Dew Diligence: Recent Episodes
Dew Media, Inc.
In 2019 Cleveland Heights, a diverse inner-ring suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, voted to switch from a city manager/council government to one where the people elect a strong mayor. This podcast, hosted by Adam Dew and Eric Silverman, will follow the race to become the first mayor in Cleveland Heights’ history.
Councilman Vincent Stokes II is the newest elected city leader in University Heights. After unsuccessful Democratic primary runs for State Rep against Janine Boyd in 2020 and Juanita Brent in 2022, third time was the charm. We spend a lot of time on the state of public education and the feelings (resentment?) that many University Heights residents feel towards CHUH. We talk Juneteenth, the Heights 100 celebrations and CH/UH collaboration. And how loyal to party does a Democrat need to be today?
Even many educated voters in Cleveland Heights would have a hard time naming our rep on Cuyahoga County Council. But Councilman Michael Houser is someone you should know. He represents nearly 100,000 residents in District 10, from Cleveland Hts to East Cleveland to Collinwood to Bratenahl.
Nancy Levin has served as one of our most important civic leaders for the last eighteen years. Next week she is retiring. We look back at her (mostly positive) time as Director of the Cleveland Hts-University Hts library system and look ahead at the ongoing evolution of what a library is and what it can be.
Lenny Horowitz’s time working on behalf of Cleveland Heights includes 12 years on City Council and 28 years on the Planning Commission. Some might remember him as the owner of the iconic Lee Rd restaurant Earth By April. Lenny recently decided to step down from the Planning Commission after 50 years of public service in one capacity or another.
Michelle Jackson and Kyle Herman from Rank The Vote Ohio join me to sell us on RCV or ranked-choice voting. There are some variations, but basically RCV allows voters the option to rank candidates based in order of preference. While not widely used in Ohio, some major cities and a few states have already moved to ranked-choice voting. It is not without controversy, but Cleveland Heights and Lakewood are considering putting RCV on the November ballot.
Cedar-Lee is now officially an “arts district” and it will look a lot different a year from now. If you know any mural artists, let them know to get their applications in to Heights Arts before December 3rd. We talk to Heights Arts Executive Director Rachel Bernstein, new Cedar-Lee SID Executive Director Caroline Barni, Kyra Wells from LAND Studio and Diedre McPherson from Assembly for the Arts about this transformative project using ARPA money to fund up to six new murals throughout Cedar-Lee.
Friends I wasn't sure if I was going to do a traditional campaign video. But then last night I'm at Cle Urban Winery talking to this local political consultant who gave me the vibe he thought I had no chance. So I went home and threw together this bootleg campaign commercial.
We wrap up our series of Cleveland Heights City Council candidate interviews on the Park Synagogue campus with Councilman Craig Cobb. Interim Mayor Tony Cuda, who is the 6th council candidate, will have to wait until after Election Day sadly as he’s understandably buried with city business. Councilman Cobb and I get caught up on what’s been a busy few weeks in Cleveland Hts. Behind the scenes of the Park Synagogue development deal to the Heights High pool opening to residents to big changes in leadership at Cain Park and in the finance department to his current stance on funding immigrant legal defense with city dollars.
I admit I was a little nervous about how this one would go. But then Councilman Anthony Mattox started off this episode of Dew Diligence with nothing but kind words for interim Mayor Tony Cuda, I picked my jaw off the ground and we rolled on from there. We are the only two candidates in the race running solo. Will one or both of us break the slate? We will find out November 4th.
This week on Dew Diligence, get to know City Council Candidate Joe DeWitt-Foy. I have serious concerns that a stint on Cleveland Hts City Council might ruin Joe's relentless positive vibes, but he says he's ready. We dig into why he's running as well as recapping what was a big week in Cleveland Hts politics- Kahlil Seren is no longer mayor, Tony Cuda is our interim mayor and Law Director Bill Hanna was fired and re-hired in the span of 24hrs. Its been wild. And we are just a month away from election day.
The "inevitable" Jessica Cohen for Cleveland Heights City Council sits down with the evitable me for one of my favorite conversations I've had on Dew Diligence. I think if Jessica lived in Minnesota or Illinois or some New England state, you'd be looking at someone just getting started, on her way to being elected state-wide. For now, she's stuck with us.After 12 years of service on various Cleveland Heights boards and commissions, her path to a seat on city council looks pretty clear. From the "Livable Neighborhoods" initiative, to vouchers, to her experience being dragged into the public spotlight through a pending lawsuit against the city, we cover a lot of ground.
On the first-ever episode of Cohen Confidential, Cleveland Heights Council Candidate Jessica Cohen interviews Council Candidate Adam Dew (me).
Cleveland Heights mayoral candidate interview #5 with Councilperson Jim Petras. Jim looking to go from first-time city council candidate to mayor in just two years. Those two years have been anything but typical.
Cleveland Heights mayoral candidate interview with Laura Hong. Fresh off receiving the endorsement from Cleveland.com, Hong, a partner at Tucker Ellis, makes her pitch to Cleveland Heights voters.
When last we spoke with Davida Russell May 15, she hadn't yet decided if she would run to retain her seat on city council, or put it all on the line and run for mayor. We have our answer.
Cleveland Heights mayoral candidate Marty Gelfand makes his pitch to be the next mayor from his childhood backyard, Cain Park.
Deanna Bremer Fisher is currently Chief of Staff for University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan. She is a 30-year resident of Cleveland Heights and the former Executive Director of Future Heights. This the first of five candidate interviews leading up to the September 9 primary.
Mayor Seren will not be on the Sept9 ballot, but Rhonda Lovejoy says the recall should move forward. The former Chairperson of the Racial Justice Taskforce talks about her efforts to push change in Cleveland Heights and why she's optimistic about the future.
Cleveland Heights Councilwoman Davida Russell has a huge decision to make. Will she run to retain her council seat or will she run for mayor? She must make a decision by June 11.
Its been a roller coaster year at City Hall in University Heights. And Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan has decided this is his last ride. He talks to Dew Diligence about the big decision to not run for reelection in 2025.
Councilman Craig Cobb is not happy. He and five other members of Cleveland Heights City Council voted to approve a temporary 3-month budget, rejecting Mayor Seren's full-year 2025 budget. Mayor Seren says this is petty politics. Council says chaos in the city finance department, delays in getting budget materials and holes in the budget as presented made passing the Mayor's budget as presented impossible.
The growing pains continue for our still new-ish form of government. The Cleveland Heights Rec Director lights City Hall a love letter on the way out the door which set off a chain of events ending with Mayor Seren investigating members of City Council for meeting in secret (violating Sunshine Laws).
Journalist DJ Byrnes is doing his best to make life miserable for the GOP supermajority at the Statehouse in Columbus. I sat down with him fresh off his surprise appearance on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver just an hour after Joe Biden announced he was dropping out. We talk about the effect his withdrawal could have on Sherrod Brown and the rest of the ballot, the school voucher lawsuit, the ongoing HB6 investigation and much more. Subscribe to the Rooster newsletter at www.rooster.info
There will be no recall vote for University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan. Was the recall "called off" or did organizers fail to get the 1200 signatures needed to put the issue to voters in a special August election? Mayor Brennan gives us his take and talks about many of the projects in the works in University Heights.
A group of five University Heights citizens filed notice with the city that they have begun a recall effort against Mayor Brennan. He pulls no punches as he assesses who he thinks is behind the effort to have him recalled.
Dew Diligence returns with former Cleveland Heights City Councilperson Josie Moore. We are less than a month from an important election in Ohio (abortion rights and legal weed are on the ballot). And right here in Cleveland Heights we have six candidates running for three seats on city council. Incumbents Melody Joy Hart, Janine Boy and Gail Larson are joined on the ballot by Jim Petras, Jon Benedict and Jeanne Gordon. I chose Josie Moore to kick things off because no one in our city is more equipped to assess the current state of city council better than her. After winning election in 2021, she resigned after a little more than a year as she saw her mental health and family relationships suffering. She talks about the issues she had in adjusting to life on council, what drove her to resign and who she is backing in 2023.
Cheryl Stephens is the President and CEO of East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation. She is also our representative on County Council (District 10). She also served as the appointed mayor of Cleveland Heights during her many years on Cleveland Heights City Council. She offers her perspective on this momentous week in Cleveland Heights and on the part she played in getting us here. She also walks us through some of the many developing projects on tap in the area.
Dustin Russell is a rare thing in Cleveland Heights. He's a republican. He is on the GOP central committee and ran against Rep Janine Boyd in 2020. We talk about the crazy state of politics in Cleveland Heights and the strange bedfellows that have emerged around monumental local races.
Nina Turner joins us we head towards the August 3 Democratic primary that will likely decide the District 11 race. We talk about how negative campaigning has overtaken the race in addition to how our new mayor will be able to work with her to get things done for the Heights area.
You may have seen more and more yard signs supporting Will Knight starting to pop up in the Heights. Will Knight is one of the candidates in the crowded District 11 field vying to replace Marcia Fudge. The former Ohio State walk-on wrestler relishes the underdog role. He’s fighting to take a seat alongside his old wrestling coach Jim Jordan. The same Jim Jordan who abandoned Will and his Ohio State teammates as they fight to expose a decades-long sex abuse scandal.
Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell continues to break new ground in Maple Heights. She talks about the partnership that led to leasing Dunham Park to Metroparks and their potentially groundbreaking lawsuit against Hulu and Netflix. She thinks we should be looking for someone with a CEO mentality as we elect our first mayor. We also talk about her additional duties as safety director and the challenge of guiding Maple Heights out of fiscal emergency.
The Cedar-Lee Theatre has been around nearly as long as Cleveland Heights has been incorporated, 96 years. Its future and survival are critical as the city looks to add massive development at Cedar/Lee. Eric Silverman also joins us to talk about the history of the Lee/Meadowbrook site and outlines the current proposals for development.
Craig Cobb was recently appointed to city council for a second time. The seat sat empty for a year and appeared it would not be filled before November. In a move that surprised everyone Davida Russell, who had defeated Cobb head to head, made a motion to push Cobb across the finish line to be seated for a second time.
We spoke with University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan at Walter Stinson Park. Topics included his impression of the field of mayoral candidates in Cleveland Heights, his experience level (or lack thereof) when he was elected three years ago, the future of the Wiley campus, the possibility of joint CH-UH pool passes and much more.
27-year East Cleveland City Councilman Nathaniel Martin talks about the possibility of Forest Hill becoming a Metropark, new policies on police chases, the future of the ARCO dump property and much more. The video version includes a lot of drone footage of the Forest Hill park and neighborhood.
If you’d like more information on some of the interpersonal dynamics and conspiracy theories at play in getting Issue 26 on the ballot, take a look at Hannah Lebovits’ excellent recap in Scene. https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/the-vote-on-issue-26-in-cleveland-heights-brings-a-contentious-battle-to-a-close/Content?oid=31624637