The Villager Newspaper Online Your Community News – Cleveland's Westshore
Chamber Board Members Chris Stahurski, Stacie Schmidt, John Sobolewski, Elizabeth Beard, Ryan O’Dea, Mike Mandato, Jennet Foster, Linda Hamann, Nan Baker with Mayor Dennis Clough (center). Photo by Jonathan Knoffer
In the 39 years since Mayor Dennis Clough gave his first State of the City address, Westlake has seen phenomenal growth.
It has grown from a semi-rural suburb on the outer ring of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County to a regional hub. Back in 1986, Westlake had a general fund balance of $969,000. That has grown to over $89 million today and a community with an assessed valuation of over $1.8 billion.
“We wouldn’t be the community we are today without the support of the residents, the businesses, everyone in the community,” said Clough in his opening remarks.
Presented by the Westshore Chamber of Commerce at Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Clough recalled that he first became involved with the Westlake Chamber of Commerce in the time when his father, Neil Clough, served as founder and president. The senior Clough urged his son to become a liaison to all things Westlake, and his interest in investing his life in public service was born.
Click here to view the Westlake State of the City slide show
It was that link between the community and business that has made Westlake the “great community that it is today.”
Westlake, he said, “is a residential community. It is not a bedroom community.” The difference? A bedroom community separates itself from business interests. In a bedroom community, all the burden of civic costs falls on the residents. Westlake, as a residential community, is able to keep taxpayer costs low because it has a strong economic infrastructure that shifts the source of community upkeep to business and payroll taxes.
Of every dollar of property tax paid by the Westlake homeowner, just 15 cents goes to the city.
“We have a diverse economic community so the resident doesn’t have to pay the bills,” said the Mayor. “How can we operate the city on just 15 percent of the property tax? The majority of our revenue comes from income tax.”
Back in 1978 Westlake was a semi-rural community with much of its future ahead. I-90 had just opened and the old Holiday Inn was the first to replace the mom and pop motels that dotted US Rt. 20 (Center Ridge). Years later the emergence of Crocker Park and the Promenade supplanted the limited shopping and the lonely K-Mart that stood on Detroit Road. Mayor Clough was there to oversee the development, and the slideshow format of his State of the City address ‘24 captures the growth.
Here are some highlights from the presentation:
