Nonprofit Lydia's House gets citation for murals on boarded-up Norwood building

The corner of Mills and Carter avenues has seen some change lately, but one in particular caught Mayor Tom Williams' eye. Brightly-colored murals adorn the outside of a boarded-up building that nonprofit Lydia's House wants to renovate. "I drove by and thought 'Wow, that's kind of neat,'" Williams said. The goal for the building is to create eight transitional apartments for families experiencing homelessness. Lydia's House is raising money to replace the roof and start work inside. But Ben Eilerman, Lydia's House co-founder, said the group wanted to make a difference fast. So neighborhood kids painted the murals to give the building a little life.  Eilerman soon learned the city code doesn't recognize murals. Instead, they're considered billboards -- and Lydia's House didn't have permission to put them up, so the nonprofit was cited.