FREE Volume 6 Number 6 TAKE ONEJune 1, 2013 HEIGHTS OBSERVER READ LOCAL. SHOP LOCAL. Published by Serving Cleveland Heights and University Heights • Latest news updates at www.heightsobserver.org INSIDE Cleveland Heights residents flock to chickens 9 New community garden Simone Quartell dedicated Eighteen families in Cleveland Heights have new additions to their house- holds—hens. Matt Wilson, who lives near the Lee Road Library, got his coop in June 19 2012 and owns four hens. He said that Heights 8th- having a chicken coop has helped him grader Soli meet a lot of his neighbors.”Some of Collins writes them bring friends from outside the winning essay neighborhood to see our chickens,” said Wilson, adding, “My son’s like a ER celebrity at school, as the kid who owns TTN chickens.” OUG TRA Cleveland is the only other city in D Spicy, an 8-month-old Golden Buff chicken, reads up on backyard chicken raising. Her owner, Heights 28 Cuyahoga County that permits chick- resident Doug Trattner, wrote the chicken article for Edible Cleveland that Spicy is reading. Vote for the ens. Cleveland Heights City Council ap- Best of the proved the keeping of chickens for eggs ments, and reviewing zoning codes from riety of coops,” said Knittel, depending Heights in May 2012 as part of the city’s Sustain- other parts of the country. on the owner and the yard. According able Zoning Amendments. Chickens Karen Knittel, Cleveland Heights to Knittel, many applicants choose loca- are conditionally permitted by the new city planner, Richard Wong, city plan- tions in their yards where chickens will code. The process of amending the city’s ning director, and an Ohio State Cuya- be safest from predators, and cover both zoning code took almost two years and hoga County program coordinator vis- the coop and chicken run with chicken included reviewing the existing zoning ited a few Cleveland coops before they wire. Most chicken runs are attached Free parking at code, hiring consultants, holding public were approved for Cleveland Heights. to the coop, said Knittel, who noted CH meters June and stakeholder meetings, writing docu- The Heights chickens stay in “a va- continued on page 6 28, 29 and 30 Doug Katz opens new diner on Lee Road Jim Henke 48 people; the center section is a walk- in coffee shop that offers cappuccinos, Doug Katz, the chef who owns fire espressos, pastries and other items; and food & drink on Shaker Square and the south end is the cocktail lounge, Provenance at the Cleveland Museum which is open Thursday through Sunday of Art, has opened a new restaurant in and serves cocktails and small plates. Cleveland Heights. Called The Katz There will also be an outdoor patio sec- Club Diner, the restaurant is located in tion. The restaurant serves breakfast all the twin diner cars at 1975 Lee Road, day. It also features classic diner food, across the street from Zagara’s Mar- including club sandwiches, soups and ketplace. salads, as well as entrée specials, such A BREMER FISHER NN Several other chefs attempted to as turkey with stuffing and meat loaf. DEA run restaurants in the historic building Katz is also offering vegetarian items The Katz Club Diner held its grand opening May 28. and Jewish foods, such as matzoh ball modeled after railroad dining cars; but Katz, 43, is a Cleveland native. He soup and brisket. ultimately all failed. Katz, who lives on grew up in Shaker Heights and gradu- Since 2002, five restaurants have East Overlook, the street adjacent to ated from Hawken. He attended the Deliver to addressee or current Deliver resident been in this location: Dottie’s Diner, the restaurant, believes he can succeed. University of Denver and, after gradu- “I live nearby,” he said, “and I watched Chris & Jimmy’s Diner, Gali Gali, continued on page 4 all of the incarnations. I watched it, Clyde’s Bistro and Favor Bistro. Katz and I watched it, and I watched it fail.” believes the past failures occurred for CH-UH considers When he found out the building was various reasons. “Initially, there was available, he worked out a deal. so much expense involved in creating placing school facilities The Katz Club Diner serves break- this building that it was hard to make fast, lunch and dinner. It is organized income and pay it all off,” he said. “And bond issue on in three sections. The north end of the then I think there were various opera- FutureHeights FutureHeights #103 Lee Road 2163 Heights, OH 44118 Cleveland November ballot building is the diner, which seats about tional issues after that.” Heights Arts’ Peggy Spaeth wins a 2013 Cleveland Arts Prize Deanna Bremer Fisher The Cleveland Heights-University Simone Quartell exhibition space Joseph Prize. Five letters of recommen- Heights Board of Education (BOE) for contemporary dation were required, and nominations will allow additional time at its June 4 The Cleveland Arts Prize has announced art, in Ohio City were due in February. Spaeth said she meeting to hear public comments and that Peggy Spaeth, executive director of in January. found out that she had won during the questions about the school facilities Heights Arts, is a 2013 winner of the The Cleveland last week of April. plan and the need to place a bond issue ICHAEL WEIL Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Arts Prize website M “I am thrilled and honored to have on the November ballot. Service to the Arts. describes the Mar- Peggy Spaeth won this,” said Spaeth, who said that she Ron Register, school board presi- Spaeth, who plans to retire from tha Joseph Prize as one that is “awarded has been involved with the arts most of dent, said, “People will still have a five- her position as Heights Arts director in annually to an individual or an organiza- her life. She pointed out that multiple minute limit, but more individuals will July, is one of three winners of this year’s tion that because of exceptional commit- past winners of the Cleveland Arts Prize have an opportunity to talk.” Martha Joseph Prize. The other 2013 ment, vision, leadership or philanthropy have come from Cleveland Heights. Register said that the BOE would winners are Jill Snyder, executive direc- has made a significant contribution to While growing up in Shaker Heights, likely use its June 18 meeting to examine tor of the Museum of Contemporary Art the vitality and stature of the arts in Spaeth took multiple school field trips concerns and any unanswered questions Cleveland; and Fred and Laura Bidwell, Northeast Ohio.” to visit the Cleveland Museum of Art posed at the June 4 meeting. “The art collectors and philanthropists, who The Heights Arts Board of Direc- and to see the Cleveland Orchestra board would likely vote on July 2 for opened the Transformer Station, a new tors nominated Spaeth for the Martha continued on page 3 continued on page 21 Heights Observer June 1, 2013 1 www.heightsobserver.org OPINION Letters Policy The Heights Observer welcomes The Heights Observer, one of several independent letters to the editor. They must be submitted electronically, along with the writer’s name, phone number and civic-journalism projects in Northeast Ohio e-mail address, to: www.heightsobserver.org/members or e-mail: [email protected] Observer is the oldest. It was founded easier to read. Some publishers are OPeninG in 2004 by a group of high school bud- nonprofit, such as the Heights and THe OBServer dies who wanted a new way to get more Campus District observers; others are HEIGHTS OBSERVER information out to their community. for-profit. Most publish every month; The Heights Observer followed in however, a few, such as Lakewood and The Heights Observer is a citizen-based news source published monthly by FutureHeights, a nonprofit, Deanna Bremer Fisher 2008. We were the first community group Westlake/Bay Village, publish every 501(c)3 organization dedicated to civic engage- to approach the Lakewood folks and ask other week. ment and quality of life. 2163 Lee Rd., #103, Recently, someone brought me a copy to license the proprietary software they Each paper secures its own operat- Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 of the Healthy & Humane Observer and developed, the Ninth Estate. We secured ing funds from advertisers in its own 216-320-1423 Copyright 2012 FutureHeights, All rights reserved. asked, “When did you start publishing the Observer name and followed—more community. Occasionally, there are Reproduction is forbidden without written permission. this?” The fact is, FutureHeights is or less—Lakewood’s philosophy of com- advertisers that want to reach multiple PUBLISHER not publishing any other newspapers. munity news reporting. Observer communities, and one of the Deanna Bremer Fisher individual paper’s advertising represen- [email protected] Healthy & Humane is one of several Then came the Westlake/Bay Village tatives coordinates a joint ad-buy with Editor-IN-CHIEF geographically-based or theme-based Observer, the Collinwood Observer and Kim Sergio Inglis publications started by the Observer the Parma Observer in 2009, followed the others. [email protected] Group, but each one of us is indepen- by the Euclid Observer in 2010, the All share a common philosophy in ADVERTISING dently owned and operated. Campus District Observer in 2011 and community building. “The Observer Bob Rosenbaum 216-401-9342 I sat down with Jim O’Bryan, the Rockport Observer (Rocky River and is about civic-journalism, not citizen- [email protected] publisher of the Lakewood Observer Fairview) in 2012. journalism,” said O’Bryan. “For civic- Editorial advisorY coMMITTEE and founder of the Observer Group, to In 2012, the Observer Group journalism to occur, the participants Deanna Bremer Fisher, Carrie Buchanan, David Budin, Jeff Coryell, Greg Donley, Eleanor Mallet, Jewel Moul- find out more about our sister publica- helped establish the Great Lakes Courier, must have a stake in the community.