White people make good neighbors?

[Katie Sizemore]

Mary. I saw the good neighbor guide and for what its worth, I just wanted to tell you that I thought it was informative and really put together well. Keep up the good work!!

[Rick Uldricks]

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[David Lay]

Thanks for bringing that up Rick...

http://ci.lakewood.oh.us/pdf/2007_Good_ ... _Guide.pdf

[Stephen Eisel]

Thanks for bringing that up Rick...

http://ci.lakewood.oh.us/pdf/2007_Good_ ... _Guide.pdf

Mary, you did an excellent job on this brochure.

[charlie tardivo]

Mary, thank you for your thoughtful response. Maybe the negative people will now think of something else to complain about.

[Charyn Compeau]

Mary,

You did do a wonderful job and I dont think for one minute anyone had any intention of excluding people.

And I dont think that the original intent was to say that the brochure was racist.

I do think that it is hard for those of us who are white to really 'get' that it does matter to a large number of people (black, hispanic, asian, etc etc) whether there is a diversity of races/ethnicities portrayed in literature produced by their civic leaders.

I can appreciate that you didnt think of it. I recently helped produce a piece for our church. We took lots of pictures and I spent an untold number of hours going through the pictures looking for images that would portray the different aspects of our church life that were being described in the accompanying copy.

I had a few people look at it and they loved it. I had a non-white friend at work look at it and his first comment was "Do you only have white people at your church?"

I was embarrassed and horribly sad that I had not thought of or noticed this myself. I certainly NEVER would have done that on purpose as we are very driven in our congregation to accept people from ALL walks of life.

But i did and that taught me a lesson I'll not soon forget.

Perhaps the issues isnt whether we tried to to exclude... but whether we made a point to try to include.

Peace,
Charyn

[Annie Stahlheber]

I agree with you Charyn.

It's usually not the intent - but how the message is perceived.....

I don't think that I'm a negative person (maybe those who know me can let me know....) however, I think that Lakewood as a whole needs to be more "purposefully inclusive" as Charyn implied.

[Stephen Eisel]

Maybe the people who looked for color or saw lack of color in the brochure have the problem???

[Bryan Schwegler]

I agree with you Charyn.

It's usually not the intent - but how the message is perceived.....

I don't think that I'm a negative person (maybe those who know me can let me know....) however, I think that Lakewood as a whole needs to be more "purposefully inclusive" as Charyn implied.

About a year ago I took a class called Sociology of Minorities as I work towards my MBA. Essentially one of the biggest messages that came through is exactly what you said: we need to make an effort at inclusivity.

Often, we don't exclude or fail to understand intentionally. It's simply a manifestation of our upbringing and social frameworks. What a white person may see as "inclusive" may look anything but to someone from a minority group.

The important thing is to be very intentional in our inclusivity.

Despite any issues regarding the photography in the guide, I do think it was something we needed.

[Rick Uldricks]

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[J Hrlec]

Let's forget the racial controversy for a moment -- does it bother anyone that the city felt they had to create and distribute a handbook telling residents that they shouldn't park in their yards, that littering is against the law, it's a good idea to keep an eye on your children, you are supposed to cut your grass, don't walk in the street, you don't have the right to sit on someone else's porch or hang out in their yard, etc....?

Yes it bugs me, but is not shocking. I've seen some really 'stoopid' people who couldn't tell their arse from their elbow...much less common sense things as you mentioned.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Rick/J Hrlec

I actually thought it was an interesting idea, and could have some good effects. If we have nusiance laws and neighbors with pitch forks at meetings talking about noise, homes, neighbors. Might as well try to get thee word out.

Have we ever decided if whites(?) make good neighbors? Are we now going to subdivide? Can we post a scale, we can hold up to people? Please wake me two nationalities before the Irish so I can get ready, switch to coffee and sober up a little for the questions?


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[J Hrlec]

Rick/J Hrlec

I actually thought it was an interesting idea, and could have some good effects. If we have nusiance laws and neighbors with pitch forks at meetings talking about noise, homes, neighbors. Might as well try to get thee word out.

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Don't get me wrong, I think the guide is needed and nicely done... just sad that some of the topics are truly needed to be stated in this day and age.

[Jeff Endress]

just sad that some of the topics are truly needed to be stated in this day and age.

Much like advising that a dry cleaner's bag is not a toy and a suffocation hazard....

Jeff

[Jim O'Bryan]

just sad that some of the topics are truly needed to be stated in this day and age.

Much like advising that a dry cleaner's bag is not a toy and a suffocation hazard....

Jeff

Jeff


My two personal favorites of the dumbing down of America.


Warning that bag or can of peanuts, may have peanuts in them!

The No Trespassing sign on the cliff on Riverside with a 250' cliff.

That and channel changers pretty much explains the whole cause of the problem.






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