Archives for the Month of January 2006 on A View of Cleveland From The Eastside
My Hometown
I recently read an article that was linked by the Case Daily email. I like how all the news that involves Case can be anything that remotely mentions Case Western. Anyways, the article has to do with my little home town of Moreland Hills, Ohio. Recently a developer bought some land and wanted to build homes, 18 of them on half acre parcels. Moreland Hills has a zoning law on the books from 1952 requiring that all homes be built on at least two acres of land. The developer since has had the Ohio Supreme Court overturn a favorable ruling towards him. I have mixed feelings about this decision. I do like being able to preserve the feeling of the neighborhood I live in now. I live on a little over 2 acres and the rest of my neighbors do as well. It’s a different feeling from my first home where in Eastlake, Ohio we lived on probably half an acre and you had houses lined up next to each other in this whole development. It was the typical after WWII housing project where all the houses were built off of a few models. I like the extra space in Moreland Hills granted cutting the grass is a bit more difficult. At the same time I feel this ruling forces people who would want to build a house in Moreland Hills because of our great public and private schools, the neighborhood, or whatever else from doing so. Just buying a parcel of 2 acres is fairly expensive; it was seven years ago when my parents originally bought the land, I can’t imagine how much it costs now. I feel that it excludes people on a socio economic level but there are also plenty of houses on the market. For now, I get to enjoy Moreland Hills the way it is. If you want to read the original PD article go here.
Happy New Years
Last night I watched the ball drop in Times Square with several hundred thousand people there and an estimated billion watching on TV. I also was able to watch like many of you Dick Clark on air for the first time since his stroke. It has been over a year since he had his stroke and yet he still had a slur in his speech as if he was drunk. He looked perfectly healthy yet a small clot in his brain caused so much damage. Even with his slurred speech it was nice to see him back on TV trying to convey the energy and liveliness he has in years past. I was moved by his spirit and determination to come back into our homes and celebrate another New Years with us. We have come once again to a new year where 40 percent of Americans will resolve to lose weight. But I hope we also resolve to do more, to challenge ourselves and each other, and to never forget that there is always someone who can use our help.
Two awesome events in the sports world also occurred today. First the Browns won over the Ravens and Doug Flutie of the Patriots completed the first drop kick for an extra point in 40 years. When I saw this I was thinking is this even legal? Check it out here