Non-existent crime statistics and blaming Section 8

[Justine Cooper]

My question is how can ANY mayor stop people from leaving the inner city and moving to Lakewood or anywhere else? Am I missing something? Has this become a focus?

Your question gets to the core of all issues affecting Lakewood.

If Lakewood had a dynamic, growing population and a growing economy discussions about keeping people from leaving town would not be necessary. We don't so they are.

We cannot afford political leadership that views its job as management of decline. A Mayor that views sucess as avoiding the bullet for another year is a manager of the moment not a manager of a vision.

We need leadership with vision. Do any of the three candidates have a vision? ...

The focus should NOT be on keeping people here or on bribing City workers so they live here it should be offering something that makes people want to live hear which is:

1. Housing. Modern, attractive, new, remodeled or whatever. If you focus on housing you will attract the people that pay the bills. If you allow housing to deteriorate, if you fail to accept the premise that houisng becomes obsolete then the City attracts people who don't pay the bill's.

There is no number two because if you have number one you have everything else.

Bill,
I appreciate your response and don't disagree with some of it, but my question had to do more with people worrying about others leaving the inner city than people leaving Lakewood. You will always have people moving here temporarily and then leaving. The whole county has a declining population. College graduates can't afford to stay around so they leave to find good paying jobs.

I agree the housing and safety issues need to be addressed but I also believe with the economy and mortgages tightening up, Lakewood will be much more attractive to some people than the over-priced burbs. Young people are still moving in here. Two houses sold on my old street this year to young couples.

I have seen a lot of vision come into realization since I moved in 8 years ago so I don't get all the negativity when I see all the new buildings in Lakewood.

As for the other question, I feel great walking around Lakewood. Still proud to be here and not fearful.

[Bryan Schwegler]

I agree the housing and safety issues need to be addressed but I also believe with the economy and mortgages tightening up, Lakewood will be much more attractive to some people than the over-priced burbs. Young people are still moving in here. Two houses sold on my old street this year to young couples.

I have seen a lot of vision come into realization since I moved in 8 years ago so I don't get all the negativity when I see all the new buildings in Lakewood.

As for the other question, I feel great walking around Lakewood. Still proud to be here and not fearful.

Amen! I completely agree, I do think there is too much focus on the negative than on the positive. But I guess that's just human nature.

Lakewood has an atmosphere that attracts a wide variety of people. I've lived in Lakewood my entire life except 4 years where I was in Ann Arbor for college and about 5 months when I moved to the east side to be closer to work.

Guess what...I broke my lease to move back to Lakewood. There's just something great about this community. Is it different than when I was 8 and attending Grant Elementary? Sure. But so is the rest of America.

Everywhere I go, people who don't live in Lakewood seem to have good things to say about it...some are even jealous that I live here. Now if we can just have the same positive outlook on Lakewood as those who don't live here, we'll all be doing fine.

[Steve Hoffert]

Sharon,


As for the crime statistics, I was at the safety meeting when the Police Chief announced the dramatic rise. Those are the administration's numbers. Mr. Fitzgerald, and several members of the LO staff were also there. If you're looking for an answer - the mayor will need to explain it, it was his employee who reported it.

Suzanne Metelko

I fear you are grossly misrepresenting what the Chief said. I was at that meeting and took detailed notes and here is what I wrote down:

Fitzgerald: Chief O'Malley will speak and community policing.

Chief O'malley gave an overview of current strategies used to control crime. Current statistics on crime through CRIS police records list arrests and reports. 2002 to 2006 rose from 1756 to 1956 level through 3,4,6
In last 5 years violent crime has fluctuated around 500 so no change in that for the last 5 years

FBI crime reporting and crime trends. Match their communities between state and country. Personal violent crime in 6 of 8 categories are down for 2006.
Drug reports are not generated by call into local people calling in but by arrests work and investigations. If they are cracking down on drugs then arrests go up and the statistics go up for that particular crime.

So basically he indicated property crime was up around 10% but violent crime was flat.

Lakewood has crime like any community has crime. The chief indicated ways in which they are changing their tactics to cope with the crime du jour. He also stated that they need more men on the street.

I am getting sick listening to the whining from the ultra pessimists that Lakewood is going to hell. This has become the mantra of those who want their own "boys" in city hall.

I feel safer in this town than all of the others I have lived in. I also feel that it is important to put more police on the streets. What would this take? Money. If you don't want to spend the dough that quit complaining about the crime. I am willing to pay more in local tax, to make my city cleaner and safer.

I suggest that each of you go out and buy a scanner. Listen to the Lakewood police and fire as well as the Westshore law enforcement channels. You will find that all those "pristine" communities west of here are not. They have the same crime that Lakewood does, the violence, drugs and robberies.

All the candidates have been in office for the past 4 years and crime is an issue now because it's an election year and the candidates need a hot button issue. I have attended numerous meetings and watch certain members of council and the administration bicker over petty nonsense, instead of taking on the real issues in this city. I watch the council cut the budget on things that that save pennies and totally ignore things that cost the taxpayers of this city millions of dollars. Dollars that could be spent on putting more police on the streets.