Film Productions Bring Hollywood To Cleveland, And A Taste of L.A. Traffic

A film production in University Circle is causing traffic and delays for East Side residents, and some say they didn’t receive enough warning before the project began.

City officials say production companies follow the same permit process required for construction work. Companies submit a permit request to the city, and it is evaluated for safety, state law requirements and how much it will impede traffic.

But responsibility for communicating the traffic changes to local residents and businesses falls on the production company, said Capt. Michael Butler, the city’s special events coordinator.

More than one production company is at work in Cleveland right now, and each one is in charge of making sure residents know when and where they will be operating.

But this week, Butler said, that didn’t go exactly according to plan. While Case Western Reserve University was alerted to the filming, other entities like University Hospitals were not told until the last minute.

“It just did not get through the normal process that we’d like to see,” Butler said. “A perfect world is where UH would have been made aware. They could have sent it to all 4,000 employees, and been done that way.”

As far as timing, he says the city tries to keep the work out of the morning and evening commuter rush.

That depends in part on production schedules, which he said don’t always allow for flexibility.

“Then we just make sure through the Bureau of Traffic that they have sufficient off-duty law enforcement officers directing traffic,” he said.

The city sent out a communications blast alerting the media and residents to road closures closer to the production dates. Continued closures on Wednesday, Nov. 20 include:

• Euclid Avenue from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Adelbert Road
• Adelbert Road from Euclid Avenue to Circle Drive

Closures for Thursday, Nov. 21 and Friday, Nov. 22 include:

• Murray Hill Road from Mayfield Road to Fairview Avenue
• Paul Avenue from Random Road to Murray Hill Road