The Observation Deck

Tim Liston wrote:Betsy said: "That's how you do it."

Actually Betsy I think you are precisely 100% wrong. This is copyrighted material, correct me if I am wrong but the fair use doctrine allows you to post snippets but certainly not the entire article. By doing so you put the LO at risk. Jim correct me if I'm wrong.

My company makes a living by creating intellectual property so I am sort of sensitive to this.

Tim

Actually, you are right, wrong, and not close. It all depends on what and who you are using, and through who.

We pay into AP, so we have limited use of AP stories, and stories through AP, who in turn have access to some
of our material. At the same time to not pay into the AP system, can open a business to fines in excess of
thousands of dollars sometimes per view.

If you do not pay into AP, to use AP material. I want to say it is two lines or less, or 35
words. AP used to be very stringent, but recently seem to have lighten up.

A general good rule of thumb is a paragraph, or a pull that makes the point, and or
entices a reader to go to the other story. At the end of the day, most online agencies, and
content provider are looking for hits to justify ads, prices, investment, etc.

I corrected Betsy' post to conform with the regs from WDRB.

For the record, only one person has ever been banned from the Lakewood Observer
Deck, and that was after repeated copyright infringement, 7 years ago.


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To be fair, it appears that Dollar General has provided motivation for artistic expression. A brief description of the following video: A group of people think they find a possible solution to their needs and desires by targeting the Dollar General. This music video provides a unique viewing and listening experience.
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE IS USED IN THIS VIDEO!



http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/dg

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Then because "no one could see that coming..." Marc's opened up, and judging by the
number of cars in the lot every day, it is not going anywhere. After that, it became the drive of the same small handful of people that we need "high-end stylish shops like they have at Crocker Park in Lakewood." It was this cry that started the now infamous "WestEnd Project that ironically was called "Mainstreet." The plan was for a multi-use strip mall that would bring in "2,000 cars an hour" according to one source in charge of traffic studies, to shop at such cool stores as Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn for Kids, Naked Pottery Barn, and their dream target "a Cheesecake Factory!"

When you chose to oppose
the West End Project
you chose a City of Dollar Stores

Embrace the change


http://www.wkyc.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=10531

Tim Liston wrote:Betsy said: "That's how you do it."

Actually Betsy I think you are precisely 100% wrong. This is copyrighted material, correct me if I am wrong but the fair use doctrine allows you to post snippets but certainly not the entire article. By doing so you put the LO at risk. Jim correct me if I'm wrong.

My company makes a living by creating intellectual property so I am sort of sensitive to this.

Hi Tim,

Thank you for pointing that out, I thought if I cited the source it was okay. Thanks Jim for correcting my post. I don't want any trouble.

When I said, "That's how you do it," I wasn't referring to how you post an article from a link, or saying that Scott Meeson doesn't know how to do a Deck post, and that I was showing him by cutting and pasting the article from his link--

I was responding to what the article he posted said.

The article Scott Meeson posted the link to is called: "Dollar General Store wants to sell liquor." A group called "Portland Now" is trying to stop them: "But Jackie McComb of Portland Now says, 'The neighborhood doesn't need it. The neighborhood doesn't want it.' Dollar General has applied for 23 malt liquor and beer licenses for its stores throughout Louisville since August." (from http://www.wdrb.com/story/20019769/doll ... ell-liquor, WDRB.com, out of Louisville, Kentucky.)

When you're making money off of people with a Dollar General store targeted income-- What did Jim quote it as in his post? "...Places that allow families to live who have less than $12,000 a year coming in (Dollar General)"-- Why not add alcohol?

Dollar General is targeting people who make $12,000 a year. They are not selling "dime store" items, they are functioning as a one-stop-shop for people who can't afford to go elsewhere. It says so in their own corporate policy.

Once you've found--or attracted!-- your targeted audience for cleaning supplies, breakfast cereal, etc--for a dollar!-- add malt liquor and beer.

Is there a quicker way to blight a city? Does anyone think that that kind of store in the center of our town helps build our community? Build our brand? Attract new families, keep the ones who live here? That's DownTowN? That's our Main Street? That's our "Best city in which to raise a family"? That's our "Coolest suburb"? That's why all of this money (our money) is being spent on making fancy street signs and decorative light poles?

As Jim has pointed out, the City could have used that money to buy the building Dollar General is in, and rent it to local businesses who WANTED TO BE THERE. That would have made Downtown a lot prettier.

If you want to Slaughter a City*, or, as is the case here, a certain part of a city, bring in more dollar stores, especially ones interested in taking advantage of a targeted income level. Then give those stores liquor licenses.

That's how you do it.

Betsy Voinovich

*"Slaughter of Cities" is a real book. You can also look up the lecture series on Youtube. It's not a theory-- it's a description of step by step what has happened again and again. How you do it. The slaughter succeeds if it is characterized as some kind of natural occurrence. "It's inevitable... Just how things are... Just how things go..." It's not a natural occurrence. There are steps you can take. There are steps you can avoid.

Bill Call wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Then because "no one could see that coming..." Marc's opened up, and judging by the
number of cars in the lot every day, it is not going anywhere. After that, it became the drive of the same small handful of people that we need "high-end stylish shops like they have at Crocker Park in Lakewood." It was this cry that started the now infamous "WestEnd Project that ironically was called "Mainstreet." The plan was for a multi-use strip mall that would bring in "2,000 cars an hour" according to one source in charge of traffic studies, to shop at such cool stores as Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn for Kids, Naked Pottery Barn, and their dream target "a Cheesecake Factory!"

When you chose to oppose
the West End Project
you chose a City of Dollar Stores

Embrace the change


http://www.wkyc.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=10531

Bill

That is a load of BS.

It seemed to me at the time that "The WestEnd" actually called "Mainstreet" at the time
of conception, was nothing but Dollar Stores anyway.

50% of the names that appeared in the drawings were companies out of business or that
had filed bankruptcy by the time of presentation. Another group mentioned on the layout
had not even heard of the project, though some said it did sound interesting. EVERY study
I have acquired, or have seen was fake, fraudulent, or so misrepresented it is the other
thing that brought me into watching City Hall instead of other fun things. My thought, if
the city could either be so corrupt, or so foolish that they would let this happen. As much
as it pains me, my thoughts in recent years have moved from foolish to strangely biased.

It was at the moment the WestEnd failed, and the act of blighting 95% of the
community(there is a nice brand builder), that "civic leaders/politicians" turned they
attention to, "educating the ignorant people of Lakewood on THE NEED FOR COMMERCIAL
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT" TO SAVE US FROM... HIGHER TAXES! Oh the horror, and
LakewoodAlive was formed to educate us poor huddled masses. I have all the emails from
the all of the parties involved, and notes from the meetings. Happily turned over by a
founding member that saw the error in their thought process and despised the win at
all costs mentality that had been directed at others, including her. As attendance fell off
heavily from one meeting to the next, they decided it was better to run politicians,
threaten others and marginalize anyone who opposed or simply asked questions
like, "What happened to that money?"

Besides, it never would have been built, and been more like the empty lots owned by the
Foran Group, that was the Phase Two, that all including Mayor Cain claimed never existed.
Though she had signed much of the paperwork, and was pushing the Tif. This was supplied
to me by Rick Foran, of the Foran Group when he asked me for help. The developer was
being sued by the City of Cleveland for screwing them over on Shaker Square. It was a
lawsuit to reclaim the $20 million they defrauded the city on. Mayor Cain had asked
Mayor Campbell to hold off on the lawsuit until after the election, which she did. So that
means our $25 million would have been handed to Cleveland, and we would be suing for
them not deluvering the strip mall.

No Bill, the strip mall named "The Westend" was the beginning of the end, and the same
leaders of that, Powers, Summers, Crampton, Foran, etc. brought us "Downtown," and the
multi-million dollar renovation of ONE of our many business districts with resdients tax
money, and other funds that could have been used in residential neighborhoods, that
paved the way Dollar Stores that now anchor and brand our city.

But that is for an upcoming story, with documentation.

After all it was the Observer Project, that many of the other civic leaders wanted in place
to make sure, overachieving under achievers, never tried to lie, misrepresent, or abuse the
powers they had acquired to harm a city.

AS I have often said, prove to me it was not a fraud, and I will never mention it again.
Prove to me it had a chance, and I will shut up. Traffic, school impact, parking, layout,
and the stores coming all LIES.

FWIW


.

Dollar General open!!!!

When is the ribbon cutting?


Dollar General store lit up "Historic Detroit Avenue" in the glow that only can come from
hundreds of civic leaders' pride and hard work to secure this anchor for "DowntowN" Lakewood.

As the brochures hit the street, with "Visit Historic Downtown Lakewood" covered in views
of things you have never seen in Lakewood. (Many from inside Plantation Home). The locals
of "Historic Detroit Avenue" were bathed in light and joy.


Randy, man about town, said to me, "I love Dollar General and many of my friends will
be here, to shop on Historic Detroit in the unique and eclectic dollar stores that now
line Historic Detroit Avenue."

When I mentioned to Randy that Councilman Shawn Juris was working on getting a
"High End Boutique Hotel," Randy thought that would be great, especially with
all of his friends coming in to shop the "Miracle .8ths of a Mile" now known as "DowntowN."


Artist's rendition of Shawn's concept.

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Jim,

As awkward as the combination of businesses and amenities sharing this strip strikes me at times, it is an interesting (and accurate) reflection of Lakewood’s socioeconomic diversity. DowntowN is our shared territory, where north meets south, east meets west. Your irony/sarcasm and creative imagery are entertaining. Are you suggesting that Lakewood is triumphant in accepting its dichotomy?

Meg

Meg Ostrowski wrote:Jim,

As awkward as the combination of businesses and amenities sharing this strip strikes me at times, it is an interesting (and accurate) reflection of Lakewood’s socioeconomic diversity. DowntowN is our shared territory, where north meets south, east meets west. Your irony/sarcasm and creative imagery are entertaining. Are you suggesting that Lakewood is triumphant in accepting its dichotomy?

Meg

Meg


Yes.


Damn I love this city and the people that make it up.

Even the ones that ask for our money, and spend it on false dreams and promises
they knew they could never keep, in a never ending effort to chase their idea of cool.

It's Lakewood!

It is cool.

.

I'm really confused sometimes by the seriousness and the sarcasm by those on here sometimes.

I wonder if people actually understand the financial struggles that many residents of Lakewood are in, of all cities are in. We don't need a Pottery Barn, and maybe we don't need 5 discount variety stores, but people do need options to help them save money each month.

I talk with customers at my job all day from Lakewood and surrounding communities who are struggling to make ends meet, who are losing their jobs, having their hours cut back, their spouses in the same position, or are dependent on Social Security and seeing benefits cut and the price of everything going up. It's not pretty.

While there are those who may not like the dollar stores, the drug marts, Aldi's, Marcs, etc, they are a necessity for many to feed their families and keep their costs down.

When I was searching for home to purchase, it seemed that almost 50% of the listings in Lakewood were foreclosures ~ and not just on streets to the south, or the east, but on the north and west ends of Lakewood as well.... it's hitting everyone, everywhere.

I think sometimes we should be a bit more mindful of what Meg said and understand that we live in a very diverse ~ in all ways ~ community and the best way to support any community is having diverse offerings, whether you like them or not.

Myra Beckrest wrote:I think sometimes we should be a bit more mindful of what Meg said and understand that we live in a very diverse ~ in all ways ~ community and the best way to support any community is having diverse offerings, whether you like them or not.

Meg is one of my favorite Lakewoodites. I do have many, but Meg is a great Lakewood story. Moves here,
has gotten involved and loves it.

Myra, I love people like Meg, well I love Lakewoodites and Lakewood businesses. All of them, because they have
taken a shot on Lakewood, and serving in their way Lakewoodites. As I have said from day one, arrive at
Lakewood shores and you are a Lakewoodite.

The sarcasm I make is not because we need a pottery barn. But because a very small group has directed much
of any funding that could have been used for housing, parks, citywide wifi, etc. and piped into their dream of
a pottery barn or cheesecake factory. Because they feel Lakewood is lacking in their eyes. Now if one of them
wanted to pony up and open pottery barn, well that would be swell. But to sidetrack, and squander money on
such a shallow dream made of more than a decade of over promise, and decades of under delivering is
frustrating to say the least.

Instead of pink faux brick, how about our parks open till 11pm. Instead of signs with little Ls, and black colors,
how about the bowl to the skate park, more basketball courts, the water slide for Lakewood Park, access to
the lake, safer streets, better housing...

Lakewood was the best place to raise a family in the county, I hope it is when they are through with their
update of "Lakewood's Authentic Downtown."

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