CLEVELAND — Jim Petras is leading Cleveland Heights in turning the next page in its governance, assuming office as city’s newly-elected mayor in January.

“[I’m] very grateful to our current mayor, Tony Cuda, for allowing me total access to our city staff. I’ve been listening and learning from them, and I look forward to taking over on Jan. 1,” Petras said.

Petras is a longtime Cleveland Heights resident and lifelong midwesterner, growing up in Pittsburgh and moving to Ohio to attend Case Western Reserve University. He’s served on city council since 2024, and now, is marking a pivotal moment in the city’s history.

Beginning next year, Petras said, he will become the only openly LGBTQ mayor in Ohio.

“Here in Cleveland Heights our motto is, ‘All are welcome.’ And so I look forward to being a good leader for that motto, and helping us to live up to that motto,” Petras said.

Around 400,000 LGBTQ adults live in Ohio, but the community continues to facing underrepresentation in state and municipal government. Petras’ win could soon help bridge that gap.

Constituent Harriet Applegate said she’s looking forward to seeing more representation of the community in local government.

“We have as much diversity of talent as we have diversity of ethnicities and people and lifestyles,” she said. “We’ve got so much talent, and much of that talent is willing to give up itself and help out the city.”

Cleveland Heights has a number of LGBTQ inclusive policies, including a ban on conversion therapy, gender-neutral parental leave and declaring itself a “safe haven” for gender-related care.

Still, Applegate said, Petras’ win could lead to major changes across all communities. 

She said she’s hoping to see Petras address several longstanding issues around the city.

“There’s something of a racial divide, and I think that needs to be addressed. I think the new mayor has plans to do that,” Applegate said. “… He campaigned on, you know, fixing the streets, and that’s huge for people. I mean, just the basic city services have not been met for the last few years.”

Petras’ mayoral campaign included improving city infrastructure and boosting the local economy, which he said, continue to be among his top priorities.

“I’m focused on getting our 2024 audit completed, and I’m also very interested in our core city services,” he said. “So that means improving our snow plowing leaf pickup, doing a better job with resurfacing streets. And I also want to build relationships with nearby cities and other organizations.”

And while his term hasn’t officially begun, Petras said, he’s already kickstarting plans for building a better future for the city.

“We’re sitting down with staff to learn more about our current snow removal process. I look forward to diving in more deeply,” Petras said. “Also looking forward to putting together, for example, a five-year plan for our streets so that we can make sure that our streets are in good shape and that none of them get forgotten about.”

“No, not necessarily. I mean, we want to try to field every single ball possible. I will say that there are times where if the ball doesn’t take…like say the ball does hit the ground and you don’t field it clean and it does end up rolling into the end zone, don’t make a bad play worse, because then you can still get the touchback at the 20. But ideally, we want to field every ball if possible and then obviously return it. It does affect the return when the ball gets to the ground, there’s more time that you have to sustain a block, there’s more space for the coverage player to be able to run around. So, the timing of the return doesn’t really match up if the ball is on the ground and you don’t get it clean. Now, if it hits the ground, you get it on, like, one hop, that’s just less time that it’s taking for the return, so everything impacts it. Now, the other thing that hurts, too, is like, when the ball does hit the ground, as a blocker, you don’t really know how long the ball’s on the ground for because you’re not watching the returner pick the ball up. So, as you go back, as you’re seeing the returner, ‘okay, the ball’s on the ground, my eyes go back to my guy – does he field it clean? Does he not?’ So, there’s some gray area there as a blocker, you don’t know how long. So, we give our guys some things that they use in their technique, so.”

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A woman is dead, and a man is in critical condition after a shooting on the highway early Saturday morning.

Cleveland EMS told 19 News that EMS responded to I-71N and the I-490 split for a reported shooting.

EMS said a woman in her 30s was pronounced dead on the scene.

A man was taken to Metro Health in critical condition.

According to EMS, another woman in her 30s refused transport.

19 News is working to learn more about what led up to the shooting and if any arrests have been made.

This is a developing story. Return to 19 News for updates.

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