The jumping off discussion area for the rest of the Deck. All things Lakewood.
Please check out our other sections. As we refile many discussions from the past into
their proper sections please check them out and offer suggestions.
Cleveland touted as 'most livable' U.S. city 'Most livable' city closer than you think: Cleveland! Thursday, October 06, 2005 Emily Hamlin Plain Dealer Reporter
The winters may be rough, but a recent survey says Cleveland is one of the best places in the world to call home.
A London-based industry analyst group says Cleveland is the most livable city in the country and the 26th best on the planet.
Mayor Jane Campbell says that's no surprise, given the city's world-class health institutions, arts community and low cost of living.
Ok, just an observation on the Observation Deck...
This topic, which I judge is GOOD news for Lakewood gets only 86 views and 2 replies, versus "RTA what the %#^$" which I judge is Negative Rant gets like 400 and a bunch of replies.
When are we going to wake up and realize that we create the world, the city, the community we live in?
C'mon Lakewood, lets get Positive! Drop the chip and realize we are at an awesome time in our city's history. We are rediscovering why we LOVE to live in Lakewood. And others are noticing. We don't need to re-invent 'New Urbanism'. We are an Authentic Community.
FWIW....
Mark Schroeder
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."--Goethe
I had an interesting conversation with Dr. Roy Church (head of Lorain Community College) a few years ago. He asked me if I was a native Clevelander and he asked me why I chose to stay here.
At that time, my answer included the fact that it was affordable to live here and the cultural opportunities were outstanding. I could afford to have a subscription to the Cleveland Ballet (not weekends), a subscription to a limited series of Cleveland Orchestra performances ("bad" seats), membership in the Cleveland Museum of Art, and I could go see any number of other dance or musical performances or art exhibits. Of course, I also mentioned lake sunsets and MetroPark access.
Those things cover the Greater Cleveland area, but didn't explain why I love Lakewood. I was recently bragging about our recycling program and several people noted that Cleveland "wasn't Lakewood."
I had to give some people a ride to the County building from E. 40th and we encountered very few cars or people along the way that morning. It creeped me out. As soon as we hit 117th street, we started seeing cars and people and street life. We were in a vibrant little city.
Volunteering at the Ingenuity Fest, I got a chance to see the Lakewood Project again, but more importantly to me, I got to see the reaction of the people who heard them. They absolutely electrified the crowd. I'm very proud that the mayor decided that he wanted to have them be the featured concert on the 4th of July and worked that out. Not only is it a tremendous performance, it also highlights home-grown Lakewood talent. These kids generate as much excitement as the FABULOUS fireworks we have.
We have those Sunday band concerts and films in the bandstand. We have parks and recreation opportunities galore.
Our Keep Lakewood Beautiful group does a wonderful job. Our Adopt-a-Spots are well tended and add tremendous beauty. The humus sale featured plants that were thinned or divided from the Adopt-a-Spots and you couldn't beat the prices. Our seed exchange was small, but it's an idea to grow (and it occurred to me to talk to the skate park people about some of the seeds I have left over - Stosh & Vince, expect a call!).
Working on the Observation Deck and the Lakewood Observer reminds me how many talented, smart, committed people we have in Lakewood. A friend of mine, originally from Detroit, observed that "you people all act like this place is Mayberry!" I think that's true.
This is a city where you can easily call anyone up and share an idea or volunteer to help on a project or talk things over. Anybody can head up to city hall and talk to the people there. You never have to look for Mayor George, he's everywhere! We see Planning Director Jordan walking the streets of Lakewood checking things out on an embarrassingly regular basis.
Of course, we have the libraries, which deserve every award they get. If you need help with darned near anything, there's somebody there who can help you, teach you, direct you. Ken Warren goes to every event in town.
We're involved in the CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Team) training. Lakewood is MILES ahead of the other cities in this area. The plans for expanding training opportunities are being worked out to offer more first aid and CPR training. We have Start-a-Heart training. Each week we hear about planning for various scenarios and how civic and private agreements are being worked out so that if something bad happens, we can expect a quick and organized reaction. After seeing how London handled bombings and how things were handled with Katrina & Rita, "city hall" and the safety forces stepped up their efforts so that we will be able to respond to problems by helping each other take care of each other.
Mark, I think that's enough for one post, but I'm not at all shy about discussing why I love Lakewood life!
“One of they key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace. Good people don’t go into government.”- 45
