Just posted my updates from Monday’s council meeting, where the police department recognized their Officer of the Year, we all learned a little bit about odor control at the wastewater treatment plant, and the Carriage Stone sidewalk plan passed another big milestone.
Cleveland Street will be closed between Bell Street and Columbus Street/Hamlet Hills Drive every day this week from 9:00 am – 2:30 pm so that First Energy can replace a utility pole.
It’s great to see our neighbors in South Russell taking steps to increase their active transportation options. I’m looking forward to seeing what their engineering firm comes up with, and hope to make it to the meeting on March 11 at 7:00 pm.
South Russell Village to Create Trail Master Plan This Year
(CVT subscription required)
All of the recent injury-causing vehicle/pedestrian collisions in Chagrin Falls that I’m aware of – including the two women struck in 2023 and the death of Eli Sacharon in 2014 – were pedestrians in crosswalks with the right of way. So I think instead of lecturing people about walking we should be addressing the root causes of actually dangerous situations, like poor street design, driver recklessness, and oversized vehicles. As residents we’re only really able to influence the first item on that list, and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last couple of years on the Safety Committee. I encourage anyone concerned about pedestrian safety to join us as we plan improvements to our village! (comment from Village Block Club)
Registration is now open for Safety Town 2025.
Chagrin Falls Safety Town is a safety awareness program for children entering kindergarten. The Chagrin Falls Police Department and youth volunteers, with the cooperation of the Chagrin Valley Fire Department, will teach the classes.
Sessions will be held from July 14 - July 25.
Friendly reminder that next year (November 4, 2025) Chagrin Falls will elect four people to Village Council (over half of the seats). All members will hold four-year terms, completing council’s transition to staggered terms (see the link below for more details and a diagram).
If you’ve ever considered running and want to hear more about the reality of the job, please get in touch! Happy to talk to you, over email, on the phone, or in person – whatever you’re most comfortable with: brian@councilmandrum.net
I just published my recap of Monday’s Safety Committee meeting, where we reviewed a variety of improvements we can make to the streetscape in the wake of the North Main Street bridge project. Very happy with the progress we’ve made so far and I’m cautiously optimistic that these changes will actually be implemented.
If you care about this stuff (and you should!) take a look and let me know what you think. I’m planning to call another meeting for December 9 to keep the momentum going, so please join if you can…
Surprised I missed this September Wall Street Journal profile of the Rocket Cars and Jen Heitman, who–thanks to the Jaycees–has been kind enough to host Council members and their families in the last couple of Blossom Parades. Such a cool, unique legacy!
Also, the idea of going 135 mph in one of these is absolutely terrifying…
Archived copy: https://archive.ph/2SdKH
The village may have an approved budget before the fiscal year starts. Sidewalks might get some much-needed attention. Grove Hill Park is still not complete after four-and-a-quarter years. Details and more in my notes from last night’s village council meeting.
I think traffic engineers are often so focused on cars that common sense goes out the window and anyone outside a vehicle is endangered. Here they’ve completely obscured the crosswalk entrance by placing this giant highway-sized sign on southbound Main Street. Be careful out there!
Beautiful day for a father-and-son bike ride down the bridle trail as far as the river. This is enough for him right now, but I’m looking forward to the day when the Solon connection is complete and we can include a stop at Mitchell’s Homemade.
So glad to see this proper sidewalk and curb going in at the future home of Two Café & Boutique, replacing over a hundred feet of solid pavement and driveway apron. The fewer places that cars and people can occupy the same space, the better. I know of a couple other spots in town that could use the same treatment.
Chagrin Falls will be featured this week on the PBS show City Centric.
It will air Friday at 8:30 pm and again Saturday at 1:30 am and 6:00 pm on WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1, and stream live at pbswesternreserve.org/live-tv. They will be featuring several local organizations and establishments using the tagline “Explore a timeless village that thrives on creativity”.
The school bus is disappearing. Welcome to the era of the school pickup line.
What a depressing milestone: most kids are now driven to and from school by private vehicles. So glad I live in a place where both my kids can now walk, bike, or scooter to school. I’m specially thankful for the many crossing guards who volunteer rain or shine to help make sure they get there safely.
Interested in becoming a crossing guard? Please get in touch!
The Facilities & Services Committee will meet Monday at 6:45 pm and Village Council will start 7:30 pm. In both meeting we’ll be looking at an extension to the village contract with Kimble Recycling & Waste Disposal, a contract amendment to address cost increases to the Police and Fire Renovation project. Facilities & Services will also be discussing the possibility of community-wide survey in 2025.
I’ve shared my notes from last night’s Safety Committee meeting where we talked about a number of changes we could make to improve the downtown streetscape.
Stopped by Grove Hill Park to check out the repairs to the stairs. Several of the treads were broken and have been replaced with new stone.
Stop signs are coming to East Orange Street and North Street at Mill Street.
Traffic Notice: New 3-way stop at Orange, North, Mill Streets
Disappointing news from the Grove Hill Park Commission meeting this morning. With no bids solicited and no contract awarded, the half-finished projects from 2023 won’t even be able to start until the second half of this year, putting the construction of the actual park at risk.
The village received some complaints about the safety of the crosswalk on Mill Street where it meets East Orange Street and North Street, so I spent some time observing it, studying its design, and thinking about how it can be improved.
An Analysis of the Intersection of East Orange, North, and Mill Streets