Mitzi Lai, 75
Artist
After my husband retired, people thought we’d move away to warmer places, like many retirees, but I said, “No, no, no. I love it here too much.”
I'm an artist and I love looking at the snow scenes — and every season here. There are endless scenes I can paint.
When you choose a city, safety is the most important thing. I work late, and one time, in the middle of the night, an unknown number called me. I was leery, but when I picked it up, someone said, “Are you Mrs. Lai? I’m a policeman. Your garage door is wide open.” I was so impressed.
I'll never get bored here. There are all kind of things going on. We have a lovely, large recreation center that really takes care of seniors. I participated in a couple of their field trips to visit very nice, interesting places.
We have a great mayor and our city really takes care of citizens. In the winter, they always plow the streets quickly — and once, when the city’s snowplow took out our mailbox, they got us a new one in and installed it for us, no problem.
This city loves the environment. There are programs to tell us how to save rainwater and there’s a city garden where people can rent plots for just a few dollars for the whole season. Sometimes neighbors even give me some of their flowers to paint as still-lifes.
This city is a top secret. To this day, when I tell people we’re in Broadview Heights, they say “Huh?” People know Brecksville and Parma, but they just do not know Broadview Heights.
