Printable PDF of Susan Efroymson’s 2020 Primary Voting Suggestions: www.localjewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Susan-Efroymsons-2020-Primary-Voting-Suggestions

Due to the Coronavirus containment protocols, all polling places that are usually located in senior citizens housing will be moved. Those who normally vote on Warrensville Rd or Severance will be voting at City Hall.

This is a primary.  That means that each party is electing the candidates that will square off in the November elections to determine then who will actually hold office. No matter who you support at this juncture or which party you vote for, you can still vote for whomever you choose come November and are not tied to your choices now.

In a primary you must choose to vote either as a Republican or as a Democrat (or Issues Only) and your choice defines your party until you change it by voting under a different party in another primary. Practically speaking, in our area only Democrats are elected for the lower state and county offices, therefore voting Democrat in the primaries is where the selection for those offices is made and that is why I recommend that many of us do so. Your choice now has no bearing on the general election in November.

Republican Ballot

In this election there are almost no contested Republican races.  The sole race of interest is:

11^th District Congressional Representative: Vote Laverne Gore

Democratic Ballot

President: Joe Biden

11^th District Congressional Representative: Marcia Fudge

Court of Appeals 8^th District:  Rinni, Forbes

State Representative 9^th District: Janine Boyd

Common Pleas: O’Donnel, Realli

County Council District 10 : Cheryl Stevens

All Ballots

Issue 26: School District tax increase: if passed, will add $277 in annual property tax per $100K home value, for a new total of $4077, aside from any other increases.

Issue 33: Health and Human Services Renewal and small tax increase: Yes

Expanded Version

Democratic Presidential Candidates:

When the ballots went to print, there were eleven candidates. Today, the race is only between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. So Moderate vs. Socialist: Choose Moderate – Joe Biden.

Biden is endorsed by the mainstream candidates like Kamala Harris, Buttigieg, and Klobechar. Sanders is endorsed by Jesse Jackson.  Sanders surrounds himself with known anti-Semites like Susan Rice and Linda Sarsour, and is endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Biden has the more friendly relationship with our community. The ties go back longer and stretch through his career, and despite his position on the Iran deal, he has been supportive of Jewish causes and values at other times in way that cannot be said of Sanders. Vote Joe Biden.

Lower offices:

Congressional Representative 11^th district. Marcia Fudge has stood with our community when it came to securing anti-terrorism funding and it is our hope she will continue to respond positively when called upon.

Laverne Gore running for the same office on the Republican side has some interesting support in this district and will be worth following if she wins the nomination.

State Representative: Janine Boyd began her career in our city and comes home to Cleveland Heights Blvd., a hop skip and jump from us. As such, she is well aware of our community and its needs and was supportive of the Elected Mayor initiative at the beginning of the discussion before citizens took over.  We should continue to support her because of the strong support she’s given our neighborhood when she was on City Council and continues to take our calls and support us in Columbus. Please vote for Janine Boyd.

County Council: Cheryl Stephens started her career in Cleveland Heights, retiring as Mayor before assuming County office. In her own words, “I am committed to supporting community and economic development protecting services for children, seniors, and veterans safety and sustainability and being responsible with taxpayer dollars.” She reaches out to learn of issues relevant to our community. Stephens played a role in bringing the Metro Emergency Room and hospital wing to our neighborhood and as a friend to our community deserves our support.

Judges: All selections have been solely based on Judge4yourself.com which is an amalgam of ratings of various bar associations. Because it has its biases, I try to get corroborating information from local attorneys. However this time I was unable to obtain such information and am passing along the website’s recommendations as-is.

Issues

There are two tax levies to consider. Out of order, the easiest one first.

Issue 33 –  Cuyahoga County Health and Human Services tax renewal and increase of .8 mills adding $41 annually to your bill per $100,000 in home valuation

This supports the neediest in the county and many within our community have children with special needs that benefit. It is the right thing to support and frankly we wouldn’t want to live in a county devoid of these important services.

Issue 26 –CHUH School levy raising taxes 7.9 mills. At nearly 8 mills, that would add $277 annually to your tax bill bringing it up to $4077 – per $100,000 valuation. Double that if your home is valued at $200,000 etc. Most of that goes to the schools.

Aside from the Human Services Levy which is likely to pass, there are other costs coming up. In September the CH contract for recycling services expires. Unlike the previous contract which made a profit for the city, the recycling will instead begin costing $40-$80 per ton. Additionally, they will no longer take the blue plastic bags. The city is looking at providing bins for both garbage and recycling and automating our pick-ups. The costs associated with that will likely be a $2-$4 monthly increase assessed on you water bill as a landfill fee, currently at $11.50 per month. The current recommendation is that the city will provide one container each and the homeowner may purchase additional containers at the bulk pricing. Keep these other increases in mind when assessing whether to support the School Levy.

PRO

Vouchers have created a deficit in their budget making it difficult to negotiate contracts. That shortfall has caused contracts to have fallen to one year instead of three, the much stronger position to be in.

There is discussion in Columbus about rejiggering the method of school funding, which could result in more funding for the district. The Board of Education has therefore offered not to collect the tax in the event that happens however, that remains an unlikely outcome.

CON

There is a growing movement among the citizenry to contain costs at the district level and bring them in line with similar districts. They claim that a no vote will send that message to the board of education. Some of their arguments include:

The district, in recent years went far over budget when building the high school and has failed to bring per pupil costs into line with comparable districts.  Salaries, benefits and other capital costs have left our per pupil cost about 1/3 higher, despite a declining student population. They also are maintaining underutilized buildings that don’t generate revenue for long periods of time. The fact is that many homeowners are struggling to pay their tax bills and take care of their own familes, while the school district employees’ salaries are continually raised. Businesses, whose revenues would raise funds for the city, choose instead to locate in other nearby cities where rates are lower.

How many seniors who planned to live out their days in their homes will be forced out?  Cleveland Heights has a very low rate of seniors living within its borders because this has become the frequent worry of empty nesters.

For more information, please see the Cleveland Heights University Heights School Board website. A counterpoint view can be found at Tigernation4lowertaxes.com.

The signs are in the front yards all around Cleveland Heights and University Heights for and against the school levy. The anti-levy signs make clear that they want to keep the Heights affordable. Signs in favor of the levy don’t have any catchy phrase like that of the anti-levy signs. But they shouldn’t need to.

One may think that families of private school students may not benefit from funding for public schools. But that person would be wrong. The district covers school transportation for all students, including those of private schools. It also covers administrative costs for EdChoice students across the district.

Many families from our own community have benefitted directly from the CH-UH schools. Our daughter has spent most of her school years in the CH-UH schools because of her special needs. The teachers have all been wonderful. They have all gone the extra ten miles to give her an education that will last a lifetime. She will continue in the CH-UH system until there is a program for special needs kids in the Jewish schools. If or when that happens, I will still support the levy. I will express my gratitude to the CH-UH district for the many years of superb education.

We should be concerned for quality education for all students. We should be as concerned for the school district as much as public school families are. Good public schools keep a community together. It makes the community appealing to families who want to move here. It will make our housing appreciate, and it will boost the local economy.

As citizens in the school district, we should acknowledge that the district is having difficulties for many reasons. The way schools are graded by the state sets the public schools up for failure. The state grading system does not account for important student experiences and teacher expertise. Grading schools based strictly on student grades and test scores completely misses the point of quality education. If the state assembly does not pass recommended legislation, the number of schools noted as failing will go up from 500 to over 1,200 in the next state report card. That will be an extra burden on the school district.

The Ohio Supreme Court has found state funding for Ohio’s public schools to be unlawful, according to Ohio’s constitution, four times since 1997. Despite years of effort, corrective legislation still dawdles.

All citizens of all districts, whether their students go to public schools or not, should be concerned for the welfare and education of all its student population. When public schools deteriorate, the district loses population, and that brings housing values down, which then affects the local economy. The kids suffer the most. A good education, an education that teaches the unquantifiable skills as well as the hard skills, lasts a lifetime. And that makes better citizens for tomorrow. That benefits everyone.

I urge all to vote Yes on Issue 26.

Daniel Schlossberg
Cleveland Heights

Printable PDF of Susan Efroymson’s 2020 Primary Voting Suggestions: www.localjewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Susan-Efroymsons-2020-Primary-Voting-Suggestions

Due to the Coronavirus containment protocols, all polling places that are usually located in senior citizens housing will be moved. Those who normally vote on Warrensville Rd or Severance will be voting at City Hall.

This is a primary.  That means that each party is electing the candidates that will square off in the November elections to determine then who will actually hold office. No matter who you support at this juncture or which party you vote for, you can still vote for whomever you choose come November and are not tied to your choices now.

In a primary you must choose to vote either as a Republican or as a Democrat (or Issues Only) and your choice defines your party until you change it by voting under a different party in another primary. Practically speaking, in our area only Democrats are elected for the lower state and county offices, therefore voting Democrat in the primaries is where the selection for those offices is made and that is why I recommend that many of us do so. Your choice now has no bearing on the general election in November.

Republican Ballot

In this election there are almost no contested Republican races.  The sole race of interest is:

11^th District Congressional Representative: Vote Laverne Gore

Democratic Ballot

President: Joe Biden

11^th District Congressional Representative: Marcia Fudge

Court of Appeals 8^th District:  Rinni, Forbes

State Representative 9^th District: Janine Boyd

Common Pleas: O’Donnel, Realli

County Council District 10 : Cheryl Stevens

All Ballots

Issue 26: School District tax increase: if passed, will add $277 in annual property tax per $100K home value, for a new total of $4077, aside from any other increases.

Issue 33: Health and Human Services Renewal and small tax increase: Yes

Expanded Version

Democratic Presidential Candidates:

When the ballots went to print, there were eleven candidates. Today, the race is only between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. So Moderate vs. Socialist: Choose Moderate – Joe Biden.

Biden is endorsed by the mainstream candidates like Kamala Harris, Buttigieg, and Klobechar. Sanders is endorsed by Jesse Jackson.  Sanders surrounds himself with known anti-Semites like Susan Rice and Linda Sarsour, and is endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Biden has the more friendly relationship with our community. The ties go back longer and stretch through his career, and despite his position on the Iran deal, he has been supportive of Jewish causes and values at other times in way that cannot be said of Sanders. Vote Joe Biden.

Lower offices:

Congressional Representative 11^th district. Marcia Fudge has stood with our community when it came to securing anti-terrorism funding and it is our hope she will continue to respond positively when called upon.

Laverne Gore running for the same office on the Republican side has some interesting support in this district and will be worth following if she wins the nomination.

State Representative: Janine Boyd began her career in our city and comes home to Cleveland Heights Blvd., a hop skip and jump from us. As such, she is well aware of our community and its needs and was supportive of the Elected Mayor initiative at the beginning of the discussion before citizens took over.  We should continue to support her because of the strong support she’s given our neighborhood when she was on City Council and continues to take our calls and support us in Columbus. Please vote for Janine Boyd.

County Council: Cheryl Stephens started her career in Cleveland Heights, retiring as Mayor before assuming County office. In her own words, “I am committed to supporting community and economic development protecting services for children, seniors, and veterans safety and sustainability and being responsible with taxpayer dollars.” She reaches out to learn of issues relevant to our community. Stephens played a role in bringing the Metro Emergency Room and hospital wing to our neighborhood and as a friend to our community deserves our support.

Judges: All selections have been solely based on Judge4yourself.com which is an amalgam of ratings of various bar associations. Because it has its biases, I try to get corroborating information from local attorneys. However this time I was unable to obtain such information and am passing along the website’s recommendations as-is.

Issues

There are two tax levies to consider. Out of order, the easiest one first.

Issue 33 –  Cuyahoga County Health and Human Services tax renewal and increase of .8 mills adding $41 annually to your bill per $100,000 in home valuation

This supports the neediest in the county and many within our community have children with special needs that benefit. It is the right thing to support and frankly we wouldn’t want to live in a county devoid of these important services.

Issue 26 –CHUH School levy raising taxes 7.9 mills. At nearly 8 mills, that would add $277 annually to your tax bill bringing it up to $4077 – per $100,000 valuation. Double that if your home is valued at $200,000 etc. Most of that goes to the schools.

Aside from the Human Services Levy which is likely to pass, there are other costs coming up. In September the CH contract for recycling services expires. Unlike the previous contract which made a profit for the city, the recycling will instead begin costing $40-$80 per ton. Additionally, they will no longer take the blue plastic bags. The city is looking at providing bins for both garbage and recycling and automating our pick-ups. The costs associated with that will likely be a $2-$4 monthly increase assessed on you water bill as a landfill fee, currently at $11.50 per month. The current recommendation is that the city will provide one container each and the homeowner may purchase additional containers at the bulk pricing. Keep these other increases in mind when assessing whether to support the School Levy.

PRO

Vouchers have created a deficit in their budget making it difficult to negotiate contracts. That shortfall has caused contracts to have fallen to one year instead of three, the much stronger position to be in.

There is discussion in Columbus about rejiggering the method of school funding, which could result in more funding for the district. The Board of Education has therefore offered not to collect the tax in the event that happens however, that remains an unlikely outcome.

CON

There is a growing movement among the citizenry to contain costs at the district level and bring them in line with similar districts. They claim that a no vote will send that message to the board of education. Some of their arguments include:

The district, in recent years went far over budget when building the high school and has failed to bring per pupil costs into line with comparable districts.  Salaries, benefits and other capital costs have left our per pupil cost about 1/3 higher, despite a declining student population. They also are maintaining underutilized buildings that don’t generate revenue for long periods of time. The fact is that many homeowners are struggling to pay their tax bills and take care of their own familes, while the school district employees’ salaries are continually raised. Businesses, whose revenues would raise funds for the city, choose instead to locate in other nearby cities where rates are lower.

How many seniors who planned to live out their days in their homes will be forced out?  Cleveland Heights has a very low rate of seniors living within its borders because this has become the frequent worry of empty nesters.

For more information, please see the Cleveland Heights University Heights School Board website. A counterpoint view can be found at Tigernation4lowertaxes.com.

Printable PDF of Susan Efroymson’s 2020 Primary Voting Suggestions: www.localjewishnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Susan-Efroymsons-2020-Primary-Voting-Suggestions

Due to the Coronavirus containment protocols, all polling places that are usually located in senior citizens housing will be moved. Those who normally vote on Warrensville Rd or Severance will be voting at City Hall.

This is a primary.  That means that each party is electing the candidates that will square off in the November elections to determine then who will actually hold office. No matter who you support at this juncture or which party you vote for, you can still vote for whomever you choose come November and are not tied to your choices now.

In a primary you must choose to vote either as a Republican or as a Democrat (or Issues Only) and your choice defines your party until you change it by voting under a different party in another primary. Practically speaking, in our area only Democrats are elected for the lower state and county offices, therefore voting Democrat in the primaries is where the selection for those offices is made and that is why I recommend that many of us do so. Your choice now has no bearing on the general election in November.

Republican Ballot

In this election there are almost no contested Republican races.  The sole race of interest is:

11^th District Congressional Representative: Vote Laverne Gore

Democratic Ballot

President: Joe Biden

11^th District Congressional Representative: Marcia Fudge

Court of Appeals 8^th District:  Rinni, Forbes

State Representative 9^th District: Janine Boyd

Common Pleas: O’Donnel, Realli

County Council District 10 : Cheryl Stevens

All Ballots

Issue 26: School District tax increase: if passed, will add $277 in annual property tax per $100K home value, for a new total of $4077, aside from any other increases.

Issue 33: Health and Human Services Renewal and small tax increase: Yes

Expanded Version

Democratic Presidential Candidates:

When the ballots went to print, there were eleven candidates. Today, the race is only between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. So Moderate vs. Socialist: Choose Moderate – Joe Biden.

Biden is endorsed by the mainstream candidates like Kamala Harris, Buttigieg, and Klobechar. Sanders is endorsed by Jesse Jackson.  Sanders surrounds himself with known anti-Semites like Susan Rice and Linda Sarsour, and is endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Biden has the more friendly relationship with our community. The ties go back longer and stretch through his career, and despite his position on the Iran deal, he has been supportive of Jewish causes and values at other times in way that cannot be said of Sanders. Vote Joe Biden.

Lower offices:

Congressional Representative 11^th district. Marcia Fudge has stood with our community when it came to securing anti-terrorism funding and it is our hope she will continue to respond positively when called upon.

Laverne Gore running for the same office on the Republican side has some interesting support in this district and will be worth following if she wins the nomination.

State Representative: Janine Boyd began her career in our city and comes home to Cleveland Heights Blvd., a hop skip and jump from us. As such, she is well aware of our community and its needs and was supportive of the Elected Mayor initiative at the beginning of the discussion before citizens took over.  We should continue to support her because of the strong support she’s given our neighborhood when she was on City Council and continues to take our calls and support us in Columbus. Please vote for Janine Boyd.

County Council: Cheryl Stephens started her career in Cleveland Heights, retiring as Mayor before assuming County office. In her own words, “I am committed to supporting community and economic development protecting services for children, seniors, and veterans safety and sustainability and being responsible with taxpayer dollars.” She reaches out to learn of issues relevant to our community. Stephens played a role in bringing the Metro Emergency Room and hospital wing to our neighborhood and as a friend to our community deserves our support.

Judges: All selections have been solely based on Judge4yourself.com which is an amalgam of ratings of various bar associations. Because it has its biases, I try to get corroborating information from local attorneys. However this time I was unable to obtain such information and am passing along the website’s recommendations as-is.

Issues

There are two tax levies to consider. Out of order, the easiest one first.

Issue 33 –  Cuyahoga County Health and Human Services tax renewal and increase of .8 mills adding $41 annually to your bill per $100,000 in home valuation

This supports the neediest in the county and many within our community have children with special needs that benefit. It is the right thing to support and frankly we wouldn’t want to live in a county devoid of these important services.

Issue 26 –CHUH School levy raising taxes 7.9 mills. At nearly 8 mills, that would add $277 annually to your tax bill bringing it up to $4077 – per $100,000 valuation. Double that if your home is valued at $200,000 etc. Most of that goes to the schools.

Aside from the Human Services Levy which is likely to pass, there are other costs coming up. In September the CH contract for recycling services expires. Unlike the previous contract which made a profit for the city, the recycling will instead begin costing $40-$80 per ton. Additionally, they will no longer take the blue plastic bags. The city is looking at providing bins for both garbage and recycling and automating our pick-ups. The costs associated with that will likely be a $2-$4 monthly increase assessed on you water bill as a landfill fee, currently at $11.50 per month. The current recommendation is that the city will provide one container each and the homeowner may purchase additional containers at the bulk pricing. Keep these other increases in mind when assessing whether to support the School Levy.

PRO

Vouchers have created a deficit in their budget making it difficult to negotiate contracts. That shortfall has caused contracts to have fallen to one year instead of three, the much stronger position to be in.

There is discussion in Columbus about rejiggering the method of school funding, which could result in more funding for the district. The Board of Education has therefore offered not to collect the tax in the event that happens however, that remains an unlikely outcome.

CON

There is a growing movement among the citizenry to contain costs at the district level and bring them in line with similar districts. They claim that a no vote will send that message to the board of education. Some of their arguments include:

The district, in recent years went far over budget when building the high school and has failed to bring per pupil costs into line with comparable districts.  Salaries, benefits and other capital costs have left our per pupil cost about 1/3 higher, despite a declining student population. They also are maintaining underutilized buildings that don’t generate revenue for long periods of time. The fact is that many homeowners are struggling to pay their tax bills and take care of their own familes, while the school district employees’ salaries are continually raised. Businesses, whose revenues would raise funds for the city, choose instead to locate in other nearby cities where rates are lower.

How many seniors who planned to live out their days in their homes will be forced out?  Cleveland Heights has a very low rate of seniors living within its borders because this has become the frequent worry of empty nesters.

For more information, please see the Cleveland Heights University Heights School Board website. A counterpoint view can be found at Tigernation4lowertaxes.com.

Dear Fellow Cleveland Heights-University Heights Citizens:

A critical election will soon be upon us.

In the March primary election, The Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board will place on the ballot a levy for a huge tax increase, amounting to $276 for each 100,000 of your home valuation ($7.9 million).

Please make no mistake: This levy can and will pass if we do not vote!

For those who are new to town, or simply who have never voted before, you can still register to vote, but hurry, registration closes February 18. You can register at any library.

We have defeated levies in the past and we can defeat this one as well, but only…only, if we all get out and register and vote.

Thank you very much,
Eliot Gutow

A critical election will soon be upon us.

In the March primary election, The Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board will place on the ballot a levy for a huge tax increase, amounting to $276 for each 100,000 of your home valuation (7.9 mil).

Please make no mistake: This levy can and will pass if we do not vote!

For those who are new to town, or simply who have never voted before, you can still register to vote, but hurry, registration closes February 18. You can register at any library.

We have defeated levies in the past and we can defeat this one as well, but only…only, if we all get out and register and vote.
Thank you very much,
Eliot Gutow

by Jessica Chavi Cohen

For over 16 months, I ran out of my house at 6:55pm twice a month, leaving my husband to manage dinner and bedtime for our four children all by himself. I was honored to be appointed to the Charter Review Commission in 2017 and took my responsibility seriously. I was even more honored to be elected vice chair of that body a number of months later when the Commission’s first vice chair resigned altogether.

I applied to the Commission because, as a 10-year resident of Cleveland Heights and a long-time student and practitioner of public policy, I was distraught by what I had characterized by a lack of vision and leadership in the city. I began my journey on the Commission open-minded. I saw the Commission as an opportunity to learn more about the structure of our city’s government and determine for myself, based on the evidence presented, whether the lack of leadership in the city was a structural or personnel issue.

I joined the Commission frustrated with the lack of attention to core infrastructure issues like water and sewer. Both of these issues had to get “cleaned up” only when it finally got so bad it became a crisis. And the bill to solve both of these issues landed in all of our wallets. Our city manager on staff when those problems were germinating and the council that supposedly oversaw that city manager failed to adequately identify the issues and pursue long-term innovative solutions. In return, we were subjected to a consent decree from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and are still paying water bills that never end. Our own former finance director stated clearly to the Commission that infrastructure was not given the attention it warranted in years past under the city manager system. Where was the city manager with the vision and leadership to ask the question — what infrastructure planning and management does our city need, not just today, but for the next 20 years?

For over 8 years I have complained to city council members about the disgusting state of garbage regulations in the city. Prohibited from having garbage cans, our streets end up strewn with garbage each collection day, attracting vermin and significantly diminishing the aesthetic appeal of our city. While this issue languished between the lack of response from the city manager and the lack of time and attention from city council members, other municipalities modernized and addressed their aging sanitation systems. Here in Cleveland Heights, it has only been in the last year that finally a citizen taskforce has been appointed to address the issue. I was grateful to the relatively new City Council member who saw the seriousness of the issue and drove action to address it. It was too late, however, to save the tens of thousands of dollars we have wasted on rehabilitating old sanitation trucks while we wallow in the decision-making (years behind!) as to what next generation of sanitation trucks the city should purchase. Where was our city manager with the vision and leadership to ask the question — where does our sanitation system and ordinances need to be to serve our city not just today, but for the next 20 years?

And perhaps most disappointingly, our city has lagged behind in economic development efforts. Severance Center, practically in my backyard, heaves its dying breath every day with only mourners in site but no one with the wherewithal to bury it and create it anew. And the Commission heard clear and convincing presentations from some of the region’s most esteemed developers and business owners that when they sought to do business with Cleveland Heights there was no one home to make the decisions needed to move development deals forward. Where was the city manager with the vision and leadership to ask the question — what is the next industry, business, area of development that we need to cultivate to serve our city not just today, but for the next 20 years?

Our city manager system is so shrouded in personnel files and the management of seven bosses, that over all these years even the most attuned resident could not really see the lack of vision and leadership. And we can’t fix or demand change for something we can’t see.

After four months of presentations, research, and listening to all the public comments at our meetings, I concluded that, indeed, our government suffers from a structural deficiency. Where other cities of our size and type have elected mayors — and in the particularly compelling case of Shaker Heights, a chief administrative officer as that mayor’s partner and city manager — Cleveland Heights has only a city manager with a very part-time elected body of seven bosses, none of which can claim lead or sole oversight of the city manager.

On March 15, 2018, I shared my vision for a new government for Cleveland Heights with the Commission and the public — a directly elected full-time mayor who governs and leads with a full-time city administrator managing the operations of the city. Precisely the type of government that will be on the ballot for a yes vote this November.

Why is this the ideal government for our city?

We are in desperate need in Cleveland Heights for vision, accountability, leadership and effectiveness that makes our city a place where people want to live, work, play, and do business. We need transparency about how decisions are made. We need someone that has the vision about where our city needs to be and a full-time presence to oversee the city administrator’s management of operations. And when things fail or don’t go right, we need an elected mayor that we can call to get answers, who feels accountable to the residents, and who knows we are watching each election. We also need an administrator with experience in and knowledge of city government that can manage the day to day operations of a city like Cleveland Heights. It is the partnership of these two roles that makes this the government structure that Cleveland Heights desperately needs.

Former Mayor Earl Leiken, who presented before the Commission, admitted that he could never have done what he did in Shaker Heights without serving full-time. Now Shaker boasts the enviable Van Aken district, a flourishing housing market, and a strong and growing commercial base. I see the accountability Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan demonstrates via his communication with his residents on social media. There is no question who is in charge in University Heights these days and who is responsible for making things better for residents.

Yet here in Cleveland Heights, we dutifully email our 7 council members all at once, ccing our city manager, and hold our breath wondering who will be the city council member to take our inquiry seriously. Inevitably there is a response — and I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of our council members who, for a mere pittance, devote hours and hours to serving our city — but it’s just not enough to allow Cleveland Heights to flourish the way we need it to today.

As someone who worked for the 107th and 108th United States Congress and made the federal legislative branch of our government the focus of my undergraduate work at Harvard University, I revere and respect the role of the legislative branch in representing the citizenry and making laws that are responsive to its constituency. However, the legislative branch is only as successful as the vision and leadership of the executive branch allows it to be. We see that ever so clearly in our federal government today. But, Cleveland Heights currently has no executive branch, just a figurehead voted into mayor by four votes of his or her fellow council members. And there is no way for the residents to have any say in who wears the title and role of Cleveland Heights Mayor…

Yet.

Until we vote YES this November for an elected mayor and city administrator.

I hope you will join me.

by Jessica Chavi Cohen

For over 16 months, I ran out of my house at 6:55pm twice a month, leaving my husband to manage dinner and bedtime for our four children all by himself. I was honored to be appointed to the Charter Review Commission in 2017 and took my responsibility seriously. I was even more honored to be elected vice chair of that body a number of months later when the Commission’s first vice chair resigned altogether.

I applied to the Commission because, as a 10-year resident of Cleveland Heights and a long-time student and practitioner of public policy, I was distraught by what I had characterized by a lack of vision and leadership in the city. I began my journey on the Commission open-minded. I saw the Commission as an opportunity to learn more about the structure of our city’s government and determine for myself, based on the evidence presented, whether the lack of leadership in the city was a structural or personnel issue.

I joined the Commission frustrated with the lack of attention to core infrastructure issues like water and sewer. Both of these issues had to get “cleaned up” only when it finally got so bad it became a crisis. And the bill to solve both of these issues landed in all of our wallets. Our city manager on staff when those problems were germinating and the council that supposedly oversaw that city manager failed to adequately identify the issues and pursue long-term innovative solutions. In return, we were subjected to a consent decree from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and are still paying water bills that never end. Our own former finance director stated clearly to the Commission that infrastructure was not given the attention it warranted in years past under the city manager system. Where was the city manager with the vision and leadership to ask the question — what infrastructure planning and management does our city need, not just today, but for the next 20 years?

For over 8 years I have complained to city council members about the disgusting state of garbage regulations in the city. Prohibited from having garbage cans, our streets end up strewn with garbage each collection day, attracting vermin and significantly diminishing the aesthetic appeal of our city. While this issue languished between the lack of response from the city manager and the lack of time and attention from city council members, other municipalities modernized and addressed their aging sanitation systems. Here in Cleveland Heights, it has only been in the last year that finally a citizen taskforce has been appointed to address the issue. I was grateful to the relatively new City Council member who saw the seriousness of the issue and drove action to address it. It was too late, however, to save the tens of thousands of dollars we have wasted on rehabilitating old sanitation trucks while we wallow in the decision-making (years behind!) as to what next generation of sanitation trucks the city should purchase. Where was our city manager with the vision and leadership to ask the question — where does our sanitation system and ordinances need to be to serve our city not just today, but for the next 20 years?

And perhaps most disappointingly, our city has lagged behind in economic development efforts. Severance Center, practically in my backyard, heaves its dying breath every day with only mourners in site but no one with the wherewithal to bury it and create it anew. And the Commission heard clear and convincing presentations from some of the region’s most esteemed developers and business owners that when they sought to do business with Cleveland Heights there was no one home to make the decisions needed to move development deals forward. Where was the city manager with the vision and leadership to ask the question — what is the next industry, business, area of development that we need to cultivate to serve our city not just today, but for the next 20 years?

Our city manager system is so shrouded in personnel files and the management of seven bosses, that over all these years even the most attuned resident could not really see the lack of vision and leadership. And we can’t fix or demand change for something we can’t see.

After four months of presentations, research, and listening to all the public comments at our meetings, I concluded that, indeed, our government suffers from a structural deficiency. Where other cities of our size and type have elected mayors — and in the particularly compelling case of Shaker Heights, a chief administrative officer as that mayor’s partner and city manager — Cleveland Heights has only a city manager with a very part-time elected body of seven bosses, none of which can claim lead or sole oversight of the city manager.

On March 15, 2018, I shared my vision for a new government for Cleveland Heights with the Commission and the public — a directly elected full-time mayor who governs and leads with a full-time city administrator managing the operations of the city. Precisely the type of government that will be on the ballot for a yes vote this November.

Why is this the ideal government for our city?

We are in desperate need in Cleveland Heights for vision, accountability, leadership and effectiveness that makes our city a place where people want to live, work, play, and do business. We need transparency about how decisions are made. We need someone that has the vision about where our city needs to be and a full-time presence to oversee the city administrator’s management of operations. And when things fail or don’t go right, we need an elected mayor that we can call to get answers, who feels accountable to the residents, and who knows we are watching each election. We also need an administrator with experience in and knowledge of city government that can manage the day to day operations of a city like Cleveland Heights. It is the partnership of these two roles that makes this the government structure that Cleveland Heights desperately needs.

Former Mayor Earl Leiken, who presented before the Commission, admitted that he could never have done what he did in Shaker Heights without serving full-time. Now Shaker boasts the enviable Van Aken district, a flourishing housing market, and a strong and growing commercial base. I see the accountability Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan demonstrates via his communication with his residents on social media. There is no question who is in charge in University Heights these days and who is responsible for making things better for residents.

Yet here in Cleveland Heights, we dutifully email our 7 council members all at once, ccing our city manager, and hold our breath wondering who will be the city council member to take our inquiry seriously. Inevitably there is a response — and I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of our council members who, for a mere pittance, devote hours and hours to serving our city — but it’s just not enough to allow Cleveland Heights to flourish the way we need it to today.

As someone who worked for the 107th and 108th United States Congress and made the federal legislative branch of our government the focus of my undergraduate work at Harvard University, I revere and respect the role of the legislative branch in representing the citizenry and making laws that are responsive to its constituency. However, the legislative branch is only as successful as the vision and leadership of the executive branch allows it to be. We see that ever so clearly in our federal government today. But, Cleveland Heights currently has no executive branch, just a figurehead voted into mayor by four votes of his or her fellow council members. And there is no way for the residents to have any say in who wears the title and role of Cleveland Heights Mayor…

Yet.

Until we vote YES this November for an elected mayor and city administrator.

I hope you will join me.

I would like to express a thank you to the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Security Division for their amazing patrol and vigilance during Rosh Hashanah in the Taylor Rd. area. I also would like to thank the Cleveland Heights Police Department for the special patrol cars assigned to the Taylor Rd. area during the Holiday.

I would encourage all of our residents to write a letter of thanks to both the Federation and the City of Cleveland Heights Police Chief.

Rabbi Sruly Wolf

Erica Rudin-Luria, President
c/o Jewish Federation of Cleveland
25701 Science Park
Beachwood, OH 44122
erudin-luria@jcfcleve.org

Chief Annette Mecklenberg
c/o City of Cleveland Heights Police Department
40 Severance Circle
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
chief@clvhts.com

Submitted by Shimeon Weiner

Dear Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel,

I would like to share a suggestion for improving your service to the Jewish Community. I am sure you are familiar with the Jewish laws pertaining to a Kohen’s coming in contact with or being in the same room as a corpse. Currently, a Kohen who attends services at your chapel and wants to properly observe the laws of ritual purity does not have any suitable facility for sitting and shelter from the elements. I recently found out about a chapel in Harrisburg, PA called Kesher Israel Congregation which does offer those accommodations to Kohanim. Surely if Harrisburg, PA can accommodate Kohanim in a respectful manner, then all the more so a larger, growing city like Cleveland.

By providing appropriate facilities for a Kohen you will be serving mourners at many funerals and perhaps educating many who may be a Kohen and aren’t familiar with the laws of ritual purity. I would appreciate your consideration of this matter.

Thank you,

Shimeon Weiner

I am writing in support of the Ohio Issue 1 that is on the ballot this year. If you have not yet voted, I encourage you to read this so that you can make an informed decision about how you would like to vote.

Ohio is at the center of the national drug addiction crisis. This crisis is everywhere and affects every community, even our own. When you reach the levels of addiction and overdose deaths that Ohio has, you start to realize that the face of an addict is not what you might picture. There are addicts of every gender, age, color, religion, marital status, socioeconomic status, and level of observance. Every type of person is susceptible to this. But especially young people, precious teenagers who have full lives ahead of them.

The goal of Ohio issue 1 is to provide more non-prison support systems so that those inflicted with addiction can separate themselves from their addiction, recover, and move on with their lives. Doctors, nurses and many people who work in law enforcement support Issue 1 because it will reduce the number of drug users who go to prison and funnel resources to recovery services. Healthcare professionals agree that prisons do not solve addiction and that more resources are needed to provide services that help end the horrible crisis we are in.

There is also a dollars and cents logic here as well. Financially, it is incredibly taxing on law enforcement agencies and prisons to deal with drug addiction, especially because they are not trained to do so. Issue 1 would help put dollars where they are most impactful – into recovery resources.

Lastly, there is no current solution to this crisis. If you are worried about drug addicts on the streets, THEY ALREADY ARE. That is the crisis! This effort would help provide resources for them to get better, not be housed in a prison, a hotbed of criminal activity, which will often do more harm than good.

I’m happy to provide resources on Issue 1 to anyone who is seeking to learn more. It has been heavily vetted by non-political actors and I can send reports and testimonials to people upon request.