Open House 2.0
When: Wednesday, August 21 at 5:30 PM
Where: Lee Road Library
(2345 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118)
Open House 2.0 Overview
On Wednesday, August 21st, Safe Streets for Cleveland Heights hosted the second public Open House event as part of the ongoing community engagement process. Over 45 community members, plus City of Cleveland Heights staff and consultant team members, participated in the interactive event. The event was held at the Lee Road Public Library, employing a different venue from the first public Open House held at the Cleveland Heights Community Center.
Public Open House 2.0 provided an opportunity for community members to review recommended safety improvements for eight different street segments in Cleveland Heights. Each street segment was displayed on a different board displayed around the room. The various safety improvements were categorized into three implementation timeframes:
Short Term
Medium Term
Long Term
Participants were given comment cards and stickers to place on the safety improvements they thought would be most beneficial for all road users in Cleveland Heights. In addition to listing the names of the improvements, each board included images illustrating some of the improvements and a map that identified their proposed locations. By utilizing an open house format, attendees were able to review each board at their own pace before selecting their priority improvements.
Cleveland Heights staff and consultant team members from Kimley-Horn and Seventh Hill were available at each board to help participants. The discussions were valuable opportunities to talk about current perceptions of safety and better understand the reasons why people chose their priority improvements. Participants placed stickers on their cards to vote for their priority improvements. The cards also had space available to write comments. By combining the quantitative results of the sticker exercise with the written comments, the project team could identify the safety improvements community members found most beneficial for all road users.
“I can’t count the number of times I’ve almost been hit crossing Lee @ Cedar/Lee in the business district.”
Public Feedback Summary
Nearly 600 total votes were recorded on the display boards during the public open house. The chart below shows the total number of votes recorded for each recommended improvement. Improvements with the highest number of votes on each board represent the actions participants perceived to be the most beneficial.
The letters in each board column correspond to different recommended improvements. Three different colors were used to identify three different timeframes for implementation: green for Short Term; yellow for Medium Term; and blue for Long Term.
A full display of each street board and all their recommended improvements is available further below. The top votes counted for each board are:
Board 1 | Cedar Fairmount
B. Install High-Visibility Crosswalks (14 votes)
M. Road Diet / Roadway Reconfiguration (14 votes)
Board 2 | Cedar Road & Lee Road
C. High-Visibility Crosswalks (17 votes)
O. Dedicated Bicycle Lanes to Replace Sharrows (16 votes)
Board 3 | Cedar Road & Taylor Road
J. Dedicated Bicycle Lanes to Replace Sharrows (23 votes)
Board 4 | Coventry Road
N. Add Dedicated Bicycle Lanes (13 votes)
Board 5 | North of Monticello Boulevard
C. High Visibility Crosswalks (10 votes)
Board 6 | Noble Road
F. Add Dedicated Bike Lanes (13 votes)
Board 7 | Taylor Road & Mayfield Road
K. Road Diet / Roadway Reconfiguration (16 votes)
Board 8 | Woodview Road / Maple Road
G. Install Speed Tables (7 votes)
As shown in the total vote chart above, some recommendations for a given street received a close number of votes, while a few others had clear favorites. The number of votes will help the project team gauge community priorities. But the team will also incorporate community feedback received from the open house comment cards and other public input methods used in the overall engagement process.
Many of the open house participants wrote insightful feedback on their comment cards. All the comments were transcribed and documented to identify key themes. Examples of a few individual comments are shown below.
“Aim towards eventual cultural shift that teaches people to slow down and obey the letter of the law in CH when it comes to pedestrians. As in, “If you’re going to CH, watch out, they are really strict on pedestrian rights-of-way, etc””
“I recommend quick changes, like Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs) and no turn on red, be done short-term either city-wide or in all commercial districts and school zones. These are inexpensive and probably have greater compliance when they are standardized.”
“Silsby is often used as a through street for avoiding Cedar. Near Silsby and Meadowgreen, consider speed bumps in road to slow down traffic - lots of kids playing in the area.”
Participants shared a range of comments that were both focused on particular locations and broadly applicable across Cleveland Heights. A synopsis of the ‘additional comments’ shared during Open House 2.0 identified these trends:
Bike lane safety: Multiple responses mention the need for dedicated bike lanes, physical buffers, and increased biking space to ensure the safety of bikers and other road users.
Road maintenance: Many responses highlight the importance of basic road maintenance, including filling potholes, repairing worn roads, and addressing hazardous road repair methods.
Pedestrian safety: Suggestions for improving pedestrian safety include implementing chicanes, crosswalks, pedestrian hybrid beacons, and leading pedestrian indicators. There is also a call for prioritizing protections for vulnerable road users over cars.
Speed reduction: Several responses advocate for lowering speed limits city-wide, particularly near schools, parks, and business districts. Speed tables, road diets, and traffic calming measures are also suggested to address speeding issues.
Communication and enforcement: Participants emphasize the need for clear communication about implemented actions and increased enforcement of speed limits to create a culture of compliance. There is also a desire for improved communication regarding road improvements and signage standards.
In addition to the safety trends that emerged, comments also mentioned specific corridors, streets, and intersections. Several locations that were specifically identified as priorities included:
Cedar Road & Lee Road
Lee Road
Mayfield Road & Coventry Road
Taylor Road
Silsby Road
Euclid Heights Boulevard
Kenilworth Road
Priority locations identified during the open house event will be cross-referenced with previous public comments submitted through the online PublicCoordinate map. By comparing feedback received from various engagement methods, the project team will get a better sense of the current challenges and desired improvements shared by the Cleveland Heights community.
Recommended Improvement Boards
Images of all eight boards displayed at Open House 2.0 are included below. Each board focuses on a particular street corridor or key intersection. Locations for the recommended improvements are indicated on a map of each area and organized by implementation timeline, along with example images of the improvements. Scroll though the images below to see the different boards.
If you’d like to take a closer look at the boards and review the recommended improvements, a PDF document of the total vote tally and eight boards is available below. Simply click the button to begin the PDF download (5.4 MB).
Next Steps
Since Open House 2.0, the project team is continuing to process the public comments from the event and compile feedback from other engagement activities. The project team recently led a youth focus group at Noble Road Library with students who attend Noble Elementary School, Roxboro Middle School, Monticello Middle School, and home school. Insights from these young community members provided valuable perspectives on the transportation barriers and safety concerns they experience daily. More outreach events are in the works to gather additional community feedback, including an engagement station at the Heights Halloween Festival on Saturday, October 19th, in partnership with Dobama Theatre.
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