City Council Meeting
At the beginning of last week’s City Council meeting, Peter Rancatore and Claudia Dillinger were officially sworn into office as the Director of Finance and the Director of Human Resources, respectively. They both bring a wealth of experience to their positions and I look forward to working with them.
Mayor George notified Council that Carnegie Management and Development Corporation, the developer that was developing the former Lakewood Hospital site, has taken the position that it has terminated the Development and Use Agreement. Since receiving this report from Mayor George, I have diligently sought related materials to garner a better understanding of how we arrived at this point. We will be discussing the One Lakewood Place development in greater detail at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, April 27th at 6:30 PM.
Finally, City Council approved an agreement between the City and Cuyahoga County, whereby the County will provide $240,000 in funding for the striping of bike lanes on Lake Avenue between Cove and Webb. This project is expected to be completed by November. You can view the lane striping plan here.
You can watch the entire meeting by clicking here.
Housing, Planning, & Development Committee Meeting
On Tuesday, April 21st, I chaired a Housing, Planning, & Development Committee meeting on the topic of rent assistance. I called this meeting because I am concerned that residents may be struggling to pay rent due to the unprecedented job losses due to the pandemic.
During the meeting, I learned that a significant number of residents are being either denied unemployment or unemployment insurance payments are not being promptly dispersed, which adds to the potential danger that residents will not be able to afford their rent.
Mary Leigh from the Department of Planning briefed the Committee on current avenues of funding. She relayed that there are two main sources of funding available for rent assistance. One is the Emergency Shelter Grant Program that is managed by the Lakewood Community Center and is available for renters whose income is 30% or less of the area median income (AMI). The second is from the HOME funds, which can provide rent and utility payment assistance for those whose income is 60% or less than AMI. These programs calculate a person’s income based on when they apply, meaning that those whose jobs were affected by the pandemic may qualify. Unfortunately, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has not provided guidelines on how the available funds can be disbursed to those in need. Unfortunately, this means that these funds remain unable to be distributed until HUD releases their guidelines.
In the next Housing, Development, and Planning Committee that will be held on May 4th, at 6:30 PM, the Committee will explore where other funds may be available for more immediate residential rental assistance that is not reliant on action by the Federal Government.
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You can watch the entire meeting by clicking here.
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