Anyone seriously running in Ward 3?

[Colleen Wing]

Don't get me wrong, my son is cool but it keeps putting instead of 8. JO'B?

[dl meckes]

Disable smilies when you're doing a list or typing numbers!

I fixed the post to which you refer.

8) is also a smilie.

[Bryan Schwegler]

To all the Ward 3 Candidates:

I'd like to know what you view as the top issue(s) facing Lakewood and what is your plan to fix it?

I think the answer to that question will help all of us living in the ward to get a better idea of what you stand for and how you plan to address it. Feel free to respond here or in the read-only candidates forum.

Thanks!

[Colleen Wing]

Thanks dl, you are 8.

[Colleen Wing]

A Mayor has to set the agenda and priorities for the City but it is the responsibility of Council to communicate the needs and concerns of the residents.

Communication seems to be the core of the issue.

There seems to more frustration from residents now because there hasn't been any visible progress on some issues.

What I am hearing more than anything is...What are we doing about____?

Safety is huge.
Housing stock. Inspections, landlords, Section 8,Garbage on the curb
Building our business base, the Mainstreet Project, open store fronts

The first thing I can do is put pressure on a Mayor to enforce the laws and ordinances that already exist.

Residents want to see action not motion, and they need to know what progress is being made. Getting those answers and communicating will be a big step forward.

[Justine Cooper]

Thank you for your response. For me this is the first time voting for mayor or council in Lakewood and it is nice to actually find out who and what each one is about! I think whomever wins will be an asset.

[Joe Dangelo]

Dear Friends,
In my view the top issue facing Ward 3 and Lakewood is safety. We have seen that statistically it is on the rise and that is a cause for concern for several reasons. As an Assistant Medina County Prosecuting Attorney, I have learned that crime is more often a symptom of a greater problem.
Honestly, I have not figured out what is the source of the core problem, it may be a combination of several interrelated issues. I am certainly open to your views as to what that may be.
One may be a lack of community policing. As councilman, I will work to support the newly formed Ward 3 block watch program. In my view, the councilman of a Ward should be heading or heavily involved in such an organization. A block watch will not only increase communication between the citizens and city hall but also the police. I also believe the City of Lakewood should provide incentives to it's safety forces to live in our city. I am not proposing forcing them to live here but a tax break may induce a new young police officer to stay in the community he or she protects.
Second, I have heard throughout the Ward a strong dissatisfaction with how landlords have policed their properties. I have also heard from good people, who are landlords that feel helpless to evict problem tenants. As councilman, I believe the Law Department should be helping landlords develop leases that will help them with problem tenants. I also believe City Hall must hit those problem absentee landlords right between the eyes with stiff fines for properties that are ignored on all fronts.
Third, I believe we need to ensure that are police are fully staffed and properly equipped. Everyone I speak with who cites crime as an issue, claim that the problem is not the Lakewood Police Department. They respond with honor and promptness when called. Their input is crucial to this discussion as they are the professionals when it comes to crime.
Finally, economic development will of course help in the war against crime. Anything that a city councilman can do they should. A better economy means more taxes for the City to devote to crime prevention and criminals do not like hanging around in flourishing areas.
In closing, I would just like to say, there is no cure all. I am confident that whoever is elected the next Ward 3 city councilman will not be out there patrolling in their cars to help out the police. We can only keep the conversation going and apply what we can to help. In the time that I have lived in Lakewood, I have noticed that every resident has an intense pride in this community. The pride of those citizens, may be the best antidote to the core disease that is afflicting our community.

Sincerely,
Joe Dangelo
Candidate, Ward 3 Lakewood City Council

[Ryan Salo]

Joe,

Can you please include more background information about yourself? How long have you lived in Lakewood, how have you been involved? Why do you want to run? What makes you qualified?

Thanks!

[Justine Cooper]

Joe,
Your resume is very impressive and I think you would make a huge asset to Lakewood council! I am more interested in real experience in real life and so are many others. What people have done when the cameras aren't rolling is telling.

I honestly think this will be extremely difficult because as a woman it is nice to have a mother's touch on the council but also there is some great experience with the other candidates!!! Let the debates begin!!!

[Joe Dangelo]

Dear Justine and Ryan,

I have lived in Lakewood for 3 years. I moved here when I was in law school at Cleveland Marshall College of Law and decided that this was a great place to live for a young person. I have enjoyed my time here greatly. I grew up in Medina County, in a small town called Valley City. From there I went on to Kent State University where I graduated with a B.A. in Political Science in 2002. I graduated from law school in 2005. During that time period, I was an Emergency Medical Technician.
After law school, I was hired as an Assistant Medina County Prosecuting Attorney, it is a great job and I love every minute of it. Since moving to Lakewood, I joined and have become a Vice President of the Lakewood Democratic Club. I am also a precinct committee person for my precinct.
I want to run for Lakewood City Council because it is a unique opportunity to give back to this community. I hope to have the opportunity to bring energy and leadership that Ward 3 needs. I also think that I will be bringing a unique perspective to this debate.
Justine, I am sorry, but I can never be the mother you are looking for, it is just not in the cards. But I will do my best to bring those perspectives to city council if I am elected.

Respectfully,
Joe Dangelo
Candidate, Lakewood City Council Ward 3

[Justine Cooper]

Joe,
haha A women's touch is nice in this city I won't lie, but the overall resume is what counts. You do have an impressive one and I look forward to hearing more. Good luck!

[Bryan Schwegler]

Thank you Colleen and Joe for taking the time to respond. Hopefully the others will do so soon.

It looks like we've definitely got a great group of qualified, concerned citizens running for council in Ward 3!

[Diane Helbig]

Bryan,
I apologize for the delay in responding to your request for information on what we think are the big issues in Lakewood. I was out of town on vacation visiting family.

So, here you go.

I believe the issues facing Lakewood are community cohesiveness, security, and housing standards. I put community cohesiveness first because I believe it is essential to solving the security and housing standards issues. All of us – city government, city employees, businesses, schools, and citizens – need to work together to rekindle the spirit of Lakewood. It is up to each of us to play a role. From Neighborhood Block Watches to communication between government departments, it can take very little effort to make big changes.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, he describes something called the Broken Windows theory. It is ‘an epidemic theory of crime. . . crime is contagious . . . it can start with a broken window and spread to an entire community.’ He also states that ‘an epidemic can be reversed, can be tipped, by tinkering with the smallest details of the immediate environment.’

In the book 212◦ The Extra Degree, the authors remind us that ‘seemingly small things can make tremendous differences.’ ‘At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water comes steam. And steam can power a locomotive.’ Just one simple degree - just one little extra effort – can make all the difference.

I believe in both of these ideas, as well as the Law of Attraction. I am an optimist – I see opportunities in every challenge. I truly believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things because I’ve seen it happen.

One of the things I’ve always loved about my street is the sense of community. I know that the neighbors down the block are watching out for my kids. And they know the same of me. We are all taking care of each other; watching out for each other. How great is that? Imagine if we had that sense city-wide.

As your Councilperson, I will work to make sure that all of us are working together to create the changes we seek – to revitalize a sense of community throughout Lakewood.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’d like to share something here. I decided to co-chair the Ward 3 Neighborhood Watch program well before I decided to run for Council. There had been many conversations amongst the parents and residents of the area. We just knew we had to do something. I’ve always been a person of action. A problem-solver. So, I agreed to do what I could to make it happen.

Well, a few weeks after that (and after attending some Public Safety Committee meetings) I realized that I had an opportunity to help our city on a greater scale. I made the decision to run for Council in Ward 3 because I believe I owe it to my children to try to make a difference in their community. And, not only my children. All of the children in Lakewood. They deserve to feel safe and secure, and the parents deserve the peace of mind that goes along with that.

As a homeowner, I have a vested interest in making sure our property values are going up, and that Lakewood is once again the city people love to live in and want to move to.

So, now we get to security and housing standards.

In addition to working together, paying attention to what’s going on around us, being accountable and expecting accountability from each other, there are some specific things we can do in these areas. A few things that come to mind are these:
-set an ordinance to treat school playgrounds like parks with opening and closing times. This will help the police when patrolling these areas and will keep people from conducting illegal activity there at night.
-establish neighborhood watch programs throughout the city. When people who are interested in breaking the law know there are people paying attention, they’ll go elsewhere.
-create youth community centers throughout the city. These would be set up in what are now empty storefronts. They would be designed for the middle and high school age kids. We would fund them through grants. Kids who have nothing to do, tend to get themselves in trouble. We can work with them to give them a better avenue.
-Review, update where necessary, and enforce the housing standards. I believe that we all should be held to the same standard. It shouldn’t matter whether you’re a resident homeowner, a resident landlord, a renter, an absentee landlord, or in section 8 housing. We are all responsible for maintaining the properties we live in. We owe it to ourselves and each other to revitalize the housing values in Lakewood.

As I said, these are a few solutions that come to mind. I know that there are other people throughout Lakewood with equally good ideas. An essential part of being a councilperson is listening to the citizens.

Throughout my career – from leading teams of people, empowering them to create their own successes, to a successful sales career, to my current place as a professional coach – I have used the same skills and qualities that I believe will make me a successful Councilperson. They include: listening and problem-solving (you have to be a good listener to be a good problem-solver). In addition, I possess the ability to see things from several sides and therefore, offer unique solutions.

My mother used to say – there’s your side, my side, and the right side, which is somewhere in the middle. I took that to heart and have used it to help some of my clients come together in ways they couldn’t before we worked together.

I possess strong intuitive skills and a genuine desire to help other people excel. That’s probably why, throughout my life, people have sought me out, knowing I would listen carefully and offer them insight and guidance that made good sense and produced positive results.

My vital statistics are these:
I was born in Columbus Ohio (go Bucks) and lived all over the US. After graduating from high school in suburban Detroit, I attended Michigan State University (go Green), where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Science. I received my coaching certification in 2006 from The Coach Training Alliance.

Through my position as Director of Operations for a Michigan-based service firm, I moved to the Cleveland area in 1990. My husband, Frank, and I moved to Lakewood in 1994 and became homeowners here in 1995. We have two children – Aaron who is 11 and attending Garfield this coming schoolyear, and Macey who is 8 and attends Roosevelt Elementary.

I have held Board positions for two area Chambers of Commerce. I have participated for the past few years on the planning committee for the Lakewood Relay for Life, in addition to captaining a team. I’ve participated on the Roosevelt PTA and will be doing the same for the Garfield PTSA.

I started my own business as an independent contractor and professional coach in 2006.

While this is lengthy, I'm just sure I've probably left something out. Feel free to ask me about anything else you'd like to know.

[Rick Uldricks]

Is Bob Seelie still handling duties as Ward 3's councilperson? I read on this thread that he had some health issues -- and I do hope he's OK, I am just wondering if he is still currently our representative if we have any issues or concerns in Ward 3.

Or should I discuss matters with an At-Large councilperson or someone else?

[dl meckes]

Bob Seelie is still your council rep. and from what I hear, he's doing fine.

You can always give him a call and also talk to at-large members, Antonio, Dever, and Fitzgerald.