• NOACA issues 2024 Air Quality trends report

       The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) has issued its 2024 Air Quality Trends Report for the Northeast Ohio region. The report summarizes regional air quality data and analyzes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.    The 2024 report presents information on air quality trends in Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties for the…


  • Old Brooklyn Tree Stewards reach out to new and longtime residents

    by Greg Cznadel      This year the Old Brooklyn Tree Stewards will once again be at Pedal for Prizes, OB Streetfest, and the Farmer’s Market. But this year we will be sharing our love of trees with the community in new ways.        Hope Fierro, Community Engagement Manager at Old Brooklyn CDC and originator…


  • Tree Stewards welcome Old Brooklyn residents to first workshop of the year

         (Plain Press February 2025) Saturday, January 18th, the Tree Stewards of Old Brooklyn had the first “Tree Workshop-Program” of 2025 at Six Shooter Coffee shop. Hope Fiero introduced professional arborist Amanda Woods Urban Community Forester, Holden Arboretum; Brittney Hooper, Old Brooklyn Community Development’s Tree Steward Coordinator; and Phil Kidd, Mayors Office of Capital Improvements.…


  • Waste management on Madison Avenue

    PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Saturday, January 18, 2025; W. 81st and Madison: A sewer grate blocks this plastic bottle’s journey from Madison Avenue to Lake Erie. by Cameron Mays    (Plain Press February 2025)       Boy, Madison Avenue is littered with trash.    Wrong. Madison Avenue is littered with recyclables.    Many are quick to cry…


  • “When Birds Attack”: new documentary airs on local TV

    PHOTO PRODUCED BY CHATGPT SOFTWARE    (Plain Press November 2024) Birds are generally not scary. It seems to most that the only thing to fear of birds beside the “Bird Flu” is parking your car under a tree. Unless one has seen the Alfred Hitchcock motion picture “The Birds,” it would be difficult to convince someone to…


  • Councilwoman Jasmin Santana informs community of watch party for start of demolition of longtime vacant building

       (Plain Press September 2024) Councilwoman Jasmin Santana (Ward 14) announced the demolition of the longtime vacant building at 7275 Wentworth Avenue that began on Monday (Aug. 19) and invited residents to a “watch party” of the start of the demolition. The building runs between Wentworth and Neville avenues (both off of W. 73rd) and…


  • Sharks in Lake Erie?

         (Plain Press August 2024) Is this a joke? How can this be? However, there have been recent reports of shark fins being seen breaking the surface of the waters in the Great Lakes. There have also been reports of dead sharks washed up on the shores of Michigan and Lake Erie. In addition, a biologist from Penn State…


  • Cudell Park out of peril? Residents to monitor paused Marion Seltzer Elementary rebuild as CMSD considers levy

    PHOTO COURTESY OF NIKKI HUDSON AND SAVE CUDELL PARK Cudell Commons Park and the surrounding neighborhood take the name of Frank E. Cudell, a German-American architect whose locally significant designs include the Tiedemann House or “Franklin Castle” and the Perry-Payne building on West Superior Avenue. by Collin Cunningham    (Plain Press July 2024) A nearly…


  • Sharks in Lake Erie?

    (Plain Press July 2024) Is this a joke? How can this be? However, there have been recent reports of shark fins being seen breaking the surface of the waters in the Great Lakes. There have also been reports of dead sharks washed up on the shores of Michigan and Lake Erie. In addition, a biologist from Penn State University…


  • Cleveland storyteller Randy Cunningham publishes another must read book for community activists

    PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Tuesday, June 18, 2024; Randy Cunningham’s home in the West Boulevard neighborhood: Storyteller and activist Randy Cunningham holds a copy of his new book, Where We Live: Environmental Activists’ Fight to Save Their Communities. by Chuck Hoven    (Plain Press July 2024) Community Activist and Storyteller Randy Cunningham has published a…