Reality Check

[Jim O'Bryan]

Let's have a little bit of a reality check this week as Lakewood City Council is willing to open the city even more open than before the lock down, turning Main Street into Party Street.

Why are we opening up?
All data which is very misleading shows COVID-19 still on the rise, and even though Ohio has level off at only 614 new cases a day in Ohio. It is still on the rise.

Which again doesn't matter as most states and the country have slowed down testing again to back up their reasoning for opening up.

The Real Reason?
The Federal Government has stopped backing unemployment and other forms of financing designed to get us through this period. This causes states to dip into rainy day funds and other forms of financing which generally states cannot come up with. This forces the states into bankruptcy, which they cannot file, so they just fail in all ways. Now the Federal government can print money, the states cannot.

This is the only reason people are being forced back to work.

Now we can go into all sorts of hypothetical comments like it is Trump wanting the economy back before the election. It doesn't matter. That DeWine is trying to keep Trump and the Rs south of I-480 happy and retain what little power he has not given them and live for the next round. This is what is being reported, but it does not matter.

What does matter then?
That the decisions we are being forced to live under are not based on facts, science, medical history or even flimsy projections. No, all of them say stay closed. It is based on a complete breakdown in leadership.

How so?
We just went through 3 months of shut downs. Oh wait, no we didn't, we went through 3 months of sitting at home while governments Federal, State and City did nothing. There were no firm orders to stay at home. It was a suggestion. They are not demanding masks, merely suggesting it. We have not closed businesses, we have allowed them to decide if they are essential or not. Every business owner believes their store is essential.

So we killed the economy while seriously some of the most ignorant and selfish members of society kept the virus alive and growing. In other words, the last three months were for nothing. There is not a plan in place to reopen, just simple guidelines. There is no testing, tracing quarantining plan in place, and if there is, it is not in place or funded.

So simply put, America tried, we all got blue ribbons and now...

Now here are a couple facts in a time where facts are few and far between.

The virus takes 1-14 days to show itself in a person. So if everyone stayed home for 3 weeks 21-days, we would have a pretty good idea where it is, and it would start to die off. That would make testing, tracing and all the logistics that follow manageable. The shit show we are about to enter will be harder to manage if government even tries.

It would seem that all of government is more worried about the people who pay for their election flyers than the people who vote for them.

.

[Dan Alaimo]

I'll say it again. I want to see Lakewood City government take the whaever initiativs it can to protect the people it represents. If they want ideas, post here and I'm sure they'll get plenty.

[Jim O'Bryan]

I'll say it again. I want to see Lakewood City government take the whaever initiativs it can to protect the people it represents. If they want ideas, post here and I'm sure they'll get plenty.

Dan

Running the City was always very easy. Even during tough times. Respect Lakewood's #1 businesses families. It has always been Lakewood strongest selling point. To underline that we invested hundreds of millions in schools and libraries. All in an effort to underline our dedication to families. We had great schools, preschools, good senior care, and help with the tens of thousands of people arriving in Lakewood from all over the country and the world.

THEN

City Hall started to pretend they were developers, and with the help of other make believe developers (non-elected groups) they decided that families were not as cool as the entertainment industry. If you go back to 2006-2008 you will see a small but vocal crowd demanding we become a vacation destination. When we should have been helping housing they concentrated on Boutique hotels, Way Finding, and a bar restaurant based economy.

Lakewood needs to discover it roots, and go back to what was successful for hundreds of years.

Make Lakewood a nice place to live, a great place to come home to, and the rest follows.

Pretend you are developer, the nightmare never gets better.

In 2006 we would have had to pay no one $78 million, or $35 million in give aways to come here, move here even build here. Why, because it was a wonderful community of wonderful amenities that made people want to live here.

Lakewood is broke, last administration blew through the rainy day fund, most of the Jacobs money, and committed the city to a broke future with no big assets left.

So here we are, whatever initiatives to protect City... "Right now Police and Fire are going through voluntary day-off without pay. City workers next. So they are taking steps to keep Lakewood safe and protect us. What was Council's answer, we need to turn Madison and Detroit into 2.5 mile beer gardens.

Hmmmmmmmmm, less police and fire, more drunks, basically everywhere. And driving through narrow corridors of open dining rooms.

What could go wrong?

I have seen nothing from City Council over the past ten years that would indicate "Critical Thought" is in play at their meetings. I had hoped the new crew would inject it at some point into their discussions.

For the record, the idea was not tabled, just set back until next meeting.

Everything the City can do to keep residents safe and protect us?

With the exception of the Mayor, I think we are on our own Dan.

At least until the next election.

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[cmager]

Jim,
This is the GOP Koch McConnell dream state. "Force" the states into bankruptcy in return for pensions, healthcare, sanctuary cities, the social safety net, public assets, and all those other liberal things. That's the power play here.

regards, b