The Observation Deck

Bill Call wrote:The City has every right to control its destiny and preserve the value of owner occupied housing.

When the Gordon Square project was announced there were already plans afoot to move the Beck Center to Westlake. Someone had a vision for Lakewood that wasn't public knowledge at the time. Can't the people of Lakewood have there own vision?

Bill

You are correct we have every right. But does council put a greater emphasis on that control
or proven to their constituents they are doing something? How many people on council think
this is great news. I know the mayor, and at least one member of council was geeked that
Lakewood looked so attractive to McDonald's. Crowing about what this meant to the city
of 49,995 with 189 places to get prepared food. That their studies showed how attractive
Lakewood is to fast food giants and how badly we needed them here. I always wonder if
their study showed that if everyone at out once a week, that is an average of 38 customers
a day in their establishment?

City Hall has every right to control the look and feel of the community, and as business owners
and residents, we have every right to know what that look and feel is supposed to be.

The city really needs to understand what the hell it is, so that it can work towards a better
tomorrow. OR, we are forced to bend over and take whatever comes this way.

With that said, McDonalds should try to blend in, but as of right now I cannot blame them
for anything. The fault goes not to victor, but to those that rolled over and let it happen.
Try to screen in your front porch, the city will stop you. Glass it in, you will get taken to
court. 8'1" fence, better be prepared to tell Judge Carroll why you are such a rebel. Have
a "P" 2" to large on a sign, and the sign comes down, the "P" is shortened and it goes
through review and permits again.

So does the city, now look to protect neighborhoods (42 houses slated to be torn down),
or businesses? Is it the city of homes and trees, or The Chow Line? Do we add minimal
police to shore up what is going on? Or do we crete the Flats West and bring in Blackwater?

It would be nice to know, what Council, and the Mayor think? I know one council member
running unopposed for council has stated publicly, "There is nothing special about Lakewood."

FWIW

Bryan Schwegler wrote:

Bill Call wrote: Can't the people of Lakewood have there own vision?

Bill, I'd love to hear what you're doing to make this happen? You're definitely one of the most vocal on here regarding destinies so I'm curious what you're doing outside of this site to actually make some of this happen?

Do you see opportunities to get more people involved in what you're doing?

A fair question. The fair answer is not a whole lot.

I like to think that my reporting on the Deck has some influence: Like when I reported the news that The Beck was planning on moving to Crocker and that the Social Security office was moving to Westlake. Maybe those discussions help helped keep them here. I think some of my emails and letters to the editor might have had some small affect on how public officials think and act but I don't know for sure. Maybe I'm just kidding myself.

I had hoped that some of my posts on Lakewood Hospital would halt its slow conversion to nursing home and out patient facility but it's a lost battle. Whenever anyone in Lakewood needs an emergency room they go to Fairview and Clinic doctors try to avoid referring to Lakeood. Since emergency rooms and referrals are the lifeblood of hospitals the writing is on the wall.

I tried to get on the hospital board but the council chose the more qualified candidates. I suspect that if appointed I would have been a grain of sand in the well oiled machine. One thing that always puzzled me is Lakewood Hospitals faciity in Westlake. The idea had merit: Build a first class facility along the freeway in the middle of a wealthy suburb to generate referrals and income for Lakewood Hospital. The execution was odd.

They chose to let someone else own the building, pay someone elses mortgage while paying millions in property taxes to the City of Westlake and made the Westlake faciltiy a partnership with Fairview Hospital. It made no sense to me. On the other hand as I said to the interview committe: "I don't know a damm thing about hospitals but I do know a little about business and that deal makes no sense to me".

I recall suggesting, long before Nickie Antonio for a Madison Avenue Cafe district. I had envisioned a narrower street with large outdoor, street level dining. What we got was fine but much to timid.

For the last few years I've been on the Lakewood YMCA Board. The Y had a rough patch because of the economy and also because of its heavy use. Parking was so tight people couldn't use the facility they were paying for. I spent a lot of time with an investor who had property that would have allowed for expanded parking, expanded building space for more programming and an offer to help with relocation of the Y headquarters to Lakewood. Bottom line: its not going to happen.

I'm currently running a quiet campaign for School Board. Very quiet. I had hoped to do more but for the last couple of months I've had a hard time walking and limited use of my right hand. I hope to get back on track sooner rather than later. If elected I expect to be the odd man out. I'll be asking questions like: Even with tax increase we will have declining revenue. Why are we handing our raises? or How come that regular school board meetings consists of various award cerimonies but discussions of teacher contracts are discussed at short notice special meetings? You get the picture.

The McDonalds is a done deal. I hope that we can get an innovative first class facility but I suspect will will get a noisy, dirty, disruptive business that make a lot of money for the out of town owners and does great damage to the neighborhood. Sound familiar?

Bill Call wrote:The McDonalds is a done deal. I hope that we can get an innovative first class facility but I suspect will will get a noisy, dirty, disruptive business that make a lot of money for the out of town owners and does great damage to the neighborhood. Sound familiar?

No, actually that doesn't sound familiar. What are you talking about?

Thealexa Becker wrote:

Bill Call wrote:The McDonalds is a done deal. I hope that we can get an innovative first class facility but I suspect will will get a noisy, dirty, disruptive business that make a lot of money for the out of town owners and does great damage to the neighborhood. Sound familiar?

No, actually that doesn't sound familiar. What are you talking about?

You always ask the right question.

I was thinking about Lakewood Center aka Marc's Plaza.

A recent article about the Space Shuttle program pointed out that before the program was approved it was estimated that the per flight cost would be about $21 million. The actual cost per flight was about $1.6 billion. Officials at NASA were quoted as saying it was worth it. That's complete nonsense. If Congress was told ahead of time that the cost would be $1.6 billion per flight the shuttle program would never have been approved.

The City of Lakewood gave up a lot to have the Lakewood Center built. None of the original promises were kept. If Council was told that the Lakewood Center would be used to house a Marc's supermarket and various fast food joints I don't think they would have signed on. On the other hand the investors are pocketing a lot of money.

If anyone makes it to the Detroit Theater meeting tonight (7PM) at the library, please post and let us know how it goes. Thanks.

http://www.cleveland.com/sunpostherald/ ... istor.html.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Bill Call wrote:It would be nice to know, what Council, and the Mayor think? I know one council member
running unopposed for council has stated publicly, "There is nothing special about Lakewood."

FWIW

If this member stated this publicly, can you please state which council member said this? This is important information for people to know, whether the member is running unopposed or not. I really like the idea that contributors to this forum need to own their opinions with their own names. I think that floating ambiguous quotes runs counter to this forum's philosophy.

IF a person in Lakewood made that comment, that person was evidently NOT in Lakewood Park on July 4th. Besides the most amazing firework show anyone has ever seen, the park was filled with Lakewood energy and Lakewood residents, and many from other towns coming to watch our show while listening to our amazing rock orchestra. The community vibe at the best park in any city I have seen was overwhelming.

Sounds like a classic out-of-context quote. Do you feel the Councilperson-in-question was saying that Lakewood has no features which distinguish it above the mediocre, or rather that there are no civic issues, problems or challenges which we face that are unique and not a common problem in hundreds of other communities?

Brian Pedaci wrote:Sounds like a classic out-of-context quote. Do you feel the Councilperson-in-question was saying that Lakewood has no features which distinguish it above the mediocre, or rather that there are no civic issues, problems or challenges which we face that are unique and not a common problem in hundreds of other communities?

I would hazard that this is probably what happened. I cannot fathom that any elected official would be so careless as to say that about Lakewood. Or that they would bother running for elected office in a city they thought was nothing special.

When I first read the quote my initial thought was that they meant what Brian suggested above. I would be surprised otherwise.

Thealexa and Brian ... I agree that the quote may have been taken out of context but it was still thrown out there and attributed to one of a handful of people in our community -- council members running unopposed. If it was a "public" statement then state who said it.... don't throw it out there without attribution.