Road construction season officially began in Cleveland Heights on April 23. This budgetary year, Cleveland Heights City Council more than doubled the city’s road resurfacing budget, from $2 million to $5.1 million in 2026, increasing the roads it resurfaces from 11 last year to 27 this year.
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FutureHeights is launching a home repair matching grant program for homeowners who live in the Cain Park and Cedar Lee neighborhoods. The Block by Block program is being launched to complement our neighborhood revitalization efforts in these areas. Currently, we are renovating two homes and working with Rebuild Cleveland to build market-rate new construction modular homes.
Here’s how it works. The program is intended for owner-occupants who live in a specific focus area of the city, defined as the residential streets between Cedar Road (to the south), Lee Road (to the west), Mayfield Road (to the north), and South Taylor Road (to the east). Homeowners who earn up to 120% of area median income are eligible. The Block by Block program provides up to $3,000 in matching grant funds for exterior projects such as porch repair, tuckpointing, painting and more.
Cleveland Heights residents are invited to join Mayor Jim Petras for his first State of the City address on Thursday, April 30, 6–8 p.m., at the CH Community Center,1 Monticello Blvd.
The mayor’s address will be followed by a reception featuring refreshments from local restaurants.
Community resources and information will also be available to attendees of the event, as will the opportunity for residents to share their vision for the future of Cleveland Heights.
An RSVP is not required, but will help the city better calculate and plan for the anticipated number of attendees.
Opinion: My husband, Chris, and I have a plan for my 92-year-old dad: a small apartment above our garage. His own front door, his own kitchen, 30 feet from ours. Not a nursing home. Not a spare bedroom. His place, on his terms.
We can’t build it. Cleveland Heights zoning doesn’t allow it.
If you’ve walked the older streets of this city, you’ve seen them: two-story garages with windows upstairs, originally built for carriages. They’re part of CH’s architectural DNA. A handful are grandfathered in as non-conforming structures, but new ones can’t be built.
The city wants to change that. On Monday, May 5, 6–8 p.m., a community meeting at City Hall will focus on Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) zoning, which includes carriage houses, backyard cottages, in-law suites. Different names, same idea: a small, self-contained home on a lot you already own, for a person you already love.
The city of Cleveland Heights recently launched a citywide contest inviting residents to capture photos of the city in the spring. The winning photograph will be used for the cover of the upcoming spring issue of FOCUS magazine.
FOCUS, once a combined publication of city news and recreation, will continue to provide news, updates and information starting with the spring 2026 issue. (The recreation guide has been spun off as a separate publication.
FutureHeights recently hired Cindie Pacheco as its new Operations Manager and Steve Presser as its new Community Engagement and Events Manager. Please join FutureHeights in welcoming them both, and learn more about them on the Heights Observer.
FutureHeights invites Heights residents and visitors from Greater Cleveland and beyond to experience the rhythm and heart of Cleveland Heights at its annual Heights Music Hop, a three-day celebration of live music, local businesses, and community connection, scheduled to take place Aug. 28–30.
Launched in 2013 and now celebrating its 13th year, the festival has evolved into a premier celebration of the community’s diversity and authenticity.
Planning is underway for this year’s event, including family-friendly and community activities, promising something to enjoy for all ages.
This year’s Hop will span four of Cleveland Heights’ commercial districts, beginning Friday afternoon and evening with performances in the Cedar Fairmount neighborhood. Plans call for the music to travel through the Cedar Lee district on Saturday night, then wrap up on Sunday.
The Coventry Village Special Improvement District announces SPARK Some-Thing, planned for Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25. The two-day event will bring together live music, poetry, public art, and hands-on neighborhood improvement projects across Coventry Village, with programming hosted at venues that include Heights Theater, Grog Shop, and Mac’s Backs.
The goal is to get Clevelanders out of their caves after a long cold winter to stretch their creative muscles and add some beauty to the district––one of Northeast Ohio’s longstanding arts and cultural hubs. The majority of the weekend’s events are free thanks to Coventry Village, the city of Cleveland Heights, and sponsorships, with a few performances requiring a paid ticket.
Opinion: Imagine a different path: Instead of planning to cut nearly a thousand trees and drain the lakes permanently, NEORSD hires ecologists who understand how beavers shape water. They see what earlier planners missed: a narrow valley where a sequence of small, low‑tech dams—some built by humans, some by beavers—could recreate the slow, broad pools that defined Horseshoe Lake and Lower Lake for generations.
“Sanctuary City” by Martyna Majok explores the experience of two young immigrants in the early 2000s, coming-of-age amongst growing xenophobic tensions within the United States. The two provide safety and companionship for one another but, as the years go on, their relationship is challenged by physical distance and broken promises. Dobama’s production runs Thursdays through Sundays, April 23 to May 17.
Dobama Theatre’s Full Circle partners for this production are Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights (CH4IR), Esperanza, and Margaret Wong and Associates. They’ll have tables of resources in the lobby at each performance, to provide patrons with resources on how they can contribute to the advancement and preservation of the immigrant community in Greater Cleveland. Esperanza focuses on education while CH4IR and Margaret Wong and Associates focus on the imminent threat of detainment and deportation that immigrants are experiencing today.
Heights Tree People has selected the first two streets for its new Block-by-Block Tree-Planting Program: East Fairfax Road in Cleveland Heights and Edgerton Road in University Heights. With the help of neighbors on those streets, HTP plans to plant trees in multiple front yards this spring, at no cost to the residents.
The Block-by-Block program is designed to do something powerful: transform an entire street in a single planting season. Instead of planting one tree at a time across many neighborhoods, HTP will focus on a single block—working with neighbors to add dozens of new trees in short order. The result can be dramatic: cooler streets, greener yards, and a visible change in the character of a neighborhood.
“Light it up,” commands the Ohio Fire Academy instructor. With that, another instructor in full gear ignites one of two bales of straw inside a burn trailer. Also inside, 12 more firefighters sit on either side of the trailer watching and learning about fire behavior, so they are better prepared when doing their jobs.
“It’s as close as they are going to get to see a fire in a structure without having to actually do their jobs,” said University Heights Fire Chief Bob Perko.
The city’s firefighters underwent training near Wiley Middle School March 3–5. Other departments that sent firefighters for the learning experience included Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, South Euclid, Beachwood and East Cleveland. An estimated 108 firefighters participated.
