01/06/2025
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From the Mayor's Office:
Good morning, Elyria! I hope the kids are enjoying the snow day. We have extended the Snowman Contest through today. Check out our featured post pinned at the top of our page to participate. Have fun!
Happy New Year to all of you. My family and I wish you all a prosperous and healthy 2025. I’ll do my best to keep this as short as possible, but I’d like to use this week’s update to reflect on 2024. From new community initiatives to completed infrastructure projects to expanded business development, we have a lot to be thankful for as Elyrians.
First I want to mention some of the community-based collaboratives launched in 2024. These are the kinds of projects that have a huge impact on residents but don’t always get as much attention as the larger development projects do.
Save Our Children of Elyria has taken ownership of the former Oakwood School building and grants are being secured to redevelop the facility. The move will allow Save Our Children to serve more of Elyria’s youth with expanded resources and programming.
2024 also saw the transfer of City property to the Good Knights of Lorain County. This organization provides comfortable, safe beds to children in need. Construction of a new, larger facility means more of Elyria’s youth will benefit from the Good Knights’ resources.
In partnership with Elyria South Baseball Club, a new field is under construction at South Rec. We also worked with Lorain County Commissioners to bring Via Transportation to Elyria, a program that allows residents to book on-demand rides anywhere in the City for two dollars or less. We also launched the first City Department food drive to stock the Southside Pioneer Freedge at the Elyria Public Library’s South Campus and get the word out to other volunteers and donors of the need there.
These community collaboratives don’t just happen. It takes volunteers, public servants, residents, elected officials, faith leaders, all working together for success. I thank each and every one of you for your dedication to building a better community for tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what we do together in 2025.
Building and maintaining relationships is critical to community collaboratives, and it’s a similar story when it comes to business development. 2024 saw the sale of the old Bendix building and the first new tenants have already moved in. We are doing everything we can to support this venture and we expect more tenants to move into the building in 2025.
The old Midway Crossing at the mall was also sold and renovated with tenants expected early this year. The property at Chestnut Ridge and 57 was sold and retail and restaurant tenants could move in later in 2025. Midway Mall is being redeveloped. Plans for the new Reaser Pointe Crossing development is underway. Hundreds of new homes are being built across the City as well.
I could go on, but all this together represents massive growth for Elyria. Previously-abandoned properties are being transformed and utilized once again. Blight is being reduced. Together, these projects represent hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment which means more jobs, more dining and shopping opportunities, and more support for existing businesses. I’m proud of the work my team has done to make this happen but again, I must thank our business partners for believing in Elyria and giving us all something to look forward to.
2024 also saw several small businesses opening and growing across our community. Local businesses like these are the bedrock of this City. Please consider thanking these business owners for investing in us by investing in them. Stop by their establishments and check out what they have to offer. Follow them here on Facebook and share their posts. This is just a partial list – if your business opened in 2024 please tag yourself in the comments below if we missed you.
Basil Leaf Thai Cuisine (OH)
Honey Dudes Handyman Service
LM Beauty Brow Salon & Spa
Thrive Behavioral Health Center
Families First Health Services
Cubano King
Jersey Mike's Subs
Biggby Coffee Elyria - Cleveland Street
Snelling Staffing Services/Elyria
Plantaria
Beacon Building Products
Everyday Learning Center
Home2Suites/RU
Kreations By Kianga
Shop local, eat local, support local. Again, welcome to all of you and thank you for choosing Elyria!
2024 also saw a lot of success in our administrative work here in City Hall. We hired our first-ever City Planner, which comes at a critical time as we continue to move forward with Elyria’s rezoning process. We secured over five million dollars in federal grants for infrastructure projects, and we wrapped up some of the largest streets and sewer projects we’ve had in years.
We added several concerts to our summer programming to give residents more opportunities to enjoy Ely Square and to help bring more folks downtown to visit our new and growing business. My team and I visited over 50 businesses, big and small, throughout the year in a huge outreach effort I plan to continue in 2025.
We also partnered with Elyria City Schools on the first ever joint State of the City and Schools event. This was a great opportunity to further cement our relationship with the schools and planning is underway for another in 2025.
We also launched a partnership with Retail Strategies to market our city’s businesses, available retail and food space, and our historic buildings to potential investors. We will have much to say about this in 2025 as well.
2024 also saw a lot of success around safety. New staff was hired at the Elyria Police Department and Elyria Fire Department. Traffic accidents were reduced by more than 10% thanks to a new traffic patrol. The neighborhood patrol initiative was relaunched, and our fire department secured several grants to support expanded training. Thank you to everyone in both departments for your hard work.
This sort of administrative work here in City Hall isn’t always the most exciting in terms of news stories, but it’s critical to our community’s future. I’m grateful for all that my team has accomplished. Again, thank you to everyone across the community for your dedication to this important work.
Whether you’re a resident, volunteer, public servant, or community leader, I’d like you all to take a moment and reflect on 2024 as well. Pat yourself on the back. Be proud of what you’ve done to build a better Elyria for all of us.
Of course, our work is never done. 2025 will bring many opportunities for all of us as well as many challenges. But I believe we put in a solid foundation in 2024 and we can build on our successes in 2025. In the coming weeks I will be using these updates to share more with you on those future plans and the important work that lies ahead.
For now, thank you to everyone who chose to believe in Elyria in 2024. Enjoy this winter wonderland, and get out there and build those snowmen. Happy New Year!
Take Care,
-Mayor Brubaker
