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Apartments and Swimming At Law Committee Meeting

A Cincinnati city attorney said there is a new management team in charge of a troubled Walnut Hills apartment complex.

Attorney Mark Manning also told Council's Law and Public Safety Committee Monday the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) inspected The Alms Hill Apartments on Victory Parkway.

"The apartment scored a 49 out of 100," Manning said.  "Which means that it failed HUD's inspection and that there were critical life safety violations at the time when HUD went thru the building."

Among other things, the HUD inspection found exposed wiring, cracked walls, missing smoke detectors, and bedbugs in some units.

A city inspection earlier this year found several issues including mold, roaches, bedbugs and water damage from leaks.

Manning said the new management indicates the emergency items have been repaired; and work is underway on the other items.

The city is continuing litigation against the Alms owner in federal court.

Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Recreation Commission has recommended lowering the age children can swim unattended at city pools.

Right now it is 12 but it could drop to age nine. Prior to this year it was seven.

Acting Recreation Director Steve Pacello said the agency is trying to strike the right balance.

"Obviously, first and foremost, the safest atmosphere for our youth to enjoy the summer and provide those type of positive activities," Pacello said.  "But also access and determining what is a good age to be unaccompanied and coming into our swimming pools."

Council's Law and Public Safety Committee held a report on the age limit for two weeks.

Council member Kevin Flynn said he does have concerns.

"I would never have let one of my children at age nine into a pool, by them self, without myself or mom watching," Flynn said.

The city increased the age limit after a drowning incident last year.

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.