The meeting lasted a little over an hour and a half. Among the people in attendance were: Councilperson Mary Louise Madigan (Ward 4), Councilperson Michael Summers (Ward 3), Law Director Nora Hurley, Planning and Economic Development Director Nathan Kelly, Head Housing Honcho Jeff Ashby, Assistant Building Commissioner for Residential Housing Jeff Fillar, and Assistant Law Director Saleh Awadallah.
Aside from me, only two other members of the public – Madison Ave. resident Stephanie Riccobene and Northwood Ave. resident James Gepperth – were present.
Madigan, who is chair of the committee, did a good job of managing introductions and soliciting comments from the attendees. Though, she could have been more focused.
Missed opportunity:
CMHA non-discussion The first item on the agenda was supposed to be a discussion of the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), and presumably their Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) better known as Section Eight. The much-maligned program is subject to widespread misunderstanding and scorn.
Madigan wanted to review a spreadsheet in order to "keep an eye on how the administration is tracking CMHA in the city." Unfortunately, Andrea Rocco, a new hire in the mayor's office who maintains the document, was out on vacation and the data wasn't available for review.
The two housing guys were initially confused about which spreadsheet Madigan was referring to. They said they have a nuisance abatement ordinance spreadsheet which records who has received letters of warning from the city. They also have another document listing CMHA houses, including those in Parma. It seemed neither file was the one Madigan needed.Lakewood Alive treads carefully in effort to hire housing outreach coordinator
Director of Planning and Development Nathan Kelly said Lakewood Alive will begin conducting interviews in May for the housing outreach coordinator job. The position will be funded by the city.
Kelly said Lakewood Alive recently reposted the job after revising the job’s title and list of responsibilities because some of them were similar to those of personnel who had been laid off by the city.
The position will have no enforcement capability. Kelly said the goal of the position is to assist residents in ways the city cannot, such as generating contractor referrals and providing education about "how to avoid the wrath of the building department."
Law Director Nora Hurley said a grievance had been filed regarding the position, but it was resolved. She was also careful to correct Assistant Building Commissioner for Residential Housing Jeff Fillar after he used language suggesting the building department would be training the outreach coordinator.
Mary Anne Crampton, leader of Lakewood Alive, consulted with Fillar in creating the position. They each made a list of their top three concerns about the job. Their primary concern was that the outreach coordinator would supply bad information or advice.
Fillar said Crampton was also "very concerned about crossing a building inspector" or creating a "he-said, she-said" situation. Ultimately, after some discussion, "we came to a pretty good accord," he said.
City gets nearly $1 million from state to demolish properties
The state last week formally approved the city’s request for $900,000 in neighborhood stabilization funds. Kelly said some of the cash will be used to rehab properties, but the lion’s share of it will go towards acquiring property for demolition. He will begin by establishing a list of target properties to acquire and then post RFPs for realtors and demolition and rehabilitation experts. The money will be available beginning in June and the city will have four years in which to spend it.
Kelly said it's tricky to identify properties that fit all of the required criteria and the process can sometimes be drawn out for various reasons. For example, he said, there is a vacant duplex in disrepair that he would like to buy and raze in order to create a parking lot for a nearby building. Kelly believes the additional parking would raise the building's property value. The duplex needs asbestos abatement and owner has been difficult to deal with. He also noted that the city can buy properties for 15% below the appraised amount, but must return any profits gained on a rehab to the state.
FitzGerald administration seeks to remove city council from demolition and rehab process in order to speed results
Citing a "severe time deficiency" in the city's current process of handling buildings determined to be unsafe, Law Director Nora Hurley outlined the steps of a proposed ordinance that would remove city council from the system of checks and balances in the demolition and rehab process.
Hurley, seeking to advance Mayor Edward FitzGerald's Housing Initiative, said the proposed ordinance would reduce the number of steps in the process and cut the number of days to achieve a demolition from 180 to as little as 60, assuming the property owner doesn't file an appeal.
Hurley's assistant provided a flow chart of the current system versus the proposed system, as well as a chart comparing the demolition procedures of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and Lakewood. [Download the .pdf]
Hurley pointed to the recently demolished house at the corner of Clifton and St.Charles as evidence of the current system's ineffectiveness. The house caught fire four years ago, was uninhabitable and sat empty while the owner litigated over insurance issues. The house was eventually sold and demolished (at the expense of the new owner) only because the city pursued the situation through criminal court, according to Hurley.
Councilperson Michael Summers (Ward 3) appeared ready to cede council's power and oversight in the process. He described prior generations of city council as "control freaks."
Summers reviewed the language of the ordinance and wondered if the city could shut off water service to force residents out of a structure deemed to be unsafe, as Cleveland Heights had done in the past.
Fillar said a situation like that arose right before Christmas at the 22-suite apartment building located at 1468 West 117th. Someone on the scene, whom Fillar did not identify, suggested cutting off the water in order to force the people out. Fillar declined to do so. "We didn't play that game," he said.
Madigan said that tactic should only be used as a last resort. Summers said it could be used in order to remove people from an unsafe environment.
Summers suggested approving the ordinance and Madigan said she would recommend the matter be moved to the Committee of the Whole for further debate.
Foreclosure situation downplayed
Kelly said Lakewood has 187 active foreclosures and 107 new foreclosures since January. Lakewood had 113 new foreclosures during this same period in 2008 and 102 in 2007. Most of the foreclosures are duplexes and single family houses. 16 condos are in foreclosure, along with 6 commercial properties and 1 miscellaneous piece of land.
Lakewood is "doing better than its peer cities," said Kelly. He added that the number of Lakewood houses in foreclosures is in the tenths of a percent when compared with the overall housing stock.
Madigan, who resides in the Carlyle Condominiums, and Summers, who lives on Wilbert, didn't press the issue.
Point of sale housing inspections not likely to be introduced anytime soon
Considering the blinding speed in which the mayor and city council delivered mandatory recycling and automated front yard refuse pick-up, it's a mystery as to why they're dragging their feet on instituting a policy that will protect and preserve Lakewood's housing stock for decades to come.
Summers and an intern (who has apparently fallen off the map and is not responding to phone calls or e-mails from the city) examined the housing inspection programs in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. He also talked with Cleveland State University Housing Guru Thomas Bier and learned the aforementioned cities experienced a demographic shift in poverty over the last 30 years that is only now beginning to occur in Lakewood.
Summers liked some of the ideas he heard and is interested in fine-tuning them and making them more rigorous. His next step is to get together with the staff to review the advantages and disadvantages of such a program. "There is a lot of work to be done," he said.
Madigan gave a chilly reception to the idea of housing inspections. "Do we need this in Lakewood? I don't know," she said. "Why isn't the marketplace taking care of it?"
Fillar said he's seen the issue come up about every three years and the real estate agents usually get involved and kill it. He also fears that a housing inspection program would result in the prosecution of a lot of little old ladies who are unable to afford to repair issues.
