Hello, Heights Observer!

I just picked up a copy of your inaugural edition. I hope your citizen newspaper prospers!

I have been a Cleveland Heights resident since 1973. I live 100 yards away from Cain Park. I love Cleveland Heights and think it’s a marvelous place to live.

Here’s the thing: My neighborhood has been decimated by home foreclosures. About 40% of the houses on my street have For Sale signs and, because of thefts, boarded up windows. The street is starting to look like something from the depths of inner city Detroit or St. Louis.

Visitors going to Cain Park over the summer to see musical and theatrical productions or attend the Cain Park Art Festival will walk down my street past For Sale signs and boarded up homes. This will damage our image as a progressive, nice-place-to-live-in inner suburb.

A recent call to the Cleveland Heights Housing Department informed me that the city cannot or will not do anything about the boarded up windows and doors. This is a sign of the demise of my once proud Cleveland Heights. We are losing the charm we once had. Soon, because of budget cutbacks, we will no longer be able to maintain our parks. Already our main streets are a shambles of un-repaired potholes.

It’s hard when something you love dies before your very eyes.

Steve Warner