Archive for the ‘Cleveland Building and Housing’ tag
Ward 14 Town Hall Meeting
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the first town hall meeting hosted by Councilwoman Jasmin Santana, her assistant, Maranyeliz Miranda, and her volunteers. It was an enjoyable, informative meeting. I hope,as Ms. Santana said,it will be the first of many.
This town hall was a community forum with many city officials as well as non-profit advocates discussing housing issues and solutions with the audience. This first forum’s participants included:
Special Guest: MetroHealth
Chief of Staff. Jane Platten. Walter Jones, Senior Vice President in charge of campus transformation accompanied her.
Ayonna Donald, Interim director Cleveland Director B & H.
Housing Partnership Network, FKA Cleveland Housing Network
Kate Monter Durban, Assistant Director
Mahria Harris, Director of Homeowner Services
Christina Keegan, Land Trust Program Manager
Heather Meljkovic, Magistrate
Peter Hotchkiss, Housing Court Specialist
Community Development Organizations.
Metro West Development Organization
Keisha Gonzalez, Managing Director
Tremont West Development Corporation
Cory Riordan, Executive Director
Pastor Gordon Martin, Prince of Peace Outreach presided as facilitator and fielded the written questions from the audience. Since the topic was housing, he informed us that all the other questions would be handled on-line since people had failed to add contact info to the questions.
As always, there were a few in the audience who refused to believe that the rules applied to them and they shouted their questions from the floor. When Pastor Martin was unable to get them to understand that the written questions served two purposes-the question topic would be housing and that all others would be handled in writing on- line, the councilwoman and he handled the impromptu questions quickly and efficiently so that the discussion on housing issues could continue.
There was a lot of useful information exchanged. The housing court personnel handled eviction questions as well as what the procedure is if you end up in court.
“Who is the code enforcer?” was handled by Metro West’s managing director, Keisha Gonzalez and Ms. Arnold of Building and Housing who has over 20 years experience both in the field and in management.
Ms. Gonzalez shared that Metro West conducts four Code Enforcement Area (CEA) studies a year. When an area is chosen for closer scrutiny a house to house outside inspection is conducted. These inspections are to identify potential Building and Housing violations before they become a problem for the homeowner when code enforcement kicks in.
If you receive a letter, call Metro West. There are resources that can help home owners. any people accomplished home repairs which alleviates anxiety and enhances their own quality of life as well as their neighbors’.
Ms. Arnold made everyone understand Metro West, Tremont West or any other CDC does NOT have enforcement authority.
Many questions centered around affordable housing and what programs are available to residents as well as the deposition of the YMCA building on Pearl. An added plus was Jane Platten from MetroHospitals who addressed the new transformation plan for the hospital and how those plans do not call for the displacement of current residents near the hospital. Ms. Platten was glad to be able to dispel the rumors at a public forum.
Rebecca Kempton and I recorded the meeting on Facebook live. It is available in two sections. If you are interested please take the time to watch it. There are two sections I and II. Click on Gloria Ferris. Scroll down.
Again, I would like to thank everyone who participated in last night’s meeting, but most of all, to thank Councilwoman Santana for using the calls to her office as her basis for the Town Hall topic.
I look forward to the next one.