The Observation Deck

Bill Call wrote: Warren, Webb, Cove and Bunts are what I call gateway streets. Many people drive through town via these streets and judge the whole City by what they see. People drive up Webb to Detroit and are confronted with some of the ugliest architecture in the State of Ohio (you know, the buildings dedicated to the arts). Why not $500,000 in grants for housing restoration on Webb? The home owner gets $10,000 but must spend $15,000 on outside restoration.

The Star Chamber For The Arts is going to spend $250 million at University Circle. Why not $15 million for Beck Center?
Drive up Cove to Detroit and you are confronted with….you get the picture.
The new economy will be good for Lakewood but we have to set the stage.
Rosewood was done just right. The project demonstrated that there is a demand for that type of space. The small time operator gets it right the billion dollar corporation gets it wrong. Go figure.

Bill you forgot our main gateway Detroit, which coming from the west we see blight and failed development on the left, terrible apartments on the right. Bonnie Bell looking a tad ratty, car wash, run down building all the way to West Clifton, where it looks good, then...





If we cannot get this straight, and keep Detroit and Madison clean, we have zero chance to move this city forward.

This is exactly what I mean. Old school helped with Foran Group and Ryser/Forest City, another miserable failure, and it ends up bringing down values in the neighborhood. Rockport was a good idea, done in the wrong place. Imagine that down where Taft is? Or where hidden village is? The Foran Group project of the Cliff is another case of a good idea with irresponsible developers looking to make a quick dollar and little more.

It is like the nightmare developers of the failed(thank god) WestEnd project. In an effort to get it done, with anyone, Lakewood had teamed up with another developer that was literly failing in every project they touched, and surely would have failed here in Lakewood. More to the point, there is now evidence that the city oif Cleveland held off on their lawsuit of those developers until after Lakewood's vote on giving them $20 million up front. Ironically the same amount Cleveland sued them for.

This is what I mean, we need to get in NEW ideas, as those driving the Lakewood Development bus for years seems to be lost and driving in "crappy malls, and what worked in the past" circles.Who can forget the cornerstone of the new Lakewood Eco-Development would be a gazebo in front of the Board of Education! Instead of finding something of quality for the building on Detroit and Warren.

The mayor has a chance to make a statement, and name for this city, but he must find something that goes deep into the future, and respects residents, and practices RESPONSIBLE development.

FWIW


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Bill

I think this would be a good litmus test.

If you were given a $175,000 house for a dollar, that needed $40,000 in
repairs, and cannot turn it, should exclude you from any of
this money.

Like I said, call Tom Barrett. His specialty is fixing up and getting it done.

OR

Use it as incentives to get police, fire and teachers to move back into Lakewood!

OR

Gate the community, they have an average price of 25% higher than non gated communities near them. That would help with crime.


FWIW


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