Bonnie Caplan candidate for Cleveland Heights City Council
Biographical information
What neighborhood or area of the city do you live in?I live in the Noble School Neighborhood, north of Mayfield.
How long have you lived in Cleveland Heights? What brought you here?
We have lived in this same neighborhood for 40 years, we moved here from Boston. My husband was offered a job at CWRU and is still there
Tell us about yourself. Arnold and I have been married for 44 years. We have two children who have both returned to the Cleveland area with their families, and we are thrilled to have them and our 4 grandchildren near by.
I have a Master’s Degree in Social Work and was employed in various positions including being a project director at MetroHealth Medical Center, the administrator for Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at University Hospitals, and, as their first director, developed the alternative charity choice alliance, Greater Cleveland Community Shares. I was a member and chair of Cleveland Heights Planning Commission before being elected to Cleveland Heights City Council.
I was on the board and the chair for 5 years of the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board. Currently, I am on the audit committee of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. CAC was voted by residents to receive taxes generated by the sale of cigarettes and to use those funds in the support of Arts and Culture in our county. This year I was the budget chairperson for the League of Women Voters, and have been a member for 30+ years. For some years I was a volunteer therapist at the Free Clinic, and am now involved with an assortment of organizations as a volunteer.
If elected, how would you encourage citizens to participate in decision making?Cleveland Heights citizens do not need much encouragement to participate. During the process of the Visioning experience, for example, the citizens came out in droves. So the City does not need to do too much more than offer an invitation and make the venues for participating easily accessible. That is the joy of Cleveland Heights. Our residents love the city and want to have ownership in the decision making.
Describe one innovative idea that would transform the city.
If we could find a way to make all parents feel really responsible for the behavior of their children, then the resulting civil behavior of children both in the community and the schools would be transformative to the quality of life in the City as a whole.
Who are the community stakeholders in Cleveland Heights? What ideas do you have for how these stakeholders can work together toward common goals?
Everyone who works or lives in Cleveland Heights is a stake holder. Keeping the lines of communication open and offering venues for coming together and expressing opinions is the critical piece to sharing information and encouraging ownership of the goals of the community at large.
What is your plan to develop the local economy?
The City has been proactive in offering commercial and storefront loans and grants, in offering first time home owner loans and grants, in utilizing creative financial tools, i.e. the TIF that was used to assist Zagara’s in their building of a new store; and the SID’s that are used in most of our commercial areas. I would continue to be encouraging of utilizing every tool that is available to municipalities in order to continue to develop our economy.
What are the best qualities of Cleveland Heights and what would you do to sustain them?
Cleveland Heights is a model for cities around the country in the areas of diversity; social justice; citizen involvement; the arts; walkability, parks, trees & thinking green; safety: and financial stability. The work in those areas is never complete and we need to be continually attuned to new opportunities and challenges so we can remain the place that people love to call home.
How do you view recent residential and commercial developments in terms of overall planning, architecture, functionality and sense of place? What types of new development do you think are appropriate and realistic for Cleveland Heights?
I think that the Architecture Board of Review, the Planning Commission, the Board of Zoning Appeals, and City Council have done a really good job of pushing new developments to be the best that they could be given cost and other considerations. I love the Library with the Bridge to the new Dobama, Zagara’s, the Community Center and the new condo’s at Derbyshire and Euclid Heights. They are just an example of creativity and excellent planning. I hope that in the near future we can have a marvelous development at the top of Cedar Hill.
Describe one way that you think the city could realistically work cooperatively with other local governments to reduce costs and/or improve services.
Because the City already dispatches the fire departments of Cleveland Heights, University Heights and Shaker Heights, we could easily merge those three departments into one with the possibility of encouraging more cities to join in. This could realistically be economical and efficient for each city. Just think of the cost of a fire engine! Each of us does not need a new Ladder truck.
What would you tell a current resident of the City of Cleveland Heights who was thinking of leaving town?
You will miss us. No other city has the convenience, the walkability, the sense of community as Cleveland Heights. Our taxes may be high, but the value of what your home dollar can buy, cannot be beat!
How would you market the City of Cleveland Heights to a prospective resident?
If you are looking for a place that makes you feel part of a community, that offers convenience of location, uniqueness in each home –no tract housing here, trees, sidewalks, restaurants, culture, a welcoming atmosphere to all, interesting residents and value, then Cleveland Heights is a place you could call Home.
Please give one concrete example of how you propose to address one of the following real or perceived quality of life issues: crime, litter, vacant storefronts, disengaged youth, foreclosures/vacant houses, population decline, public school performance, high taxes.
City Council has been working diligently with a range of tools on the issue of foreclosures/vacant houses. For example: we have purchased, for $1 each, 28 homes from HUD and are demolishing some and having non-profit organizations, like HRRC, buy some from us, renovate them and then sell them to homeowners. As another example: we have purchased several 2 family homes on E. Derbyshire and have renovated them into individual condos and are selling them to new homeowners. E. Derbyshire also received new street paving, new lighting, and new landscaping for 22 homes. We are successfully encouraging other landlords to join us in this endeavor so we can create a new environment on that street.
We have developed a range of programs to financially help home owners and landlords to upgrade and maintain their properties; these are both grants and loans.
We have developed legislation that makes landlords more responsible for their properties and tenants, with bigger financial repercussions if they do not behave responsibly.
I am a strong advocate for continuing the programs we developed and working on new creative programs.
How would you work together with the CH-UH City School District to address the issue you identified above? Please restate the issue you are addressing.
If we could find a way to make all parents feel really responsible for the behavior of their children, then the resulting civil behavior of children both in the community and the schools would be transformative to the quality of life in the City as a whole.
While it is some children whose behavior is seen as rude, destructive, and unpleasant, it is really the role of their parents to behave as adults and set rules, expectations and consequences for the behavior of their children. It is unfortunate that some parents have not had the opportunity to learn how to become parents in the true sense of the word.
Working together with the CH-UH School system, perhaps we could find ways to identify the families and their children who are exhibiting anti-social behavior, and develop, together, strategies for helping these families to become responsible family units that can enjoy the satisfactions and rewards of being positive, law abiding, successful students and community residents.
For more information on this candidate visit www.caplanforcouncil.com
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