The Observation Deck

Kenneth Warren wrote:For years people have been talking about marketing Lakewood.

I propose as an experiment that a "Lakewood Marketing Consortium" with Lakewood public and private interests, including the Lakewood Observer, Lakewood Alive, Lakewood Community Progress Inc., Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, Rockport, Rosewood, City, Schools, Library, pony up and contract on a hourly/monthly basis with a marketing professional. Say eight hours per month at $40 or $50 per hour. Let's see what an outstanding marketing professional can deliver.

This seems a more reasonable, flexible and less expensive approach than expecting City Hall to hire one in this difficult period.


Kenneth Warren

I agree wholeheartedly. Although I don't know that the schools are in any position to pony up any more than the city.

In any case, before you can engage in "marketing", you need to know the "market." We all think we know Lakewood's strengths, some profess to know its weaknesses. But do we really know its ATTITUDES? It's human nature to filter out those who disagree with our own notions.

One person on a board can say she wants a newer house and two peopel can respond that she's wrong for wanting it. But when a scientific survey shows that 73% of residents want more modern housing options, the city certainly has to take that into consideration when forming public policy. At least, if they're smart.

Having results in black and white, gathered scientifically by professionals, gives us the benchmarks we need and challenges our dearly-held notions, the warm and fuzzy ones in some cases, the dark and dour ones in others.

And its remarkable what how knowing public attitude can affect public policy. The schools are a good example. The model for schools everywhere is big schools and buses. We could have had one middle school and three elementary schools that kids rode buses to, but a goodly sized sample of Lakewood flatly rejected that notion.

So, who drives this?

Joan Roberts wrote:But when a scientific survey shows that 73% of residents want more modern housing options, the city certainly has to take that into consideration when forming public policy.

?

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Joan Roberts wrote:But when a scientific survey shows that 73% of residents want more modern housing options, the city certainly has to take that into consideration when forming public policy.

?

Simple. It's a matter of setting priorities.

Example. If a DeLorean or Bahr Lumber shuts down, is the focus of the development department a drug store, a hotel, or a cluster home development? Your survey results (and I honestly don't know what they would be, again I have my own prism, and I could be very wrong) would provide a guide in what you try to seek out.
Of course, you'll get what the market wants to build, but at least you have a goal.
My hunch is we're going to see more DeLoreans and Bahrs. Knowing how best to re-use those properties would go a long way to making sure Lakewood gets updated in the right way, wouldn't it?

Joan Roberts wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Joan Roberts wrote:But when a scientific survey shows that 73% of residents want more modern housing options, the city certainly has to take that into consideration when forming public policy.

?

Simple. It's a matter of setting priorities.

Example. If a DeLorean or Bahr Lumber shuts down, is the focus of the development department a drug store, a hotel, or a cluster home development? Your survey results (and I honestly don't know what they would be, again I have my own prism, and I could be very wrong) would provide a guide in what you try to seek out.
Of course, you'll get what the market wants to build, but at least you have a goal.
My hunch is we're going to see more DeLoreans and Bahrs. Knowing how best to re-use those properties would go a long way to making sure Lakewood gets updated in the right way, wouldn't it?

Joan


I was hoping for a link to the "Scientific Survey."



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Hello New Lakewood Neighbors,
This is an interesting conversation to me as we just moved to Lakewood in December from suburban Atlanta. Although my husbands job relocation was to Richfield, we loved Lakewood and moved here despite a 35 minute commute for him.

We knew very little about the Cleveland area and were very much relying on the information of others to pick where to live. Our relocation company was pushing Medina. We spent a weekend looking at houses there and hated the traffic and boring neighborhoods. We only found Lakewood because we just happened to drive through while "killing some time" on our way to check out some houses in Cleveland Heights.

Bottom line, these are the reasons we chose Lakewood:

-There is a strong sense of community. (In suburban neighborhoods people drive into their nice attached garages, close the door and never have reason to speak to their neighbors.)
- The number of parks. (Although many of them could use a little upkeep)
-The library, The Beck Center, The Lake
-The close proximity to Downtown Cleveland museums, theaters, etc.
-The great homes and great home values.

This is where we want to raise our five children. In Atlanta, I spent hours of my life each week in the car getting my kids to activities. In Lakewood, the kids walk to the library, parks, take ballet at the Beck, scouts at St. Josephs, piano lessons are just a few blocks away. My husband does have a longer commute, but it actually takes him the same amount of time to get to Richfield from Lakewood as it took him to drive about 12 miles to work in metro Atlanta!

I'll take Lakewood over the suburbs any day!!

Dori

I read Joan's post to mean that when we have a scientific study, the city should pay attention.

dl meckes wrote:I read Joan's post to mean that when we have a scientific study, the city should pay attention.

Right. I was referring to a hypothetical situation.

Welcome Dori. I think your post makes a good case for why we might want to concentrate efforts on surveying people moving into the community as well as possibly leavers. Your point of view and that of others in your situation would be helpful in marketing the community.

Kate McCarthy referenced the work of Tom Bier, Cleveland State University, and his surveys of both homebuyers and homesellers in the City of Cleveland.

I would strongly suggest that those surveys and related reports are reviewed as part of the design and implementation of a Lakewood buyer/seller survey.

Richard Cole wrote:Kate McCarthy referenced the work of Tom Bier, Cleveland State University, and his surveys of both homebuyers and homesellers in the City of Cleveland.

I would strongly suggest that those surveys and related reports are reviewed as part of the design and implementation of a Lakewood buyer/seller survey.

Richard

Having listened to Tom Bier many times including two weeks ago where he layed out the same vision of Lakewood and Cleveland that he laid out 6 years ago. Maybe we can get Observers to hit the streets with our own informal survey. I am more than willing to fund the process and make all findings public. A year ago at our launch we started to survey the city then it seemed to fall through the cracks.

Any takers?


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Dori Schneider wrote:Hello New Lakewood Neighbors,
This is an interesting conversation to me as we just moved to Lakewood in December from suburban Atlanta.

This is where we want to raise our five children. In Atlanta, I spent hours of my life each week in the car getting my kids to activities. In Lakewood, the kids walk to the library, parks, take ballet at the Beck, scouts at St. Josephs, piano lessons are just a few blocks away. My husband does have a longer commute, but it actually takes him the same amount of time to get to Richfield from Lakewood as it took him to drive about 12 miles to work in metro Atlanta!

I'll take Lakewood over the suburbs any day!!

Dori

Welcome to Lakewood!!! It is a great a great place to live, I'm sure your family will love it here.

There was 813 transfer of deeds in 2005 where the conveyance amount was above $30,000.

http://neocando.case.edu/cando/index.jsp

The NeoCanDo database is a great resource.

Without defining a methodology - 800+ households sold - where did they go and why? 800+ households bought - where did they come from and why did they choose Lakewood?

If these types of questions could be answered by buyers/sellers, I believe we will have a better understanding of Lakewood.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:. Maybe we can get Observers to hit the streets with our own informal survey. I am more than willing to fund the process and make all findings public. A year ago at our launch we started to survey the city then it seemed to fall through the cracks.

Any takers?


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I am always wary of "informal surveys." Bill O'Reilly does them all the time.
88 % say Iraq was a brilliant move. 94% say Bush is greater than Washington and Lincoln combined. 98% say the Dixie Chicks should be tried for treason and executed.
Research, as I know you know, is a science, if not a perfectly exact one.
I'd no more trust an "informal" survey than I would an "informal" neurosurgeon.
Mr. Warren........help me here!

Joan Roberts wrote:I am always wary of "informal surveys." Bill O'Reilly does them all the time.
88 % say Iraq was a brilliant move. 94% say Bush is greater than Washington and Lincoln combined. 98% say the Dixie Chicks should be tried for treason and executed.
Research, as I know you know, is a science, if not a perfectly exact one.
I'd no more trust an "informal" survey than I would an "informal" neurosurgeon.
Mr. Warren........help me here!

Joan


Perhaps informal was the wrong term.

I am with you on all surveys. Having made a handsome living making charts and graphs say anything the client wants, I feel you wariness.

But where do we go from here? How do we instigate the search for answers?

Ken please jump in.


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Need for Credible Marketing Information about Lakewood

I hope we can all agree on the need for credible marketing intelligence processed transparently and placed in the public domain.

We must have a credible, professional process that joins science and the straight talking Lakewood spirit.

I believe that is where we are meeting now on the LO Deck.

I hear Jim's protest that scientific methods and professional interests can be oversold to support specific purposes. How to Lie with Statistics is a favorite citation. Information was manufactured to support the war in Iraq.

All that should not make us so jaded that we cannot fathom our participation in a process that generates and uses credible marketing intelligence in ways that advance the sensible development and evolution of our city.

A reasonable approach to gather marketing intelligence based on properly constructed survey instruments is the gist what Ms. Roberts is suggesting, I believe.

This may be an unprecedented thing for a community to do. Necessary, of course.

We may argue over the uses to which credible marketing intelligence is put. But credible marketing intelligence is needed to make the case for any development in the city, especially when public/private partnerships such as Tax Incremental Financing or Abatements are envisioned as incentives to attract capital. When the public becomes the potential bag-holder, the public should demand credible marketing intelligence to make the case for the risk.

Two Pronged Experiment

The proposed Lakewood Marketing Consortium experiment would include two prongs: 1) resident retention; 2) resident attraction.

With unlimited resources it might make sense capturing intelligence from people who have left. With limited resources, I say resident retention is the first priority.

Quick and Dirty Notes for Beginning

Let’s each identify ten neighbors between the ages of 25 and 55 whose company you would like to keep in Lakewood.

Let’s set a goal of 2000 individuals we endorse as the company we would like to keep in Lakewood.

Let’s work with a pro to craft a survey, which includes the various elements related to amenities, community norms, crime, development, diversity, housing improvements, (cluster, etc.), inter-neighborhood mobility (i.e. would you move to another Lakewood neighborhood where an affinity group of Lakewood homies is looking to settle into converted doubles, cluster homes, etc.), tax thresholds, and what ever else we believe are deal makers/ breakers.

I believe this is the most critical component – those we enjoy with skin in the current Lakewood game.

After we capture this credible marketing intelligence, we will know what we are dealing with.

We can look at various cluster segmentation tools, along with hand-selling recruitment the Lakewood company we have retained.

Work with a pro to set strategy and target appropriate segments for attraction through the marketing campaign.

This is only an experiment.

Need for Coordinated Strategic Plan

There is a larger need for a coordinated strategic plan for public and private interests in the city, which would subsume the marketing plan.

But we need to begin alignment somewhere in order to move the city into a more energetic and sustainable visionary landscape.

The Driver

I believe the driver for such a process of engagement could be City Hall - the Mayor and Council and the department of Planning and Development in conjunction with Lakewood Community Progress Inc.


Kenneth Warren