William T. Novak's properties are located near the corner of Cook and Clifton.

After taking additional time to review the facts of the case, the Board of Building Standards and Appeals earlier this month upheld the city’s nuisance designation of the properties owned by William T. Novak at 14903-14909 Clifton Blvd.

Although Novak can still appeal to the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, the decision allows the city to maintain pressure on Novak to fix his buildings, and also gives it the right to make necessary repairs.

‘Marked progress,’ but still well short of full compliance

At a housing compliance hearing held in Lakewood Municipal Court a week before the board met, Commercial Building Inspector Tim McDonough said he saw “marked progress” on the four apartments at 14909 Clifton Blvd, but “minimal” improvement in the other building. All exterior violations had been corrected. “Most of the heavy work has been done,” he said.

Despite the relatively positive progress report, Assistant Building Commissioner for Commercial Buildings Robert Apanasewicz asked Judge Patrick Carroll to give Novak the maximum fine ($2,000) and close out the case so new housing violation charges could be filed. “Mr. Novak doesn’t have the skills or motivation to maintain the properties,” Apanasewicz said.

Carroll fined Novak $500 and gave him until today to either be in full compliance or risk incurring additional penalties.

Evidence remains the same

In order to consider Novak’s appeal, the Board of Building Standards and Appeals needed to determine what condition his properties were in at the time the city declared them to be a nuisance. Were they “unsafe to occupy” and a “fire and safety hazard,” as the nuisance declaration claimed?

Sam Zingale, Novak’s lawyer, emphasized the improved current condition of the properties. He estimated that 14909 Clifton Blvd. was “days away from being completed.” Zingale stated: “I think clearly there is no nuisance.”

Novak apologized for his previous mistakes and added, “The good news is that I’m here today.” Novak said he “worked [his] whole life to pay for these buildings,” and couldn’t understand how they could be considered a nuisance.

Captains Cove resident Mary Anne Crampton encouraged the board to support the city’s ruling due to years of ongoing problems with the properties. “We have the opportunity to be part of the solution or part of the problem,” she said. It should be noted that Ward 2 Councilperson Thomas Bullock, who lives much closer to these buildings than Crampton, was not present to speak at this meeting.

Crampton’s comments aggravated Valerie Shearer, a Georgetown University-trained historian, who has worked with Novak on his restoration efforts since January. Shearer admired Lakewood’s interest in historic preservation, but didn’t think that the city appreciated the “slow and tedious” nature of the work. She said that Novak, despite his checkered history, had been conducting a professional restoration. “I believe in redemption, and that’s what you’ve seen this last year,” she said.

Board Secretary Dru Siley read the nuisance law aloud. He told the board that the court compelled Novak’s recent progress on the properties. Siley said that even if the nuisance designation was upheld, Novak could continue to repair his properties, and would still have the ability to appeal the decision.

Before voting on the issue, board members expressed their concerns about Novak’s spotty track record. “It does concern us,” one member said. “You don’t follow through,” another member added.

Several board members commented that the city had proved that the building fit the nuisance designation. “I have to disagree,” Novak’s lawyer replied. “It has to be harmful to the public.” Noting that Novak can continue to cited for existing housing violations, he wondered: “When is there going to be an endpoint to this?”

Siley reminded everyone that the board’s primary task was to determine whether or not Novak’s properties fit the nuisance designation at the time it was applied by the city. The current condition of the properties was irrelevant.

The Board voted unanimously to uphold the city’s nuisance designation. One board member said, “I feel this property still exists as a nuisance.”

On paper, the East End of Madison Avenue has some assets that could be used as building blocks to lure positive catalysts of neighborhood growth. There is a large city park, public library, numerous churches, a good live music venue, bowling alley, manufacturing facility, and easy access to the RTA rapid transit.

Reality, though, is a bit different. Eastern Madison Ave. is bounded on either side by neighborhoods that are poorer and rougher than is typical for Lakewood. 15 years ago it was the site of the Vincent Drost murder, the city’s most notorious crime in recent memory. It’s not exactly the Wild West today, but it has some challenges.

One visible difficulty is its lack of desirable retail businesses. Gold Into Cash, for instance, recently opened next to The Flying Rib at the corner of Hopkins Ave. and Madison Ave. It is by no means a shady business, and certainly meets a need for its clientele, but doesn’t bring much vitality to the area.

Gold Into Cash is one of East Madison Ave's newest businesses.

Another head-scratcher of a business is A&A Wireless, near the corner of Magee Ave. and Madison Ave. It popped up late in the summer in a storefront that was long vacant. Its presence was particularly conspicuous due to a flimsy business sign — one the city would not likely have approved — that was nailed above its front door.

A&A Wireless, near the corner of Magee Ave. and Madison Ave, opened this summer.

Last Tuesday its front window was smashed in a reported incident of breaking and entering. The first police officer to arrive on the scene could not locate either a building address number or business name. The police department called at a least a dozen different phone numbers in an effort to reach the person responsible for the store, who had been arrested a month prior for permitting drug abuse. When he finally showed up, he was arrested again, this time on a North Olmsted warrant related to a traffic case.

First steps underway to  improve physical appearance of East Madison Ave.

The Lakewood Planning Commission met earlier this month to review the latest progress on the design study of the Madison Ave. East-End Corridor, made possible through a $50,000 federal grant to the city through NOACA in December 2009.

The design team, led by Lakewood-based architect Scott Dimit, is charged with making plans for Madison Ave. streetscape improvements, which includes things like bus stops, pedestrian spaces, benches, trees, and signage. A major goal of the project is to generate design plans and then use them to attract funding for improvement projects. (see project presentation .PDF)

Team Dimit held a couple of well-attended community meetings this year to solicit ideas from residents to determine what kind of amenities they’d like to see in their neighborhood. Based on the feedback the team received and other research they conducted, the East End of Madison Ave. was divided into three distinct design zones: Madison at W. 117^th, Church Square, and Madison Park Gateway.

Click on the image to see a larger view.

Dimit explained to the Planning Commission that his team wants to give the Madison Ave and West 117th St. area the more formal appearance of a grand gateway to the city. This would be accomplished largely by creating a short median of planters and street lighting, expanding the existing mini-park on the southwest corner of the intersection, and installing public art on the corners in the form of two large lanterns that resemble birdcages.

Proposed design of gateway lanterns

The Church Square area runs from Lakewood Ave. to Dowd. Ave. and includes Transfiguration Parish and St. Peter and Paul Church. Proposed improvements include colored concrete pavers, more trees, and public art.

Click on the image to see a larger view.

The Madison Park and Library district includes the area between Cohassett Ave. and Clarence Ave. The design team focused on softening the look of Madison Park to give it a more inviting feel. They suggested the addition of a planted median, more benches, bike racks, and a lighted pathway in the park. They also want to remove the existing angled parking on Madison Ave. because it has an accident prone history.

Click on the image to see a larger view.

The Planning Commission warmly received Dimit’s presentation. “We clearly got our money’s worth with that NOACA grant,” said commission member Tom Einhouse. “This makes me unbelievably proud to be in this community.”

Ward 4 Councilperson Mary Louise Madigan also approved of the design plans. “This makes us all smile, but we don’t kid ourselves,” she said. “This is an important economic development project.”

The project’s design plans are expected to be finalized by the beginning of the new year.

A missed opportunity?

As important of a project as she claims this is, it’s a wonder where Councilperson Madigan was on October 14th, when Graftech International, the corporation located at the southwest corner of Madison Ave and W. 117th St., received permission from the city’s Architectural Board of Review (ABR) to remove and replace a retaining wall that runs 250 feet along Madison Ave. (See application .PDF)

Graftech needed to replace the retaining wall because it had begun to fail.

In granting the approval, the ABR requested that the proposed chain link fence along the top of the new wall be changed to match the color and style of Graftech’s other black metal fence on Madison Ave.

A nearly finished section of the new retaining wall.

With a red-colored concrete designed to match the area’s other brick facades, the new wall will be a clear improvement over the previous one. However, taking into account the wall’s highly visible profile, it would have been much nicer if it could have been turned into a public art piece or maybe used as the canvas for a colorful mural celebrating the area’s history. Considering the effort being put into designing streetscape improvements to this area, it is a major disappointment that no one from the city or LakewoodAlive capitalized on this obvious opportunity.

No state funding to upgrade Madison Ave.

Over the last several years, the city has been successful in securing grants or low cost loans from the state to undertake street repairs and watermain replacements.

Public Works Director Joseph Beno revealed at a December budget hearing that the city’s request for $1.2 million in state aid to assist with the $2.5 million cost of upgrades to Madison Ave. was unsuccessful. The upgrade project would have provided a huge boost in getting Team Dimit’s design plans constructed.

The city is getting some money for a watermain replacement on Athens Ave., but the committee charged with parceling out the funding didn’t find that the Madison Ave. project ranked as high as some of the other 47 projects that were submitted.

Lakewood police have arrested more people for operating a vehicle while under the influence of liquor (OVI) this year than were arrested for the same offense in all of 2009. 200 arrests have been made through November, a 13 percent increase over the same period last year.

A total of 189 people were arrested for OVI in 2009. Arrest totals in 2008 and 2007 were 214 and 221, respectively. It is illegal in the state of Ohio to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or above.

As a general comparison of OVI arrests, consider the city of Mentor. Its population size is roughly similar to Lakewood, but it’s almost five times larger geographically (26.8 square miles versus 5.6 square miles). Mentor police made 413 OVI arrests through November, twice Lakewood’s total.

One might assume that the warm summer months, when more people are out and about at any of Lakewood’s more than 35 different bars, would have the largest number of OVI arrests. In fact, as the chart above shows, more arrests occurred during other seasons of the year.

Make no mistake about it: Drunk drivers are a dangerous breed. On October 5th, a 47-year-old Lincoln Ave. resident learned the hard way that excessive alcohol consumption and driving don’t mix. At around 3:00 a.m., officers were dispatched to a hit-and-skip on Alameda Ave. They tracked down the driver within about 10 minutes, but couldn’t get him to pull over. He traveled across the city, west on Lake Ave. from West. 117th St.

Sober motorists driving the entire western half of Lake Ave. must eventually make one of two choices. Either they turn left and continue on Webb Rd., or they turn right and travel to Lake Rd. Drunk drivers, unfortunately, have a third choice. (see video below)

Arthur Miller was charged with OVI, hit-skip, failure to control, and failure to wear a seatbelt. His case is pending in Lakewood Municipal Court.

Above: Snow falls in front of China Garden's window. If the state's decision stands, the take-out restaurant would not be able to sell or deliver beer.

In a town chock-full of bars that rarely seem to suffer any serious consequences for the problems they cause, a small Chinese carryout restaurant tucked away in a strip mall in Lakewood’s downtown district faces the loss of its liquor permit due to the criminal history of a former employee.

China Garden, located in the Lakewood City Center shopping plaza at 14867 Detroit Ave., is perhaps better known for its cigarette and beer home delivery service than for its cuisine. Bunts Rd. resident Yim Wah Kwok owned the business for the last several years and employed 45-year-old Angel Rosado off-and-on during that time.

Between 2004 and 2008, Rosado was convicted in Lakewood Municipal Court of intoxication and disorderly conduct on six separate occasions. He earned other convictions in the city for resisting arrest, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

While working at China Garden in July 2007, Rosado illegally sold a tobacco product to a 16-year-old girl working undercover for the authorities. He was found guilty of the incident, fined $150 and given a year of probation.

Less than a year later on March 13, 2008, Rosado added a new item to China Garden’s menu: crack cocaine. A confidential informant made contact with Rosado on that day and purchased seven grams of cocaine from him at the restaurant. He was found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to one year in jail, with three years of post-release probation.

City objects to liquor permit transfer between niece and uncle

Around April of this year, Kwok transferred ownership of the business to her uncle Zeng Chun Huang, an Andrews Ave. resident. As part of the deal, she applied to the Ohio Division of Liquor Control to transfer the restaurant’s class C-1 liquor permit – basically a license to sell packaged beer – to her uncle’s company.

The transaction might have gone off without a hitch, except for one thing: Angel Rosado was out of jail and again working at China Garden. It did not sit well with city officials. The Lakewood City Council voted unanimously to object to the transfer. (see .PDF)

How did a convicted drug trafficker keep his job?

When someone is caught dealing cocaine in the workplace, it usually results in termination. How was Rosado able to return to work at the scene of his crime?

The September 24th liquor control hearing on the permit transfer objection revealed that Kwok provided living accommodations for Rosado because his high school-aged son was a very close friend of her uncle’s grandson. Rosado lived at her uncle and aunt’s Andrews Ave. house, which Kwok had owned, presumably so Rosado’s son could attend Lakewood High School. (see .PDF)

Kwok claimed that neither she nor her uncle were aware of Rosado’s criminal record. Kwok said she was out of the country when Rosado was arrested for drug trafficking. She also said Rosado no longer worked at China Garden, nor lived with her uncle, although some of his belongings were still at the house. Kwok’s uncle, who is unable to speak or understand English, communicated through Kwok that he was unaware of Rosado’s history.

Hearing officer called city’s case ‘insufficient’

James Bally, the liquor control officer who presided over the hearing, wrote in an opinion that the evidence and testimony provided by the city was “insufficient” to block the permit transfer. He felt that while Rosado had engaged in criminal activities, there was absolutely no indication that either Kwok or her uncle were involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever. In the time Kwok held the beer permit, Bally noted “there have been no citations, no liquor violations, no expressions of police activity, and no evidence of any neighborhood interference relating to this business.” (see .PDF)

Bally pointed out that the city did not object to any of China Garden’s annual permit renewals (which occurred every October 1st) even though they had information about Angel Rosado as early as 2004.

Bally observed that Rosado did not hold a managerial role, and was only an occasional employee. Further, he suggested that the city didn’t have a basis to block the permit transfer because Rosado no longer worked there and the business wasn’t a source of trouble.

City scores rare victory

As Lakewood’s mayor has reminded city council at least a half dozen times over the last three years, the city has historically not been very successful in their efforts to block liquor permits.

It was somewhat surprising then when Ernie Davis, the acting superintendent of the Division of Liquor Control, disagreed with Bally and sustained the city’s objection.

Davis felt Rosado’s crimes – particularly those that took place in the restaurant – and his apparent continued employment there were grounds to deny the permit’s transfer of ownership.

At the bottom of his September 30th ruling, he hand-wrote: “Due to the continued presence of Angel Rossato [sic] at China Garden I’m sustaining the city’s objection. The 9/07 [sic] arrest inside the permit premise and his (Rossato’s) [sic] continued presence threatens the good order of the community.” (see .PDF)

Davis’ ruling was released on November 30th. China Garden has 30 days to appeal the decision before it becomes final.

With no pomp or circumstance, the Lakewood Police Department has added a call log section to their Web site. It contains the exact same data found on the Crime Calendar portion of this Web site. It’s the source document used by the Sun Newspaper for their police blotter and is a very valuable resource for citizens who want to educate themselves about the true state of crime in their neighborhoods.

It’s definitely a welcome baby step in the right direction, but one that is long overdue. Here’s hoping the LPD makes a real effort to ensure that the information is updated on at least a weekly basis. Frequently, there is information in the call log that needs be redacted. Removing social security numbers, names of juveniles, certain phone numbers, and other kinds of data can be tedious and could conceivably lead to very long lag times.

The Crime Calendar will continue to be updated until the LPD’s effort shows itself to be the real deal. It will be updated through the end of November by the end of next week.