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Have you had work done to your home? Share your contractor experience with other residents!

Finding the right contractor is vital to the success of any home repair project. As part of our housing outreach initiative, LakewoodAlive is collecting contractor evaluations. Homeowners providing feedback must certify their opinion to be truthful and their identity will be kept confidential.

The evaluations are stored in the LakewoodAlive office and are available to Lakewood residents to review.

Please click on the link below to download and print the evaluation form and THANK YOU for sharing your experience with your neighbors.

Contractor%20Evaluation.pdf

Click here to see the LakewoodAlive brochure that describes the programs available to Lakewood residents to assist in house painting.

HousePaintingBrochure_3-10.pdf

City of Lakewood News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 1, 2010


LAKEWOOD MUNICIPAL COURT TO LAUNCH NEW DIVERSION PROGRAM FOR BUILDING, HOUSING & HEALTH CODE VIOLATIONS

Tom Ostromek has been hired by the Lakewood Municipal Court to assist with the probation department for building, housing and health code violation cases. Tom is a retired building inspector with the City of Lakewood. Since his retirement, Tom has worked with the Building Department for the City of Fairview Park.

Beginning this year, the Lakewood Municipal Court, with the cooperation of the Lakewood Law Department, Building Department and LakewoodAlive, will establish a diversion program for building, housing and health code violation cases. The purpose of the diversion program is to assist homeowners to fix their homes and achieve compliance with the housing and building codes.

The diversion program will be primarily limited to participants who own and live in the property. The City’s Prosecutor’s Office has the right to review and approve or object to participation in the diversion program. Factors to be considered for eligibility in the diversion program include prior code violation and other criminal history, the nature and number of violations, costs of repairs, impact on the community and other mitigating or aggravating circumstances. If admitted into the diversion program, a compliance schedule will be developed to abate the violations. The participant must agree to cooperate with the persons or agencies designated by the court. Participants may be terminated from the program and returned to the Court’s regular criminal docket for noncompliance.

Tom Ostromek will be working on a part time basis, with his salary paid out of the Court’s Probation Supervision Fund which will avoid the need to seek additional funds for the Court’s operating budget. Tom will be coordinating efforts among the Court, City’s Building Department and LakewoodAlive, as well as other agencies, to assist in compliance with building, housing and health code violations.

Tom will also be conducting inspections of properties for cases filed in court involving building, housing and health code violations. In the past, building inspectors were required to appear in court to report on compliance status. A large part of these duties will be assumed by Tom Ostromek as the court’s probation housing court specialist. In doing so, building inspectors will be able to spend more time on code enforcement and inspections and less time in court.

The diversion program will help to streamline code enforcement procedures by reducing the number of compliance inspections and time both prior to and after filing complaints with the court. The Court’s housing code diversion program is being implemented with the assistance and cooperation of the City Administration, including Mayor FitzGerald, the City’s Law and Building Departments and LakewoodAlive.

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For more information, contact the Lakewood Municipal Court at (216) 529-6700.

July 15, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LakewoodAlive is pleased to announce the appointment of Hilary J. Schickler to fill the newly created position of Housing Outreach Director.

In this position Hilary will work with low-moderate income residents to resolve exterior housing maintenance issues. According to LakewoodAlive Executive Director, Mary Anne Crampton, “There are a number of local, county and federal programs available to this population group, but the programs can be difficult to find and the application process can be daunting. Hilary brings a wealth of experience to the community in this capacity, and will work with block watch groups, council representatives, city employees and residents to identify property owners who may benefit from outreach services to address exterior maintenance problems.”

Mikelann Rensel, LakewoodAlive Board President remarked, “LakewoodAlive is pleased to play this important role in protecting Lakewood’s housing stock. The Housing Outreach Director will work to leverage available government funding and programs to benefit the community as a whole. Hilary is well-credentialed to provide these much-needed outreach services to the community. We welcome her aboard.”

A Cleveland State University graduate with a concentration on Urban Planning, Ms. Schickler also has a certificate in Housing Development Finance Training from the National Development Council. As the president of the board of directors of Cogswell Hall, Inc., Ms Schickler led the recent $8.8 million renovation of the facility which is the only affordable housing, historic renovation, new construction, LEED silver project in the State of Ohio. Ms. Schickler served as Housing Director for the Detroit Shoreway Development Organization, where she also worked with residents on neighborhood and housing improvement issues as the Housing Organizer. Ms. Schickler is a Lakewood resident.

LakewoodAlive is a nonprofit economic development organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of residents by creating alliances with community leaders, leveraging community assets and expanding the pool of available resources to facilitate economic stability and growth in Lakewood, Ohio. Ms. Schickler can be reached at the LakewoodAlive offices at 216-521-0655 or at hschickler@lakewoodalive.com

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The Lakewood Neighborhood Block Club Program will hold a city-wide block captains’ meeting on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 6:45 PM in the Lakewood City Hall Auditorium, 12650 Detroit Avenue. All current block club captains are invited to attend.

The Block Captains meeting will include a discussion of the block watch signs and window stickers that will soon be available. There will also be a short presentation by a representative of Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People (ESOP). ESOP has been at the forefront of the foreclosure crisis since 1999, and is a certified HUD Housing Counseling Agency, providing free foreclosure prevention services to Ohio homeowners. ESOP works with homeowners and their lenders to obtain affordable resolutions that preserve home ownership.

At 7:30 PM, there will be a presentation on neighborhood mediation and problem solving. The speaker will be Mr. Ian Heisey of Bellaire-Puritas Development Corporation. Since joining the staff at Bellaire-Puritas Development Corporation in 1996, Mr. Heisey has coordinated the Mediation Program which, with the help of trained community volunteers, offers dispute resolution assistance to any resident, landlord, tenant, business owner or community group in Ward 20 of Cleveland.

Lakewood Neighborhood Block Club is a resident-driven program that helps neighbors work together and work with police and other City departments to ensure safety and security for each person in the community. Block Club operates under the community policing principle that preventing crime and improving our City is everyone’s responsibility. It is successful because people want to assume a more active role in their communities and they work together in a partnership with the City to reduce or eliminate the threat of crime and enhance the quality of life for all.

Anyone interested in attending this meeting should RSVP by calling (216) 529-6657 or sending and e-mail to terri.richards@lakewoodoh.net.

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