What more would you like to see in Greater Cleveland?
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Part of me is a bit sad I don't still live down there. The majority of my life at Playhoues Square was during Covid. Since i left, there is now a new sushi place on E 12, City Pop Sushi, as well as a trendy cafe, Milk and Honey, on Walnut. Boney Fingers BBQ also relocated to E 18th. With those other large apartment buildings now open, I can only imagine more is on the way.
Thanks for the informative update. I was unaware of all of these options. Just made reservations at the Hofbrauhaus.
None of the restaurants on your list are listed as available for lunch on Saturdays. The list is very limited, with surprisingly many restaurants closed on Saturday despite Playhouse Square matinees.
Thanks for the informative update. I was unaware of all of these options. Just made reservations at the Hofbrauhaus.
None of the restaurants on your list are listed as available for lunch on Saturdays. The list is very limited, with surprisingly many restaurants closed on Saturday despite Playhouse Square matinees.
City Pop and Milk and Honey should be open on Saturdays around lunch I'm pretty sure. I'm almost certain I've been to both on Saturdays. Unless I went down there to work or something.
The future of the Geauga County Park District is one of the most important issues facing Greater Cleveland IMO. While the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District and Lake Metroparks, the two of the give Greater Cleveland metro (county) park districts with which I'm most familiar, have made concerted efforts to preserve natural wonders in recent decades, in recent years the Geauga Park District has been riddled in controversy centered around the Probate Court Judge Timothy Grendell who apparently controls the district to an extent never intended by the Ohio legislature when it authorized probate judges to appoint park district commissioners. Grendell also pushes to put recreational development of the parks on equal footing with nature preservation.
<<July 8, 2014 – At Mr. Johnston’s first board meeting, the new by-laws, which changed the GPD’s mission to put recreation on an equal footing with preservation and conservation, and which included a long list of permitted park activities, including oil and gas drilling and ATVs, are approved unanimously.>>
<<
There have been many misstatements regarding the separation of the Geauga Park District from Geauga County’s fiscal oversight. On June 28, 2021 the Grendell controlled Geauga Park District unwisely chose to separate from the county’s services and operate independently. Their decision meant that the park district would lose all the services the county had been providing for little or no cost. This included phone service, financial accounting services, payroll and assistance with other accounting services.
In January 2021, when the park district announced that it would sever ties with the county, the County auditor, Charles Walder made it clear in a letter to the park district that the county, upon separation, could no longer legally provide services to the park district. The auditor communicated to the park district in the letter the many things that they would want to accomplish to have a smooth separation from the county. This was in February 2021. By May 2021 it appeared that the park district had done no planning for separation from the counties’ services. Again Auditor Walder alerted them that there would be problems that would impair the park’s functioning if they did not have a planned strategy. Walder repeated to them that services they were receiving from the county would be terminated because they were no longer part of the county. Walder was bound by law not to provide these services.
Again the Park commissioners appointed by Grendell ignored this. They announced that on June 28 they would separate, which they did. Walder alerted them that the many free county provided services must now be terminated. The Geauga Park administration was turned into chaos and three days later they nearly missed employee payroll and had to pay employees by paper check. It remains unclear whether they were able to make timely payments into the employee retirement system and employee insurance. Then a giant accounting error made by their new fiscal officer cost the Park District 1.9 million of our money. These funds could have been spent on park services.>>
What's sad is that Geauga County likely still offers considerable opportunities for sensible parkland expansion, but the price of land there likely is increasingly rapidly. The Geauga County Park District reportedly is somewhere in excess of 10,000 acres in size, but the county covers 400 square miles. Lake Metroparks manages 8,100 acres, but Lake County covers only 228 square miles. Geauga County should be identifying prime property for acquisition and preserving it before the property is developed. This doesn't appear to be a priority of the current regime, especially as it likely would require a land acquisition levy.
I would hope that all five of Greater Cleveland's metropark districts would act aggressively to protect desirable natural areas before Greater Cleveland becomes a destination in what I believe is an inevitable climate change migration and these areas are lost forever to development. The situation in Geauga County seems especially problematic and controversial and it will be interesting to see if the Grendell family can oust the current Republican Geauga County auditor in the upcoming primary further cementing the Grendell's control over the Geauga County Park District.
The Greater Cleveland Metroparks are incredible gems that greatly improve the quality of life here, but they still need to be nurtured, protected, and IMO expanded appropriately. I haven't explored the situations in Medina and Lorain Counties, also lesser developed counties in Greater Cleveland.
Judge Timothy Grendell was the subject of a critical article in Clevleand Scene this week.
<<Under Grendell, opponents say, the parks district has abandoned its core mission of natural resource preservation to pursue recreation and construction projects. The board has expanded from three members to five and now includes businessmen whose companies routinely score lucrative park contracts. Public comment has been outlawed.
The advocacy organization Protect Geauga Parks (PGP) was formed in 2014 to agitate against this new direction and the fishiness therewith. Its members bought yard signs to promote their message, but quickly clocked the scope of Judge Grendell’s influence when they tried to distribute them.
“We had people tell us, ‘I really would like a sign, but my son works for jobs and family services, or my nephew works for the sheriff,’” Barb Partington, current president of PGP, told Scene. “People were afraid Grendell would fire them or retaliate against their family members. Just for having a sign in their yard! We now have a board of 12 people, and none of us have relatives who work for public services. Our houses are paid off. Our septic tanks are okay… If you’re going up against Timothy Grendell, you’ve gotta have nothing to lose.”>>
The article focuses on the upcoming primary election in which the Grendell family will seek further control of the Geauga County government by attempting to defeat the incumbent Republican county auditor.
Visited Heinen's at the Ameritrust Rotunda today. What's very disappointing is that all of the Rotunda doors are now closed. To access the Rotunda, you must now walk through the supermarket. I wonder if the doors were destroyed in the riot and Heinen's didn't want to foot the bill for replacing them. It also takes additional employees to secure multiple entrances.
The Rotunda now has 70 seats, by my count, and the seating is vastly improved since my last visiT several years ago.
It appears that they now offer salads and sandwiches during lunch hours. Mitchell's ice cream freezers have been installed, but there was no ice cream or employees.
The prepared food offerings in the Rotunda are a fraction of what was available at the time of my last visit. There were no employees in the Rotunda today at about 5 p.m. The bakery offerings were minimal.
I'm not optimistic about much of a recovery in the near future to the Rotunda's dynamic vibe pre-pandemic and pre-riot. Obviously, the traffic was only a few customers shopping meat counters at the time of my visit.
Visited Heinen's at the Ameritrust Rotunda today. What's very disappointing is that all of the Rotunda doors are now closed. To access the Rotunda, you must now walk through the supermarket. I wonder if the doors were destroyed in the riot and Heinen's didn't want to foot the bill for replacing them. It also takes additional employees to secure multiple entrances.
The Rotunda now has 70 seats, by my count, and the seating is vastly improved since my last visiT several years ago.
It appears that they now offer salads and sandwiches during lunch hours. Mitchell's ice cream freezers have been installed, but there was no ice cream or employees.
The prepared food offerings in the Rotunda are a fraction of what was available at the time of my last visit. There were no employees in the Rotunda today at about 5 p.m. The bakery offerings were minimal.
I'm not optimistic about much of a recovery in the near future to the Rotunda's dynamic vibe pre-pandemic and pre-riot. Obviously, the traffic was only a few customers shopping meat counters at the time of my visit.
I am puzzled why Heinens is keeping those doors closed, as well. I doubt it's a financial issue from the riot -- Heinens is loaded, financially, and expanding in other cities -- ie, suburban Chicago. I think, I hope, really, it's tied to the slow(er) redevelopment of Rotunda main floor activity. Hopefully, their selling of popular Mitchell's ice cream and a more robust grab-'n-go buffet like they used to have, will encourage Heinens to reopen those Rotunda doors both on Euclid and E. 9th, esp with warmer temps on the way.
Judge Timothy Grendell was the subject of a critical article in Clevleand Scene this week.
<<Under Grendell, opponents say, the parks district has abandoned its core mission of natural resource preservation to pursue recreation and construction projects. The board has expanded from three members to five and now includes businessmen whose companies routinely score lucrative park contracts. Public comment has been outlawed.
The advocacy organization Protect Geauga Parks (PGP) was formed in 2014 to agitate against this new direction and the fishiness therewith. Its members bought yard signs to promote their message, but quickly clocked the scope of Judge Grendell’s influence when they tried to distribute them.
“We had people tell us, ‘I really would like a sign, but my son works for jobs and family services, or my nephew works for the sheriff,’” Barb Partington, current president of PGP, told Scene. “People were afraid Grendell would fire them or retaliate against their family members. Just for having a sign in their yard! We now have a board of 12 people, and none of us have relatives who work for public services. Our houses are paid off. Our septic tanks are okay… If you’re going up against Timothy Grendell, you’ve gotta have nothing to lose.”>>
The article focuses on the upcoming primary election in which the Grendell family will seek further control of the Geauga County government by attempting to defeat the incumbent Republican county auditor.
The Grendells failed miserably in their effort to elect Diane Grendell to replace the incumbent Geauga County auditor who had challenged Judge Timothy Grendell. Judge Grendell is himself term-limited and serving his last term, according to the above Scene article.
It will be interesting to see how the Grendells intend to maintain any grip on Geauga County politics and/or pass their baton to some designated successor (puppet?) in coming years.
In my opinion, Geauga County real estate developers will play an integral role in efforts to sustain the Grendell legacy, however. So the assault on the Geauga County Park District's mandate to conserve natural areas and limit damaging recreational use is not over, and won't end until Geauga County voters elect conservation-minded politicians and prioritize safeguarding natural areas before the ability to do so passes due to development.
Frighteningly, much damage to the Geauga County Park District can be inflicted in the interim.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
End of Grendell era nears?
