Taste of Lakewood

Justine Cooper · Post by **Justine Cooper** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 11:52 am

I read about Taste of Lakewood in my weekend Sun Paper and thought about taking my sister who is in town but did not see anything about it in the LO or on this deck! Am I missing something? Is this a Lakewood event then and why is it not in the LO or on the deck???

Justine Cooper · Post by **Justine Cooper** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 12:41 pm

OK I found my sun and there was a huge ad taken out for this but why not one in the local paper? I also called a couple business owners I know to ask and they told me they were asked to donate something for a raffle but it was the first time they had seen the Chamber come in in over a year (some places said ever) so I am curious what does this event raise money for and are only some businesses invited? And why not promote it a local paper?

The fact that La Pita is not there is enough for me not to go but the other issues are mind boggling.

Jeff Endress · Post by **Jeff Endress** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 12:46 pm

why is it not in the LO or on the deck???

Good question Justine.

I guess the answer is nobody wrote an article for the Observer, and nobody connected with the event took advantage of the Deck. Too bad. It might have been a good source of free publicity and gotten the word out.

Jeff

Justine Cooper · Post by **Justine Cooper** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 2:29 pm

thank you Jeff.
It feels more like a private event though for some reason. Why would the Lakewood Chamber pay for a large ad in the Sun News run in another city and not one small one in the local paper? I have nothing against the Sun and appreciate any coverage they do for Lakewood (stories) but why not an ad locally for a paper that has given free space to other Chamber events? And who does the event benefit?

Bryan Schwegler · Post by **Bryan Schwegler** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 2:39 pm

Here's a movie with more information:
http://www.lakewoodchamber.org/site/movie.html

It is rather odd that I think most people in Lakewood doesn't even know about this.

Justine Cooper · Post by **Justine Cooper** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:03 pm

HM That was interesting. How did you even find out about that? Mine kept breaking up but I finally got through it. I do love Italian Creations but this event seems private more than for the city for some reason. Thanks Bryan.

Ivor Karabatkovic · Post by **Ivor Karabatkovic** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:18 pm

I found out about the event as I was driving out of Lakewood and into Rocky River on Clifton while picking up my girlfriend this morning. There was a tiny sign in a corner that said "Taste of Lakewood" on it.

It wasn't any bigger than a for sale sign, and no one I've talked to knew about it.

Jim O'Bryan · Post by **Jim O'Bryan** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:49 pm

Ivor Karabatkovic wrote:I found out about the event as I was driving out of Lakewood and into Rocky River on Clifton while picking up my girlfriend this morning. There was a tiny sign in a corner that said "Taste of Lakewood" on it.

It wasn't any bigger than a for sale sign, and no one I've talked to knew about it.

Please

The Lakewood Chamber of Commerce run by a person from Rocky River thought it would be better to spend all of their advertising dollars on the out of town paper instead of the Lakewood Observer.

This is not the first time.

It is America.

I hope those that went enjoyed.

For the record the Lakewood Observer is a member of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce.

Please note the support the Chamber offers their Lakewood members.

If you have a business on Madison please join Madison Avenue Merchants Association, if you are on Detroit ask about DADA Detroit Avenue Development Association. Lakewood business development groups, made up entirely of Lakewood business owners. When MAMA and DADA get together good things happen!

These groups are actively helping businesses reduce costs, find clients, advertise Lakewood retail. They are reaching out to others and trying to bring other businesesses into Lakewood. Cost to join for a Lakewood business is $0.00.

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Justine Cooper · Post by **Justine Cooper** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:32 am

Well I noticed the Clifton Art Festival took out a nice ad in the LO. I bet they get a good response!

Jim O'Bryan · Post by **Jim O'Bryan** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:41 am

Justine Cooper wrote:Well I noticed the Clifton Art Festival took out a nice ad in the LO. I bet they get a good response!

Clifton Arts Fest took a series of ads out in the Observer after realizing the best way to reach out to Lakewood is the award winning citizen run newspaper.

But some at the Chamber do not have that vision.

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David Lay · Post by **David Lay** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:44 am

Jim O'Bryan wrote: But some at the Chamber do not have that vision.

It's hard to have your finger on the pulse of a city that you don't live in.

Justine Cooper · Post by **Justine Cooper** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:47 am

Not just hard, impossible I think. I hope if they pass a police levy they get some good officers to live here in the great city.

Jim O'Bryan · Post by **Jim O'Bryan** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:51 am

David Lay wrote:
Jim O'Bryan wrote: But some at the Chamber do not have that vision.
It's hard to have your finger on the pulse of a city that you don't live in.

David

I wish it was just that easy. Of course I agree that residency is a huge incentive to make a city better.

I have to admit it would seem that the Chamber has truly lost their compass when their big event is taking business people to Mentor! When they are only willing to serve those in Lakewood that will pay them and in the end that support is still based on personal choices by a few or one.

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Lynn Farris · Post by **Lynn Farris** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:58 pm

All I can say is at least they held the event in Lakewood. This was the group that talked the Mayor into giving the State of the City speech outside of Lakewood.

But I agree with you that we need to give points for residency in hiring and the one that bothers me most is the Planning Director. He/She is the one that is Salesperson in Chief for the city and if they don't buy what they are selling - how can they seriously convince anyone else to.

Jim O'Bryan · Post by **Jim O'Bryan** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 6:13 pm

Lynn Farris wrote:But I agree with you that we need to give points for residency in hiring and the one that bothers me most is the Planning Director. He/She is the one that is Salesperson in Chief for the city and if they don't buy what they are selling - how can they seriously convince anyone else to.

Lynn

First let me say I am very happy Taste of Lakewood sold all their tickets. and fun was had by all.

I like Tom Jordan, good guy, pretty smart.

However the dependency on Lakewood towards depending on outsiders borders on unhealthy.

Recent hires see school people driving in from Wooster ever day!

Lakewood Hospital, the Observers best advertiser and a dream to work with once asked me to do a story on the new head of nursing. This was a story everyone from the hospital wanted to see in the paper. My answer was I am not writing a story about anyone that dislikes Lakewood so much she is willing to driver 4 hours a day just so she does not have to live here. The story never ran, was never submitted.

Lynn, you have seen the current plan for Lakewood Park. For only $35,000 a slick study for Lakewood Park. Got an outside group in to dream Lakewood a dream. Ho-hum, then a young woman from Lakewood took her love of Lakewood Park and worked hard on her dream. Spoke with everyone at City Hall, the Schools, and even on the streets and came back with a breathtaking view of what Lakewood could do. A perfect example of what you are talking about.

I have seen two ideas for Lakewood worth pursuing out of hundreds. One is the Visonary Alignment for Lakewood, the second is The Penninsula which is now part of the Visionary Alignment for Lakewood. Both are out of the box genius ideas created for Lakewood by very talented Lakewood visonaries.

It would be interesting to see what the candidates for mayor think of those plans? Are any ready to back one, the other or both?

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