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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.

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.

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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.

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. 

MAY 16, 2022

• Public comments
• Board resolutions highlights
• Personnel report
• Public service report highlights

Present were President Gabe Crenshaw, Patti Carlyle, Dana Fluellen, Annette Iwamoto, Tyler McTigue, and Vikas Turakhia. Vice President Max Gerboc was not present.