NEIGHBORS 4 ACTION EMBODIED THE TRUE SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Tuesday, July 7, 2026; Corner of Pearl and Memphis: A bulldozer piles up the rubble from the demolition of the historic Greenline building.

by Lynette Filips

   (Plain Press August 2026) In January of 2024, when I started writing these articles about the possible/probable destruction of Old Brooklyn’s historic corner at Pearl Rd. and Memphis Ave., I stated my hope that someone in a position of power would read about our endangered designation on the “National Register of Historic Places” and alter the course of the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation’s (OBCDC’s) plans for the historic buildings on that corner. But I also conceded that if I couldn’t save it, at least the process by which it was brought down would be documented.

   I am now past the point of advocating for saving the buildings and at the point of simply documenting their destruction. It took until the week after the date forecasted in last month’s article, but in July the two-story Greenline Building, the one-story commercial building immediately next to it, and the 1860 home in the back of the property were all reduced to rubble. The old cemetery in the grassy area between the Greenline Building and St. Luke’s was dug up. The mysterious fuel tank was pulled out of the ground behind the Greenline Building. A vertical chasm was created between the 1905 former St. Luke’s United Church of Christ and its 1925 addition (which had been very securely attached to it), as the demolition team determines how to knock down the north half of the edifice without destroying the entire ecclesiastical structure.

   “Depressing!” my van driver called out as he rounded the corner one day during the week I was starting to write this article. I couldn’t agree more, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I tried my best to preserve it. And so did numerous other community members, starting four and a half years ago when OBCDC’s direction shifted from saving the exteriors of the buildings/adapting the interiors for modern uses, to tearing down the entire corner. That was when Lucas Reeve, standing in for OBCDC executive director Jeffrey T. Verespej, was the face on the Zoom screen telling everyone signed in that none of the buildings could be saved and that they hoped a company named NRP would be putting up low-income housing units there. Some of us knew that wasn’t true because, as I shared last month, Tom Yablonsky had a highly skilled team working on getting a viable adaptive reuse plan together to submit to OBCDC.

   Realizing that we were on the eve of destruction, some of us came up with our own plan to stop OBCDC’s plan. John Young Jr., owner of Speed Exterminating just up the street, is a former president of the OBCDC Board of Directors and the son of John Young, Sr., the very first president of the OBCDC Board. John Jr. is also a former president of COSE (Council of Smaller Enterprises). Both are long-time advocates for Old Brooklyn. Neither of them was about to see that corner go down without a fight. John Jr. asked me if I would join them. Of course I agreed. Then he asked me if my daughter, Deirdre Zieminski Faranda, the owner of Metropolitan Coffee, would also be part of the effort. Not only did Deirdre agree, but she offered her shop to be the space for the meetings for us and like-minded individuals to come up with a plan. She and John became the head of the group we called “Neighbors 4 Action”; its slogan was “Save Our Historic District”.

   Luckily for us, one of the persons who was interested in our cause, Lorelei Greifenstein, was the owner of a graphic design company called Edgewood Creative. She offered to design a poster for placement in neighborhood churches, stores and other commercial buildings. John Young found someone to print the posters for free. Deirdre paid a person labor, plus the other fees, to establish a website and put up a petition on Change.org. In just a short time after posting it received 1,690 votes of support. (Visit change.org and search OBCDC to read all about the petition.) John and Deirdre repeatedly met with people in power at/connected to OBCDC but their efforts were to no avail.

   Because the building which OBCDC wanted to erect on the site was low-income housing, “Neighbors 4 Action” was advised to write individual letters to specific persons at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus who were involved in that initiative. Approximately twenty-five persons submitted totally unique letters detailing their reasons for not wanting such a project to replace that historic site in downtown Old Brooklyn. The group was later told that twenty-five was the most opposition letters that Columbus had ever received about a low-income housing project; our letters played an important role in OBCDC not being awarded the low-income housing tax credits they needed for NRP to build the apartments. It was then “back to the drawing board”, and our battle was hardly over. Next month I will pick up at this point with the continuing saga. 

   Here is an important thing I have learned along the way — I never realized, despite 33-1/2 years of being a contracted employee (Old Brooklyn News writer/editor) with the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation, what development meant. I thought that it meant helping to develop a sense of community.

   I have since learned that (these days) it means economic development. That was not my experience in the earlier decades with OBCDC, and our little group of Neighbors 4 Action reminded me what developing community is all about.

   John Young’s and Deirdre Faranda’s time commitment to Neighbors 4 Action was epic. And I so appreciate Tom Yablonsky’s commitment to this project in general, even though OBCDC had not treated him favorably in bygone times.

   Architectural historian Craig Bobby helped by meticulously researching buildings.

   Fr. Doug Brown, pastor of Mary Queen of Peace Church, kept our “Save Our Historic District” poster hanging on the bulletin board by the front entrance to the Parish Center for years.

   Greg Cznadel kept the commentary going with his Facebook posts.

   Connie Ewazen manned the desk in the Historical Society Museum three days a week.

   When it became obvious that we couldn’t save the corner, Eric Greifenstein worked to revive the Snake Hill Trail.

   Cleveland cemetery author William Krejci helped by intensely researching the old cemetery on site.

   Mary Ellen Stasek posted the application for Old Brooklyn to be a historic district on the National Register, as well as my monthly articles in the Plain Press, on the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn’s (HSOB’s) website. 

   Brenda Theurer consistently posted relevant information on our “Neighbors 4 Action” website.

   No doubt this is not a complete list of helpers, but it is meant to demonstrate how volunteers came — and continue to come — together to advocate for our neighborhood’s heritage. To me, this is what community development is really about.

   There will be another opportunity for my style of community development coming up this month on Friday, August 7th, starting at 5 p.m. It will be an encore of the 2025 Old Brooklyn version of Art Walk and is/was the brainchild of Sarah Raban, who owns Pinwheel Gallery on Broadview Rd. Sarah organized the first successful Walk last year and it looks like it could be turning into an annual event. This year the Historical Society of Old Brooklyn (HSOB) will be participating with the other art studios and purveyors of arty items. The HSOB will be opening its doors in its new location at 2221 Broadview Rd. The space may not be totally organized yet, but they will be welcoming visitors anyway.

   Maybe next month I’ll have the answers to all the questions I submitted to the City’s Department of Economic Development. Or maybe not. In the meantime, if you want to read    or refer to any previous Plain Press articles about this historic Old Brooklyn corner, access them on the Plain Press’ website, https://plainpress.blog, or on the HSOB’s website, www.oldbrooklynhistory.org.