Green is Good
Congratulations to the Beautification Committee, Service Department Horticultural Staff and our Service Department for attaining Tree City USA status for the 15th straight year! The recycling unit of our Service Department has once again received a grant from Cuyahoga County’s Community Recycling Awareness Grant program for our recycling effort which distributed “green” shopping bags to limit the use of bags at the grocery store, and an attempt to eliminate the number of small water bottles being recycled year after year. This is the third straight year we received this grant. Prior to that, Brecksville received grants from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Recycling through its Recycle, Ohio grant program from 1997 through 2005. Also the Service Department received the “Trash Oscar” for its recycling video. This was awarded to the City by the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District. This video can be seen on our website by clicking the Service Department’s icon at brecksville.oh.us or by watching cable channel 20.
Get Active
Please be sure to sign up for our recreation programs listed in the Brecksville Bulletin and the Recreation Department’s webpage at brecksville.oh.us. Or contact the Community Center for sign up information. Don’t be late, don’t miss the opportunity and don’t miss the fun.
Our Kids Are Truly Awesome!!
Congratulations (AGAIN!!) to our BBHHS Gymnastics Team. Wow, seven straight State Championships and their 10th championship since 1994. This is a remarkable accomplishment and comes as a result of very hard work and dedication. Congratulations to Coach Joan Ganim and staff. And congratulations to coach Ron Ganim for receiving the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award. Leah Miko and Diana Moock led the way to the championship. Individually Leah earned All Around Champion honors with Diana placing second, just .225 of a point behind!
Congratulations also to our outstanding wrestling team and the individual efforts of Billy Vaughn and Josh Linden who placed second in their weight classes at the Division I state wrestling tournament at the Shottenstein Center in Columbus. Kyle Roddy finished sixth in his weight class.
Also from the department of awesome kids, the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District has once again, for the tenth consecutive year (!) earned the highest rating on the Ohio Department of Education’s Local Report Card. Plus, the district earned for the second time possible the newest and now highest rating of “Excellent with Distinction.” And I’m not finished. The senior class earned the highest composite score on the ACT Test in the history of the school. Please remember that when there is a levy on the ballot, our schools cannot maintain this high level of achievement without your financial support.
Senior Volunteers of the Year
Our Senior Volunteers of the Year, John and Shirley Galik are commended for their many contributions to the community. Most notably their labors of love in the Human Services kitchen. Week after week, year after year they continue to cook some fabulous meals as part of our Human Services Program. We continue to be so grateful for the nearly 200 volunteers who annually help to improve the quality of life for others. Volunteering is a wonderful thing to do; if you have a day or two please call the Human Services Center. There are no age restrictions but there are a few qualifications necessary for drivers and nurses. Whether you wish to volunteer or not, I hope you take advantage of the many activities at our Community Center and Human Services Center.
Echo Hills Club Homeowners Association
Last March I had the opportunity to address the Echo Hills Club Homeowners Association serving the Echo Hills residents. Highlights of the State of the City speech were presented and I gave an update on the waste water treatment plant at Echo Hills which is being replaced by a gravity sanitary sewer that will be constructed along Snowville Road. I appreciate the opportunity to interact at least annually with the Trustees and Association and thank them for their involvement in the process of planning for this conversion as well as other matters of City services provided to their neighborhood.
Economic Development Director Appointed
Frank LaRose, Jr. has been hired as the City’s Economic Development Director on a part-time basis. For the past 23 years, I have represented the City in matters of economic development. Now I think it’s necessary to be even more active in economic development affairs because the Veterans Administration Hospital will be closing in late 2011. It will be a major challenge to redevelop the VA property and add new businesses and jobs to the City of Brecksville and therefore we have created this position, which by the way also exists in Broadview Heights and Independence. We are currently putting together a marketing plan for the Veterans Administration property redevelopment. We have experienced much success in the economic development arena this year. True North, which operates or supplies over 320 Shell franchised sites in Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, including the Shell station on Brecksville Road, is relocating its corporate headquarters here. Rambus, Sports Construction Group and the Cleveland Clinic Data Center are major new additions coming to our City creating hundreds of new jobs. This progress should be reflected in our vital income tax collections. We are also in discussion with several companies in Brecksville who are looking to add to their facilities and we are talking to other companies which are thinking about relocating to Brecksville. All in all we are extremely pleased with the results of Frank LaRose’s work and soon he will be adding a page to our website to further promote the City.
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Disney Wedding
Congratulations to former Brecksville resident Susie Ondercik who was married to Christopher Guyer at the Walt Disney World Wedding Pavilion last March. It was an honor for me to perform the ceremony. Susie, her brother Robert, sister Sharon and mother and father, Rita and Bob, lived on Gatewood Drive in Echo Hills for many years before moving to the Orlando area. Rita and Bob were very active in our community. Bob was an executive at National City Bank prior to his retirement.
Bicentennial
It is gratifying to me that the Bicentennial Committee has grown to over 100 volunteers. The enthusiasm and excitement is evident, our schedule of events continues to grow, and next year, our Bicentennial year, we look forward to wonderful opportunities to enjoy our community, its history, its people and its special places.
Don Faulhaber, Frank DeWolf, former Mayor Robert Kubicek and Midge Cassidy head up this committee. Please visit our website at Brecksville.oh.us to learn more. We hope that residents and former residents will gather throughout the year for the events we are planning and that there will be a homecoming and reunion of families and friends. We continue to seek photographs, old home movies, letters, documents, advertising materials – anything related to the history of our community. If you have any items you would like to share with us, we are able to copy these items and return the originals to you or if you wish to donate them, they will eventually become the property of the Brecksville Historical Association when the Bicentennial committee completes its work. We have from the Davidson family a 16mm film from the 1930s, an 8mm film of the 1971 Memorial Day Parade, a 16mm film of the 1937 motorcycle races in Brecksville and literally hundreds of pictures and slides of events, places and people that tell stories of our 200 years of existence. Please enjoy some of the photographs we have placed on the City’s webpage to give you an idea of what we are looking for and at the same time perhaps relive a good memory or two. We need your help in locating artifacts.
The Brecksville Bicentennial Historian Committee, of which I am a member, is gathering information regarding Brecksville families. This is a wonderful opportunity to provide information, photographs and special stories about your family that will be placed in electronic and hard copy files by the Brecksville Historical Association. This is a way to not only preserve the heritage of this community but also the remembrance of your family. Think of the joy a friend or family member would have decades or a century from now when they find this file about you and your family. It is a wonderful opportunity, and we encourage all current and former Brecksville residents who have an interest in putting together such a file to do so. Look for it on the webpage. And we will gather this information in 2010 and 2011 and certainly thereafter as it becomes part of the archives of the Brecksville Historical Association.
In 1961 when Brecksville celebrated its Sesquicentennial, Robert Kubicek was Mayor. Bob today serves as an Honorary Chairman for this Bicentennial 50 years later. Soon Mayor Kubicek will be writing his memories of his youth in Brecksville as well as the many years he was active in the community in the government and various civic organizations. We are very fortunate to have him participate in this Bicentennial year planning.
Donald Faulhaber, Jr., a graduate of the Class of 1958 and a former star athlete at Brecksville High School and a partner in the Faulhaber Funeral Home on Broadview Road, is a Co-Chairman. Don’s father and paternal grandfather grew up in Brecksville and lived on Arlington Street. Both Don’s mother and father have been active in Broadview Heights civic organizations. Don Faulhaber, Sr. served as Mayor of Broadview Heights for a number of years. Don represents both the history of our City and that of the City of Broadview Heights.
Frank DeWolf, long time resident and schoolmate of Don Faulhaber’s (they both lived in the downtown area in their youth and became friends as children), unite to Chair the Bicentennial. Frank is a retired employee of the research lab at BF Goodrich, formerly in Brecksville. Frank was a volunteer fireman for 33 years on our Brecksville Fire Department, rising to the rank of Captain. Midge Cassidy is also an Honorary Co-Chair of the Bicentennial. She is a member of the Dillow, Wood and Cassidy families – all three known not only for their contributions to the various church and civic organizations in Brecksville but also because the family members were long time undertaker/funeral directors in our community. Don Faulhaber’s father began his funeral director’s service with the Dillow Wood Funeral Home which was located on the present site of PNC Bank, formerly National City Bank. Blossom
Many improvements have been made to our playing fields and we’re proud of our new synthetic turf field at our Blossom property. This field will become our premiere field for soccer. Based upon our growing program of nearly 30 teams and our soccer academy, this field will become a very important addition to our programs that are really busting at the seams.
Other improvements are ongoing at Blossom Hill to improve foot and vehicle traffic as well as parking. New sidewalks and extended parking areas will facilitate this. We continue to make upgrades on the 1930 vintage buildings that remain on the property as well as the 1950s vintage school buildings. I am challenging the Recreation Commission to revisit the Master Plan for the Blossom facility considering our 83 acre parcel has grown to 185 acres with the 102 acres bought from the City of Cleveland. Our recreational programs and facilities have a bright future due to this wonderful site. With our continued planning and expansion of programs and facilities, we have so much to look forward to. |
