Lakewood City Government Is Just One Big Self Licking Ice Cream Cone

[Bill Call]

From Wikipedia

In political jargon, a self-licking ice cream cone is a self-perpetuating system that has no purpose other than to sustain itself. The phrase appeared to have been first used in 1992, in On Self-Licking Ice Cream Cones, a paper by Pete Worden about NASA's bureaucracy.[a][2] James A. Vedda described it as "Why do humans go into space? So we can go farther into space!"[3]

I don't mean it in the sense that Lakewood City government has no purpose or that the school system has not purpose. I mean it in the sense that both City Council and the Board of Education operate like self licking ice cream cones. They spend a lot of time telling themselves how wonderful everything is. The school board in particular spends a lot of time telling itself how wonderful things are. Lick, lick lick.

Everyone on Council agrees that Lakewood does not have a crime problem crime problem; every one agrees that moving 1,500 high paying medical jobs to Lorain County is the smart thing to do, everyone agrees that transferring $65 million in City cash to private foundations was a great idea, everyone agrees that selling $12 million in City owned real estate for $1 is the only option and that one more tax increase will solve all of our problems.

The School Board is just hopeless. Their collective theory of education is that if we spend more money doing the same thing then things will get better. Did I mention that bigger raises make better teachers?

Any discussion of the school systems carries with it everyone's prejudices of all kinds. Given the same set of facts people come up with different conclusions. When I read this article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/educatio ... rc404=true

my first response was: OK, the teacher in an advanced placement class sets high standards, demands that students show up, study, turn the cell phone off in class and complete assignments on time. Seems reasonable to me. Of course it's really racist. Students shouldn't have to show up , study, turn the cell phone off in class or complete the assignments on time BUT they should still get an A. Except that they can't get an A because grades are racist too.

Will voting for the school levy really make the schools any better?
Will building a 900 space parking garage on the Hospital site really make the City more prosperous?

Of course it will. I mean, doesn't everyone agree?

[pj bennett]

Lick, lick, lick.
This ice cream doesn't taste very good

[Jim O'Bryan]

Will voting for the school levy really make the schools any better?
Will building a 900 space parking garage on the Hospital site really make the City more prosperous?

Levy yes, garage no.

Bill we have spoken of this for decades, do not like the ways schools spend money, or how they do. Vote the BOE out, get new management. Punish the students? How does that make schools better?

Garage, 900 spot, I'm dying but it underlines what those that helped to liquidate had their eyes on. Not the health of Lakewood but the health of their DowntowN businesses. We can talk all day what council believed or didn't believe, but look at those that powered it from outside as well. ALL had a personal stake in the outcome.

Council biggest problem, they are in way over their heads. It is one thing to govern a working honest government. Money in, decide where it goes, money out. Very straight forward. But as we have found out when the City that has ZERO experience in being a developer plays developer with real developers there are played as bad as we were. At the same time Council doubted their own critical thought, they knew it wouldn't work but "the Mayor assured them..."

So to recap, Levy yes, garage no, BOE think about it and take actions.

.