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FutureHeights will honor Brendan Ring at the nonprofit's annual benefit on Aug. 20.

FutureHeights will celebrate 20 years of service to the Heights community at its 2022 benefit party, "Swinging at the Rockefeller," on Aug. 20, 6–9:30 p.m.

The event will take place at the Heights Rockefeller Building, 3099 Mayfield Road, and its Proximity Golf Lounge. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy music and dancing in the building's outdoor garden and courtyard, and partake of appetizers, desserts and drinks from some of the Heights' finest culinary establishments. Proximity Golf's simulators will also be available to guests, enabling them to tee off, albeit virtually, at championship golf courses.

To purchase tickets to the Aug. 20 benefit, and for additional information, visit www.futureheights.org. 

“We are proud of all that FutureHeights has done to strengthen the Cleveland Heights and University Heights communities,’’ said FutureHeights Board President Julie Sabroff, “and we look forward to even greater accomplishments in the coming years.”

Music fans will want to mark their calendars for the 2022 Heights Music Hop, Sept. 9 and 10, showcasing musical talent from around the region.

The free music festival, now in its ninth year, will feature performances in three Cleveland Heights neighborhoods.

Shows are planned for Friday evening, Sept. 9, in the Cedar Fairmount Business District, and Saturday evening, Sept. 10, in the Cedar Lee Business District. This year, performances will also take place in the Noble neighborhood, at the Noble Gardeners' Market at the mini-park at Noble and Roanoke roads, on Saturday morning, 10 a.m. to noon.

Cleveland Heights' Judy Heyer has been an OSU football fan for 65 years and counting.

Friends of Cain Park Board Member Judy Heyer is serious about Ohio State (OSU) football. She's so serious that she told her students during her 32 years on the faculty of Cleveland State University that they could call her anytime day or night, unless it was during an OSU game; that would mean instantly failing the class.

“I encouraged all my students to call me, up to midnight, but game day was non-negotiable,” said 88-year-old Heyer.

Not only were her students warned, one football Saturday a friend needed to tell her something important. “She knew better than to call me during a game, so she sent me a telegram,” laughed Heyer.

OSU football fever started for Heyer 65 years ago, when she was an undergraduate at The Ohio State University.
  
“For four years I loved every minute of my time there," recalled Heyer, "but most of all football Saturdays. You couldn’t help getting caught up in the hysteria. When I graduated my father said that I should get alumni tickets so he could use them for business."

In the July Heights Observer article abut The Victorian, "Owners seek landmark status for CH's first condo," this editor got a few things wrong. (And, in looking into things, I learned much more!)

The article stated, "The Victorian was the first building in Cleveland Heights to be constructed as condominiums." It should have clarified that it was the first to be constructed as a single building housing condominiums.

Further, in condensing the information into a short, single-line headline, even more words were dropped that might have clarified that The Victorian was Cleveland Heights' first condo in a particular category of condo development.

HRRC Executive Director Keesha Allen offers opening remarks at Crowdsourced Conversations #2: Housing & Neighborhood Preservation. [Photo: Sarah Wolf]

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Crowdsourced Conversations continues on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 6–7:30 p.m., with the third in a series of four discussion-based forums. The focus for the Aug. 31 session will be community safety.

Cleveland Heights and University Heights residents are invited to attend the in-person event at Denison Park’s picnic pavilion (1015 Quarry Drive).  

The conversation series utilizes responses from Heights-wide surveys on the discussion topics to inform the small group conversations. Crowdsourcing in this way enables a wide spectrum of perspectives to be considered during each forum.

While traditionally forums feature a panel discussion that allows for audience questions, the organizers of this series wanted to give Heights residents a chance to learn from one another and community-build while focusing on what is actionable by everyday citizens.

Noble Gardeners' Market 2022 (NGM) will open on Aug. 6 for the first of eight consecutive Saturday mornings at the mini-park at Noble and Roanoke roads. Open from 10 a.m. to noon on each market day, NGM provides a hyper-local opportunity to sell fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables to neighbors and other market-goers. The date of this year's final market will be Sept. 24.

Anyone who grows fruits or vegetables in their backyard or in a community garden is welcome to sell, for a couple of weeks or for the entire eight-week season.

A recent bike rodeo at Millikin playground covered bike safety, registration, and maintenance.

Free summer-fun activities at Millikin playground continue throughout the month of August.

They include an environmental afternoon with a woods walk and art activities on Aug. 7 at 2 p.m.; theater games on Aug. 8 at 7 p.m., activities with Lake Erie Ink on Aug. 14 at 1:30 p.m., a concert with Cory Michael on Aug. 15 at 7 p.m.; Wiz Bang Circus on Aug. 21 at 1:30 p.m., and 10K Movement demonstrating and teaching hip-hop dance on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. (All activities have rain dates.)

For additional information on these August activities, and a look ahead to September’s, send an e-mail to cpankhurst@ameritech.net or robinkoslen@gmail.com.

A culture war has been declared in Cleveland Heights by the mayor and city council, as evidenced in an [ordinance] passed as an “emergency” measure.

Ordinance No. 75-2022 prohibits any treatment by a mental health professional the purpose of which is “an attempt to change an individual’s sexual orientation.” It is called a protection of minors. Its main target is so-called “conversion therapy.” [The ordinance states] engaging in such therapy with a minor [is] “an Unlawful Discriminatory Practice.” It could result in a substantial penalty.

Protecting minors is a worthy goal. But this ordinance clearly is aimed at those considered as political enemies. It pertains to “efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.”

Mayor Kahlil Seren’s opinion in the June issue of the Heights Observer ("Pride is insistence in the face of intense resistance") issues an overwrought clarion call for fight, protest and action against an enemy coalition of bigots, theocrats and others who might kill you if you are gay or lesbian.

He describes the United States as if it were Iran, or some other dozen Islamic territories, where speaking about LGBT rights does bring a death sentence.

Because the U.S. Supreme Court has tossed the abortion issue back to the people and their representatives, he then includes the Supreme Court in the enemy category and seems to excuse or expect “rage and riot” against our most vulnerable democratic institution, which would put him somewhere on par rhetorically with the Jan. 6 rioters. He also mentions the earlier “brave humans who put themselves on the line in riots, parades . . . and legal battles.”

Dan Heim conducts the Heights Summer Music Camp Orchestra in its end-of-summer camp concert.

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June 18 was magic. When the Heights Summer Music Camp Orchestra performed its final piece on the stage at Heights High that day, the audience—family and friends, district leaders, music advocates and longtime supporters of the Heights music program—erupted with a standing ovation. People were blown away by the music and by the young people taking their bows.

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, this was a restart for the camp. We were starting from scratch. Only eight people who attended the camp as fifth-graders a few years ago were eligible to attend when we reopened. Everyone else was new to the experience. We were thrilled to enroll 71 campers.

We hope nobody thought that transforming government in a city of 44,000 would be fast or easy. By the time you read this, Cleveland Heights’ new mayor/council government will have had a seven-month test drive over a course littered with potholes. As citizen observers, we note some progress, along with problems that needed attention yesterday.

First, some wins. One thing voters sought in an elected mayor was high visibility. Mayor Kahlil Seren has been visiting schools and attending public events locally and regionally. In June, he held a ceremony to mark Pride Month by raising the Pride flag at City Hall, and spoke at the Juneteenth festival on Coventry.

The Cleveland Heights Green Team (CHGT) believes that individuals and local governments have a responsibility to address climate change by developing and implementing a plan tailored to the specific needs of their communities.

At a May 28 brainstorming event on climate action, hosted by the Cleveland Heights Green Team, Heights residents concluded that the path to a climate-resilient community starts with the identification of a common set of data points and language as the foundation for any potential course of action.

According to Cleveland Heights resident Andrew Linebarger, “The most important outcome of the brainstorming session was highlighting the need for a more inclusive approach to determining what matters most to our community in the face of climate impact.”

This pond was one of the many varied features in a multi-purpose garden on Englewood Road.

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GardenWalk CH 2022 (July 16 and 17) provided Heights residents and visitors with the opportunity to tour, for free, more than 40 gardens and yards in Cleveland Heights.

Some of the stops along the tour showcased flowers at their peak bloom time.

Among them were the fleeting but spectacular daylilies, echinacea (coneflowers), and even a water lily, at a garden on Englewood Road, which also featured a raised-bed vegetable garden, espalied apple trees, and a giant bird aviary.

Sharp-eyed visitors might also have spied the baby praying mantis, perched on a daylily bloom.

At a double-yard garden on Cambridge Road, perennials and annuals were everywhere, in pots and in the ground, leading the eye—and feet—along numerous pathways full of color, attracting garden visitors and pollinators, including a hummingbird that the homeowner said returns every year.

Recognizing there’s always room for improvement, a new University Heights Charter Commission will spend the rest of 2022 and the first three months of 2023 studying, reviewing, and eventually proposing changes to, the city charter. 

University Heights voters will be given the opportunity to vote on any proposed changes in the 2023 General Election.

Spirit Book by Jeanetta Ho.

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Visual artists have long been fascinated by books, often because books provide a way to distribute reproductions of original works.

Impagination, a group exhibition at Heights Arts that will open Friday, Aug. 19, and run through Sunday, Oct. 16, is not about reproductions; in this show, books themselves are one-of-a-kind works of art, designed to be held in the hands and leafed through in a narrative sequence.

Participants in the summer 2021 guitar-making workshop. [photo: Ron Werman]

The Noble Cigar Box Guitar Project is back this summer, offering a free cigar box guitar workshop for middle schoolers.

The workshop consists of four sessions, Aug. 8–11, 1:30–3 p.m., at Disciples Church, 3663 Mayfield Road, in Cleveland Heights.

Workshop participants will build their own three-string box guitars from a kit that the organizers provide. They will also learn how a guitar makes music, the basics of playing the guitar, and where cigar box guitars originated. At the end of the workshop, participants will take home the guitars they each built.

In the hands of creative people, cigar box guitars demonstrate how commonplace, throwaway objects can be re-purposed into impressive musical instruments.

Leopold and Lenora from WUAB's "Big Bad B-Movie Show" will host a concert and movie doubleheader at The Walt on Aug. 4.

A science-fiction concert and movie doubleheader, a renowned world music band, and a mashup of Klezmer and Motown will wrap up the 2022 University Heights Summer Concert Series this August.

Aug. 4 – Oregon Space Trail of Doom / "It Came from Outer Space": With a sound that can only be properly described as absolute psychedelic madness, Oregon Space Trail of Doom’s rock and jazz jams recall some of the most experimental of the genre.

After the band's 7 p.m. show at Walter Stinson Community Park, concertgoers are in invited to stick around for a showing of the science-fiction classic movie, "It Came from Outer Space."

Intern Dylan Roche learned book shelving in the Lee Road Library's Adult Services Department.

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A relatively new source of interns for the library is Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU). A Northeast Ohio-based workforce development nonprofit, YOU seeks to help young residents, including teens, become economically self-sufficient through paid internships in workplaces throughout the region.

The library began its relationship with YOU in 2020 with an intern at its administration office.

“I was so impressed by the support YOU gave to her as a student, and to me as a mentor, that I knew the library could benefit from hosting other students in a variety of capacities,” said Nancy Levin, Heights Libraries director. “We welcomed another student at the Coventry branch in 2021, and this year we have two students: one at Noble and one in adult services at Lee Road.”

Antoine Dunn

Here’s a story I didn’t tell Antoine Dunn when I talked to him on the phone recently:

When I was about 8, there was a kid, Mike, who was a year older, living a few houses from mine, in Cleveland Heights. I already knew I wanted to be a musician and performer. He already knew that he wanted to be a disc jockey and announcer. His house had a screened-in first-floor back porch. He would be up there on the porch, playing Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson records on his little portable turntable, and I’d be on the lawn just below, lip-synching the records and mimicking each singer’s movements. After every song, Mike would pick up a toy microphone and back-announce the record, and give other relevant information, like the typical AM DJs of the day. We did that all one summer.

Robert Hammond, PsyD.

Robert Hammond, PsyD, will oversee the social workers, psychologists and behavioral health specialists on staff when the MetroHealth Cleveland Heights Behavioral Health Hospital opens on Oct. 8.

Hammond, the new director of clinical services, is leading a team that is developing programing and building a curriculum for the various patient treatment units.

The inpatient curriculum for the 112-bed hospital is based on non-drug interventions that include therapy, support groups and classes—activities that promote interaction, engagement and learning skills.

Kaela Sweeney

Kaela Sweeney has joined Heights Libraries' management team as the new strategic projects manager. She replaces Maggie Kinney, who moved to the Coventry Village branch manager position in 2021.

Sweeney, who grew up in Georgia and attended college in Ohio, has a background in public education and curriculum development. She taught English, journalism, creative writing and public speaking at both the middle- and high-school level, and said that experience is a big part of what attracted her to Heights Libraries.

“As an educator, I saw firsthand what libraries mean to communities,” said Sweeney.

Coventry Village Branch

1925 Coventry Road, 216-321-3400

Saturday, Aug. 20, noon to 10 p.m.

Annual Pekar Park Comic Book Fest. The Pekar Park Comic Book Fest is back, with fun for all ages. It will feature crafts, vendors, panel discussions, art, refreshments, and so many comics—plus, a family-friendly movie in Coventry PEACE Park at 8 p.m.

Principal Loretta Pilla with second-grade students on Field Day. Photo credit: Emily Velichka

Loretta Pilla knows something about being the new kid in school. The Communion of Saints School (COS) principal, who recently wrapped up her first year at the school, fell in love with education when she was in third grade.

Pilla and her family had emigrated from Italy to Boston when she was 8. Despite the culture shock of moving to a new country and learning English, she thrived. She earned a degree in education at Boston College, where she met her husband. They moved to Cleveland, which Pilla said is “the perfect place to raise a family.” The couple has three children.

English Conversation Partners Albertine Laleye (foreground) and Louise Abrams use everyday tasks, such as banking, as an opportunity to practice Laleye’s language skills.

In addition to educating Heights students from pre-K through grade 12, the CH-UH school district also supports adult learners through a partnership with Cuyahoga Community College’s (Tri-C) Aspire/Options program, which houses its hub in the district's Delisle building. 

Salome Harris is the coordinator of Tri-C’s eastside Aspire sites. The program provides non-collegiate community-based adult learning, free of charge.

Courses include literacy and math skills, field training, high school equivalency diplomas, and English language for new learners. From that hub at Delisle, Harris coordinates services from East Cleveland to Willowick, and in between. 

Cleveland Heights program locations have included Heights High, Delisle itself, and the Noble Neighborhood Library. The Lee Road Library is in the process of becoming an English class site, as well.

Mark your calendars—the Aug. 2 primary is an additional election, and it is almost upon us.

The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland (LWV) will present a Candidates Forum on Tuesday, July 19, 7–9 p.m., at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, 1 Monticello Boulevard.

Candidates for the Aug. 2 primary election for state Senate District 21 and state House District 22 will participate in the forum.

Candidates for the Democratic nominations will present brief statements and answer written questions from the audience. (As only one Republican is running for the state Senate nomination and none are running for the state House, the LWV cannot present a Republican forum.)

The Cleveland Heights Green Team invites Heights' residents—and all who are concerned about the impact of climate change, and looking for a path to localized action—to attend its July 20 forum, "What is a Climate Action Plan?" 
 
The forum will take place at Forest Hill Church, at 3031 Monticello Blvd. in Cleveland Heights, 7–8:30 p.m., and will also be broadcast live, via Zoom.

The event, moderated by Brian Siggers, advocacy director for the Ohio Environmental Council, will explore how three cities in Northeast Ohio—Oberlin, Shaker Heights, and Cleveland—are working to mitigate the impact of climate change and build climate resiliency in their communities.  

CH-UH elementary school student self-portraits are on view at the Lee Road Library.

This spring, elementary students across the CH-UH district had an opportunity to paint self-portraits under the guidance of professional artist Debbie Apple-Presser, in a project titled “Together We Rise.” The project, funded by local arts funding organization RoxArts, was designed to show how students, despite all that they have been through over the past two years, have come out even stronger.

The children couldn’t use any of the colors traditionally associated with skin tone; there was no brown, tan, black or white paint available to them. Instead, they used red, blue, green and purple to express their inner selves—their feelings and identities that go far beyond race or skin tone.

Owner Ash O'Connor in front of Made Cleveland at 1807 Coventry Road.

Photo credit: Jessica Schantz

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Made Cleveland, the new "marketplace of independent creators" in Coventry Village, opened its doors on June 3. It hosts the work of approximately 120 vendors, mostly from Northeast Ohio, whose wares include perishable and non-perishable food items, apparel, beauty products, refillable cleaning products, home goods, furniture, art and jewelry.

Owner Ash O’Connor describes her path to opening Made Cleveland as part determination and part good luck and timing.

After moving to Northeast Ohio from Philadelphia in 2017 to take a job as a hotel food and beverage director, O'Connor decided to stay in Cleveland when it turned out the job was not a good fit. Two years later, with a partner and a newborn, she hadn't yet made her next professional move.

This North Park Boulevard garden's birch tree-lined pathway was inspired by Stan Hywet's birch tree allee.

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At first glance, two of the 40-plus gardens to be featured in this year's GardenWalk Cleveland Heights, July 16 and 17, seem quite different from one another.

The backyard garden on Northampton Road is a tranquil, secluded haven—a shaded outdoor space with natural stone paths, ground cover, flowering bushes and roses. Its owners chose to minimize manicured grass, and instead expand a stone patio.

Across the city, on North Park Boulevard, a relatively massive backyard presented the owners with both a challenge and an opportunity, because of its size. By focusing on small, managable sections, they installed a panoply of plants, integrating art and color into multiple intimate seating areas. They describe the result as “an experience of inspiration.”

Despite the apparent differences, a conversation with the four owner/gardeners revealed similarities. For example, all of them believe in working with nature, rather than against it, and all enjoy functional outdoor spaces with multiple seating areas, and water features. Their gardens, which they designed and planted themselves, are versatile enough to allow them to create, relax and entertain.

Interestingly, each of the gardeners described being inspired by birch trees.

JULY 5, 2022, regular meeting

• Public comments
• Board comments
• Superintendent’s report
• Treasurer’s report

Present were Board President Malia Lewis and members Dan Heintz, James Posch, Jodi Sourini, and Beverly Wright. Also present were Superintendent Elizabeth Kirby and Treasurer Scott Gainer.

Friends of Cain Park, supporting Cain Park for more than three decades, is back this summer selling memberships and raffle tickets to support this regional treasure.

Raffle tickets can be purchased online at friendsofcainpark.org/raffle, and at the Cain Park Arts Festival, July 8–10. [Admission to the Arts Festival is free on all three days.]

The Heights Observer was recognized as “Ohio’s Best Community Newspaper” at the 44th Annual All-Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards, a program of the Press Club of Cleveland. The honor was announced in early June at an awards dinner at the House of Blues.

For each of the past five years, the Heights Observer has received an award in this category, earning top honors in 2020 and 2022, and honorable mention in 2018, ’19 and ’21.

David Budin was recognized this year for his “Songs and Stories” column, with an honorable mention in the highly competitive category for Ohio’s best columnist. He won first place in that category in 2019.

I read with great surprise, concern and disappointment that Deanna Bremer Fisher resigned, effective immediately, from FutureHeights. 

My husband and I moved to Cleveland Heights almost 16 years ago, so our experience living here has been very much impacted by the work of FutureHeights. We have supported it financially for many years. 

During the more than 14 years that Bremer Fisher worked for FutureHeights, she accomplished many things, including:

• Publishing the Heights Observer community newspaper, which has become a trusted source of information and has received several Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Press Club of Cleveland.

Scholarship recipient Keonshae "Shae" Boyd, at his graduation.

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In late May, at an awards program at Cleveland Heights High School, two talented and accomplished Heights graduates, Troy Gentry and Keonshae "Shae" Boyd Bey, were named recipients of the 2022–23 Ron Register Scholarship Awards. Each receives a cash award of $2,500.

Boyd Bey excelled academically, and was captain of the football and wrestling teams, and a member of student council and the track team. He maintained a better-than-B GPA, and was involved in community activities assisting the less fortunate. He worked with and on behalf of the homeless, helping out at a local food pantry, and organizing a winter coat drive.

After a series of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuyahoga County's ban on single-use plastic bags went into effect on Jan. 16, 2022.

Some large chain stores, such as Giant Eagle and CVS, have already eliminated plastic bags.

"The county is actively working with stores to help them transition from using single-use plastic bags at the checkout ahead of any enforcement action,” explained Sheryl Harris, director of the county's Department of Consumer Affairs. “Retailers are not facing fines yet, but are being actively encouraged and supported by the county to switch to paper bags and reusable bags before enforcement is enacted.”

COS students perform in Disney's "The Little Mermaid, JR."

Photo credit: Frank Mathias

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Following two seasons of darkened lights and shuttered curtains, Communion of Saints School’s (COS) drama program returned to the stage in May, when 49 children in grades K–8 sang and danced in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid, JR.” 

Sea animals, seagulls, merpeople and royals, all took to the spotlight. Bright costumes flashed before painted sets. The student stage crew behind the scenes helped ensure that everything ran smoothly. After months of rehearsing, the show went off without a hitch.

A past Random Acts of Art Live concert featured Larchmere Collective's marimba and cello duo.

Heights Arts is emerging from two years of disrupted music programming with a new mix of offerings at community sites and in its gallery at 2175 Lee Road. Heights Arts musical events transform front yards into concert venues, and blend music with poetry in the new offering, ARTbar. 

When the pandemic made live music unavailable, listening trends changed. Before the pandemic, the classical genre wasn’t among the most popular music played by young people. But during the isolation of COVID-19, playlists for working, studying and relaxing that included classical music spiked more than any other genre, including among young audiences.

Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights.

With the expansion of the Park Synagogue building in Pepper Pike well underway, the future of the historic 1947 “Park Main” property and its iconic sanctuary building in Cleveland Heights remains an open question. [The congregation announced a year ago that the Cleveland Heights landmark was for sale.]

Located in a heavily wooded site between Mayfield Road and Euclid Heights Boulevard, east of Taylor Road, Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights was designed by internationally renowned architect Eric Mendelsohn and is considered one of the premier examples of modern religious architecture in the United States.

Another Cleveland Heights hidden gem: The beautiful Mayfield Cemetery, the much smaller cemetery immediately to the east of Lake View Cemetery.

I was talking with Susanna Niermann O’Neil before her May 2 retirement from the city of Cleveland Heights, where she had served for 45 years, most recently as city manager. We talked about some of the hidden gems in Cleveland Heights.

I mentioned that when I was involved with the Friends of Cain Park, we used to sell raffle tickets before most Cain Park concerts. When I did that, I talked to as many people as I could about the park. I was always surprised by how many of them—people who had come to hear Lyle Lovett or Sheryl Crowe or Arlo Guthrie, for instance—had never heard of Cain Park before, even though it’s been here since the 1930s and has presented concerts and musicals almost the entire time. Even some people who had lived in Cleveland Heights for their whole lives said they'd never heard of it.

Antoine Dunn

Antoine Dunn is a star. His singles and albums have charted high on Billboard. His songs, including “Can’t Forget” and “Miss My Love,” can be heard on SiriusXM, BET and MTV. The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and record-label owner also happens to have grown up here. He went all through the CH-UH school system—Gearity, Wiley and Heights High—graduating in 2006.

Dunn, who now lives in Los Angeles, has toured nationally with other top R&B artists. He’ll be performing in Cleveland, at the House of Blues, on Sunday, Sept. 4, 7 p.m.

Of the owners who gathered recently for this photo, the longest-tenured has lived at The Victorian for 19 year. The newest owner has lived in the historic condominium for under a year.

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Completed in 1971, The Victorian was the first building in Cleveland Heights to be constructed as condominiums. In May, owners submitted paperwork to have the building designated a Cleveland Heights landmark, significant to the community. And on July 28—after a one-year pandemic delay—its owners will gather to celebrate The Victorian's 50th anniversary.

Properties Development Company broke ground on the building, located at 3701 Mayfield Road, in 1969. Architect Irving Robinson designed the building under the direction of the company's principal partners, Will Sukenik and Irving Fine, who were on-site daily.

At the time, condominiums were a new concept in home ownership.

MetroHealth's Bev Lozar with a prime view of the new MetroHealth Cleveland Heights Behavioral Health Hospital.

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On Oct. 8, the MetroHealth Cleveland Heights Behavioral Health Hospital will open its doors to adults and seniors who need inpatient care. The adolescent unit will open in June 2023.

The 112-bed hospital, on the campus of the MetroHealth Cleveland Heights Medical Center at 10 Severance Circle, is designed for short-term stays for people with mood disorders, addiction, and other behavioral health needs.

A job fair held at MetroHealth Cleveland Heights on May 20 attracted more than 50 people interested in job openings for a dozen different opportunities. Social worker, patient care nurse assistant, registered nurse, and mental health counselor positions are among those being filled.

Horseshoe Lake before it was drained. [photo: Caydie Heller]

If there [were] a plan to save Horseshoe Lake that addressed stormwater issues, controlled flooding, cost less, and also saved the lake, why wouldn’t our public officials request that the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) implement that plan?

The NEORSD’s plan for destroying Horseshoe Lake and turning it into wetlands is no longer the only option on the table. Now is the time to consider the alternate plan, and pause before we irrevocably damage a part of Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights that we will regret for generations. 

Friends of Horseshoe Lake (FOHSL), a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving Horseshoe Lake, retained a team of engineering and dam experts from TRC Companies, as well as land use experts, to explore alternatives and develop a financially viable plan to preserve the lake and manage floodwater.

At the front door of the Coventry PEACE Campus (CPC) building, outsized, fanciful light fixtures hang from the 18-foot ceiling, hinting at creative doings inside. Since 2011 the former elementary school has housed an eclectic mix of nonprofit organizations, devoted to empowering Heights residents of all ages through arts, education and community development.

CPC is not only a place, but an umbrella organization for the resident groups. In addition to presenting special events, in recent years the nonprofit has managed the premises and the leasing of space. CPC pays $10,000 for utilities and $500 in rent each month to Heights Libraries, which purchased the building from the CH-UH Board of Education in 2018 for $1.

JUNE 28, 2022

• Board actions
• Presentations
• Treasurer’s report

Present were Board President Malia Lewis and members Dan Heintz, James Posch, Jodi Sourini, and Beverly Wright. Also present were Superintendent Elizabeth Kirby and Treasurer Scott Gainer. The meeting ran two hours and 13 minutes.

JUNE 27, 2022, special meeting and executive session

• Mayor’s report
• Staff presentations
• Council actions

Present were Mayor Kahlil Seren, Council Vice President Craig Cobb, and Council Members Gail Larson, Anthony Mattox, Jr., Josie Moore, and Davida Russell. Council President Melody Joy Hart and Council Member Tony Cuda participated remotely. Also present was Law Director William Hanna. The meeting ran two and one half hours. An executive session was convened to consider the terms of a sale or lease of city-owned property.

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On Thursday, July 14, 2–5 p.m., the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association is sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminar that begins inside the Garfield Memorial at Lakeview Cemetery. The seminar is open to the public.

After a quick tour of the memorial, presidential historian James Robenalt will discuss the life of the 20th U.S. president, who was assassinated in 1881, and former U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Greg Truhan will talk about presidential assassinations.

Next up is a performance of songs from Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical "Assassins."

Coventry Village Branch
1925 Coventry Road, 216-321-3400

Friday, July 22, 7 p.m.

Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. Now in its 25th season of producing free outdoor productions, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival returns to Coventry PEACE Park with its production of Molière’s The Learned Ladies. Admission is free. Arrive early to secure a spot, and bring a chair or blanket. For more information, visit www.cleveshakes.org.

Longtime employee Terry Behnke at the “second business line” pay phone, and owner
Manny Dishler on Heights Cleaners' last day. Manny said, “It cost a dime to make a pay phone call when it was installed. Now it’s 50 cents.”

After 65 years in business, opening in 1957, Heights Cleaners—Coventry Village’s longest-running business with a single owner—closed on Saturday, June 4.

The owner, 98-year-old Manny Dishler, has retired after being in the clothes cleaning business for about 75 years.

Soon after Dishler returned from serving in the U.S. Army Air Force as a unit headquarters clerk in North Africa and Italy in the late 1940s, he started working as a home-delivery man for his father, Nathan Dishler, who owned U-Need-A-Laundry in Cleveland.

“Those days, few people locked their doors and women were full-time homemakers,” said Dishler.

"I was single," explained Disher. "I wanted Saturday afternoon and Wednesdays off.

But management wouldn’t budge. So, in 1952, when he was 28, Dishler started Prospect Laundry at 19th and Prospect in downtown Cleveland. Being the boss of his own business, he took time off and went courting. 

He and Arline Cohen married in 1954 and lived in University Heights, then Beachwood.

A scene from Wizbang Circus Theatre's Free Circus Day at Coventry PEACE Campus. [photo courtesy Danielle Tilk]

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On May 21, Danielle and Jason Tilk of Cleveland Heights' Wizbang Circus Theatre, a 2021 FutureHeights Mini-Grant recipient, brought their third Free Circus Day for kids and teens to Coventry PEACE Campus. There, 16 kids, ages 8–15, spent the day learning prop balancing, plate spinning, hula-hoop tricks, juggling, stilt walking, unicycling, and aerial arts, and enjoyed a healthy lunch provided by Tommy's restaurant.

Wizbang's Free Circus Day started in 2018, in the open space on Lee Road, bringing together a large group of neighborhood kids for the first time. An hour in, those who were once strangers were laughing together while juggling. At the end of the day, e-mails, numbers, and group selfies were shared. A bond was formed—all under the umbrella of what is known as "social circus."

The Plastic Free Foundation established Plastic Free July in 2011 to encourage the reduction of plastic consumption through changing habits and building community.

To participate in the Plastic Free July challenge, all one must do is make a commitment to use less plastic during the month.

The Cleveland Heights Green Team (CHGT) invites Heights’ residents to join the challenge by giving up some of the single-use plastic items they use every day, such as plastic water bottles, coffee cups, and straws, and by bringing reusable bags on shopping trips.

JUNE 21, 2022

• Public comments
• Directors report highlights
• Personnel report highlights
• Public service report highlights

Present were President Gabe Crenshaw, Patti Carlyle, and Dana Fluellen. Annette Iwamoto, Tyler McTigue, and Vikas Turakhia and Vice President Max Gerboc were not present. Since there was no quorum, no board action could be taken.

JUNE 21, 2022

• Public comments - agenda items
• Public comments - general
• Mayor’s report
• Council actions on second reading
• Passed on first reading
• First readings, no vote
• Community block grants
• Committee reports
• Council member comments
• Committee of the whole

Present were Mayor Kahlil Seren, Council President Melody Joy Hart, Council Vice President Craig Cobb, and Council Members Tony Cuda, Gail Larson, Anthony Mattox Jr., Josie Moore, and Davida Russell. Also present was William Hanna, law director. The meeting ran a little over an hour and 20 minutes.

University Heights Symphonic Band (UHSB), a 50-piece concert band based in University Heights, announces the following line up of free summer concerts:

June 23 -  The Grove, Mayfield Village, 7 p.m.
June 30 -  John Carroll University, in front of the Dolan Center, 7 p.m.
July 2 -  Longwood Manor, Macedonia, 7:30 p.m.
July 28 -  John Carroll University, in front of the Dolan Center, 7 p.m.

Sponsored by the city of University Heights, UHSB started in the summer of 1970, under founder and first onductor Harvey Sisler. The band's repertoire of concert band music includes marches, show tunes, light classics, and contemporary selections. UHSB's current conductor is Devlin J. Pope.

Admission to the three-day Cain Park Arts festival will be free this year.

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This summer, Cleveland Heights' Cain Park Arts Festival celebrates 45 years. Admission will be free on all three days of the juried event, July 8, 9 and 10. In addition to the art exhibits, the festival will feature live entertainment, and food concessions will be available.

Cain Park's summer performance season will kick off on June 9, with "School of Rock the Musical," and will close on Aug. 21, with a free concert in Cain Park's Sunday Concert Series.

Residents Day, when the Cain Park Ticket Office opens for Cleveland Heights residents only, is Saturday, May 28, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (To purchase tickets, residents must have photo ID and show proof of residency. For information, visit www.cainpark.com/316/Residents-Day.)

The full summer lineup of musicals, dance, and concerts is below. For additional information, and tickets, visit www.cainpark.com.

JUNE 6, 2022

• Public comments - agenda items
• Other public comments
• Mayor’s report
• Horseshoe Lake presentation
• Council actions
• First reading of legislation, no vote
• Council member comments
• Committee of the whole (COW)

Present were Mayor Kahlil Seren, Council President Melody Joy Hart, Council Vice President Craig Cobb, and Council Members Tony Cuda, Gail Larson, Anthony Mattox, Jr., Josie Moore, and Davida Russell. Also present was Laurie Wagner, representing the law department. Mr. Cobb functioned as clerk pro temp.

JUNE 7, 2022

• Tudor Taylor Corridor
• Recognitions and awards
• Personnel agreements
• Policy Group C
• MetroHealth 
• Sex-based harassment (SBH)

Present were Board President Malia Lewis, members Dan Heintz, James Posch, Jodi Sourini, and Beverly Wright, Superintendent Elizabeth Kirby, and Treasurer Scott Gainer.

MAY 23, 2022 – special meeting regarding clerk of council

Present were Mayor Kahlil Seren, Council Vice President Craig Cobb, and Council Members Tony Cuda, Gail Larson, Anthony Mattox, Jr., Josie Moore, and Davida Russell. Also present were Amy Himmelein, clerk of council and finance director; and William Hanna, law director. Council President Melody Joy Hart joined the meeting virtually. The meeting was five minutes long.

Clerk of council

Council approved a job description, compensation, and job posting for clerk of council. They approved a salary grade 19 and salary range from $51,542 to $77,313.

MAY 17, 2022

• Staff petition and hiring of new staff 
• Career and Technical Education program focus group results
• Minority Student Achievement Network presentation

Present were President Malia Lewis, Dan Heintz, James Posch, Jodi Sourini, and Beverly Wright. Also present were Superintendent Elizabeth Kirby and Treasurer Scott Gainer. The meeting lasted about 2 hours 15 minutes.

MAY 16, 2022

• Public comments
• Staff reports
• Horseshoe Lake Dam Project
• Council actions
• Council member comments
• Committee of the whole

Present were Mayor Kahlil Seren, Council President Melody Joy Hart, Council Vice President Craig Cobb, and Council Members Tony Cuda, Gail Larson, Anthony Mattox, Jr., Josie Moore, and Davida Russell. Also present were Amy Himmelein, clerk of council and finance director; and William Hanna, law director. The meeting lasted one and two-thirds hours.

Public comments

Four residents opposed the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Horseshoe Lake Dam project, citing the value of the lake to migratory birds and the health value of bodies of water, and challenging the severity of the flood risk. One resident praised the public engagement plan. Another questioned the lack of publicly available detailed data that had informed the plan.