PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Sunday, April 13, 2025; Fir Avenue between W. 65^th and W. 69^th Street, Fir Avenue: Resident Jason Hauser stands by some of the concrete patches used by the City of Cleveland to repair the brick street. Hauser says residents want the concrete patches removed and replaced with bricks. Fir residents would like a completely brick street as it was before the first concrete patch was placed on the street in 1976.

by Chuck Hoven

     Fir Avenue residents would like to see their street restored as a completely red brick street. The stretch of Fir Avenue they live on, between W. 65^th and W. 69^th Streets – just a few blocks south of Franklin, is a brick street that has been repeatedly patched with concrete.

     Long time Fir Avenue resident Jason Hauser remembers the first concrete patch placed on Fir Avenue in 1976. He said he was 10 years old then. Over the years the City of Cleveland and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District have continued to make repairs on the street using concrete patches rather than replacing the brick.

     Hauser recalls some of the times when street repairs were needed. He said one time a street cleaning machine got stuck in a hole in the street when the street caved in. Hauser knows the City of Cleveland can do the brick laying necessary to keep the street all brick. On one occasion he insisted that a hole in front of his house be patched with brick, and the City obliged.

     Visiting the various patches on the street, Hauser has a story for each one. He pointed out one patch that had a plastic lining under it, because the City of Cleveland intended to come back and replace the concrete patch with bricks. He said that never happened.

     Over the years residents have contacted their City Council Representatives in hopes of getting the brick street restored. Yet nothing has been done. Hauser recalls fifty or sixty residents signing a petition calling for the restoration of the brick street. He said the petition was given to Councilman Matt Zone in 2013 or 2014. Current Ward 15 Councilwoman Jenny Spencer has also been made aware of the wishes of residents of Fir Avenue to have the concrete patches on their street replaced with brick.

     With some Fir Avenue residents seeing their property taxes double from the latest Cuyahoga County appraisal, they wonder what it will take for the City of Cleveland to spend some of those tax dollars on their street.

     Residents have seen other brick streets in the City of Cleveland restored or repaired with bricks rather than concrete. They wonder what it takes to get on the list to have these repairs done on Fir Avenue. Phone messages from the Plain Press placed this question with the Mayor’s Office of Capital Projects Director James DeRosa and Mayor Justin Bibb’s Media Relations Office.  The Plain Press did not receive a response prior to the publication of this issue.