Engaged Citizens. Innovative Ideas.

WELCOME TO THE RESOURCE PAGE FOR OUR CROWDSOURCED CONVERSATION FORUM ON THE TOPIC OF TURNING THE NOBLE NEIGHBORHOOD & BUSINESS DISTRICT INTO A DESTINATION

On Wednesday, June 26, over 60 Heights community members gathered at the newly renovated Noble Library for our second Crowdsourced Conversations form of 2024.  Thanks to Noble Library Branch Manager Constance Dickerson and Brenda May (Noble Neighbors) for their inspiring opening remarks!

ACTION STEPS: Each group identified meaningful action steps they could take, either individually or as part of the collective.  Here are some highlights from each group.

BLUE GROUP: This group emphasized that Noble residents should walk, bike and make their presence known in the community while also forging new relationships with our neighbors and members of the community.  The best way to demonstrate how many assets your neighborhood has is to show folks around.  This group is organizing a neighborhood walk through on July 31st at 5:30pm.  Meet at the Noble Library!

GREEN GROUP: This group wants to: advocate for a city position dedicated to attracting small and large businesses. Define developer-friendly parameters such as zoning regulations. Explore city ownership of retail spaces (e.g., CVS building). Host more destination events. Examples include live music and food truck parks to attract the 20-50-year-old demographic. Develop a “Noble Story” walk to instill local history and pride among residents. Feature “We are Noble” stories in the Heights Observer to increase community exposure. Create more vibrant art and spaces. Encourage more neighbor-to-neighbor interaction to strengthen community bonds.

ORANGE GROUP: Broadcast new ideas with neighbors, neighborhood groups, city staff, and elected officials. Establish a Farmer’s Market. Bring in programs like the Heights Music Hop. Go to Council meetings and encourage Get Out the Vote. Do a City wide “festival”.  Noble could be the area with Food trucks and music. Encourage an ice cream shop. Convert the old CVS at Monticello and Noble into a restaurant.

PINK GROUP: There is value in defining the anchors of the neighborhood: Mayfield/ Noble; Monticello/ Noble; Caledonia.  Effort should be made to connect each part of the neighborhood.  Part of that has to do with attracting desirable businesses that are walkable/bikeable for residents.  Additionally community clean-up days enhance neighborhood pride.  Get folks of all ages involved!  Consider creating handmade signs that read “Please don’t litter here, we love our neighborhood” to reduce litter.

PURPLE GROUP: This group advocates for a creation of a think-tank/mentorship model to collaborate and partner with the City, business owners, realtors both to support existing businesses and attract perspective businesses. Those perspective new business owners should be part of a conversation with residents and the city to discuss the needs of the neighborhood. Other support for businesses include help navigating the city and its code violations, assistance clarifying and understanding commercial leases and getting issues resolved with landlords. This approach could allow Noble to be a model for how to attract new business and the types of businesses that would be beneficial to the community. 

RED GROUP: Get out and tell the story of your experience in the neighborhood! This group believes there’s a need to show more neighborhood pride and promote the neighborhood to combat the negative perception that Noble has. Emphasis on  “talking the neighborhood up and not down” when speaking to outsiders is a must. It is imperative to change the narrative.

Here are some additional ideas for action steps:

  • Host your own small group action-oriented discussions with your family, friends, and neighbors.  You can even use our small group discussion questions  from our “Turning the Noble Neighborhood & Business District Into a Destination” forum to get you started!
  • Write articles or op-eds — or maybe even inquire about being a columnist — for the Heights Observer.
  • Join us for the next Crowdsourced Conversation forum to meet other engaged Heights residents.

RESOURCES

City of Cleveland Heights 

Noble Neighborhood Resources:

Strategies for supporting neighborhood businesses:

  • Utilize them!
  • Get to know the people who work in your neighborhood’s businesses.  Introduce yourself!
  • Talk about them with your neighbors
  • Use platforms like Yelp, Google, and social media to offer positive shout outs about your favorite neighborhood spots — a good rating goes a long way!
  • Follow neighborhood small businesses on social media.  Like, comment on, save, and share their posts as often as you can — this helps their posts reach a broader audience.

If you have suggestions for additional resources to be added to this page, please connect with Sarah – swolf@futureheights.org

Survey Data Report

Complete Survey Report – CC’24 Turning the Noble Neighborhood & Business District Into a Destination

 

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