One year ago, in September 2009, The Music Settlement, based in University Circle, reached an agreement with the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District to transform the former Coventry Elementary School into a state-of-the-art early childhood center. After conducting a comprehensive feasibility study, however, The Music Settlement now believes that the campaign goal of raising $16-19 million would be difficult to achieve.

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Sponsored by the Sustainable Heights Network

October 2–10

The Sustainable Heights Network invites Heights residents to participate in Sustainability Week 2010, a week-long series of community events designed to help us build a more sustainable community.

The Sustainable Heights Network is an active and open group of over 50 organizations and individuals who came together in April to celebrate the work undertaken by the people, the community, and the organizations of Cleveland Heights and University Heights to improve their quality of life and to inspire others to become involved. The network is an outgrowth of Sustainable Cleveland 2019, a process that seeks to mobilize Greater Cleveland to create a green and sustainable economy by the year 2019.

Tour a solar-powered house, ride your bike to the farmer’s market, hike Doan Brook or participate in a Green Assets Mapping Party in historic Coventry Village. Most events are free and many are family friendly. See a partial list of events below and visit www.sustainableheightsnetwork.blogspot.com for a full list of events. For more information, e-mail the network at sustainablehts@gmail.com or call 216-320-1423.

Boulevard Elementary School students work together on a science project.
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CH-UH students will benefit

The U.S. Department of Education chose nine states—Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island—and the District of Columbia in the second round of a national grant competition.

The recently formed Heights Independent Business Alliance (HIBA) is collaborating with FutureHeights to build a vital Heights economy based on independent, locally owned businesses. Together the organizations seek to prevent proliferation of retail chains and other trends from displacing local entrepreneurs, by uniting area independent businesses, citizens and community organizations.

Cities across the United States are learning the benefits of becoming more bicycle friendly.

Portland, Oregon, with nearly 100 miles of new bicycle lanes installed in the last decade, is now one of the top eight U.S. cities to attract recent college graduates.

In San Francisco, 66 percent of merchants said that bicycle lanes had a positive overall impact on their business, according to a survey conducted four and a half years after the lanes were painted.

The Heights Observer, published by FutureHeights, is about engagement: helping to keep residents of University Heights and Cleveland Heights informed, and providing a platform to actively share information about community issues and organizations.

It’s a chicken-and-egg proposition: The greater the engagement, the more contributions the Observer receives—and the better informed people will be.

I observe two common barriers to this process:

1. People don’t want to take the time.
2. People don’t know how, or don’t feel qualified, to contribute.

There’s not much the Observer can do about the first barrier, except perhaps to convince people that sharing their knowledge doesn’t take a lot of time. We’re addressing that, and tackling the second barrier in depth with a series of Tuesday-evening workshops to help residents figure out what, and how, to contribute information to the Observer.

Perhaps you’ve read How to Walk to School: Blueprint for a Neighborhood School Renaissance by Jacqueline Edelberg and Susan Kurland, or read about the book in the June issue of the Heights Observer, or Eleanor Mallet’s column in the July issue. Either way, you’re invited to join the local How to Walk to School movement that's gaining traction here.

Today Cleveland Heights is less safe than it has been in years because city officials have slashed the city’s fire department by 10 percent.

The 69 firefighters and paramedics who remain since City Manager Bob Downey laid off three of them, and demoted two lieutenants, are struggling to respond to emergency calls. We have been forced to work overtime just to maintain minimum safe staffing levels.

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:

AUGUST 2, 2010

• Parent concerns with RTA cuts affecting students
• Canterbury road condition
• Street assessments
• Emergency clause votes
• Firefighter staffing
• Bid advertisements
• Board of Zoning appeals
• Flood zones
• First suburbs advanced energy SID
• Euclid Heights Blvd. property.
• Landlord training
• City commissions have openings
• Recreation fees
• Community Improvement and Tender Loving Care awards
• Water division purchases
• Storm water management at Denison Park

JULY 19, 2010

• Council receives a thank you
• Runnymede water line replacement
• Community Center lighting renovation costs
• City’s strategic development plan
• Nelaview homes declared nuisances
• Fall/Winter recreation fees
• 2011 tax budget
• Heights Parent Center merger
• Municipal court upgrade

If senior adult residents of University Heights want to keep the services they have come to expect from our city, they need to pay attention to what some councilmen are saying. 

On July 26, several members of council proposed to create the new position of economic development director. The position would add up to $80,000 plus benefits to the city's payroll each year, taking a significant bite out of the city's tax revenues.

Preschoolers Kate Hammond (left), Savannah Clark (center) and Paris Copeland (right) enjoy outdoor fun on the playground at the Early Childhood Program at Gearity.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District will hold an information session for parents of preschoolers on Oct. 14 at Gearity Professional Development School, 2323 Wrenford Road. At "Fall into the Heights" preschool night parents and their children can learn more about  the district’s preschool and elementary school programs and meet a district kindergarten teacher, elementary school principals and Kindernet representatives. Call 216-371-7356 for more information.

JULY 19, 2010

• Architect presentation on Noble Library
• Sunday closings to continue
• Library volunteers
• Summer lunch and reading programs
• Friends of the Library activities
• Public service report

Architects’ drawing of Noble Neighborhood Library’s renovated children’s area.
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Since 1995, Noble Neighborhood Library has remained substantially unchanged; however, next year, when you walk into the library, be prepared for a completely different look. 

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library has completed, and made available to the public, its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The CAFR includes complete details of the library’s financial activity in 2009, including revenues and expenses and balance sheets for all funds. Copies of the CAFR may be reviewed by request to the library’s fiscal officer at 2345 Lee Road in the administrative offices. CAFR is also available on the library's website, www.heightlibrary.org/page/board.

There is something exciting for everyone at the Heights Libraries!

• Coventry Village Library


• Lee Road Library


• Noble Neighborhood Library


• University Heights Library

The Rainforest Car Wash at 1720 Middlehurst Road in Cleveland Heights opens Sept. 1.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prefers that you use a professional car wash.

According to the EPA, dirty water runoff from driveway washing flows down the street, enters the storm drain, and directly pollutes our lakes and streams. Commercial car washes, on the other hand, are required to route wastewater to treatment plants, where contaminants, such as oil, grease and detergents, are removed. Yet, not all professional car washes are alike.

The annals of Cleveland music are littered with the remains of defunct clubs, DIY spaces and even big concert halls, so it’s encouraging to see that Coventry fixture the Grog Shop has clung to life so tenaciously for nearly two decades.

Stephon J. Davis (right) films Derick Mcnary Jr., a local actor (left), in Shaker Square for a music video, one of Educo Films' many projects. Davis' latest venture is a documentary that highlights successful African American-owned businesses in the Cleveland area. Photo by Kelli Fontenot.

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If a documentary’s story is not worth telling, flashy cinematography and dramatic music won’t overcome an audience’s lack of interest, according to Tim Gaydos, a videographer for a new documentary by local filmmaking group Educo Films.

In this case, Gaydos said, the subject matter speaks for itself.

The 30-minute documentary, a concept developed by the company’s producer, Stephon J. Davis, aims to educate viewers about how to support and create successful African American-owned businesses in the Cleveland Heights area.

AUGUST 3, 2010

• RTA bus transportation
• Renhill staffing services
• Career and technical program
• Field trips
• Credit flexibility
• Federal technology policy guidelines
• Donation
• Cleveland Music School Settlement
  

Cleveland Heights High School Tiger Touchdown Football Booster Club is holding a raffle to support the club. Each $20 ticket gives the donor a chance to win a three-year lease on a new Toyota from Motorcars Toyota, 2950 Mayfield Road. A cash option is available, tax and title are included and insurance is extended.

The winning ticket will be pulled at the first Heights High home basketball game on Dec. 3.

For more information, contact Katura Simmons at 216-326-3373.

We all remember how it felt to start high school. The anxiety about making friends and adjusting to a new environment, classes and teachers resonates for each of us. Parents also have some anxiety and lots of questions, which is why the Cleveland Heights High School Parent Connection Council (PCC) is hosting its New Parent Welcome at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at Heights High.

All parents in the Cleveland Heights–University Heights City School District are now able to sign up for our student information system, the Infinite Campus Parent Portal.

To make it even easier for parents and residents to stay informed, the CH-UH City School District has redesigned its website, www.chuh.org. The new design is more visually appealing, and it will improve communication with parents, students, staff and the community. It will launch Aug. 31, the first day of school.

Q. My daughter is extremely shy. Whenever we go anywhere she hangs on my leg, and may be reluctant to enter a new place at all. Even after we’ve been someplace multiple times or have been there awhile, she tends to stay very close to me. I tell her that I would never put her in harm’s way, and that all the people we know are nice, but she still has trouble adjusting to anyone new. I am worried that she won’t have any friends and will miss out on all the usual children’s activities. Is there anything I can do to bring her out of her shell?

Photo by Kim Ulatowski-Bislich.

The Cleveland Heights Sea Serpents Swim Team recently captured second place in the ICSL Championships held at the Wembly Club in Chagrin Falls. Pictured are Coach Andrea Chan, Coach Marco Pardo, Eleanor Pippin, Dylan Forrest, Head Coach Paul Wagner, Nicholas Bislich, Monica Chan, Hannah Kausen, Mitchell Fragassi, Juliana Soreo, Adam Goldfarb, Claire Hall, Maddie Hengst and Luisa Soreo.

Poem for September 2010

Solitaire or Patience, as it used to be called, is more than a card game.

         -- Meredith Holmes

When Debra First learned that the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland was planning to shutter many churches, she knew she had to get involved.

A professional photographer who lives in Cleveland Heights, First set out to preserve the lifetime memories which, for so many Greater Clevelanders, were tied up with their parish church.

She wanted, however, to do more than simply record the scenes on film. She knew that there were also moving stories to be told. Most of the churches that were to be closed had their roots in ethnic communities, and these churches not only served a spiritual mission, they were of incalculable importance in helping immigrants adjust to their new home. 

Set designer Ron Newell finds just the right pieces to build the best sets for Dobama Theatre. (Photo courtesy Dobama Theatre)

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If you loved the English-garden opulence in the stage setting for Humble Boy, prepare yourself for something completely different in The Walworth Farce. The play, written by Enda Walsh and directed by Marc Moritz, opens on Sept. 20—the start of Dobama Theatre’s 2010-2011 season.

Picture a three-room "council flat" in London, a low-rent, rundown "piece of crap," as describes, Ron Newell. He uses strong language, but as set designer for both plays, he may be entitled. The play is about Dinny and his two sons, living in London, but missing their Irish homeland. Described as hilarious, terrifying and ferociously entertaining, the play comes with rapid-fire costume changes and mistaken identities.

Attractive backyard garden or shabby apartment, Ron Newell’s approach to set design follows the same process. First comes a session with the play’s director to develop ideas. Then, a script reading leads to floor plans and rough sketches. Again, a meeting with the director to review sight lines for Dobama’s thrust stage, and to accommodate player movement, entrances and exits. 

The Cleveland Chamber Music Society, in its 61st season, welcomes return visits by three popular string quartets - the Takacs (Oct. 12 at Fairmount Temple in Beachwood), the Jerusalem (Nov. 2 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights) and the Cuarteto Casals (Feb. 22 at Fairmount Temple). A fourth string quartet, the Jupiter, appears for the society in conjunction with the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Chamber Music Festival on Dec. 6 and 7.

Ninety years ago, on Aug. 26, 1920, women gained the right to vote with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It has been said that no other single event in the 20th century has had a more profound influence in shaping our country, our government and our lives. It is commemorated each year on Aug. 26, as Women’s Equality Day.

Step It Up Cleveland Heights announces the second round of Best Suburb Dinners, where a diverse group of Cleveland Heights residents come together to share a meal, get to know each other and to talk about what they value about their community. Step It Up arranges each dinner to create a mix of people from different neighborhoods, newer residents and long-timers, people of differing races, ages and backgrounds. A host opens their home and provides a main course. Guests bring a dish to share, stories and even photos of the community at its best. During the dinner, the co-hosts collect ideas for making Cleveland Heights the best suburb in the nation.

Cleveland Heights author Dan Chaon.

I am in awe of Dan Chaon’s best-selling novel Await Your Reply—the complexity of the plot, his mastery of suspense, and a darkness he dwells in that speaks to modern life. For me, the book is larger than life.

Yet, across the table at Phoenix on Lee, having a cup of coffee and sharing a cookie, he is warm and smiling, an easy-to-talk-to, for-real kind of guy, with blue eyes and a boyish face. He laughs a lot and insists he’s a "pretty optimistic, upbeat person."

“Rock of Faith: The Transformation of the Soul Spoken through Rock Music” will feature the music of Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Kenny Chesney, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow and many others, performed by 16 talented contemporary music singers. They will be accompanied by a seven-piece band made up of some of Northeast Ohio’s best contemporary instrumentalists. This gala event takes place on Saturday, Sept. 11, at the First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland, in commemoration of 9/11.

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It’s been only a year, but it seems like forever. After taking a year off from the event, the Heights Community Congress will present "Imagine If . . . ," the 33rd Heights Heritage Home and Garden tour. The tour is a community-wide celebration of diversity in Cleveland Heights—its people and the homes in which they dwell.

My name is Cameron Williams and I was born with an “abnormal dysformative” condition that made me face a lot of challenges. I had surgery after surgery, which led to many hospital stays. My condition was rare and it baffled a lot of doctors. I have had more than eight surgeries from the age of six weeks old until the present. I am 17 years old.

During Sustainability Week (October 2–10), residents will have several opportunities to gain information about how to live a more sustainable lifestyle, thanks to Home Repair Resource Center.

From 6 to 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 4., HRRC will host an open house at its office/teaching center, 2520 Noble Road. Residents are invited to drop in to view HRRC’s facilities and learn about programs to help keep them in their homes: keeping their homes in good repair, keeping their finances in shape, and knowing their options if they face mortgage delinquency.

Born and bred on a farm in West Virginia until he was 26 years of age, my father came to Cleveland to take a job on the railroad in Collinwood. He worked for the New York Central, first in the steam engine roundhouse, and later in the diesel shops.

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Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral held its annual Greek Festival Aug. 19-22. People come from all over Northeast Ohio to Cleveland Heights each year to celebrate the music, dance, food, culture, faith and Greek hospitality. 

According to Pantelis “Pete” Moissis, the festival chair, planning for this major event started in April, the baking started in June, and hundreds of people helped with the final arrangements starting early August. 

Kelley mansion

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In 1910, some of the grandest homes in all of Cleveland lined Overlook Road. Several others ran down Carlton Road, extending almost to the tip of the precipice overlooking University Circle.

In 2010, only a few of those architectural masterpieces remain.

What happened to all those magnificent homes and why did they disappear? Find out at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16, as author, lecturer and history professor emeritus, Marian J. Morton, discusses the life and eventual death of Cleveland Heights' own “Millionaire’s Row.”

Nasser Abufarha (far right) serves tea to the Kerr family in an olive grove.

Nasser Abufarha, scholar, writer and founder of the Palestinian Fair Trade Association (PFTA) and Canaan Fair Trade (CFT), will be visiting Northeast Ohio this month to discuss how his research on suicide bombers led to the founding of the largest fair trade producers’ union in Palestine. Dr. Abufarha will be speaking at John Carroll University’s Lombardo Student Center on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. and at Oberlin College on Friday, Sept. 17, at noon in West Hall. His talk is titled "Insisting on Life."

Pictured (l to r): Dick Secor, Lyndsey Maruna, Casimier Weakley, Katrina Toone, Hilary Rizk, Elsa Johnson and Sarah Gridley. Photo by Tera Lackofi.

The Metroparks Zoo Crew, made up of teen volunteers, ages 14 to 17, have been working in Forest Hill Park this summer. They have been clearing trees from a sapling circle that had grown up under one of the venerable old oaks in the Great Meadow.

The sapling circle originated with the idea that the saplings, while still small, could be dug up and sold individually as part of a fund-raising effort to help with the care and feeding of all the big oaks in the meadow.

Every now and then, it strikes me that I really do very little that affects the greater good. Every day (OK, most days), I try to have a positive impact on people I come in contact with and events that I have an opportunity to touch. No matter, the feeling always revisits me that I am doing little to cause a farreaching benefit to those outside my immediate sphere.

Monday, Sept. 13
Public Hearing: City of Cleveland Heights Strategic Development Plan Draft

Tuesday, Sept. 21
Workshop: Using the Heights Observer to Help Your Organization

Thursday, Sept. 23
District 10 General Election Forum

Saturday, Sept. 25
Home & Garden Tour Preview Party

Tuesday, Sept. 28
Workshop: What's the News: How to be an educated news consumer