Could some of Cleveland's streets soon look like Put-in-Bay's?
City Council President Blaine Griffin said he sure hopes so. After council approved legislation Monday to allow businesses to operate golf carts on city streets, Griffin imagined neighborhoods like Little Italy and Larchmere taking on the appearance of the Lake Erie island known for its golf cart-driving tourists.
"The idea actually makes sense because when you look at districts that want to be connected ... this may be helpful," Griffin said. "So at some point in time, we may have Ward 6 look like Put-in-Bay... I think it would be a cool thing if we were able to do that."
The law will require any golf cart being used for a legitimate business purpose to be inspected, tagged, titled and registered with the city and state.
Calley Mersmann, director of Cleveland's City Planning Commission, said the goal is to help expand small businesses like Bob Polk's. The local entrepreneur has been offering bicycle tours since 2011, and said the new law will help him expand.
"As I'm getting older and some of the people don't always want to ride bicycles, I saw this as an avenue to be able to still do my tours and show the people around the city," said Polk, who owns Leisure Tours Cleveland.
But business use does not just include human transport: members of Mayor Justin Bibb's administration said the carts can be used for transporting goods, like food delivery or courier services.
Some council members worried about a "free for all" with golf carts on city streets, as driving personal use golf carts is still prohibited.
Mersmann assured members of council there are safeguards in place: the law requires annual cart inspections by the city's Bureau of Traffic, and businesses will be required to keep information on their business and authorized drivers on record with the city.
"We felt offering operations for business purposes was a good and responsible way to start, so that we didn't have a proliferation of golf carts: there was a mechanism for the inspections to happen, for registered drivers to be kept on file, so we could really see how things roll out," Mersmann said.
Other members worried about inequitable distribution of permits, which will be reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis.
"As a resident, if I want a golf cart ... if they are riding golf carts downtown, I think we should all have the ability to have golf carts," said Council Member Kevin Bishop, who voted against the ordinance. "With all fairness, if golf carts are not safe in the neighborhoods, they shouldn't be on the streets of Downtown Cleveland."
Mersmann said there is no geographic restriction on where businesses can operate golf carts, however, businesses will be required to include their service area in their applications.
The Cleveland Division of Police currently employs 20 traffic officers.
