New Curfew Law

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

There's a ton of things that go unnoticed that happen on my street (BAXTERLY). Regardless, we wouldn't move from here and I know that the residents with young children aren't moving anywhere either.

these were isolated events. I do have to say that our youth is growing up angry and with a chip on their shoulders, like they're fighting in a life and death situation on the elementary school playgrounds.

It's a case of children being neglected by their parents, who are giving birth at a younger age nowadays and aren't ready to have children. The children go to school, learn, realize that they have some kind of opinion and think they're the almighty diaper wearing gods.

At the end of the day, the individuals who vandalize, steal, sell drugs, etc. only do so because their parents either didn't raise them the best way for the individual child (not saying theyre bad parents, just every kid has different needs, qualities, so on) or something happened at home or in their family which gives them that chip on their shoulder to be more violent, rebelious or lazy.

[Danielle Masters]

I love this city and don't plan on leaving. There are lots of great positive things in this city. We have great energetic citizens, a fabulous Y, a fabulous school system, beautiful library, etc. There are so many positive things, but we need to address the negative things that should change. I CHOSE to call this city home, I have CHOSEN to invest in my community, and it upsets me when people refuse to see we need help. I have five children to worry about and I am worried. I plan on staying and fighting but it's difficult when many refuse to address the problems.

I have repeatedly asked for the parks to be safe and in good repair. I have repeatedly asked for graffiti to be handled. I get nothing from the mayor. He has even refused to address my 10 year olds concerns. We need to wake up and fight for this city. Lets keep the good things going and address where we have problems.

[Stephanie Toole]

Ivor Quote "There's a ton of things that go unnoticed that happen on my street (BAXTERLY). Regardless, we wouldn't move from here and I know that the residents with young children aren't moving anywhere either."

Ivor,
SIX families with a total of 16 children have moved off of Baxterly in the past THREE years. They are not isolated incidents.
My friends on Baxterly are afraid.

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

I hear you Danielle.

We also choose to call this city home, and invest our time and money here. It was either New Jersey, Salt Lake City, Virginia, Sydney Australia or Lakewood when we had to move out of Germany.

Well here we are and we'd make the same move over again. Australia does sound kind of nice though.

I have to admit, the attitude in this city worries me. People want cops, but don't want to raise taxes. We're blessed with great schools but still had people voting against the levy. I want no graffiti to be seen but don't want to pay taxes to give the city funding to do so. So on and so on.....

DL pointed out that citizens sitting on front porches, watching and observing the pulse of the city, will catch criminals in acts before any police officer will. It has to be a two way street, and right now there's construction going on in that street.

I wanted to see something happen, and in one week I made it happen.

I guess people are just too lazy to offer their help in hand, but will gladly list a laundry list of things that need to be changed in order for them to be happy. That worries me more than any thug out there. You can arrest the thug but you can't repair the tear that complaints and negativity do to a city's heartbeat.

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

Mrs.Toole,

There are a few houses that have gone up for sale. One family moved just last week with 7 kids. They moved to california, because the husband got a better job offer. They hated lakewood, cleveland, the weather, and the family they had up here. They weren't scared. Justine Cooper moved too, but still lives in Lakewood. I hope you aren't counting them.

I think this curfew law, if it's enforced, will address some problems in this city. Watching my generation fall apart and having old friends from elementary and middle school take the bad road, my view is that it comes down to better parenting over anything.

Australia sounds really good right about now.

[Mark Crnolatas]

I have to disagree in general with the "feeling safe" issue, relative to being anywhere around the other burbs. If you put things into perspective, talking about a BB gun relative to thugs around W.65th talking about the pros and cons of how to hide a 9mms on yourself in the summer, I pick Lakewood.

I agree it can be frustrating though. People do complain about the crime issue, and the other issues discussed here and I agree the citizenship isn't willing to put up the money for the cost of keeping our city pristine.

What is the answer? Move out? Hell no. If there are only 10 people out of the thousands that live here that are willing to say, "I'm willing to help", thats 10 more than 0.

The LO is a great success story as far as what it is, but how about measuring us as a population. We have this excellent sounding board, but how many of the posters here are willing to devote some time and MINIMAL effort to help out? '

If we can accomplish that, by starting a ''concerned citizen's group", at least we have made a positive tangible move.

There are dozens of citizen watch groups in Cleveland that have watchers driving around in cars equipped nearly as well as police cars, reporting things that might be suspicious, yet we in Lakewood seem unable to get a few people together just to wander our city and keep one eye open for whatever, with a cell phone and a note pad sticking in a pocket.

I'll tell you when it'll happen. When it's far too late to have any sweeping or strong effect. Compared to many countries around the world, we have too much of a "don't close the door 'till after the horse runs away" mentality.

If we can break that naive concept and get into a preventative mode
then we can say we the citizens of the Wood at least care and are doing something tangible about it. If we do not then we will have served ourselves a plate of something we will not care to consume due to our own
lack of "doing".


Mark Allan Crnolatas

[Stephanie Toole]

[quote="Mark Crnolatas"]I have to disagree in general with the "feeling safe" issue, relative to being anywhere around the other burbs. If you put things into perspective, talking about a BB gun relative to thugs around W.65th talking about the pros and cons of how to hide a 9mms on yourself in the summer, I pick Lakewood.

In regards to the 'BB' gun, until Monday night, when Chief Malley told us at the City Council Meeting that the weapon used was "just a BB gun" in the jumping of the young boy for his bike incident, people were originally told it was a gun. We were not told what type of gun. IT could have been a 9mm for all we knew.

My point is that those in attendance found out it was "just a BB gun". Until told otherwise, those not there just know 'gun'. That IS scaring a lot of people.

[Bryan Schwegler]

I have to admit, the attitude in this city worries me. People want cops, but don't want to raise taxes. We're blessed with great schools but still had people voting against the levy. I want no graffiti to be seen but don't want to pay taxes to give the city funding to do so. So on and so on.....

Ivor,
That's hardly just Lakewood...that's generally way Americans think.

[Grace O'Malley]

Danielle

I can acknowledge that you feel unsafe in your own city, for whatever reason.

But if you think for one second that the new curfew law will help you in any way, or reduce crime, its just not gonna happen.

So don't be deluded into thinking Demro made any inroads on the crime problem in Lakewood with that curfew law.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Danielle

I can acknowledge that you feel unsafe in your own city, for whatever reason.

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Danielle

There is no reason to feel unsafe in Lakewood, none. To be honest I have to think anyone could walk across the county without fear. Cuyahoga county, much to its credit is very non-violent area.

Lakewood even more so.

The past two nights, the streets have been beautiful to walk down. Families out on the streets walking kids, and enjoying the walkable community.

While Ken has the tone of a victim, the truth is not that bad.

This is one reason we have suggested the police levy. Not because crime is out of control in Lakewood. Far from it, it is down, and I am willing to bet police response time is down as well.

It is to send a statement to thugs. We take our peace of mind very seriously. DO NOT come here with your mischief, you will be arrested.

Back to the curfew. I am always cautious when an older generation tells a younger generation. "It was OK for us, but we have to take that away from you." I am even more skeptical during political season, and become almost outraged when it becomes part of a politician's portfolio of successes right out of the box.

When citizens talk about it is is good. When it becomes a scare tactic to get elected, it borders on evil.

FWIW



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[Gary Rice]

OK...OK...Just STOP IT! Good GRIEF!

Now let's just STOP all this worrying for a minute.

Lakewood IS the same place it was, when I moved here in 1958!!!!!!!

We had "thugs" back then too, only they went by other nic-names.

Sorry Jim, it's true that we might once in awhile, be unsafe in Lakewood...but on the whole, you are right. It's a great place to live.

The truth is, that we all live in a densely packed urban environment that behaves itself surprisingly well, and is surprisingly safe, all things considered.

I've been all over this town, night and day, for the past 48 or so years. I was giving a free music lesson to a friend smack-dab in the middle of downtown Lakewood just the other night. Sure the young people in the area looked, well, original, but so did we oldsters so many years ago.

All went very well, as I knew it would.

I'm a musician. I used to be out at night quite a bit. Lakewood nights continue to be among the best-behaved evenings around.

Yes, it's theoretically possible to run into a problem anywhere. Generally though, if you stay aware, you can avoid many of those potential troubles.

I really wonder how much of this scare stuff is coming up just because it's a political year?

Remember Chicken Little and that stuff about the sky falling? Or the story of the boy who cried "Wolf"?

Gimme a break! Lakewood is Lakewood.

I've spoken off the record with several police officers, and those with whom I've spoken, agree; by no means is there a reason for unreasonable fear around here.

Oh yes...Mark, I know you've written about a citizens' committee and all, but consider this...Persons participating with that type of thing might be called as witnesses, have their names, addresses etc..appear in public court documents, have to testify in trials, or even perhaps, be sued for all kinds of things, ranging from invasion of privacy to defamation of character?

I would certainly get a legal opinion before starting up that kind of thing.

Everyone- please don't make bigger problems than there needs to be.

[Grace O'Malley]

Does anyone else think its a bit odd that both candidates for mayor claim crime is UP while the Chief of Police claims the contrary?

I will ask Councilman Demro (for about the 20th time) and councilman Fitzgerald the same question:

Can you support your claim that crime has increased with FACTS and STATISTICS?

If not, then I must agree with JOB that you are merely using scare tactics as a political tool and THAT is CRIMINAL!

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

My mom locks our doors and car doors at 11am on a sunny sunday afternoon. It makes me chuckle.

Theres also parents of my friends that won't let their 18 year old sons go as a group to indians games. Cleveland is soooooooo bad. haha.

The faces and things I've seen when working downtown remind me of just how great Lakewood is.

I agree Grace, there's really nothing to be afraid about. Lakewood is the same it was before, with a few more houses up for sale. I talked to my neighbor who's a realtor and sold us our house. I asked him how the market is and why are there so many houses up for sale and no one is buying. He explained that it was like this 8 years ago when european immigrants first moved here by the hundreds. everyone was scared and turned off by the idea, but things became normal after 2 years.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Jim-

You're misquoting me. I said that difficult decisions don't tend to get done in election years, but we owe it to residents to try and find solutions. The first step is admitting there's a real problem. I also didn't hear the mayor say that he's going to be leading a discussion; his consistent position has been that crime is down, as was re-iterated last night.

Crime is not down. It's up over the last few years, significantly in some categories. The statistics show it and the residents know it. We'll be having some committee hearings where all of the data we have will again be made public.

Ed

I am sorry about the misquote.

I was agreeing with you. No candidate wants to go into an election talking about higher taxes. I believe that was the point you were trying to make, and I applaud you for taking the 800lb Gorilla out of the corner.

Was it not chief Malley that also noted crime was down in the first quarter of this year over last?

I applaud every member of the city and council for talking about this and other tough issues in an election year.


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[Jim O'Bryan]

Jim-

You're misquoting me. I said that difficult decisions don't tend to get done in election years, but we owe it to residents to try and find solutions. The first step is admitting there's a real problem. I also didn't hear the mayor say that he's going to be leading a discussion; his consistent position has been that crime is down, as was re-iterated last night.

Crime is not down. It's up over the last few years, significantly in some categories. The statistics show it and the residents know it. We'll be having some committee hearings where all of the data we have will again be made public.

Ed

I am sorry about the misquote.

I was agreeing with you. No candidate wants to go into an election talking about higher taxes. I believe that was the point you were trying to make, and I applaud you for taking the 800lb Gorilla out of the corner.

Was it not chief Malley that also noted crime was down in the first quarter of this year over last?

I applaud every member of the city and council for talking about this and other tough issues in an election year.


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