• City Council members listen to residents’ concerns about inequities in City’s budget

    PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Tuesday, February 13, 2024; Estabrook Recreation Center, 4125 Fulton Road, Ward 7 City Council Representative Stephanie Howse-Jones interacts with residents at a meeting hosted by some City Council members to talk with residents about the City of Cleveland Budget. PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Tuesday, February 13, 2024; Estabrook Recreation Center, 4125…


  • Blanket Mills project receives $1 million grant

       (Plain Press December 2023) At its Monday November 14th meeting, Cleveland City Council passed Ordinance Number 1153-2023 which provides a $1 million economic development grant to LB Blanket Mill Main, to partially fund the Northern Ohio Blanket Mills mixed use project. The funds were made available from revenue recovery funds the City received from…


  • Light Up the Park event highlights need to fund park at W. 67th and Storer Avenue

    PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Saturday, September 9, 2023; Light Up the Park, Storer Park, 3397 W. 67th Street: Tug-a-war contests were part of the festivities. (Plain Press, October 2023) For the third time Betty Jo Palmer led the organizing of an event called Light Up the Park held at the park at W. 67th and…


  • New Neighborhood Housing Court Kiosk opens at the South Branch Library

    New Neighborhood Housing Court Kiosk opens at the South Branch Library by Bruce Checefsky Plain Press, August 2022        Cleveland Housing Court and Cleveland Public Library have teamed up to bring the court to the community. Starting this month, the new Neighborhood Housing Court Kiosk at the South Branch of the Cleveland Public Library, located at…


  • MetroHealth Park plans reviewed at community meetings

    MetroHealth Park plans reviewed at community meetings by Chuck Hoven Plain Press, May 2022        The temporary 3-acre park proposed by MetroHealth Medical Center for an area just across Scranton Road from its new Glick Center was the subject of a community meeting held at the Family Ministry Center on Fulton Road on April 6th. The meeting…


  • Near West Design Review Committee tables MetroHealth park proposal

    COMMUNITY INPUT SOUGHT TO DETERMINE FATE OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Sunday, March 19, 2022; St. Nicholas Belarusian Orthodox Church building, 3518 Scranton Road, SW: A proposal by neighborhood resident Bob Gardin seeks to save this building from demolition. MetroHealth medical center proposed to demolish the building as part of a plan to…


  • November 2, 2021: election results

    November 2, 2021: election results Mayoral contest (Plain Press, December 2021) Justin Bibb won the November 2nd mayoral election receiving 36,168 votes or 62.86% of the votes cast. Kevin Kelley received 21,352 votes or 37.14% of the votes cast. The total of 57,520 votes cast in the mayoral contest represents 23.2% of the 247,264 registered voters in…


  • Clark-Fulton leaders pitch ambitious vision for neighborhood development

    Clark-Fulton leaders pitch ambitious vision for neighborhood development by Lee Chilcote (Plain Press, November 2021) After two years of planning amidst the difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic, stakeholders in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood on the west side have unveiled the fruits of their labor: a master plan that is aimed at guiding equitable development in the neighborhood.  “Together, residents,…


  • In Memory

    Michael O’Brien 1945-2021 (Plain Press, November 2021)                  Michael O’Brien, a librarian turned bookseller, came to the Near West Side as part of the Catholic activist movement to the neighborhood in the early 1970s and joined the Thomas Merton Community living in their house on W. 38th and Clinton.      O’Brien was the proprietor of the Six Steps Down…


  • Residents want more notice, better access to information on local government meetings 

    Residents want more notice, better access to information on local government meetings  by Doug Breehl-Pitorak and Rachel Dissell    In June, Cleveland City Council passed a law that allowed it — and other city boards and committees — to meet virtually or in person with 12 hours’ notice for members of the public who might want…