New Curfew Law

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

I think that every campaign should get scrutiny. you get a feel for if that person was elected mayor, the city was going through a tough transition period, how well they would handle change, scrutiny and making tough decisions.

Not everyone's going to like what you do, say or think.

I wasn't asked any questions. Mr.Demro and I agreed on the curfew and he informed me he passed the new curfew. We then shared a few laughs and I told him it was nice to see him campaigning and not hiding in his office.

And I didn't think "I better grab my mace I'm heading to my car in front of my house to go somewhere", I thought. "haha, my former substitute teacher just rung my doorbell and woke me up at 3pm on a saturday."

[Suzanne Metelko]

I think that every campaign should get scrutiny. you get a feel for if that person was elected mayor, the city was going through a tough transition period, how well they would handle change, scrutiny and making tough decisions.

Not everyone's going to like what you do, say or think.

I wasn't asked any questions. Mr.Demro and I agreed on the curfew and he informed me he passed the new curfew. We then shared a few laughs and I told him it was nice to see him campaigning and not hiding in his office.

And I didn't think "I better grab my mace I'm heading to my car in front of my house to go somewhere", I thought. "haha, my former substitute teacher just rung my doorbell and woke me up at 3pm on a saturday."

Ivor, you have an unvarnished, fresh perspective. And thanks for pointing out that Ryan isn't going door to door asking people how they feel about a crime wave. The campaign is very careful to gather the comments of residents not provoke them.

Thanks for making me smile.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Suzanne

It is more the noticed by me and you the missing names on this discussion.

You and I have hammered out some of the big ones, and while we have fun and draw blood occasionally. you always make it enjoyable.

This FEAR you are talking of is manufactured or misspent.

I know three people on Baxterly nothing as described by Ryan. I will look for those terrorized on other Lakewood streets. But you accuse me of scare tactics, then come back with this and Citistats, and go look at the website! My courageous conversation it to get Lakewood to pull together for the best of all of us. Your single message is, wait, elect Ryan and he might have a plan, for what he is unaware of right now.

It is the inability by you and Ryan to make comments without political attacks that make me wonder if you are aware of the problem, or making hay while the sun shines on crime for the sake of yet another election played to the tune of, "If we do not do this now, Lakewood will end." that has marked many election and bond levies in the recent twenty years.

My problem is many of those telling me to watch out are the same people that have sat on committee after committee and have helped to lead Lakewood to where it is right now. On the edge, with no plan. Not merely City Hall but another 30 groups that have claimed to be plotting Lakewood's future.

We need something and it is not regionalism, which we are tasting in this thread. It is some fresh out of the box thinking that is going on in every corner of Lakewood. the problem is many of these "committees" tell them no not that way the way we have deemed for 40 years or more.

Another item that bother me personally is that I have voted and supported every school levy since I graduated from high school. Now me an adult with no kids turn to the parents of kids that have benefited from my support turn to me and say. "Oh you want protection from our children, well sorry, we do not have the money for that. Deal with it."

FWIW


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[Ivor Karabatkovic]

Gotta give him credit, he's the only one on the streets, talkin the talk and walkin the walk. The only way to get elected is to win over the hearts and votes of voters. And there's no better way than to talk to neighbors and residents and making the effort to win a election.

[Kenneth Warren]

Suzanne:

In governance one must activate both gut (Intuition) and mind (Thinking.) One must respect the rapid cognition the gut delivers. I trust the thinking I discern from conversations with professional officers with whom I speak. I trust my sense of the action, too. You don’t. That's O.K.

You trust the implementation of Citi-Stat, a slow cognition process, a blame game election, a change in management that may eventually deliver decision-making tools that will solve the safety problem. I don’t.
That's O.K., too.

In governance I would subject the glamorization of data and planning conceits to steady alertness concerning actual conditions, always subjecting both actions and results to rapid cognitive pressure often characterized as gut.

Bottom line: There is rapid cognition occurring concerning a threat to safety in Lakewood shared by many citizens across the city, a rapid cognition easily qualified by the thinking of professional police officers.

That’s evidence enough for me.

Kenneth Warren

[stephen davis]

Gotta give him credit, he's the only one on the streets, talkin the talk and walkin the walk.

Ivor,

You're talking about Ken Warren, of course. Right?

Steve

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

Haha, maybe I am.

I'm sensing that there's too much complaining going on from Lakewood Citizens. Everyone has a reason to be frustrated and you can feel that in posts here and in conversations I've had with residents of the city.

Not all candidates are stepping up and I think that someone will have to do something big within the next month and a half to be considered a front runner in this race. It seems like citizens have candidates that have positives and negatives and no one really stands out.

Personally speaking, the only person that I would like to see as mayor this fall isn't even running for mayor. Mayor George has a few positives, and Mr.Demro has a few positives to his campaign agenda as well. It's a toss up and I don't see anyone as the front runner.

I really hope this race heats up and candidates take advantage of the summer to campaign and impress residents. The city needs hope, and there's nothing that would boost the morale of residents than to see a bright leader that will lead Lakewood to a positive future.

[stephen davis]

Ivor,

You expect too much.

Steve

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

Is it too much to expect results in the city of Lakewood?

This is exactly what I'm talking about. There's no trust in our politicians and representatives because they, for the most part, have failed to earn it from residents.

We're the ones that put them in office after all.

This is why someone has to do something to win over the voters this summer. If candidates wait until September it'll be too little too late.

[stephen davis]

This is why someone has to do something to win over the voters this summer. If candidates wait until September it'll be too little too late.

Ivor,

Regardless, one of these guys is going to win in November.

Steve

[Suzanne Metelko]

Suzanne:

In governance one must activate both gut (Intuition) and mind (Thinking.) One must respect the rapid cognition the gut delivers. I trust the thinking I discern from conversations with professional officers with whom I speak. I trust my sense of the action, too. You don’t. That's O.K.

You trust the implementation of Citi-Stat, a slow cognition process, a blame game election, a change in management that may eventually deliver decision-making tools that will solve the safety problem. I don’t.
That's O.K., too.

In governance I would subject the glamorization of data and planning conceits to steady alertness concerning actual conditions, always subjecting both actions and results to rapid cognitive pressure often characterized as gut.

Bottom line: There is rapid cognition occurring concerning a threat to safety in Lakewood shared by many citizens across the city, a rapid cognition easily qualified by the thinking of professional police officers.

That’s evidence enough for me.

Kenneth Warren

Ken, believe it or not we agree. I absolutely see what you see. I feel what you feel and my gut tells me we have to move quickly. I also know from having knocked on doors all over Lakewood. Unfortunately your gut and my gut aren't running Lakewood. Citistat isn't the answer, it is just a means to an end and we don't have to wait until November. We could be doing this right now. We didn't have to wait this long for information to justify what our guts are telling us. And frankly, unless you're gathering signatures for a police levy, I don't think you're going to see any real movement prior to November.

Councilman Demro is doing his best to react to the emerging threats to Lakewood's quality of life. When Ryan and other council members work together to craft tools to help the police to do their jobs, they don't do it in a vacuum. This piece of legislation was designed to work in tandem with the Chronic Nuisance law to provide some basic expectations of order. However, implementation will be the key.

I appreciate his committment to this community. I also appreciate his door to door approach to information gathering. It is an arduous task but it has yielded excellent results.

[Suzanne Metelko]

Suzanne

It is more the noticed by me and you the missing names on this discussion.

You and I have hammered out some of the big ones, and while we have fun and draw blood occasionally. you always make it enjoyable.

This FEAR you are talking of is manufactured or misspent. .

There are people all over Lakewood who disagree. That's not what I'm hearing at doors around town.

It is some fresh out of the box thinking that is going on in every corner of Lakewood. the problem is many of these "committees" tell them no not that way the way we have deemed for 40 years or more.

Another item that bother me personally is that I have voted and supported every school levy since I graduated from high school. Now me an adult with no kids turn to the parents of kids that have benefited from my support turn to me and say. "Oh you want protection from our children, well sorry, we do not have the money for that. Deal with it."

FWIW


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People who have taken the time to serve on those "committees" are just as frustrated as you are. Planning doesn't have to fail. Poor implementation is at the root of it. It is a travesty to squander the time of people who are so busy and who graciously provided input to those committees.

Your last line has me confused. If we don't have any problems; if our fear is imagined, then why do you want money to fix it?

As for being political - not one individual on this site is a-political. If you have a position and you advocate on behalf of it - you're being political. As for blame - examining root causes in an effort to provide better outcomes is an important element in developing solutions to problems.

As I've said to you and to others - Lakewood owes you a debt of gratitude for implementing a dream. However, this is your paper, and your forum. I know that and I accept that. Thanks for allowing me to participate.

Suzanne

[Jim O'Bryan]

Suzanne:


Do we really have to wait for a new Mayor to get the data needed to act on the safety front?

Sure, it would be great to have it, to have meaningful measures. Can we really afford to wait?

Does the city wait to see how data will be spun by whomever is elected while the guts of so many citizens are telling us we need to do something bold?

Kenneth Warren

Ken, Are you really advocating governance by gut? If the Mayor were to just gut it out and throw a large amount of money at the police without knowing if that's the answer - what kind of managment is that?

Am I reading this right? We are in a badly managed war with criminals and you're advocating a surge?

Suzanne

Suzanne

If you only know how to use a hammer, a screw will always look like a nail.

You and Ryan are the only ones blaming any new influx in crime on bad management, and as of yet have not proven one shred of evidence that it has anything to do with management. Of course you and Ryan are trying desperately to change that management you question.

Crime, or more to the point preparation for new crime is not a political discussion. That is unless you want to talk about the complete failure of the Republican Administration in charge of the country. That has gutted local control of the police, schools, jobs, employment, etc.

The facts for all to see without any help from CitiStat. The region is losing jobs (as are most regions in the US), Cleveland (the poorest city in the country) is going through strategic planning to force some of their residents from the city in the the suburbs. Many of these people are criminals. Not quite as bad as the Mariel Boat lift from Cuba, but you get the picture.

Lakewood has got to redevelop the attitude and mind set it had in the days of Bob Lawther and Tony Sinagra. A very nice, very clean, very safe city. Come to Lakewood to live, work, play and you will have a nice experience, come for mischief and crime and you will go to jail.

I also take real exception over going door to door to scare people. While this has worked for many levies other have worked on nothing could be farther from the truth. When the "Observers are on the street we engage in lively conversation about what is right in Lakewood and how they feel. This is not some "push poll" designed by any one group with one idea they are wishing to promote. No one runs up the porch and asks "How do you feel about the bad crime?" I cannot speak for Tom Powell Bullock as I have not gone door to door with him.

This is one of the pleasures of being part of the Lakewood Observer, people love to talk about their city. It is a variety of topics that are covered nothing is single out as "the problem." Reassurance is always given because unlike some I see a bright future for Lakewood if we can keep the momentum up that has been started with groups like: LEAF Community, Bike Lakewood, Lakewood Is Art, Caring 4 Kids Cove, MAMA, and others. These are people that get Lakewood. It the people that can make the biggest difference.

Two years ago we asked if Lakewoodites would be ready to walk the streets for fun, and more eyes on the street. The idea fell flat. Recently we are talking with people that have successfully started block watches with the help of the police. A good step. We are both smart enough to realize that city block watches have many more positive effects than simply deterring crime. It develops a larger sense of community and ownership.

The number of 29 police, is not meant to stop a leak and fix a small problem. It is a number meant to send a warning through the criminal underworld. Come to Lakewood and you will be caught. Come to Lakewood and the residents and police will stop you cold. Citistats cannot deliver that message. "We have studied the crime in Lakewood for the last five years and have found out we need 1.5 police between the hours of 5:30 and 9:15, and 2.1 police during bar closing. We have gone the extra step of hiring 3." Just doesn't strike fear in the hearts of criminals.

But again I am not for managing decline, I am about bold new steps out of the box thinking that gives Lakewood the competitive edge we need in the coming twenty years. I do not need last years number to distribute police around a city of 5.5 square miles. As I mentioned, a couple nights ago While chasing punks in Birdtown, you know Lakewood's Historic and Art's District, we heard calls go out to Morrison and Athens, Lake Road, Hird, Robinwood, Lake(east) and Clifton Park. All but two calls were nuisance and domestic, but they all cut into the police time bank.

If we spend million on libraries and schools, why would we not want to protect them and all who go? As we look realistically at the future of the region and the country, tough times ahead. I do not see three steel mills opening, four car plants opening, etc. I see the opposite. Throw in cost of living, drug and alcohol dependency, and the current trend of many parents to raise feral children that cannot make change. I see tough days ahead for every city. Why not get ahead of the only stat that really matters.

You have some very good police, now working 12 hour shifts, and made to answer many calls that should not even be involving police. Has there been any studies of the nuisance law creating more police calls, as residents hide behind police instead of talking to neighbors over the fence? DL once proposed a mediation service for neighbors would this have been a better way then throwing more work on our security forces?

A simple question I asked Mr. Demro yesterday when I had a chance to speak with Ryan. "Where do you want to live? In a city with no enough police, just enough, or more than enough?" As he is running for office, I will not get his answer, let me just say his answer was the same as everyone else.

To me the simple lesson is, get ahead, or we all end up talking like Ken Warren whose life and business was just involved in a complete act of random violence by thugs coming in from outside of Lakewood's borders to create mischief and terror.

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[Jim O'Bryan]

Suzanne

A PS to my last message after reading yours.

Wrong, mispent and why.

This city is not so bad as we are losing it to crime. The library incident is no different than Denison coming down to beat up the Webb Gang of the 60s. No different at all, I really believe that was started because of one of them acting like an idiot at a perty on Denison as well.

However, there is crime building and happening all around us. This is one thing it pays to be ahead of the curve on. If the streets are not safe, then no one gets a chance to enjoy the icing on the cake like flower baskets, parties in the park, and walking in the walkable city.

The citizens are wrong because they are not fed the truth and are sometimes asked leading questions like that push poll. Knock on a door and have a stranger ask, "Do you feel safe?" I have to think in the era of ramped up faux terror the answer is no. Ask what they like about the city and what they do not like the answers become very different.

I also take exception to the comment that the Lakewood Observer is mine. Nothing is farther from the truth. This is a positive effort by the residents of Lakewood to work together. That an open honest discussion with people that not opnly care but are willing to take ownership of their ideas can move a city forward as a city.

As far as who is voting for who, and those with minds made up, please tell me who I am pulling the handle for? I have been to every Demro event except the young mixer, I have been to every Mayor Tom George event. I did not see you at any MTG event. I did see other Observers at both. I believe Ryan Demro has as much front page coverage as the mayor since the start of the paper. Of course the mayor and Ryan have been huge supporters of this project since its start. RPD was left on the front page of the website for an extra week as we upgraded the system. For you, working for Demro, to complain of bias from the Board or myself is crazy.


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[Mark Crnolatas]

Just putting my two cents worth into the thread addressing this to no one person, but to the general readers of the Deck.

I hate to be the one to say I told you so, but I've been posting that we get the police what they need, and become community active on the crime issue since the early days of me posting on the Buzz, and the whole time on the Deck.

JimOB and I used to talk about this when we first "met" on the Buzz, and again in person and again on the Deck. No use in doing a history talk here at this point but I stated over and over that this time would come. Here it is.

Playing politics with the safety in our city is just not right. The simple answer is "we need our city to be safe, period".
The longer we wait to become aware and do something, the more impossible it becomes to really have an effect. This is just a fact of life. Ask any Cleveland police officer thats been around awhile.

It won't be done by people who are not willing to actually DO something, even if all it means is take or make a phone call or write something down.

Together we can make a difference.
The time for talk only is long past due. Cleveland's problems become our problems, since again as I've stated, there is no wall with barb wire and checkpoints surrounding our city's borders. To the west, their problems become our problems too.

We need to support our police, and we need to act in any capacity we can. The more the merrier and it can be fun too.

Mark Allan Crnolatas