Government, nonprofits working to prevent wave of evictions in Cleveland – Is it enough?
By Conor Morris
Northeast Ohio Journalism Collaborative
Cleveland’s housing court opened last week after a three-month moratorium on evictions. Does this mean a tidal wave of evictions are ahead?
Upcoming rental assistance programs from Cleveland and Cuyahoga County – with about $17 million total in aid – will help, but, will it be enough to keep people in their homes during a pandemic that has sent Ohio’s unemployment rate skyrocketing?
Cleveland Municipal Court’s Housing Court had at least 400 eviction cases rescheduled for hearings starting on June 15, with most being hold-overs since the early days of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in March when courts were closed. Cleveland Municipal Clerk of Courts spokesperson Obed Shelton said this week that at least 352 additional new eviction cases were filed during the first week the court reopened.
That’s higher than normal, but not as high as some experts were predicting. Cleveland Housing Court Judge W. Moná Scott told an Ideastream reporter that some landlords might be choosing to wait for housing assistance to be available from the city and county.
Mayor Frank Jackson said before the weekend: “Cuyahoga County is currently at a red Level 3 under the state’s coronavirus classification system – rapidly approaching purple, the most critical of designations which could lead to another shutdown. This is why we will be enforcing mask wearing and issue fines for violations for holding mass gatherings and failing to social distance at a minimum of six feet.”
At the beginning of July, according to sources with USA Today, no counties at that time had yet reached level purple which is said to be the most serious of the state’s color-coded system. This system focuses on individual counties and takes into account seven factors, including related hospital admissions. However, Columbus was “being watched closely,” according to USA Today, at that time.
According to numbers released by the Ohio Department of Health, from Wednesday to Thursday (July 8 to 9) saw an increase of 1,122 new cases in just 24 hours.
Below are a breakdown of some of the newest numbers released by the Department of Health as of this Thursday :
Below, the City of Cleveland has compiled this list of COVID-19 testing sites:
Testing for those with COVID-19 symptoms or who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 is available at the local federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs) below:
Neighborhood Family Practice
o W. 117 Community Health Center – 11709 Lorain Ave.
o By appointment only
o Tests are available regardless of one’s ability to pay
o Call (216) 281-0872 for information or to schedule an appointment
o Results are back in one to three days
Care Alliance
o Central Clinic – 2916 Central Ave.
o Drive-thru and walk-up testing, by appointment only
o Tests are free of charge to the patient
o Call the COVID-19 Nurse Line at (216) 535-9100 and press 6
o Testing done Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
o Results are back in 24 to 48 hours
The Centers
o East Office – 4400 Euclid Ave.
o Drive-thru and walk-up testing, by appointment only
o Tests are free of charge to the patient
o Call (216) 325-WELL (9355) to talk with an access specialist, be triaged by a nurse, and schedule your telehealth visit with one of our providers for screening for a test
o Testing takes place on Wednesdays, following a Tuesday telehealth visit (required)
I am reaching out to you to share an important update about the future of River’s Edge.
River’s Edge’s Center is housed within the living space of the Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph. This is a connection that many of us have found to be deeply enriching. However, as we step into a new world reality amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we have realized that there are great risks associated with this model for the health of our clients and especially the Senior Sisters in residence.
After much discernment, it has become clear that it will not be possible for River’s Edge to return to the building or property that has housed our Center, either now or in the future.
This is a very difficult decision to make. This property has been our home and the Sisters have been our friends. This sacred space has held our community and has been a hub of healing, spiritual connection and transformation.
What does this mean for River’s Edge?
* For the time being, River’s Edge does not have a physical center. * We continue to offer a full slate of virtual programming that you can access safely from your home. * We are exploring possibilities for a new home off campus. * It is our clear intention to continue to actively invest in the vibrant spiritual community that we have all built together in Cleveland.
What if I am pre-registered for an event?
* We plan to reschedule as many events virtually or at partner locations as possible * We will reach out to you as soon as a plan is in place for your event * If you are not able to make it, you may redirect your registration fee as a donation or receive a full refund.
What if I have purchased a wellness pass?
* Did you know that we have a full wellness class schedule online? Your pass can be easily applied to online classes and you will even receive two bonus classes on your existing pass! * If you are not able to attend virtual classes, you can redirect your remaining pass fee as a donation or request a full refund.
How can I help? Now, more than ever, we need your support. Here is how you can help:
* Attend River’s Edge classes and programs * Invite your friends and family to attend River’s Edge classes and programs * Follow us on social media, like our posts, make comments on our pages * Hold with us in prayer the intention that River’s Edge will have a physical Center in which we all can gather again * Make a donation to help us stay up and running through this period of suspended in-person operations
While we do not yet know how the future will unfold, I find myself returning to the image of the river – our namesake. Rivers are not predictable; they aren’t always smooth. They don’t always lead where we expect. It is this very resiliency that enables the river to continue to survive and to give life and nourishment to all those it touches. A healthy river is not stagnant – it is moving and breathing and full of life. It changes course in response to the obstacles that new terrain presents. I invite you to come to the River’s Edge with me. Drop into the current. Let’s forge a new course together.
This story is third in a series covering graduations during COVID-19.
A deep-dive video is currently in production and is soon to be released examining the success of two drive-through graduations in Ohio.
By Jerry Masek
It is often said that “necessity is the mother of invention.” That was certainly true this spring as the pandemic brought a halt to old ways of celebrating.
School officials were faced with a huge challenge ― plan a high school graduation ceremony that would satisfy necessary health guidelines/restrictions; give graduates the recognition they deserved, and still keep school traditions alive. The guidelines were mandated by Gov. DeWine and the Ohio Departments of Education and Health.
Let’s look at the two high schools in West Park.
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John Marshall High School
Graduates get ‘15 seconds of fame’
Horns honked. Families cheered and applauded. Cameras flashed. Students hung out of car windows as a car procession began. A pep band musician showed up with his drums and a sign reading, ‘Graduates, you rock.’ There were hugs, few tears, and lots of proud parents. Cars were decorated with balloons and signs. School district CEO Eric Gordon directed traffic wearing a cap, gown, and face mask.
Welcome to graduation in the pandemic era.
On June 17, JMHS graduates enjoyed 76-degree temperatures and clear skies. They gathered at Max Hayes High School, 2211 W. 65th St., chosen by CMSD officials because of the central location and unique parking layout. Here, John Marshall and all the West Side high schools could hold outside graduation ceremonies that satisfied all State-mandated social distancing guidelines.
Every parking spot was marked with a number. Students were assigned a number ahead of time ― one car per family. Some students arrived an hour before the ceremony started, for social time. It had been a long time since they were last together.
Right on time, the ceremony began with a pre-recorded National Anthem, and a few speeches. It was live-streamed, and everyone watched from their car.
When the roll call began, a car procession formed from the parking lot to a nearby loop road near the school. Each car stopped near decorations of balloons. The graduate stepped out, took two steps to get the diploma, have his photo taken, and tip his/her hat to the principal. As the car continued down the loop road, the graduate was greeted with more cheers, applause, and signs from faculty, family, and friends.
Their 15 seconds of fame were over ― and so were their four years of high school.
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Saint Joseph Academy
Mixing compassion with strength
“Saint Joseph Academy is committed to honoring the Class of 2020 and upholding the dignity of these end-of-year traditions, while still protecting the health and safety of the entire Academy community,” SJA spokesperson Mackenzie Schuler said in an email. Founded in 1890 by the Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph, SJA is an all-girl Catholic high school in West Park. Students come throughout Greater Cleveland.
To start the graduation process, faculty and staff distributed caps, gowns and yard signs to members of the Class of 2020. The in-person commencement ceremony took place over three days ― May 18, 19, 20 ― to ensure that social distancing and other guidelines were followed. Photos and video were taken as each student was recognized. The video included a pre-recording of scripture readings, commencement speaker President Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis (who retires on June 30), a student speaker and traditional songs.
During her remarks, President Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis quoted former Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton, who once said, “I refuse to believe you cannot be both compassionate and strong.” She pointed out that Jesus Christ was also compassionate and strong, and urged graduates to follow that role model.
Links to photos and the video were posted on-line. Graduates and their families and friends were also invited to see the video at the Aut-O-Rama Drive-In Theater in North Ridgeville. https://www.sja1890.org/
Student speaker Sarah Scarpitti referred to the pandemic in her remarks.
“…the past few months have brought a lot of uncertainty to our days. No one anticipated that we would encounter such an obstacle this year, but we will be able to look back and smile ― because we are fighting to conquer it now. And for the Class of 2020, it’s going to be about moving forward with the lessons we learned from this unfathomable experience. So much light has been shed on some of the most fundamental truths of life. And I wholeheartedly believe that we, The Class of 2020 ― standing at one of the many pinnacles of our lives ― were awakened to some of these fundamental truths.”
“We understand that waking up to a new adventure every day is the ultimate blessing ― we won’t take for granted even the simplest moments that appear to be freely given. We realize that PHYSICALLY going to school is an extraordinary gift. We have felt the power of prayer and of hope. We stood face-to-face with the phrase “this, too, shall pass”. We have recognized, at one point or another, that suffering isn’t an individual hardship ― it’s a shared experience. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ’s name ― and solidarity and interdependence can heal even the deepest wounds.”
Schuler said the ceremonial Walk of the Roses procession, which attracts crowds along Rocky River Drive, is tentatively set for Tuesday, July 14, or a later date in 2020 to be determined.
“We hope that larger public gatherings may be allowed later this year,” she said. “There is no guarantee that conditions will be better in July or even later this year, and it may have to be cancelled. Let’s keep our fingers crossed ― and our hands washed!” She wrote. “We are so very proud of the Class of 2020 and grateful for their resilience in these tumultuous times!”
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The digital age
Memories of the event are already available. The livestream version that students watched in their cars has been added to YouTube. For the link, go to clevelandmetroschools.org/
Videos of this graduation ― and others ― will be aired soon on TV-43. Details will be announced.
District photographers also documented the event, and those images will be available soon.
Weeks following John Marshall High School’s graduation ceremony and others, the West Park Times in collaboration with Neighborhood Media is now examining the success of this graduation, as well as a similar drive-through graduation ceremony in Toledo.
Stay tuned as we delve even deeper into the solutions surrounding these graduation ceremonies.
Leaders and experts from across Ohio came together to call on the state Senate to act immediately and fix problems with the state’s unemployment compensation (UC) system. See video of the call here. The Ohio House weeks ago approved House Bill 614, which among other things would create a committee to report on the UC system. Yet HB 614 hasn’t yet received a hearing in the Senate. Research Director Zach Schiller of Policy Matters Ohio said, “Ohio policymakers must listen to the voices of our hundreds of thousands of unemployed.”
Cindy Lang, Tatyana Atkinson, and Katie Krupp, leaders from the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC), described how thousands of Ohioans are suffering every day from the overburdened UC system, overdue mortgages, and concerns about being forced to return to work as COVID-19 cases spike.
“The House passed HB 614 on a 90-0 vote. It should have been taken up by the Senate immediately,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, Executive Director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. “The time to act is now.” As someone on the front lines of fighting hunger in Ohio, Hamler-Fugitt sees firsthand how problems accessing unemployment compensation have led to increased lines at food pantries.
“If the state Senate doesn’t act, we call on Governor DeWine to name the Unemployment Modernization and Improvement Council that HB 614 would create, and ask it to make recommendations in 90 days,” Schiller said.
In 2019, taxpayers lost at least $11.25 million, while homeowners and banks lost up to $77 million, but title to revamped houses remains sound
By Lucia Walinchus
This article provided by Eye on Ohio, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Ohio Center for Journalism. Please join our free mailing list as this helps us provide more public service reporting.
The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that an unusual foreclosure process that can result in people’s homes being sold without compensation for their equity should remain legal in the Buckeye State.
However, in a recently released opinion the state, justices couldn’t agree on the reasoning behind it.
Justice Judith French authored the majority opinion, joined by Justices Michael Donnelly and Robert Hendrickson. (Justice Robert A. Hendrickson, of the Twelfth District Court of Appeals, replaced Justice Melody Stewart). They declined to comment on the constitutional issues presented by the case involving what are called “administrative foreclosures,” saying that they would not stop the process because the law governing these procedures was not “patently and unambiguously” unconstitutional.
Not to be confused with expedited foreclosures, administrative foreclosures send abandoned properties to a county’s board of revision, a committee that usually considers home values for property owners wanting to contest their taxes. The board can then give foreclosed properties to the local land bank, which can clear any debts on the property and give them to local businesses to revamp and resell.
Elliot Feltner, a Cleveland landowner, sued the board in 2018 arguing that the process was an unconstitutional government seizure without compensation. The board had foreclosed upon his property, worth $144,500 in county records. In a sheriff’s sale, the state would have recovered the $68,089 owed to taxpayers and he would have received the rest. But under the BOR foreclosure, both he and the state got nothing.
A photo of Elliot Feltner provided by Eye on Ohio.
Eye on Ohio previously reported on thousands BOR foreclosures in Montgomery and Cuyahoga Counties in 2019. In those cases, local land banks wiped out at least $11.2 million in tax liens. Homeowners and banks lost up to $77 million in home equity.
Though they lost, Feltner’s counsel, former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, filed the opinion as a Notice of Supplemental Authority in both federal cases where he is litigating similar issues, one in Montgomery County and one in Cuyahoga County.
“One of the things we have to prove is that there’s no adequate remedy under state law. And I think the fact that Mr. Feltner was turned down, demonstrates that people who have their properties taken who have equity, and have their properties given to government entities without payment, they don’t have any good remedies under law in the state courts because of the way the statute was structured,” Dann said.
Opposing Counsel Gus Frangos said the administrative foreclosure process was an important way to prevent blight.
“In the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis, there was rampant vacancy and abandonment, and tax delinquencies where people just abandoned their properties so whole neighborhoods were decimated. In 2006, we were seeing all this stuff coming, although Washington didn’t really see it. So there was an expedited foreclosure process in place in 2008, and it caused foreclosures to just skyrocket.”
Frangos was the primary drafter of the expedited foreclosure process and runs its largest program in Cuyahoga County.
“The fallacy of all of this is that somehow people’s property has been taken. They’ve abandoned it, they have to pay taxes. You know, you and I have to pay taxes on our properties. And so that somebody doesn’t, and now they want to turn around and change the narrative to, ‘oh no my property, my valuable property was taken,’” Frangos said.
“At what point does it become a harm to all the surrounding neighborhoods, these properties?” he continued. “So number one, it applies to them. And number two, these cases don’t just happen when a person wakes up and loses his property. They get letters. They get served with notice. They get an opportunity to appear. And they ignore it all. They have an opportunity to come in and appear and get on a payment plan. So, if you’re delinquent, and you can’t pay, you can get on a payment plan. If somebody feels they had a lot of equity in their home, all they have to do is pick up the phone and call a realtor and sell it. The nanny state idea that we should babysit somebody who has totally neglected their obligation to pay taxes, at some point, that becomes an affront.”
At the Ohio Supreme Court, Justice Sharon Kennedy agreed to the judgment but not the reasoning behind it.
Justice Pat DeWine also ruled for the county, but in a concurring opinion he laid out very different reasons: he said that the court should have addressed the constitutional issues, but that administrative foreclosures were very similar to normal taxing practices in the nineteenth century.
Justice Patrick Fischer and Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor also agreed on the outcome, but they wrote a concurring opinion explaining their reasoning. They said the case should have been dismissed for procedural reasons but the constitutional issues “cannot and should not be avoided” and that the majority opinion used “circular reasoning” to avoid getting to the heart of the issue.
“The whole scheme is unsettling and just seems wrong,” Fischer wrote.
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) will distribute masks this summer.
“Need a Mask, Take a Mask” events will take place for the rest of June and throughout August. Due to limited supplies, mask will be available, according to sources:
“While supplies last
On a first come, first serve basis
One per person
Only to riders who are present”
Staff and volunteers with the RTA will distribute these masks.
They will also be distributing CDC guidelines for “wearing and washing a cloth mask, as well as RTA promotional items and information about RTA’s mobile ticketing app. ”
Brendan Walsh awakens at 9 a.m. to the sound of his father persistently pounding on his bedroom door. He has always had a difficult time getting up in the morning but now it is even more challenging, as there is no actual place for him to be.
He isn’t due to his homeroom class at 8 a.m. anymore but, instead, to his Google Chrome laptop at 10 a.m.
Brendan Walsh is a sophomore at Trinity High School in Garfield Heights which is now hosting its classes via Zoom video chats.
Reluctantly trudging down the wooden staircase at a snail-like pace, Brendan Walsh makes his way to the dark pantry, grabs a box of Fruity Pebbles, pours himself a bowl of cereal and eats his breakfast groggily.
By 10 a.m., he is comfortably situated at the wooden dining room table with his earphones on his head and his class before his eyes, hoping it won’t take too long.
“Online school, so far, is very different,” said Brendan Walsh, 16, of Parma. “We learn much less over the quarantine than we do at school. My grades have been impacted in a negative way. To get this stuff done on time is hard to do and that’s the reason for my grades dropping a bit.”
Brendan Walsh is one of many students across Ohio who has had to make the sudden transition to online learning as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
It is estimated that 1.5 billion children across the globe are affected by school closures due to the coronavirus and a vast majority of them are now attending school online.
Katie Gagne, an English teacher at Trinity High School, is struggling as well to bring her students the material they need and to make sure it is educational and beneficial to them, rather than just giving them busy work to pass the time.
“We [the teachers] struggled a lot in the first few weeks when we weren’t communicating [with the students], before we got the technology figured out,” said Gagne, 50, of Westlake.
But what Gagne misses most are the in-person interactions and connections she has with her students. That has been the hardest part for her.
“You want to spend your day with the kids,” Gagne said.
“That’s why I became a teacher. I don’t want to sit in front of a computer screen.” Gagne also worries about the students who have difficult home lives.
“I have a freshman student who doesn’t live in the best neighborhood and whose only socialization takes place at school,” Gagne said. “He told me, ‘If I’m not doing anything at school, there’s nothing. It’s lonely.’ I worry about kids like him.”
Still, Gagne braves the storm and logs on to her third period senior class to discuss their latest reading assignment, “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley.
One of Gagne’s senior students, Katharine Walsh, is not struggling academically, but rather with missing out on her senior year and not being able to see her friends.
“It isn’t as tedious,” said Katharine Walsh, 18, of Parma, Ohio. “Everyone is a lot less talkative. I am a very social person and not being about to talk with my friends and teachers is affecting me.”
As a senior, her greatest struggle is missing out on the final months of high school with her friends and the fear that there will be no prom or graduation ceremony.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” said Katharine Walsh, “and that makes me sad.”
As for Brendan Walsh, his structure continues to improve each day. With the help of his parents and teachers, he is gradually adapting to this new reality. His teachers have been very understanding and accommodating, as they too are in a period of transition.
“I don’t really like it,” Brendan Walsh said. “It’s hard to focus but I’m doing my best. Hopefully I’ll be back in actual school next fall.”
Photo 1: Anna Soltes (left) and Abbe Peterson toss their caps into the air to celebrate graduation. Photo 2: How many times have we used these stairs the last four years? SJA grads Abbe Peterson, Sophia Pedone and Corinne Tabol pause to reflect. Photo 3: Happy SJA grads are (from left) Daijah Torres, Abbe Peterson, Anna Soltes, Corinne Tabol and Sophia Pedone. Photo 4: SJA grads Anna Soltes (left) and Abbe Peterson — ready for their future. Photo 5: Sophia Pedone (left) and Abbe Peterson are ready for the Walk of Roses, which may be held later this summer. Photo 6: Abbe Peterson with roses.
This story is second in a series covering graduations during COVID-19
By Jerry Masek
As a star softball player for 10 years, Abby Peterson learned to hit whatever pitch was thrown. This year, as a graduating senior at St. Joseph Academy, she saw a lot of real-life curve balls and changeups because of the pandemic:
Her spring softball season washed away completely, including a long-planned trip to Myrtle Beach.
Her summer softball season was cut in half.
She watched her graduation “ceremony” on a video at a drive-in theater.
Her restaurant employment was interrupted.
Her on-campus college orientation become a virtual experience.
Prom and the traditional “Walk of Roses” ceremony may or may not happen.
That’s a lot of change to throw at an 18-year-old. Through it all, Abby maintained a 4.2 grade point average, graduated with high honors, and regained her job at Applebee’s Restaurant in Rocky River.
Her positive attitude helped.
“There was a lot of uncertainty this year,” she said. “We never knew what was going to happen. We learned to live in the moment. Nothing in life is guaranteed.”
“Batter up!”
Softball should been a major part of her senior year. Abby pitches and plays infield. During her junior year, the team enjoyed a record-setting 21-6 season.
“This would have been a great year for us. Now, we’re not happy. It’s kind of sad. I really wanted to play one more season,” Abby said.
“An extended break”
“At first, they told us we would be back in 3 weeks, and we were happy for an extended break. Then, the break kept getting longer and longer. The school year ended really fast.”
At home, Abby quickly adopted a routine of waking up early, tackling her work in four subjects, and taking long walks in the Metroparks later in the day. There were a lot of Zoom meetings, e-mail and work in Google Classroom.
“I had never even heard of Zoom before,” she said. “As much as possible, our teachers tried to run the classes as if we were really there.”
It all led up to a graduation ceremony spread out over several days for social distancing. SJA assembled a video of all graduates picking up their diplomas, and played it at drive-in theater in North Ridgeville. Students and their families watched from cars, but classmates were nearby, and the social time was both safe and enjoyable.
A future filled with question marks
Graduation party? Maybe. Prom? Maybe. Walk of Roses? Maybe. When to leave for college? No date set yet.
Abby plans to major in business at Ohio University, and may eventually go into Law or Marketing. Although OU plans to re-open this fall, no date has been set. Orientation has changed from an on-campus to a virtual experience.
“I’m just looking forward to a future without COVID,” Abby said. ” I want a normal freshman year at college, I am going to stay positive and move forward.”
Footnote: Abby’s biggest fans are her parents, Alan and Kelli Peterson — a proud 1993 graduate of SJA.
After waiting weeks for unemployment insurance payments, some are receiving letters demanding they pay back thousands; software troubles continue to dog system
By Cid Standifer
This article provided by Eye on Ohio, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Ohio Center for Journalism. Please join our free mailing list as this helps us provide more public service reporting.
Marnie Behan got a surprising message last month from Ohio’s Department of Jobs and Family Services about her ongoing unemployment payments. Instead of sending her next unemployment payment, they said she needed to pay the department.
The bill was almost $3,000. She had 45 days to repay it or the case would be sent to the Ohio Attorney General.
Since March 15, new claims have inundated the unemployment system at a level not seen since The Great Depression. People waited weeks and months to have their claims processed and money disbursed. And an increasing number are being ordered to give it all back. Since March 15, according to ODJFS, 23,597 people have accounts listed as overpaid for reasons other than fraud — about 3.5% of the people who have received benefits.
The department didn’t accuse Behan of lying on her application. The notice officially said it was “non-fraud.” In fact, after the governor ordered all restaurants to close and she lost her job at Buffalo Wild Wings, she had spent weeks arguing to the department that she qualified for payments.
The department had initially ruled that the amount of money she made at the restaurant was too little to qualify for unemployment. She appealed, arguing that if they only counted the weeks she was employed, instead of dividing her income over the whole year, she met the threshold. Finally, the department came around to her way of thinking. She received an approval notice and started getting weekly payments.
It seemed now they had changed their minds. The department declined to comment on her individual case.
“I almost cried,” she said. “I was like, I can’t do this. I fought so long just to get approved in the first place. And it took over a month. I thought I was never going to get paid.”
In the first quarter of 2020, ODJFS had 7,527 non-fraud overpayment cases and 1,347 fraud cases. Between March 15 and May 30, 1,292,413 Ohioans applied for unemployment insurance – as many as applied over the previous three years combined. By May 23, about half of those people had received their first payment.
Rep. John M. Rogers asked ODJFS Director Kim Hall in a May 27 hearing about one of his constituents, Sarah Burns, ordered to pay back all $5,000 she had received in benefits.
The notice sent to Burns, provided by Rogers’ office to Eye on Ohio, says her claim was retroactively denied because she reported earnings for one week, but not the next, and hadn’t explained why. In her appeal, though, she says the department never asked her for additional documentation.
Hall said that problems could easily crop up as the more than 1 million claimants file more paperwork every week.
“When you’re talking about that kind of scale and unfamiliarity with our system,” she said, there are “a host of opportunities for mistakes in your weekly claims attestations and certifications.”
Burns, who lives in Mentor, told Eye on Ohio that she filed all her weekly claims, didn’t work any jobs between being furloughed March 19 and returning to her job on May 26, and doesn’t know why her claim was denied. When the unemployment insurance benefits started coming in April, it was a relief for her and her husband, since he didn’t have to carry the couple’s finances alone. Now, the stress is back on.
“That’s a big chunk of money,” she said, “and it’s not like we can just go to our bank and just take it out, you know? We’re not rich or anything.”
ODJFS Spokesman Bret Crow said the program has to continue flagging erroneous claims, despite widespread hardship. “We are charged by the U.S. Dept. of Labor with maintaining program integrity through audits that judge our ability to distribute the proper amount of benefits to those eligible,” he said via email. “When an overpayment occurs, we owe it to those who need these benefits and Ohio taxpayers to ensure unemployment compensation payments are accurate.”
“Additionally, he wrote, “if benefits are provided to individuals who are not eligible for them, employers can be charged for those benefits, and this can lead to an increase in their tax rates.
ODJFS Spokesman Bret Crow said the program has to continue flagging erroneous claims, despite widespread hardship.
“We are charged by the U.S. Dept. of Labor with maintaining program integrity through audits that judge our ability to distribute the proper amount of benefits to those eligible,” he said via email. “When an overpayment occurs, we owe it to those who need these benefits and Ohio taxpayers to ensure unemployment compensation payments are accurate.”
“Additionally, he wrote, “if benefits are provided to individuals who are not eligible for them, employers can be charged for those benefits, and this can lead to an increase in their tax rates. When so many businesses are struggling, the last thing we want is to do is increase their tax burden.”
Typically, when workers lose their jobs and file for unemployment, their most recent employer pays part of the tab through increased unemployment insurance tax. When Gov. Mike DeWine ordered restaurants and bars to close on March 15, he declared that the burden for increased unemployment taxes would be “mutualized.” An ODJFS pamphlet says the “mutualized” fund is fed by a tax on all employers, and covers employment claims that can’t be attributed to any individual employer.
Behan says she hopes the demand for repayment was a mistake. She filed an appeal, and the department set a hearing by phone where she can plead her case.
Hall told legislators that as the department finished processing the hundreds of thousands of claims received since mid-March, it was preparing for an onslaught of appeals.
The department’s letter to Behan also suggested another option: apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. PUA is part of a federal program extending unemployment benefits to people who wouldn’t typically qualify, including independent contractors and people whose weekly income was under the UI threshold. To avoid further bogging down the old and overwhelmed unemployment computer system, ODJFS launched a separate online system for people to apply for PUA. That system went live on May 15. By May 30, it logged 209,007 applications.
But that system is running into problems as well.
Locked out of PUA
Pictured: Rodney Sweigert
Rodney Sweigert, a single father who lives in Columbus, said he hasn’t received a single unemployment check yet through the traditional system. He first filed unemployment in mid-March, when the call center where he worked lost most of its clients as their businesses were shut down. That claim was pending for 11 weeks, then the system showed it was inexplicably closed without him receiving a payment. He filed a new claim six weeks ago, but hasn’t received a payment from that claim either.
“I got a letter on [May] 5th saying my claim was allowed, but everything since then has still been pending. So allowed means what? Absolutely nothing,” he said. “At this point it’d be better if they just closed everything so I can file for the pandemic [unemployment assistance],” he said.
But the PUA system won’t let him file a separate application because his UI claim is still open, and he says there’s no option in the online UI portal to close his own claim. He’s heard ODJFS phone operators can quickly close a claim, but when he calls the unemployment hotline number, he can’t reach a human being due to high call volume.
Sweigert said he’s staying afloat by selling blood plasma three times a week, and taking the odd landscaping job he finds on Craigslist. Even so, he’s falling behind on rent, and he’s scared of what will happen when housing courts reopen.
Some people are getting the same denial from PUA, even when their regular unemployment insurance claims have already been denied. Linda Gadek earned part of her income as a 1099 contractor and part of it through wages, but the wages didn’t meet UI’s minimum threshold to be eligible. She filed an application for UI anyway, hoping she would be paid once the department instituted its expanded eligibility.
Instead, her claim was denied by the UI system. But when she applied in the new PUA web portal, she got the same message as Sweigert: she hadn’t exhausted her UI benefits, so she should apply there instead.
The message Andrew Gadek saw when trying to help his mother apply for PUA.
Gadek lost her job on March 21, which means she’s been without an income for more than two months.
Crow initially said that Deloitte, the company managing the PUA system, was working on the issue. But Deloitte spokesman Paul Dunker put the responsibility on ODJFS, saying the department was responsible for providing data on whom should be allowed to apply for PUA.
According to Crow, ODJFS is now going through individual cases to determine who is getting locked out of PUA by mistake.
“We have a list of people who have reached out to us, who feel they were prevented from filing for PUA inaccurately,” he said. “We have agents looking at each person’s claim and determining whether or not they were mistakenly prevented from filing.”
As of June 9, Linda Gadek’s son Andrew said he still received the error message when he tried to fill out the forms on her behalf.
A phone representative Andrew Gadek reached last week told him his mother is now on the list of people whose cases need to be reviewed so they can apply for PUA. But he has no idea when the change will go through. Other applicants have posted on Facebook that it can take anywhere from 24 hours to six weeks. The ODJFS representative recommended he keep calling every day, and send as many emails to ODJFS as he could.
“Hopefully my mom is now on this list, although there is apparently no way to confirm that she’s actually on it, so I am going to email at least once a day,” he wrote in an email. “I don’t necessarily see the utility of sending 700 identical emails per day… But maybe that will annoy them to the point of action? I feel like it’s more likely to result in them blocking my email address.”
Some of Cleveland’s most beloved music venues have yet to reopen to audiences, even though Ohio’s restaurants and bars were allowed to fully reopen in late May after a mandated hiatus due to the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The question of when – and how – to reopen is consuming many of Cleveland’s brightest minds in the performing arts scene, and there’s no easy answer in sight for venue owners.
Local theaters and opera houses, meanwhile, have pivoted to continue their productions and arts education missions digitally, with the working assumption that the coronavirus is here to stay until a vaccine can be developed.
Karamu House in Cleveland, the oldest African-American theater in the country, will be presenting its first-ever virtual streaming performance in the theater’s 105-year history on June 19th. The production, called “Freedom on Juneteenth,” will commemorate the ending of slavery in the U.S. through performances by local artists and musicians, with an eye keenly focused on current events, said Ann Barnett, Karamu’s director of marketing. The program is being built “from scratch,” Barnett said, in direct response to the huge amount of upheaval in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officers. But the production will also be mindful of the pandemic.
“All of the pieces are being constructed so that it does create the six-foot social distancing… actually incorporated into the choreography,” Barnett explained, adding that the musicians will be in an entirely different theater than the performers.
The program will be featured on local TV stations, live-streamed on social media, and will also present an opportunity for watchers to engage digitally afterward with a live panel. Barnett said Karamu will continue hosting digital productions on the topic of social justice each month for the rest of the year, with similar opportunities for people to engage with the artists.
For Cindy Barber, co-owner of Beachland Ballroom & Tavern in Cleveland, and Todd Gauman, marketing director, the pandemic means a complete re-imagining of live performance in Cleveland.
Barber said Beachland along with other Cleveland venues, artists and health officials is part of the national Reopen Every Venue Safely (REVS) pilot project, which has similar task forces in seven other major music cities in the U.S. She’s also part of the National Independent Venue Association, which is advocating for federal aid for independent venues. Barber said that both the REVS taskforce and NIVA provide a way to communicate with other venue owners about best practices as they look to reopen.
A collaborative approach is needed now, Barber said, because music venues struggled even before the pandemic. Gauman explained that music venues have long dealt with razor-thin profit margins, and there’s a high level of financial risk associated with shows because venues often guarantee a certain pay-out to artists before all the tickets are sold. Things have become even more dicey in recent years as the costs such as insurance, utilities and alcohol continue to increase for hosting touring acts.
During the pandemic, everything is on the table including buying bulk liability insurance for multiple venues, for example, or using a group of venues’ collective buying power for employees’ health insurance, Barber said.
In the meantime, Sean Watterson, co-owner of Happy Dog in Cleveland, said that his business has still been able to host a few talks and artists via live-stream (with donations going to his workers), but that’s not a viable event-hosting model. Watterson – who is another member of the REVS taskforce – wondered how his business, which typically has over 300 live events each year, would be able to continue hosting community events safely with musicians, artists, and customers feeling comfortable enough to return.
For the Beachland to reopen safely, it’s “going to be a whole new platform,” Barber said. The bar/restaurant is currently undergoing a large-scale renovation to help it achieve that goal.
Gauman explained that current plans – which are still just that, plans – include several phases over the next few months.
The first? To turn the large 500-capacity ballroom area into a “pop-up restaurant” with socially distanced tables, he said. That’ll be followed by reintegrating live shows with a reduced capacity, hopefully starting in July. Gauman explained that Beachland’s ballroom is thankfully large enough to be able to still accommodate a decent number of customers while keeping them far away from the stage.
Meanwhile, the much-smaller tavern portion of Beachland will also be transformed into a “live- streaming studio” with new equipment and high-speed broadband to showcase local and touring artists.
“Prior to all this, it was at a 150-cap space, and really, when you look at tables and spacing people out, the max we could get in there was like, 14-16 people,” Gauman explained. “That is not going to be conducive for any type of shows.”
Then, there are plans to transform Beachland’s parking lot into an outdoor venue space. The business has asked the state Division of Liquor Control to expand its liquor license to cover the parking lot as well, Gauman explained. Health experts have said in recent months that people are less likely to contract the coronavirus while outdoors, considering the virus will be diluted by even a light wind (it typically is transmitted by water droplets emitted when one speaks, coughs or sneezes).
For Watterson with Happy Dog, he doesn’t have a decent-sized outdoor space that can be used as a performance space. He said he faces a lot of tough questions when considering how to reopen. The REVS task force helps with that, especially when hearing from venues in other cities that are working to reopen.
“It’s not just about reopening safely but recognizing these venues as neighborhood anchors and culturally important institutions, and trying to figure out how to preserve them,” Watterson explained. “They’ve been at risk even before the coronavirus came around.”
Meanwhile, Megan Thompson, director of education and outreach with Cleveland Opera Theater, said theaters such as hers are keenly aware of the potential for singing to spread the coronavirus. Instead, Cleveland Opera Theater has launched an entirely virtual 2020/2021 season, with live-streamed performances, classes and more.
Thompson explained that an expert panel assembled by The National Association of Teachers of Singing, the American Choral Directors Association and others, said there is “no safe way” for singers to rehearse or perform together until a vaccine is developed, which could be anywhere from six months to two years. That stern warning came after 45 people were infected with the coronavirus and two died after they met to sing at a choir in Skagit County, Washington in early March.
So, to prevent a local tragedy, performances are going to be all-online for the immediate future, Thompson said, including a weekly “Maestro’s Corner” with the Opera Theater’s Maestro Domenico Boyagian conducting interviews with musicians from around the world.
There’s also plenty of creativity at play as local theaters figure out how to continue their programming while keeping patrons safe. Cleveland Public Theater, for example, is still planning on hosting its annual Station Hope arts festival on June 27, where over 250 artists come together to celebrate Cleveland’s social justice history and future. The main difference this year? The artists will be performing from their own homes, spokesperson Caitlin Lewins said, with work around the theme of envisioning, interrogating and seeking out hope.
“Those are probably going to be some pretty timely conversations,” Lewins said.
Karamu House, CPT, Cleveland Opera Theater and other local theaters are all continuing their education programs digitally, as well, with Karamu House’s Arts Academy Summer Intensives classes continuing digitally this summer (for students grades 7-12).
There are some difficulties in teaching performing arts digitally, however, said Cleveland Play House’s BJ Colangelo, a teaching artist with CPH’s CARE (Compassionate Arts Remaking Education) in-school theater education program. The biggest one is the “digital divide” for some of her students, Colangelo said.
Some don’t have access to a webcam, which means Colangelo will need to adapt her lesson plan for the day to accommodate them. Other children don’t have access to the Internet at home, but some are finding their own solutions, Colangelo said.
“Some of our students are logging into classes using devices with WiFi from restaurants and stores in their neighborhoods because they don’t have it at home,” she said. “…It really speaks to the resiliency and passion that the youth of Cleveland have that they want to be here. They want to be in their classes. They want to continue their education by any means.”
Conor Morris is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsroom.
NOTE: The West Park Timesis a current member of the Northeast Ohio Journalism Collaborative.
Kate Marijolovic takes a long look at the flowy, burgundy- colored dress splayed across her bed.
She runs her hand over the coarse and sparkly fabric, thinking of the possible hairstyles, makeup looks, and accessories she could have paired with this dress.
The high school’s prom was supposed to be just days away, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, it was postponed until further notice. Now, Marijolovic is unsure if it will happen at all.
“High school is four years of looking forward to those big moments like prom,” said Marijolovic, a senior at Eastlake North High School. “It’s a bit disconcerting when you think the event you poured all this time and money into preparing for might not happen.”
Marijolovic is one of many high school seniors who have had an abrupt end to their senior year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Education Week, 29 state governors have called for schools to be closed through the end of the academic year, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
And with Gov. DeWine banning all large mass gatherings until May 1, many may be left wondering if mass gatherings will even be allowed during the summer.
Principal Eric Frei of Eastlake North High School and his staff believe they will.
“Our prom committee is currently trying to reschedule prom for the last week in July,” said Frei in an email interview.
The unpredictability of the coronavirus is making it a challenge for everyone from school principles to governors to determine how long the stay-at-home orders and other restrictions will remain.
As reported by Reuters, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced recently that mass gatherings in the summer will be highly unlikely for the state. This leaves plenty of speculation for what other states, like Ohio, plan on doing next.
But Frei and the North High School staff aren’t letting those guidelines stop them.
“We will be following the [previously mentioned] plan regardless,” said Frei.
Sara Marijolovic is another North High School senior who knows that prom will be postponed until the end of July but doesn’t think it will be quite the same experience.
“[Prom] will happen but it’s not going to be the same,” said Marijolovic. “Everybody’s gearing up for college, so the question is – are we still going to feel like doing other high school stuff once the end of July rolls around or are we going to be in full college mode?”
Regardless of what will become of prom, North High School made sure to commemorate this year’s senior class, especially once it was announced that remote learning would continue through the end of the school year.
On Monday, April 20, Frei stood near the football field at North High School among social-distanced seniors and their parents. Then, once the clock struck 8:20 p.m., they all watched as the stadium lights lit up for 20 minutes and 20 seconds to honor the class of 2020.
Frei understands that this is a tough time for seniors. As the principal of North High School, he has had to oversee a lot of the senior event cancellations and postponements, but he wants the seniors to know that something will be done to make it up to them.
“My heart goes out to this year’s senior class – they have sacrificed so much during this pandemic,” said Frei. “But we will still be working with the senior class officers to continue to plan fun events that follow social distancing guidelines over the next couple of months.”
