Written by the reviewer from the ASR + docket; [verbatim-ASR] = quoted machine transcript; [paraphrase] = reviewer's wording, not a quote.
0:00 Only a minute late, I'll go ahead and call to order the Housing Planning and Development Committee meeting for 11-10-2025, which is actually my anniversary.
0:10 The first order of business is the approval of the October 27, 2025 meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve?
0:20 Second? All those in favor say aye.
0:29 Could you hear my vote?
0:31 Yeah, we can hear you. We're good.
0:34 Just noting it for the record as well in case it wasn't picked up on the recording.
0:38 And then the next order of business is a, it's a communication from myself for a reminder to my colleagues.
0:46 I'm the council appointee to be an ex officio member of the Lakewood Alive Board of Directors.
0:53 And I often like to bring back updates about the organization, although I know many of us on council already kind of know what Lakewood Alive is doing.
1:02 But sometimes we know based upon some of the fun events they put on, Summer Meltdown, Light Up Lakewood, but their work is much deeper than that.
1:12 And I always love to go to the board meetings and hear about the good work that they're doing.
1:18 And Ian Andrews suggested that it might be nice to bring them before council to elevate their work, not only to us as a body, but also to the community that may be watching and also for posterity.
1:31 So at this point, I will throw it over to executive director Ian Andrews and assistant baseball coach on the 9U Lakewood Rangers baseball team.
1:40 Thank you, Chair Baker. I appreciate it. Thank you members of council for having us tonight. I'm joined by my colleague Joe Higgins.
1:45 Joe is our operations manager.
1:47 Joe runs point on all of our special events.
1:50 She's heading up all of our small business support efforts, as well as a significant number of, as her position would indicate, a lot of our internal operations.
1:57 So I appreciate Joe joining me tonight.
1:59 Thanks for having the opportunity.
2:01 We're going to dive right in.
2:02 So I appreciate giving the chance to have an update.
2:04 We appreciate Councilman Baker, if you wouldn't mind.
2:08 So we all know the mission and vision, really, just very quick.
2:12 We want to ensure fostering, staying vibrant and welcoming neighborhood.
2:15 But three core pillars, we're going to talk about the first two tonight.
2:18 Housing outreach, thriving commercial corridors.
2:20 Within that thriving commercial corridors, that's where our small business support program resides.
2:31 I may suggest you may be able to grab that.
2:33 We don't want to mess up Tom.
2:37 I don't want to screw it up.
2:43 So again, really quick, because then we'll get into some stats and some stories.
2:46 But I just want to give the overview, kind of lay the land.
2:48 So the housing outreach program started in 2009.
2:50 Originally, the organization was a Main Street economic development organization.
2:53 Housing is economic development in Lakewood.
2:55 We've got to make sure that we're stabilizing where people live.
2:57 Without sound stable housing, the whole thing falls apart.
3:00 So the mission is to ensure that all residents are living in healthy and safe housing.
3:04 We have several staff dedicated as well as shared time by myself and other folks on the team.
3:11 This is the kind of laundry list of all of the sub programs within the housing outreach program.
3:15 I thought it was important to show.
3:17 Paint Lakewood exterior lead remediation for LOMOD residents.
3:22 Our bed bug program, which thank you, Councilman Steiner, for alluding to.
3:28 That's a pretty serious one where we are the city's agent on bed bugs.
3:30 So if someone suspects they have a case of bed bugs and they call the city, the city says, call Lakewood alive.
3:35 We have a certified inspector.
3:38 He's gone through a certification to go out, assess, determine if there is an infestation, if there is,
3:43 and we're going to work to try to figure out a remediation plan.
3:45 We are not going to remediate, but we'll try to work in figuring that out.
3:48 Pretty gross, pretty serious.
3:50 Project Safe Senior, aging in place assessments.
3:52 This is really crucial stuff.
3:54 We'll talk more about this as well.
3:56 So years ago, about 40% of our clients were seniors.
3:59 Without even trying, that's now become over 70% of the folks we serve.
4:03 As a county, our population's aging.
4:06 It's no different here in Lakewood.
4:08 On top of that, you've got folks who are living in houses where 80% of our housing stock's 90 years or older.
4:12 So how do they navigate their home and stay safely?
4:15 On top of that, we have such a lack of senior affordable housing, there's nowhere for them to go.
4:19 So how can we help them stay in their home as long as they can?
4:22 And quite frankly, there's nowhere else for them to go and try to make sure that they can be there as safe as possible.
4:28 So we'll talk more about that in a little bit.
4:30 Knowing your home education.
4:31 Let's teach people how to take care of their houses.
4:33 There's still a lot of stuff.
4:34 I have no idea what I'm doing.
4:35 So knowing your home's really helpful.
4:37 The toolbox up at the screw factory in a big 40-foot shipping container.
4:40 That's a really great program, but it's also teaching people how to take care of their homes.
4:44 It's just a really fun program for the community.
4:46 Hoarding assistance.
4:47 You're going to see some more photos on hoarding.
4:49 This is really getting out of hand.
4:51 There are so many issues in town where people, I mean, hoarding is a mental health disease.
4:57 And that mental health piece isn't being addressed.
4:59 But the results of it are what we see.
5:01 Or sometimes it's behind closed doors and you open it up and the fire department walks in and they can't get through because it's everywhere.
5:09 We'll talk more about that.
5:14 So much what we do is through partnerships.
5:16 We are not going to stand here and say that we can do, should do, will do everything that there is.
5:20 We've got a lot of partners, not only in Lakewood, but throughout the county, but primarily city of Lakewood.
5:25 We work with every single department for everything we do.
5:28 And we cannot ask for a better partnership with the city.
5:34 Actually, you can go back one.
5:36 Real quick story because I always have stories.
5:38 The photo is on here.
5:39 This is a hoarding house.
5:40 There was a woman over, I believe on broccoli, and she was in the hospital and her neighbors said, we have a serious problem here now.
5:47 You're going to see a lot worse later on.
5:48 This really isn't even that bad.
5:49 But you've got Mark down there with a garbage truck and a couple of our lantern volunteers.
5:53 It's a sober living house.
5:55 We went in and there was just cat feces all over the house.
5:59 Her neighbors were so worried about her.
6:00 And so they were able to get us in.
6:02 She gave us permission.
6:03 We were able to discard a lot of the things that were really creating a pretty serious health hazard for her.
6:07 Try to get her back into the home because she had nowhere else to go.
6:12 This is a picture of our 18 volunteers.
6:14 These guys are amazing.
6:15 A lot of you have met them.
6:17 Aaron's right there.
6:18 So these are some of our skilled volunteers.
6:21 Most folks we have who go out are unskilled like myself.
6:24 We'll do landscaping.
6:26 You can rake leaves.
6:27 Give her some credit.
6:30 These guys rebuilding porches, pulling permits.
6:32 This year we did four different garage repairs.
6:35 So instead of putting them on one house, we're going to talk about garages.
6:39 They were able to save four different garages from collapsing and to stabilize them and get them back into good repair and into code compliance.
6:47 And then again, partnerships.
6:48 This house right here, this is Mrs. M.
6:50 That's supposed to say the name.
6:53 She lives in Ward 2, southern part of town, and she is in her mid-90s.
7:01 She immigrated here in her late teens.
7:03 Her husband died the day before their 60th wedding anniversary.
7:06 What we found was that she'd been sited by the city for the condition of her porch, for the paint.
7:11 Even though it's aluminum siding, it still was in really poor condition.
7:14 Once we got in, we realized her electrical panel needed replaced.
7:17 Her furnace and hot water tank also needed replaced.
7:19 And she said, I just want to sit on my porch and just have lemonade.
7:23 That's all I want to do.
7:24 And I can't do it safely because it's going to collapse.
7:26 We were able to work with the Division of Community Development.
7:28 Marty Castellani is fantastic to work with.
7:30 Worked with Marty and Dan Wyman in the city to be able to get the funding, to be able to repair the electrical panel.
7:36 You see it right there.
7:37 New furnace, hot water tank, repair the porch.
7:39 Actually rebuild the porch.
7:41 And then with volunteers, there's Mike Bentley's team in the middle, down in the bottom shot.
7:44 There's Cox Communication on the lower right.
7:47 They all came out and were able to prep the house, prime it, paint it.
7:51 And she is now completely in code compliance.
7:53 And there's a picture there on that bottom left.
7:56 We were able to have a lemonade on her front porch.
7:59 Again, following partnerships, all the different organizations here in the city.
8:06 Let's pause real quick.
8:08 So just to describe the photos you see, the one in the upper right is Eldred.
8:11 This was a significant hoarding issue.
8:13 In the interior of the house, they had bed bugs.
8:15 The backyard was a mess.
8:17 The front yard was a mess.
8:18 That's the rubbish pile in the front.
8:19 This was a board staff project.
8:21 The second from the right is our snow shoveling program where we go out and we have volunteers who are shoveling for seniors because they just can't do it themselves.
8:28 The toolbox there in the next one and then a volunteer project far left.
8:33 So here's some stats for you.
8:34 Now we're going to do this in two different ways.
8:36 This is based on what we reported for CDBG to CAC.
8:39 When you hear what we're doing with small business, that's going to be calendar year.
8:44 But here we've got 417 households served non-duplicated.
8:47 That means that's one interaction.
8:49 You guys know as well as I do, every single one of these people requires multiple interactions.
8:53 And the further this stuff goes, the deeper it gets and the more time we're investing.
8:57 88% of that 417 are low mod.
8:59 60% are female and 72% are elderly.
9:03 So this tells you right here.
9:04 We have a significant number of low mod elderly women living in houses that are 80 or 90 years or older.
9:14 Here's aging in place in FY25.
9:17 We've formed 27 full aging in place assessments and what we're doing, we're going into these homes.
9:23 Mark and Matt are both aging in place certified.
9:26 We're also tag teaming with Oliver from the neighborhood paramedic who is a fantastic partner.
9:31 And so we can go in and assess the condition of the home and how they navigate their house.
9:35 Oliver assesses the condition of the resident, the person who's living there.
9:39 And combined, we can kind of come up with a plan, make sure they're doing okay and they're safe.
9:44 You'll see on the far right there, this is our favorite tool.
9:46 It's called a standard bar.
9:47 And I bring it up not to be silly.
9:50 It's such a small device, 70 bucks, spring loaded, vertical.
9:56 It goes to the ceiling, goes to the floor or onto the ledge of your tub.
10:00 You get it tight and that bar right there swivels.
10:03 You put your hand on it and you can, step away from the mic, step over the tub.
10:09 But that simple thing might help someone from falling and breaking a hip and they're never coming home again.
10:14 So we're putting in standard bars all over the place because something that we recommend everyone always do, along with grab bars and many other things.
10:20 And we've been able to receive some private grant funding to be able to install some of these things.
10:24 So instead of just saying here's a list of improvements, we're actually saying here's the list and we're going to help you install some of them.
10:29 Next slide, please.
10:32 Again, back to Division of Community Development.
10:35 This past year, working with the team in the Planning and Development Department, 12 different projects resulted in almost $240,000 in improvements.
10:44 That story, Mrs. M, porch, electrical panel, hot water tank, furnace, that came right out of that.
10:52 To be able to have the 0% deferred loan, the 3%, the ramp grant, weatherization.
10:57 We are using all of those programs to be able to, in some large scale, some small, but regardless, they're all important to the residents, to be able to leverage those funds.
11:06 What we're doing is we're going out, we're meeting with the client, we're assessing, we're seeing what the need is, and then we're coming back to our partners at the city.
11:13 And every Wednesday we have a meeting in our office and we're evaluating and talking about what we've seen.
11:18 And from there we can come up with a plan to see what we, Royal We, can fund.
11:23 But we're walking that client through the process.
11:26 We're going out, we're getting three bids on every one of these jobs.
11:29 So Mrs. M, four jobs.
11:31 That was 12 different contractors we had to reach out to because that's what you have to do.
11:36 The client's not going to do that.
11:37 They're intimidated.
11:38 They don't know what to do or what to say.
11:40 So we're doing that.
11:41 We're helping them to fill out the paperwork and get to yes with our partners at the city.
11:45 Next slide, please.
11:47 My name's Matt Blakewood, thoroughly funded CDBG.
11:51 We really have unlocked something exciting this past year.
11:54 It's been around for a long time, but you all know it, the cost of painting your house is exorbitant.
12:01 So you have low-income seniors living on fixed incomes who are sighted.
12:06 They're going to get hauled into court, pay court fees with money they don't have.
12:09 But it still doesn't remediate the problem.
12:11 the amount of money that we can provide to residents on a sliding scale of 30%,
12:16 50%, 80% AMI. That has been something that's allowed us to get more paint jobs
12:21 done this past year and we're really excited. We had a carry forward, we
12:24 burned through most of that carry forward, so the request was made to
12:27 increase the allocation from CAC for paint, Lakewood, and we're hopeful that
12:30 will happen. Next slide please. Bed bugs. Here you can see some of the
12:37 stats. It's not an epidemic, but it is serious, and it's pretty terrible.
12:43 The way that we got involved in this, very brief story, was a resident of ours
12:47 in Birdtown, they, I believe, if I remember correctly, because it's been a
12:51 long time now, it's been over 10 years, they were covered in bites.
12:55 They didn't understand what the problem was. Well, long story short,
12:58 there were bed bugs in their home and they just had no idea and they'd
13:01 also just kind of gotten used to it. So we go in, we do our darndest
13:05 to work with the landlord. It does typically tend to be apartments,
13:09 but bed bugs don't know poverty. All economic strata. So I think we have
13:13 to be really clear about that. Let's not just shame people. All economic
13:17 strata. And so if we can work with the landlords to help to remediate
13:21 with the legislation that we worked with the city and city council to pass
13:25 and approve, that's where we have some teeth where we can hold these
13:28 people in their feet to the fire. Next slide please. Volunteer projects.
13:33 We're a staff of eight. We're a small team. We're bigger than we used to be,
13:36 but we're still a small team. We're working citywide. We've got 17,000
13:40 residential units, 13,000 homes and over a thousand businesses.
13:43 We need volunteers. So here's some pictures of some volunteer projects.
13:46 Upper left, that's Cox out at Mrs. M's house. Here's the A team.
13:50 There's Mike Bentley again. We've got a group of H2O kids.
13:53 Joe works with H2O all summer and coordinating projects. And then bottom
13:57 right, that's leaf raking. That actually represents two days ago a
14:01 photo that I took. We were out on a house on Delaware. That's our nine
14:04 new team right there, our head coach Brett. But to be able to go out
14:08 and work with that woman, Mrs. J, who we've known forever on Delaware,
14:11 she's all by herself. So we're out there trying to help her out.
14:15 Next slide please. Challenges. Next slide. Garage. So I just said,
14:23 we've got 13,000 one and two family homes. All those houses have
14:28 garages. They were all built at the same time. They were not meant to
14:32 last 90 years, but they're falling apart. The other part of the
14:37 problem is there isn't any funding available, at least federally,
14:40 there isn't any funding that allows you to remediate, repair, or demo
14:45 and replace a garage. So old garages, same as the house, no money
14:49 available. You're sighted, what are you gonna do? And then number
14:54 three, look at that cost. If you gotta tear down $30,000 to $50,000 to tear
14:58 down new pad, new garage, and these photos, these are not just pulled
15:02 from the internet. These are our clients. This is right here in
15:04 liquid. Between May 24 and May 25, over 100 garages were sighted.
15:09 So what are we as a community gonna do? How can we, especially
15:12 with our low income seniors, but anybody, how are we gonna be
15:15 able to work with folks to repair their garages? It's a really
15:18 big issue. We don't know what the answer is. Next slide,
15:21 please. Driveways. And not to interrupt you, but that has come
15:25 up in the zoning Planning Advisory Council at, hey, should
15:31 we have this requirement? So that's a ripe topic that when
15:34 that hits us back for when we change the zoning, whether or
15:38 not we should, what's the benefit of that? And what's
15:41 the downside? And then what should we determine as what our
15:45 policy should be? That's right. And thank you for mentioning
15:47 that. I was going to say that it also is really challenging
15:52 with the, whether it's legislation or an internal rule
15:57 that folks must be rebuild their garages within six
16:00 months. I mean, who of us could swing that? Who's gonna
16:03 be able to do that? So there's gotta be a way that
16:05 we can be able to try to balance the needs of the
16:07 neighborhood, the needs of our community, but also the
16:09 needs of these folks. And if there are variances or
16:12 whatever it might be, I'd love to be able to be a part
16:15 of that conversation because we're seeing it a lot. This is
16:17 the same thing, driveways. There actually is someone who's
16:19 cited for driveway and garage. So it's like a double
16:21 whammy. What do you do? Same thing, $10,000 to $20,000
16:25 per driveway. There is any funding available for it. So
16:30 we don't know how, we don't know how to repair this,
16:32 how to take care of this problem, but they're still
16:33 gonna be cited and they're still gonna be at
16:35 prosecutor hearings, which we attend. We've got one
16:37 tomorrow. There's almost 70 cases on the docket again.
16:40 There's a ton of cases. And we'll go to housing
16:42 court. We'll try to stick up for these folks. We don't
16:44 know what the answer is. Next slide. Hoarding, much like
16:48 the garages, these are real pictures. These are our clients
16:50 in Lakewood. Upper left is a gentleman on Madison.
16:54 These are all, it's all mental health. He wouldn't
16:58 dispose of those bottles, and that's what he
17:01 urinates in. You can see the outdoor hoarding on
17:04 the right, bottom left. The bottom on the
17:08 left, second from the left. You can't really see
17:10 it here. There's a dog bowl on the ground or
17:12 on the floor in her kitchen. Far left, that's all feces.
17:17 Second left is a dog bowl full of dog food.
17:20 When I saw that photo, I asked my colleague, I said,
17:21 does she have a dog? He said, she did.
17:24 Died two years ago. There's still food in that
17:26 dog bowl. We've got some really serious problems
17:29 happening here in town. And so we have amazing
17:32 things to celebrate. We gotta make sure that
17:34 we aren't losing sight of this, where we are
17:36 failing we, not Lakewood, as a community,
17:39 Cuyahoga County, mental health. It's not being addressed
17:43 when it comes to this issue. There are organizations
17:46 in town who are trying to. They're not doing it.
17:49 And so we need to be able to do better.
17:52 Next slide. Beds for seniors. This is a challenge,
17:55 but we actually have started to crack this
17:56 a little bit. So this is kind of a challenge
17:59 with a little bit of a success. We've got folks,
18:03 and you have heard me say this, they don't
18:04 have a bed to sleep on. The dignity of a bed.
18:07 The dignity of a bed. A lot of folks, I think,
18:10 make the assumption that later in life, of course,
18:13 you have a bed. Well, these folks don't.
18:15 For whatever reason, that's not for me to judge.
18:17 But you can see down there in the bottom.
18:18 Look at that, the chair. They're sleeping on that chair.
18:20 That chair is disgusting. Bottom middle,
18:22 that's from bed bugs. So that's gotta go.
18:26 But they can't afford to replace it.
18:27 What we've done is we've been able to go out
18:29 raise some private money from foundations, individuals,
18:32 and anonymous donor to cobble this money together.
18:35 And for less than 500 bucks a pop,
18:36 we can get a senior, a bed, frame, mattress,
18:41 comforter, sheets, two pillows, nothing fancy,
18:44 just a place to put your head at night
18:46 instead of sleeping on a chair or the floor
18:49 or an air mattress that keeps deflating.
18:51 We should be able to do better by our seniors.
18:53 Next slide, please.
18:55 I'll pause there. That's a lot.
18:58 And then we can talk small business.
19:02 Any questions or comments?
19:09 Yeah, Councilperson Hamilton-Steiner.
19:12 You're right. That is heavy.
19:14 And I think anyone watching this
19:17 playback that is okay with any of this is,
19:23 I don't know how to respond to that.
19:26 And we have to figure out a way to do better.
19:31 We have to support our seniors.
19:33 We have to do more to support you all
19:35 that are there at the ground floor
19:39 that is like in the thick of it, in the weeds of it all.
19:44 So I, yeah, I don't know what the answer is,
19:49 but I know we have to do something.
19:50 We have to figure it out.
19:51 We have to work together.
19:54 The mental health is a problem.
19:57 And I know the county in their most recent budget
20:01 essentially eliminated all of that.
20:06 So we as a community have to figure it out.
20:09 We are not gonna be able to rely on the state.
20:11 We're not gonna be able to rely on the federal government.
20:14 So we're on our own.
20:15 We have to build our community.
20:16 We have to take care of our community
20:18 and we have to take care of each other.
20:19 And we need to be taking care of our seniors
20:21 because this is not okay.
20:29 Councilperson Marks.
20:32 Well, Ian, you know that I have always been
20:35 a strong supporter of Lakewood Alive.
20:38 You all do so much to help the community
20:41 in ways that, I mean, you see what we don't see
20:45 and you have to get up and go to work every day
20:48 I appreciate very much what you do
20:50 and I'm a very strong supporter of Lakewood Alive
20:53 and anything that I can do to make a difference.
20:57 I hope you can reach out to me.
20:59 All of your team, they're phenomenal.
21:02 And you expose the underbelly of the community
21:07 that we don't see and they may be living
21:09 right next door to us.
21:11 So I appreciate so much what you and your team do.
21:14 And I agree with Councilwoman Hamilton Steiner.
21:18 We've gotta do more.
21:20 We've gotta do better to support you
21:22 and to support the community
21:24 because the senior population is just aging more quickly
21:28 and these issues are gonna become more prevalent
21:31 and it's embarrassing as a community
21:33 that this is going on in our community.
21:35 But I think of all the communities
21:37 who don't have Lakewood Alive,
21:39 who don't even know what's going on
21:41 in their own neighborhood,
21:43 at least we have you to expose this
21:45 so we can do something
21:47 and hopefully we can make a difference.
21:49 But thank you so much for doing what you do.
21:51 I don't know what we would do without you.
21:53 So I appreciate you very much.
21:57 Yeah, and I, or Councilperson Striebeck.
22:02 When you look at these last three challenges,
22:04 the garages and the driveway,
22:06 that seems financial to me.
22:08 But when you start to talk about the hoarding piece
22:10 and it becomes a mental health issue,
22:12 that's a whole different thing.
22:15 And I wonder, and maybe Director Vargo,
22:18 you can shed some light on this
22:19 if you have any information as to
22:23 people being cited for hoarding.
22:29 Because, right, somebody's got a stack of bottles
22:33 and you're gonna come in and say
22:34 you gotta get rid of those bottles
22:36 There's nothing much you can do.
22:38 But if we can have a police officer come in
22:42 with a mental health expert come in
22:46 and say you're going to be cited for this
22:48 because this is not in your best interest.
22:51 Can you shed any light on that?
22:57 Thank you, Councilperson.
23:03 The limited information that I have
23:07 is the difficulty with hoarding,
23:08 as I hear anecdotally from the police chief,
23:12 is the city, the housing,
23:17 or the housing inspection crew and police
23:22 need reason to go inside to see.
23:24 We don't have the right to see that.
23:26 There has to be some other purpose for us to get in.
23:31 Either permission from the owner
23:33 or report of a crime, et cetera.
23:35 So, so much hoarding goes on
23:38 that the city is unaware of.
23:40 And then when there's a disaster
23:45 or an injury or a death of that person,
23:48 that's when the city gets access
23:51 and recognizes what difficulty
23:54 that person was undergoing.
23:58 Our police get, I mean, their hearts are broken.
24:02 They get so frustrated with it.
24:04 Very difficult issue.
24:06 And you're right, it's unlike the external forces.
24:09 We have plenty of eyewitnesses
24:13 in the city of items on the house
24:17 that are problems and garages
24:19 that are brought to our attention.
24:21 Our building inspectors can see that.
24:24 Totally different animal with hoarding
24:27 that exacerbates the problem.
24:29 Yeah, and just speaking from experience,
24:33 I think this goes back to the earlier points
24:35 that all my colleagues have made,
24:36 which is that during the Great Recession,
24:39 shrinking municipal budgets,
24:41 I think a lot of communities cut things
24:43 like their departments of health, right?
24:46 They went to the county board of health.
24:49 They cut a lot of the community resources
24:52 that we have with Director Berry
24:55 and Lakewood made a conscious decision
24:56 to try to do their best to maintain that.
25:00 And so I think a lot of what you're in,
25:02 I've dealt with some Ward 1 hoarding issues
25:04 and really it's a combination
25:06 and this speaks to the blended.
25:07 I see Lakewood Alive as a force multiplier
25:10 for what our great people in the housing planning,
25:14 Director Berry's work, the fire department
25:17 with the neighborhood paramedic force multiplier
25:20 in a way that a small nonprofit
25:22 can get into doors that government can't, right?
25:27 For all the reasons that Director Vargo stated.
25:30 And so in the instance
25:31 that we had a hoarding issue in Ward 1,
25:32 it was, and then the building department,
25:35 once they get in there, they can only cite,
25:36 it's like, well, can you get to the bathroom?
25:39 Can you get to the sink?
25:40 Can you get to the stove?
25:42 Is the furnace clear so that there's not a fire hazard?
25:46 So as long as the stuff is not in those areas
25:49 and you can't really cite
25:50 because it's not a health safety issue as I understand it.
25:54 And so that creates this weird thing where it's like,
25:57 well, Lakewood Alive can help.
25:59 They're not the government.
26:00 So they could get in maybe and connect with resources.
26:03 And then some of the folks that we have
26:07 in our human and community relations department
26:10 can like connect with resources
26:12 if they feel uncomfortable going to the government then,
26:14 and then you get the neighborhood paramedic in there
26:17 and they can do fall prevention and they could do audit.
26:18 So it's like, it's one of those things
26:20 where a lot of what, a lot of,
26:22 and this is just cause I get to go to all their meetings
26:24 and I work with the city,
26:26 is it's a lot of the stuff that we already do,
26:30 but it's harder for us to do.
26:31 So Lakewood Alive is a great force multiplier
26:34 for every dollar we spend to spend more
26:36 out in the community and get more bang for our buck.
26:38 And so, cause I think that without
26:40 the neighborhood paramedic,
26:41 Lakewood Alive couldn't do as much as they do
26:43 without some of Director Berry's work in his department,
26:46 they couldn't do everything they do.
26:47 So, and then same thing on our side,
26:49 we couldn't do as much without them.
26:53 every one of these kinds of programs he showed you
26:56 is in some ways already connected with
26:58 and doing the work of the city with the city
27:03 I don't know if Councilman Bullock has any comments
27:12 Well, you took a pause,
27:13 or Councilman Evans.
27:17 And before, Danielle,
27:18 would you mind just pulling up that map that I sent you
27:21 cause then I do want to get into small business support.
27:23 This is Lakewood's census tract map provided by
27:28 Dan Wyman showing August 1, 2024.
27:32 All of the shaded blue,
27:33 these are all low mod census tracts.
27:36 So I think there's an assumption
27:38 that there's very little poverty
27:41 or that we don't have concentrations of poverty.
27:42 It's not to say that an entire census tract
27:46 There could be one or two significant buildings
27:52 it's not a bad thing that it's low mod.
27:53 Senior affordable housing.
27:55 That in and of itself could change that census tract
27:58 to appear to be low to moderate income.
28:00 But I think it's really important that we see this
28:01 that it's not just East End,
28:04 there's a majority on the East End,
28:05 but it's throughout our community.
28:07 So I think we just need to keep that in mind
28:09 that we have a wonderful community.
28:11 We're doing some terrific things here.
28:12 It's not necessarily all rainbows and kittens,
28:14 but there are some real challenges that we have to face.
28:16 And so I just wanted to make sure
28:17 that you had this in front of you.
28:18 Danielle, if you wouldn't mind
28:19 going to the small business, please.
28:22 So our small business support program,
28:24 this is housed within our thriving commercial corridors.
28:29 Strategic goal from our strategic plan.
28:32 Born out of the mainstream program,
28:33 there's me, just ignore me,
28:37 She's an amazing woman from Greece,
28:40 an immigrant here, her husband's a school teacher.
28:42 She lives real close to her shop.
28:44 She opened during COVID.
28:45 I remember hosting our citywide Zoom calls
28:47 and she wasn't even open,
28:49 but she was cooking in the,
28:53 whenever you like, Councilman Baker.
28:55 She was cooking inside her shop
28:57 while we were on the calls
28:58 because she was still catering.
28:59 Anyways, wanted to show her.
29:01 And of course, Joe, our colleague Sarah and myself,
29:04 but we don't have anyone
29:05 who is 100% dedicated to this program.
29:07 The three of us share it,
29:07 but Joe's running point, I'm assisting,
29:09 and then Sarah works on our available properties.
29:11 Next slide, please.
29:21 Do you want to go to Tom
29:22 or do you want me to keep going?
29:23 Yeah, did Tom ask to make a comment?
29:25 Yeah, Tom, you go ahead.
29:35 You all right, Tom?
29:38 We can't hear you if you're talking.
29:45 You look like we're in 2020 again.
29:51 There's a lag or something.
29:53 First, I'm sorry not to be there in person.
29:56 But second, I'll just,
29:58 I think other council members have done a fine job
30:00 of summarizing a lot of what I would say.
30:06 And Ian and Joe and your team,
30:08 thanks for the very hard and skilled work you do.
30:14 you know, if Lakewood's gonna be a diverse town
30:16 with socioeconomic diversity,
30:18 that means, especially today,
30:21 helping maintain affordability
30:25 is something we gotta prioritize.
30:28 And the city has a role,
30:31 but a nonprofit CDC counterpart
30:35 has also a very big role
30:36 because you can do things we can't
30:39 because we're an umpire,
30:42 you know, a code enforcer, et cetera.
30:45 And you can do things like
30:46 help the client call the contractor.
30:49 That's a great specific thing.
30:51 So it does a lot of work
30:53 to call them, screen them,
30:56 not get delayed or conned.
30:58 So that's very helpful and significant.
31:02 And so that's a small but
31:05 good concrete example of your services.
31:07 So I appreciate all you do
31:10 and I'll continue to support you.
31:13 Thank you, Councilman Bullock.
31:15 Next slide, please.
31:16 I'm only going fast
31:17 because I wanna make sure I'm mindful of your time.
31:22 So much like housing,
31:23 I laid out all the programs.
31:24 I'm not gonna read all this to you,
31:25 but really some of the main key ones
31:27 that we're focusing on.
31:29 We are the fiscal sponsor
31:30 for four different small business merchant associations.
31:33 We'll talk about that here pretty soon
31:34 while also providing technical assistance
31:36 hosting the citywide.
31:37 Our partnership with Planning Development,
31:40 working with Director Buyington and her team,
31:43 Amanda Kramer, absolutely terrific.
31:45 Joe is on the horn with Amanda every day
31:47 about a new business,
31:48 someone else we're working with.
31:49 How can we help them get a sign?
31:52 it might be small dollars in the big scheme of things,
31:54 but if we're hitting singles and doubles,
31:56 I'm happy because to get 50% back
31:58 to a small business owner,
31:59 up to 2,500 bucks for a sign,
32:02 And if you're a business owner,
32:03 you gotta have a sign.
32:04 So to have a program like that here in Lakewood,
32:06 I think is fantastic.
32:07 It doesn't have to be about home runs.
32:09 Let's get those singles and doubles.
32:11 Available commercial properties with City of Lakewood.
32:13 You'll see that here in a moment.
32:15 Startup evaluation.
32:17 We're hearing from businesses all the time.
32:18 I wanna move to Lakewood.
32:19 I wanna open my business.
32:20 And so we'll talk to them and find out,
32:22 do you have a viable plan?
32:23 Do you have an idea?
32:25 And so, cause we really don't want you,
32:27 like you're gonna go rent a space,
32:28 but you have no idea what you're doing.
32:30 Let's maybe pump the brakes and talk about that
32:32 before you lose your whole life savings
32:33 and get it over your head.
32:34 How can we be supportive?
32:36 And then connect them to specific services.
32:39 So working with the city on permitting
32:41 and grants and Joe's doing this all the time.
32:44 We have a fantastic collaboration
32:45 with the Cleveland Legal Collaborative and Legal Aid.
32:49 Their review of small business owners,
32:51 they reviewed a business owner up on Madison,
32:52 I think it was for $25.
32:54 Cause she doesn't know what she doesn't know.
32:55 She's good at her craft.
32:56 She doesn't know how to read a lease.
32:58 And honestly, some people get hosed.
33:00 And so let's try to prevent that from happening
33:01 and be there to support them.
33:02 And just knowing we're there to help,
33:04 that gives her a lot of confidence
33:05 in being here in Lakewood.
33:06 Business planning support.
33:07 We have a really great burgeoning relationship
33:09 with the Hispanic Business Alliance
33:10 down at West 25th and Clark in Central Via 25.
33:15 Randy is a great partner.
33:17 We've already connected him with two different businesses.
33:18 I just checked in with the one tonight
33:20 before I came here to see how their call went.
33:22 I'm waiting to hear back
33:23 cause she's getting crushed by tariffs right now.
33:25 And then another person in town.
33:27 So to be able to have those resources
33:29 and to be able to trust, to hand off someone.
33:34 We build that trust, housing and small business.
33:36 And when you hand them off to that referral,
33:38 that other organization, and they drop the ball,
33:42 It's bad for everybody.
33:44 We've got a good thing going with these guys.
33:45 ECDI, Women's Business Center.
33:47 And then again, a lot of the really,
33:50 the Flower Blossoms program, public art installations,
33:52 these things are nice to have,
33:53 but they're also really important.
33:54 They're part of the whole mix
33:56 of making our commercial corridors vibrant.
33:58 And then Malting City Center Historic Preservation,
34:00 which I'm excited about some of our efforts
34:01 on that front as well.
34:02 Next slide, please.
34:06 Let's talk about just a few specific ones.
34:08 I forget what's next, I'm sorry.
34:10 So these are the small business associations.
34:11 When we say fiscal sponsor,
34:13 I don't mean to talk down,
34:15 but to simply briefly explain it.
34:17 It means that we are their bookkeeper.
34:21 They are just a group of people who meet.
34:23 And in the eyes of the state of Ohio,
34:24 that's all they are.
34:25 So if they take in money and they spend money
34:28 under their name, which is not registered,
34:30 they don't have an EIN, they have nothing,
34:33 We're already registered.
34:34 We've got it all taken care of.
34:35 We can serve that purpose.
34:36 And it's a great way for us to support those groups,
34:38 to help them bring in dues,
34:40 bring in the money,
34:41 and then be able to spend the money
34:42 to reinvest in their neighborhoods.
34:43 So we're their bookkeeper.
34:45 Next slide, please.
34:47 Small business support, I mentioned the sign grants.
34:50 This is such, it's such a great program.
34:52 It is such a great program.
34:54 There are so many cities that are not doing this.
34:55 So I think we should really applaud ourselves
34:57 as a community that we have this.
34:59 Collaborating with P&D, as I said.
35:01 Joe, working with Amanda on 17 different businesses
35:05 for this calendar year.
35:06 Six of them have gone through,
35:08 soup to nuts, approved, sign up.
35:10 Functiny Land in the dog house,
35:12 that was actually last year.
35:13 Spellbound, it was also last year.
35:15 And then the other one, Blue Health.
35:18 Over by, near Beck Center.
35:20 So $5,500 in grants, that's 50%.
35:23 So 10,000, almost $11,000 invested in signs.
35:26 I know it's only $11,000.
35:28 But this money to these folks, that's a big deal.
35:31 And it really matters, so I really love this program.
35:33 Next slide, please.
35:36 Available commercial properties page.
35:37 Years ago, when we saw that other communities
35:40 around town, or you know, Beachwood,
35:42 or wherever it was, they were eating our lunch
35:44 because they had everything online.
35:45 And they would call us, or the city, or the chamber,
35:48 and say, hey, I need a thousand square feet,
35:51 750 bucks a month, restaurant, what do you got?
35:54 And we would say, drive up and down Madison,
35:56 back of the envelope, good luck.
36:00 Fast forward to today, working with our GIS friend
36:04 here at City Hall, we were able to go in,
36:06 and we track all the available properties in town
36:09 that we are aware of.
36:10 Now we can't guarantee 100% accuracy,
36:13 but folks can find things on the internet.
36:14 But because we're boots in the ground,
36:16 we're driving around town, we're seeing it.
36:18 We're seeing the sign they got from Lakewood Hardware
36:20 that they wrote in Sharpie, call Uncle Bob at this number,
36:22 because he's got this space that he's owned for 80 years.
36:25 We know about Uncle Bob, internet doesn't.
36:27 We're gonna get that on there,
36:28 we're gonna try to get that space leased.
36:30 So it's a really good marrying
36:31 of being able to be boots in the ground, proactive,
36:34 being able to support the landlords,
36:36 because they're also business owners,
36:38 and to be able to help recruit, retain,
36:41 One really great case that Jo worked on specifically,
36:45 over at Flame and Fable, over by St. Ed's,
36:49 she moved in, worked really closely with her
36:51 on her sign package, on her getting her started,
36:55 making sure she was running through
36:56 the correct process at City Hall,
36:58 making sure that she was doing right by the rules,
37:00 because she's an event heavy kind of an organization.
37:02 Fast forward, she is killing it.
37:06 So, space at Marlowe, I'm sorry,
37:08 at Elmwood and Detroit, our colleague Sarah,
37:12 she saw a sign, made a couple of phone calls,
37:15 tracked on the landlord, kind of said, who is this?
37:17 And we're able to make the connections.
37:19 Fast forward, she moves into that space.
37:23 So, we're gonna help her grow,
37:24 and then we're gonna help backfill that space
37:25 and work with Burt.
37:27 You just opened up, didn't she?
37:30 Jo did all that, yeah.
37:32 Jo, you're rocking.
37:36 Next slide, please.
37:39 Small business partnerships,
37:40 much like housing, same thing.
37:42 I've already talked about the city,
37:43 our partners over at the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce,
37:45 Legal Collaborative, you can see it all here.
37:48 We've got to have partnerships.
37:49 And so, part of what we're doing is saying,
37:50 there's so many great things happening here.
37:51 There's good organizations,
37:52 but there's also a lot in Cleveland and Calgary County.
37:55 Let's bring them to Lakewood.
37:56 Next slide, please.
37:58 This is kind of an overview shot,
38:01 because I really wanted to make sure that we include,
38:03 that's Derek Brennan, bottom left,
38:05 or on the left-hand side.
38:06 That's phase one of Warren Road.
38:08 The point, though, is public art.
38:09 How can we partner with the city?
38:10 This was also a CDSG grant
38:12 that we got back in 2016, 2017 with Dale Miller,
38:15 to be able to leverage those funds
38:17 and do a mini streetscape on Warren Road,
38:20 and then work all the way up to 90
38:21 in three different phases was a big deal.
38:23 Volunteer project there, City Center Park,
38:25 that was with First Federal Lakewood.
38:26 If you squint, you can see some people
38:27 in some green T-shirts.
38:29 You can see on the bottom right there,
38:30 this is a cleanup with King's Church
38:33 that we had earlier in the year.
38:34 That's over at Westwood, or close to Westwood,
38:37 over by the CVS, actually.
38:40 In Detroit, we already talked about Despina,
38:42 and then wrapping the signal box, that was a pilot.
38:46 We can't get the utilities.
38:47 They said, stay away from our stuff.
38:48 Brian and I, we've been barking up that tree since 2014.
38:52 And so we said, hey, City of Lakewood,
38:53 we've got this grant money.
38:54 Can we possibly wrap these signal boxes?
38:56 Because you own them, and you have site control.
38:58 And he said, yeah, that was great.
39:00 And so we gave that a shot.
39:01 That's being installed during COVID.
39:02 That was in the fall of 2020.
39:05 And now, the program that the city launched
39:09 I think it is the coolest public art installation
39:11 around town, and I'm really glad
39:13 we were able to do that originally on the box.
39:15 Next slide, please.
39:20 He is the owner of liquid black label,
39:24 Always, he had his business here.
39:26 It was too big, he had to go somewhere else.
39:28 He was working in Cleveland.
39:30 But he said, I really want to own my business,
39:33 or have my business in the city that I live,
39:35 and I work, that I do everything in.
39:36 But I've got a really weird niche.
39:38 Joe, how can you help me?
39:40 And so we pointed him to the available properties page.
39:42 We had the Norton Industries,
39:43 you can see there in the middle of her, 117th,
39:45 just south of the railroad tracks, had it listed.
39:48 And we talked to the leasing agent a couple times,
39:51 Fast forward, 4th of July, he ran up to me,
39:53 and I think you guys knew this,
39:54 but I didn't know it.
39:55 He ran up to me, he's like, oh my God, big hug.
39:57 It's like, I found the space,
40:00 and I found it because of that available properties page.
40:03 And now, fast forward, he's killing it.
40:05 And he's got more business
40:07 from Lakewood-based organizations here in town,
40:09 including baseball.
40:10 They're sending out all the propaganda
40:12 for us to buy baseball stuff.
40:15 My kid has that Let's Taco About Hayes shirt.
40:17 The Taco Hayes, I'm right, right?
40:19 So you got this Lakewood guy who, he's doubled down.
40:22 And he's hiring people, and, and, and.
40:24 Next slide, please.
40:27 Lastly, partnerships, again, I talked about this.
40:29 Oh, I'm sorry, this shouldn't say partnerships.
40:31 Small business challenges.
40:34 That's what it should say.
40:35 The first one, Director Byington has heard me say this
40:37 at Nausium, commercial property owners
40:39 who are derelict on their property.
40:41 They leave them vacant, or they're being used as warehouse.
40:45 They're not zoned to be a warehouse.
40:47 Let's go after them for that.
40:48 Let's hold them accountable,
40:50 because people say, oh, you've got all these vacancies
40:52 and no one's moving, no, not, no.
40:55 People are knocking down the door
40:56 to be in this community.
40:58 Sometimes, some of the property owners
41:01 are not willing to answer that call.
41:03 Or you have someone who I reached out,
41:05 who has a phenomenal business,
41:06 called the gentleman and he said,
41:07 no, I don't want to lease it
41:08 because I just want that parking next door.
41:10 I'm just going to keep it empty for now.
41:14 So how do we work to figure out a way
41:15 to motivate those folks,
41:16 understanding it's a private market?
41:18 Emergency funding for disaster
41:20 and foreseen circumstances.
41:24 Our business owners are losing power,
41:26 just like the rest of us.
41:28 How can we, Liquid Alive, City of Lakewood,
41:31 our partners, potentially,
41:32 we have an ongoing dialogue right now.
41:35 How can we set up an emergency fund
41:36 for these business owners
41:37 when it's not worth their time
41:38 to go out and try to file an insurance claim
41:40 that's then going to jack up the insurance
41:41 or get them kicked out?
41:43 But if they lost all their product
41:44 in the cooler in the walk-in
41:45 or they lost ticket revenue from a show
41:47 like May Hall's did a few months ago,
41:49 then what do we do?
41:49 How can we support them?
41:50 We might not be able to make them whole,
41:52 but as a community, we can say,
41:53 we hear you, we see you,
41:55 and we support you.
41:56 How to open a small business
41:57 of what needs done on a reoccurring basis.
41:59 This is something Joe's dealing with every day
42:01 when folks say, how do I open?
42:03 And then when I get to City Hall,
42:05 And what's my timing like?
42:06 And what's the sequencing?
42:09 I don't know what I don't know.
42:10 So being able to lay all that out explicitly
42:12 and clearly for folks is really important.
42:14 Marketing is a constant struggle for business owners.
42:16 I'm not really sure how we tackle that.
42:18 A lot of them, some are better than others,
42:21 and they're trying to figure out
42:22 how to get the word out.
42:23 Startup and continued funding for non-emergency.
42:26 How can we support our startups?
42:27 We used to have an entrepreneur in residence,
42:28 Mike Balsito, many years ago.
42:31 He would be able to sit down
42:32 and talk with folks about,
42:33 here's what you can do.
42:34 Right now, that's what we're doing to a point?
42:37 How do we do more of that?
42:39 And then even though this is all COVID related
42:40 on the bottom, I wanted to share these.
42:42 This is kind of a flashback to 2020, 2021.
42:44 Matt Bixensein put these together.
42:46 And then the middle one was actually the graphic
42:48 that the City Liquid Alive and the Chamber
42:49 came together on and the Shop Safe Liquid.
42:52 It's just simply saying that when times are tough,
42:54 or even when they're not,
42:56 we're gonna step up to try to help out small businesses.
42:58 Next slide, please.
43:03 Well, thank you, Ian and Joe, for coming.
43:08 And I learned a little, knew most,
43:10 but I think it's helpful to have the forum
43:13 for the community that watches these
43:15 and then also my colleagues to hear all this great work.
43:18 Any other comments or, Councilman Evans?
43:21 Just quickly, I think it's important to realize
43:23 and I've kind of been around the block a few times
43:26 with dealing with working with cities
43:27 and with not-for-profits like a CDC,
43:31 like Liquid Alive operates as.
43:34 And this relationship that the City
43:35 and Liquid Alive have isn't norm.
43:38 I'm pretty confident to say that I think we have
43:40 kind of the gold standard
43:41 of how this kind of relationship can and should work.
43:45 So we've built something special together
43:47 and I think that requires us to continue to invest in that
43:49 to make sure it's as best as it can be.
43:51 So I will certainly continue to fight to find
43:55 whatever resources we need
43:56 so you can keep doing that work
43:57 because I agree with Councilman Baker.
43:59 I think every dollar that we invest in Liquid Alive,
44:03 and not just the City, I'm talking about personal donors,
44:06 corporate donors, grant makers, foundations,
44:08 every one of those dollars we get far back,
44:10 we get more back for the community,
44:13 for the good of the community than we put in.
44:15 So I just thank you again
44:17 for all the work you do every day out there.
44:20 I think it's truly inspiring
44:22 and I'm glad we have such a great partnership
44:26 Yeah, I often think about,
44:29 there's a book about social infrastructure
44:32 where it's not anything built,
44:34 but it's more of a,
44:36 I think our community, the density of it,
44:38 I think our front porches,
44:39 I think our walking corridors,
44:40 I think a lot of the work that Ian and Joe do
44:44 to help kind of force multiply what we have in the City,
44:47 it literally creates healthier communities.
44:48 Now, the need is still there
44:51 and the need is pretty drastic
44:54 and you look at those low-mod census tracts,
44:57 it's all over the City.
44:58 In fact, the one in Ward 1 I grew up in
45:00 and there's a lot of need there
45:03 and so each one of those
45:04 and then there's need within census tracts
45:06 that aren't low-mod.
45:08 That's just the nature of our community.
45:11 But I wanna thank you all for coming
45:15 and there's one thing
45:16 and this is more of a point of order
45:17 if there's no more questions for Ian
45:20 or does Director Byneton have anything?
45:22 No, I was supposed to read this at the beginning
45:26 but for Councilman Bullock's sickness
45:30 so he couldn't be here in person,
45:31 thank you for not getting me sick, Councilman Bullock.
45:34 But pursuant to Lakewood Codified Ordinance 109.01B1
45:38 as Chair, I called this meeting
45:40 to be held by video conference
45:41 due to special circumstances
45:42 of the illness of Councilman Bullock
45:44 and under Ordinance 109.01C,
45:47 Councilman Bullock need not be present
45:48 for the purpose of voting for determining a quorum.
45:50 So that's just more of a point of order.
45:54 So if there's any other comments
45:56 or thoughts from my colleagues or Ian or Joe.
46:00 We appreciate the time.
46:01 Yeah, thank you for coming.
46:02 I know, but thank you for hearing us out,
46:03 we appreciate this.
46:04 Tom always goes long
46:05 so he gets to be on the receiving end of that.
46:09 So thank you and I'll just go ahead
46:11 and make a motion to receive and file this communication.
46:15 All those in favor say aye.
46:19 And this meeting stands adjourned
46:20 and Chair of the Finance Committee
46:22 can decide when to call his.