Accentuating the Positive

I love living in Highland Heights. I really do. It’s a friendly, approachable place with a great public school system and swell residential neighborhoods.

Now that it’s (finally) summer – and the living is easy — it’s a perfect time to talk about some of the good things going on in my town.

One of the most exciting things is the city’s new green space, which sits along Highland Road near the municipal complex.

The green space has the potential to become a city centerpiece, a visual gateway and community gathering space – something the city has lacked until now.

The Highland Heights Lions Club has kicked things off by pledging $5,000 to build a gazebo on the site, and the award-winning Highland Heights Garden Club has offered to organize and oversee the installation of community gardens there.

Now there’s positive community spirit for you!

Another good thing going on: the pool – a $1 million community investment – is no longer playing second fiddle to summer baseball.  

The Park & Recreation Commission (P&R) is finally giving the pool the attention (and repairs) that it needs and deserves.  Although the pool still leaks, several substantial, long-standing leaks have finally been fixed, and new lane markers have been ordered. At long last residents will be able to swim laps without getting scrapes and bruises from deteriorating lane markers.

Also worthy of note: the Community Park remains – so far at least – free of fractional (“frack”) gas wells.

Keeping gas wells out of the park is something residents strongly desire – as demonstrated by their overwhelming approval of a 2009 charter amendment to protect and preserve the park. 

And here’s another good thing: the city’s income tax collections remain strong.

That means that Highland Heighs residents are generally experiencing stable employment, even during these rough economic times.

Highland Heights is fortunate not to be suffering financially like some of its neighboring cities, which have turned to layoffs and red light cameras to balance their budgets.

Here’s something else to be thankful for: our current council.

Why do I say that?

Here’s why:  except for the the last item – which is beyond local control – none of the other positive things listed above would have happened without council.

Think I’m kidding? Consider this:

• When Mayor Scott Coleman pushed for a deal that would have allowed a social club to convert a city-owned church building for use as a private, rent-free bocce hall – a deal that entailed using taxpayer dollars to staff and maintain  the building for the club’s use – council said no and voted to tear the decrepit, substandard building down instead.
  
  Voila, the city’s new green space was born.

• Coleman looked the other way when P&R began engaging in significant deficit spending in 2009. Not council.
  
  Despite resistance and pushback, council started asking questions and insisting on fiscal accountability.  That discussion led to dialogue about priorities and physical needs – including the condition of the pool and the park roads.
  
  Voila, P&R ended 2010 with a balanced budget and the pool leaks – finally – began to be fixed. Bid packages for park road repairs should be sent out this month.

• It was council who brought things to a halt when Bass Energy finally went public with its plan to drill gas wells in the middle of the woods and in a wetlands/protected greenspace area of the Community Park.
  
   It turned out that Coleman rushed to sign a drilling lease with Bass, even though – as a local judge later declared – he was “without power” to do so.
  
  Voila. If Council hadn’t acted quickly and decisively, residents would now be coping with three (count 'em three)  gas wells on city property – two in the Municipal Park and one in front of the Community Center.

Having a council composed of attentive, engaged and independent-minded council members – a council that doesn’t act as a mayoral rubber stamp – is a good and positive thing.  It results in more thoughtful discussions and better governmental decision-making, as illustrated above.

Coleman controlled council up until a couple of years ago. Three of his most steadfast supporters (and political contributors) were: former Councilmen Ted Anderson (a former P&R member); Rocco Dolciato (currently head of P&R); and Jamie Pilla. Everything changed when Pilla decided not to run again and Anderson and Dolciato were defeated in their ree-lection bids.

With the election of Councilwoman Lisa Stickan, Councilman Bob Mastrangelo and Councilman Leo Lombardo, the balance of power between the mayor and council was restored.

The current council is responsible for many of the positive things going on in the city.
Looking at the list, I’d say Highland Heights residents have an awful lot to be thankful for.