NOACA.

That is an extremely important tool by which we're able to bring trail funds here.

So it's not just, it's not just our funds, meaning the taxpayers, it's funds that can come from others.

The Cleveland Foundation brought $5 million.

The Gun Foundation brought 2 million.

Wendy Park brought 3 million.

That's $10 million of private funds, philanthropic dollars, that help build trail and trail networks.

So when we continue to leverage that one, one, and one, we get to three, four, and five.

And that's a big deal.

So it's a very interesting question.

You know, we're working in Maple Heights right now and to see the level of success that we've had at Dunham Park and how it can connect to our Bedford Reservation.

Certainly one of the conversations we wanna have is with First Energy and the power lines, can we go get a trail concept through there?

How do we continue to thread community and place so that people can move?

No one really wants to go out on a trail experience to point A and point B, go out and come back.

They want more of a loop experience.

I think we need to continue to look at that.

The downtown, you know, this redevelopment concept where we're talking about the Browns and the Land Bridge and all of those other things.

You know, there's just a very unique dynamic between, you know, the road that we have there, the station that sits there.

We really need to, you know, really put pen and paper together of how that's the Green Ribbon Coalition.

The city of Cleveland and a whole host of others are looking at it, but, you know, at some point in time, we gotta put our foot on the gas and do something.

You know, we've been talking.

I've been here 10 years, and it's was talked about many times over many decades.

So at some point in time, let's do something, you know?

You can do it three times and get it right versus one time and never do it at all, and that's what we're being challenged with.

So, I think we need to resolve some of those big picture issues and make some of those things happen.

So, I went in a very long-winded fashion to answer your question, but, you know, we're always open for business.

We're always open to work with communities to try very hard to bring, you know, the assets the Emerald Necklace has, and we want to be in the communities that we're not serving yet.

- Speaking of doing something, we have a small problem in Greater Cleveland with the deer population.

Short of reintroducing wolves into the greater Cleveland area, (audience laughing) is there a plan to control the deer population?

- I was waiting for that question actually.

(audience laughing) You know, I think there's, there's a number of different ways to look at this.

You know, the ecosystem that Cuyahoga County sits in is a more built-out environment.

And you know, certainly I think that spurs emotions on a lot of different ways, right?

A lot of different ways of management and how to work through things.

And certain communities have tried certain things.

And I think we've had a program for more than two decades, and we've now partnered with some sportsman clubs to create some other ways.

People talk about contraception.

That's not necessarily the most highly effective way, but certainly I think there's an ecosystem balance that we try to strive for.

They're highly adaptable creatures, you know.

They can look both ways before crossing the road.

And so, you know, I think it's figuring out how to, you know, be able to see flora and fauna, whether it's geese, whether it's other things.

You know, we try very hard to promote people not to feed them.

That should not be a natural instinct.

They should not walk up to the back of your house and knock on the door and say, hey, where's my corn today?

They should be more wild.

So, I think there's a balance between the relationship of people and the ecosystem so.

- I got a question.

Irishtown Bend, and the gentleman just mentioned about doing something.

I guess it's a month ago or so, cleared it out, took all the kudzu out.

You know, it looked fantastic, chip, removed it, did this whole thing.

It was magnificent.

The kudzu's back.

Is there anything we as citizens, the city, the county, you, can move this project along because that park that they're gonna put in there is magnificent.

You know, we went through all those, those planning sessions and Lorraine Road, 25th Street, Lorraine Road, it's gonna be all redone.

Ohio City will change because of that.

What can we do?

- Well, that is a very good question.

(audience laughing) I will be very careful in my words.

When you look at, you know, an opportunity to create something that is world-class and honestly not been done before, certainly the clearing was in front of the work that we need to stabilize from the Cuyahoga River.

The factors of safety.

When we look at the opportunity to keep one of our largest employers, ArcelorMittal, we have to be thinking about the context of keeping an open river.

And so those things are extremely important and the park design becomes somewhat secondary over time.

I think there's, you know, certainly an opportunity that we're working very hard at from a discussion standpoint.

There is one very small particular parcel of land that sits on the top that is currently in litigation that we're trying to work through, you know, a resolution.

But you know, it's in the court system right now.

So that's a process, but, you know, the clearing has begun.

Another building will be coming down here hopefully in the next 30 to 60 days to continue to show some progress there.

Certainly, I think there's a want to see it go faster.

You know, if this were to happen on a more grand scale, if the slip, you know, does occur the way the experts are at least talking through, that's catastrophic.

That actually goes back to the Clean Water Act, of what we didn't do for this community.

And so, you know, when you look at calls and opportunity, certainly I think there's ways to go about it.

There's ways not to go about it.

But I think we're trying, the consortium that's together is trying very hard to resolve it.

We have to have a willing participant on the other side.

A negotiation, for those of who are married or in partner status, you know, it's not always one way, right?

You have to be able to work through this.

And I think that's what's really on the table right now because it's where this community needs to get to long term.

It needs to happen with a tenor and pace that's maybe faster than what's going on right now that anybody would like.

But just know that everybody is working very hard at it, and we understand what it could.

It will make international news if it happens in the fashion that it could.

- I have a question.

I would like to know how will the Metroparks partner to engage more of the CMSD high school students in the parks?

- Great question.

Thank you.

So, one of the things that we just most recently were with Eric Gordon, our first tea program at Washington Park Reservation.

There was a school there that actually sits in the village of Newburg Heights.

That's a very unique opportunity to have an opportunity where the greenhouses are and actually grow food.

They grow food for certain areas of the school district and their culinary program.

Could they start to grow food browsed for the zoo animals?

So I think there's a unique opportunity there.

Our Brookside Reservation, we've partnered with the Cleveland Guardians and Jim Thome to renovate one of the historic ball diamonds there.

We look to continue to partner that.

The reason I'm bringing that up is that's where a lot of the schools play their baseball and other, you know, games happen.

So we continue to try to find ways to do that.

Our outdoor experiences program most recently is partnering with more younger school-aged children and our hot launch program, creating a programmatic element.

We also had many years ago a Parks Pathway internship program.

That may be another way to reintegrate.

And we most recently, this first time, we did an international program where we brought in people from all over the world to work at the zoo.

Absolutely fascinating backgrounds of the individuals.

They had only what they could read about Cleveland, and they said it's nothing like that.

It's only better.

And so, you know, never sell this community short.

We have the assets that everyone should envy.

- [Audience Member] Brian, good afternoon.

- [Audience Member] Go.

- [Audience Member] Afternoon, Brian.

- I can take 'em both at the same time, if you like.

(audience laughing) - The first time I came down to Edgewater and saw what Metroparks had done there, it was just so awesome.

64 years I've been in this city, and Edgewater was never anything we were proud of or was usable.

It was really a mess.

And what you did there was equal to the first time I saw wheels on a suitcase.

(audience laughing) I was like, whoa, this is so obvious, right?

Why didn't anybody see this?

It really was fascinating the first time I saw it.

And I just know that you're, I'd just like a commitment that you're staying here in Cleveland because, no, we desperately need people.

You not only build bridges and paths, you connect cities and people, and that's a very difficult thing to do in this market, to get people to cooperate and work together.

And I know your first statement is always, we have have to build trust first, and you've managed it, and we really do need you to stay here.

So, I hope that the board and the city.

(audience applauding) You're as value as LeBron in another way.

So stick around.

Thank you.

- Well, I'm a Clevelander, that's what I will say.

And our roots are here.

You know, I think the judge and the first park commission board that I worked for, you know, they took a chance on a 37-year-old coming outta Milwaukee that, you know, was really kind of an unknown.

They actually asked if I could look a little bit older.

(audience laughing) I was like, wow, that's a unique task.

I can do a lot of things, but I don't know that I can quite do that.

But it's been a great run, and certainly I don't think we've even hit our stride yet.

There's more to do.

- Hello, Brian.

It's hard to follow your agent, though.

(audience laughing) Thank you for your leadership.

I think it would be, would not be an understatement to say everything the Metropark touches turns out spectacular.

One of the things I'm really impressed with is what you're doing with the golf courses, several golf courses, right?

But I'm interested in whether you see the role of expanding recreationally beyond golf.

I have an example or two if you're interested.

- Yeah, I certainly am aware of, it's this very unique balance between the C,E, and R, conservation, education and recreation.

Our agency isn't necessarily this most active.

Golf has been with us for almost 100 years now.

We certainly do ball diamonds, but we're not necessarily in organized sports.

One of the very unique things that the Park district acquires land through Clean Ohio, it actually puts deed restrictions on top of property, which then predicates what can happen and not happen.

So it's not always just as clear, well, there's a, an open piece of land, we could put x there.

It's how the land was actually acquired.

And so, it's balancing those requirements, and trust me, one of my lawyers or two of my lawyers are in the, we try very hard legally to push the boundaries on everything so that it's the benefit of the community.

So I appreciate the questions.

I think we're always looking at, you know, new opportunities to, to create an atmosphere of placemaking within the Park District.

- Members and friends, Brian Zimmerman.

(audience applauding) - Thank you, Brian Zimmerman, for joining us today here at the City Club of Cleveland.

We would also like to welcome guests at the tables hosted by the Cleveland Metroparks, Green Ribbon Coalition, Huntington Bank, Land Studio, McCaulley and Company, and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

Thank you once again to Brian Zimmerman, and thank you, members, guests and friends of the City Club.

I'm Kristen Baird Adams, and this forum is now adjourned.

(audience applauding) (bell dinging) - [Audience Member] Thank you, Brian.

- [Announcer] For information on upcoming speakers or for podcasts of the City Club, go to cityclub.org.

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