The 22-unit Sylvia apartment building has been an eyesore ever since it became vacant two years ago. When its owner died unexpectedly, leaving nobody to care for the property, Detroit Shoreway neighbors watched as the vacant building, which is nestled mid-block on Franklin Boulevard, fell into disrepair.

Beginning this fall, however, nearby homeowners should have something to celebrate: The Sylvia is slated to receive a $3 million makeover that will preserve this historic structure while adding new neighbors to this well-kept block.

The Sylvia, which features a brick facade, hardwood floors, built-in kitchen display cases, and Tudor archways and doorways, will be reduced to an 18-unit, mixed income building following a complete renovation by the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization (DSCDO).

Jenny Spencer, Project Manager with DSCDO, says the Sylvia is part of a neighborhood-wide revitalization trend spurred by the nonprofit's work to preserve its mixed-income character while adding new development. In the past several decades, DSCDO has purchased and renovated 13 historic properties.

"By acquiring, stabilizing and rehabbing multi-family buildings, we've been able to eliminate a lot of our slum and absentee landlord problem," says Spencer. "We've also provided safe, decent, affordable housing and preserved our housing stock."

DSCDO plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, October 6th. The renovation is being funded with Neighborhood Stabilization Fund dollars through the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation and the City of Cleveland, historic tax credits from Huntington National Bank and a bridge loan from the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing. Enterprise Community Partners and Village Capital Corporation provided predevelopment financing.


Source: Jenny Spencer
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Historic Haunts Walking Tour, an event now in its fifth year, provides family-friendly Halloween treks through the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood. Local residents sporting top hats and toting lanterns lead audiences along historic West Clinton and Franklin Boulevards. They stop at porches to watch costumed actors bring to life tales of murder, love and mayhem from the neighborhood's storied past.

Yet last year, the event did more than just entertain. It also led Cleveland couple Tim Brown and Andy O'Conke straight to the doorstep of their dream home.

"I looked up and saw a two-story house with a pillared porch," recalls Brown of the West Clinton colonial that he purchased earlier this year. "I thought: 'Three minutes from work, a small yard for the dog... This is the home for me!'"

Brown and O'Conke moved into their new home in mid-August -- just in time for this year's Historic Haunts. The couple's broad, welcoming porch has now been incorporated into the walking tour, and they're looking forward to the event.

In addition to the home's many green features, which were added during a top-to-bottom renovation by the Cleveland Housing Network (CHN), Brown and O'Conke were drawn to Detroit Shoreway by its welcoming, hyper-social residents.

"This is unbelievable neighborhood," says O'Conke. "As soon as we'd moved in, we met more neighbors than we had ever known at any other place we lived."

The home was renovated as part of the Opportunity Homes program, a targeted effort by the nonprofit Neighborhood Progress Inc. (NPI) and CHN to bring renovated, energy-efficient homes to six Cleveland neighborhoods.

(The tours take place October 7 and 8.)


Source: Judith Allen, Andy O'Conke, Tim Brown
Writer: Lee Chilcote

There's no quibbling that Dan Moulthrop is one of the "smartest guys in the room." What many of us don't know is that he was also a high school English teacher. Unfortunately for his students, he couldn't afford to continue teaching them. His experiences led him to pen a book titled "Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers." That book was the impetus for the documentary "American Teacher," which follows the careers of four young teachers.

As the economic malaise enters its umpteenth year, many creative folks are using it as an opportunity to grab a little slice of the artisan marketplace. With or without day jobs, a new breed of craftspeople are cultivating home-grown companies by doing what they love. Some are eager to branch out, while others are just tickled to have a creative outlet.

When a tree falls in the city of Cleveland, it gets trucked off to a facility that reduces it to mulch, which is then dyed an offensive shade of red or black and ultimately laid to rest on somebody's prized flower bed. It is a crime not only upon nature, but to Dean Heidelberg, owner of Metro Hardwoods. As the operator of one of this country's only urban sawmills, Heidelberg is on a mission to rescue as many trees as possible.

With months-long waiting lists for many downtown apartments, it's clear that Cleveland is attracting plenty of new residents. But some aren't "new" at all. Boomerangs, native Clevelanders who've left and returned, claim a host of reasons for their homecoming. What they often find upon arrival is a city far different from the one they left behind.

January of last year, a natural gas explosion ripped through a vacant house on W. 83rd Street in Cleveland, destroying the home, damaging 57 others, and displacing at least 15 families.

Ultimately, investigators determined that the devastating eruption was caused by a gas main that hadn't been shut off at the street. This prompted neighbors and city officials to wonder if many of Cleveland's vacant and abandoned homes aren't ticking time bombs, waiting to explode under the right conditions.

In the weeks and months following the incident, the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization (DSCDO) found homes for the displaced families and co-hosted a benefit that raised over $30,000. Yet the hazard of potential gas explosions and arson continue to loom large in Cleveland's neighborhoods.

Next Thursday, July 28th, a new art and architecture installation will be unveiled that is intended to be a creative, healing response to the incident. Dubbing it "urban therapy," area residents Richey Piiparinen and Melissa Daubert will create an art installation at a vacant home on W. 83rd, then deconstruct it and reuse parts of it to create a nearby community park and reading garden.

Piiparinen and Daubert, who have volunteered their time on this project, spent the past year raising funds, gathering neighbors' ideas about what "home" means to them, and tracing residents' silhouettes. During the 10-day installation, these ideas and silhouettes will be projected onto the windows of the home at 2040 W. 83rd, just a few doors down from the lot where the explosion occurred.

"There's a therapy component and an intervention component," explains Piiparinen. "We're transforming the dead symbol of this house into a sign of rebirth, and we're also creating a neighborhood asset inspired by the explosion."

Piiparinen and Daubert led a team of volunteer residents that included designer Jim Fish, architect Robert Donaldson, contractor Chris Shimp and electrician Julie Lindstrom. The new community park was funded by the West End Urbanteers Block Club, DSCDO, the city of Cleveland and Neighborhood Connections.

A public reception for the West 83rd Street Project will be held on July 28 beginning at 7:30 p.m.


Source: Richey Piiparinen
Writer: Lee Chilcote

It's been several years since I relocated from Florida to Cleveland. And truth is, I was hesitant to claim myself a queer in the Midwest, especially in Ohio, which earned a reputation for its lack of acceptance. What I discovered, however, was a gay oasis on the North Coast. Here, I have the option of frequenting the large variety of LGBT-owned businesses exclusively -- but I don't have to. To me, that's the most accurate meaning of the phrase "queer-friendly."

The renewal of an urban core usually involves, at some point, a grand, sweeping plan that calls for huge development projects costing millions, or billions, of dollars: a new convention center, a mass transit system, a comprehensive waterfront plan. But as cities realize the importance of attracting and retaining talent, it's the smaller development projects and neighborhood investment that are driving real and sustainable change.

When Zone Recreation Center's 22 acres of green space reopen next year following a $2.5 million "green" facelift, the rainwater that falls there will be reused on site, rather than being funneled into sewers to pollute our lake, rivers and streams.

"We're using it to rehydrate the park," explains Ward 15 Councilman Matt Zone, who allocated funding for the park's revitalization.

The redesigned park's water conservation features will include permeable pavers that allow rainwater to filter into the ground (unlike most parking lots or hard surfaces, which send water cascading into the nearest sewer). "Bioswales" will also capture water and direct it into rain gardens, which will be seeded with native plants that don't require a lot of mowing, chemicals or maintenance.

One area of the park will even feature a bridge traversing a rain garden, thus allowing visitors to look down into the garden and see how it works as they pass by.

Zone Rec's new splash park will also recycle and reuse its own water. A filtration system will be installed to ensure that the water is cleaned before reuse.

The recreation center is located at W. 65th Street and Lorain Avenue in the Cleveland EcoVillage, a green community that is part of Cleveland's Detroit Shoreway neighborhood. Other green-built projects in the area include new energy-efficient townhomes and single-family homes, a large community garden, and the energy-efficient RTA station on Lorain, which is a stop along the Red Line.

Source: Matt Zone
Writer: Lee Chilcote

To some, Michael J. Zone Recreation Center is just another city park where teenagers play pick-up basketball, softball teams face off on scruffy fields, and kids scamper about on a well-worn playground.

Yet for others, this 22-acre green space on Cleveland's near-west side has the potential to become an urban oasis, a premier green space that serves the neighborhood while providing a model for integrating sustainability into city parks.

Recently, the City of Cleveland broke ground on $2.5 million of improvements to "Zone Rec," bringing this lofty vision much closer to becoming a reality.

"City residents deserve a place that is as special as any of the parks in Beachwood or Bay Village," Councilman Matt Zone told residents at a recent community meeting.

In redesigning the park, planners implemented sustainability features that include capturing rainwater on site, rather than funneling it into storm sewers. Some of it will be used to water rain gardens filled with native plants and wildflowers.

Features of the new park, which was designed by McKnight Associates, include new baseball diamonds, basketball and tennis courts, as well as a new soccer field, splash park, playground, skateboard park and dog park. It will also feature a meandering path for walkers, joggers and bikers, a new pavilion and stage area, and three separate parking areas.

At the meeting, Zone said the new park will have separate play areas for older and younger children. Activities for younger children will be located at the center of the park, so they can be easily supervised by staff and parents.

The redeveloped park will provide opportunities for urban youth, Zone said. "A lot of city kids don't even have an opportunity to go swimming, and the new 'sprayground' park lets them get in the water."

Zone cited the dog park as an example of how community input shaped the park's redesign. A groundswell of local support led Steve Manka, the artist hired to complete the public art, to design dog bone sculptures for the park.

"You'll see the sculptures from I-90 and know immediately what this place is and that there's a dog park here," said Zone. "The sculptures also function as seating."

Zone Recreation Center is located at West 65th Street and Lorain Avenue in the Cleveland EcoVillage area of the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.


Source: Matt Zone
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Buffalo is better known for its long, snowy winters than its flowering gardens. Yet last year, GardenWalk Buffalo, a free self-guided tour that bills itself as the largest garden tour in America, attracted an estimated 45,000 people to 300-plus gardens.

After learning about GardenWalk Buffalo from a Plain Dealer article last summer, Clevelanders Jan Kious and Bobbi Reichtell decided to make the trek northeast. Walking around the city and talking to its impassioned urban gardeners soon changed their views of the city. They returned to Cleveland inspired to create a GardenWalk event locally.

Those seeds first sown in Buffalo will bear fruit this Saturday, June 25th, when the first GardenWalk Cleveland takes place. It will feature over 100 residential flower gardens as well as community gardens, urban farms, vineyards and orchards sprinkled throughout four Cleveland neighborhoods: Detroit Shoreway, Harvard/Lee/Miles, Hough and Tremont. Each community will have a headquarters where visitors can find car parking, bike parking, restrooms, water and maps.

In addition to highlighting Cleveland's efforts to create greener, healthier neighborhoods, organizers hope the event will also break down east/west and black/white divisions by bringing together people that love gardening.

Citing the diverse, grassroots group that came together to organize the event as a harbinger of success, Reichtell stated in a release, "This is a shining example of the connections that gardens and greening work create in Cleveland," she said. "Both Clevelanders and visitors from outside the city will love getting a behind-the-scenes look at gardens and farms in Cleveland's neighborhoods."


Source: GardenWalk Cleveland
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Since last fall alone, four new yoga spaces have opened within the Cleveland city limits, launching a bona fide urban-yoga boomlet. Along with the handful of studios that already existed, these new enterprises are well timed to meet a growing demand fueled by progressive new residents who continue to expand into rediscovered neighborhoods. Paired with a wealth of affordable spaces and an increased interest in wellness, yoga studios have never been in higher demand.

Interim Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) CEO Peter Raskind, who is being replaced by Chief Academic Officer Eric Gordon, offered some parting thoughts on improving urban education at a forum last week on underperforming schools.

Introducing himself as "the lamest of lame ducks," Raskind told the audience at Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs that quality urban schools are critical to reducing inequality. Then he evaluated two concepts that are often mentioned by the left and right as single solutions to the woes of public education: more money and more competition.

"Will more money help? No, not alone," he asserted. While the Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) laid off hundreds of teachers and staff this year, Raskind does not believe more resources alone would improve performance.

On the subject of fostering competition, he stated that "some competition is helpful, and charter schools and other competitors have induced what I like to call a 'positive discomfort' among schools. At the end of the day, we do have to compete -- yet alone, competition won't solve our problems."

The answer, Raskind said, is effective leadership. He cited Apple and General Motors as examples of two large companies that came back from the brink of destruction to flourish after being led by strong leaders.

Yet urban schools face a critical challenge in attracting good leaders because "leaders are drawn to environments where they can apply their talents to full effect, and repulsed by environments where they feel they'll be stymied," he said.

"How can we attract the best principals to our schools, when they don't have control of who they'll be able to hire?" Raskind asked the audience.

Raskind closed by drawing a comparison between urban schools and another industry that's been in the news a lot lately. "Like the auto industry, urban schools are also in a long slow decline," he said. "And labor and management are locked into complex, rigid agreements that don't function well in today's world."

"Our customers are defecting to more nimble and attractive competitors, particularly charter schools," he continued. "And like the auto industry, labor and management will go down together unless changes are made."


Source: Peter Raskind
Writer: Lee Chilcote