At the city council meeting on Feb. 13, Joe Fivas, city manager for Cleveland, announced Project Green Arrow has completed the pilot program and was moving into Phase One. This project, which is designed to give added security to the Greenway by adding cameras, has been in the works since the Homelessness Action Memo was presented to the City Council in late 2022.
Kris Miller, IT Director for the city of Cleveland has been the project manager and responsible for both the pilot program as well as Phase One. The pilot program consisted of three cameras being installed at Greenway Park on Raider Drive. Phase One will consist of 16 additional cameras being installed at various points along the Greenway. According to Miller, the estimated hardware costs for Phase One will be roughly $75,000.
While this plan was presented to the City Council in the HAM by Fivas, city manager for the city of Cleveland, according to Councilman Dr. Estes, this project had been discussed for a few months prior to that.
The reason why this project has been of such importance is due to public safety along the Greenway. At over four miles long, it is the largest public park in the city.
“The goal? Safety for citizens. Protection of property,” said Estes in an email to the Lee Clarion.
According to Lieutenant Daniel Gibbs in the Cleveland PD, the Greenway poses a few unique safety hazards associated with it. The primary one is officers may not always have a pinpoint location to go off of when responding to calls along the park.
“If they do get a call on the Greenway and dispatch is not updating them with its exact location. They will hop on a Kawasaki Mule at our substation and ride up and down the Greenway,” said Gibbs.
Gibbs also says safety can be impacted during the evenings when it gets darker out. This is due to the fact that the tree cover along the Greenway creates inherent dark and secluded spaces during the day. When the sun goes down, those secluded spaces increase in number.
At the city council meeting on Feb. 13, Miller said these cameras have night vision capabilities, which means safety will be greatly increased when it gets dark out.
This project is also a part of a greater safety initiative for the city as well.
According to Gibbs, the city of Cleveland is wanting to invest in a central command center called Aware.
