On April 14, our city’s planning commission did a great thing. They voted in recommendation for the old Oakwood Club to be rezoned commercial. This will not only bring jobs to our area, it will increase tax revenue to South Euclid and hopefully stave off an income or property tax increase which will hopefully bring more residents. Even better, First Interstate will take over development of Cedar Center North. Considering the poor job Coral Company did with University Square and their constant asking for handouts like tax deferments, this is a good thing for South Euclid. It’s also a good thing for the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district, since speedy development of that property will increase funds there. Of course, Heightsters will never admit to that, they will just whine about the temporary reduction in funds to their lousy schools which the unfortunate kids in that section of South Euclid are forced to go to.
The easy thing for the Planning Commission would have been to vote against rezoning. It would have taken zero political courage, because those opposed to Oakwood have dominated the debate with hysterical claims & a mailer loaded with speculation and innuendo. Jennifer West at the planning commission said that “probably about 98%” of opposition comes from outside of South Euclid. That’s probably an exaggeration, since there are a number of South Euclid households surrounding the old Club which are mostly opposed. But the primary driver of opposition has been a coalition of Heights businesses, greenies, advocates of “regionalism”, would-be politicians who will oppose anything our elected leadership favors, and Heightsters who think allowing South Euclid to make its own decisions will hurt the Heights. They all have different background agendas. The greenies are secretly pleased that the population of Cleveland and the first ring suburbs keeps dwindling – they’d love nothing more than for our area to become an urban farm. The Heights businsses fear development will draw people away from their overpriced boutique shops, especially since Cleveland Heights meters much of their parking. (This fear is patently absurd. Who would stop going to Passport to Peru because a Lowe’s opened at Oakwood?) They also want South Euclid’s income and property taxes to increase, which will make South Euclid less desirable and by extension the Heights moreso. Most of these people probably wouldn’t even give each other the time of day in other circumstances. But nothing can unite divergent people like a common enemy. One wacko even suggested that South Euclid should be annexed by the surrounding suburbs, as if we were Lindale! These people are bullies, picking on a small suburb in order for them to enhance their own position. The Planning Commission stared them down. Let’s hope the council at large shows the same fortitude.
A recent post on the Citizens for Oakwood facebook page even lamented the construction of Gordon’s Food Service at Cedar Center North. Why would anyone oppose a specialty store which is not direct competition for any store in the area? The nearest Gordon’s in in Mentor, for chrissakes. It’s laughable, because these are the same people who say “develop Cedar Center North first”, but only if they approve of the stores that are built.
There has been another factor to opposition at Oakwood, and it has never been mentioned. But anyone who reads the comments section at Cleveland.com can see it: anti-Semitism is once again rearing its ugly head. I would not be surprised to see this in a place like North Olmsted which is crawling with Muslims. But it’s sad that this would happen in an eastern area like ours, since South Euclid, Beachwood, and the various Heights have substantial Jewish populations. The chief offender is a poster named “cautiousman”, who never comes forth and actually says it, but the tone of many of his posts dealing with the sale of Oakwood and Mitchell Schneider’s involvement have that slant. I have a pretty good idea who this “cautiousman” creep actually is. Can you guess who I’m thinking of?
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