The Observer welcomes opinions about candidates and issues

Municipal elections are coming up this November. This is the fourth local election cycle that the Heights Observer has been through since its inception, and it, like the ones that have come before it, is an important one.

Cleveland Heights residents will vote for three of seven members of city council this year. University Heights residents will vote for four of seven members of council. Residents of both cities will vote for two of five members of the CH-UH Board of Education.

In addition, the City of Cleveland Heights has a proposal on the ballot to raise its income tax from 2 percent to 2.25 percent.

As a hyper-local publication with a goal of providing information to Heights residents in order to build a better community, municipal elections are very important to the Observer. 

Many civic-minded people and groups are seeking opportunities to express their opinions about candidates and issues. The Observer, in its role as a forum for sharing information about the community, welcomes the opportunity to publish these diverse opinions.

Contributors may include the candidates themselves; however, because we have limited space in our print publication (each page of the newspaper costs money to print, and the number of pages we print is based on the advertising revenue in that issue), we must limit candidate submissions in the print edition between September and November to paid advertisements.

Online—where we have no space limitations—candidates can submit articles, blogs and opinion pieces. All candidates are invited and encouraged to make submissions at the Heights Observer website (www.heightsobserver.org) and the Heights Observer blogs (www.blogs.heightsobserver.org). This ensures that everyone is treated equally.

In the print issue, we welcome comments and contributions of non-candidates right up until the election. In partnership with the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, we will provide detailed information about the candidates—provided by each candidate—in a Voters’ Guide in the October print issue. We will also partner with the League to host two candidates forums, to introduce candidates for local elections.

A forum on Sept. 29 will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at John Carroll University’s Dolan Hall, and will feature candidates for University Heights City Council and the CH-UH Board of Education (BOE). An Oct. 14 forum will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, and will feature candidates for BOE and Cleveland Heights City Council.

One point that bears emphasis is that the Observer will not endorse candidates. The Heights Observer is published by FutureHeights, a community-building organization with 501(c)3 status, which means that the IRS recognizes it as not-for-profit/tax-exempt. As such, neither FutureHeights nor the Observer is permitted to endorse any individuals running for public office.

FutureHeights is permitted, however, to advocate for a “yes” or “no” vote on a particular issue or ballot initiative. If FutureHeights decides to advocate for an issue, the opinion will be clearly marked as such.

The Heights Observer itself will not take a position but will welcome all opinions. So, the opinions you may read in this newspaper or on its websites reflect the views of the individual authors, not the newspaper.

We encourage you to educate yourself about the candidates and issues, and then vote on Nov. 3.