Abstract
Joe Santiago shares his experiences growing up in the Tremont area, discussing his family's Puerto Rican heritage and the challenges they faced as part of a minority community in Tremont. He reflects on the vibrant cultural life of the neighborhood, highlighting local festivals, community gatherings, and the strong sense of identity among residents. Santiago also addresses the impact of economic changes on Tremont, including the decline of local industries and the effects of urban development. Throughout the interview, he emphasizes the importance of community resilience and the ongoing efforts to revitalize the neighborhood while preserving its rich cultural history. Poor audio quality.
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Interviewee
Santiago, Joe (interviewee)
Project
Tremont History Project
Date
2003
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
35 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Joe Santiago interview, 2003" (2003). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 223067.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/1378
Transcript
Interviewer [00:00:01] Alright. If you could, please give me your name and spell it for me please.
Joe Santiago [00:00:05] Joe Santiago. S-A-N-T-I-A-G-O.
Interviewer [00:00:10] And how long have you lived in Fremont?
Joe Santiago [00:00:13] My whole life.
Interviewer [00:00:14] How long is that?
Joe Santiago [00:00:16] [inaudible] years.
Interviewer [00:00:18] And is this the house where you grew up? [inaudible answer] And what were some of your earliest childhood memories?
Joe Santiago [00:00:32] My earliest childhood memory would probably be living here, working here, being a paper boy. [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:00:55] Where did you go to school?
Joe Santiago [00:00:58] [inaudible] I went to public school and then went to St. Michael’s.
Interviewer [00:01:08] What was it like going to St. Michael’s?
Joe Santiago [00:01:11] It was- I would say it was probably like going to any other school. The curriculum was the same, probably. A lot stricter, very Catholic. Back then we used to go to church every day. But now the kids don’t go to church today but maybe once a month. It was good. [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:01:41] So back then, [inaudible]?
Joe Santiago [00:01:46] No, just some of the [inaudible].
Interviewer [00:01:58] Which school was bigger? Your public school or St. Michael’s?
Joe Santiago [00:02:00] St. Michael’s was pretty big at=- [inaudible] I’m not sure how many children. [inaudible] [00:02:33] -trade school, welding- [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:02:46] Central Catholic- [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:02:52] [inaudible] -they had just closed two campuses- [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:03:05] And you said you were an officer boy in grade school?
Joe Santiago [00:03:08] Officer boy.
Interviewer [00:03:09] Any other activities you participated in?
Joe Santiago [00:03:14] Officer boy, mostly. Theater. Class president.
Interviewer [00:03:22] How long were you class president?
Joe Santiago [00:03:24] [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:03:30] [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:03:34] It was different when I was in [inaudible]. It was different because there wasn’t that structure. In public school, you kind of did what you wanted to do, where in Catholic school it was more rigorous and you just kept up with people in smaller classrooms, and in that way it looks different.
Interviewer [00:03:59] What did you take away from your time at Catholic school?
Joe Santiago [00:04:05] I think that- I think in West Tech back then, they both offered about the same thing. Band, football teams, basketball, baseball. Both schools [inaudible], but the structure was a lot more difficult. [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:04:37] Were you involved in in high school?
Joe Santiago [00:04:40] In high school, I was involved in drama. I was involved in C.O.E., Co-Operative Education, where you work part-time and go to school part-time. So my major in high school was office management. I was involved in- Oh, I was the football announcer. I was the announcer of the PA at school, and drama.
Interviewer [00:05:15] Were there anything any other activities besides those at the school that you were involved in?
Joe Santiago [00:05:20] Back then I was back then, it wasn’t as far as being involved in the community, it was mostly like church things, block clubs, which is still going. It was one of the oldest block clubs in the area. But my parents mostly did that [inaudible]. You know, like, as a kid, shoveling snow, going door to door, which doesn’t happen too much anymore. And when it does happen, you know, we’d get paid a quarter or a dollar and not, what, ten, twenty bucks for it. Raking leaves. I was paper boy for the Cleveland Press. [inaudible] After school I’d come home.
Interviewer [00:06:18] With the church, was there anything what went on with the church?
Joe Santiago [00:06:23] The basic retreats, you know, when the altar boys had a little bit more [inaudible] funerals and weddings and stuff like that. So we’d go through that. Our church had a [inaudible] Sunday. As far as community, back then it was different than it is now. [inaudible] -raise money or have a bake sale or [inaudible] more opportunities for people to get involved in various cultural [inaudible] and then from there- [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:07:20] And there’s activities- You mentioned St. Michael. And was that common to like all the other churches in the area too?
Joe Santiago [00:07:30] I believe so. Now I think the churches, you know, would be kind of be the way it is now. I think the whole, the outlook of how church is is different. They want to make community involved as well as parishioner involvement, and there are so many churches in the Tremont area. Here alone you have ten churches within a mile radius, and they’re all [inaudible] [00:08:24] They had a complete renovation over there. The Zion Church is one of the churches that their steeples are- [inaudible] So they’re doing a big renovation now to their steeple. St. Michael- [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:08:48] [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:08:56] The community does get behind of it. We have fundraisers that, you know, a lot of the churches use their block club meetings, depending where your neighborhood is. There’s one block club is Zion Church, one block club is Pilgrim Church, St. George Orthodox Church. So the church has really opened the door to- [inaudible] St. George’s, we have our fundraisers there. We have our meetings there. [inaudible] Our meetings are held there. [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:09:53] When you were a kid, [inaudible]?
Joe Santiago [00:09:58] No, we were strictly St. Michael’s.
Interviewer [00:10:00] Oh really? Were there any type of- You went to grade school there, you said?
Joe Santiago [00:10:05] It was our neighborhood church- [inaudible] We had our first communion there. [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:10:34] When you were in high school, [inaudible]?
Joe Santiago [00:10:39] My high school?
Interviewer [00:10:47] Were there any, like, how was the community changing?
Joe Santiago [00:10:51] I don’t know about that. I was into my own stuff. So my parents were- My mother was [inaudible], so she was involved in different things, different activities. I remember the most that she was involved in the block club. The block club was- Right now it’s extreme. [inaudible] [00:11:28] So I think that, the main thing was the block club, and that was the beginning of different programs. Back then they didn’t have, like, a community development corporation that stood behind the residents and worked with the councilmen. We’re fortunate in this area. We have Tremont West Development Corporation, Clark-Metro Development Corporation, and Ohio City Near West Corporation, and we’re all- [inaudible] So, what one doesn’t do the other one does for the community. For example, [inaudible]. [00:12:21] Windows for elderly that can’t afford it. Ohio City does that. So each development corporation has its [inaudible].
Interviewer [00:12:36] And your mom worked- [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:12:39] Yeah. I don’t know [inaudible] but she, you know, she was [inaudible].
Interviewer [00:12:47] You know what kind of things [inaudible]?
Joe Santiago [00:12:48] They’d do bake sales, picnics for the kids in the summer. My mom, my mom and dad came from Puerto Rico. They came to Lorain, Ohio. My mother’s family moved to Tremont in the ’50s and so she went to Saint Augustine School and [inaudible] High School. [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:13:30] What kind of work did your father do?
Joe Santiago [00:13:33] My father worked for [inaudible] Bakery, right up the street here. [inaudible] My mom was a teacher’s aide. [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:13:59] What types of things you do when you were a kid? [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:14:10] Well, we did a lot of things. We built clubhouses. The neighbors that I had are still there. So you know, we’re still real close. We’re like family. [00:14:25] In my yard we weren’t allowed to go play on the grass. That was my father’s rule, but in Mrs. Schubert’s yard in the back, she had three kids, so we’d go to their yard and you know like they actually would. My father would get and we’d build a clubhouse. In the winter months we played games. My mother was real creative with that, you know like bingo and Sorry and Trouble and Uno and those type of things. So it was mostly like playing and [inaudible].
Interviewer [00:15:11] Were you in Little League, or- [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:15:15] Nothing- [inaudible] When we got a little older, like 12 years old, they had. That’s like, the Merrick House is a daycare center. They had programs. That’s when like the program started and they had like free tennis for the kids. So we used go down the hill to Clark Field and have tennis lessons. Baseball, I don’t remember whether we were involved.
Interviewer [00:15:49] About any memories of Lincoln Park?
Joe Santiago [00:15:52] Lincoln Park. Yeah, that’s where we’d go swimming. That was a pool. We also have a school called Meyers Pool, which is a little different. It’s by the school. But Lincoln Park, my mom remembers it when she was little. Where the gazebo is now used to be like a water fountain. They used to go in there and wet their feet put and then they’d go to the pool. So we spent a lot of our summer at the pool.
Interviewer [00:16:22] It was a big hangout for the neighborhood?
Joe Santiago [00:16:25] Oh yeah, a huge hangout for the neighborhood. Walk over there or take our bikes over there. They had a lot of activities for kids, like tennis was one of them. They had volleyball, basketball. Used to keep kids on the street.
Interviewer [00:16:46] What about high school?
Joe Santiago [00:16:48] High school? I was mostly involved in high school stuff, you know.
Interviewer [00:17:05] What happened? Did you stick around after high school?
Joe Santiago [00:17:09] I stuck around after high school for about a year and a half. Then I joined the Navy. [inaudible] I worked at a nursing home and then I decided to join the Navy and- [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:17:31] Do you know- [inaudible]?
Joe Santiago [00:17:37] Actually I hang around with about six of them still. One is a nurse, one is a secretary to a doctor [inaudible] high school. A couple of them work for the federal government. A couple of them work for private businesses. [inaudible] Some of them left. But my niche of friends that I hung around in high school, we still hang around. One of them is a construction worker. [inaudible] So we’re still close.
Interviewer [00:18:21] With your, you know, closest [inaudible] for other people you went to school with?
Joe Santiago [00:18:25] No. A lot of the people I went to school with, their parents, none of ’em worked in the steel mills. We had a lot of problems with the steel mills because of their polluting the air and stuff like that. And as soon as they closed it’s been a lot better. But there was a lot of- When I came back home that was one of my big efforts was the air pollution, air safety. I did a small study on people that had diseases in this area and in this like one-mile radius area, there was a lot of factory people on record saying it, but there was a lot of leukemia and cancer at young ages. And a lot of people were saying we’re sitting on time bomb because of the air pollution and the air quality. We had the soil tested in the area and the houses tested for lead, which led us to that. But it was high, but it wasn’t high enough to cause anything. And since we don’t have an EPA here in Cleveland - we don’t have a satellite office, the EPA’s in Chicago - it was very difficult to get things done. But they were trying to work with us in air quality. We had- [inaudible] -so it was pretty bad. You know, if you had a kiddie pool in the backyard, there’ll be like a layer of silver dust on it, so it started getting really tough there towards the end before they started [inaudible].
Interviewer [00:20:11] [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:20:14] It was. It was like that when I was a kid, but no one knew. You know, everyone just- The way I look at it is everyone just took things for what they were. You know, no one thought that, oh, if my voice my opinion this will get done. That’s just my opinion. When I came and I joined the block club, I said, boy, what, park your car outside, your whole window’s covered with silver dust. They’re like, yeah, that’s been happening for years. What do you think it is? And I’m like, that’s pollution. Let’s get something done about it. So then we started this big rally and the block club started, you know, and then we had the EPA out here. We had city coming out out to test the air quality. It was really bad.
Interviewer [00:21:02] So then all the way from the start till you picked it up-
Joe Santiago [00:21:06] Yeah, Well, I was fortunate that when I came home from the Navy, the houses are too big for my dad. My parents are divorced now. So I renovated it and [inaudible].
Interviewer [00:21:23] Is there any other issues that you can recall?
Joe Santiago [00:21:26] Yeah, there are several issues that I’ve been working on through the block club. I’m also the vice president of Tremont West Development Corporation. Through the block club, we’ve been really- We’ve been in advocacy for safety in the neighborhood. Our children- There’s a lot of children in the neighborhood. And like I said, we have several elementary schools, and West 14th is a shortcut for a lot of the people coming from the suburbs towards downtown. And we were having a lot of issues involved with speeding. A lot of people not following the laws as far as children’s safety goes and stuff. And right here, there used to be just this light right here on the corner of West [inaudible], so our block club worked hard for the city, we rallied we got up at six in the morning with signs. That was definitely, when Mike White was mayor, three of our guards got sideswiped. Now they’d pulled up the stop sign and they’re coming back in to put the stop sign in and they got swiped with the vehicle. So it was a safety issue. So through the block club we had those signs put in. We’ve had a study with the Innerbelt Study. Now I’m on the scoping committee with the Innerbelt. The Innerbelt, ODOT, which is the Ohio Department of Transportation, is doing a study to renovate the highway. It was rumored back that when this all started that they were gonna expand the freeway. So that brought great fear to all the residents in the area because if they expand, where are they gonna expand? On the east side of the highway there’s houses. On the west side of the highway there’s houses. And on the east side of the highway is there’s five major churches that are on historical sites. So if they expand it coming this way towards [inaudible], they would have took all the churches away. If it expanded towards the west it would’ve taken an elementary school away and as part of Metro Hospital. But it would have took, it would have taken many years. And that was a big issue back in the ’50s when my mom was a child when they first built the freeway they just came in and said well we’re gonna build a freeway, you gotta move. This is what you need to do for your house. And there was no, there was no communication with residents. So we didn’t want that to happen now in the year 2000. So we got really active and we went to the city and we said look, we want you to listen, we’ll help you, you help us. So through our efforts, a scoping community was formed with residents, city workers, with ODOT. ODOT is more like. And so they took in our suggestions and what they can do and I don’t know if you saw the paper this weekend about how they’re gonna expand it without affecting the-
Interviewer [00:24:29] I think I do remember seeing it.
Joe Santiago [00:24:31] So that was through our efforts because they were planning on making it, you know, a jumbo-sized freeway for the future and without taking consideration. So, so far we’re working together as a team to come up with solutions to the problem environmentally. That’s like a huge aspect. The project should be starting to adjust.
Interviewer [00:24:58] And that’s 71 and 490?
Joe Santiago [00:25:01] Uh, that’s 90. Well, it’s like where all of them join. So 71 comes into it, 90 and 77. So it’s that whole area. The Innerbelt Bridge is like right in front of [inaudible], that whole bridge area. And also, now on West 14th we have a big truck traffic, a lot of truck traffic to go down into the Flats. So what what we’re doing is working with ODOT, and all our efforts is there because they’re gonna come up with a plan to make another exit for the freeway behind us that goes right to that so that that truck traffic doesn’t come by us. And it’Ll hopefully eliminate some of the traffic as well.
Interviewer [00:26:00] So, is Tremont still packed with families?
Joe Santiago [00:26:04] Very packed with families. A lot of owner-occupied homes but then there’s a lot of rental homes as well. Some absentee landlords. Block clubs are very active in that, that if they start seeing a home going down and stuff we have a process where we report it to someone at Tremont West, a code enforcer, [inaudible] there may be a problem, maybe somebody that’s elderly can’t afford to do something. So we work together with Tremont West and the councilman to get those issues taken care of. We have a block watch where we have some neighbors that watch out for at a certain time. We have [inaudible] that are done on a monthly basis, and we join forces with the other community development corporations, and we at least try to have two [inaudible] so, you know, we want to make our neighborhood a safe place. We have a, you know, like I have two elderly neighbors that I keep an eye on and go check on to make sure they’re okay. [inaudible]
Interviewer [00:27:45] So, all of your- [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:27:53] Very strong, and sometimes they get weak but through everyone working together, you know, people drop off and people leave and some people say oh screw it, I don’t want to do this anymore. But there’s always, you know, it just takes a handful. Sometimes that handful gets burned out and they’re like oh my God, we can’t do it. But ,you know, we meet once a month and we talk about what’s going on in the neighborhood. Like there’s a lot of speeding and then we talk to community- [inaudible] So that’s a constant.
Interviewer [00:28:36] How about crime? [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:28:42] Well, we, through the block clubs and that’s, there’s ten in Tremont West that are- The block clubs are an entity of your- But Tremont West facilitates the block clubs- [inaudible] So, through the block clubs, like if we notice like, let’s say there’s a drug house, so I’ll keep an eye on it for a couple days. Everyone will say, yeah, I saw this car there at such and such a time. We meet, we bring all our group together, we take it to the police. The police department is very [inaudible], and the commander has a meeting second Tuesday of every month, and we bring our issues there. If they’re not immediately within a couple of days but you know like if it’s drugs they have to do a sting operation and monitor it to make sure, you know, [inaudible]. But usually what we bring is enough. And they’ll monitor whatever’s going on for a couple days and problem solved.
Interviewer [00:30:03] So, you think because you have block clubs helping- [inaudible]?
Joe Santiago [00:30:06] Oh, definitely. Yeah. The block clubs are like I said, the headphones. Some people don’t come, but, you know, like, I go fire myself. And I said, [inaudible]. My garbage can got stolen. Did you record it? You know, a lot of problems are some people don’t record crime. So there’s no statistics if you don’t record it. You know, my car got broken too. We just had in this area somebody that was breaking into cars and stealing change and jewelry. They caught the guy that was- It was just the guy and his girlfriend going, you know, checking car doors if they’re open or whatever and stealing the change. So we got our spies out there and we started monitoring and within two weeks they were caught. And we also have a program Court Watch with Tremont West, where it’s mostly retired people back [inaudible]. A lot of us work, but the retired people who voted in court, when it’s time for a hearing and they will stand as a witness to the judge and the judge will say, we’ll have like five or six people there saying, you know, this guy has been in our neighborhood, he’s doing this, doing that, whatever. And it helps support system in deciding whether or not to put the person in jail or let him go. You know, after your first, after your second offense, the judge takes the community very seriously. The housing court, you know, whatever it might be, we have a court, sit there, make sure that these guys- [inaudible]. We don’t mess around.
Interviewer [00:32:02] So church and community crime is pretty strong. Obviously have a very strong community looking after each other. [inaudible]
Joe Santiago [00:32:19] Well, it’s a, it’s a historical area. My house here was built in 1885. I think the earliest house was built in 1880 on 14th. 14th Street back then was considered like Millionaires’ Row. Now it’s not. [laughs] Don’t think I’m a millionaire. But back then it was, you know, wealthier people. Now, in this area, it’s moderate middle-class to low-income working families, people that gotta work hard for their living. Factory working to MetroHealth employs a lot of people. [inaudible] So we’re looking looking forward to inviting businesses to come join the community to be close to where they work so they don’t- With the bus system that we have in here is pretty good. So we’re on- It’s easy to catch a bus to go to work somewhere, but we’d really like to keep those people here. Suburban sprawl is good, but it’s bad also because a lot of the, you know, a lot of lot of people that live here, their goal is to move out into something better, making things better. So we, we like to invite people to come back. We have homes being built that are $200,000 homes. We have homes from 100,000. First-time home buyer, brand-new home, 180,000 dollars. So I think that’s a big positive [inaudible]. CMHA housing, housing for low-income families. They’re getting better. So there’s a lot going on in Tremont. Restaurants, [inaudible] but it’s a happening area in town. [crosstalk] [inaudible] Wasn’t that awesome?
Interviewer [00:34:36] It was, it was really nice.
Joe Santiago [00:34:37] Oh man, it was a beautiful night.
Interviewer [00:34:39] I was here- [inaudible]
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