Rebuttal to Argument to Re-Elect Mike Summers

[Lori Allen _]

I felt after reading Mr. Laskey's article on the LO homepage this morning regarding the campaign of Mike Summers, I felt that I had to give my opinions.

1. Customer-driven governing: I feel that this is rather laughable. Many times when I have called City Hall either A: Nobody answers the phone in the departments, B: You get a lot of sarcasm and rather rude treatment by some employees, or C: Nobody ever returns your phone call. However, there are some employees that are courteous and do their jobs well. Also, you are told at city council meetings that it is not a question/answer period. Sometimes when citizens are speaking, the microphone cord is pulled from the wall, while the mayor sits by and does nothing.

2. Doing more with less: I would agree that we have fewer resources, but I don't think we have better services. Garbage trucks and snow plows are almost constantly breaking down and I have seen them held together with duct tape. Also, look at the condition of roads in the south central and eastern parts of the city. Several of them are in abominable condition. Residents on Brown Rd. also complain of flooded streets and basements when it rains. However, we found money/resources to resurface Lake Point Drive. Also, many of our small neighborhood parks have boarded-up playground equipment. I believe I was told at one point in time by the city that there was no money to fix it.

3. Commercial development: I would actually agree that Mike Summers has brought in a lot of business to our city. However, I feel that most of this development has taken place without regard for the citizens and their feelings. Although I am not against bars and enjoy having a good time, it appears that a large amount of our "entertainment" is bars. In my opinion, there is a lack of oversight of these bars by the city administration. I seem to recall Ohio Investigative Unit citing several bars in Lakewood recently for serving alcohol to minors. Also, I feel badly for those that live in close proximity to these bars, as I imagine many of them have to work and are kept awake until 3:00 A.M. by loud music and sometimes rowdy people.

4. Housing: If I were the mayor, I would be ashamed to say that I have been working hard to improve housing in Lakewood. It seems to me that the city picks certain streets in the central and western parts of the city for what I consider to be very minor violations. Most of the residents on the streets they seem to pick on are owner-occupied, single-family homes with middle-class occupants. Meanwhile, it appears that Mr. Summers ignores the fact that he has constituents that live on the eastern end of Lakewood that may need help fixing their homes or help getting their landlord to fix them. Check out the house at Athens and Halstead as an example. It has had a hole in the roof for over four years. I don't feel that he or the Ward 4 councilperson have ever walked the streets and talked with the residents in this area. There are ways to obtain funding to help these people. On the other hand, the city needs to start going after these absentee landlords and realty companies that don't maintain their properties.

5. Public Safety: I feel that our police and fire are excellent. However, I feel much more needs to be done at the administrative and judicial level to ensure public safety and to support the police personnel. Several of our police officers have been assaulted recently. While some of these assaults do go to county court, most of them are dismissed at Lakewood Court. In fact, many cases in Lakewood court are dismissed. If a a large amount of cases are dismissed, how does that hold the suspect accountable and what is to prevent the crimes from happening again in our city? Yes, some of the felonies are sent to the county, but not many. There was even a gentleman that was procuring prostitution with children under the age of sixteen over on Clarence Ave. last year. This case was dismissed at Lakewood Court and was not referred to county. Nobody can explain why.

6. Living within our means: In my opinion, the city spends enormous amounts of money on things that we really do not need. For example, Mr. Summers seems to be itching to pass a resolution before council that would allow the city to enter into an agreement with Everstream to install a fiber-optic system in the city at a cost of $900,000. How many streets could we pave and crack-seal with $900,000? How many new garbage trucks or snow plows could be brought with $900,000? How many more police could be hired with this money? In my opinion, this administration is far from fiscally responsible.

7. Beautifying the city: I feel that the city's curb appeal has declined very quickly recently. For example, when residents move out of their residence, they throw their mattresses, sofas, toilets and other bulk trash on the tree lawn whenever they want, even when garbage day is not for another week. These items often lay on the tree lawn for the entire week. Also, I have noticed a large increase in the amount of overgrown grass. I understand that sometimes that are extenuating circumstances as to why the grass is overgrown or why the garbage is out early. I feel the city should be more proactive in identifying when there are extenuating circumstances (elderly,disabled, etc.) and when the person should be fined (absentee landlord, realty company, etc.)

8. Faced the reality of our challenges: In my opinion, the mayor's leadership regarding Lakewood Hospital has been far from "front and center". I feel that the entire hospital deal was done as a backroom deal without any input or regard for how the citizens feel. Does Mr. Summers actually think that a small health center will improve viability in the downtown district? 1,000 jobs will be lost.

9. Improved communication: I feel I touched on this in point number 1.

This post is not meant to be an attack on Mike Summers, but I don't feel that he has been a very good leader. In my opinion, the city needs to be more proactive in regards to addressing issues, especially those that affect our individual neighborhoods.

[Bridget Conant]

Can someone direct me to the program that the city has to attract business to Lakewood. Is someone actually working on, meeting with, selling the city to enterprises? I ask because I don't see that our leaders have themselves have brought in new business. What I see is a city with a demographic and density that attracts certain types of businesses, like bars and restaurants, and an organic growth that has nothing to do with the mayor or his staff. Where has the city proactively engaged with any of these new entrants, actually sought them out versus the business just deciding a Lakewood location might work for them?
When someone says the mayor has attracted new business and economic development, that implies that he and his staff actively sought out new enterprises and worked with them to locate here. Have they really done that? And has the quality of the "economic development" been satisfactory? Quite a few bars and restaurants did not last long. Are bars, pizza joints, and dollar stores really signs of robust economic development?
I'd venture to say that many of these small businesses would locate here IN SPITE of the government and the mayor. Can he really take credit for economic or commercial development when these enterprises likely located here without any city encouragement?