I realize that this is coming from basically all second hand sources but the FA state they are NOW able to work directly out of CLE and now they don't have to travel to a hub (ie. ORD) to start work. This has already begun and supposedly, at least for the UA employees, this is a big deal. Whether or not a bunch more routes will be added is another question.
Your point about the city letting UA out of lease is interesting. My suspicion is UA probably doesn't want out of the lease, they now control all that dead space. While a million plus per month seems like a lot to us I suspect it is chump change when you factor in potential competition that would then move into those gates. Seems a shame but that's business.