GCRTA - Cuyahoga County - Prepared

[djthomas]

I will add pictures of signs over the weekend, but the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has always had word only signs that say "Unless you are a law enforcement officer... no firearms on the property" at the lot entrances to all their Park and Rides that refer to 2923.126 and imply that 126 completely prohibits carrying on their property. I'll also check to see if there are signs on the enclosed bus shelters at some of them, such as the transit stop on Center Ridge in Fairview Park.

Edit to add: Contact information and photos have been collected.

[rickt]

I just rode my bicycle past the Fairview Park transit center and it does indeed have signs.

Now the question is: does it meet the definition of "government facility"? If RTA police stop by there once or twice a day to check it out, is that "regular" enough to meet the definition? How about maintenance and cleaning personal who may be RTA employees and clean or maintain the building?

Another poorly defined term from the General Assembly.

[djthomas]

I just rode my bicycle past the Fairview Park transit center and it does indeed have signs.

Now the question is: does it meet the definition of "government facility"? If RTA police stop by there once or twice a day to check it out, is that "regular" enough to meet the definition? How about maintenance and cleaning personal who may be RTA employees and clean or maintain the building?

Another poorly defined term from the General Assembly.

Did you see me out there taking pictures about an hour ago openly carrying my SIG? I am taking the approach that these transit building are shelters or rest facilities since they are open to the public to hang out away from the elements while they wait for their next bus to arrive. Whether government employees are regularly present is irrelevant in this case. I also take exception with the fact that they post the entrances to all their park 'n ride properties implying that it's illegal to carry anywhere on the grounds so I grabbed some photos of those too.

Incidentally the "poorly defined term from the General Assembly" is almost word for word the same definition used by Federal law to define a Federal Facility (not that it makes it any clearer).

[rickt]

Did you see me out there taking pictures about an hour ago openly carrying my SIG? I am taking the approach that these transit building are shelters or rest facilities since they are open to the public to hang out away from the elements while they wait for their next bus to arrive. Whether government employees are regularly present is irrelevant in this case. I also take exception with the fact that they post the entrances to all their park 'n ride properties implying that it's illegal to carry anywhere on the grounds so I grabbed some photos of those too.

I was on my way to work and didn't feel like unclipping from the pedals to look inside and really analyze what kind of building it was. I just made a circle around the building and continued on to work. I actually thought to myself while riding over there, "wouldn't it be funny if I saw some guy photographing the signs when I rode up?"

However, you make a valid point if it's only function is to shelter people waiting for a bus. Also, a Park 'n Ride parking lot should definitely not be posted.

[djthomas]

I'm bubbling this one back up. At some point in the last month GCRTA has put new signs up at the entrances to their Westlake Park 'N ride. These are small billboard-sized signs that list the rules of the RTA lot. Towards the bottom there is a picture of a gun-buster and the standard verbiage about 'unless otherwise authorized no person shall carry...' There's at least three of these new signs at the entrances to the lot. There's only one building in the lot and it's a locked hut that I've been told is an employee restroom. Thus even if they were to try to claim that the sign only applies to the building, by law that building can't be posted anyway.

I don't live near any other Park 'N Rides but I would not be surprised if these new signs were ordered for all their park 'n' ride properties.

IMHO RTA needs to get out there with four inch wide wide duct tape and cover up the firearms prohibition because it does not apply in any way to the property. As we all know buses are not off limits so these are clearly improperly posted.