Highland Hills Mayor Michael L. Booker announces community event to honor former mayor Robert Nash and to celebrate the history of the largely Black village that borders Cleveland and Warrensviille Heights where U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge's district office is located.....Nash was Black like Booker and was the village's first mayor who served 28 years in office....The six-member, all-Black village council consists of council members Lillian R. Moore, Michael L. Goodwin, David Mills, Cassandra Pride, Derrick A. Williams, and Dawn S. Davis....By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog
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| Village of Highland Hills Mayor Michael L. Booker, former longtime mayor the late Robert Nash, the village's first mayor who served 28 years in office, and Ohio 11th Congressional District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat |
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-HIGHLAND HILLS, OHIO — Village of Highland Hills Mayor Michael L. Booker this week announced a community event scheduled for Sat., Aug. 31, 2019 at 12:00 pm that is designed to educate residents on the history of the largely Black village of Cuyahoga County that borders Cleveland, and to unveil a plaque honoring the village's former longtime mayor, the late Robert Nash, the village's first mayor, and its longest serving mayor.
The program is free and open to the public and will take place in the lobby of the Shaker House at 3700 Northfield Road, Highland Hills, Ohio.
Booker said that Nash was a legend in the village.
“We look forward to celebrating the legacy of the village and the men and women that made it possible,” Mayor Booker said.
Nash died last year in October at 62-years-old from complications from Parkinson's disease after serving 28 years as mayor, and was succeeded by Booker, the village council president whom Nash named as acting mayor when he fail ill before his term was up
The six-member all-Black Highland Hills Village Council consists of council members Lillian R. Moore (top row at far lt) , who is president of council, Michael L. Goodwin (top row at center), Cassandra Pride (top row at far rt.), Dawn S. Davis (bottom row at far rt), David Mills (bottom row at center), and Derrick A. Williams (bottom row at far rt).
Booker faces Council President Moore and former police chief Antonio Stitt, who is also Black, in the upcoming Nov. 5, 2019 non-partisan election for mayor, who, by virtue of the city charter, also presides over the village's mayor's court, which hears traffic cases, violations of city ordinances and other misdemeanors.
He said the purpose of Saturday's program is to give residents a synopsis on how the village was established, including the political climate at the time, and to highlight Nash's tenure as mayor as well as others who have made contributions.
Formally established and incorporated as a political subdivision in 1990, the Village of Highland Hills was created out of the Warrensville Twp and is 74 percent Black, and has approximately 1,000 residents, down from 1,200 in 2010.
It is within the boundaries of the Warrensville Heights City School District.
The median annual household income is some $26,000, far less than the median annual income of $60,336 across the entire United States, and just above the poverty threshold of $25,100, the data dispelling the myth that the economy is booming for Blacks.
Research also shows that the wage disparities between Blacks and their White counterparts remain a national problem, the state of Mississippi with the widest gap of 55 percent on the dollar for Black women compared to White men.
The median age in Highland Hills is 50, with most of the residents seniors on fixed incomes, and single Black men, a rarity.
The village has some 168 homes, and the average home sells for $45,000.
Annual household income has declined over the past two decades, or more, the median income going from $38,000 to roughly $26,000.
In addition to Cleveland, affluent Shaker Heights and Beachwood, and other municipalities, it also borders Warrensville Heights where the district office of U.S Rep. Marcia Fudge sits, Fudge a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and one of two Blacks in congress from Ohio.
Fudge's largely Black congressional district largely includes the majority Black east side of Cleveland, and Highland Hills, and several of its eastern suburbs of Cuyahoga County, as well as a Black pocket of Akron and staggering suburbs of Summit County.
The federal lawmaker is also a former Warrensville Heights mayor who has a vested interest in furthering community development in the area and in areas that border the city, including Highland Hills.
Booker said he has endorsements for his run for mayor this year from Fudge, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, and Warrensville Heights Mayor Brad Sellers, among others.
The middle class and lower middle class city of Warrensville Heights, where Fudge resides when she is not in Washington, D.C., is a 92 percent Black, and a suburb southeast of Cleveland, a majority Black major American city with a population of some 385,000 people
The population of Warrensville Heights is roughly 13,000 people, Census reports reveal, and the city's residents have a median household income of $35,871.
In spite of apartment buildings that saturate the two communities and lower their median annual household income standings, both Highland Hills and Warrensville Heights have a staunch middle class sector of homeowners, many of them educated.
Nash was a Democrat and so are Mayor Booker and Congresswoman Fudge.
Organizers did not say whether Fudge would be in attendance, which likely means she will not attend the community event.
"The goal is to connect the people of the village to its history," said Mayor Booker. "[The late former] mayor Robert Nash was someone that I admired."
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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