CLEVELAND – Nelsa and Victor Montanez have lived on Scranton Road near the Valentine Road intersection in Cleveland for nearly three decades and have seen the area grow over the years.
“There are houses here. There are children over there, ”said Nelsa Montanez.
But as the neighborhood has grown, so has the volume of traffic.
“Lots of people go back and forth all day,” she said.
The couple said the busy traffic had become dangerous in recent years and they were fed up with it.
“Fix it before something else happens, something bigger,” she said.
The couple said that when trucks come off a one-way street on Sackett Avenue and turn right on Scranton to Valentine Road, often the trucks can’t turn because the street is too narrow.
Nelsa Montanez
“Do you see the pole over there? That bar is 18 inches from the street and these people have no place, they go back and forth, ”Victor Montanez said, referring to the bar on the corner of Sackett Avenue and Scranton Road.
Last year a semi truck trying to turn to Scranton got stuck between two trees on their lawn.
Not only did it damage her garden, power poles, and trees, but it came just inches from her home.
“We are not sure. We need them to put a railing here [Scranton Rd.] The city should put a railing here to avoid something bigger, something they will regret in the future, ”she said.
Mrs. Montanez said that if that first incident wasn’t bad enough, a Budweiser truck nearly hit her grandchildren on Monday afternoon, who were playing outside while it tried to turn into Scranton.
“Please do something about it,” she asked the city guides.
The family called the Cleveland Police and Cleveland City Council but they said nothing was fixed.
They also want a traffic light at the intersection because they said people are racing around and there have been a lot of accidents.
“Put up a sign over there [Sackett Ave.] They say no trucks are allowed here, please, ”she said. “Before we lose our home or someone is killed.”
News 5 turned to councilor Jasmin Santana. She said she contacted the city’s engineers and reached out to ODOT to see what else can be done. She said she would be in the area soon to do some research and speak to the Montanez family.
