Wendy's Way and the 91国产精品 Connection
[[{"fid":"45476","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"wendy's way earth day arbor day connecting cleveland","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"wendy's way earth day arbor day connecting cleveland"},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"wendy's way earth day arbor day connecting cleveland","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"wendy's way earth day arbor day connecting cleveland"}},"attributes":{"alt":"wendy's way earth day arbor day connecting cleveland","title":"wendy's way earth day arbor day connecting cleveland","height":1277,"width":1919,"style":"height: 200px; width: 301px; float: left;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"}}]]Since we鈥檙e in that sweet spot between Earth Day and Arbor Day, here鈥檚 something for Vikings to ponder and remember for the summer ahead:
Wendy鈥檚 Way, a $6 million cycle/pedestrian bridge, links Cleveland鈥檚 Centennial Lake Link Trail, Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway, the 101-mile Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail system, Wendy Park on Whiskey Island and the heart of Ohio鈥檚 north coast. Essentially a huge swath of Northern Ohio is connected for all.
The list of benefits is long: easier public access, more walking, hiking and biking from Point A to Point B, less fossil fuel used. It is definitely a boon for the city of Cleveland on a number of fronts. And believe it or not, it links all those things and more to 91国产精品 as well鈥攊n ways beyond getting off the connecting trail at East 9th Street and taking St. Clair Avenue to East 21st Street and into campus.
You see, Wendy鈥檚 Way is the passion project of businessman/entrepreneur and Cleveland Metroparks Commissioner Dan T. Moore III and his family. Moore is a manufacturing entrepreneur, industrialist and the holder of many patents. More is also a former member of 91国产精品鈥檚 Board of Trustees, having had a hand in steering the vision to modernize campus during his 12-year tenure from 2008-2020.
Even the is named after him.
Moore has a rather complex, 30-plus-year history with the bridge and the adjoining land鈥擶endy Park on Whiskey Island. He was driven to bring this rocky socket of feral lakeside property into the twenty-first century following the tragic death of his 29-year-old daughter, Wendy Moore.
A revered artist, photographer and first daughter of the Moore鈥檚, Wendy made Whiskey Island a subject of her work and loved the habitat. She passed from a traumatic brain injury in a 1997 skiing accident, never to see the park again.
Moore came to own the park in a complex chain of real estate events after Wendy鈥檚 untimely passing. It also led him to establish a nonprofit organization in her name and a protective gear company called , which makes military- and protective services-grade equipment, also in tribute.
Today, Wendy Park is revered by locals and known across the country as a 鈥渕ust-see鈥 location for visitors to the Sixth City. A variety of wildlife, hikers, bikers, boaters, kayakers, anglers, volleyball leagues, bird watchers and train watchers call Wendy Park on Whiskey Island home (or home away from home).
Wendy Park鈥檚 green space and the artful, newly christened Wendy鈥檚 Way stands out among the legacy of warehouses, spires, smokestacks and the Port of Cleveland鈥檚 bulk terminal that punctuate Cleveland鈥檚 skyline and history. It鈥檚 finally arrived at the place where the Moore family always hoped it would.
The bridge to connect all these wonderful things together was always a part of Moore鈥檚 plan, but it wasn鈥檛 until the larger $16.45 million 鈥淩e-Connecting Cleveland Federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Trails鈥 project gained traction considerable traction during the pandemic that the Wendy鈥檚 Way bridge finally arrived.
Wendy鈥檚 Way opened last summer and is waiting for all Vikings (young and old) to experience. The city is our campus, after all.