a Presence on I90

[Justine Cooper]

Thank you, but I am still waiting to hear more about what Bill asked too! I hope someone will enlighten, because many of us don't know what Main Street really is and what it will bring to Lakewood. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion in regards to small businesses, but I always thought that is what made Lakewood different.

You can go anywhere to visit a Target, or big name business. Will that really help the local economy? Can there be both? For me, what made Lakewood stand out, was that it was so different than the suburbs. I grew up in an all white suburb and I was bored! I felt like I was living in a bubble, like there was life somewhere out there. What drew me to Lakewood from Philadelphia, was the small shops and big porches, and diversity. I know some hate that word, but Lakewood represents everyone, which to me, is a representation of the real world. I want my children to grow up seeing a representation, not just one culture trying to keep up with each other.

I know this is a whole other subject, but in Lakewood High, you can fit in somewhere. There are schools in suburbs that only have two groups to fit into. You can wear your own style and not have to succumb to high trendy prices. OK I know this has nothing to do with Main Street or small businesses, but I would be a part of anything that keeps Lakewood safe and from becoming like the other suburbs. I have friends from the suburbs who say "Lakewood is so cool with all the little shops." So back to the original question, is Main Street something that is going to help preserve that? I hope so.

[Bryan Schwegler]

For me, what made Lakewood stand out, was that it was so different than the suburbs. I grew up in an all white suburb and I was bored! I felt like I was living in a bubble, like there was life somewhere out there. What drew me to Lakewood from Philadelphia, was the small shops and big porches, and diversity. I know some hate that word, but Lakewood represents everyone, which to me, is a representation of the real world.

I can completely understand where you're coming from. After growing up in Lakewood and living there after college, just moving out to Willoughby Hills has let me see the difference. I think all of Lake county lives in "the bubble" it's just bland and boring.

Lakewood has life, vitality, diversity. I enjoy seeing people out walking, running, biking. I like to be able to just walk a few blocks to Angelos (the best pizza on earth IMO) or any number of other stores.

You just don't get that in the typical suburbs.

[Justine Cooper]

There were some really cool places to live in the Philadelphia area. But, they were extremely expensive! Lakewood fits every budget, from million dollar homes on Lake to us middle classers, to newly weds or college grads renting a double. There is an energy, a life here that is different. I went to high school in Parma. OK enough said.

Even though I sounded like I was getting way off topic above, going back to the original question of Ms. Farris, signs to tell people of Lakewood who don't know, is an excellent idea. But then in the meantime we have to keep it together and keep the small town thing going. The something different to bring them here. Do I think we are going to get the ones in Avon to move here, I am quite skeptical on that one. Mindset is mindset. You have to get Lakewood to live in Lakewood.

[Mary Anne Crampton]

For those of you who want to know what Main Street is all about, please check out this website which explains the program, the qualifications and requirements to be a Main Street community: http://heritageohio.org/omsp.htm

Under the auspices of Lakewood Community Progress Inc (LCPI), Lakewood applied for and was selected to become a Main Street community in December 2005. Start-up financial support came from the Chamber of Commerce and the City. I especially urge you to look at the 4 point approach required to be followed by communities that commit to the program.

There have been numerous community-wide meetings held on this subject including the decision to start with the Detroit Avenue downtown area first. The most recent public meeting was held January 31. It was a visioning process for Detroit Avenue. A cross section of Lakewood residents recorded their ideas as to what would make Detroit an even more inviting, walkable, commercially successful, vibrant area. It was a very well attended meeting and the output was fantastic. The ideas will be incorporated by City Architecture who has been hired to create a streetscape design for Detroit Avenue. Funding for this effort is through a $75,000 NOACA grant award applied for by Jennifer Hooper.

All Observers are URGED to participate. Your comments are very valuable. Attend the meetings (all of which are posted on the Observation Deck) or join a committee and work with other residents to make the Detroit effort a successful model that can be replicated throughout Lakewood.

[Justine Cooper]

Thank you for your response. I will look into the website and the meetings. Very much appreciated!

[Shawn Juris]

So back to the topic at hand, Lakewood advertising presence on I-90. The division that handles the big blue signs is Ohio Logos, Inc (division of ODOT). The cost per advertisement on interstates is $800/year per direction. Additional $120 for trailblazer (which I believe is the smaller version).
The eligibility for food businesses includes;
located within 3 miles of off ramp
open 12 hours a day, 360 days/year
seating capacity of 24
restrooms for travelling public
public telephone
For attractions (arena, stadium, historical society, historical district, museum, scenic attraction, convention center, etc:
open 8 hours a day, 5 days a week
located in an urban area
regional significance
adequate parking
public restrooms and drinking water

Now that we have the cost and requirements, I'll ask again, which businesses qualify and would be willing to participate? I've checked it out and businesses on Detroit fall within the 3 mile radius. In fact 3 miles will get you from the exit at McKinley, down to Detroit and back up to the exit at Warren. Which businesses would recognize a $800 or $1600 annual marketing expense to be beneficial?
Next challenge; 4 exits, name 6 restaraunts at each that are candidates.

An additional service that may be of interest is the Gateway program which can be found at http://www.dot.state.oh.us/maintadmin/G ... caping.htm

[Jennifer hooper]

Justine, I hope MaryAnne (who is very involved with the Main Street effort as a volunteer) has already addressed many of your concerns. But to explain a little more, Main Street Lakewood is a program of Lakewood Community Progress Inc, LCPI. We are an independent non-profit community development corporation. Although we work closely with the City and the Chamber, we are not a subsidiary of either. I am the executive director and the only employee of LCPI, I am not on the City's or the Chamber's payroll.

Our funding comes from a combination of sources. We have received some community development block grant (CDBG) funds from the City and other major contributors are the Chamber, the Hospital, First Federal, Geiger's, Westerly Apts, Coral Company (owns Marc's Plaza) and others. You can see that the primary stakeholders within the Main Street district have self funded the organization. We are led by a volunteer board of directors, volunteers and myself. The board is primarily made up of representatives from the above listed stakeholders. Anyone can and is encouraged to volunteer on one of the committees. As MaryAnne stated, this is a community driven project.

Main Street is a nationwide program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and has been used by thousands of communities across the country since the 1970's. Another great website is www.mainstreet.org. The basic premise of the program is that it provides the tools for a community to mobilize itself to capitalize and promote what makes it unique. It is used in older, historic commercial districts such as Lakewood.

We are still a very young organization and are still in the ongoing process of determining how best to carry out our mission. We do not have all the answers. Revitalization will not happen overnight, it is a gradual process that begins with small steps, eventually building the capacity to tackle larger, more complicated projects and problems.

Some of the projects we have done so far are the flower baskets on Detroit last summer (which admittedly had problems and we are working to address them and improve them for this year), the snowflake swags that hung across the street throughout December and most recently we have kicked off the Detroit Streetscape project. This project will potentially change Detroit so it is more attractive and more pedestrian friendly. Again this is a process driven by the community. The next public meeting for this project will be Thursday, April 19th at 7:00pm at Grant Elementary. There will be more information forthcoming, so check the Observer.

As always, if anyone has any questions, concerns, issues etc. on Main Street Lakewood, they are welcome to contact me personally and I'm happy to explain on a one on one basis. My phone number is 521-0655 and email is jhooper@lcpi.org.

[Justine Cooper]

Thank you Jennifer. I have heard positive things about you, it is just confusing to the average resident what is going on. I, and others who now know, will be there at the next meeting. Sometimes you hear so many conflicting things about what is going on in the city, just finding out the truth is refreshing. I heard the city paid to get Main Street so that was very confusing, as to what the goals are. Many of us really want any projects to make Lakewood better, visually and safety-wise to succeed to reach the goals. And we all have to work together to make it happen. I am still discovering what the average resident can do to make a difference, if we can.

While the signs are a great idea, we don't want people getting off the exit to find vacant houses and storefronts. I hope that changes somehow.

[Shawn Juris]

I hope that Justine and the other average residents that she refers to are able to sift through the ever present disinformation that seems to be clouding this issue and others. The price we pay for free speech is that occassionally the wrong thing is said and accepted as fact.
But back to the original topic. How many of our restaurants have fewer than 24 seats or are open for less than 12 hours a day? 12 hours is actually a long day for many of our establishments. We're almost narrowing our candidate list to those serving breakfast through dinner or pubs that open for lunch and stay open past midnight.

[Justine Cooper]

I am slowly sifting! And getting a headache! Sometimes I would rather not know! But the price of that is too high I think. I listen to all, see the facts, and then hopefully come up with an educated opinion. Which that and a buck fifty will get me a cup of coffee, right?

[Jeff Endress]

Which that and a buck fifty will get me a cup of coffee, right?

Well, now......I guess that would depend on where you get your joe, whether it's Grande and what extras are included.....

Jeff

[Jim O'Bryan]

I hope that Justine and the other average residents that she refers to are able to sift through the ever present disinformation that seems to be clouding this issue and others. The price we pay for free speech is that occassionally the wrong thing is said and accepted as fact.
But back to the original topic. How many of our restaurants have fewer than 24 seats or are open for less than 12 hours a day? 12 hours is actually a long day for many of our establishments. We're almost narrowing our candidate list to those serving breakfast through dinner or pubs that open for lunch and stay open past midnight.

Shawn

I thought the original message was Jaycees putting up signs to help the Lakewood businesses, and saving Mainstreet money, so that they could do more jobs.

Much like me offering to pay for the Highland Ave signs that seem to be missing.

Mary Anne and Jennifer, thanks for jumping in and explaining the program to a Lakewood Business owner.

Shawn as you seem to have found fault with Justine for asking. I will bring up the other thread.

peace.


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[dl meckes]

How many of our restaurants have fewer than 24 seats or are open for less than 12 hours a day? 12 hours is actually a long day for many of our establishments. We're almost narrowing our candidate list to those serving breakfast through dinner or pubs that open for lunch and stay open past midnight.

What's your point? I really don't understand what you are saying here.

[Shawn Juris]

Jim,
I'd hate to have more of my positions misrepresented. no further comment.

Justine,
I feel what you're going through. I hope after meeting me the other day you know that I'm not chasing you off in any way. There is alot to sift through and with comments like Jimbo's, shovel may be a more appropriate verb.

dl,
I was going off of the requirement that the ODOT division has in place to qualify for placement on the large blue signs on the interstates. If memory serves that was the crux of the origin of this thread was why Lakewood doesn't have signs directing travelers to it's businesses. As I had tried to do a couple of times, I was trying to get a handle on which businesses the observers would foresee participating in such a program. Are there many that are ruled out because they have limited seating or limited hours? I'm not sure. I can think of a couple but it doesn't mean that there aren't that many more that would be a great fit for something like this.
As often is the case, this thread has seemed to go off into non-constructive rehashes of unrelated misconceptions. I was hoping to bring it back to what is a very potentially good idea. The only way that we'll find that out though is if we identify those that would qualify and see it as a benefit.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Jim,
I'd hate to have more of my positions misrepresented. no further comment.

Justine,
I feel what you're going through. I hope after meeting me the other day you know that I'm not chasing you off in any way. There is alot to sift through and with comments like Jimbo's, shovel may be a more appropriate verb.

Shawn

No wonder business owners flock to your projects. You insult one small business owner, telling her to move on to another thread, Then another one that has three business in town, and actually supports these projects.

Maybe more people than just I cannot go along blindly for the ride without information or asking the questions. Certainly you would answer these questions if they were about insurance, right?

Legit questions asked: Why this area?

How was this area chosen?

Why not Madison Ave.?

How much was paid for by business and how much by the city?

How much is needed?

What is the hope and outcome?

What is the bottom line on all of this?

Has anyone dropped out and why?

As Route 6 is a state route can we widen the street, change lanes widths, add ? and not change what?

How much will the entire StreetScape Study cost when it is done?

Who will pay for the changes or building?

Has Mainstreet, the Chamber or Jaycees gotten any businesses to move into Mainstreet? Or is it up to use small business owners to do it ourselves?

Legit questions that Jennifer and Mary Anne gracefully tried to answer. But then, they are great ambassadors for the city of Lakewood.

These were questions that have been pouring in to the office. I was going to sit down with Jennifer and do a story but let's get it our here. But as you have asked to get the facts out in the open. We will start with these.

I forget where is your business?

I think you said Westlake?

A good start on helping this town might be moving it here.

I will put my facts against yours everyday of the week.

For the record, I believe 85 families have moved in since the bet.

Please note I have enough respect for you to not make up little names.

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