Regionalized Code Enforcement?

[Michael Deneen]

There's a report that Lakewood has joined five other suburbs (the First Suburbs Consortium) for "streamlining their code enforcement and permitting processes to save time and money, share information more easily, and help identify solutions to regional housing issues."
Cleveland Heights, Parma, Shaker Heights, South Euclid and University Heights are the other cities.

Thoughts?

Here's the link.
https://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.s ... bs_to.html

[Bridget Conant]

Hmmm

I’d love to hear Bill Call’s thoughts on this.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Hmmm

I’d love to hear Bill Call’s thoughts on this.

As we pointed out from the earliest days of the Lakewood Observer. Councilman Ed FitzGerald, now Mayor Summers, and many others in their crowd are regionalists. Believing in basically giving up home rule to a larger government overseeing the region.

People that have all but thrown in the towel and running it themselves, and believe a group overseeing the region could somehow do better, or at least cheaper than the way it is run now.land Foundation

Groups like Team Neo, that preached in their earliest days that regions like Cuyahoga, Summit and Stark counties had the same GDP as Botswana, and as such we should be our own regional super power on the world stage, have repeatedly failed in their efforts, as has much of the regionalists move. Recently the Cleveland Foundation which has done so much to rebuild Cleveland have moved into regionalism, as a way to bring their own form a mediocrity to the entire county. Have you seen the amazing transformation in the last ten years?

The First Suburb Consortium which I believe don Mayor Summers was just put in charge of is just another step to the regionalist wet dream.

It would be nice if they could come up with at least a singular "success" before they marched towards domination.

This of course is mirrored in "Three-Arches (Lakewood Hospital Foundation)" that was an important part of the liquidation of Lakewood's single largest asset, employer, tax-base, and magnet to DowntowN Lakewood, worth over $200 million dollars into a privately run slush fund of under $40 million they can control and play with over "the region."

We have documented this for over 14 years, which is just another reason they want the Observers gone.

.

[Bill Call]

Hmmm

I’d love to hear Bill Call’s thoughts on this.

Since you asked:

Cities across the Country have been using on line permitting for years. The software is a platform that allows the applicant to submit permit applications, drawings, photos and other information on line rather than go to City Hall. Permits can be paid for on line with a credit card. That certainly makes the application process easier on the contractor. Inspectors can us tablets to author reports, complete their checklists and submit violations.

I have no problem with Cities purchasing products in bulk to save some money. In this case the cities will save about one third the cost of the software. The PD article mentions that the Cities expect to save a total of about $400,000 per year in permitting costs. That works out to about $2 per City resident. Lakewood would save $100,000 per year if that number is accurate. I doubt that the number is accurate. I suspect that someone just made up the number and someone else just repeated it and then someone else repeated it and then it became a fast fact. But, some money will be save and the process will be a lot easier on everyone.

Here is the FSC web site: http://www.firstsuburbs.org/development-council.html

The request for qualifications contains this :

"The First Suburbs Consortium (FSC) and First Suburbs Development Council (FSDC) have a 20 year history of making regionalism a reality for Northeast Ohio. Eighteen inner ring communities surrounding Cleveland have been sharing best practices, advocating and developing programs to improve aging housing stock and revitalize neighborhoods since 1996."

The FSC has been around since 1996. How are they doing? What was their position on moving Lakewood Hospital to Lorain County? What is their position on Tri-C building a new campus for Lorain County and Medina County?

So their main focus is making regionalism a reality. What does that mean? Is Lorain County part of the region? Jenifer Pae famously wrote that it didn't matter if Lakewood lost all of those Hospital and medical jobs because the "region" wouldn't lose anything. Is that the kind of thinking that exists at FSC?