New Condominiums Coming to Willoughby; Parks and Recreation Director Brian Katz Retires

In Bob Carr’s latest newsletter, the Ward 4 councilman discusses changes in the Parks and Recreation department, upcoming Willoughby events and plans for new housing developments in the city.

PARKS and RECREATION New Director
Congratulations to Brian Katz for his retirement after 19 years as Director of Parks and Recreation! Lots to be proud of including the building of Osborne Pool and Lost Nation Municipal Golf course club house. Judean Banker is a familiar face to many of us in the community and has been promoted from Program Coordinator to be the new Parks and Recreation Director. Congratulations also to Judean. Analysis of the department is leading
to some changes that will be of additional benefit to our community. The Parks maintenance workers who cut grass, plow and maintain the parks will be moved over to the Service Department which will allow for more efficient use of resources. Judean will be backfilled with an entry level Program Coordinator. Net annual savings to Willoughby will be approximately $40,000 with the changes we are enacting.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS HANDS ONLY CPR
Willoughby Fire Department along with Lake County Hospital is encouraging the entire community to be trained in providing Hands Only CPR.
Saving a life just got simple:
1. Call 911
2. Push hard and fast in center of chest until help arrives
Family & Friends CPR Anytime Course is FREE. To register contact Willoughby Fire Prevention 440-953-4344.

CHANGES IN THE COMMUNITY
- Willoughby South Parking lot and access drive will soon be seeing some improvements. The access drive will no longer exit on Shankland but will connect to the driveway that leads out to RT 84, past the Middle School. The parking lot to the North will be reconfigured for better traffic flow and more parking spaces.

- Do you miss your McDonald’s? By now, I am sure most of you have noticed the McDonald’s on Euclid Ave has gone missing. By fall you will see a brand new McDonald’s in it’s place with a reconfigured drive thru that will no longer defy logic. A very nice-looking design and utilizing the new 2 lane drive thru concept you may have seen at other McDonald’s in the area.

- New Brownstone Condominiums coming soon at the corner of Sharpe and Euclid Avenues. As you head into downtown, the large vacant lot across from Point Park has been approved to be developed as a gateway to our downtown district. Twelve (12) brownstone style buildings are planned for the property. These will be three-story buildings with commercial on the ground floor and residential on the upper floors.

- River Isle Apartments has been purchased by Lake Metropolitan Housing Authority and will be undergoing a $2.4 million renovation. What is currently a bit of an eyesore and problem for the city will be completely renovated and support the housing needs in our county.

- Laketran will be building two new bus shelters on RT. 84 in front of the Lithuanian Center and Pine Ridge Apartments.

Bob Carr is Willoughby’s Ward 4 councilman. For questions or comments, please e-mail Bob Carr at rcarr@willoughbyohio.com.

Comments

We Weren't all a problem! says:

October 3, 2012 at 6:49 pm

I used to live at River Isle and I am deeply offended at what the Mayor said about the tenants that lived there. I understand that several years ago River Isle had problems with drugs and other criminal activities. But within the last 2 1/2 yrs that I had lived there before LMHA bought it, the place was cleaned up. It was not a problem place for the city of Willoughby anymore. There is no possible way that River Isle still had the “…highest incidences of police calls….” For recent comparison, two other apartment complexes in the area have needed the assistance of police officers at there complexes at least 10 x’s a WEEK versus maybe 2 x’s a MONTH, if that, at River Isle..It had 42 apts. available to rent, on average, only about 35 stayed rented, give or take a few at different times. Of those 35, I can personally name 28 tenants that have NEVER had the cops called on them & of the remaining 7, 2 were called about only once! River Isle had 5 ” trouble makers”…5 out of 35! We, the tenants, were the people who were calling on those 5 “trouble makers” so we could get rid of them! We looked out for each other and we cared about where we lived! Many times we even took care of the landscaping ourselves because the property manager wouldn’t! We improved and repaired what we could inside our apartments because the property manager wouldn’t, unless we called the city officials about it. Many of the apts. had been very nicely renovated and didn’t need any repairs. So please don’t confuse the integrity of the tenants with the incompetency of the property manager! I will agree with the Mayor that we had “a bad landlord”, but we, as a whole, were NOT “trouble makers!” We are hard working citizens of the City of Willoughby. We were not a “problem” that needed to go away! We were simply low income families trying to make the best of what we had. Where else in Willoughby could you find a 3 bdrm for $650? Or $550 for a 2 bdrm? You simply can’t. Low income is not synonymous with “low-life.” River Isle provided us with a decent home within our financial means. It’s ironic that LMHA is kicking out low income people to put other low income people back in. And the relocation process? Don’t even get me started what a circus that was! It definitely was not as professional as it is/was being betrayed in the media. We had to get a lawyer involved to protect our rights! Need less to say, I am writing because of the comments the Mayor made. I feel an apology should be given for publicly misrepresenting the tenants of River Isle. 80% of us were educated, hard working, and law abiding citizens. It is not morally right to attack and judge, let alone publicly, the integrity and pride of the majority, based upon the actions of the 20% (5 people) who didn’t seem to have any. Therefore, I feel the 80% of law abiding citizens who lived at River Isle DESERVE a public apology!