Final Community Event for the Connect East Cleveland Placemaking Process!

Thank you to all members of the East Cleveland Community who joined us for the final Community Event!

Our journey in the neighborhood placemaking process is nearing its culmination, and it's been an incredible experience to see the East Cleveland community come together with such passion and dedication. Your insights, dreams, and feedback have been the driving force in shaping a brighter, more vibrant neighborhood in East Cleveland. As reached our final community meeting, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you who participated.

Community Event 3.0

📅 Date: Wednesday, August 30th, 2023
🕒 Time: 5:30pm - 7:00pm
📍 Location: Mickey’s building, 12550 Euclid Avenue, East Cleveland

What we covered:

• Recap of Previous Meetings: An overview of what we've discussed, learned, and envisioned together.

• Presentation of Design Recommendations: See the collective dream for placemaking and placekeeping investments in the Circle East District take shape!

• Feedback Session: While this is our last formal meeting, your thoughts still matter deeply to us. We'll have opportunities for comments, questions, and suggestions.

• Celebrating Together: Share stories, connect with neighbors, and envision the future of East Cleveland over light refreshments.

Presentation Slides:

Your Voice Matters:
Your involvement has been at the heart of this process. We deeply appreciate the time, energy, and thought that so many of you have contributed. We appreciate the moments we shared to celebrate our achievements, refine our priority projects, and ensure that the future of East Cleveland truly reflects the dreams and aspirations of its residents.

The design team is working on creating the final report document, which will be posted on this website once completed. Please stay connected for future updates via the Circle East District website.

Thank you again for being a beacon of hope, creativity, and community spirit. We look forward to re-connecting with you there!

Warm regards,

Connect East Cleveland Project Team

What are your favorite placemaking ideas for the Circle East District?

The Cuyahoga Land Bank extends our gratitude to everyone who attended the second community event for the Connect East Cleveland placemaking process. Approximately 50 individuals participated in the open house event held in the newly renovated first floor space in the Mickey’s building. Based on feedback received during the first public event back on April 20th, the design team developed different options for public art, crosswalks, green spaces, and other placemaking elements to share with the community. Attendees had the opportunity to choose—and create!—their favorite design options at their own pace through interactive engagement stations.

Event details:

Friday, July 14, 2023
3:30pm - 6:30pm
Mickey’s building (12550 Euclid Ave)

Set up as an open house format, the event welcomed all members of the East Cleveland community to stop by the Mickey’s building any time between 3:30pm - 6:30pm. The seven engagement stations allowed attendees to share their feedback in different fun and interactive ways. Design team members were available to guide participants through the activities and answer any questions about the placemaking process. We were also excited to partner with CollectivExpress, who provided a DIY button-making station and great music with a live DJ throughout the event.

Upon arrival, attendees were welcomed and given a Connect Card with names of the seven engagement stations. As participants completed activities at each station, they received hole punches in their card. Once an individual had at least five engagement stations completed, they could return their card to the welcome table to be entered in a drawing to win a free Connect East Cleveland tote bag. When participants were done, they were welcome to sit down, relax, and enjoy snacks and refreshments while taking in the open views of Euclid Avenue.

The seven engagement stations offered a range of participation tools to capture feedback through written, verbal, and tactile methods. Our intention was to make people of all learning styles feel comfortable to engage. Even if individuals didn’t participate in the first public meeting, the stations were designed to communicate community feedback received from previous events and get attendees connected to the placemaking process.

STATION 1: WHAT’S HAPPENED ALREADY?

Participants were able to visit the engagement stations in whatever order they preferred. But many attendees chose to begin with Station 1, which included two large boards that displayed feedback from the Community Event 1.0 and the Neighborhood Walking Tour. At this station, community members could learn What’s Already Happened? Ideas gathered from these previous events were used to develop the engagement activities at the Open House. Click on either of the two images below to read the previous Community Engagement Feedback.

STATION 2: WHERE SHOULD IT GO?

Utilizing 3D printed buildings on a scale map of the target area, Station 2 invited participants to mark spots where new placemaking investments should be located. The interactive map helped attendees better understand the relationships between existing buildings and proposed development, such as mixed-use buildings and residential homes. Within this context, attendees wrote their placemaking ideas on miniature flags and pinned them on the board.

All of the comments pinned on the board were entered into an online map, shown below. Please feel free to check out the online map by zooming in on the screen and clicking individual markers to read the community’s comments. The various ideas and locations will be used by the design team to create placemaking proposals shared at the final public meeting.

STATION 3: WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

The third engagement station included two boards with images of six different placemaking opportunities. Participants could select their favorite option by placing a sticker below the image they liked best. A range of images were displayed for a wall mural, greenway, small park, crosswalk, outdoor café furniture, and sidewalk landscaping. The results of the sticker voting are shown below. Interestingly, some options came up in a tie, while others showed clear favorites. Similar questions included in the survey will help provide additional insights on why some examples were preferred over others.

STATION 4: WHAT SHOULD IT LOOK LIKE?

In addition to choosing a preferred option from example images, attendees could also create their own design visuals. With the help of a powerful Artificial Intelligence tool called UrbanistAI, participants could see their words come to life on the screen in real-time. A design team facilitator guided attendees through the process of selecting a photo of an existing location in the neighborhood, then writing text prompts spoken by the attendees. The AI tool used the text prompts to generate unique placemaking visualizations. Attendees could share their thoughts on the image generated and repeat the process until the visuals captured the ideas they had in mind.

Attendees created designs for a public art mural on the Mickey’s building, a greenway on Woodlawn Avenue, development at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Woodlawn, and a pocket park on Forest Hill Avenue. The preferred images selected by attendees are shown below. The images express a range of ideas, but some common threads also seem to emerge. Going beyond words, the images provided a common visual reference to better understand the intentions and aesthetic priorities of community members.

Public Art Mural on the Mickey’s building wall

Greenway between Woodlawn Avenue and Penrose Avenue

Development at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Woodlawn Avenue

Pocket Park along Forest Hill Avenue at the end of Woodlawn Avenue and Penrose Avenue

STATION 5: WHAT’S YOUR VISION?

Every local community member has an important story to share. Station 5 gave attendees an opportunity to share their own vision for the neighborhood’s future. Through video and audio recording, participants could describe what they want to see, feel, and experience in a revitalized community. Example quotes from the longer video recordings are shown below.

STATION 6: WHAT’S ON YOUR BUTTON?

One of the most popular stations encouraged attendees to make their own memento of the engagement experience. In partnership with CollectivExpress, the button-making station provided line drawing images that participants could color and decorate for themselves. Individuals could express their East Cleveland pride with images of a Shaw High School cardinal, I ♥ EC, the Connect East Cleveland logo, or other local iconic visuals. The hands-on experience embodied the intention to include all community members in the placemaking process.

STATION 7: DID YOU TAKE THE SURVEY?

The survey is an important method for collecting not only community member preferences, but also to collect demographic data on participants in the engagement process. For individuals who did not already take the online survey, printed copies of the survey were available along with design team members ready to assist if anyone needed help. Survey questions included options for placemaking investments in the Circle East District and plenty of space for participants to share their own ideas. All of the survey data is still being processed, but a couple example responses are shown below. Tracking the demographic data helps the design team ensure feedback is coming from local residents who reflect the characteristics of the community.

We still have lots of community feedback to process and incorporate into the next round of placemaking design proposals. We’ll share the recommendations at the final community event scheduled for August 30th, 2023. Please make sure you join our mailing list to receive more details on the public meeting.

If you attended the Open House on July 14th, we’d love to get your thoughts on the event. Please take a couple minutes and share your feedback through our short post-event survey by clicking the button below.

Special thanks to T-Fizzle Photography for documenting the event.

A Beautiful Day for a Walk in the Neighborhood

The Cuyahoga Land Bank welcomed local residents and members of the East Cleveland community to join together for a Walking Tour of the Circle East District focus area. Starting at Mickey’s building, over 15 participants walked and talked together as we envisioned future improvements for green spaces, sidewalks, and public art.

The Walking Tour took place on a warm and sunny weekday evening in May.

Wednesday, May 24th
5:30pm | start time
Mickey’s | starting location
12550 Euclid Ave

Starting at the Mickey’s building, attendees were welcomed to enter the space and see progress on renovations of the building’s interior. The large glass storefront windows offered a unique, sweeping view of Euclid Avenue—an ideal setting to envision the neighborhood’s future. After fueling up on snacks and refreshments, attendees were given an overview of the Walking Tour stops and routes.

Participants could choose one of two routes: one along Penrose Avenue and a second along Woodlawn Avenue. Each route extended to Forest Hill Avenue, then returned to Mickey’s on Euclid Avenue. Both of these streets are within the Circle East District and the focus for initial stages of redevelopment work. The half-mile loop offered opportunities to stop at multiple spots along the way to discuss specific placemaking ideas together.

In order to capture feedback from participants, a few different options were made available. A survey was provided in both print and online digital format with questions about preferred crosswalk designs, public art themes, and green space amenities. In addition, participants could also share their thoughts through video recordings conducted along the tour. Each attendee could contribute their priorities and preferences in the mode they found most comfortable.

The first stop on the Walking Tour asked attendees to imagine a new public art mural on the eastern wall of the Mickey’s building. This is one of the only large blank canvases in the neighborhood suitable for mural art. Based on community feedback received during the first public meeting, three different mural concepts were shown in the survey. Each mural concept visualized a different theme: Historic/Performing Arts; Bold Patterns/Afrofuturism; and Cardinal/Children’s Illustration. Not only did participants see images of each option in the survey, but they were also invited to view each mural as an Augmented Reality (AR) image. The AR images could be viewed through a mobile device screen and showed each mural on the Mickey’s wall as if it was really there. This enhanced visualization tool provided a more realistic experience to help participants choose their preferred mural option. The three mural options are only concepts intended to gauge community preferences and support efforts to identify an artist to create a future mural.

After the first stop outside Mickey’s to discuss mural options, participants began walking down their respective streets. Whether walking down Penrose Avenue or Woodlawn Avenue, participants were encouraged to talk about the design of crosswalks during the tour. The design of crosswalks for the side streets as well as across Euclid Avenue could be important improvements for neighborhood safety and identity. The survey included a question with three different design options for crosswalks: Traditional red brick, Modern gray stone, and Colorful patterns.

As participants walked away from Euclid Avenue down either Penrose Avenue or Woodlawn Avenue, the focus of the survey shifted to questions about a potential greenway and park space. As they walked, groups could talk about their perceptions of the sidewalk conditions, tree canopy, and other features of the physical environment. The beautiful weather and conversational atmosphere provided many opportunities for residents to ask questions about the placemaking process and share ideas prompted by the places they saw along the walk. East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King also stopped by to speak with residents about their experience on the Walking Tour. Engaging with other community members in the actual environment being reimagined helped create a clearer understanding of where future investments will be located.

Taking advantage of the vacant lots connecting Penrose Avenue to Woodlawn Avenue, a proposed greenway could provide a needed green space, as well as improve walkability in the neighborhood. Residents discussed their ideas for a greenway, sharing various preferences, such as tree shade, bench placement, lighting, and landscape plantings. Located at the midblock, a greenway path could shorten the distance required to walk to a friend’s house, encouraging more neighborly socialization.

Before returning back to Mickey’s, the walking tour paused at the end of Forest Hill Avenue to discuss the possibility of a new gateway entrance to Lakeview Cemetery. Some of the walking tour participants were long-time residents, while others recently moved to the area or lived in other parts of East Cleveland. So, the tour provided a valuable opportunity for individuals with different experiences to share their thoughts and hear fresh perspectives. Comments were documented through the surveys and video recordings, which will be processed by the consultant team. The feedback gathered from the Walking Tour will help guide placemaking design concepts and will be presented at the second community event in July.

Thank you to all community members who participated in the Walking Tour. We hope you can join us for the second Public Open House on July 14th, 2023.

If you’d like to stay informed about upcoming opportunities to engage in the Connect East Cleveland process, please make sure you’re on our contact list. Simply click the link below to share your contact information.

What do you envision for East Cleveland’s future public spaces?

Thanks to all members of the East Cleveland community who attended the first public event for Connect East Cleveland's visioning process. Connect East Cleveland is an interactive process to reimagine and rebuild the public spaces in East Cleveland through community collaboration. Starting at the western gateway to the city, the process will focus recommendations around the Circle East development led by the Cuyahoga Land Bank.

The first public meeting took place on:

Thursday, April 20th
5:30pm - 7:00pm
Salvation Army East Cleveland
1507 Doan Avenue, East Cleveland, Ohio 44112

The public meeting provided an interactive format attendees to share their priorities for the look and feel of public spaces in the community. Through interactive activities and discussion, we worked to define the priorities that will guide design options presented at the second community event.

Snacks and light refreshments were provided. 

Read the presentation slides shown at the public meeting below:

Circle East District target area map provided at each table

Conversation Prompts sheet used during breakout groups

Activity Pages created for young East Cleveland residents to participate in the visioning process