I Will Not Seek Poilitcal Office in 2011 -

[Jim O'Bryan]

Me telling Mike Summers I was not running, Sunday night at Chatauqua.

As I am late for a meeting on the east side, I will make this brief and put something more
on later and in this coming Observer.

Those that know me, know just how serious I was about running and the ideas I have had
for both the city and the campaign. Mayor Summers and I had spoken many times about opening up the discussion, and letting it be a grand summer for discussing Lakewood.

However, at this time, and it kills me to say this. business, lifestyle, friendship and family
will not let it happen.

I would like to thank many people from both the right and the left who gave me support,
help, and a deep great conversation about what is right for Lakewood, and what is right
for the O'Bryans. I would like to thank my wife, for putting up with the additional stress
of seeing me walk away from the many businesses we own together.

Over the past 4 months I have spoken with many, many, many people about running for
mayor. I have made many friends during this period of time. I have learned and grown
from this experience, and our new found friendships. What I have found out is that no
one is really dissatisfied with Mike Summers as mayor. While there are minor complaints
here and there, as to be expected. The city seems at peace right now. This is a good thing.
I have had the pleasure of knowing Mike Summers since 2nd Grade. I know he loves and
appreciates the city of Lakewood as much as I do. While we do have different visions on
many, many topics, in the end, it will be his love for Lakewood, and the respect of its
citizens that will allow this city and community to move forward over the next four years.

I do want to thank both Congressman Dennis Kucinch and Kenneth Warren who echoed
nearly the same thought, "Sure I'll back you, but you are nuts for wanting it. It seems
you have a pretty sweet gig now." And in fact, I really, really do.

I will send out something more formal, this week.

Thank you everyone, supporters and non-supporters.

If you are in Lakewood, I love you!

peace

[Corey Rossen]

Does this mean that Lakewood, now, will not have a bill passed for mandated Taco Tuesday citywide?

Corey

[Jim O'Bryan]

Does this mean that Lakewood, now, will not have a bill passed for mandated Taco Tuesday citywide?

Corey

Corey

I do not ever remember even going to a Taco Tuesday, anywhere.

peace

[Betsy Voinovich]

Well the Fourth of July is over and we’re back to our lives, and now that the smoke from that gorgeous fireworks finale has cleared, I have to say, Jim’s announcement that he's not going to run for mayor is upsetting.

I was looking forward to having two different points of view expressed by two very different candidates who have both proven that they care very much about Lakewood. Now Mike Summers is running unopposed.

Without two candidates, we don’t have dialogue, we don’t have debates. Do we have issues? Do we have a platform? How will opposing and valid viewpoints be expressed and brought to the attention of the people in power?

Three candidates would have been great:

Ed Favre, who knows Lakewood’s families, children and neighborhoods from the inside out, who has spent his life serving them, both as a police officer and a school board member.

Jim O’Bryan, an advocate for Lakewood, seemingly since birth, who knows how to put his idealism into action and has given Lakewoodites such access to each other, and communicating their hopes, dreams, issues, events through the Observer project, that many of us take it for granted, a fact I’m constantly reminded of when working on new Observer start-ups and people say over and over, “I write it? MY suggestions? MY ideas? And you’re just going to put it in the paper?” Then I tell them about how many “regular people’s” ideas have become reality in Lakewood via the newspaper and they can’t wait to get started. Most people have no access to communication except for Facebook, or random anonymous commentary, which while it has great potential for spreading all kinds of things—can’t function as a way to “talk to each other about what we care about in a city, all at one time,” as (another of Lakewood's strongest and most tireless advocates-- School Board President, Matt Markling's ) young son put it in a story about community journalism he wrote as part of earning his communication badge for scouting.

And Mike Summers, who I’ve been told has been running for, and holding offices in Lakewood since the third grade, and who seems to be making attempts to figure out what being a good mayor is all about—and is trying to be that guy. He is everywhere, getting to know the different sides of Lakewood.

What a great debate it would have been. Three different, committed, experienced people, with different and good ideas.

And a guarantee that this whole process isn’t a rubber stamp. Because as you know, and I’m sure I mentioned it at that time, when Mayor Summers was appointed I was concerned because the process seemed so cut and dried. Interested citizens followed the stated process, submitting applications for the vacant mayor’s seat, but it was so clear that Councilman Summers was going to be leaving his seat that Sean Juris (who is now an appointed councilman who is running unopposed in the Fall) had already put his name in for Mike’s seat before Councilman Summers had even put in his own application for mayor.

This was another process that supposedly involved the community, inviting people to submit applications, etc, when the whole thing was already a done deal—a fact that County Executive Ed Fitzgerald made abundantly clear when Mike Summers announced his candidacy and Ed Fitzgerald declared that he had “handpicked” Mike for mayor. As if the citizens of Lakewood aren’t capable of making their own choice. And as if Mike Summers isn’t capable of inspiring the voters of Lakewood on his own with his own actions and ideas as mayor.

So now here we are. Ed had good ideas about snow removal, and practical and do-able ideas about youth and safety in Lakewood. Jim has innovative ideas about raising much needed capital for the city, and ideas about how to hook businesses and community/housing together painlessly to build both-- he might be the only one who really gets that Lakewood’s future is tied to its housing; to being a place to live. Mike has been doing serious work on shoring up City Hall and has been making it clear that he knows the city really does need vision in terms of development. He knows that it isn’t figured out and seems open to what the best ideas would be.

What a disappointment that he continues as a “handpicked, appointed” mayor, when he’s worked so hard to earn people’s respect and support, and could have been elected by the citizens of Lakewood based on his performance, to not get a chance to prove himself by winning their votes.

How great would it have been to see these guys trade ideas, and to get a chance to work on implementing the best of them.

Jim, I understand your reasons for getting out of the race, having spent my childhood with a parent in politics. You don’t get to leave it at the office. My dad solved that by bringing us to the office, and out on the campaign trail, always saying, “if I was a farmer, you’d be out in the fields. These are the fields.” We were with him every step of the way, whether we liked it or not. (I don’t know if I always liked it, but my kids are everywhere with me now too.)

You don’t have kids but you do have these baby newspapers, (the Lakewood Observer being the big brother—or maybe I should say “older sibling” since the Lakewood Observer project is a sanctuary from the whole Big Brother idea) you are already out in the fields, and someday, these young papers won’t need literally your hands on the trowel that breaks the soil, and your fingers dropping the seeds into the dirt, but right now they do. So I think you made the right choice. I just feel bad for the city.

Having a choice would have been good for all of us. It would have given us a chance to think and compare, challenge our candidates and talk to each other about it, and that would have made our city better.

Betsy Voinovich

JimEdMikeInterestingphoto.jpg (592.1 KiB) Viewed 4889 times

Ed, Mike and Jim. What a great debate it would have been.
(I got this photo from the "Interesting Photo" thread.)

[Mike Zannoni]

Well, I have to say, that the public beach idea is the best "development" idea I've heard for Lakewood, and I for one hope that with or without Jim as a candidate for Mayor, that this notion is kept alive, along with the eminently sensible perspective that Lakewood is above all things a "bedroom community", whose major strengths lie in just that.

I echo Betsy, that it's unfortunate that Mr. Summers now runs unopposed, without a new Mayor having the benefit of knowing, just from the competition, what different constituencies out here want, need, think, love, hate, etc. And the taco thing.

Any chance, Jim, in another 4 years?

(Corey: I think the taco thing was Ed Favre's project.)

[Jim O'Bryan]

Any chance, Jim, in another 4 years?

Mike

I hate to say never, but no. I had a massive amount of good advice about this, and all of it came down to me
being nuts to even think of it. While I had great reasons, and some good ideas. Every politician I spoke with,
every family member of politician I spoke with. Every community organizer I spoke with made it clear, I should
continue what I do, and not tie my hands with the ropes of politics.


Betsy

Where to start on this message?

First, I had the pleasure of speaking with Mike many times since his appointment. I had the pleasure of working
with Ed on his campaign, and yes, everyone knew I was running as well. So I would like to believe I have a little
inside knowledge on this. All three of us were very close in 50% of what needed to be done. Mike believes much
more strongly than Ed and I that Economic Development and change is needed. Probably seeing the glass half
filled. Ed thought the same, but realized our housing had been let go severely by the last administration, and
when you let housing, that is 100 year-old wood housing go, you end up with a lot of crappy houses. Ed saw
safety and some of the upcoming land swaps with the schools as keys to Lakewood future. ME, being a member
of the Visionary Alignment for Lakewood, the group that came up with "Clean, Safe, Fun" motto that was
hijacked and misused by Bullock, FitzGerald and others for their election bid, but how often do pure political
animals get anything right that can not get them to the next level of political play. The very simple thought is
if the city is clean and safe, and you EMPOWER all to create fun, who on earth would not want to LIVE there. So
I push heavily on new funding streams for city services and housing, a way to put more
police on the street, and in the creation of a fun place to live for all.

The three of us would have made very few changes at City Hall. Dare I say all three of us would have followed
Mike's recent move to dismiss the head of the Building Department. But where Mike and City Hall now have a
real tear down and landbank distressed property, I would have leaned into a couple plans from the VAL to help
teachers, police, fire, civic volunteers and college students get into these homes with assistance from the many
programs that exist now and a couple more that could be created. With over 80% of our teachers, police and
fire living out of Lakewood, it has hurt us in so many ways it needs a separate thread, and infact there are many
on the Deck about this. Ed Favre was also a huge fan of incentives to government workers to live here.

Cuts and Revenue, To my knowledge I was the only candidate with a way for the city to raise over $5,000,000
in the first year over the budget, and put in place so ways to turn water, housing, courts, and even police into
departments that made money not lost money. While Mike and Ed spoke of cuts, it is my belief that a city's
number one commodity is services to residents and businesses. Restaurants do not survive when they cut
service, quality, and even quantity, a city is no difference. A classic example is the trash collection. Something
we were told will save this city. Last time I checked it will be 8 years before any of that is realized, and that
has nothing to do with collection but lay-offs in the department. Actually it would appear curbside trash
collection was nothing more than a bullet point in a County Executive's brochure. I think if the city had been
asked backyard pick-up with breaking even in 8 years or $100 more a year. The city would have said yes to
the $100. Of course, it will also pave the way to privatization of collection which would leave the city with some
tax money to play with. A way to raise taxes without a vote. Just wrong.

Management style, or lack of. I think this is where the biggest surprise would have been. Ed and Mike both
seem to have a desperate need to convince "the residents" they came to consensus over thins they had
decided months if not years earlier. My style would be closer to Ed FitzGerlad's as it was one of the things I
admire about Ed. Listen first, talk with experts, look at trends and directions and make the decision. Then share
that with the community and why. At that point the political system takes over and you re-elect or not. I am
not looking for friends at City Hall, I am looking for leadership. I am looking for the buck stops here, not the
passing starts here. Design by committee almost never works. Empowerment, reason, transparency, and
accountability always works in the long run.

I will be laying out some of the ideas I have to Mike, and infact many have made it to Mike through Lakewood
Dems who I shared a great lunch with, when they looked into my eyes to see if I was serious. While I am not
a big fan of turning Lakewood Park over to the state, as it has failed in Collinwood, and starting to fail at
Edgewater but I suppose Mike is desperate to keep money, so giving up our crown jewels to 3-Ball Johnny
might make sense, but to me it it reminds me of a story about Miles Davis' favorite horn, he pawned, and
always wanted back, and always meant to get back, but could never get sober enough long enough to get
back. It haunted him his entire life.How the city can speak of $250,000 water slides, cuts and giving the Park
to the state all at the same time boggles the mind.

Regionalization, Mike is pro. No matter what he might say, it did appear in the middle of a chart he constructed
his first couple weeks in office as the "master plan." ME, I have to state the obvious. It makes zero sense for us
to get into the dance now. We are the cute girl at the dance we can afford to be careful see how it unfolds and
see if and when we get in. After all, like RITA we could join again anytime, but not being in it is working for
Lakewood right now, so why do it. IF the region gets better, a bigger IF with current troubles at the Clinic. Then
we still benefit with people living here, and more money in the region. If it does not, we have worked to keep
our house in order and afloat. Neither are bad things. Besides only a fool would look down that alley when their
are so many ways to raise funds, and output inhouse.

You see I see Lakewood as a near perfect machine, even with mediocre management, it survives. Because
people always need a Safe place to sleep that is affordable. We are positioned perfectly for the next 25 years
and very few communities can say that. Where some feel the desperate need to change Lakewood into the
city they always dreamed of moving to. I would prefer to clean, and polish and retool the city to be everything
they saw when they moved here. That even in a region with failing population, failing businesses and failing
leadership (not talking about Ed) the simple fact is get our house in order, and we will continue to rise as the
others fall, and if they don't we still rise. A bet anyone should be willing to make.

CDCs, the city has relaxed and put all of their eggs in one basket with LakewoodAlive, and even though their
new director Ian Andrews seems like the real deal, we need to cast a much wider net. We should have a couple
real CDCs not an EDC that masquerades as many things looking for funding and ways to keep neighborhoods
whole and vibrant. We need many SIDs to help business districts shore up what they have and make it better,
and all of these must, I repeat must be free of ties, and conflicts of interest so they can do what they do best.
This city is so inbred on this it is crazy.

Beaches, this city needs at least two public beaches. I will now put a name to one of my favorite quotes. Paula
Reed turned to me while looking at the Savannah's Peninsula and said, "Lakefront access would add value to
everyone's home in Lakewood." To me that makes it a no brainer. We are all looking to ADD VALUE to Lakewood.
This should be a priority. It would have been with me, and it should be with the current administration, to not
even look at that idea, or reexamine the Peninsula idea even now borders on neglect. It is time Lakewood is
made whole again. I always laugh when I get heat over the William Sonoma Line. Those north of it call it
class warfare, and perhaps it is. But we should also remember it was people north of it, that came up with the
idea when talking of seceding from Lakewood! No one south of the tracks talks of class warfare, we all talk
about Lakewood and the great place it is to live.

For over 8 years I have fought and worked everyday to give everyone in Lakewood a voice. A voice that is
equal, honest and fair. I was hoping to take that same energy to City Hall, because when you trust and
love your neighbors, miracles can happen. Thankfully Lakewood does not need a miracle, just some tweaking.

DAMN I LOVE THIS CITY!
(if this is a bit disjointed I was up til 5:45 with the Observer, and some late breaking news)

peace/love


.

[Betsy Voinovich]

While I am not a big fan of turning Lakewood Park over to the state, as it has failed in Collinwood, and starting to fail at Edgewater but I suppose Mike is desperate to keep money, so giving up our crown jewels to 3-Ball Johnny might make sense, but to me it it reminds me of a story about Miles Davis' favorite horn, he pawned, and always wanted back, and always meant to get back, but could never get sober enough long enough to get back. It haunted him his entire life.How the city can speak of $250,000 water slides, cuts and giving the Park
to the state all at the same time boggles the mind.




.

Jim,

Thanks for the detailed reply-- much to think about here-- but for now-- turning Lakewood Park over to the state of Ohio?

Excuse my language, but WTF is this about?

Betsy Voinovich

[Jim O'Bryan]

Jim,

Thanks for the detailed reply-- much to think about here-- but for now-- turning Lakewood Park over to the state of Ohio?

Betsy Voinovich

Betsy

This is nothing more than a rumor come out of the dark recesses of city hall, as a plan to save some money.
Nothing actually on paper from what I have heard.

This is no different than when your father turned Wildwood over to the state when he was mayor of Cleveland.
Of course he then became governor, and did much for Ohio's parks including Wildwood. Of course as we are
learning through the Collinwood and Cleveland Observer, the state is not doing the job they once did with parks
and many if not all are approaching low funding and maintenance issues. So the last I had heard was that
Cleveland is looking to try to regain some control of Wildwood, Edgewater and other facilities.

It is certainly the mayor's responsibility to look at every and all ways to save or generate income. I just found
this one short sighted as most other communities would rather own their green space, and keep things out of
the hand of the state.

FWIW

[Betsy Voinovich]

Jim,

Thanks for the detailed reply-- much to think about here-- but for now-- turning Lakewood Park over to the state of Ohio?

Betsy Voinovich

Betsy

This is nothing more than a rumor come out of the dark recesses of city hall, as a plan to save some money.
Nothing actually on paper from what I have heard.

This is no different than when your father turned Wildwood over to the state when he was mayor of Cleveland.
Of course he then became governor, and did much for Ohio's parks including Wildwood. Of course as we are
learning through the Collinwood and Cleveland Observer, the state is not doing the job they once did with parks
and many if not all are approaching low funding and maintenance issues. So the last I had heard was that
Cleveland is looking to try to regain some control of Wildwood, Edgewater and other facilities.

It is certainly the mayor's responsibility to look at every and all ways to save or generate income. I just found
this one short sighted as most other communities would rather own their green space, and keep things out of
the hand of the state.

FWIW

Hi Jim,

Thanks. Yeah the state did a wonderful job taking over Wildwood. Those were different times. When my dad was governor he had a dream that Ohio could be like Oregon, with all its beaches open to the public. The state became the owner of Wildwood, Villa Angela and Euclid Beaches. All of them are open to the public now, and all of them are amicably in the process of moving back into the care of the City of Cleveland because the state can't take care of them anymore. I'll find out more about what is involved with that.

I'd sure like to hear more about this Lakewood Park plan if anybody knows about it. We could do amazing things with Lakewood Park--- but not with the state's help, not right now.

Betsy Voinovich

[Bryan Schwegler]

I too am sad that there won't be more choice in some of these elections, not that the incumbants are necessarily doing a poor job, just that I think things are always better when an honest debate can be had.

But honest, what I'm more disappointed in is the fact that none of all those many, many people who applied for mayor and council less than a year ago don't have enough civic hutzpah to actually run for the position if they can't get anointed...I mean appointed...ahead of time.

[Charlie Page]

Part of the process of getting a few good ideas is to have lots of ideas to begin with. I would bet that turning Lakewood Park over to the State was one of those ideas that was tossed about but not too seriously...I hope.

Also, I heard the City is combining the Building and Housing department with Planning and Development. This led to removing the Director of B&H. I don’t agree with this move, not because the former Director is a neighbor and good friend but because it doesn’t make sense. Historically, P&D people have a sales/architecture background with few qualifications in building industry. Ask any construction project manager what they think of architects and you’ll most likely receive an unflattering response along the lines of having no practical building experience. So reading between the lines, either P&D needs something to do to justify their budget or there was excess overhead in B&H.

I agree that the future of Lakewood lies in housing (and Safe, Clean & Fun). A good housing stock attracts buyers which increases housing prices which attracts financially qualified buyers (aka higher earners) who pay more taxes. I think some people in the mid-level tax brackets end up moving to RockyRiver, Westlake or Bay because of less crime, far better streets, better schools and to live around people who maintain their houses. BTW last time I checked, Bay’s net income tax is half of Lakewood’s (if you work outside of your residence city) and their property tax rate is a shade lower than Lakewood. If you’re making 80-100k a year, you have to really unconditionally love Lakewood to stay here. We need to do something to remove the ‘really unconditionally’ part to attract and retain these families in that 80-100k bracket.

Yes, the City is in a pinch for cash. But what to do? Raise taxes, reduce costs, cut services, hope more rich people die, add taxpayers, create new revenue streams? What is the City’s plan?

Someone mentioned that 80% of the school employees live outside of Lakewood and an incentive should be created to lure them to our fine City. They already have an incentive to live here as they pay City of Lakewood income tax and their residence city income tax. If they lived here, they’d have to pay only Lakewood income tax. Why are they not taking the incentive?

Jim - you should have run but I respect your decision not to.

[Justine Cooper]

Betsy,
Great post (initial post) and it was interesting reading about your father. The little I know of him is all positive and he is one of the few politicians I really admire and respect. Without any negative attitude toward current mayor (as I know he is doing a great job here) I think Jim would have made Lakewood's best mayor. The visions coupled with the passion and endless unconditional love for Lakewood and its people cannot be touched. I love non-politicians in politics because their desire is to truly make changes for the good of all the people. In truth Jim has made more changes in Lakewood than most politicians and will continue to do so.

Betsy have you thought about running for council or mayor???????

[Betsy Voinovich]

Betsy,
Great post (initial post) and it was interesting reading about your father. The little I know of him is all positive and he is one of the few politicians I really admire and respect. Without any negative attitude toward current mayor (as I know he is doing a great job here) I think Jim would have made Lakewood's best mayor. The visions coupled with the passion and endless unconditional love for Lakewood and its people cannot be touched. I love non-politicians in politics because their desire is to truly make changes for the good of all the people. In truth Jim has made more changes in Lakewood than most politicians and will continue to do so.

Betsy have you thought about running for council or mayor???????

Hi Justine--

Thanks. I'm feeling better about the situation as I contemplate that fact that because of one of the changes Jim and a couple of other people made in Lakewood about seven years ago, we can use the Observer itself to make sure we are aware of the different platforms our candidates have, whether they are running unopposed or not in the Fall elections. In fact I've heard that Mayor Summers has committed to detailing his issues and ideas for the citizens of Lakewood the same way he would have if he had participated in a candidate's forum, and I think that's admirable. I know when he made his first speech as mayor he said that he knew there were "many Lakewoods" and he was committed to getting to know all of them, and so far I think that is what he has been trying to do: get to know all of Lakewood in order to figure out how to be a good mayor for all of its citizens.

It doesn't take having opposing candidates to have a government that is accountable and transparent as long as there is an informed community and a democratic process-- which we have here in Lakewood. Besides the election process, there are regular meetings of the different boards and groups, with periods for citizen's input and ways to get new ideas and issues on the agendas of School Board and Council meetings. These meetings are videotaped and aired on podcasts and cable. With the Lakewood Observer project around, there is a way to pay attention without everyone having to attend every meeting to find out what is happening in our community and anyone who wants to express an opinion or an idea and share it with the rest of Lakewood can do so, just by writing it down and submitting it to the paper. So-- as much as I, like you, was looking forward to Jim having a different forum from which he could express his ideas for the future of Lakewood, the fact is all of us have a forum, that we can all use, everyday. I'm using it now. And everyone who writes for the paper uses it every week, along with everybody who reads it.

I agree with you when you say, in truth Jim has made more changes in Lakewood than most politicians and will continue to do so. He will and we will, and the way to do it is by paying attention to each other and our elected officials, communicating and working together. No one is stopping us.

I'm not running for office this time around, maybe next time. How about you?

Betsy

[Stan Austin]

Betsy Voinovich replied to Justine Cooper:

I'm not running for office this time around, maybe next time. How about you?

dad gummit--- both of you would be great candidates, and once elected admirable office holders.

Stan Austin

[Corey Rossen]

Betsy Voinovich replied to Justine Cooper:

I'm not running for office this time around, maybe next time. How about you?

dad gummit--- both of you would be great candidates, and once elected admirable office holders.

Stan Austin

Anyone who can restrain themselves enough to saying "dad gummit" in public should be in public office. It is part of the lost language that could be re-introduced by the likes of Stan. Stan we need you, in fact, Webster's needs you.

Corey