CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — It's a story we've been following for years, and now it's taken social media by storm.
At the intersection of South Taylor Road and Fairmount Boulevard in Cleveland Heights sits a house where John Gall calls home. He's owned the property since the late 1990s.
RELATED: Cleveland Heights homeowner pleads for safety after multiple cars crash into his home
In the past decade, Gall said three cars have crashed into his home.
“Well, the first crash actually took out my pickup truck that was parked in the driveway. I believe that was 2012,” Gall previously told News 5.
The second crash occurred in 2021 when News 5 covered a police chase that ended with a car crashing into Gall's kitchen. Then, in 2022, another crash took out his garage. The latest crash, in 2023, landed on the lawn but narrowly missed the house.
Gall has been begging for the installment of a guardrail with each crash.
RELATED: Cleveland Heights homeowner demands something be done after yet another crash in front yard
Without a suitable solution, as deemed by Gall, he is continuing to plant signs in his front yard, bashing the local government.
"A promise not kept is a lie," one sign reads.
I called Gall Sunday afternoon for a follow-up interview, but he wasn't available. He did mention he hasn't heard from the City of Cleveland Heights recently regarding a permanent solution.
I stopped by Cleveland Heights City Hall this week and sat down with Mayor Khalil Seren about the issue and his thoughts on the signs on Gall's property.
"Free speech is one of the core tenets of our society, and I think it should be encouraged and supported, even when the speech may be misleading as I believe those signs are," he told me.
Seren stated the city has been in "communication to some degree or another" with Gall and his attorney. He said he even had a conversation with Gall about his concerns before being elected mayor in 2021.
"We here in city government have attempted to work with Mr. Gall in a variety of ways. We've offered a number of solutions. We've offered bollards. We've offered wooden posts. We've offered field stones and concrete barriers. We offered the large boulders that currently sit on his property right now. Subsequent to the placement of those boulders, we've had a couple of incidents where someone ran off the road while driving too fast down Taylor. Those boulders stopped those cars. That's what they were intended to do: to protect the property, to protect him. They were successful," Seren shared.
The boulders in front of Gall's home are meant to be a temporary solution. The city has also installed a speed table and an LED sign warning drivers of the upcoming T-bone intersection.
RELATED: Where's my guardrail? Driver crashes into Cleveland Heights home as owner calls for safety upgrades
"I'm hoping that it is 100% effective and we no longer have any of those incidents," Seren said.
"Speed bump? Seriously? WTF?," asked another one of Gall's front yard signs in response.
Another option Seren said the city has offered Gall is purchasing his property.
"We were refused that opportunity to begin that conversation," Seren noted.
Gall has previously told News 5 there's only one solution he'd accept from the city: a guardrail.
However, Cleveland Heights and ODOT report that's not possible.
"The Ohio Department of Transportation guidelines that we adhere to will not allow a guardrail in that location because of the danger to eastbound motorists on Fairmount. There's an impalement risk. There is simply not enough room in that location to provide the impact attenuators that a guardrail would require. Not only that, but a guardrail is not intended to or designed to stop a head-on collision. Period," Seren added.
Seren said the city will continue to maintain an open dialogue with Gall and his attorney despite this issue not being a "city responsibility in the strictest sense."
"He's a resident and we do care. We want him to be safe and that's why we've taken all of these measures to provide that degree of safety," Seren said.
Gall plans to address the mayor's comments soon.
We'll continue to follow through.
