Cleveland Heights City Council unanimously voted to implement changes to the Minors’ Curfew ordinance at the regularly scheduled council meeting on July 5.
The amendments, intended to make the curfew law less restrictive after council designated the Coventry Village and Cedar Lee business districts as Special Curfew Areas six days earlier, expand the Curfew Exceptions clause in the ordinance.
Heights Community Congress, in partnership with Heights Libraries, will host a community dialogue to talk about youth issues in the community. The event, “Community Solutions: How do we bridge the gap between perception and reality,” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m., Wednesday, July 13, at the Lee Road Library, 2345 Lee Road. It is free and open to the public.
A new ordinance passed June 29 at a special meeting of Cleveland Heights City Council prohibits minors from being on public grounds in the Coventry Village and Cedar-Lee business districts after 6 p.m. and institutes fines for parents of children who are found to be out after curfew, effective immediately.
The legislation was drafted in response to “an accelerating problem of unsupervised youth” over the last few months. While the issue was highlighted by an incident of overcrowding and confusion that resulted in 16 arrests at the Coventry Street Fair on June 26, council members and citizens emphasized that the issue of flash mobs disrupting the business districts is a recurring one.
The first Coventry Street Fair of the summer ended on a bad note when a disturbance by a flash mob broke out in the early evening of June 26, resulting in 16 arrests.
“Every bit of 25,000” people attended what started out as “probably the best fair we’ve ever had,” said Steve Presser, owner of Big Fun. “The vibe on the street was great… People were having a wonderful time.”
According to Presser, who was one of the event’s organizers, two small fights between teenagers broke out on the street shortly before 6 p.m., the fair’s closing time. As the merchants started to pack up their booths, “it became an issue… They had to move those kids out.”
JUNE 6, 2011
Cleveland Heights City Council Member Dennis Wilcox became the first sitting member of council to officially announce his candidacy for reelection, June 9.
Wilcox is chair of the Planning and Development Committee, vice chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Municipal Services Committee. He is seeking his fourth term on council.
Wilcox said he wants to be re-elected because “there’s a lot to do.” He wants to see projects he has worked on, such as the new Strategic Development Plan and the Green Zoning initiative, come to fruition.
“I think I’ve proven that I have good judgment,” Wilcox said. He cited “balancing the budget” and “continuing to develop good city services” in the midst of the economic downturn as his best accomplishments on council.
“It has been an honor to serve the residents of this great and diverse city,” Wilcox said in a press release. "I look forward to again engaging with the voters on the issues of concern to them.”
MAY 16, 2011
Newly appointed Cleveland Heights City Councilman Jason Stein was sworn in at the regularly scheduled Cleveland Heights City Council meeting, June 6.
Stein, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in 2009, was chosen by the remaining city council members to fill the vacancy left by Mark Tumeo, who resigned his seat after accepting a position at the University of North Florida.
The audience filled the extra seats provided by City Hall staff and spilled out in the adjacent hallway as the meeting began. After the roll was taken—the other six council members were present, as was Tumeo—Mayor Edward Kelley announced that Stein was to be inducted.
Jason Stein will likely be appointed to fill the city council seat vacated by Mark Tumeo. According to Cleveland Heights Mayor Ed Kelley, the city received 18 applications from people seeking to fill the vacancy and interviewed six candidates for the position.
“All of the candidates interviewed very well and would have brought strong skills to council,” said Kelley. “Jason brings financial expertise. He is a homegrown product, has done a lot of work in the community, and he brings a younger perspective to council.”
Kelley also said that Stein will add the council’s diversity. “Just as Mark Tumeo was the first gay member of council, Jason may be the first Orthodox Jewish person on council.”
About 50 citizens from Cleveland Heights, University Heights, South Euclid and other communities held signs in front of South Euclid City Hall on May 25 to protest the development of the former Oakwood Country Club.
The protests were a prelude to a public hearing held by the city that evening to hear residents’ comments about the proposed development. The city is required by law to hold such a hearing before voting whether to rezone the propoerty from residential to commercial use. The property was purchased by First Interstate Properties in December 2010.
Aiyanna Adorjan, a fourth grader at Noble Elementary School in Cleveland Heights, joined the protest “to help people to vote to keep Oakwood green and not take away nature for animals.”
Council Member Kenneth Montlack introduced three resolutions at the May 16 city council meeting that declared properties on Coventry Road to be public nuisances. A fourth resolution declared a Northcliffe Road property to be a nuisance. All four resolutions, which passed unanimously, authorized abatement of the nuisance--likely to lead to demolition of the houses.
Photos of each property were displayed at the meeting to illustrate the severe structural issues. While three of the properties are located in close proximity on the same street, Rick Wagner, manager of housing programs for Cleveland Heights, declined to frame it as a neighborhood issue.
The City of Cleveland Heights has received applications from 18 people seeking appointment to fill the seat vacated by former Council Member Mark Tumeo.
Tumeo’s last council meeting was May 16. He left the area to serve as dean of engineering at the University of North Florida.
Cleveland Heights Mayor Ed Kelley said that he and the council are narrowing down the list of applicants to interview based on their written applications. He explained that because of the large number of applicants, it would be impossible to interview each one.
APRIL 20, 2011
MAY 2, 2011
APRIL 20, 2011
Since the closing of Coventry School in 2007, residents have noticed an increase in inappropriate activity on the school grounds, especially excessive noise and trash. Susan Eagan, a Coventry neighborhood resident, addressed a recent meeting of the Coventry Village Special Improvement District. “The property is deteriorating,” she said. “Trash receptacles are overflowing. Last week, there was broken glass all over the median.”
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District will hold a special community meeting to present plans for the adaptive reuse of the former Coventry Elementary School building.
APRIL 4, 2011
MARCH 21, 2011
Approximately 150 people attended a public hearing of the South Euclid Planning Commission on March 10 to express opinions on the proposed rezoning of the former Oakwood Country Club from its present residential designation to one that would accommodate the big-box retail development proposed by Lyndhurst-based First Interstate Properties.
In addition to the seat vacated by Mark Tumeo, who is leaving for an out-of-state job, three Cleveland Heights council terms will expire at the end of this year — those of council members Phyllis Evans, Dennis Wilcox and Kenneth Montlack. Voters will fill these seats in this fall’s municipal election.
One candidate has already thrown his hat into the ring. Jeff Coryell, a 17-year resident of Cleveland Heights, is an attorney, artist, and leader in the Democratic party. He will kick off his campaign with a fundraiser at the Tavern Co. on Lee Road on March 27.
Council Member Mark Tumeo announced his resignation from Cleveland Heights City Council at the March 21 council meeting. Tumeo is vacating his seat for a job that will take him out of state. He has accepted the position of Dean of the College of Computing, Engineering and Construction for the University of North Florida, in Jacksonville. His resignation is effective May 17.
Mark Tumeo was the first openly gay member to serve on the city council. In the 2005 municipal election, he defeated incumbent Jimmie Hicks Jr., who had opposed the city’s domestic partner registry. Tumeo was a cofounder of Heights Families for Equality, the organization that pushed for the registry. He was reelected for a second term in 2009.
MARCH 7, 2011
FEBRUARY 22, 2011
JANUARY 18, 2011
Sustainable development and green zoning was the subject of the public meeting on Jan. 10 at the Cleveland Heights Community Center. Council Member Dennis Wilcox, chair of the city's Planning and Development Committee, introduced consultants from Camiros Ltd., a Chicago-based firm, that has completed an analysis and evaluation of the Cleveland Heights Zoning Code. Camiros submitted its Sustainability Audit to council that night. At the public meeting, consultants Arista Strungys and Nikolas Davis presented the approach by Camiros.
Zoning was a Cleveland invention, introduced to the world at the turn of the last century when the bustling town of Euclid faced a serious challenge, known as incompatible uses. Industry was creeping east from Cleveland, and faced with the health risks of a smoke stack on a residential street, Euclid moved to separate uses – homes here and industry there. Today,many cities use zoning to uphold restriction on mixed uses, or maintain a strict separation of live\work spaces, and thus discourage dense development of neighborhoods that are nice to stroll, or ride a bicycle, or hop a streetcar to go from place to place.
Raised in a suburb built in the post-WWII boom, I was unaware of the influence the historic Supreme Court decision that ushered in Euclidian zoning had in determining the shape and appearance of every nook and cranny of my experience. Later, when I found a suburb with neighborhoods that seemed to effortlessly intertwine the comings and goings of everyday life, I thought that Cleveland Heights and Lakewood had invented green living (well before "green" was even a concept I was aware of). In these streetcar suburbs, the ‘bones’ of compact form support a system of sustainability, but that system, like a home built in the 1920s, needs occasional updates to reflect our current knowledge of what is efficient, what is green.
JANUARY 3, 2011
DECEMBER 20, 2010
First Interstate has a plan for the former Oakwood Club property. Citizens for Oakwood have a plan. But, so far, the City of Cleveland Heights does not.
According to Howard Thompson, the city’s new director of economic development, the city has not conducted a feasibility study or examined how the property fits into an economic development plan for the area. The city learned about the First Interstate proposal to develop the property into big-box retail and upscale housing at noon on Dec. 29, when First Interstate sent its press release to the media.
The Heights Observer asked city officials the following question:
The last few years have been tough on city budgets, and have resulted in trimming of staff and services. What is Cleveland Heights's revenue outlook for 2011 compared to 2010; and what, if any, significant service cuts or service additions are being considered at this time?
Robert C. Downey, Cleveland Heights city manager, responded:
The City of Cleveland Heights will host a meeting on sustainable updates to its zoning code on Monday, Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m., at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, Monticello Boulevard and Mayfield Road. At the meeting, the city’s consultant, Camiros, Ltd., of Chicago, will report to CH City Council and the public on environmentally sound practices that could be encouraged or required by the zoning code.
The chilly weather has wreaked havoc on the community calendar the past couple of weeks and officials have decided to wait and hope for better weather next year. Two public meetings have been rescheduled for January 2011.
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights School Facilities Committee meeting, originally scheduled for Dec. 8 and canceled twice due to weather conditions, has been rescheduled for 7 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 5, at Roxboro Middle School Auditorium, 2400 Roxboro Road.
The City of Cleveland Heights public meeting on green zoning and sustainable development practices, originally scheduled for Dec. 13, has been rescheduled for 7:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 10 at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, One Monticello Boulevard at Mayfield Road.
DECEMBER 6, 2010
Due to weather conditions, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District has canceled school and after school activities for Monday, Dec. 13. The school facilities meeting, scheduled for this evening at Roxboro Middle School, will be rescheduled.
The City of Cleveland Heights has canceled the public meeting on green zoning and sustainable development practices. It will also be rescheduled.
Deanna Bremer Fisher is executive director of FutureHeights and is working from home today.
NOVEMBER 15, 2010
The City of Cleveland Heights has hired Howard Thompson to be its economic development director.
Thompson, a native of Parma, is familiar with Cleveland Heights. He interned in the city’s Housing Department when he was in graduate school. City Manager Bob Downey said he had kept his eye on Thompson over the years and that it was a “treat to get him back here.” He said Tompson's experience and background fit well into what the city is trying to do. “He’s high energy, totally engaged and is renewing his acquaintances with businesses in town.”
The City of Cleveland Heights held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the Grant Deming Forest Hill Historic District on Nov. 1, at the sign near the Coventry Library/P.E.A.C.E. Arch and Washington Boulevard. This past spring, the National Park Service listed the district, which lies generally in an area bounded by Euclid Heights Boulevard, Washington Boulevard, Lee Road, and Coventry Road, in the National Register of Historic Places.
L to R: Marjorie Kitchell, Landmark Commission; Kara Hamley O’Donnell, Cleveland Heights Historic Preservation Planner; Vice Mayor Phyllis Evans; Chris Roy and Mark Souther, Landmark Commission; Mayor Ed Kelley; and Chuck Miller and Jim Edmonson, Landmark Commission members.
For more information on the district, including the self-guided walking tour, visit http://www.clevelandheights.com/historyarch_demingsforesthill.asp.
NOVEMBER 1, 2010
OCTOBER 18, 2010
It was reported early this year that the City of Cleveland Heights has been working to update/upgrade its website. What are the objectives of a new and/or improved website and what is the current status of that effort?
Cleveland Heights has joined with 11 other suburban communities in challenging the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s (NEORSD) recently adopted stormwater management program and the associated fee, which would be used to manage stormwater in the district’s service area. The service area covers most of Cuyahoga County and parts of Summit and Lorain counties.
OCTOBER 4, 2010
SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
All council members were present.
Cleveland Heights residents who were unable to attend a public meeting concerning sustainable practices still have an opportunity to provide input. Councilman Dennis R. Wilcox, chair of the Planning and Development Committee, started the meeting on Sept. 29 by explaining that the encouragement of sustainable practices for development activities is a goal of the Strategic Development Plan 2010. Using a federal block grant, the city solicited proposals and hired consultants - Camiros Ltd., Chicago-based - to look at the city’s code and draft a document with recommendations for legally sound ordinances that are easily understood and administered. Wilcox turned the meeting over to consultants Arista Strungys and Nikolas Davis, who made brief presentations outlining the approach taken by Camiros.
Beginning Nov. 1, Cleveland Heights will join the growing number of communities that enforce laws banning text-messaging while driving.
So, what would you do to make sure Cleveland Heights remains a prosperous, desirable city in which to live, work, shop and recreate? That is the basic question the Cleveland Heights Strategic Plan 2010 strives to answer, and the city has asked residents to respond.
From the Editor: Chairman of the Observer's editorial committee asked City Manager Robert Downey the following questions: Given the pending retirement of Police Chief Martin Lentz, what is the process for selecting the new police chief? What criteria are deemed of high importance for the next chief, and how were those criteria established? This is the answer Robert Downey's answer follows.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2010
AUGUST 16, 2010
From the Editor: The Observer has received questions from Cleveland Heights residents about staffing levels of the city's fire department and the city's rejection of federal stimulus funding for the fire department – questions raised, in part, by recent information distributed by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 402/Cleveland Heights. The union's perspective is presented separately in this issue as a letter to the editor. The Observer asked the City of Cleveland Heights to explain its position on current staffing and on the federal grant. The city's response follows:
JULY 19, 2010
AUGUST 2, 2010
The City of Cleveland Heights has posted a draft Strategic Development Plan 2010 on its website, www.clevelandheights.com. The strategic plan, designed as a framework for action by city government, is the first strategic plan put forth by the city since 1993.
It promises to be an exciting voting season: more than 90 candidates have filed to run in the elections for Cuyahoga County Executive and County Council.
JULY 6, 2010
JUNE 21, 2010
The City of Cleveland Heights’ Community Improvement Awards Committee and the Cleveland Heights Landmark Commission are accepting nominations for their annual awards programs.
Patricia Pavlovitch was presented with the 2010 Legacy Award by The-ClevelandHOST, Heights Old School Tigers, an alumni group that represents Heights High's first black students. The award ceremony took place on June 24 at The Alcazar, and was a complete surprise to Pavlovitch.
JUNE 7, 2010
All council members present.