This is an independent
site for Cleveland's Shaker Square.
It is
not affiliated with the
owner of the Square or any organization. I've maintained
it since 2004, pro-bono, no ads,
no sponsors.
Our start
In February
2004 Key Bank,
which had helped finance the Square's 1999-2000 purchase and
renovation, took it back from the new owners who
could not meet their financial obligations.
At a Saturday public meeting that filled
a theater on the Square, mayor Jane
Campbell spoke. Knowing that the
Square had no web presence, before going to the meeting I registered shakersquare.net
The early
years
With the help of the merchants and
restaurant owners, within weeks this website
had a page for each store and
restaurant, plus pages on how to get here and park. Nearly three years passed
before the Coral Company's site for the Square went
online. By then we had added community and
history pages and had more than 100 pages. Other
sites linked to it and it ranked #1 on a Shaker
Square search. It welcomed more than 10,000 visitors a
month.
The middle years
With the Coral Company's
website listing all the businesses
on the Square and the websites of those business showing details such as menus and
hours, we gradually reduced our pages on each
business and then deleted them. Our community and history pages
grew.
Later years
With the Coral Company and SHAD.org promoting
events, this site
now focused on history, community
links, and support of community
initiatives.
2021-22 Putting the Square in
strong hands
Coral Company Shaker Square, which
had borrowed more than $10 million just before the
pandemic, cannot repay the loan. With sale in a foreclosure auction looming, City
Council bill 2021-1038 is proposed to put the Square in the hands of
two experienced non-profits. To help, we created
www.FriendsofShakerSquare.org. After months of
delay, the bill passes.
In September 2022, to help enroll and inform a new
generation of Friends of Shaker Square, we gave the
domain name to Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.
Current status
This Shaker Square website now reports news of the
re-envisioning and renewing of Shaker Square.
See you on the Square.
Arnie Berger
January 11, 2023 |