Huntington officials will meet Thursday with city officials, residents and others “to present solutions” to concerns the community has raised regarding the closing of the Buckeye Road branch.
The invitation-only meeting is the latest in a string of developments tied to the efforts of Keep Huntington on Buckeye, a residents’ committee, and others aimed at preventing the branch from permanently closing.
Huntington announced last fall that the branch would permanently close Feb. 9 because of crime in the area, which bank officials said was placing its employees and customers at risk. The branch did close Friday, but only on a temporary basis.
In January, Huntington withdrew an application with bank regulators to permanently close the branch. Officials said the branch could reopen in six months if the bank, working with the city, can come up with a strategy to address crime in the area.
Cleveland officials have been lobbying bank for weeks
Lobbying efforts against closing the branch included a Jan. 9 meeting held by City Council President Blaine Griffin.
“As a follow-up to the community meeting held on January 9, Huntington has invited the community advocates and officials present at that meeting to join us for an update and conversation on the temporary closure of the Huntington Buckeye branch,” Kris Dahl, regional communications manager for Huntington, wrote in an email to Signal Cleveland.
In addition to Griffin, Dahl confirmed, invitees include officials from Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration, representatives from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates banks, and representatives from Sen. Sherrod Brown’s office. Brown is on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
At the January meeting, Keep Huntington on Buckeye members told Huntington representatives they viewed the closing of the branch in the Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood as a form of community disinvestment.
Residents said Huntington will ‘present solutions”
Some of the residents invited to the meeting told Signal Cleveland that bank representatives told them the purpose of the meeting is to “present solutions to the needs presented by the council president” and others on Jan. 9.
Committee members say that they have gathered more than 700 signatures from people who want to keep the branch open.
Griffin said he’s counting on Huntington answering pressing questions.
“We want them to discuss at the meeting why they made the decision to temporarily close, as opposed to permanently close, the branch,” he said. “I believe a lot of that was due to the city and the community’s commitment and the willingness to come together and try to figure out how we can keep them as a good community partner.”
Griffin also wants Huntington to give details on what “charitable and community benefits and investments” it will make even as the bank reevaluates reopening the branch.
Robert L. Render, a Keep Huntington on Buckeye member, said he is hoping Huntington officials will provide “a short- and long-term strategy to deal with crime along Buckeye Road.”