Round Table discusses concerns about security planning for Tremont Pointe
by Chuck Hoven

(Plain Press, August 2008) At the urging of Tremont West Development Corporation (TWDC) Board Member David Purpera, a number of members of TWDC’s board and housing and safety committees attended a July 11th meeting of the Tremont Pointe Round Table. Their goal was to raise concerns about the development of a security plan for Tremont Pointe Development at W. 7th and Starkweather.

In several recent TWDC board and committee meetings, Purpera urged TWDC to work with the management of Tremont Pointe, McCormack, Baron and Salazar to develop a security plan. Purpera expressed disappointment when the TWDC board agreed to accept a $15,000 payment from McCormack, Baron and Salazar to serve fiscal agent for federal Housing and Urban Development dollars targeted for the next phase of the development. Purpera hoped that TWDC’s board would seek a security plan from the developers before agreeing to serve as a conduit for the dollars.

Currently just over 100 rental units are completed at Tremont Pointe. Tremont Pointe, a federally funded part of the HOPE VI Program.  When entire development is completed Tremont Pointe will have roughly 190 mixed income rental suites. According to the original plans for the development 95 of those rental units will be public housing units promised to the former residents of Valley View who were forced to move to make way for the new development, 62 of the rental units will be market rate units and an additional 33 units of housing will be tax credit units with subsidized rents. In addition 24 new market rate houses were proposed as part of the development.

The federally designed HOPE VI project includes management service and social services. To that end CMHA has partnered with McCormack, Baron and Salazar of St. Louis to manage Tremont Point. Merrick House is also a partner in providing social services to the residents of Tremont Pointe.

Purpera, who lives directly across from the development, has been attending the monthly meetings at the development and reporting back to the Board of TWDC. Purpera told the TWDC Board of Trustees that McCormack, Baron and Salazar had not delivered on promised security for the development. He said instead they were depending on using Cleveland Police for their security needs.

Over 25 people packed into a small meeting room at Tremont Pointe for a teleconference with Barbara Freeland, Executive Vice President of McCormack, Baron and Salazar, the St. Louis based developer and manager of Tremont Pointe.

Residents from Tremont West Development Corporation’s Safety Committee urged Tremont Pointe to participate in the security camera program being developed for the neighborhood and offered to help the resident council of Tremont Pointe to secure a grant for cameras as some block clubs in the neighborhood have already done. Freeland agreed to hold conversations with the safety committee on that matter.

Ward 13 Councilperson Joe Cimperman raised a number of issues calling for cooperation with the neighborhood. Among the issues he raised were cooperation between TWDC and the developer in the area of securing financing for the next phase of the development, cameras and safety, the role of CMHA police, eviction policy, the formation of a resident council, and connecting the towpath trail to Tremont Pointe.

Several people urged Tremont Pointe to hold its monthly meetings at a more convenient time for working residents of Tremont Pointe. Renee Richardson, a Tremont Board Member and the chair of the resident council at Tremont Pointe, was the only resident able to attend the 11 a.m. meeting.

 Freeland agreed that the resident council needs to happen and hoped to make progress in the next 30 days. Freeland said she hoped residents would also become involved in Tremont’s block club for the area.

Richardson told the Plain Press after the meeting that the resident council is already in place and has seven active members. She also said several members of the resident council are also active in the neighborhood block club.

Freeland agreed to regular contact between TWDC, CMHA and McCormack, Baron and Salazar to give updates on the development.

Freeland said Phase II of the development is about to begin, adding 87 additional units of mixed income rental housing.  She estimated that construction on Phase II would begin in early August and would be completed by October or November of 2009. The site manager at Tremont Pointe offices said that 99% of units already completed have signed lease agreements.

Several neighborhood residents expressed concern that 200 additional families would be in the neighborhood when the development is complete and would tax an already over worked Second District Police station. They urged Freeland to hire security guards for the development.

Second District Commander Keith Sulzer told residents that they would not be happy if CMHA police were called. He said they are overloaded and would just call the Second District. This would just delay response time. He also noted that the Second District was not receiving a lot of calls from Tremont Pointe. He urged residents to call if there is a problem. As far as a preferred security option Sulzer said he would “love to see Tremont Point get a security guard.”

Resident Tim Jenkins, asked urged the building of a basketball court at Tremont Pointe so youths won’t have to use portable nets in the street. He urged placement of security cameras in the two large parking lots and expressed the need for such a large development to have a security plan and paid security guards.

The manager of the office at Tremont Pointe said she had observed only one portable basketball hoop. It broke and had been thrown away. She also said only eight youths ages 14-17 were residents of the low-income units at present.

Freeland responded that parking for residents of Tremont Pointe should be no different from other single-family homes in Tremont. She said she didn’t see them as bastions of crime in need of security cameras. She said McCormack Baron and Salazar took care of security through their resident screening process. She said residents should be no different that other Tremont residents and should call Cleveland police when there is a problem. She said a very effective eviction program tied to a strong lease would assure that problem tenants were removed from the development.

Freeland said that McCormack Baron and Salazar run HOPE VI developments all over the country and “very few require security guards. When they do it is because we can’t control what is going on in the neighborhood around us.”

Jenkins noted that the McCormack and Baron managed property at Lexington Village in Cleveland had security. Freeland said she was not aware of this and would look into it.

Freeland said tot lots were provided in Tremont Pointe but not a basketball court. She said the thinking was the older youths could get on their bikes and make use of the basketball court and parks in the neighborhood.

Marie Timpano, Executive Director of Merrick House, said Merrick House has been working with youth in Tremont Pointe to provide recreation services for youth. She noted that Merrick House has a basketball league other programs for youth. She said Merrick House would consider offering transportation to youth if there was a need for it. She said, “We are your settlement house,” and urged residents to contact her if they felt additional services were needed in the neighborhood.

TWDC Executive Director Chris Garland noted there was an agreement for regular updates on infrastructure development; an agreement to look at recreational needs of youth in Tremont Pointe and how to better tie them to youth programs in the larger neighborhood; an agreement to look at safety concerns about real and perceived crime and how to make progress on safety.

The next meeting was set for the second Friday of August at 3 p.m. Richardson agreed to serve as chairperson of the meeting.

(See related photos here)

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