Inaugural Birdtown Coalition Meeting
Friday, March 20, 2026 | 14 people in attendance
Hello everyone! Before I jump into the meeting notes, I wanted to introduce myself. I’m Danielle Kirsh, I’m a medical device journalist and corporate communications strategist. I moved to Birdtown in 2016 as a renter and liked the neighborhood enough that I purchased a house on Dowd in August 2020, where I now live with my partner and our cat.
At Friday’s inaugural coalition meeting, we started off talking about things that we love about Birdtown, including walkabilty, greenery, its quietness, diversity, and affinity for its history. One neighbor’s grandma even worked in the old Birite — now Birdietown, Phoenix, and the Heyday Collective. It’s no wonder we all want to come together to build and preserve a community here. I think it is important to foster camaraderie to ensure it’s a safe and welcoming place for everyone to live and visit.
I shared brief remarks from our city council rep, but included it fully at the bottom of this wrap-up. Our neighbors discussed some of the needs that we all thought would be nice to achieve and create a framework for. I also tried to organize all of your ideas under the appropriate program headings (let me know if you think it should be changed!). Here are the ideas pitched:
Community shed: Houses things like shovels, a snow blower, and other lawn tools that can be accessed by residents and renters.
Trash receptacles down the street for dog waste (bonus if it has baggies attached).
Cleared sidewalks: Improved accessibility on sidewalks by volunteering to trim shrubs and manage tree branches — like a variation on Lakewood Alive’s work but specific to Birdtown.
Signage and art: Promote keeping the neighborhood clean (could post with trash cans), and pick up poop signs from the NEORSD. Commission local artists to put up murals or art exhibits.
Little Libraries especially on walks to school.
Boost voter turnout: Organize a door-knocking campaign, in partnership with the League of Women Voters.
Community events: There was a lot of interest in forming a Block Club + other events, such as a Halloween event and yard sales.
Traffic calming: Specifically around Quail, Thrush, and Dowd around Harrison Elementary.
Next Steps
Mary Kennedy, my co-organizer, discussed the possibility of funding through some of the Lakewood neighborhood grants (Mary has experience with grant funding as a member of several Lakewood committees). Some neighbors pitched participatory funding or the Healthy Lakewood Foundation. However, to get funding, we would need to formally organize with a board/steering committee.
The neighbors also suggested partnering with Birdtown businesses, such as Oktober’s, Birdtown Brewing, Phoenix, and Stem. There is already a Birdtown business group run by Stem’s owner, so we see potential for partnership down the road.
Our core programs will focus on Safety, Mutual Aid, Community, Advocacy, and Communication. You can find examples of what would be in those programs by going here to the Programs page.
Next steps will be to form that steering committee to establish solid values and start working and collaborating with the city. The committee will have 3-8 Birdtown neighbors on it, including at least one renter. Committee members will be leading some of the core program initiatives and projects as needed.
If you are interested in joining the steering committee, let me know by sending an email to kirshdanielle@gmail.com or by responding to this email.
Thanks everyone for your interest! We will coordinate another meeting soon — hopefully a little later in the evening so people can come from work.
Remarks from Ward 4 City Council Representative Matt Bixenstine
First off, congratulations! I applaud this effort to build community at the grassroots level in Birdtown through creating a neighborhood coalition. I am happy to support this effort however I can.
Secondly, I apologize for my absence from this first meeting. I had an obligation that took me out-of-town today and tomorrow, but I look forward to attending future meetings when I am able.
Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to offer updates regarding three Birdtown-related items I’m working on:
NeoGraf Noise Issue
I recognize that this is a quality-of-life issue for impacted residents, and I’m committed to doing whatever I can to seek a solution. During February, my first full month on Council, I held meetings with impacted residents and City of Lakewood leadership regarding this issue. This past Monday, a member of the mayor’s staff and I met with Ben Stewart, NeoGraf’s new director of operations.
Ben wants to cooperate with us in trying to seek a solution. However, he’s not currently clear on the specific source of the noise in question. Consequently, we established a plan whereby my group of 10 impacted residents will text me whenever they hear the problematic noise, and I will relay this information to Ben in hopes that this start/stop/date/time data will enable him to pinpoint the source. Once we understand the source of the noise, we will reconvene with Ben to discuss potential solutions.
Birdtown Parking Issue
While parking is a problem everywhere in Lakewood, it is especially acute in Birdtown, where many residents are renters who lack driveway space and Birdtown Brewing is getting set to open with a capacity above 200 and only 22 off-street parking spaces.
This past Wednesday, I met with the City’s Planning Department to discuss potential solutions that can help alleviate parking pain. I’ve also recently spoken with our Ward 4 police officer, Melissa Mazor, and the Lakewood City Schools’ director of operations, Chris Donahoe, about this issue.
Potential solutions we’ve discussed include small changes like switching signage for several street spots on Quail near Harrison School from “Weekend Only” to “No Parking 8 am to 4 pm” to open these spots during evenings. They also include more significant changes like incorporating two-sided street parking on Plover, which is the only street in Birdtown wide enough to support two-sided parking under current City ordinance. And they include exploring use of overflow parking at Harrison School and Madison Park.
I look forward to providing future updates as we continue to explore ways to alleviate parking pain.
Edit to add further clarification from Bixenstine: Under current city law, no streets in Birdtown are wide enough to be considered as a one-way street due to the need to maintain access for emergency vehicles, refuse trucks, snowplows, etc. However, Plover is wide enough to be considered for two-sided parking (even as a two-way street).
Increasing Block Club Participation
City Council has a stated goal to increase block club participation city-wide. Birdtown currently does not have any officially-recognized block clubs and I’d like to see that change. To this end, our City Council recently convinced the Mayor’s Office to reduce the threshold of signatures needed to get a block party permit from 75% of a block’s residents to 60%. Still a tall task to get 60% of residents to sign off. but at least a bit easier than before.
City Council is also exploring hosting a yet-to-be-named block clubs workshop in the coming months designed to obtain feedback on how we can better support block club creation and growth. I run a block club across the park on Clarence, and I look forward to supporting efforts to create a block club in Birdtown.
Reach out to Matt Bixenstine if you have questions about parking, NeoGraf, or Block Club logistics.
Council Office: 216-529-6055
Matt.Bixenstine@lakewoodoh.gov