After the automatic recount on Monday, December 5, it became official:  I won a seat on City Council.  It was a close race – basically a three-way tie between Phyllis Evans, Jeff Coryell and me, with Dennis Wilcox firmly in first place.  Phyllis came in second, and I was third – good enough to win.  All candidates ran impressive races and I know they will stay actively involved in our community, because we all love and are committed to this place.

Thank you again to everyone who voted for me.  Now that provisional and late absentee ballots have been counted, I am almost officially a winner.  In this round of the election process, Phyllis Evans extended her lead for second place to 47 votes.  I won the third City Council seat that was up for election with 64 votes more than Jeff Coryell.  That 64-vote difference is close enough to trigger an automatic recount, which will take place and be announced on December 6.  Results of the recount are extremely unlikely to change the overall results.

First and foremost, THANK YOU to everyone who voted for me!  Though I am an unofficial winner in the November 8 election, results may not be final until December 5 or 6 if there is a recount.  The Board of Elections is currently going through absentee ballots that came in after the election (27, I believe) and provisional ballots (611).  Usually around 10% of provisional ballots are rejected.  That still leaves a lot of votes to count, so the unofficial results of the November 8 vote could change significantly when the “official” results are announced on the Board of Elections Web site around noon on Tuesday, November 29.

Between the 2009 campaign, and this one in 2011, I have personally walked the length of every street in Cleveland Heights.  I view this as a testimonial to my commitment to serving the interests of Cleveland Heights residents.  I targeted the homes of frequent voters – those who voted in three or more of the past four elections – ringing their doorbells or knocking on their doors so that I could meet them and ask them what they would like me to work on, if elected.  If no one came to the door, I left information about myself, then headed for the next address.

What have I learned?

It’s another well deserved tribute to the excellent quality of so many residences in Cleveland Heights.  On Friday, November 1, I attended a meeting in Columbus of the Ohio Historic Site Preservation Advisory Board, which was considering, among others, the application I wrote and assembled with help from neighbors and Cleveland Heights experts proposing the Shaker Farm Historic District for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.  I was prepared to defend the application, but board members praised and approved it in a matter of minutes.  One board member, Aaron Askew, a Columbus architect, said he had grown up near the district and been inspired by the quality of the residences to study architecture.  He was happy to see the district listed.  Another, Columbus archeologist Paul Graham, cited the clarity and completeness of the application, which made it easy to understand and approve the proposed district based on its significance.  Here’s what the press release said specifically about the Shaker Farm Historic District:

STATE BOARD RECOMMENDS CLEVELAND HEIGHTS’ PROPOSED SHAKER FARM HISTORIC DISTRICT FOR NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES