E. H. Butler Library Ice Fountain on the campus of Buffalo State College. Photo courtesy of Buffalo State College.

As a westside to eastside convert, I have never regretted making that taboo change and enjoy raising my family in this wonderful community.

Regarding the development of Top of the Hill, I have to commend the city on its efforts to gather opinions and ideas from the community, as Heights residents see this space as the "welcome" to our unique oasis. Surrounded by green space, this area should be a gathering place, after a meal at Nighttown or a place for a grandfather to reflect and share a story with a grandchild, at all times of the year.

This is a perfect opportunity to add a tasteful, reflective, iconic centerpiece for welcoming home residents and welcoming visitors. I suggest an all weather illuminated water feature, reflective of our traditional architecture, which would compliment this project and provide a smile as we leave and welcome us home as we ascend the hill. For an example, I offer the Butler Ice Fountain, an integral part of the campus of Buffalo State. The fountain is the masterwork of Carl Nesjar, a world-renowned artist and collaborator with Pablo Picasso.

As you can see, this all weather fountain was designed to be a year round focal point, as beautiful in the winter as it is in the summer. This should not be an afterthought or a budget leftover item but an essential component of the project. With a lot of history to draw upon for its form (City of Trees or the Severance Fountain), it would be uniquely ours and appropriately scaled to make a statement but avoid even the slightest suggestion that we are trying to create a Bellagio-like light show.

I hope this provides additional inspiration to make the development of Top of the Hill another successful and forward looking Cleveland Heights benchmark.

Michael Reiss and family enjoy living in Cleveland Heights and directs you to
http://www.buffalostate.edu/library/archives/butler.html to learn more about the history of the artist and the ice fountain; and http://www.clevelandheights.com/whatsnew.asp?id=433 for Top of the Hill information.