Former Ward 14 and 15 Development Funding 2006 - 2009

Submitted by briancummins on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 09:33.

Here are the funding records for the past four years for the Community Development Block Grant, Neighborhood Development Activity funds for the former Wards 14 and 15.  These are the CDBG funds that are provided to each Ward under the Council person's authority for development needs in the Wards.  Note that in addition to these funds there were or are also the following funding sources that are utilized by Councilmembers and Community Development and Service organizations:

If you have any questions regarding this information please contact me at:
216-664-4238, bcummins [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org

Sincerely,

Brian Cummins
Councilman, new Ward 14
Cleveland City Council

Former Ward 14 Funding 2006 - 2009
Original Yr. 32 (2006) NDA Allocation            400,000
Original Yr. 33 (2007) NDA Allocation            400,000
Original Yr. 34 (2008) NDA Allocation            400,000
Original Yr. 35 (2009) NDA Allocation            400,000
ADD: Program years 2001-2003 reprogramming            138,754
ADD: decertified balances from completed projects            114,381
TOTAL BUDGET        1,853,135


Former Ward 14 Funding 2006 - 2009

06/09/06 Ward 16 Fund swap              10,000
09/12/06 Tremont West Development Corporation-CDC            135,000
09/20/06 Merrick House Senior Services                5,000
09/20/06 Cleveland Tenants Organization                5,000
09/26/06 Julia DeBurgos Cultural Arts Center-Youth              10,000
09/27/06 Ohio City Near West Development Corp-CDC              20,000
09/27/06 Flats Oxbow Association-CDC              30,000
09/28/06 Cleveland Restoration Society              20,000
10/16/06 Stockyard Redevelopment Organization-CDC              92,000
12/05/06 City of Cleveland Health Dept: AIDS Outreach                3,100
02/16/07 Cuyahoga Land Trust-Near West Side              15,000
02/22/07 Stockyard Redevelopment-Holiday Food Program                5,000
03/08/07 Western Reserve Fire Museum & Education Ctr                3,500
07/25/07 Cleveland Tenants Organization                5,000
07/26/07 Stockyard Redevelopment Organization-CDC              92,000
07/30/07 Esperanza: Summer Reading Youth               35,000
07/30/07 Flats Oxbow Association-CDC              30,000
08/03/07 Ohio City Near West Development Corp-CDC              20,000
08/08/07 Tremont West Development Corp-CDC              75,000
08/20/07 Cleveland Neighborhood Development Corp                1,500
08/21/07 Cleveland Restoration Society              20,000
08/23/07 Hispanic Business Association              20,000
08/31/07 Merrick House Senior Services Program                5,000
09/11/07 Ward 14 Sidewalk Assessment Program              42,315
09/11/07 Julia DeBorgos Cultural Arts Center              35,000
09/11/07 City of Cleveland Health Dept: AIDS Outreach                1,000
02/19/08 St. Rocco's School: Day Care Meals              10,000
03/03/08 Spanish American Committee: Housing Counseling              35,000
06/18/08 Esperanza, Inc.: Youth Summer Reading Prog              35,000
07/16/08 Ohio City Near West Development Corporation              55,000
07/23/08 Flats Oxbow Association: CDC              35,000
08/21/08 Tremont West Development Corp: CDC              75,000
08/21/08 Stockyard Redevelopment Organization: CDC              92,000
09/26/08 Cleveland Tenants Organization                5,000
10/17/08 Hispanic Business Association              20,000
11/12/08 Cleveland Restoration Society              20,000
12/12/08 West Shore Corridor Planning Support: Railroad                   200
04/01/09 Tremont west Dev. Corp.              23,250
04/13/09 Fund swap with ward 4              62,000
07/07/09 Western Reserve Fire Museum & Education Ctr                   300
07/28/09 Stockyard Redevelopment Corporation: CDC              31,000
07/16/09 Flats Oxbow-CDC              40,000
07/16/09 RSVP of Greater Cleveland-Experience Corps                1,000
08/07/09 Ward 14 Street Improvements            106,256
08/11/09 Slavic Village: 2009 Walk & Roll                   500
08/12/09 Tremont West Development Corp-CDC-Yr. 35            120,000
08/19/09 Ward 18 Funds transfer              50,000
08/26/09 Ohio City Near West Development-CDC-Yr. 35              55,000
08/31/09 Stockyard Redevelopment Organization              92,000
09/14/09 Esperanza, Inc.: Stay In School Program              60,000
10/08/09 Tremont West-Storefront Renovations-Yr 35              21,750
10/15/09 Cleveland Restoration Society              30,000
10/21/09 Hispanic Business Association              20,000
  Total projects funded        1,830,671
  Current uncommitted balance              22,464

 

Former Ward 15 2006 - 2009
Community Development Block Grant Neighborhood Development Activity Funding (CDBG NDA)
Original Yr. 32 (2006)CDBG NDA Allocation                    400,000
Original Yr. 33 (2007) CDBG NDA Allocation                    400,000
Original Yr. 34 (2008) CDBG NDA Allocation                    400,000
Original Yr. 35 ( 2009) CDBG NDA Allocation                    400,000
ADD: Program years 2001-2003 reprogramming                    357,482
ADD: Decertified balances from completed projects                    244,609
TOTAL BUDGET                2,202,091


Former Ward 15 2006 - 2009

CDBG NDA allocations 2008 - 2009
02/22/06 Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation                      20,000
04/20/06 Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland                        2,400
08/02/06 WSEM: Brookside Center                        2,994
08/11/06 Cleveland Public Theater: Student Enrichment Program                        2,500
09/06/06 Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation                    300,000
09/20/06 Merrick House Senior Services                        3,000
09/20/06 Cleveland Tenants Organization                        5,000
09/26/06 Senior Citizens Resources: Transportation                        6,000
09/26/06 Senior Citizens Resources: Elderly                        6,000
09/28/06 Cleveland Restoration Society                      15,000
11/17/06 Hispanic Business Association                        6,000
03/08/07 Western Reserve Fire Museum & Education Ctr                        1,000
07/05/07 Cleveland Public Theater: Student Enrichment Program                        2,500
07/25/07 Cleveland Tenants Organization                        5,000
07/25/07 Old Brooklyn: Wards 15 & 16 Master Plan                      65,000
08/08/07 Old Brooklyn-CDC: Lower Big Creek Plan                      23,500
08/14/07 Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation                    273,500
08/20/07 Cleveland Neighborhood Development Corp                        3,000
08/21/07 Cleveland Restoration Society                      15,000
08/23/07 OBCDC: Southwest Citizens/Brooklyn Centre Comm Assoc.                        6,000
08/23/07 Hispanic Business Association                        5,000
08/31/07 Merrick House-Senior Services Program                        3,000
09/11/07 Senior Citizens Resources: Transportation                        7,000
09/14/07 Senior Citizens Resources: Elderly Nutrition                        6,000
10/16/07 Ohio Bicycle Co-op (Youth Program)                        2,500
12/31/07 Old Brooklyn Community Dev CDC: Food Program                        2,000
04/10/08 Cleveland Scholarship Prog. Financial Aid                        1,000
06/05/08 Old Brooklyn: Ward 15 Home Repair-Matching Grant                      30,000
7/14/2008 West Side Ecumenical Ministry: Food Center                        5,000
7/14/2008 Old Brooklyn CDC : Security & Crime Watch (Patrols)                      25,000
7/16/2008 West Side Ecumenical Ministry: Food Center                        2,000
07/16/08 Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation                    224,000
08/14/08 Cleveland Public Theater: Student Enrichment Program                        4,000
09/05/08 Senior Citizens Resources: Elderly Nutrition                        6,000
09/05/08 Senior Citizens Resources: Transportation                      10,000
09/18/08 Hull & Associates: Landfill Environmental Analysis                        4,900
09/25/08 YMCA: Walk & Roll Cleveland 2008                        1,000
09/26/08 Cleveland Tenants Organization                        5,000
10/10/08 Brooklyn Centre Community Assistance: Housing/Code Enforce                      82,009
10/10/08 Cuyahoga River Community Planning: Big Creek                        1,500
10/17/08 Hispanic Business Association                        5,000
11/12/08 Cleveland Restoration Society                      15,000
12/12/08 West Shore Corridor Planning Support: Westshore Rail Corridor                        1,000
01/14/09 Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation                        6,000
03/13/09 Old Brooklyn Community Dev CDC: Food Program                        2,000
06/23/09 Old Brooklyn Community Dev Corp: CDC                    233,516
07/02/09 Cleveland Public Theater: Student Enrichment Program                        4,000
07/16/09 Old Brooklyn Community Dev Corp: Safety                      25,000
07/16/09 RSVP of Greater Cleveland: Experience Corps - ED Tutoring                        2,000
08/03/09 International Services Center: Elderly English 2nd Lang                        1,000
08/11/09 YMCA: Walk & Roll Cleveland 2009                        2,000
08/19/09 Senior Citizens: Transportation                      10,000
09/01/09 Cuyahoga River Community Planning: Big Creek                        4,000
09/14/09 Senior Citizens Resources: Elderly Nutrition                        6,000
10/10/09 Brooklyn Centre Community Assistance: Housing/Code Enforce                      93,000
10/05/09 Old Brooklyn: Ward 15 Home Repair-Matching Grant                      10,000
10/15/09 Cleveland Restoration Society                      15,000
10/21/09 Hispanic Business Association                      10,000
10/30/09 Cleveland Scholarship Program                        1,000
pending Cleveland Public Art (Fulton Rd Bridge Prjct & Masonic Bldg Mural)                    115,000
pending American Indian Education Center (Rehab 3121 Denison)                    160,500
pending Brooklyn Centre Community Association (Rehab 3119 Denison)                    225,000
pending Stockyard Redevelopment Organization                      63,000
  Total projects funded                2,199,319
  Current uncommitted balance                        2,772

 

 

 

 

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how to talk

Hi Brian,

Thanks for posting here. Before those who read this with a sharper eye than I jump in to dissect these figures, I wanted to make a point about your willingness to engage. It is something we often don't see here in NEO - politicians engaging online.

I am reading The Cluetrain Manifesto subtitled The End of Business as Usual. In it there is an interesting section on talking. Please search talk on the link above to read the entire section. Here's the first paragraph, but you have to read the whole section to understand what I am getting at here. The beginning and end of the section -

How to Talk

We’re all learning to talk anew. We’re all going to get it right and get it wrong. Two events in the fall of 1994 still serve as good cases in point for crisis management. In one case, resolute Ivory Tower isolation caused a major disaster. In the other, real conversation among concerned individuals saved the day.

...

Lessons learned? The party’s already started. You can join or not. If you don’t, your silence will be taken as arrogance, stupidity, meanness, or all three. If you’re going to join, don’t do it as a legal entity or wearing your cloak of officialdom. Join it as a person with a name, a point of view, a sense of humor, and passion.

Cleveland is in a crisis, Cuyahoga County is in crisis. It is not news anymore, it is our way of life.

Just this morning I was clicking through the news and found this in cleveland.com - a link to the Cleveland Scene story -  Ronayne jumps in wrong race, led to the new county executive post in which they named Jill Miller Zimon among other potential candidates. Jill is the only person mentioned who did not exhibit what Doc Searls and David Weinberger authors of the chapter Markets are Conversations describe as "radio silence". We can see it pretty clearly that markets are conversations, but I think we can also appreciate that governing is a conversation, too.

So thank you for taking the time to engage here. This is where things are discussed. Here and elsewhere online where more voices can join. You just never know where a great idea will come from, do ya? Best to be open to all of them even if it does bring a bit-o-mudslinging from time to time.

Your colleagues would be well advised to follow your lead here and come out of the backroom deal-making parlors. But that's them, not you. Thanks for engaging.

No such address

I know that REAL NEO is a well informed site, with very intelligent individuals; I am very blessed by the information this site holds daily...it is the first thing I do each morning when I awake...I would like to apologize for my irrational behavior of my statements of leading "all" to investigate on the issues of the master plan and safeguard properties...I just found out about all of this and was shocked how all of these organizations and public officials  and corporations and the courts are all working together and taking advantage of all of us...for "the big plan".  I feel very violated of my rights as an american and feel nothing I do or say will help or change any of "What is really going on" I feel like it's all a big conspiracy. I have never been involved in politics...and now, I know WHY; but, that, is besides the point...remember, I don't know much about all of this, but, I am trying to get educated and understand...and I just don't understand "how Brooklyn Centre Community Association can apply for grant monies" when they haven't had an address or a phone number for monthes  on their web-site, let, alone, apply for 225,000 dollars still pending...at an address, that, will be addressed to the Art House at 3119 Denison Avenue...and the American Indian Education Center is located on the second floor of "Gino's Cento Anno" aka. Gino's bar; and Brian Cummins is pending 160,000 dollars for American Indian Education Center, at the address of "3121 Denison Avenue" isn't even an "address " known by, the postmaster, I spoke with this morning; after, I had google searched and then searched the yellow pages?  That is a total of 385,500.  That is a whole lot of money for not having an address!  By law "A HOMELESS PERSON OR FAMILY CAN"T GET FOOD STAMPS TO EAT IF THEY DON"T HAVE AN ADDRESS  While in the meantime, the code-enforcer and the rest of "them" are all parked daily for many many monthes  in the back lot of the the Steel Valley Federal Credit Union....just, "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???  Are they paying rent or who is donating for all these individuals spaces to work...???

mytown55

thank you for returning to realneo.We appreciate your comments. 

However, it would be very helpful and beneficial to the community if you would elaborate more on your "Safeguard Properties" knowledge and what happened in your neighborhood.

Please advise.,,,,,,,  what is really going on?

thank you for the posting.  I am sure one of us will look into your tips.

mytown did not bring up Safeguard

I read the original postings that mytown55 did and s/he never brought up Safeguard at all and says in todays posting that s/he is shocked by this.  

????? SAFEGUARD PROPERTIES ????

Everyone should go look at the "Master Plan 2020 44109" and then when you are done there...go to the Cuyahoga County Land Bank....and when you are done there...go to Safeguard Properties....and when you are done with that...then I will tell you what I have witnessed here in 44109 personally, that, made me go investigating, since, others are going through, the same ...You will plant "YOUR" tree where "THEY" approve and tell you "WHERE" to plant it...or you will not be in compliance and will be cited....More info later....Make sure you download the Whole Plan it will take time.....

my mistake, lmiller

For weeks I have thought that you uncovered this scandal and wondered where you got started! Thanks, because I missed it again tonight. And, thank you again, lmiller, for all the work that you have done and continue to do on this subject. I wonder if the corporate hierarchy were untangled and made public, what common patterns would emerge (names of investors). 

thanks, dwebb!

shocked , puzzled and confused by mytown55's comments myself.  but will dig around on the new allegations and remain grateful for her/his postings.

Judge Ray Pianka should set an example by using this horrible tragedy to punish the absentee mortgage scammers that are only making the foreclosure crisis worse.   And he will........

"Safeguarding" VACANT property by mortgage owners should be ordered and strictly enforced.  However, breaking and entering, stealing property and harassing owner occupied homes involved in the foreclosure crisis is not acceptable.

NDA Questions?? Year 36?

 Mytown55 you have every right to be suspicious, but let me clear up one of your queries--3121 is 3120 Denison.  Mistakes abound at the City of Cleveland--intentional and unintentional, but still owned by Art House at this time.

Brian finally acknowledged SOME of the NDA monies allocated in the 2009-2010 funding cycle, but conveniently left off the monies he has allocated (no doubt) to TWDC and Detroit Shoreway... I am also concerned about the ~ $10,000 raise Deb Zeleny sees for code enforcement during this recession (82,000-93,000).

That said--better late than never, I can say as one of the folks who endured Section 106 meetings to undo the criminal efforts of Sheryl Hoffman/Abe Bruckman...I can only say I am grateful that Brian Cummins is following through with his efforts to save Wirth House and the adjacent Victorian streetscape.

I do have to say WTF!>?! to this, too--$115,000 to a Mural?!  Especially, as we have seen less money $106,000 allocated to street repairs...

 

pending Cleveland Public Art (Fulton Rd Bridge Prjct & Masonic Bldg Mural)  

 

wirth house

Should a huge sum of CDBG be spent on this property in a ward where the need is so great? I'd rather see the property boarded and mothballed safely until private investors can be found to save it, and spend the money that can be used to provide services to hungry, cold, residents that live in Ward 14.

Brooklyn Centre history

DWebb,

I don't disagree that we need money spent on services, but those of us, who live in this neighborhood need some touchstones to the history that defines this neighborhood and we have already made significant investments to that end. 

Besides, council NDA funds don't traditionally go to health and human service causes.  They are primarily intended for bricks and mortar "development" with the bulk of monies going to fund those pesky Community Development Corporations, set up by the Community Reinvestment Act to ostensibly promote reinvestment, but, in truth, completely compromised. 

Now, CDCs are just sinecures for suburban progeny--incubators for the next generation of elitists deciding our fate from Bay Village, Solon, Westlake etc.

history, $$, and all

 The City is bankrupt. We can't even get those potholes patched, and the mayor is not being a leader. Moody has downgraded the City, GCP is talking about renovating Public Square, and there is not any mention of doing what it takes to get jobs going in this City. It is hard to even think of the political process when a person has no job, and no hopes of a better tomorrow.  

City Bankruptcy....????

So, you say the city is bankrupt....

1) How can someone (Code Enforcement Officer-$93,0000)-be slated to earn more than the councilman ($75,000?)  is slated to make under his very own regime? Sounds highly questionable to me.

How much do the city inspectors make? Why are we paying "Code Enforcement Officers" at CDC's to do the city inspector's job? Why aren't the folks being paid out of HUD FUNDS (code enforecment officers)  using it to assist the low income, as it should be?

 This is a new day and age.... time for the old regimes to find new ways of assisting this community as the results of their old happy actions historically are written all over the boards of thousands of vacant, vandalized homes in our community! (Low income) OWNERS end up spending more time in housing court figuring out how to stay out of jail than getting well needed assistance to remediate the little problems.

2) Whether it's bankrupt, they are still receiving Federally subsidized HUD CDBG funding which should still trickle down to the CDC's... shouldn't it? Or are all those funds nullified too? 

3) Isn't street repair money and the $400,000 allocations per year of CDBG funds different funds? Where is the CDBG Funding going in 2010? 

4) Since Daryl Rush (the attorney and director of Community Development for the City of Cleveland was SUSPENDED last week for abusive practices....and his assistant too.... who's going to be the new oversight and protect our CDBG funding since it's a proven fact that these folks are running the same game as the corrupt county officials...? 

5) Who can we depend on to allow us that transparency????? 

6) Where's the city's pork list so that we can scrutinize it? 

7) Heck, I'd settle for the current budget of my ward spending? 

8) Potholes took out my tire last week and my tie rod this week. My car is now deadlined...and you say-go get a job? Hello! I called a half dozen times about those potholes...the project was started and then stopped on Fulton due to inclement weather. But Denison, Fulton, and Clark are yet to be finished. And now we have to hear that they won't get fixed? So, what are they doing with that money, reallocating it???? (I've always been diffused by being told that those monies are allocated the YEAR BEFORE....) 

9) Corruption...Aragon Ballroom-no code enforcement going on there? (Oh, we don't want to ruse the sleeping dog (in jail) Mr. Pat O'Malley.

10) Who is the CDC of choice for referrals by our new councilman? Who is he funding and for what exact purposes? 

11) What exactly is the job description and activities of the councilman's assistant? It might help us to know what to expect when we attempt to call the Councilman's office.

When is there anyone in the councilman's office? (Hours of Business, staff?) 

Where is the councilman's new office? 

What are his plans for the community? 

What actions is he taking in 2010 since he took office?

How is he incorporating the community at large into his plans? 

Councilman Brian Cummins took office in January....it's almost ST. Patrick's Day....minimal updates on REALNEO about the current actions/activities...etc... So, I'd really like to know what is going on with this new regime? 

Is there a Ward 14 website that we can check into for updates as to activities? Is this councilman going to send out newsletters to the chosen few voters or to the entire residential list of the W-14 database? 

Are you hosting community forums? 

Who are you doing community planning with? 

How can the residents participate and have the opportunity to review your plans? 

Is there a schedule of upcoming events that are public providing citizen involvement in W14?

What's new and exciting since you took office? 

How are you actively working to assist families of W14 in your office? 

What kind of upcoming planning commission projects should our citizens be made aware of? 

How do you plan to actively keep your citizens aware of activities going on? Are you doing an email newsletter? Are you doing anything new that incorporates the citizens into your objectives and allows them the opportunity to be involved? 

What programs are you implementing to address the needs of felons in our ward so that they are part of the solution and not the problem? 

Can you legislate a law in the city of cleveland that makes scrap dealers require the scrappers to provide both a copy of a city permit and house address when they scrap out pipes from houses? Perhaps the idea of scrappers showing their own id is just not enough...and there's not enough watch dogging going on there either. Those scrappers are raping our city, the investors who tried to invest in this community, and feeding off the already disenfranchised owners within this city. Maybe if we spent a few weeks having the police stand for 10 hours a day at the front door of every scrap yard in NEO-then these scrappers would get the picture...! (Just a dumb idea since most are wanted criminals living off of this under the table scheme of earnings anyhow!) 

What kind of incentives are you promoting within your regime to invite new businesses and investors into W14? 

Are you going to kill the spirit of those new business investors with your excessive code enforcement? 

What kind of grant opportunities are available for the folks who stay here everyday in this community? (Business, real estate, etc.) 

Are you holding open opportunities for new ideas to be proposed for winning your CDBG Funding allotment? (Or are you funding in the same old fashion as all the rest?) 

What is so different about you than all the rest? 

How are you empowering our residents? 

How are you inspiring the residents? 

What fun events are you providing the underpriviliged citizens in our ward? 

What are you doing to inspire politics within the high school and encourage the students to be actively engaged in cleaning up their own community? 

Other than adding extra police to the afterschool releases to reduce gang activity-what kind of pilot projects are you investing in regarding our youth? 

What kind of collaboratives are you entering into regarding services like: 
Boys and Girls Clubs, The Boy Scouts, The Girl Scouts, The Young Marines, The US Naval Sea Cadets Corps, etc.???????? (YOUTH COLLABORATIVES).

What kind of jobs are you working to create for our residents? 

Are you offering your CDBG Funding to small business & Entreprenuers within our ward? 
(It's my understanding that these small businesses often generate lots of local revenues!)

Who is your small business liaison for new business investors? 

I apologize for running down a list of questions about your regime....I just have no way to go out and make a living with a broke down car, no babysitter, and a list of issues a mile wide...but at least I keep fighting to overcome them in the true spirit of an American while chronically watching abusive practices ruthlessly annihilate the spirit of our citizens!!! Oops....was that some cynicism? Yep.

I had faith that you'd do something new, different, and absolutely priceless within our community to conquer the old, inspire new, and abate the old corruption....I'll work to keep that faith for as long as possible... but I am truly finding it to be defeatest caring about this community in consideration of the "SYSTEM" which is obviously failing the people. I have waited patiently for current updates believing that you were active in the REALNEO arena... Yet, I haven't seen much since you took office and that has me questioning everything....how are you going to sustain transparency for the masses through your tenure of 2010-2014? Just curious!

 

All great questions...

It is not too much to ask for answers...

Laura, You are such a Comedian!

Thanks Laura for making me laugh so hard....I didn't think anyone could do that.... Remember, I am nobody to those folks...it's not like they will answer my questions...

and great questions deserve a proper forum

 and great questions deserve a proper forum for the answers. I suggest an early summer ward 14 get together in a comfortable environment with a couple of strong chairperson who are residents, and have a Q & A session.

Doesn't hurt to follow it with a little fun.

 

can someone explain this CDC based code enforcer

 Do they work for the CDC or the council person? How are they trained to know what is code? What qualifies them for this position? What do they do? Look for violations and report to the real inspectors? Do enforcers issue citations? Do enforcers approach with potential solutions, or is it a citation then you are on your own. Are they supervised by real inspectors. All of this does not make sense. Just give the money to the City to hire a real inspector that answers to a professional board of inspectors.

Code Enforcement Officers for CDCs vs City Inspectors...

Simple: Councilmen use HUD CDBG Funding to allocate to the CDC's...they hire Code Enforcement Officers who make lists of vacant properties, then file formal complaints with the local city inspectors(who only work when they receive formal complaints as they are complaint driven), who file citations with the city housing court (criminal charges) and then when you go to court for those violations, the code enforcment officers and the inspectors are standing there against you.... Since they are all working together, it seems like a true conflict of interests as all programs are run through the City of Cleveland Department of Community Development...which currently has the director suspended for unethical practices..... so, let's just say that it's all a round robin of negatives that could be streamlined by direct intervention and assistance being provided to homeowners in need....but their aggressive practices often oversight their roles and responsibilities.

The system is broke in Cleveland...how do we fix it? 

A review of the Community Reinvestment Act over the last 30 years has positive things to say. Walking around our Ward and city might have you thinking twice about that article.

Mitigating the maze of bureacracy to offer such incentives (as property tax abatement) to new folks is amazing...while  finding a listed point of contact to assist new folks is inspiring.

Teaching small business investors about these little things may be a nice gesture to invite them into the community...  However many decide to work outside of Cleveland and use the County Resources for Tax Abatement... 

Anyhow, real estate investors are required to have permits for work done through the Building and Housing Department but find it easier to just payoff the City of Cleveland Inspectors rather than do things completely legal.

Ultimately, it's all about who you know ...because once this all gets oversighted by the local CDC's...you are in for a world of hurt down at the City Housing Court...and don't expect relief from your Councilman, because he is the one usually funding the local CDC to do the Code Enforcement job in leiu of the City Inspector Jobs... If you are not able to afford assistance...they are supposed to offer all the available resources/programs to assist you in remedying the apparent problems, but they will also work tirelessly/zealously  to tear down your property and extricate you from the community to enhance their 2020 Vision of the City of Cleveland! (Particularly if your property falls into thier direct planning and development objectives.) 

The city of Cleveland Ohio  has wasted millions upon millions on SALARIES TO CDC administrators (code enforcement officers included) while neglecting to get that funding trickled down to the families who need it most to revitalize their homes in our community.

It's a disgrace! It's not inspiring...it's a comedy show....with the poor folks being used like pawns (for their demographic statistical data which helps determine HUD allowances) while those who've been smart enough to jump on the bandwagon of unethical practices at these organizations soak it up! 

Who the flower that lives in Cleveland Ohio needs $93,000/year to do inspector jobs? Why don't we save that $93k and invest it into our housing stock.....hello! (Like direct grants to homeowners for repairs that get them back to ground zero!) Inspire the residents with opportunities! Make the inspectors do their jobs effectively-or fire them too! Enough government waste! 

Talk about mindboggling...and then, after they have cited you with outrageous fines for their criminal housing violations which you were unable to afford in the first place, they try to call the citizens who question this entire system, "Crazy" to undermine our rights, abuse their positions, and attain their alterior motives....in many cases acquiring real estate and later redeveloping it, providing beautiful sophisticated luxury townhomes to elitists and offering them all the above tax abatements which they initially neglected to share with homeowners in distress-as outlined in their requirements under a HUD Funded Organization! 

BTW....they are actively doing their code enforcement inventory for Ward 14 now.

thank you Angel

for a great analysis of this problem with the slippery slope of code enforcement.

yes ward 14 is being targeted again.  men with clipboards have been reported trespassed on properties and in one instance messing with an owner's dogs.  there has also been some confusion regarding the census, reports that folks were claiming to be census takers and therefore are allowed on the property - however these reports predated the census beginning.

it is spring again.

also a very handy way to menace and harass people one does not like.  individuals can call - it is a complaint driven system.  make complaints against folks they do not like and leave them to the whimsy of the CDC and housing court.    unless one's house is brand new, there is always likely something that can be complained about.

neighbors turning on neighbors can be useful to the CDC's and private developers.

TREMONT WEST DOES NOT REPRESENT 96% OF RESIDENTS

I understand that there are some new Housing Inspectors/Code Enforcers being brought into Tremont and Ward 14.  I'm not 100% sure if that means they will be relocating the current ones.

What I have found most interesting since the Annual TWDC Meeting in January is that numbers speak for themselves.

During the Board elections for 2009, TWDC indicated a membership number of approximately 930-940.  Immediately following the unsuccessful Special Meeting in November 2009 (to change By-Laws and Charter), leaders inside the organization began purging the membership list.  Currently they profess to have a membership count of approximately 521. 

Based on the Tremont Population of 9,000 or more, this leaves TWDC only representing approximately 4% of the residents and clearly indicates an estimated drop of about a 40% in membership.  Facts speak for themselves - which means that Tremont West does not represent approximately 96% of the people in this community.

This is an indication that since block club members are also included in the TWDC membership tally and block clubs vote on community issues which also goes through Tremont West, decisions made on what is best for everyone is made by only 4% of the residents.

Since City funds (tax dollars), federal funds, grant monies and other monitary allocations are presumed to be for the entire area, why are our community leaders permitted to act on what 4% of our community thinks - especially since the by-law committee is in the process of creating a set of Policies and Procedures to hopefully be adopted by the Board, which further will be designed to deter more community participation.  The standing committees will be allowed to say who is a member, who can and cannot vote, how the committee structures will be run, etc. - perhaps even causing more loss of membership.

My question is that:  If Tremont West Development Corp is such a great organization why aren't people lining up at the door to register and become a member?  Go figure.

While I am not stating these facts in a hateful manner, I don't believe in white washing them either.

 

 

Town Hall Meetings

Well...what about monthly town hall meetings being reinstated?

What about monthly Ward 14 Conventions where every agency is required to attend the forum? Ouch...too much work....but it would begin to filter through overlapping funding sources.....hahahah-that'd be a real trigger to all these social service providers....redundant resource providers would be eliminated if they were unable to stand independently without government funding...

BEST DAYS OF THE YEAR FOR THIS....OPEN HOUSES AT EVERY SCHOOL..... PARENTS AND RESIDENTS GO TO THESE EVENTS.... MOST INVOLVEMENT WOULD OCCUR OUT OF THIS.

Why only get an update one night a year?....We deserve regular updates...like a transparent and interactive website. RealNeo works for me....it's a public forum too! 

 It's time to drop the dog and pony shows, to find new ways to get these citizens engaged, and to offer them direct opportunities to be involved....notices through the school to the parents should be distributed every month! Parents are a vital part of the meetings...and if only a few show, it's a start! 

Too many ideas, too little support by the leadership.

They don't need a forum in this community...especially not one like MR. Santiago portrayed on us where the really good questions got overlooked and avoided because he couldn't handle the truth about his actions....

You and I have the basic concepts understood, but the majority of our citizens don't get it all... and learning to convey and invite them into those forums is what I believe needs to occur if this leadership wants to make a profound impact....

OFFER THESE FAMILIES DIRECT INCENTIVES for participating actively! Prepare monthly newsletters that outline the direct activities and monitor activities.... do something transparent that empowers citizens to understand the big and little operations.... educate them a little.... don't dictate-, but incorporate them.... offer a door prize, chinese raffles, etc...maybe even free child care for a couple hours.

They are the experts...not me. But, it's evident that the same old options are not working fundamentally in this community....it's a disenfranchised, dissociated, and desperate community to conquer.... but the few who are not totally frustrated as above, keep on keeping on for the benefit of the rest!

At the end of the day...why should we participate? They just do whatever they please anyhow. They fund who they want to fund without giving us the opportunity to propose new ideas, to object or to support any of their projected funding proposals. They collude with whoever they want to because we cannot ascertain transparent leadership from any of them.

They will continue indefinitely in this methodology because it truly works to their benefit along the way!!!!!!

What a waste of time being a caring concerned citizen in this city! It's a joke... I must admit that now I truly have experienced what all those folks tried to explain to me about this city regime when I was so full of hope and initiative.... I now understand the feelings of being DISILLUSIONED, DEFEATED, and DISCOURAGED....

Some direction

I have found most of the answers to the questions here, that, are being asked.  I went to Councilman Cummins council site page....on his left side of his page is "THE CITY RECORD" .... as you begin to read .... All activity of the city will be revealed ... you will need to start from the begining of each meeting of each of the records starting with the January 6, 2010 through the last record posted....to find out the answers to your questions;  also, there... in, that, "Box" are the "CODIFIED ORDINANCES", which, to my understanding, are the "NEW LAWS"???....that, the "Specialized Code Enforcement officers go by...to Tell the city building inspectors and all the other officials ...just  "how to do" their jobs...  There is also information on "Councilman Brian Cummins" of the NSP project, all the budget hearings...etc.  All this information of "MEETINGS" is there posted for all of us to read.... of "OUR CHANGES".  This "CDC" action is, throughout, every city in the United States...Mind you...I have searched "where I could move, to enjoy my retirement, without having to be involved in any of this vicious activity"!  The truth will set you free.

direction??

 sorry, mytown55, but this is standard formatting that is used on all council members sites. The questions that have been asked in this forum are clearly stated and deserve a clear answer. If you have some comment that you want to make on what you have read, please do so. 

Who's your Precinct Leader, Block Club Leader, etc?

Who's your block club leader? What's their number or email? 

Who's your precinct leader? What is their number or email? 

Who's your neighbor? What's their last name and phone number? 

What did you do the last time a new family moved onto your street? Did you give them a warm welcome? 

Did you tell your kids to help shovel snow for the elderly? 

What are the names of the kids on your street and who are their parents...better yet, do you even know where they live?  

Have you even said "hello" to your neighbors recently? 

I think most of our city residents have lost track of the basics.....

And the leadership is missing some fundamental values.....

Everything starts at home...and with only 168 hours in a week...it's tough to be everywhere... moreover, it's unbelievable to realize that the basic concepts of democracy have gone by the wayside.

I worked hard last summer, enthusiastically working to rile up sleeping citizens who aren't paying any attention...to the unbelievable activities that are going on daily in our city government... But, the politicians almost like the control that they end up with because most of the citizens have become so apathetic that they don't even fight for their rights anymore.... they don't even know their rights for the most part. More importantly, so many are clueless about the chain of command within the basic city government that they don't even try to participate.  (Nice article from the Future of Freedom Foundation!) 

Block Club Leaders: aka NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH and CRIME PREVENTION -When I was a kid....all the adults on our street knew eachother, First and Last Names plus kids' names were known.  All of the adults were proactive about the wellbeing of our "community" and street. They all maintained their homes, worried about inspectors, and sustained their responsibilities as homeowners with pride by planting gardens of flowers and making sure that the little maintenance issues were sustained.

Our residents once cared about eachother and communicated with each other-even when they disagreed, they collectively worked to keep the value of their homes by watching out for eachother and helping eachother. Through democracy....we lived, learned, and laughed...and yes, there were disputes that were mitigated too....over property lines, flowerbeds, and kids with bikes running over the corner of someone's beautiful lawn.

There were summer days when every neighbor on the street sat on their porches as us kids ran freely up and down the street. The elders in our neighborhood were revered with the most pristine and impeccable lawn on the street...AND NO ONE WALKED ON IT.... They put their lawn chairs in the middle of the sidewalk to be social during the beautiful days.

Citizen Governance can be powerful....perhaps intimidating to leadership who wishes to undermine citizens.....so they work to disempower our residents by removing basic leadership tools from our perception... (TAKE TIME TO READ THIS LINK...NICE ARTICLE!!!) 

PHONE TREES (EMAIL TREES WORK TOO!) Phone numbers were all listed in the phonebook to call the other kids' parents-so you knew not to break the rules-because parents did not hesitate to call upon eachother and snitch us kids out for any little mishap. I am glad I had other adults on my street that  cared so much. If my folks didn't send us to church, the neighbors drug us to their church...but we somehow got there pretty regularly for a long time.

Us kids couldn't walk across the street without getting a snapping adult yelling at us for not looking both ways. Those were the good ole days.... but now, my kid knows not to even ask me to go outside the house without an adult with her...not even into our yard because of the lurking predators surrounding our zip code! Perhaps that is extreme, but it's a way of life to be imprisoned into your own home these days....

Precinct Leaders: When I was a kid, there were tons of citizens vying for positions as Precinct Leaders within our ward (A non paying position within both the Democratic  and Republican Parties that end up on the ballot come Spring.) Today, most citizens do NOT EVEN KNOW what the Precinct leader is or what their job description is or how they relate to the entire government picture. They are absolutely confused by the reference.

When you call the Board of Elections, they refer you back to the "parties" (Republicans and Democrats) for how to get "nominated" to those said positions.....and also how to get elected.... but if you had wanted to file a petition to be on the ballot on May 04, 2010 as a democratic precinct leader-then you were supposed to file your petition with only 5 signatures to the BOE by no later than February 18th's deadline this year. (75 days before the election).... Sorry democratic precinct leader possibles-you'll have to wait until 2014 to run for that position again....but if one of the many precincts within our ward have a vacancy-(Last year there were many unfilled democratic & republican party precinct leader vacant slots....)- well, maybe the party of your choice may have an alternative way to be nominated to that vacant slot in the interim....but I didn't get to those answers in my learning curve today! 

Ultimately, if you are a Republican, you can try to get on the ballots in the beginning of 2014....for the Spring 2014 election! 

Where is the leadership in Ward 14? Who are our block club leaders? Who are our precinct leaders? How are the citizens being notified of the chain of command that can empower it to communicate better? Maybe I can review the City Records for a few hours to get the simple answers....and then some. Time to digest that work of art into some simple context for the simple folks! 

I tried to find the actual written professional job description of a "Precinct Leader." It used to be that they worked between the residents of their Ward for their party and the Councilman to accomplish all the little things. Today, the question of being a republican or democrat is so cloudy with Green Party, Independents, and Communists all participating.... The system of 2 parties has become disillusioning to citizens...and so, they all steer away from participating actively.... If the parties don't engage the citizens of our city... then they don't have to be faced with the results of years of political steering....which has been disruptive to the cores of neighborhoods.... leading to a day and age when so many residents don't even have a  clue of the purpose of a "PRECINCT LEADER"....

Since so many kids in Cleveland don't make it to a real high school Government Class (given in 12th grade in Ohio).... they miss out on these little basics of democracy. Today, I was reminded that none of that matters-for when they become adults it's their problem and when they were kids it was their parents' responsibility to get them through school.... But at the end of the day....

To divide and conquer the (DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN) parties...the other parties came up with "COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT"....  Now, the little things are overshadowed by the CDC structure...... In lamen's terms... our basic government resources have become undermined by reinventing the wheel through the independent, not for profit, Community Development Diagram.... and somewhere along the line.... block clubs, precinct leaders, city inspectors, and citizen involvement disintegrated! POOF! 

Too many chiefs and not enough indians!

Sorry about my cynicism.... a majority of these folks at ALL levels are so busy REFERRING you to the next person, that you rarely get anyone qualified to make a command decision for these agencies....it's a nightmare of bureacracy--- the new democracy at it's best!!! 

Our government is wasting millions on redundancies....disempowering ingenutivity, failing to use those well intended grant programs to offer incentives to NEW BUSINESSES, and trying to sustain old programs that have valiantly created upside down pyramid schemes where the administrators make excessive salaries without providing progressive results.....(Downsizing HUD CDBG Spending....smiles!)

Now, becoming a Precinct Leader was about taking on a leadership role as a liaison within a specific neighborhood and communicating with both the residents in your neighborhood and the councilman... It was a good position for those neighborhood activists and watchdogs....because they usually care selflessly about their little neighborhood and they work to get results without a paycheck. They maintained the logs of residents, (Democrats/Republicans), they sustained commo and kept residents happy about life in the neighborhood by driving results, and then they ultimately became a tool for elections for the parties to drive election time activities....and slowly, as CDC's took over-the precinct leaders slowly became ineffective within their precinct as a liaison and the CDC's became the reference....

And then, I read the "Live CLEVELAND 2009" publication presented by the Living in Cleveland Center...and I fell out of my chair with the "PERCEPTION IS REALITY" monsters who worked so hard to hide the decay behind their development. Pardon me for being more cynical...I guess I am sincerely wondering how ethical it was to fund these developments with HUD dollars when so few of them would ever be considered "AFFORDABLE" housing for low income families..... ($112,000-$650,000 homes, townhouses, and condos-BEAUTIFUL!) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Baffling.... Steering in the high income buyers will help the low income folks how? And meanwhile....we have entire streets almost completely boarded up and being condemned and prepped for demo with no end in sight....nice.

Just my dumb opinion.... trying to remain calm under sheer duress! 

Smiles! 

P.S....kudos to the community gardeners....kudos to the activists who are working grassroots redevelopment....and kudos to the few who work unselfishly to build up our most quantifiable resource....our families! The little people appreciate your efforts! 

 

Your old neighbor's kids are demolishing your neighborhood

Your old neighbor's kids are demolishing your neighborhood.

Their parents moved them to the suburbs, pumped into their heads a bunch of hate, and raised their kids to be haters who are now demolishing Cleveland, and ruining all else they touch around the world.

Blame your neighbors who abandoned your neighborhood, if you may still find their old names and track them and their kids down in Strongesville.

Disrupt IT

On the other hand, their kids are less toxic

On the other hand, their kids are less toxic, having moved away from the pollution and lead poisoning of Cleveland, so perhaps their kids know best, and in cleansing Cleveland are just removing the contamination around us we can't see from the polluted core - just cleaning up our parents and grandparents mistakes...

Except they want to keep polluting the core, so they don't seem especially smart after all...

Disrupt IT

Old Neighbors....where they went....

Norm, that's a great point....in reflecting to that particular neighborhood I might add these concepts...

Originally, it was a street with many varying proud ethnic groups who owned their homes....Italians lived across the street (and still have one of the nicest/only houses left on the street), the Hispanics lived across the street too, the Polish lived in several houses, and of course the hillbillies of West Virginia, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania lined our street along with the Irish too. I am certain that the diversity of our working class and retired street of families was at that time a nice environment to live in...I'd say that homeowership was one of the key elements of sanctity back then.

Back then, we didn't know about "toxicity". As kids, we played in the acid rain, jumped in the mud puddles with no shoes, and had neighborhood cookouts.

Where did they (the neighbors) go? 

Well, as I recall, as the elders passed on, their children turned their homes into rental properties. Soon, the dynamics changed. With renters moving in, a sense of disrespect for the community emerged.

Some of the families stayed as long as they could on that street, through demographic changes and history changes for many years....trying to live through the drama that came with the transient drug dealers hanging out on the corners, domestic violence amongst single moms and their boyfriends, kids being shot in front of their houses due to gang violence, and intimidation by thugs. 

Somehow, the owners that had remained lost their edge as their children grew up and went off on their own. Soon, the parents did move to other neighborhoods to escape the madness that had consumed that neighborhood. Some had no way of escaping it and some still remain locked in their homes like prisoners.

I cannot point my finger at any one thing other than the beginning of bussing that was the beginning of the end in that neighborhood.  When my parents bought their home back then, there was a primary school at one corner and a high school only blocks away. But, before I was old enough to attend school-they shut down the primary school and started bussing 5 year olds across town for school. Daily fights on the busses became the normal with lots of the kids.

Yesterday, I took my dad down that street where we spent so much time as children...and he cried about the destruction. The homes are all boarded up, the graffitti on the walls looks like a warzone. He was so thrown back that all he could do was say, "get me out of here!"

You are right... many of the kids moved to the suburbs. As young adults, they came back to party and leave. Many of the kids who never got away became teenage pregnancy and drop out statistics...They became the ones who robbed houses, joined gangs, and got on welfare to pay for their babies out of wedlock. They were the ones who dealt drugs, survived off of factory jobs, and after 20 more years of adulthood, finally moved to the outer neighborhoods to finish raising their families.

Analyzing that many of those children were of Appalachian decent would be insulting to them. Realizing that the parents of the children who didn't overcome things came from families that lacked a sense of formal education would be a fair statement. While the ones who had families and education tended to fly the coup.

On another note, many of the kids that moved away to the burbs with their parents-never came back other than to visit. I wouldn't use the word "hate" because we all shared some fairly good childhood interactions...but I would use the concept of having a sense of "sadness" that a place we once enjoyed had decayed so dramatically and that coming into the neighborhood now is absolutely devastating to the good memories. 

In retrospect, I was well into adulthood when we learned about "Lead Poisioning" when my mom's friend's granddaughter was found to have high levels of lead in her blood when they lived in one of those Ohio City Victorian homes.

Toxicity came from the attitude that the world owed the tenants something...destruction to homes that once stood as pillars of a street was allowed. The laws against tenants vandalizing properties were created to protect them from theirselves. They learned that they could move into a house by paying the first month's rent and then wait six months to be evicted...because landlord's tried to work with them... They learned how to manipulate the bureacracy of social services to get vouchers for deposits when they used their rent money for drugs. They learned to sell their foodstamps to feed their habits. Yep...their attitude became the death of the neighborhood... and it wasn't about discriminating factors...it was a combination of all demographics.

The feel sorry for me generation of tenants who never invested into properties turned the tables on landlords who had invested into those homes. The tenants blamed it all on the landlords. Ultimately, the landlords became the target of so much wrath by the liberal leadership and who felt the punitive damages for trying to provide affordable housing. And along the way, the community development came in to save the day....and wow, what a beautiful job that they have done....but I wouldn't call building $150-200k homes or paying $100k for a lead abatement rehab to an inner city home-a good use of HUD funding under the premise of building affordable housing. CHN has lists of homes like that...

Most of those neighbors and families that lived in that neighborhood are still around. Today, their grandchildren are old enough to start figuring out what happened through the generations....

The battlefields of Cleveland are well drawn... I caught my neighbor's kid dropping a plastic wrapper on the ground in front of the store the other day....I jumped all over him and made him pick it up and throw it away. I do my best to share, refer, and help anyone out I can...while working to recycle, reuse, and  sort through the garbage to prevent waste... I try to teach my child those things.

Empowering the unknowing with the tools of education is one of the best options available....hopefully the awareness campaigns that we all exhaust around us will help to spread the enlightenment. But, grass roots, door to door campaigns, and community forums that invite families to partake in these challenges is also vital. The poor, uneducated look for fun free events to attend...and hopefully-while they are there...they learn something that benefits the generations.

You are such a valuable resource, ANGELnWard14

You are such a valuable resource, ANGELnWard14. Thanks for your ongoing, well thought-out and authentic analysis of the ongoing decline of your community - we may all learn much from your struggles. As you break down the problems, you surface where we must begin solutions... no child left behind seems a fitting title.

I'm not sure you connect yet the playing in toxins and the outcomes of your community - those toxins made your neighbors mad... they are still mad today, wherever they are.

Most of those renters... poor and mad, before they ever became renters on your streets....

Mad and poor - your neighborhood became really poor.

And the people with money who left allowed their property to decline.

I am poor - I've been homeless - I've been a renter most of my life - it is not a good life and the hardships of such people do come down on all those around them. That means the community needs to be that much stronger to hold together.

As Cleveland has become poorer, the community has failed to become stronger. We've been weak.

Disrupt IT

Ignorant hillbillies come out of the woodwork to help eachother

I come from a long line of ignorant hillbillies... smiles! They are often quiet-so as to hide that lack of formal education...and they keep life pretty basic...taking care of their families, working hard to keep a roof over their heads, and being ready to jump and run for a friend in need-at anytime/anywhere around the world.

However, when they are in need-they won't always call you...they will wait until you see that they are in need-and then they will wait for you to jump in and help them out...and then sometimes-they will wait for you to do something helpful for them or it will never get done. Sometimes, the ignorant sit and rot before they go to the hospital. They work desperately hard to hide that ignorance as they age... even when they gain 100lbs from the onset of undiagnosed diabetes. They will avoid the doctor like the plague because they cannot afford the doctor bills..even if their lack of income qualifies them for world class free medical treatment at the Cleveland Clinic. They get frustrated over the doctors talking in ten dollar sentences...it's like a foreign language to them. Yep, I have watched ignorance rot a foot off a man, hold many folks hostage in their homes for fear of someone finding out that they literally cannot read... and yep, I have watched families come together to save the day for eachother despite all their differences... I have watched them shoot guns at eachother and stab eachother too. But I have also learned about bass guitars made from strings, sticks, and old washtubs from my mountain musically talented hillbilly family members! 

My folks were poor, often ignorant, and worked hard to overcome those things...to provide something better to us kids...no matter how small it was.

I am going to assume that I have experienced Lead Poisoning as a lifelong resident of this community.

I cannot use either of the above excuses (Ignorance or Poisioning) for not regrouping to progress forward and work to provide better for my own child. I have served our country proudly, served my community proudly, and worked tirelessly to help my fellow friends...under all situations...

There is no excuse for any human being to maliciously vandalize our community... There's no excuse for public servants to be corrupt when they already have good jobs with benefits while others don't. But...then again, it's plain insane to think I am powerful enough to change the machine alone! 

The masses of mentally ill folks in our community still have the wherewithall to figure the system out enough to get vouchers for housing, to get their SSI checks after going to a bunch of Mental Health appointments and pretending to suffer from societal abuses and mental illness, and then to sell their meds for rent money! This alone pisses me off-that full fledged con artists are walking in to those clinics when truly ill folks are waiting for the help to come to them at their homes, if they are so lucky to have a place to call home-and I know those folks too. But, are we blaming all that on Lead? I'd have to look into your research to really try to come up with that idea....

But realistically, most of those trickle down actions from consistent bad choices is not about LEAD... It's about DELIBERATE CHOICES: the choice to sustain self control instead of acting out violently, the choice of ingesting drugs instead of paying your rent, the choice of empowering yourself with education by simply going to the library and learning if you cannot afford a college education...and the choice of breaking the rules....they are deliberate, cognitive choices of survival...many times they are learned behaviors... but learning to change ourselves from within is the pivotal learning lesson in life... and it's hard, but it's possible.

I can ditto the poor, homeless, and renter statements. However, I learned when I was young that there were unlimited possibilities in life if I just worked hard and gave life my all... I learned that if I entered anyone's home-to respect it. I learned that when you rented a home-you gave it back to the homowner in better condition than he gave it to you-because you respected your own home while you lived there. I learned to pass it forward when I was young. I am forever richly blessed by the little things I was taught as a human being-despite lists of chaos and drama of being impoverished and coming from ignorance....

When I was a freshman in High School, my brother and I decided to "take the day off since we had our parents' car..." We drove aimlessly through Medina County all day...wasting gas, seeing the sights, and enjoying a day of cruising... The most significant thing I can remember about that day was a billboard sign in front of a huge house in a town that read: 

" If you are hungry, knock on my door and ask, I will feed you. If you need something, do not rob me- knock on my door and ask. I will help you-but please ask."  ( Somewhere along the line, I simplified that to-"The Lord said ASK-and you shall receive!")

When we got home, our parents were so relieved that we were alive-because the school had called...that we didn't get punished...but we learned invaluable lessons about communication that day too and forgiveness.

Life is not easy...I even took the simple reminder today to "make lemonade with my lemons"... and maybe even have a lemonade stand to help save our house next week from tax foreclosure...How sweet life is! 

Thank you too....prayerfully we can continue to care about ourselves and others against all the challenges God throws in our paths.... May God Bless.

Check into the research on lead poisoning

Check into the research on lead poisoning - there is plenty on line - google lead poisoning and prison and such things - real world stuff - don't look here for answers.

You'll find the current global scientific research and answers in the real world on the subjects of lead poisoning and pollution will make you see the world and your fellow mutants very differently.

Don;t believe me.

My ignorant parents didn't believe me either, and lead poisoned their grandchildren. You ignorant old folks are really causing young folks irreparable harm - sorry to hit you with the truth like that, but imagine how my ignorant old parents feel now, having stayed ignorant way too long. Now they know I was right, from seeing the facts they didn't learn from living in ignorance.

Ignorance is not bliss, when it poisons children.

And my dad went to Harvard, and M.D. from University of Pennsylvania, affiliated with UH, and my mom has a Ph.D. from Case.

They never learned the facts about lead poisoning. Neither did you.

Neither, it seems, does anyone in town, until too late.

Disrupt IT

Research Links Lead Exposure, Criminal Activity

Research Links Lead Exposure, Criminal Activity

Data May Undermine Giuliani's Claims

By Shankar Vedantam Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 8, 2007

Rudy Giuliani never misses an opportunity to remind people about his track record in fighting crime as mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001.

"I began with the city that was the crime capital of America," Giuliani, now a candidate for president, recently told Fox's Chris Wallace. "When I left, it was the safest large city in America. I reduced homicides by 67 percent. I reduced overall crime by 57 percent."

Although crime did fall dramatically in New York during Giuliani's tenure, a broad range of scientific research has emerged in recent years to show that the mayor deserves only a fraction of the credit that he claims. The most compelling information has come from an economist in Fairfax who has argued in a series of little-noticed papers that the "New York miracle" was caused by local and federal efforts decades earlier to reduce lead poisoning.

The theory offered by the economist, Rick Nevin, is that lead poisoning accounts for much of the variation in violent crime in the United States. It offers a unifying new neurochemical theory for fluctuations in the crime rate, and it is based on studies linking children's exposure to lead with violent behavior later in their lives.

What makes Nevin's work persuasive is that he has shown an identical, decades-long association between lead poisoning and crime rates in nine countries.

"It is stunning how strong the association is," Nevin said in an interview. "Sixty-five to ninety percent or more of the substantial variation in violent crime in all these countries was explained by lead."

Read more at Washington Post...

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Exposure to lead is linked to crime... read and weep

Exposure to lead is linked to crime

A new study finds that even low levels can permanently damage the brains of children.

The Nation

May 28, 2008|Thomas H. Maugh II and Marla Cone, Times Staff Writers

The first study to follow lead-exposed children from before birth into adulthood has shown that even relatively low levels of lead permanently damage the brain and are linked to higher numbers of arrests, particularly for violent crime.

Earlier studies linking lead to such problems used indirect measures of both lead and criminality, and critics have argued that socioeconomic and other factors may be responsible for the observed effects.

But by measuring blood levels of lead before birth and during the first seven years of life, then correlating the levels with arrest records and brain size, Cincinnati researchers have produced the strongest evidence yet that lead plays a major role in crime.

The researchers also found that lead exposure is a continuing problem despite the efforts of the federal government and cities to minimize exposure.

The average lead levels in the study "unfortunately are still seen in many thousands of children throughout the United States," said Philip J. Landrigan, director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

The link between criminal behavior and lead exposure was found among even the least-contaminated children in the study, who were exposed to amounts of lead similar to what the average U.S. child is exposed to today, said Landrigan, who was not involved in the study.

"People will sometimes say, 'This is in the past. We are cleaning up lead. We don't have lead problems anymore,' " said criminologist Deborah W. Denno of Fordham University in New York, who also was not involved in the study. "The Ohio study says this is still a big problem."

Nationwide, about 310,000 children between the ages of 1 and 5 have blood lead levels above the federal guideline of 10 micrograms per deciliter, and experts suspect that many times that number have lower levels that are still dangerous.

"It is a national disgrace that so many children continue to be exposed at levels known to be neurotoxic," said neurologist David C. Bellinger of Harvard Medical School, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study published in the online journal PLoS Medicine.

Although some urban soil is still contaminated with lead from gasoline, 80% of lead exposure now comes from houses built before 1978. Paint in such houses can contain as much as 50% lead, and even if it has been covered by newer, lead-free paint, it still flakes or rubs off.

That's enough - ignorance is not bliss, when you poison children. As the smart guy from Harvard says, "It is a national disgrace that so many children continue to be exposed at levels known to be neurotoxic!"

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Childhood Lead Poisoning Leads to Life of Violent Crime

Childhood Lead Poisoning Leads to Life of Violent Crime

by Jennifer Lance on January 11, 2009

childhood exposure to lead leads to violent crimes

It is common knowledge that lead is bad for our health, and our government is trying to protect our children from lead poisoning through the Consumer Product Safety Information Act, however misguided this legislation is.

New research from the University of Cincinnati concludes that kids exposed to lead are more likely to become violent criminals as adults.

Scientists studied 250 children that were exposed to lead in utero and found the adults who had the highest levels of lead in their blood as children had the highest arrest rates as adults.  “These findings provide strong evidence that early lead exposure is a risk factor for criminal behavior, including violent crime.”

 

Most children are exposed to lead through paint in older homes.  Although lead has not been used in homes since 1978, it is still considered the one of the most serious environmental problems facing America’s children.  There has also been a flurry of toy recalls due to lead in paint over the past couple of years.

Such research linking lead exposure and violence makes one rethink crime in general.  I wonder how many people are sitting in US jails when lead is actually to blame for their criminal behavior.  Lead in gas, paint, toys…there was no escape in the 70s.

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the cdc dream

the "theory" at the beginning - how it was sold to those of us who were living here then was that cdc's (along with chn) were going to promote home ownership.  and in the early days did.

one premise was that owner occupied homes create more stable neighborhoods.

20 - 30 years later, owner occupied homes are not what is being promoted, as cdc's and chn have seemingly moved on to other missions.   

CDC's & Homeownership Programs....

At one point at one job....I was tasked to take applications from prospective homebuyers to sell CHN listed properties... I became baffled immediately by the debt to income ratios that definitely could never SUSTAIN the PITI payments (Principle, interest, taxes, and insurance) on those CHN rehabbed and new homes.... usually going for well above $100k. These families were again and again being turned away for a lack of income...hello! Then, CHN was doing credit counseling, budget training, and all kinds of magic tricks for these families so that they could prepare them for all the extras of homeownership-including water/sewer bills, fixture repairs (Furnaces etc.), and basic community development stuff... The financial data consistently remained the same-even if those home buyers were to receive 50% off of the $100k towards a house-they still couldn't afford to buy a home...then or in their near future.

The administrators of those agencies somehow continuously overlooked the true demographic data around the exhorbitant amounts of money they were spending through contractors to rehab those houses and then they were trying to recapture their costs through these buyers. If you go to any bank in town, they (are supposed to) abide by federal debt to income ratios... what banks were lending to these unsuspecting hopeful homeowners is a curious question to me??? How many of them are in foreclosure now because they really had no fall back plan? I don't have those answers...

But, I quit that job in less at the end of the 5th week after dealing with so much corruption in City Hall in Community Development and Building & Housing that I was in fear of losing something sacred to my life... like my freedom. After I quit, the owner even retaliated by sicking his inspectors on me...which resulted in some challenges to ethics, a threat of a lawsuit to them, and me calling that inspector out about being paid by the contractor...he never called me again.

This city has some real winners on both sides of the fence. Our citizenship has been raped by leadership for generations.... and the results are severe... for the few who continue to try and try to overcome and keep on believing in democracy.... we find ourselves exhausted in chasing the smoke and cover of deviants who don't want us to figure the big picture out...

Can you imagine why the City of Cleveland only contracted with Channel 20 to publicize meetings instead of with WVIZ-our local public TV Station that is affordably FREE and ACCESSIBLE To EVERYONE...not just those who can enjoy the luxuries of CABLE TV??? hahahahahhaha we are just plain eating more of their crap! Good efforts though...Maybe those of us who can afford DSL can watch the videos online...hahahhahah more comedy! 

Sorry, trying to find humor to keep my spirit alive.

Ward 14 Year 36 NDA

  I had to file a records request with the City of Cleveland law department and still I could not get the Year 36 $400,000 NDA allotments put out by Councilman Cummins. 

Old Brooklyn CDC is mighty mad that they will not be getting slush money from Councilman Cummins.  Who pays Westlake resident and CDC Director Sandys' $80,000+ salary???

Cummins will not fund OBDC starting in July 2010--which is good news for me. 

The big question for everyone?? Who is getting it?