The Death of The Bar Based Economy?

[Bill Call]

Are the closures of The Local and 56 West the leading edge of a trend just a short lived retrenchment?

Lakewood is still losing residents, the remaining residents have less disposable income and Cuyahoga County is doubling down on resettlement programs and the Downtown Only development plan.

The bar/restaurant business is a zero sum game in a region with a declining population. Development and job growth based on bars and restaurants is a dead end. If Lakewood is to have a viable "main street" then Lakewood needs a viable housing policy. Code enforcement and housing fairs are not enough.

The County is spending million to subsidize development in Downtown Cleveland and in the University Circle area. County institutions like CSU and Tri-C are encouraging, aiding and abetting development in Lorain and Medina County and NOACCA is still mesmerized by
"Wider freeways are the keys to prosperity" meme.

Can Lakewood compete? They say that where there is a will there is a way. Unfortunately, we don't seem to have the will.

[Charlie Page]

Are the closures of The Local and 56 West the leading edge of a trend just a short lived retrenchment?

Short answer is no. IMO, these closings have more to do with the saturation of food joints in Lakewood. If these companies had a good product at a fair price, they'd be open for business.

Lakewood is still losing residents, the remaining residents have less disposable income and Cuyahoga County is doubling down on resettlement programs and the Downtown Only development plan.

Losing residents since the 2010 census? How do you figure we're losing residents? How do you know the remaining residents have less disposable income?
How is CC doubling down on resettlement programs? Have these increased? Are other programs in addition to MHS moving here?

Do you mean Downtown Lakewood or downtown Cleveland?

The bar/restaurant business is a zero sum game in a region with a declining population. Development and job growth based on bars and restaurants is a dead end. If Lakewood is to have a viable "main street" then Lakewood needs a viable housing policy. Code enforcement and housing fairs are not enough.

Everything is a zero sum game in a region with declining populations, except state/county government, which continues to grow year after year in good times and not so good times.

I believe Lakewood has a viable main street and a viable housing policy. The trouble with policies and building codes is people don't always follow them. The Old House Fair is not something the City created or part of their housing plan. It does provide homeowners with access to various Lakewood contractors to help improve their homes. It's a great idea and fills a huge gap. And I'm not just saying that because my wife has put this together, in conjunction with Lakewood Hardware, for the last 5 years.

What do you do differently than what's being done now?

The County is spending million to subsidize development in Downtown Cleveland and in the University Circle area. County institutions like CSU and Tri-C are encouraging, aiding and abetting development in Lorain and Medina County and NOACCA is still mesmerized by "Wider freeways are the keys to prosperity" meme.

I think I said this before on the Deck: thankfully, Lakewood isn't run down enough for the County and/or Feds to spend tens/hundreds of millions (and I'm not implying it is run down).

Tri-C is now competing with LCC. Who wants to go to downtown Tri-C for a night class? Not without 911 on speed dial.

I though NOACCA is all about regionalization? Remember the Fire Dept consolidation study? I didn't know they were in to wider freeways.

Can Lakewood compete? They say that where there is a will there is a way. Unfortunately, we don't seem to have the will.

Do apples feel they need to compete with oranges? Does downtown Cleveland/University Heights feel they need to compete with Lakewood? I don’t think Lakewood should worry about whether the grass is greener somewhere else. We should try to make our grass as green as possible and let the chips fall where they may.

That said, I think Lakewood could do a better job of marketing how green our grass is. How many years have we been named the “best suburb” or “coolest suburb” or “best place to raise a family”? City Hall needs to stop being modest and actively promote Lakewood and everything it has to offer.

[Bill Call]

Are the closures of The Local and 56 West the leading edge of a trend just a short lived retrenchment?

Short answer is no. IMO, these closings have more to do with the saturation of food joints in Lakewood. If these companies had a good product at a fair price, they'd be open for business..

That's my point. There is a saturation point for food joints so a taxpayer subsidized downtown Cleveland restaurant row makes it that much harder for the non-taxpayer subsidized place to succeed.

Lakewood is still losing residents, the remaining residents have less disposable income and Cuyahoga County is doubling down on resettlement programs and the Downtown Only development plan.

Losing residents since the 2010 census? How do you figure we're losing residents? How do you know the remaining residents have less disposable income?
How is CC doubling down on resettlement programs? Have these increased? Are other programs in addition to MHS moving here?

Do you mean Downtown Lakewood or downtown Cleveland?..

Downtown Cleveland.

A year and a half ago I overhead a conversation at Don's Lighthouse. A member of the MHS Board was talking about the homeless resettlement. His conversation put to lie what was said publically by MHS at the time. He also said something about "double down on bad policy" but I'm not sure what he meant.

The most recent census estimates for July 2011 shows a decline from 52,131 in 2010 to 51,724 in 2011. That's a little less than one percent per year.

The State of Ohio Department of Taxation provides information on income and income rank.
2010 Income for Lakewood: $1,219,735,782
Rank: 232
2001 Income for Lakewood: $1,181,051,989
Rank: 162
Total Lakewood income is not even keeping up with inflation and our relative rank in total income is getting worse.

What do you do differently than what's being done now?

I appreciate all of the work done by the Building Department and people like your wife and the Lakewood Housing Fair. It’s just that without a stronger support they are all swimming upstream.

What to do?

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to have at least one of our politicians to take a public stand against the “Downtown only” development plan, homeless resettlement plans and the conversion of Lakewood apartments into halfway houses. Quiet murmurs and subdued opposition are acquiescence.

It wouldn’t hurt if public officials would realize that not every four suite apartment building, out dated apartment and obsolete house is a treasure worth preserving. Tear them down and replace them with more modern and desirable housing.

The biggest employer in this area is the health care industry and we are allowing the Clinic to destroy Lakewood Hospital our biggest single employer. Why?

The area around Clifton and 117th is a perfect space for a new Clinic Building that could serve the workers and residents of Downtown and as a natural feeder for Lakewood Hospital. Such a development could easily be expanded to the moribund Rockport project. Maybe the City could convince the owners to donate the land to the City and throw in some money to offset some of the damage the project has done.

Don't get me started on Tri-C's plans to offer classes in Medina County. Their decision to build on the borders of Lorain County in the middle of an industrial park was an insult to the taxpayers, the residents of Cuyahoga County and even worse: A missed opportunity.

Since I have a Lakewood centered view: What if that campus was located at several sites along Detroit in Lakewood, within walking distance and biking distance with easy access to public transportation with:

a medical training program tied to Lakewood Hospital
an EMS training program in partnership with the Hospital and the Lakewood fire department
a police cadet program working with Lakewood Police department
an international bachelorette program working with Lakewood Schools
a fine arts program using and working with the Beck center

Such programs might actually help with their 4% graduation rate.

Oh well...

[Jim O'Bryan]

Bill

I know I am jumping in here late so bare with me late.

There is nothing realistic on "bar or restaurant" based economies. The workers, well servers
are paid less than minimum wage, and the rest with a few exceptions are paid minimum
wage. So this becomes a massive fraud. Bar/restaurant will never dig us out. It is at best
window dressing to help us forget our other issues. "See how packed the streets are..."

I am dealing with The Sisters of Charity on another project, and was shocked to learn that
the region is still hemorrhaging residents at an amazing rate, and the region is quickly
approaching less than 1/2 of the residents we had in our hay day of industry and large
Catholic families. This means a bar/restaurant based economy is even more futile than a
year ago, or years ago when a small group decided this is where Lakewood needed to be
positioned.

While both of you have offered great ideas, it is hard to say if they will be ever implemented
here. First Lakewood, city and many residents do not have the mindset for it. Humans need
to believe in increasingly growing numbers that everything is great, especially if they are
involved, or believe it. Hence young people see new bars, and think coooooooooool.
(Please see discussion on cool) As long as they believe it, it is true in their world.

Then we have the very slippery slope Lakewood entered into nearly 20 years ago, when
some of the least visionary people in Lakewood charted Lakewood's future. Living off the
dreams of us being as cool as Legacy Village and Crocker Park, the collective eye of those
that could have secured our future, were either sidetracked with shiny objects(old navy
stores) or run out, ala Kenneth Warren. So that what is little more than a movie set could
be constructed out of the tax dollars of those living here.

And one can and should ask right now what is the very real future of the city? We have
dollar stores, eating into some of our best and most fashionable neighborhoods. We have
drive-thrus, and fast food eating into some very nice and quiet neighborhoods. We have
some of our best most successful schools being closed for strip malls, and we have some
insane need to cut services to residents for more frosting on a cake that has yet to be
backed, what alone even decided on what type we should bake.

Great discussions, but both of you buy into many of the programs killing this city off, so
we have our own issues we bring to the table. After all we know we are cool, it is the rest
we question.

It is fascinating sitting in Lakewood during our slaughter, as we offer our lifestyles up in
sacrifice much as the Incas did with their sons and daughters to gods that have fallen by
the wayside and out of favor, much like inclosed malls, and great rooms have.

.

[Bill Call]

I am dealing with The Sisters of Charity on another project, and was shocked to learn that
the region is still hemorrhaging residents at an amazing rate, and the region is quickly
approaching less than 1/2 of the residents we had in our hay day of industry and large
Catholic families. This means a bar/restaurant based economy is even more futile than a
year ago, or years ago when a small group decided this is where Lakewood needed to be
positioned.

People whose job is to attract jobs and development are probably annoyed about this kind of arm chair quarter backing and rightly so.

Ohio lost 22,000 jobs last month. What can a mayor do about that? Not much. The most they can do is to steal some other cities jobs.

Ohio suffers from a geographic disadvantage. There really isn't any particular reason for an industry or company to be here. What little economic activity we have is the echo of past economies.

Here is an idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_in_Flight

There are other options but saying them out loud just upsets people.

[Michael Loje]

Bill,
I have to disagree with you on one thing. The reason a place like the Local closed had more to do with it's reputation, food, and service, all of which were suspect. The name change from McCarthy's to the Local didn't seem to fool anyone. I know a number of avid recreational bar-goers, and this place was on all of their "no-fly" lists. Cafe 56 I can't speak to; I was only there once.
I've never heard anyone formally call for a "bar-based" economy in Lakewood, but bars and restaurants are a highly visible part of any community. Consequently, like it or not, they are here to stay. At least those that are well thought out, well run, and have a broad appeal.

[michael gill]

How is the closure of one restaurant and one bar in Lakewood even worth noticing?

Businesses open. Businesses close. New ones come along. Both of those locations have changed names / owners / business models at least twice each in the last ten or 12 years.

[Bill Call]

Bill,
I have to disagree with you on one thing. The reason a place like the Local closed had more to do with it's reputation, food, and service, all of which were suspect. The name change from McCarthy's to the Local didn't seem to fool anyone. I know a number of avid recreational bar-goers, and this place was on all of their "no-fly" lists. Cafe 56 I can't speak to; I was only there once.

That's a good point. I went to 56 West a few times and thought it was ok. OK just isn't good enough. A few years back I asked someone I know what they thought of a new restaurant. The said the food wasn't anything special and the service was bad but other than that it was ok.

It would be great if Lakewood restaurants attracted more out of towners. To do so they are going to have to be worth the trip.

[Michael Loje]

Bill,
There ARE more than a few good ones, but we could use some more. Good Asian, for instance. Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, (Hint hint....Talk to some of your buddies around Payne Ave.,Bill)
Remember the joint that Cafe 56 replaced? That was the eccentric Moroccan guy who decided to open an Italian restaurant who's hallmarks were a limited menu, exceedingly slow service, and non-existant atmosphere. If he would have tried a MOROCCAN restaurant, he probably would have had a fighting chance, Those are the kind of places people have expected to find in Lakewood, and would come from places like River and Westlake to go to.
Remember,too, Bill, that restaurant jobs are a good entry into the workforce for a young person who has no employment history.

[Jim O'Bryan]

People whose job is to attract jobs and development are probably annoyed about this kind of arm chair quarter backing and rightly so.

Ohio lost 22,000 jobs last month. What can a mayor do about that? Not much. The most they can do is to steal some other cities jobs.

Ohio suffers from a geographic disadvantage. There really isn't any particular reason for an industry or company to be here. What little economic activity we have is the echo of past economies.

Here is an idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_in_Flight

There are other options but saying them out loud just upsets people.

Bill

This is something I have never understood.

The Cleveland area is near perfect for business, these are things I noticed with businesses
I have operated or worked for here.
1) Cost of living, nearly half of that on the coasts. Sell your small loft in New York and
you can buy a house on the lake here.
2) Time zones, A person can wake up at a normal hour and deal with Europe at the end
of their businesses day, and by afternoon be in Asian business hours at the start of theirs.
3) Weather, pretty moderate.
4) Everyone in Cuyahoga County is within 20 minutes of 2 airports.
5) FRESHWATER we live on the new Kuwait
6) Things to do, while not as concentrated as New York, with less crowding travel is easier.

Yet most of the cities around the Great Lakes with the exception of Chicago, Minneapolis,
and Toronto are in severe decline. To me it makes no sense.

But has the city ever advertised or marketed itself outside of the Plain Dealer?

NO

People coming to Lakewood to eat leave very little behind for residents, and in fact probably
cost way more than they are worth. Police, city services. As was pointed out to me at
2 am the other night,blinking red light on Detroit on the far westside was put their to
"help the dunks leaving the bars in the area." As I drove away, I was wondering why are
we spending money helping drunks, and what are we helping them get to? Cars? You want
a wake up call to our "bar economy" drive past city hall at 5-7 on a Tuesday and see the
line out the door down the sidewalk of "drunk court."

Meanwhile residents have watched their parks close early to accommodate parking for the
bars near them. Errrr I mean we could not afford to keep them clean cause we were
buying lights for the drunks crossing the street. Basketball courts or lights for drunk out
of towners? Hmmmmmmmmm tough choices.

FWIW

.

[Michael Loje]

Jim, I have to disagree with you, too. First of all, I never have seen any links to anyone who called for or tried to plan a bar-based economy in Lakewood. Bars and restaurants are something that just happen. I see in your above post that you feel that non-Lakewoodites who frequent Lakewood bars and restaurants is something negative. If we make our restaurants and bars undesirable to people outside of Lakewood, the only way to do it would be by lowering quality or selection. This would negatively affect Lakewood people who now frequent these places.

Do you feel that the presence of bars and restaurants is a sign of poor economic conditions? If that were the case, places like San Francisco would be totally devoid of them. And in San Francisco, they DO encourage out-of-towners to patronize their restaurants.

Another thing. Lakewood has NEVER existed in a vacuum. Lakewood NEVER was it's own self-contained economy. It is predominately a bedroom community. But we do have more of a cohesive commercial district than most of our neighbors. That is what should be capitalized on.

[Bill Call]

How is the closure of one restaurant and one bar in Lakewood even worth noticing?

Businesses open. Businesses close. New ones come along. Both of those locations have changed names / owners / business models at least twice each in the last ten or 12 years.

Everything is worth noticing in a zero sum game.

Like:

KeyBank is cutting back on the amount of office space it uses:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index ... rt_m-rpt-2

Cuyahoga County is subsidizing a new office building in the flats that will be occupied by tenants who abandon existing office space in downtown Cleveland. How are the new owners of the Lakewood Center building going to compete?

And

Since a good part of the benefit of having a fully occupied office building in Lakewood is the economic activity the employees bring to the local restaurant or clothing store a subsidy for new office construction in Downtown Cleveland, which has a high vacancy rate, increases the vacancy rate in Lakewood and Downtown Cleveland and reduces rents in Lakewood which:

Lessens economic activity in Lakewood which leads to the closure of the local restaurant.

[Matthew Lee]

This reminds me of every debate about using public subsidies for a sports team. Which is worse, having the sports team leave the city or using public money to fund a private enterprise?

Honestly, I don't think there is a "right" answer. Just a "less worse" answer.

Bill, I understand and agree with your point. However, as a "devil's advocate" though, wouldn't it be worse for Lakewood if the company just left Cleveland altogether? What if their two options were "move to publicly subsidized office in Cleveland" or "leave Cleveland for Charlotte"?

Which would be worse for Degan's? Or Rosi's? Or The Melt?

Obviously, the best option for Lakewood would be "move the office to Lakewood". But we don't live in a bubble. And maybe the "less worse" answer is "stay in Cleveland". At least some of the employees probably live in Lakewood. And have money to spend.

This is a sticky wicket. For Lakewood to survive, we need Cleveland metropolitan to survive. But what, exactly, does that mean?

Great discussion.

[michael gill]

Bill,

I don't suggest anywhere that the regional economy is healthy.

And I'd say that when newly constructed office buildings are filled with already existing businesses relocated from just a few miles away, we are doing worse than just rearranging the deck chairs. New construction without new business creates the burden of additional vacancy. True with houses. True with office space.

But this thread began with your question, "are the closures of The Local and 56 West the leading edge of a trend [or] just a short lived retrenchment?"

The fact is that restaurants and bars open and close all the time. The closure of two of them in Lakewood --especially considering that one of your examples never even got established--is hardly even worth discussion, let alone a harbinger of doom and gloom.

Again: Not saying either the regional economy or Lakewood's is all hunky dory.

But within just a couple of blocks of those two examples: The Riviera closed and became Panini's. Panini's closed and became The Lakewood Riviera. The Lakewood Riviera closed and became The Plank Road. Right across the street, a building burned, and then after some turmoil an IHOP opened. The IHOP closed, and then came Cozumel. Meanwhile, a block and a half west, The Tam O'Shanter closed and became The Drink. The Drink closed and became The Booths.

All this happened in less than a dozen years.

Continue East on Detroit for more examples. Barnacle Bill's closed and became Cleats. Cleats closed and became Crazy Rita's. Crazy Rita's closed. Was that a sign of the economic apocalypse? Or did it create an opening for Deagan's?

Keep going East. Some old bar/restaurant joint not far from Geiger's staggered along for a while and then closed. Was that "the leading edge of a trend" that made you wonder whether Lakewood could compete? Or did it clear the way for Melt?

It's no comment whatsoever on the health of Lakewood or the regional economy to note that new restaurant/bars will almost certainly fill the spaces left behind by 56 West and The Local. You've simply noticed "churn" and wondered if the sky might be falling.

[Bill Call]

But this thread began with your question, "are the closures of The Local and 56 West the leading edge of a trend [or] just a short lived retrenchment?"

The fact is that restaurants and bars open and close all the time. The closure of two of them in Lakewood --especially considering that one of your examples never even got established--is hardly even worth discussion, let alone a harbinger of doom and gloom.

We live in a declining County within a declining region. Since cities in Cuyahoga County are unwilling to compete nationally or even within the "region" Cities have no other option but to seek a relative advantage with each other, the zero sum game.

Lakewood cannot compete in the office building market because the demand for office space is stagnant or declining and the County is offering subsidies to construct new downtown office buildings.

While there was once a glimmer of hope that Lakewood could compete in the medical office market the Cleveland Clinic has slammed the door shut on that option.

All that is left is the competition for a higher Relative Trendiness Index (RTI).

The best way to increase the RTI is by a combination of housing that appeals to younger wealthier residents and offering bars, restaurants and shops that appeal to the same crowd. That combination is used in Tremont and Gordon Square and other areas. Of course those areas benefit from millions in taxpayer subsidies that are not available to Lakewood.

There was a small window of opportunity for the City to compete for that market but the City chose to sit on its hands. Given the absence of a housing policy to appeal to that market we are left with the weakest link in the development chain, the Trendy Restaurant.

But, in a zero sum game the new restaurant at Gordon Square bleeds business from the Lakewood restaurant much as one new Lakewood restaurant bleeds business from another Lakewood restaurant.

Since Lakewood has chosen to ignore housing in its development plans and cannot compete in the office (jobs) market its only hope to compete with other cities in the region is dependent upon the success of the weakest of all development tools: the restaurant. In that sense the on going turmoil and turnover in the restaurant business in Lakewood expose a development plan built on sand.