Business owners in Cleveland Heights are fed up with the negative coverage of the inner-ring suburb on Cleveland.com. Many of them are considering boycotting the site and canceling what remains of their Plain Dealer subscriptions en masse, to protest what they see as sensational journalism.
Scene obtained an email sent yesterday from Alex Quintana of Quintana’s Barber & Dream Spa on South Taylor Road. Quintana asked other small business owners in the area to band together in the face of changing public perceptions.
It is not to say that we don’t have crime in this city, but it does seem as if Chanda Neely, from the Northeast Ohio Media Group, and Cleveland.com, have chosen that this is the only press they will write about. It is my impression that it is starting to effect the amount of business that we get from other suburbs such as Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Orange, etc. I know that none of us as small business owners are willing to just lay down and let this happen, but the perception that this city is a war zone is starting to effect our bottom line.
Declan Synnott, who owns Parnell’s Pub on Lee Road, told Scene that his business has indeed been suffering in recent years. He attributes the decline not only to the loss of suburban clientele but also to the lack of students from Case Western Reserve and John Carroll:
“The Case kids have their own entertainment district in University Circle now, and the Carroll kids get bused to Ohio City,” Synnott said.
Synnott, who closed half of Parnell’s pub earlier this year to cut costs, thinks that the recent problem is more than just bad press, though the NEOMG’s coverage has been making matters far worse. He said Cleveland Heights government needs to step in and start finding ways to improve the area, even if it’s only related to perceptions of safety.
Boycotting the Northeast Ohio Media Group is more of a symbolic gesture than anything. Again, from Quintana’s email:
I know we have all put in our hard earned money to invest in our businesses to attract clients and that we are not willing to lose those investments to negative press; at best yellow journalism. It is something that I think we should all address uniformly. Whether or not we all take our Plain Dealer subscriptions and cancel them all in the same day, or utilize our social media influence via our businesses to create a positive image of our city… Please forward this to as many people you think should know and would be interested in making sure that we don’t just lay down and let Cleveland.com keep running our city through the mud.
Though recent stories about arson at the Katz’ Club Diner and the closings of Sweetie Fry and the Pub on Lee were upsetting, business owners’ biggest beef was with the fiendish coverage of the shooting of Jim Brennan, owner of Brennan’s Colony on Lee, back in July.
“We had 50 posts on that — engagement posts, perspectives, updates — we got a half-million page views,” NEOMG VP of Content Chris Quinn told Crain’s in August (in an extremely rare media appearance). “It’s a completely new approach to the way we report news and the way people want to consume it.”
The way people are forced to consume it, Quinn should have said, thanks to the iterative reporting methods promulgated by the VP himself and the digital-first luminaries at Advance Publications. Those methods often result in 10 or 12 (or 118) fragmented variations on a single theme. Most news posts on developing stories consist of a sentence or two of breaking coverage followed by 250-odd words of repurposed material.
In the meantime, Cleveland Heights businesses (on Lee Road specifically) will continue to bear the brunt of the NEOMG’s new approach. Next to Parnell’s Pub, for instance, a MetroPCS storefront has recently appeared.
The mushrooming up of prepaid wireless service providers tend to be greeted with somewhat less fanfare than Sam McNulty brewpubs or farm-to-table concepts. Instead, people bite their lips and mournfully click their tongues while Quinn and his minions’ find 400 ways to whisper “There goes the neighborhood.”
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2014.
Instead of complaining about accurate press coverage, why don’t they create a special improvement district like Ohio City and downtown. Then they can start to provide Ambassadors that provide visible liaisons to the CHPD, safety escorts, and light clean-up.
Did you ever think that it’s maybe because the cops in Cleveland Heights are HUGE ASSHOLES? That’s the reason most people I knew avoided that city like the plague 10-15 years ago when I was in college at JCU. And now, hilariously enough, it’s the same thing. I have friends who aren’t punks that would rather not deal with the hassle of potentially getting harassed by a Cleveland cop. Oh and btw, this isn’t a race thing, most of my friends and myself are white.
Cleveland Heights has ASSHOLE cops. They sit on the north side of Mayfield just west of the car dealership just WAITING to give you a speeding ticket for going a few miles over the limit. Same thing on Monticello, same thing on the back roads in and around Coventry, same thing for parking in and around Coventry. Blame the ASSHOLE cops.
So the choices are these: Go to a neighborhood where power hungry idiots are at, or go to a location that is equidistant like Mayfield or even as far as Willoughby and not deal with ASSHOLE COPS…. I choose the latter and so does your clientele. The cash ticketing machine is obviously benefiting the cops in some shape way or form….. oh and BTW beware, it’s happening in South Euclid now too…. go figure, taking a lesson from their neighbors (makes sense as I have a friend there that says that city government is corrupt as all hell).
Stopped subscription to sun newspapers several years ago basically because if the same approach to the schools and neighborhood. While the events at the Colony and the Katz club I won’t let this are terrible I wont let those events or fear mongering journalism diminish my lifelong support of our neighborhood!
From what I’ve seen it’s the JCU kids who are the entitles little assholes who run around thinking that because they go to JCU they can act like they want to. I’ve personally seen many a Carrol kid running his mouth get owned by a Heights cop and it was actually done in a somewhat respectful manner. The best was seeing one JCU kid in the back of a police car who had been previously yelling do you know who my father is? With tears running down his cheeks.
It would be nice of the CHPD to treat their visitors and locals like their bosses rather than suspected criminals to anything the CHPD can dream up…horrible predatory police in that area, that is the MAIN reason why I avoid Cleveland Heights if I can.
Kill the messenger. Geniuses.
It always amazes me that when people break the law, it is the police who are at fault.
I stopped going to CH because of parking. I got a ticket at a meter with 10 mins time remaining. I took a picture of the meter with my ticket in the same shot & was accused of trying to scam them!
I never go to the CH/Coventry area. It’s a total pain in the butt to get there from the westside. I spend a great deal of my time in areas like Gordon Square, Ohio City and Tremont because they appeal more to my tastes than what the east side areas have going on…. get some of the chefs to start putting in trendy restaurants, breweries, coffee houses, speakeasy concepts – that is what will drive business professionals to the area and rejuvenate the city.
As a former Cleveland now living in Florida, I truly sympathise with you. I got sick of getting tickets which in turn made my insurance go up. Imagine, 37 mph tickedt in a 25 mph zone, Nothing like that here. Lived in S. Euclid for over 45 years. When they were upgrading residential roads behind Cedar Center, I received a ticket while following other cars over the rough torn up street trying to get to Cedar Rd (a main street) on my way to work. Upon complaining, my councilwoman said that this should never have occured. Lots of luck. I paid my ticket and insurance went up again. I couldn’t wait to get out of S. Euclid and Cleveland Heights.
What the media has never understood about Cleveland Heights is that they never tell the story of people who love Cleveland Heights and who have chosen to live there and that is what pisses us off more than anything. I have lived in Cleveland Heights for 35 years and never have I been asked by any so-called journalist why I stay. All they are interested in writing about is scandal and why people leave. I remember years ago when that idiot Mary Jane Skala was editor of the Sun Press. She was editor of that paper for years before she figured out the funding system for public schools in Ohio. How is this possible? How can you be an editor a local newspaper and not understand and be able to report accurately on the school funding system??? That is basic knowledge that every reporter should know. Once she did an article on problems in Cleveland Heights and her moronic reporter only interviewed people who hated Cleveland Heights and said they were leaving. Is that what they teach you do to do in Journalism 101? NO. I know this because I’ve taken Journalism 101. A reporter is supposed to tell BOTH sides of the story, but the so-called journalists in the Cleveland area are not interested in doing this. They should have their journalism, or worse yet, “communication,” degrees revoked because they don’t know the basics on reporting a story.
I love a Floridian talking about how to drive.
Hey, now, Sam Allard. Be cool…
i was raised in Cleveland Heights and now live in University Heights. I refuse to shop on Coventry or the Cedar Lee area because of the stupid parking meters. If CH wished to help their businesses dump the stupid meters.
You poor naïve Cleveland Heights cheerleaders. Did you ever stop to think that the reason why there’s so much negative coverage about your city is because of the rapidly changing demographics and socio-economic makeup of the population?
I’m a west sider, and I love Cleveland Heights. But it could be a lot more painless…no other city tickets you for parking meters after 6 or 8pm…not Cleveland proper, not Lakewood, not even Crocker Park in Westlake. Cleveland Heights is 24/7. And I’ve never had to deal with it, but the CHPD are notorious for being unforgiving and punitive. There has got to be better ways of paying for parking decks! Otherwise…Cleveland Heights is a blast…and I hate the way NEOMG runs its stories too.
Sure, you can argue that PD could have used a bit more discretion when reporting on CH, but dare I mention that the newspaper isnt experiencing plentiful readership base anyway, so there’s many other factors at play – I doubt they swayed anyone one way or another. You can boycott PD all you want, but the district will be better off putting more reassure on the city government to step up their efforts.
PS. I second the comment about less-than-friendly cops!
Cleveland Heights has been on a long, slow, slide downward for decades. These latest business closings are part of the death spiral. CH is not yet at rock-bottom, but they’ll get there. This is not rocket-science, people. Open your flipp’in eyes and try to see the raw, unfiltered, apolitical reality for what it is.
Remember the east bank of the flats? THEY brought it down, down to its knees. The bars began a race to the bottom..cheaper beers, longer happy hours, etc. etc. Who do think that attracts? THEM. That’s who. And look what happened. THEY start pulling their usual crap, the suburbanites flee, and the whole thing collapses under the weight of THEM.
Remember E. 6th? Bank Street, Fat Fish Blue, Liquid, etc? Nice, right? Good, right? Then what happened? The clubs started catering to THEM. And THEY multiplied, and grew, and then gunshots, knife fights, thefts, robberies. THEY start pulling their usual crap, the suburbanites flee, and the whole thing collapses under the weight of THEM.
Remember Cedar and Lee of 15 years ago? I do. Now what is happening. THEY multiplied, and grew, and now gunshots, knife fights, thefts, robberies. Murder. THEY start pulling their usual crap, the suburbanites and college kids flee, and the whole thing collapses under the weight of THEM.
Truly, this is not hate speech, this is cold hard reality. This isn’t black or white, rich or poor. This CULTURAL. I feel for the people who live in CH and want to love it, but you can’t force a square peg into a round hole. You rah-rah CH-ers are on a sinking ship and all of the happy thinking and cloud gazing in the world will not change that fact. These landlords need to fill up empty storefronts. Coming soon to a formerly-quaint neighborhood near you: Pre-pay Cell phone stores; Wig and Nail salons; Payday Advance storefronts; and Dollar stores. These stores will survive because they will be catering to the demographic of that area.
This is what it is. Sorry.
1. Stop subscribing, reading, listening to all news in all its formats. They are there to create large amounts of terror and only small amounts of happiness.
2. Whoever Edward Vullo is, he is obviously an idiot because nothing about Heights has been rapidly changing. Goodnor still is and always will be Goodnor. Mayfield will always be Mayfield. And the top of Fairmount will always be just that as well. If anything it is a very, very, very slow decline. Otherwise you would have had flight by most. People are willing to stay in a neighborhood and attempt to keep it up.
As a long term member of the Heights community I have had my bike stolen multiple times, people were shot to death near or on my front lawn when I was a child, a girl was stabbed in front of my house while my mother was outside enjoying the summer nights air. Our bulletproof glass garage was broken into and the lawn mower was stolen. Do you know how many of these crimes were committed by Heights residents? 0. None. Ziltch. The real problem is that Heights promoted things like the Coventry Street fair, which brings outsiders from nearby communities. Much like how the Feast has also gone to the dogs. Then you have a bar that promotes smoking tobacco and is open to children under 21. Yes children. Because to a bouncer a 16 year old with a fake ID that says 18 looks 18. Also that Coventry is in fact on the border of East Cleveland. And seeing as they have absolutely NO police force in East Cleveland it is very easy for the residents there to run their familes up here and steal a bike, or car, or rob someone. Sometimes it’s even just to trick or treat.
I know families that have been there for generations. There are business owners and others who refuse to leave. It has always been this way. You fight for what you have, always. It is a sprawling community with a huge difference in income, class, and lifestyle varying on a per street basis. Any community with working poor and millionaires in the same taxable municipality is bound to have crime.
I have never had a problem with the Heights police. In fact I have only had good experiences. Pay for your meters. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t be an idiot.
To the guy that was talking about relishing the John Carroll kids thinking they are the big bosses and getting what they deserve, THAT’S WHY THEY GO TO JOHN CARROLL!! John Carroll is a mediocre school at best.
What it is really time for is the taxpayers to start asking where all the money is going. Shutting down schools and failing infrastructure with still some of the highest taxes in the county and state. C’mon now. Heights has potential but the wrong people are in charge. Also whoever talked about tenant basis is right. The CAP value on some of those places must be horrible. But then again that’s what you get when you allow a place like Severance in the community. That was the beginning. Walmart, Home Depot, Blockbuster, Liquor Store, Radio Shack, Regal Cinemas. All decent tenants that did pay the bills and make money. Unfortunately after that the OBVI choices were a nail salon and boost mobile store along with 3 other fronts that never got filled and then an IHOP!!!! The Heights future land use and development planner should be taken out, as well as their economic development officials. With the same people in charge, I wouldn’t be surprised if Severance was converted into projects within the decade.
Heights can and will make it. Only if the right people help, that is if they still care to…
CH meters on streets are usually free after 6:00 and all day Sunday. The metered spots in lots and garages are 24/7/365.
I don’t agree with it, but the last 5 weekends of 2014 will have free parking at all meters in CH. The previous such promotion included Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the “weekend”.
As there is inexplicably no formal city council resolution on this, caveat emptor.
(I can’t find a link, but councilperson Coryell posted the above info on his fb page. smh)
I am a CH/UH native and agree that local government does not encourage local business with efforts to draw more people. Instead it feels more like a snare. The more people to come, the higher the parking and moving violation revenues. It really does discourage. Whenever I go to Lee Road for business I have to make sure I get quarters or I have a $15 ticket in my future. At the very least get meters that allow you to use a credit card.
gobbledygook – I don’t know where you live, but I’ve been hanging around the Heights since the early 70’s and have lived here for 35 years. The crime rate was much higher in the 70’s and the Cedar-Lee strip was pretty crappy. Everyone thought Cleveland Heights would be the next East Cleveland. I heard it all of the time. “THEY” have yet to take over 40 years later. Cleveland Heights has it tough as it has borders on two of the poorest cities in America and yet, it has managed to survive this situation for decades. Now that’s a story – but not one any journalist at the PD is interested in.
As for the cell phone stores, dollar stores and payday lending places, they are everywhere. I was out in North Olmsted last weekend and saw them there and I bet you don’t think North Olmsted is a ghetto that “THEY” are going to take over any time soon, do you? I went to the maple sugar festival in Chardon last spring and parked in a strip mall parking lot in which all but one of the store fronts was empty. You see this everywhere you travel in America, and yet “THEY” have yet to take over Chardon. A lot of the decline you describe is happening all over America and is due to the decline of the middle class. Nearly all of the income growth since 2008 has gone to the the 1%. Middle class incomes, if anything, have been declining. So, everywhere you go in America you see decline in middle class communities. The biggest growth in poverty is in the suburbs right now. All but the wealthiest communities in America are in a battle for survival right now. Oh, wait, that sounds like a story! I wonder if any journalist around here is interested in covering it? Doubtful, I’d say as it would take real research and hard work to do it.
To the editors of NEOMG and the Sun Press, Please promote honest, balanced reporting. Stop muckraking just to sell yourselves. Since you hired C. Neely the reporting has stooped to a new low. I thought M.J. Skala was prejudiced and ignorant, your new reporter has a past reputation as a biased muckraker, please we do not need her manure here. There is a word for this, I just refuse to stoop so low like a certain person who feels mature enough to critic a police force that is keeping criminals in their place.
My family chose to live here in 1968, and after living in other cities, my husband and I chose to come back and raise our children here. We like our city, and our schools and chose to promote, patronize and support our local businesses and schools.
-squidward
You are testament to what I described as CH cheerleaders, hoping against hope for a better reality, but refusing to see the current reality for what it really is.
CH is heading down, friend. Communities don’t rise and fall as quickly as a roller coater ride. These things take time, and we’re lucky if we see a community rise from the ashes (or, sadly,fall to the bottom) in our short lifetimes.
That being said, THEY can take down an entertainment district in no time at all– months instead of decades. Witness the East Bank of the Flats or E. 6th.
As far as communities go, THEY chip away at it over time. Cedar-Lee will continue to deteriorate, and the pace is beginning to pick up. Ghetto stores beget ghetto stores. Nobody in his/her right mind is going to open a Panera’s next to a check cashing shop. So Cedar-Lee is toast, friend. Its all over except for the crying.
As far as your reference about N. Olmsted, lets first of all be clear: N. Olmsted ain’t no Rocky River, Westlake, or Bay Village to begin with. It’s always been a marginally endowed community, with cheap real estate, mediocre retail, and un-noteworthy schools. As the concentrated poverty barracks of CMHA slowly get demolished and rebuilt, the poor are taking their Section 8 vouchers with them to the suburbs, N. Olmsted chief among them. The proliferation of ghetto stores in N. O. is in response to the influx of this newer, poorer demographic.
Your reference to empty storefronts in Chardon is way off the mark. Neither N.O. nor Chardon has the density and saturation of THEM as C.H. has. Empty shops don’t mean anything in and of themselves. The situation in C.H. is that vibrant, curb-friendly, pedestrian-driven, destination shops and restaurants are being quickly replaced by ghetto shops which are NONE OF THE ABOVE. They are the harbingers of communal decay, not beacons of vibrant life.
To the rest of nutjobs ripping into the PD, don’t kill the messenger. This, like it or not, is newsworthy. Like a train crash, or a Virgin Space crash, the decline of a once popular destination neighborhood is news. Gruesome news….but then, is there any other kind?
gobbledygook – Just because you say it doesn’t make it true. As I said before, I’ve heard all of this for decades and none of it has been true.
Squid, the demographics are facts – not fantasy. Facts like declining income, lower education, fewer families, more crime, higher taxes, relatively lower property values, decline in public education attendance. Empty storefronts. This was not CH in the 70’s, it only started then.
Good luck to everyone in Cleveland Heights, I truly do hope that you’re able to restore your community’s image to reflect how you see it through your own eyes. There truly is a battle going on now for control of that community – I hope the good guys come out on top.
Yes Quintina’s Spa and other small businesses I was raised in Cleveland Hts Cedar and Lee area. I was 10 when I moved here, and now 40, 2 of my own children have graduated from Heights, and one more to go from Monticello. I feel that no matter what happens crime wise in Cleveland Hts, people get upset because reguardless our city still has a stained reputation of being one of the strongest, most beautiful and historic cities in Ohio period! The newspapers can say whatever they want to taint our name, but we all know Cleveland Hts will conquer, and prosper, and be back on top.
What I never understood is how Cleveland Hts, so many good and bad areas. Even when I was a young girl, my mom said to stay awaybfrombcertain areas in the city. My children go walking around the Taylor Fairmont area and have no problem, but near Noble, cain park,and superior are a little worst. I do believe it was a lit nicer years ago, but my question is what can be done to rebuild the cities reputation?