Tuesday, November 20, 2012
New law is part of an update to the city’s traffic code.
If your music causes the windows of the car next to you to vibrate, you may want to turn the volume down. Noisy motorists may now face a citation after Lakewood City Council passed a measure Monday night that looks to curb “noise disturbances from motor vehicles.” The new ordinance makes it a minor misdemeanor — on the first offense — to drive with the music too loud. Subsequent offenses committed within six months of a prior offense would be fourth-degree misdemeanors, according to the measure. “The ordinance creates a ‘reasonable person standard,’” said Kevin Butler, the city’s law director, describing how the new law would be enforced. “The officers often determine whether the music causes windows to shake.” “Noise disturbance from …
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Proposed ordinance part of an update to the city’s traffic code.
People driving with the music too loud may now face a citation in Lakewood. A new piece of legislation introduced to Lakewood City Council last week looks to curb “noise disturbances from motor vehicles.” Council reviewed a “housekeeping” ordinance that would bring the city in line with 14 changes to the state’s updated traffic code. But there are a couple of additional measures that council is considering adding to the list. One of them would regulate “noise disturbance from motor vehicles.” In other words, the new ordinance would make it a minor misdemeanor — on the first offense — to drive with the music too loud. Subsequent offenses committed within six months of a prior offense would be fourth-degree misdemeanors, according to the …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
City council's housing committee is split on the details.
Lakewood City Council is considering an ordinance that would put some limitations on garage and yard sales in the city. However, the details are still being ironed out. Council’s housing committee weighed some options at a meeting at city hall on Monday night. “Either we stick with this language, and we allow the desires from one administration to the next to determine enforcement, or we can make it more exclusive,” said law director Kevin Butler, who introduced the measure to council. “I ask that city council develop a community standard.” The opinions of the committee members were varied — with some suggesting the proposed ordinance is too harsh on the sales, while others noted that it doesn’t go far enough. But they all agreed that the…
Monday, June 25, 2012
Skating teacher files wrongful termination suit after he was asked not to return to the facility.
Correction: Patryk Szalasny was the only plaintiff named in the complaint. A former teacher at Winterhurst Arena filed a lawsuit against Ice Land USA and the city of Lakewood in US District Court in Cleveland last week. Patryk Szalasny claims he and his wife were wrongfully terminated from their positions as ice-skating instructors, according to correspondence between their attorney, the city of Lakewood and Ice Land USA. The letters were obtained through a public records request. The issue begins with a July 2011 letter from Winterhurst general manager Mike Shockley sent to the skating instructors, informing them that they could no longer teach at the arena. Shockley cited a conflict of interest, after the Szalasnys promoted their lessons…
41.480623
-81.799975
Serpentini Winterhurst Arena
Warren Rd, Lakewood, OH
/articles/former-skating-instructors-at-winterhurst-file-a-lawsuit-against-the-city-ice-arena
1082415
/locations/7329602
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The city's still waiting for some statewide action from lawmakers in Columbus.
In the 18 months since Lakewood City Council began approving a moratorium on Internet gaming cafés, none of them have opened in the city. And city officials hope to keep it that way. In October 2010, with at least one Internet gaming café knocking on the door, council passed a six-month moratorium to sort out the issue. Council has passed a couple more of them since then. At Monday’s meeting, council extended the moratorium on sweepstakes gaming cafés or computer game centers for at least another six months. Lakewood Law Director Kevin Butler said he hopes the state — with its own legislation in the works — has settled the issue by then. It’s a hope he’s had since he first OK’d the ordinance as the Ward 1 councilman. “I have no idea how to…
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Plans are in the works to sell them as single-family homes.
Looking to get rid of some rooming houses — as well as the uptick in crime that goes with them — the city approved the purchase of two of them on Wednesday night. The homes, at 1436 Grace Avenue and 1446 Mars Avenue, are among the last of the city’s boarding houses left in the city. There are only 11 remaining. At a special meeting, city council approved the purchase of both homes in a packaged deal, from Aivars and Anita S. Auzenbergs, for $207,000. The city used $150,000 from its land acquisition fund, and another approximately $67,000 from the general fund, to pay for the properties. The city will sell the homes — with new deed restrictions — as single-family homes. Lakewood Mayor Michael Summers said the city might even turn a …
Saturday, February 25, 2012
The case stems from a complaint that asserted that Calanni Auto Service has too many cars parked in its Madison Avenue parking lot.
The Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals upheld a guilty verdict in the case of a Lakewood businessman who ignored complaints by the city to reduce the number of parked cars at his auto service business near the corner of Madison Avenue and Bunts Road. Charles Calanni, who owns Calanni Auto Service, at 13728 Madison Ave., appealed his April 2011 misdemeanor conviction in Lakewood Municipal Court. The case stems from a city complaint that asserted that the business had too many cars parked in its parking lot. Calanna is allowed eight, stemming from a 1984 agreement, however city inspectors have often found at least a dozen parked cars on the premises, according to court records. In December 2010, after “continued non-compliance,” the city …
41.47705
-81.78891
Calanni Auto Service
13728 Madison Ave, Lakewood, OH
/articles/appellate-court-upholds-failure-to-comply-guilty-verdict
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Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Council introduces measure that would allow veterinarians, animal hospitals and clinics to temporarily house pit bulls. But don’t expect Lakewood to reverse its pit bull ban anytime soon.
Pit bulls were again a topic of discussion at Lakewood City Council. This time, council president Brian Powers introduced a measure that would clarify the 2008 ordinance that bans the breed from the city. The proposed amendment would allow pit bulls to “temporarily” be housed by veterinarians, animal hospitals and animal rescues. The measure comes on the heels of a state measure, introduced last week, that would de-classify pit bulls as vicious animals. But don’t expect Lakewood to reverse its pit bull ban anytime soon, said Powers. “(This ordinance) is just to clarify that certain professionals can hold those animals,” he said. “There are certain folks in our city who are grandfathered in. And we wanted to make it absolutely clear that …
Friday, February 3, 2012
But the Ohio legislature's bill isn't likely to affect Lakewood's 2008 ban.
Editor's note: This article has been edited to clarify that the letter Brian Powers wrote for the Lakewood Observer was in 2008. Lawmakers in Columbus are moving forward on a bill that would de-classify pit bulls as “vicious animals” at the state level, but would not apply to local municipalities. The Ohio Senate voted 27-5 Tuesday to repeal the breed-specific language in the Ohio Revised Code. The House of Representatives approved a version of the bill in June. Under the new law, a dog can be labeled vicious only if it kills or causes serious harm to a person while unprovoked. Kevin Butler, the City of Lakewood's law director, said Lakewood’s 2008 ordinance deeming all pit bulls and canary dogs as “dangerous animals” will likely stand. “I…
Friday, January 20, 2012
John Salim says his tenants is a victim; city orders him to pay up.
A Lakewood landlord has been ordered to pay up after several nuisance complaints on one of his 10 Lakewood properties triggered action by the city’s law department. And, following the shootings on Waterbury Avenue, he may face additional fees. John Salim appealed the city’s decision that his property at 1588 Lakewood Avenue was a nuisance. Then, in the early morning of Jan. 7, the SWAT team responded to his property to arrest at least one of the Waterbury Avenue shooting suspects. Last week, the city’s Nuisance Abatement Board of Appeals upheld the law department’s findings. Salim was fined $312. However, following the investigation into the Waterbury Avenue shootings, there may be additional fees levied against him. At least one of the …
KRMS
10:50 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
It is about time. Can we add obnoxious (rusted, missing etc) exhausts too? more ›