Opinion

August opinion casts shadows on legitimate arguments

By Christine Heggie · Heights Observer · August 27, 2026

Deborah Van Kleef’s opinion in the August Heights Observer, “Horseshoe transformation opponents spread false narratives,” casts shadows on residents arguing in good faith, with legitimate perspectives.

It is an unfair process for citizens when a powerful utility has resources that enable it to disproportionately influence public opinion. This significant disparity has largely been ignored, and is worthy of discussion.

— Christine Heggie · Heights Observer · August 27, 2026

HEIGHTS OBSERVER

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Commentary

NEORSD Has Failed the Community – Miserably!

By Cleveland Architecture Foundation · Spring 2026

In a roundup of Cleveland’s failed institutions, the Cleveland Architecture Foundation calls out the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD), saying it “royally botched the Shaker Lakes Initiative.” The NEORSD section is excerpted here.

NEORSD royally botched the Shaker Lakes Initiative.

— Cleveland Architecture Foundation · Vol. 5 No. 11 · Spring 2026

CLEVELAND ARCHITECTURE FOUNDATION

Analysis

What the New Park Would Actually Be Like

By Jeff McManus · Shaker Lakes Blog · July 2026

If NEORSD brings back Horseshoe Lake as planned — weird but true — here’s what you’d actually get. The character of the parklands, and the ecosystems that depend on them, would be transformed in ways most visitors have never been told.

Weird but true: the new park would be a very different kind of place than what most people who love the current park are imagining.

— Jeff McManus · Shaker Lakes Blog · July 2026

SHAKER LAKES BLOG

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Independent Reporting

An Independent Look at the Controversy

By Peter Gelderloos · The Land · July 10, 2026

Residents lose trust in local government over the plan to drain Lower Shaker Lake. Over 4,000 have signed a petition to save the lakes — a powerful signal that the community is watching and will not stay silent.

It would permanently alter the historic landscape of the parkland. It would destroy the area as we see it today.

— Peter Gelderloos · The Land · July 10, 2026

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Documentation

1,000+ Trees: What the Plans Actually Say

By Jeff McManus · Shaker Lakes Blog · March 2026

So about those thousand mostly native and healthy trees — what do the actual NEORSD plans say about what would be removed? The details, buried in documents most residents never saw, are alarming.

The plan only became public thanks to a public records request. If not for that, the removal of a thousand trees could have begun before any members of the public even knew it was going to happen.

— Jeff McManus · Shaker Lakes Blog · March 2026

SHAKER LAKES BLOG

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Opinion

Shaker Lakes and NEORSD: A Matter of Public Trust

By Erin R. Flanagan · Heights Observer · December 1, 2025

How NEORSD’s handling of the Shaker Lakes project has eroded community trust — and what accountability in local government should look like.

Public trust, once broken, is very hard to rebuild. That is the situation NEORSD now faces with the communities surrounding the Shaker Lakes.

— Erin R. Flanagan · Heights Observer · December 1, 2025

HEIGHTS OBSERVER

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