{"id":476707,"date":"2026-02-18T23:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/476707\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T23:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:21:13","slug":"rust-belt-riders-composting-program-faces-uncertain-future-in-university-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/476707\/","title":{"rendered":"Rust Belt Riders composting program faces uncertain future in University Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — On Feb. 13, Mayor Michele Weiss, in the city\u2019s weekly email newsletter, informed residents that University Heights would no longer subsidize a food composting program through Rust Belt Riders<\/a>, effective March 31.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s (Feb. 17) City Council meeting, she received feedback on that decision from a number of residents. <\/p>\n

Each of the 10 residents who spoke before council were against the decision.<\/p>\n

The program has allowed residents, free of charge, to take their leftover food scraps to Walter Stinson Park, where the material has been collected by Rust Belt Riders. <\/p>\n

The organization composts the scraps, creating a base for soil blends. That soil is then used to help grow more food in Northeast Ohio.<\/p>\n

Weiss offered residents who wish to continue using the program access to it — but at a cost of $12 a month per household.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith grants that helped the city support this worthwhile endeavor running out,\u201d Weiss stated in the newsletter, \u201cit has been determined that the cost of continuing to participate citywide is no longer tenable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city has been paying $60,000 a year for the service.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be a progressive community,\u201d Silsby Road resident Mike Lonsdale told council in opposing the decision. <\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s look at being more sustainable. Let\u2019s look at being more helpful to the community.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lonsdale said he was \u201cdismayed\u201d by Weiss\u2019 decision. <\/p>\n

He said the city\u2019s recycling program, started in the last two years, has been growing in participation, adding, \u201cLet\u2019s keep Rust Belt Riders and let\u2019s show the rest of the communities how progressive University Heights really is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Casey, a resident of Tyndall Road, said of composting food, \u201cIt\u2019s the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve thought about composting (at her home), but I can\u2019t do it,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m physically not able to. And I was concerned about rodents in my yard. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018I\u2019m going to give this a try (at Stinson Park).\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey said she has since found out that the Rust Belt Riders program \u201cis very clean, very effective, and it should be for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another woman told of the benefits her son has gained from taking food scraps to the park with her husband. She said her son has learned about sustainability and the environment.<\/p>\n

Rust Belt Riders Residential Department Head Natalie Senturk also spoke before council. <\/p>\n

She said that after becoming the second city after Beachwood to sign up for the program, the group saw the number of participating households in University Heights increase from just over 100 to nearly 370.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went from picking up, I think it was about 2,000 pounds a month (from Stinson Park), to now averaging 8,000 pounds,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a trend we see in every city we work with — Shaker (Heights), Cleveland Heights has now installed a second (collection) site at Noble, and Beachwood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senturk said that, if residents are asked to pay $12 per month, collections will go down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the wrong direction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She noted that methane gasses are not released when scraps are composted, as opposed to when they are mixed with plastics in a landfill, making composting impactful on the environment.<\/p>\n

In addition, Senturk said that tipping fees for garbage will increase as less is composted, making it more cost effective to compost. <\/p>\n

She said the organization is open to working with University Heights to lower its cost for Rust Belt Riders\u2019 services.<\/p>\n

Weiss said the decision to not subsidize composting was \u201cdifficult,\u201d but she offered hope to those decrying its loss. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in contact (with Rust Belt Riders) and I will continue to do that,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cI will reach out to them to discuss the possible avenues based on this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiss said she will seek grant money to try to offset costs.<\/p>\n

2026 street resurfacing<\/p>\n

Also on Tuesday, City Council approved legislation allowing City Engineer Brenda McBee to draw up plans and specifications for 2026 street repairs.<\/p>\n

On the list for resurfacing this year are:<\/p>\n

— Charney Road, from Hillbrook Road to Meadowbrook Boulevard and from Meadowbrook to Claridge Oval<\/p>\n

— Fenway Drive, from the city\u2019s southern corporation line to Cedar Road<\/p>\n

— Nordway Road, from the western corporation line to Allison Road<\/p>\n

— Thayne Road, from Washington Boulevard to Cedar Road<\/p>\n

— Traymore Road, from Washington Boulevard to Warrensville Center Road<\/p>\n

— Westwood Road, from Edgerton Road to Silsby Road<\/p>\n

Also, crack sealing will be performed on various streets, where needed, as will partial- and full-depth repairs.<\/p>\n

The city has budgeted $1 million for street work this year. Work on the above streets currently totals $900,000.<\/p>\n

Waterstone Building demolition<\/p>\n

Weiss said the Waterstone Building, 14100 Cedar Road, next door to University Square\/Bell Tower Center, will be demolished in about two weeks. <\/p>\n

Before demolition takes place, the Fire Department will use it for training.<\/p>\n

Construction work at the site will then take place, beginning in early summer, on building an Aldi grocery store. <\/p>\n

That construction should take about two months to complete.<\/p>\n

Seeking funding for new police and fire stations<\/p>\n

Weiss also said she has been busy networking with state legislators to try to find funding for the first phase of the city\u2019s plan to build new fire and police stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I\u2019ve spoken to agrees University Heights has an excellent chance of getting discretionary funding from our (state) senators,\u201d Weiss said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is in conjunction with other streams of funding from, hopefully, the county, our congresswoman (Shontel Brown) and other organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re trying to piece together $17 million (the project\u2019s estimated cost).\u201d<\/p>\n

Council approved on Tuesday the hiring of the firm McKinley Strategies to help it gain the needed grant funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis firm is not just highly recommended,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cThey are the go-to people right now in terms of relationship-building in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiss said the city will be able to assemble, as its share, $3 million for the project. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have bonds from 20 years ago coming due,\u201d she said in accounting for nearly $2 million of the city\u2019s share. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to renew it as capital, so it\u2019s no increase to the taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new fire station is planned for the former YABI Nursery and Childcare property, 2308 Warrensville Center Road.<\/p>\n

The new police station will go where the city purchased and demolished houses on Saybrook Road, like YABI, next to the current City Hall property.<\/p>\n

Read more from the Sun Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — On Feb. 13, Mayor Michele Weiss, in the city\u2019s weekly email newsletter, informed residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-476707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}