Distinguishing one breed of dog from another can be tricky. It is an especially contentious matter for some Lakewood dog owners who regularly get sideways glances from strangers, and police scrutiny because their pets resemble  pit bulls — which the city banned nearly two years ago.

Last summer the issue of breed identification came to the forefront after a Lakewood police officer tasered a dog in Birdtown. There was debate about whether or not the canine was a pit bull or not. The dog’s owner claimed it wasn’t, although Mayor Edward O. FitzGerald later said DNA testing proved it was. Eventually, Otis and his owner made a deal with the city to relocate to another municipality.

The tasering incident whipped-up a lot of fury among dog lovers. Most of it was Internet-based, but there was one committee meeting last summer where  animal control officer Michael Stewart got a little testy after some residents questioned his ability to identify one dog breed from another.

Before there was Otis, there was Rosco

According to a lawsuit filed against the city on March 19th (read the .pdf), it seems at least one other person was challenging Stewart’s pit bull identification skills that summer.

Former Lakewood resident Leonard Shelton alleges that he suffered “economic damages, psychological damages, and other compensatory damages” when the city harassed him about Rosco, his Boston Terrier mix, and forced them both to move out of the city. Shelton is seeking a minimum of $475,000 in damages.

According to Shelton’s complaint, Stewart and Lakewood police officer Kenneth Kulczycki stopped him on the street in April, 2009, and told him his pet was a pit bull and needed to be removed from the city, or else he would face criminal charges.

Shelton, who now lives in Brooklyn, immediately told the city officials his dog was not a pit bull.

Over the course of the next few months, Stewart and unidentified Lakewood police officers repeatedly visited, and stopped him on the street to deliver the same message: Rosco must go.

At one point, Shelton claims, Stewart told him if a DNA test proved his pet wasn’t a pit bull, it could continue to live within the city.

In June, 2009, Shelton provided DNA results that showed Rosco wasn’t a pit bull, but Stewart declined to accept them. Shelton alleges that continued harassment from city officials over the breed issue caused him to move elsewhere.

Shelton’s complaint against the city says  its inability to correctly identify the breed of his dog, the harassment, and refusal to accept DNA proof was motivated by “among other things, malice, ill will, discrimination, and bad faith and constitutes violations of [his] constitutional rights.”

He blames the city for not properly training its personnel to correctly identify dog breeds, and says the city is using the pit bull ban to force out individuals it has judged to be “undesirable or unsavory.”

More on Leonard Shelton

Fox 8 News apparently did a story on Shelton and his dog, but it is no longer available online. The KC Dog Blog mentioned the situation in May. Scene Magazine did a piece on Shelton’s Iraq war post-traumatic stress disorder and his anti-war efforts.

Lakewood police searched Birdtown in the early morning hours of March 22nd for a man suspected of having outstanding felony warrants. The white male took off running and hopped over a fence when an officer in a patrol car approached him and his friend. Police did not immediately locate the subject.

A couple of hours later, an officer stopped a male riding a bicycle on Edgewater. He was found to have a warrant out of Linndale for a traffic violation, as well as some prior drug convictions. The male was arrested, turned over to Lindale, and his bike was impounded.

In the early morning hours of the following day, March 23rd, police dispatched cars to the down unit of 1329 Webb. A female called to report that her residence had been burglarized. Several items were missing, including her pet Boxer.

Don’t expect to read about any of these incidents in the Sun Newspaper crime blotter. None of them were noted in the police media log.

For some reason, the incidents listed in the log for March 22nd don’t begin until 3:52 a.m. Nothing is listed for March 23rd until 5:18 a.m. The same kind of time gap occurred on the morning after St. Patrick’s Day.

I learned of the incidents only after noticing the time discrepancy, and reviewing a recording of radio traffic for those hours.

The majority of the logs don’t have any time irregularities, but it is curious and slightly alarming that information is being withheld — whether intentionally so or not.

The Crime Calendar has been updated through March 23rd.

Roughly 80 United Transportation Union employees will leave Lakewood for North Olmsted in June. The UTU occupied more than two floors of the 15-story building.

Lakewood Center North, a key anchor in the Downtown Lakewood district, suffered a setback earlier this month when its ownership group surrendered the property to their lender in order to stave off foreclosure.

In addition, according to a report in the latest edition of Crain’s Cleveland Business, the United Transportation Union — the building’s largest tenant in terms of square footage — will relocate its headquarters to North Olmsted in June.

UTU is an AFL-CIO labor union affiliate that represents 125,000 active and retired railroad, bus and mass transit workers in the United States and Canada.

“It’s a big loss,” said Nathan Kelly, Lakewood’s director of planning and economic development, after Monday’s city council economic development committee meeting.

Kelly explained the UTU exodus was prompted by Lakewood Center North management’s inflexible position on the terms of lease renewal in relation to the depressed commercial real estate market. They were asking for “numbers out of this world,” he said. Ultimately, UTU got a “great deal” elsewhere on a standalone building with a surface parking lot, according to Kelly.

A UTU employee familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said approximately 80 employees work in the Lakewood office.

He said the headcount at UTU has gradually decreased over the years, and the organization found itself with more space than it needed, and could afford. He indicated the leasing agent was “not interested” in offering more favorable lease renewal terms to UTU.

Biggest employers in the city for 1999 and 2008

~

(Source: 2008 State of Ohio Audit of the City of Lakewood)

Here today, gone tomorrow

Believe it or not, this is the second time in the 36-year history of the building that it has been forfeited to a lender. It last happened in 1993, when the commercial real estate credit market dried-up.

What is a little alarming about the most current incident is the swiftness in which the situation deteriorated.

A German investment group doing business as The Tomorrow Fund bought the building from a New Mexico-based investment group in January of 2007 for $14.45 million, with a loan of $8.5 million.

It seemed like they were on the right path. They successfully renewed the lease of New York Life Insurance, the largest employer in the building, and upgraded the facilities.

The building is, in fact, 96% occupied, according to the Crain’s Cleveland article.

However, things were not as they appeared. Kelly, who was quoted in the article, said building management did not respond to tenant demands, and “was not competitive.”

What’s next?

The building is now essentially bank-owned, so don’t expect to see any kind of fantastic developments there. If the city is lucky, a local ownership group will snap up the property at a bargain price, give it the attention it deserves, and attract a top notch tenant to replace UTU. More likely, though, it will be acquired by another out-of-state investment company, but with hopefully better end results than the previous owners.

St. Patrick’s Day revelers caused remarkably few alcohol-related problems in the city Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. There were no reports of any bar disturbances. Police patrolling the streets pulled over dozens of drivers during the 48 hour period, but arrested just two people for suspicion of driving under the influence.

A brief recap:

Wednesday began like many other days in Lakewood — a few residents woke-up to discover property had been stolen overnight from their unlocked cars. Later in the day, a couple of smash and grabs were reported. The one in the parking lot behind Aladdin’s netted the criminal an iPod and GPS unit. The other episode, near Cove and Clifton, also involved a GPS device.

An unfortunate suicide was reported around 11:00 a.m. in one of the apartments above the Phoenix Coffee House building at 15114 Detroit Ave.

At about 3:30 p.m., a female on her way home from Lakewood High School said that somebody tried to force her inside of a house, but she was able to escape.

Narcotics detectives observed a drug buy somewhere in the western half of the city at 4:00 p.m., and made a trafficking arrest.

In an usual twist, the prime hours for St. Pattie’s Day drunken debauchery — from midnight to 3 a.m. — were not recorded in the police activity log (see for yourself, checkout the updated crime calender). Wednesday’s activities end at about midnight, and Thursday’s transactions don’t begin until 3:42 a.m.

The discrepancy would have gone unnoticed, except there were a couple of events I was familiar with that couldn’t be located anywhere in the log.

A review of the radio traffic for the missing three hours and 42 minutes doesn’t reveal much of note. In addition to one of the aforementioned DUIs, a visitor to the city was arrested at 1449 Woodward for disorderly conduct, and another person stiffed a cab driver near Edwards and Detroit. There were also a few loud disturbances on Robinwood, Delaware, and Cedarwood.

A more serious incident happened on Thursday night. At 9:36 p.m., an employee at Georgio’s  Oven Fresh Pizza, near Bunts and Detroit, told police a man with a gun robbed the store.

The employee said the suspect was a Hispanic male wearing sunglasses, a blue jacket, and blue shorts. He had a black handgun, possibly a .38 and was picked up by a white car (maybe a Pontiac) headed eastbound on Detroit.

You can hear the police dispatch radio call here (.mp3 – edited for brevity). The suspects were not immediately apprehended.

On a more satisfying note, later that night a Ferndale resident caught two males rifling through his truck and chased after them. He called police who tracked the suspects to a garage at 1665 Lincoln and arrested them. One of the suspects was juvenile who had been reported missing out of Cleveland. The other suspect was an 18-year-old with a Massilon address.

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The city’s effort to mitigate the negative effects of the housing market collapse by acquiring bank-owned properties continues at a historic pace. In the last month, it has taken control of six bank-owned properties – two apartment buildings, and four single-family houses – and demolished at least one other one.

The buying frenzy is being financed by hundreds of thousands of dollars provided by the federal government. Some of the homes will be rehabbed and resold, while others will be torn down. The ultimate success of the plan – which will be plainly visible to the residents who live near these properties – is dependent upon the city’s ability to implement a strategy to ensure that the structures do not become a drag on the neighborhood.

The directors of the Planning and Development and the Building and Housing departments, each appointed by Mayor Edward O. FitzGerald and approved by City Council, had absolutely no municipal experience prior to being hired.

The city paid $47,000 for this house on Gladys. It will be featured along with another city-owned house on Andrews in an upcoming event showcasing real estate around Downtown Lakewood.

David A. Dummermuth bought 1195 Gladys in September, 2005 with a $157,500 mortgage. A foreclosure case was filed in April, 2008. Dummermuth, a Shaker Hts. resident, declared bankruptcy in January, 2009.  The home sold at sheriff’s auction in September, 2009 to Deutsche Bank for $44,000.

City Council gave approval at their March 1st meeting to allow the city enter into an agreement with a Realtor to find a buyer for the home. Nathan Kelly, director of planning and development, said the property will be featured at the March 13th, Lakewood Downtown Open House.

The former owners of this home on Cranford live just one street over.

Jason and Jennifer Yonkers bought 1297 Cranford in 2005 with a $124,000 mortgage. Foreclosure proceedings began in August, 2006, and again in October, 2007.

Court records show that the Yonkers, who live on Brockley in a house that is currently in the final stages of the foreclosure process, had several cash flow and legal problems.

Deutsche Bank purchased the house at sheriff’s auction for $46,667 in August, 2009. The City of Lakewood acquired it from them a couple of weeks ago for $54,900.

The city doubled its bet on Cranford by picking up the neighboring house, also bank-owned.

John Bohi bought 1301 Cranford in 2003 with a $87,000 mortgage. In December, 2007, he took out a $100,000 mortgage on the property. Foreclosure proceedings began in July, 2008. The house was sold to Key Bank at sheriff’s auction in March, 2009 for $90,608. The city picked it up late last week for $58,000.

The city acquired this house on Westlake for $59,000.

David Kovacs purchased 1269 Westlake in 2002 with a $84,500 mortgage. Two years later, he refinanced the mortgage for $119,850. Foreclosure proceedings began in March, 2008. Wells Fargo bought the house in November, 2009 at sheriff’s auction for $36,667.  The city paid $59,000 on March 1st for the house.

Fifth Third Bank surrendered the deed to the city for the vacant apartment building that sits next to Calanni's on Madison Ave., near Bunts Rd.

North Ridgeville resident Tracy Brown bought 13736 Madison Ave. in 2003 as an investment property. He started interior renovations, and then ran out of money. The inside of the building is in poor condition. The city declared it a nuisance last year, and began the process of trying to demolish it. During one of his final appearances in Lakewood housing court in 2009, Brown said he was working with his lender on a deal where he’d forfeit the property to the bank, who would in turn fork it over to the city.  All indications were that the city would then take it down. The property transferred to the city on February 16th.

The city formally gained control of this W. 117th apartment building on Feburary 2nd.

After a brief legal skirmish with the mortgage servicer, the city acquired the vacant apartment building at 1482-1484 W. 117th via sheriff’s auction for $50,000. It is said to be in poor condition and will be definitely demolished.

And according to a message on LakewoodBuzz.com, the city has notified residents in the area that it intends to knock down the nearby Highland Manor apartment building located at 1468 W. 117th around March 5th.

The structure is vacant and in a state of deterioration. It was successfully foreclosed upon, but the mortgage company refuses to send it to sheriff’s auction.

When a city loses two apartment buildings to neglect that are less than sixty yards apart on the same street, one would hope it might trigger some kind of profound self-examination on the part of residents, city administrators and elected representatives.  Clearly, something is very wrong and needs to be corrected. And it goes beyond the standard line  — “The market has failed this property.” — uttered by city administrators.

Yes, the obvious lack of parking hurt the viability of these properties, but there are plenty of apartments around the city that have little to no parking available and are doing just fine.

Until the city locks down Ward 4, where these buildings are located, and proactively and aggressively enforce the housing laws, nuisance ordinances, and criminal codes, the situation will not improve.

Other housing notes

- The city is not formally tracking vacant houses for fear that such a list could provide a “shopping list” to criminals, according to Housing and Building Director Ashby.

- After two years  and two months in office, Mayor FitzGerald is finally getting around to creating legislation that would require banks to notify the city when a house in foreclosure becomes vacant. The city is modeling their plan after a Bedford Heights law.

- The department is getting new software in the next couple of months that is supposed help streamline internal information, and allow inspectors to spend more time in the field. There have been a few attempts to install various types of software in the department over the years with negligible results, according to the mayor. The latest effort has been described in glowing terms by the administration, and has caused a twinkle in the eye of each and every city council member. No questions asked.

- The Building and Housing department will not be hiring any additional inspectors. The topic came up at a recent council meeting. Coucilperson Thomas Bullock (Ward 2) and green banana Monique Smith (At-Large) asked representatives from the housing department point blank if they could use more inspectors.

Assistant Building Commissioner for Residential Housing Jeff Fillar said he is most concerned with getting the current personnel up-to-date with their certifications, education and training, and adding new people isn’t in the equation.

The mayor repeated a variation of a statement he’s made in the past: no inspectors will be hired until the department successfully transitions to the new software, and improves from its dysfunctional past.

- LakewoodAlive representatives, a handful of senior city administrators, and a few council people gathered in private a few weeks ago to plot out the city’s housing strategy.

- Lakewood Municipal Court hired a retired city housing inspector on a part-time basis to coordinate a diversion program to deal with select types of housing, building and health code violations. It will mostly be limited to cases involving owner-occupied properties and is supposed to allow housing inspectors to spend more time in the field, and less time in court. It sounds like a decent deal on paper, and hopefully will be a step in the right direction. The part-time status of the coordinator could be a reason for concern, however. Part-time efforts, no matter how well intentioned, frequently end in half-assed results.

- Peter Machlup the self-proclaimed co-owner of the house that formerly stood at 1570 Woodward has moved his legal action against the city from county court to federal court. You can read his initial complaint (.PDF), the city’s response (.PDF), and his rebuttal (.PDF).

Basically, he’s not happy the city didn’t recognize him as a co-owner of the property and feels the nuisance and demolition appeals process was not fair.