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June 26 is Dugway Brook Watershed Day
11am - 3pm
Come to Forest Hill Park boat house, on the lagoon where Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland meet, just north of the Cleveland Heights Community/Rec Center.

Learn about the watershed that forms the western boundary of southeastern South Euclid.

Jane Goodman is a fan of

Cuyahoga River Community Planning and Remedial Action Plan

CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE MEETING on Budget and Repeal of Tax Credit Rollback -
Monday, June 28 at 6:30pm, City Hall.

I VOTED "NO" on the rollback of the income tax credit for those of us who work outside our city. I thought that a.) we should cut more from the budget first, b.) if others insisted on a rollback we should consider a smaller one to ease the burden and keep our city attractive to people who have jobs in this economy, c.) it was unwise to liquidate our last option this early in the game, and d.) discussing it in "special" meetings called at the last legal minute and held on a weekend and an off-Monday was improper and not in line with the "openness and transparency" the leadership claims to support.

Nevertheless, Sunny Simon's and my "no" votes lost and Council voted to roll back the whole .75% credit. Some citizens gathered signatures to put the rollback on the November ballot. They submitted them to the city and we can either repeal the rollback, fight the referendum in court claiming it's not eligible for referendum, or let it go on the ballot.

Then, shortly thereafter, Councilwoman Ruth Gray introduced a repeal of the rollback. She and some of the four other Councilmen who initially voted for the rollback decided that Council should take another look.

SO...the public has another opportunity to help us figure out how to pay for the services you want and need, if we don't roll back the credit. Make no mistake, this city's revenues have dropped, with foreclosures, empty homes, lower property taxes, loss of state funding and low income tax receipts, but our expenses haven't.

Tough choices have to be made, but we can do it. Together.

Bring constructive comments and ideas for how we should prioritize spending, what we should cut and not cut, and how we might increase revenues if we don't roll back the tax credit.

• Would you vote instead for a citywide payroll tax increase that affected everyone earning wages inside or outside the city of South Euclid rather than leave the burden on the 80% of residents who work in another city?
• Would you make it a true income tax on ALL income, including interest, dividends, pensions, rents and royalties so that seniors and retirees would share in paying for services?
• Would you pay an assessment for trash pickup? Recycling?
• Do you use the pools? What if we closed Victory Pool in order to retain the money to pay park guards at Bexley? Or school crossing guards?
• Would your group mind paying to rent meeting space at the Community Center?

What are you willing to give up in terms of services or programs? You can email me or call 216.291.4323 and leave a message if I'm not there.

Cedar Center Update - June, 2010

Construction moves ahead at Cedar Center, while Fencepiration art by HeightsArts' Debbie Apple-Presser
turns the fence into a four-season mural made of recycled materials.

You'll have noticed the construction equipment digging and filling the site of Phase I of Cedar Center North. We're preparing the ground, stabilizing the filled-in basements and the holes dug during testing for contamination from the dry cleaners, theater and paint store sites. Cleveland Water will upgrade the water lines and our sewer crews will reline the waste and sewer pipes so that all is ready for the planned November start of construction.

Phase I is the southeast quarter of the property. Coral Co. expects to start this fall and finish by next fall, in spite of the complexity of the project. Having to clean up asbestos in demolition of the buildings, digging up and carting off contaminated soil, waiting for the EPA to okay new building on the site, putting financing together in ways that minimize costs but maximize returns to the city so it can reduce its debt...this continues to be one intense project.

The latest plans for Phase I have five buildings: four built around parking on the section fronting Cedar, and one on the Warrensville-facing section. One of the four main buildings will have four stories of apartments over ground-level restaurants and/or retail. The apartments will be for seniors (defined as "over 55" - yes, I know) earning less than approximately $35,000 a year. No kids and no grandkids allowed to live there. But if they come to visit for the day...

The center of the whole site will be a 1/3 acre public green space, located just west of the apartments and over the cleaned-up former brownfield site. The space is about 110' by 150', or a little more than one lot deep and four bungalow-lots wide. (Look at the Colony Road Garden at 4069 Colony and imagine four of those spaces side-by-side.) This space will remain city property and can be used for picnics, concerts, art shows, festivals – all kinds of community gatherings.

Coral Co.'s Peter Rubin stresses that the goal of the project is to create a walkable community center, and to that end the design includes wide walkways for strolling and outdoor patios for socializing. The current building design marries art deco and craftsman styles, with brick and colored stone elements. Think stone, not steel, which will let the five-story residence blend with the surrounding neighborhood while adding a jazzy little color, which I am assured won't be turquoise. The property is also seen as the pedestrian-friendly part of the larger four-corner Cedar Center district.

The vast majority of the first phase of tenants will be food-centered, so the area will finally come back as a much-needed destination spot for diners. I've been sworn to secrecy and can't say who the new tenants will be (even I wasn't privy to all of the names) but I can say that people will be very very happy with the mix of menus.

WHAT NOW?:

First, the EPA will issue a "No Further Action" (NFA) letter to the city saying that the contamination at the site has been cleaned up to the agency's satisfaction and we may proceed to build the project with certain restrictions. For example, the greenspace is where it is because that piece of land is deemed not suitable for a building but okay for a park. The EPA says the NFA letter is on its way.

And in order for the project to proceed, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School Board must approve the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) agreement that says the schools will receive the same amount of property taxes they were getting before the buildings were vacated and demolished, but they will forego their share of the increase in property taxes – the difference, or increment, between the old taxes and new ones – for a given period, usually twenty or thirty years. (The section of South Euclid behind Cedar Center is in the CH-UH School District.) That allows the City of South Euclid to use the tax increase funds to pay for the building of the infrastructure, parking, utilities, etc.

Fencepiration: Artists and volunteers from HeightsArts are installing a running mural in and on the fence that surrounds the site. With tree branches, leaves cut from donated cans, and water, soil, grass and snow-colored recycled plastic bags, artist Debbie Presser brings nature to what is otherwise a brown landscape. Can't wait to see it when all the seasons are represented!

Cedar Center North is going to be one fun place.

For more information about South Euclid, go to www.cityofsoutheuclid.com.