What’s in the air: Cleveland Heights
With Lakewood’s regularly scheduled city council meetings on hiatus until September, I decided to check out the goings-on at another inner-ring suburb, Cleveland Heights — just to see what’s in the air. Issues or laws bandied about in one city inevitably migrate to another city.
Cleveland Heights City Hall
The meeting was held at Cleveland Heights City Hall, built in 1986, located across from Severance Town Center. The building has a friendlier feel and more modern appearance than Lakewood City Hall. Oddly, their council meeting room is small, less than 25% the size of Lakewood council chambers. There was seating for about 30 people. Department heads were seated in the audience along with other spectators.
There were about 12 people present in the audience. The low turnout could have been attributed to the fact that the meeting was broadcast live on a local cable access channel (something sorely lacking in Lakewood).
Cleveland Heights’ city government is strikingly different from that of Lakewood. Residents elect seven council people, who then select one of their own to serve as mayor. Council also hires a city manager who is responsible for running the city.
On the whole, Cleveland Heights council members appeared more wizened than their Lakewood counterparts.
Land Bank: Lakewood 1 Cleveland Heights 0
The docket (.pdf) was relatively light and the meeting ran for a little over an hour. It was somewhat surprising to see that no citizen was present for public comment, which they handled right off the bat.
One bright spot evident from this meeting –Lakewood is well ahead of Cleveland Heights in the establishment of a land bank. Cleveland Heights is only now moving to form a land bank to assemble properties foreclosed upon due to delinquent property taxes. Without a land bank, ownership of those properties would slip to control of the county and who knows what fate.
During budget hearings last year, Lakewood’s director of planning and development warned city council that the city would be demolishing many more houses than it had in previous years. The prediction didn’t reach fruition because the city had a tougher time than expected in acquiring eligible houses (in fact, an argument can be made they are too gung-ho right now, trying to rip down homes that deserve to be saved.)
House Demolitions: Lakewood 1 Cleveland Heights 1
Cleveland Heights has no such issues. Their city council gave the green light to demolish three homes as nuisances. One house was in estate, another house was owned by an unresponsive out-of-state bank, and the third house was a duplex long owned by a couple of elderly sisters who moved to a retirement facility. The councilperson held up color photographs of the homes and outlined their respective housing violations.
The city manager also reported back on the winning bids to demolish three other houses in the city. The price to demolish a small-sized house was around $8,500 and $12,000 for a medium-sized house.
Tattoo Parlors: Lakewood 2 Cleveland Heights 2
In a surprisingly bold move, Cleveland Heights City Council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance to overturn a 90-year-old law prohibiting tattoo parlors within city limits. The councilperson who introduced the ordinance explained the tattoo industry is heavily regulated at the state level and safe enough to be considered mainstream.
Believe it or not, Lakewood allows tattoo parlors, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one anywhere in the city. There is a pretty strict ordinance on the books that states “tattooing must be performed by a medical doctor licensed to practice medicine in the State of Ohio, or by an operator under the direction and supervision of a medical doctor licensed to practice medicine in the State of Ohio.”
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