Resident Honors City with 'Wonderful Westlake' Poem

When Mel Maurer moved to Westlake in 1996 it was one of the best decision he ever made.

Maurer and his wife Elaine grew up on the East side of Cleveland before moving away with his company. When he and his family returned to Ohio, they chose Westlake as their new home.

Maurer found the city "established, yet still growing with well-balanced businesses and wide-ranging homes so cose to things we need and enjoy, and just near enough to downtown," he said.

"And then living here we learned so much more about everything Westlake offers its residents— most of all great people, along with the Clinic, our parish, the library, many restaurants, stores and shops, Rec Center, Community Center, Historical Society, school system, and special people running our local government."

Maurer, an active member of the Westlake Historical Society and an , got into the local history and started to explore the founding of Westlake 200 years ago and its settling families. To celebrate the bicentennial, he challenged himself to put his love of Westlake into words. Combined with artwork by 's Zac Springer, the poem is now a piece of art.

"I hope the poem tells Westlake's people's story— hard working folks, always challenged by their times, meeting those challenges and seeing the rewards of their efforts giving us, in Westlake, a wonderful microcosm of our country," he said.