Peter Grossetti wrote:Jim O'Bryan wrote:Economic Development does not vote, residents do.
Agreed ... but unless I missed someone, we vote for only 14 elected positions in this city: 1 mayor, 1 judge, 7 city council and 5 board of education.
How many of those have direct impact on economic development? Most of the folks in Lakewood who have a direct impact on economic development are city employees (planning & development department); non-profit employees (LakewoodAlive, Chamber of Commerce, etc.), business themselves; and appointees to various board and commissions (Board of Building Standards, Architectural Board of Review, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals).
Peter
1 - The mayoral position, is the strongest position in the city, and can do the most when it comes to this topic, through the
various departments that work directly under his/her management. Planning and Development is the gate keeper for the
mayor in this regards, they can reach out to businesses, work with businesses, lobby for various regulations and rules that
have dominion over economic development, and answer to the mayor, and indirectly to council.
2 - 7 City Council members, certainly have some say in Economic Development as City Council makes the budget, the mayor
signs off on, and can vote and set laws as we have recently talked about with variances in the laws and regulations. They
can also start and underwrite studies as Councilman Juris did with the Hotel Study.
3 - Various Boards and Commissions and Committees, have a lot of say once things are under way, in other words they
generally have to wait until it is presented to them, and then at that point they study or decide what is right. I am not
sure if there decision is binding, or if the general rule of thumb is to back them. Recently we say a decision by the ARB
be reversed by Planning/Development and I am not sure if that was through lobbying of Planning/Development or if they
have the power to simply say "no we do not think so." Drug Mart went to court recently with Planning/Deveolpment (City
Hall) on their side against a decision.
4 - Board of Education, they really only come into these decisions I believe when tax dollars are at risk through TIFs and
Abatements as their bottom line is being affected. Recently this happened with the Clifton Pointe Project that applied for
tax forgiveness in their development. The area had a TIF zon that was created for the Foran Group's Cliff Project, which
is stalled and the Foran Group develops other properties in Ohio City that they believe are more lucrative, according to
Rick Foran who I have worked for and have spoken to.
The one thing that should be noted out of the above list is they all live in Lakewood. This has not always been the case.
Tom Jordan and incredibly smart development director who I sometimes disagreed with lived in West Park blocks from
Lakewood, and was Planning Director during the Tom George Administration.
But it is hard to not see the power structure as well. Committee members volunteer, but the idea for them to volunteer are
often coming from the mayor, members of council and or other departments. Of course in a community that is barely 5.5
miles and everyone at City Hall basically lives here, it would be expected that there is many overlaps in friendships, family
members, neighbors, etc. which does not suggest nepotism even though it may appear that is the case.
As for the others, LakewoodLive, the Chamber, etc. they often rely heavily on funding or approval of things with City Hall
so that to discount them as anything but arms of city hall would be foolish as well. Right now the president of LakewoodAlive, Sean McDermott also works for a the Development company that built CVS, and let's just say other
developments on Detroit Road. Is there an overlap, maybe, but Sean lives in Lakewood and so close to CVS that he can
walk there in minutes and skateboard there in seconds. There are legitimate arguments to both sides of the discussion
if this is good or bad for Lakewood.
I must say this line at least 5 times a day, "Lakewood has the same density as Los Angles, and the same mindset as Mayberry RFD." For many this seems strange at first glance. After all 51% of the community lives in rental property,
so that the churn Ken Warren often spoke of is very real, and needed to bring in new blood and ideas.
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