Making a Public Comment
Council welcomes public comment before regular council meetings. Fill out the online form below for your chance to make a public comment at the next regular Monday Council meeting. Please read the revised rules and procedures.
Registrations can also be submitted:
* In person at Cleveland City Hall, Room 220, 601 Lakeside Ave. NE. Paper forms are available to register.
* If you don't want to fill out the online form below, you can download this form and fill it out, and email it to publiccomment@clevelandcitycouncil.gov or drop it off at Council offices. (Parking at City Hall on the upper lot is free on Mondays after 5 pm when Council is meeting.) If you need assistance, language, or disability, go here to make a request (at least 3 days in advance.)
Make a Comment in Person
Registrations to speak up to 3 minutes at a regular council meeting can be submitted between noon Wednesday and 2 pm on the Monday before a regular 7 pm council meeting. (Early, incomplete and false registrations are not accepted.) Only the first 10 are accepted.
Make a Comment Online
If you don't want to speak at a Council meeting, please submit your written comments below.
Public Comments
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The ordinance states that when evaluating interconnection requests, consideration will be given to whether the request benefits CPP customers. I strongly hope and recommend that evaluation of benefits includes air quality and heat stress. Interconnection agreements with large industrial customers who utilize batteries, solar, wind and other renewables are certainly beneficial for Clevelanders. Agreements with customers who use gas turbines or diesel generators will be detrimental to CPP customers because they will increase air pollution and exacerbate climate change, affecting the most vulnerable Cleveland residents (the very young, very old and impoverished) disproportionately.
I certainly hope the President and the council in general will consider this.
Thank you,
Chelsie Colvin
That designation matters. It reflects the understanding that these parklands, defined by the lakes, must be treated as one system.
What is happening now -reducing it to individual dams, isolated maintenance decisions, or segmented project components is not allowed. That is not how this landscape was protected, and it is not how it should be managed today.
Decisions affecting Horseshoe Lake, Lower Lake, Doan Brook, and the surrounding parklands affect the integrity of the whole. They cannot be evaluated or altered in pieces.
As the owner of these lands, the City has a responsibility to act deliberately and transparently -especially when considering easements, land use, and permanent changes to a federally recognized historic landscape.
The community has protected these parklands before. That responsibility now sits with you as this will tear the fabric that combines areas of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and Shaker Heights in ways that are connected, safe and trust building.
Please prioritize preservation of the historic landscape and ensure that no irreversible actions move forward without full transparency and a complete, lawful review.
- Municipal Services and Properties Committee
- Finance, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
- Full Cleveland City Council Meeting
To: Cleveland City Council Members/Committees
I am asking Cleveland City Council to proceed cautiously with any additional easements, authorizations, or operational actions affecting the Shaker Parklands while federal litigation and federal review remain active.
The essential issue regarding the Shaker Lakes Parklands is whether irreversible alteration of a federally recognized historic public landscape is being advanced through a lawful and fully completed review process.
Before any further irreversible steps are taken in the Shaker Lakes Parklands project, there are still critical questions that have not been answered. Residents have repeatedly asked for an independent evaluation of potential alternatives that would preserve the Shaker Lakes Parklands, and that has not been done.
The public has never been given a real choice. One plan is not a choice. Yet, public funds are being used for a project that fundamentally changes an historic landscape without clear public consent.
The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) mandates that public input must be an integral part of federal project decision-making when the historic integrity of a National Register property may be harmed.
The Shaker Lakes Parklands are not owned by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD). Cleveland remains the landowner, and the public deserves full transparency regarding easements, project scope, implementation plans, and the status of any ongoing negotiations or approvals.
Please ensure that all actions affecting Horseshoe Lake, Lower Shaker Lake, the Nature Center corridor, and surrounding parklands are managed openly, carefully, and only after complete public disclosure and lawful review.
Sincerely,
Christine Heggie
The Shaker Parklands are more than isolated “features” or infrastructure components. They are an interconnected historic landscape recognized at the federal level, on the National Register of Historic Places, for their historical, cultural, environmental, and recreational significance.
I urge Cleveland to avoid reducing this discussion to individual dams, isolated maintenance activities, or segmented project components. Decisions affecting Horseshoe Lake, Lower Lake, Doan Brook, and the surrounding parklands affect the integrity of the entire landscape.
As the owner of these lands, Cleveland has an obligation to act deliberately and transparently regarding easements, land-use decisions, and long-term transformation of the parklands.
NEORSD already breached the Horseshoe Lake dam, damaging a protected historic landscape, without any review process being undertaken. They went on to make complete plans for radically altering this historic landscape and got approval from Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights governments before going through the necessary permitting process. Allowing this plan to go forward without a thorough, transparent review would be a betrayal of the public trust and the city of Cleveland should ensure no such actions take place on this valuable land the city owns.
Please prioritize preservation of the historic landscape and ensure that no irreversible actions move forward without complete public transparency and lawful review.
Had restaurant 20 years ago in old arcade, went belly up...no place to park. Recently out of town guest wanted to eat downtown,,, no parking....
City don't seem to take it serious,
Believe me it's a serious problem
Your delusional if you dont...
I offer this comment with deep respect for the role of Cleveland City Council and the difficult decisions you are asked to make on behalf of our communities. As the City of Cleveland is the owner of the Shaker Parklands, not NEORSD or Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights, I ask you to use your authority to safeguard both the public trust and ensure lawful review of the proposed alterations to the irreplaceable Parklands landscape — ones that will impact future generations.
The Shaker Parklands are part of our region’s history, ecology, and community. Any action that could permanently alter them demands clear answers and complete public disclosure.
Right now, key questions remain unanswered, including:
• What analysis justifies this proposed transformation of the Shaker Parklands?
• What alternatives, if any, were evaluated?
• What assumptions and modeling are driving these decisions?
• What additional easements or authorizations are still under consideration, and on what timeline?
Moving ahead without clear, public answers to these questions is not acceptable. Public outreach and construction planning are not substitutes for transparency, or lawful review.
I respectfully ask Cleveland City Council to ensure that all agreements, easements, timelines, and implementation plans related to the Shaker Parklands are fully disclosed, made easily accessible, and publicly discussed before any irreversible alteration proceeds further. Once this landscape is altered, the damage cannot be undone. The public is entitled to clarity, accountability, lawful review and a real voice in the future of the Shaker Parklands.
Thank you.
The central issue before Cleveland is not simply whether someone supports or opposes “dam removal.” The issue is whether irreversible alteration of a federally recognized historic public landscape is being advanced through a lawful, transparent, and fully supported process.
Cleveland is not a passive observer here. Cleveland owns the underlying Shaker Parklands property and has authorized easements and related land-use actions through Ordinance 721-2025. Accordingly, Cleveland remains directly tied to ongoing questions concerning authority, scope, implementation, historic-landscape impacts, and public accountability.
I respectfully request that Cleveland publicly disclose:
the current status and scope of all easements relating to Horseshoe Lake, Lower Lake, Doan Brook, and associated parklands;
any amendments, expansions, negotiations, or pending implementation actions connected to Ordinance 721-2025;
the underlying engineering, hydrologic, alternatives, and historic-effects analyses supporting ongoing operational decisions;
and the present status of the independent due-diligence review for which the Cities retained outside counsel and consulting experts in December 2025.
Residents have repeatedly been told that independent review and evaluation are occurring, yet the public has received very little substantive information regarding the scope, findings, assumptions, recommendations, or conclusions of that work.
I also urge Cleveland officials to exercise caution regarding public statements suggesting that project outcomes are already final or inevitable while federal litigation and federal review remain active.
The Shaker Parklands are not NEORSD’s presumed possession. They are a historic public landscape held for public use and relied upon daily by residents throughout Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Cleveland, and the broader region.
At minimum, the public deserves full transparency before additional irreversible alteration proceeds.
From the outside, it can seem that this could be a great way for a Clevelander to make some extra money on their home in a popular neighborhood, and I do not besmirch that. However, the rise of out of town, or irresponsible short term rental owners has increased, and more and more houses are being bought in our neighborhood for the purpose of being a short-term rental. At last count, on my block alone (between Bridge and Franklin), there were 10 short term rentals, including one across the street from us, which is currently for sale and being promoted as a short-term rental.
The headlines and social media videos don’t lie. These short-term rentals invite trouble. From out-of-control parties including several in Ohio City last year with hundreds of juveniles taking over streets to garbage, noise, guns, and overall an air of disrespect for people who actually live here. How can we build a community with people who have no investment in living here? When every few days there are new people staying at these rentals, they have no investment in this place or knowing neighbors or being involved. We are forced to live next to and near houses and individuals that do not care about my family, my children’s safety, or the safety of those around them.
One thing I have learned in my years of being a Clevelander, is that far too often our city places more importance on the attractions and visitors to our city. While I value the impact that visitors and tourism have on our city, what about the homeowners and long term renters who call Cleveland home? What about those of us who work to keep our community a safe place? Why aren’t we prioritizing the needs and wants of Clevelanders FIRST before anyone else?
Short term rentals are an issue in cities across the country, and cities have taken steps to crack down on them. What is this council willing to do? And how will it be enforced? Passing legislation isn’t enough. Residents deserve reassurance that our streets belong to us, and not to short term renters who have no vested interest in our city thriving.
Thank you.