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Three Heights-area civic organizations will host a welcoming reception for new residents of Cleveland Heights and University Heights this summer at the Lee Road Library.

The New Resident Welcome and Open House is scheduled for Sunday, July 1, from 2 to 3 p.m., at the Harvey & Friends bookstore on the second floor of the library, 2345 Lee Rd. All residents who consider themselves new to the community are warmly invited to enjoy light refreshments.

To the Editor:

I received the following letter via e-mail on Jan. 24 from a recent Salami to the Troops recipient: 

Greetings from Kabul, Afghanistan.A few days ago I received a box of beef salami from your shop as part of your program to support the troops. Food items like this are a rarity around here and are truly appreciated by everyone who will have a slice...or two or three. You have helped to put some smiles on faces here at Headquarters ISAF in the midst of some very long work days. 

Back row (left to right): Dionte Saffo, Denzel Pillars, Meg Lentz, Bryce Jones, Kyle Dodson. Front row (left to right): Rick Wilcox, Terrence Bailey, Phillip Moreland, Markus Hawkins.

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Feb. 1 was a monumental day in Kyle Dodson’s life. It was National Signing Day, when elite high school football players sign binding Letters of Intent to their chosen colleges and universities.

Surrounded by television, radio, and print media, Dodson, a nationally ranked offensive lineman, summoned his teammates to join him in front of reporters in the Heights High auditorium. He wanted their company as he announced that he would be suiting up as a member of The Ohio State University Buckeyes this fall. His teammates and the entire audience burst into loud, enthusiastic and sustained cheers.

To the Editor:

Noble Road Presbyterian Church has been a beacon of light in this community for 90 years. Our spiritual outreach includes worship, counseling, baptisms, weddings, memorial and funeral services.

We partner with Noble Elementary School, providing school supplies, winter gloves and hats, and holiday angel gifts. The Noble and Roxboro schools have supported our fundraising for the Liberian Dougbe River School and church. We donate money, food items, and holiday angel gifts to the Heights Emergency Food Center, as well as provide clothing, household items, and services to the Family Promise temporary shelter in Cleveland.

The Winter Landscape

With so much media attention currently being given to sustainability, environmental stewardship, and “going green,” it is easy to see why so many businesses have been jumping on the green bandwagon: it is a quick and inexpensive way to receive attention while bolstering the bottom line. Whereas many businesses are just “green-washing” (deceptively promoting the perception that a company’s actions or products offer some environmental benefit), other organizations have been quietly doing the real thing--all too often without recognition. Such is the case with some religious institutions in the area.

Fairmount Presbyterian Church and Forest Hill Church, Presbyterian, both located in Cleveland Heights, have made strong efforts to become the environmental stewards that their congregations expects of them. Both institutions are Earth Care Congregations, which means they follow “a structured certification program for Presbyterian churches to function in a manner consistent with God’s call to not only care for creation, but to commune with creation,” according to the guide "Earth Care Congregations: A Guide to Greening Presbyterian Churches."

Aeration tanks at the Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant on Lakeshore Boulevard.

Where does it go? “It” is wastewater—both sanitary sewage and stormwater—that leaves the homes and businesses of more than one million Sewer District customers throughout Northeast Ohio. The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) is responsible for treating that wastewater (approximately 93 billion gallons each year) before it is returned to the environment.

Heights musicians and alumni performed "The Stars and Stripes Forever" at the conclusion of the concert.

On Nov. 12, more than 150 current and former Heights High instrumental musicians combined, and recombined, into several intergenerational bands and orchestras. They came together to honor former music teacher John Farinacci with a spirited concert that highlighted the continuity of music education in the district over the decades. With participating musicians from the class of 1942 to the class of 2015, the concert was an inspirational event. Alumni included professional musicians and music teachers, as well as many who did not choose music as a career.

John Farinacci died a few years ago at the age of 92. Some of the returning alumni have remained in contact with the Farinacci family. Farinacci’s widow and four of the couple's five children returned to Cleveland Heights for the reunion and memorial concert.

Come inside and warm up to Heights Libraries’ February programs. Visit www.heightslibrary.org for a complete program calendar.

Coventry Village Library

1925 Coventry Road, 216-321-3400

Thursdays, Feb. 9–23, 4 p.m.

Green Bookmaking for Kids. Children in grades 3–6 can join us to learn how to make their own books out of recycled materials, for writing, artwork, or just about anything. Register for this three-week program at www.heightslibrary.org.

Summer Ruffing It (SRI) at Ruffing Montessori School in Cleveland Heights has offered dynamic camp
programs for children, ages 3–14, for 34 years.

Children from all area schools participate in earth-friendly activities, held in an LEED certified building cooled by geothermal energy. Campers tend gardens, enjoy playgrounds and the adjacent Shaker Lakes, and exchange class time with the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes.

All events take place on Thursdays, at 2 p.m., at the University Heights Library. Sponsored by the City of University Heights. 

Feb. 2 

Richard Weiner, principal percussionist and senior member of the Cleveland Orchestra, reflects on a half-century of performing around the world.

Ellen Barrett, a parent educator at Family Connections, fields questions about the daily ups and downs of parenting. If you have questions for Barrett, e-mail her at ebarrett@familyconnections1.org.

Q. Lately, my 4-year-old son and I butt heads over and over, all day long. If I say “stop,” he says “go.” If I ask him to hurry up, he goes into slow-motion mode. We are on opposite sides all the time. What can I do to reduce the number of battles we have every day?

A. Your son is figuring out how to assert himself in the world around him. He has many skills and a growing curiosity. He is figuring out what he likes and doesn’t like. At the same time, you are likely thinking that, at this age, he should be able to be more cooperative. These two positions are in direct conflict with each other. Adjusting your point of view, and learning a few strategies may help pull you out of this rut.

Queen Victoria’s reign, from 1837 to 1901, spanned a period of British history brimming with innovation and imagination—far different from the repressive society many think it was. This spring, the Lee Road branch of Heights Libraries will explore the art, culture and literature of the Victorian era with a special series of programs.

(L-R) Natasha Madorsky, Erik Thiem, Ariel Travis, Jade Woodson and Rayven Moss. Photo by Nigeria Bowman.

Last fall, Heights High senior Ariel Travis set out to start a student club that would support the work of Habitat for Humanity, and give students a chance to learn practical life skills and make a difference in their community. He presented his idea to math teacher Chris Sutton, who enthusiastically agreed to be the club advisor, and soon after that Project Build was formed.

Several students helped Travis publicize the first meeting and when the Habitat for Humanity staff came to the school to conduct a training, 50 students showed up. “The Habitat trainers were very impressed with the number of interested students,” said Sutton.

Poem for February 2012

Clevelanders--at least those who have survived more than one winter here--have perfected the science and the art of dressing for the weather.

            Meredith Holmes

Ode to My Favorite Coat by Gail Bellamy

In a new TV series to air on public television in February, host and narrator Dr. Richard Jackson examines the impact the built environment has on key public health indicators. The film highlights the growing recognition that decisions about land use, community design, and transportation planning have a direct effect on physical and mental health, including the rate of obesity, the incidence of chronic diseases, such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and pedestrian injury and fatality.

I admire people like Adam and Susan Fleischer. By opening The Wine Spot on Lee Road, they have gone all-in on their dream and their community.

They’re not alone. For two years I’ve been the volunteer who plugged every new business listing into the Heights Observer’s local business directory. I’m in awe that so many people choose to stake out a future by serving residents of this incredible and quirky area.

This past summer, 50 members of Forest Hill Church, Presbyterian (FHC) broke into small, mixed-race groups and had numerous dinners in one another's homes. In an initiative called Courageous Conversations, they tried to gain a better understanding of racial bias and inclusivity in the community.

A teacher helps a kindergartener use the Smart Board.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District will host its annual Kindergarten Information Night on Thursday, March 1, from 6:30–8 p.m. at the Canterbury Elementary School.

This informational evening will be an opportunity for parents to meet with kindergarten teachers and learn about the district’s kindergarten program. Topics that will be discussed include readiness for kindergarten; kindergarten curriculum and related services; before and after school programs; student services; food service; and transportation.

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Join members of the Heights community to celebrate all things Heights, at the Grog Shop on Feb. 23, in support of FutureHeights on its 10th anniversary. Tickets to the event, featuring Heights-based classical musicians and local celebrity bartenders, are $10 ($5 with a student ID).  

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For more than 30 years, East Fairfax residents have demonstrated their holiday spirit by hanging festive billboards from trees and posts along the one-block street during the month of December, according to longtime residents Ron and Marian Kinkopf. The tradition began during the mid-seventies when former residents and art enthusiasts Joanne Sharon and Sarah Knoblauch began creating the holiday-themed paintings. Over time, the paintings have evolved to reflect various holiday religious traditions. Many other residents have donated their time and artistic creativity to restore and replace the billboards through the years, and a dedicated volunteer force faithfully hangs and removes them each year. The project was born out of a strong and well-organized street association that boasts a history spanning more than 45 years.

Harvey Garrett, executive director of the West Side Community Collaborative in Buffalo, N.Y., will be the keynote speaker at the FutureHeights 2012 annual meeting. Garrett’s talk, Reversing Disinvestment in Our Community, will detail how his organization capitalized on vacant housing stock (much of it slated for demolition) and creative residents to turn one of Buffalo’s most distressed neighborhoods into its fastest growing real estate market.

Take Back Your Life, a six-week course for parents coping with the drug or alcohol addiction of a child, will be offered on Thursdays, April 19-May 24, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Church of The Saviour, 2537 Lee Road. The course will be taught by licensed counselors Ellen Bishko and Roy Nichols. The cost is $150 per person or $225 per couple.

Gayle Chillious of Caring Transitions packs clothing for a client.

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When senior adults make the decision to move to a smaller home, move in with their children, or relocate to assisted living, the tasks involved can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Seniors are often physically unable to take care of moving on their own, and their children are often busy with work or live far away. Senior relocation services can help take much of the burden off of their shoulders.

The Coventry Village branch of Heights Libraries

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library has received a $3,000 grant to pay for free American Sign Language (ASL) classes for adults at the Coventry Village Library. The money is from the Friends of the Society for the Deaf, a fund of the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center. Instructors from Cleveland SignStage Theatre will teach the classes.

“These free classes fill a need in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community,” said Ben Guylas, adult services librarian and deaf services coordinator. “I just had a call from a woman who is losing her hearing. She wants to make sure that she and her family are prepared for when she loses her hearing completely. They can’t afford to pay for classes, so they are all taking our classes—herself, her husband, and their children. She was very thankful and appreciative.”

Young poeple meet and greet at a Converge gathering.

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A large number of Cleveland Heights teens have been spotted going to church recently. Without their parents. Just by themselves.

Thanks to leaders and young people from more than a dozen churches in Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Mayfield Heights and surrounding areas, teens now have their own worship service. It’s called Converge.

The brainchild of Otte, youth director for Forest Hill Church, Presbyterian in Cleveland Heights, Converge is geared for teens, with a full band and a relevant message for young people.

Seniors Cameron Redic and Samaiyah Melton will face off in Great Debate style at the Black History Celebration on Feb. 17. They are both members of the Minority Student Achievement Network that is sponsoring the debate.

On Feb. 17 at 6 p.m., the Heights High Black History Celebration will present two student debate teams. They will square off on a topic that stirs strong reactions in many—Heights High Students Should Wear Uniforms.

The debate is part of the Heights High Black History Celebration that focuses on the Harlem Renaissance period in American History, 1920-35. The student debaters are part of the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN), and will even dress the part in vintage clothes from the 1930s.

Starting Jan. 24, citizens will have an opportunity to participate in a three-day online forum with the Democratic candidates for Cuyahoga Country Prosecutor. Presented by the Civic Commons and the Citizens League of Greater Cleveland, the forum will take place on the Civic Commons website (www.theciviccommons.com) from Tuesday morning, Jan. 24, through Thursday, Jan. 26.

Sam Bell, a member of the Sustainable Heights Network, has organized a series of meetings to discuss school facilities and sustainability. At the meetings, Bell hopes to develop lists of local resources that can be made available to a director of sustainability for the CH-UH school system (should the district decide to hire one), along with lists of concrete proposals for the district to evaluate.

After years of playing at Forest Hills Park, the Heights High Lady Tigers Fastpitch Softball team is hoping to play on a new home field at the high school this spring. The newly-formed Lady Tigers Fastpitch Boosters are working with the CH-UH City School District Athletic Department on a plan to build the field for the team, and they need help from the community to make it happen.

Businesses interested in purchasing advertising at the heavily-traveled intersection (the school is located at the corner of Cedar and Lee roads) should contact the Cleveland Heights Fastpitch Boosters Club at heightsfastpitch@gmail.com or 216-554-2002. Individuals can support the team through a raffle to win an iPad 2, and by purchasing limited-edition Tiger Nation license plate frames. The winning raffle ticket will be selected Feb. 10 at the Heights Symphony concert. License plate frames are available at the high school athletic office.

Heights High Senior Charlotte Sperl will play a viola solo with the Heights High Symphony on February 10, 7:30 p.m. in the school’s Auditorium.

Charlotte Sperl, Heights High senior soloist, will play the Viola Concerto, B minor, in the Style of Handel, by Henri Casadesus, accompanied by the Heights High Symphony, as part of a concert at the school on Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m.

Music has always been a part of her life. Sperl’s father plays bass in the Cleveland Orchestra and her mother plays oboe in the Youngstown Symphony. “I remember hearing my parents play beautiful music when I was little,“ she said. “That inspired me to want to play, too.”

Sperl began playing the viola in fourth grade at Fairfax Elementary School. One of the things she appreciates about Heights High is that there are many great student musicians. “Having the symphony play behind me is an amazing experience,” she said. “They are supportive in many ways. Their melody introduces the solos.”

Superintendent Douglas Heuer, Cleveland Heights-University Heights Schools

Douglas Heuer, superintendent of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District will deliver the district’s annual State of the Schools address on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m. in the Cleveland Heights High School Social Room (13263 Cedar Road). Heuer will recap the events and achievements of the 2011 calendar year and outline the ways that CH-UH educators are working to build on the district’s progress. Heuer will underline the district’s vision for Educational Pathways and talk about the need for school environments to capture the vision and help motivate and inspire children to learn. 

To the Editor:

As I recently drove down Warrensville Center Road, I saw dozens of felled trees. Since it now seems inevitable that the Oakwood development will go forward, I have a few requests for Mr. Schneider that I think would minimize the negative impact of the loss of green space.

• First, please preserve some real, usable green space for the community (in contrast to Legacy Village).

Meals on Wheels, a program that delivers fresh meals to seniors and those with disabilities, seeks volunteers to package and deliver meals.

Volunteers assist program staff by filling containers with hot and cold food, and then placing the containers in a heater or cooler for delivery. Each Heights-area route has from five to nine clients. Volunteers deliver the food to the door of each home on a preassigned route and, if invited in, spend a few minutes visiting with the recipient.

Thinking of buying an e-reader? Try one out first at Heights Libraries. Heights Libraries has recently added e-readers to the collections at the Coventry Village, Noble Neighborhood, and University Heights locations. The Lee Road Library has offered e-readers since January 2011.

Navigating the college application process can be stressful enough for students and their families without the added pressure of “How do I pay for college?”

JANUARY 3, 2012

• Oaths of office
• Leap Day at Shaker Heights court
• Appointments
• Director of finance
• Emergency sewer repairs
• Yard nuisance
• Water line repairs
• New assistant clerk of council
• Shared fire services

All council members were present.

JANUARY 3, 2012

• Oaths of office
• Committee assignments
• City liability insurance
• Parks and recreation 2012
• Additional soccer field work
• 1031 Greyton Road
• Aligning traffic and criminal offenses with state law
• Roethlisberger Foundation donation to K-9 unit

All council members were present.

JANUARY 3, 2012

• Oaths of office
• Nancy Eisenberg
• Grant proposals
• Fighting incident
• Coventry School leases
• ABLE program
• Donations

Board President Karen Jones was excused.

Families looking for a Montessori-based Christian education program are invited to a Godly Play Festival at Hope Lutheran Church on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 1 to 3 p.m. Hope Lutheran is located at 2222 North Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights.

After "Food, Not Lawns" program.
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The Food Not Lawns movement is both international and hyperlocal, dedicated to replacing lawns—or some portion of them—with edible gardens in the name of sufficiency and sustainability. Edible in this context broadly includes food for butterflies, birds and other wildlife as well as fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs. The same plants often serve many functions, benefiting humans and other species alike. The nonnative grass varieties that make up most lawns feed no one, with the possible exception of the Japanese beetle larvae that thrive in their roots.

Debra Adams Simmons, editor of The Plain Dealer; Richard J. Clark of the John P. Murphy and Kulas foundations; Bruce Hennes of Hennes Paynter Communications; and Valarie J. McCall, chief of government affairs for the City of Cleveland discuss the role of philanthropy, government and media in civic life during a CLI session in July.

This winter, Cleveland Leadership Center (CLC) and four chambers of commerce are cooperating in a whole new way. For the last two years, Civic Leadership Institute (CLI) has brought together business owners, executives and key nonprofit and community leaders with seminars designed to foster understanding about how the city and its suburbs work together—and sometimes against each other.

Beginning Feb. 1, the CLI will bring its six-part program to Cleveland’s eastern suburbs.

When Angie Polman, executive director of the Heights-Hillcrest Regional Chamber of Commerce, attended the fall session of the CLI at its usual downtown City Club location, ideas percolated. “CLI gave me great insight into the history of our regional economy and sharpened my civic dialogue skills,” said Polman.

Bob Pearlman

Bob Pearlman, internationally known school consultant and author, has praised the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District’s Pathways initiative as a groundbreaking model for education.

“I haven’t seen anything comparable nationally,” he said. “As implementation moves forward, I see the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District as being a national model for 21st-century learning.”

Fielding Nair International, one of the architectural firms working with the district on its master facilities plan, brought Pearlman to the district. Pearlman specializes in education reform efforts, school structuring and technology, and was director of strategic planning for the New Technology Foundation from 2002 to 2009. He consults in the United States and the United Kingdom on 21st-century learning, focusing on new school development and district-wide implementation of 21st-century skills.

Mayor Ed Kelley

On Jan. 3, the first city council meeting of 2012, Edward Kelley was re-elected mayor of Cleveland Heights by his city council peers. Council Member Dennis Wilcox was elected vice mayor.

In a prepared statement, Mayor Kelley said, “As we look ahead to the next two years, we, as a city council, and every city employee must be prepared to meet our challenges head on, and give an effort of 1,000 percent. We must be proactive and not reactive. The status quo is no longer good enough and should not be accepted as we move forward.”

FutureHeights, the Cleveland Heights Historical Society and the Cleveland Heights Landmarks Commission, are partnering with Cleveland State University's Center for Public History + Digital Humanities this year to develop content for the Cuyahoga Arts and Culture grant-funded "Historic Heights Mobile App Tours" project. The project will add 40 sites to the existing Cleveland Historical mobile app (for iPhone and Android), corresponding to four focal points in Cleveland Heights: Coventry Village, Dugway Brook, Euclid Golf, and Noble Road.

In a letter to her customers and friends, Tammy Currier, owner of Heights Floral Shoppe, announced that she was closing her store effective immediately. Heights Floral, located at 3451 Fairmount Boulevard, in the Fairmount Taylor Business District, was known for its eye-catching displays and gifts, as well as its unique floral designs.

The Cleveland Heights University Heights Board of Education has begun planning the next 50 years of school and administrative buildings programs. It is anticipated that a number of existing buildings will be closed, renovated, rebuilt, or replaced at a cost likely to run into several tens of millions of dollars. The process has already begun, and is gaining momentum. I worry lest "sustainability" become just a fashionable buzzword to which everyone pays lip service, but for which no one person is actually responsible or accountable. While sustainability has been identified as a key concern, no one individual has been given responsibility as a director of sustainability.

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On Dec. 22, the undefeated Blue East first place Cleveland Heights Tigers took on their mightiest opponent yet, the Cleveland Heights Mite A2 team, in an exhibition game. The game was especially fun for Eddie Babcox, Tigers head coach; he was a Heights Mite in the first Mite/Heights High exhibition game in the 1986-87 season. He played against the team that would turn out to be the state champs that year.

Antonio Pompa-Baldi

Internationally acclaimed Cleveland Heights pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi will perform as part of the Tri-C Classical Piano Recital Series at 2 p.m, Jan. 29 at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, 11150 East Boulevard in University Circle.

The program, a keyboard extravaganza, features four emotional masterpieces.  The first half of the program includes two Pre-romantic works: Carl Czerny’s Variations on a theme by Rode, “La Ricordanza,” and Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s powerful Sonata No. 5, Op.81, in F# minor.  Romanticism dominates the second half with two keyboard titans:  Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a theme by Corelli, Op. 42; and Franz Liszt’s "Vallée d'Obermann," "Au bord d'une source" and "Orage," from the first volume of “Années de Pèlerinage.”

Thank you for the wonderful article on The Wine Spot in the Jan. 4 Heights Observer. We are very excited to be up and running and appreciate the enthusiastic support from the local community. We are proud to be in Cleveland Heights and to have our shop in the historic Seitz-Agin space.

A couple of additions and clarifications:

Jan. 12, 2 p.m.
Lisa Cellura, outreach educator for Cleveland Sight Center, will present the award-winning video, “Hope & Cope–Living with Macula Degeneration.”

In spring 2010, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Developmenet (HUD) and the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp., commonly known as the Cuyahoga Land Bank, forged a nationally groundbreaking agreement in which HUD would transfer low-value, vacant and abandoned properties to the Land Bank for $100. HUD ended up with these properties as a result of mortgage foreclosures guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).