I am floored that in these economic times the City of Eastlake would waste precious resources on this type of thing. Times are hard enough without having to take time off work (and potentially miss pay) and go to court (which costs the court) over something like this.

I received a letter about a month before my wedding that I had "violated Eastlake's beautification ordinance" (yes, really, that is exactly what it said!) because a bad wind storm had torn off part of my garage roof & the screen on my front porch was ripped. (The day of the storm, we secured a tarp on the roof, which could barely be seen from the street.) They gave us 1 month to fix both issues or they would take us to court over it. I called the city & spoke with someone there (can't remember her name) who, after explaining that we were getting married the day after the repair due date, extended us for another month to fix the problems. She also stated that if 1 more month was not enough time to just call her back & let her know. While I think it is rediculous to even have to go through that, I believe that if you had at least acknowledge the complaint & tried to work with them, you will not have gotten the summons for court. I have seen MANY things in Eastlake which should have been considered much more important, but they will try to get money by any means they can.

Do people actually earn a living doing things like this. EEEEgads how can they sleep at night. If the city really cared; the people in charge would help get things fixed instead of berating and harassing. Knowing some of our PUBLIC SERVENTS, they are probably braging about what they are doing.

Here's one better the building inspector for Eastlake who also resides here,own property does not meet Eastlakes ordinances and when confronted to Klammer our Law Director he swept it under the rug.I even tried to get the NewsHerald involved to show the disparity and predudice the city has for one of its own employees but they don't have a spine either for the real truth.

I'm embarrassed to live in Eastlake and it's not because of someone's torn screen or loose shingles on their roof...it's the city government and their total lack of empathy. Why not try to help your citizens instead of behaving punitively? Such a shame. I'm out of there just as soon as I can.

I'm not a resident but; how about a TV station? This could make for nice viewing.

If all those flags being maintained by the city were removed, maybe , just maybe the city could use the money and volunteers to help fix some unfortunates problems.

Don't get me wrong, I think the flages are great but, if I'm have trouble keeping my house up then I don't put hundreds of flags in my driveway. How about one big USA flag,

I live in this neighborhood, and was also "red tagged" over something MUCH more expensive that was really not visible from the street. I also live next door to a house that's been empty for YEARS that's now occupied by GROUNDHOGS!! If the city keeps up this type of harrassment of hard working, taxpaying homeowners, Eastlake will be a giant wildlife preserve because NOBODY will want to live here!

I can relate well. I got a warning notice from my city (Willoughby) .this past early spring re.long grass on my 50x120 lot. I had already mowed it twice and you remember how much rain we had then, BUT EARLY SPRING?? Building inspector of Eastlake sounds like a political hack..

I agree 100%. We own a rental property in "Greaselake" and the city inspector is a hack. He nit picks about things that are not even a hazard nor an eyesore. This inspector is a moron and loves making people fork out money to make repairs that are not needed. We are NOT slum landlords and take care of the property because after all it is an investment. The person he should be speaking to is the tenant not us. This tenant is a packrat but that is something we have no control over. Communities need to start contacting their coucilperson and have meetings to dump some of these ridiculous ordinances and require their inspectors to have landlords or property owners fix only those things that are dangerous or unsightly.

Do you guys really think that the city workers would enjoy doing all of this? They don't know you, just an address and all they are doing is their job. You don't know what some of them are going through either. They might have found something wrong with your house that you might not agree with, but they know what they are doing or else they wouldn't have that job. The city workers have sympathy even if you think they don't. If they didn't care about the city at all, then they wouldn't have spent so much of their own time trying to make it look nice. All I ask is that you all take a minute and think about it.

To anonymous and all eastlake residents it sounds like anonymous's comments come from someone who works for the city of Eastlake.If thats the case they should be ashamed to comment since there is obvious two sets of rules regarding city ordinances and how there enforced.If the News herald wishes to contact me via E-Mail(from this post)I will gladly provide them with the written documentation to back up what I have said.

well glad i stumbled across this conversation... tell you what ,send your inspectors to mentor and we will send you ours. ours do nothing that i can see. i watch them driving around in their little white cars (checking on the honest folks who actually got a building permit for their project) But totally ignoring all complaints about rundown propertys on jordon and corduroy roads in mentor. we are not talking about just holes in a screen here. but garbage and junk in general laying all over the yard in full sight of everyone who must travel down that road. one day soon, very soon. i will be knocking at those folks door and asking them to please clean up their place. or better yet maybe a posted picture of these lovely places would, as they say, be worth a thousand words. to the truth of eastlake, you got to be kidding. you letter reaks of slum landlord. but by all means move here to mentor no one will bother you.

Thank you for sharing your comments with me. Would anyone have a number for the Media? I went to court for the second time yesterday. I overheard even peop;le with worse stories than mine. The city of Eastlake is making a killing on all of us indigent people who are having hardships on keeping up to their so called codes. There are many of us in need. If you live in any other county help would be on its way just don't live in Lake Co.

I'm not sure about the Eastlake inspectors, but I agree that the Mentor inspectors are useless. I have one of the nicest keep houses/yards in the neighborhood, but I was cited because I had a small trailer on my driveway in the front yard, which is against city ordinance. Meanwhile, I have neighbors with junk cars in their yards, overgrown grass, and trash in the yard, but the city ignores that.

How about just fixing the screen?