The Observation Deck

Amy Martin wrote:I think that Colin should be held just as responsible for the lies that he tosses around as much as the Mayor and the rest of City Hall should be. Of course, I doubt that he'll ever reply to my request for the facts to back up his bogus claims.
How do these people continue to get away with this stuff?

Politics. Define your opponent before they define you. In this case your opponent is (1) using city resources, and (2) knows you don't have the $$ to overcome the lies. Boom.

Average pay per employee:

With 1100 hospital employees who average $59,000/year: $33,457/annual pay per 11,623 employees

WITHOUT 1100 hospital employees: $31,253/annual pay per 10,523 employees

Note that hospital jobs pay about double the average wage - overall.


Every hospital job is worth $262,500 annual SPENDING in the community. Lose 1100 jobs, lose $288,750,000 ANNUAL spending in Lakewood - CORROBORATED BY CLEVELAND CLINIC April 2015.

A few years ago Mike Polk brilliantly coined the phrase "Factory of Sadness" to describe Browns Stadium.

Should we start referring to Lakewood City Hall as "The Factory of Lies"?

The US Census data from 2014 says there are 11,600 paid employees in Lakewood, which is close enough to the 12,000 claimed on the newsletter to wonder if they got the data from the census. If so, where did the 4,000 businesses in Lakewood number come from? It's obviously incorrect.

Incorrect data and fudging of numbers seems to be par for the course from this administration. This is yet another example.

New t-shirt design?

Mike,

I like your t-shirt idea! I think it would be even better if you put Lord and Company's pictures on the back!

Here's another potential design.

Okay, I finally received more spin on the spin from Colin:

On your first point, the information about the "4,000 businesses in Lakewood" comes from the US Census (2012); please find the attached screenshot, as well as this link, so you can look around and explore the data​ for yourself.

4,605 firms are located in Lakewood, however the Census does not provide us with an enumerated list — although it would be interesting to see that. The term “firm” is defined by the US Census as:
“A firm is a business organization or entity consisting of one domestic establishment (location) or more under common ownership or control. All establishments of subsidiary firms are included as part of the owning or controlling firm. For the economic census, the terms ‘firm’ and ‘company’ are synonymous.”
So, the screenshot you emailed me shows 988 “establishments” but excludes all other firms. Remember, many of our small businesses in Lakewood are self-employed residents. Think attorneys, designers, consultants, etc. Those people don’t have establishments, per se, but they do have small businesses (many work from home) and are valuable assets to the city’s workforce.

Then, he totally missed my point about his claim that 75% of Lakewood's workforce works for small businesses. I told him that on my block alone, the majority of people work for large entities such as Key Bank, Sherwin Williams, Progressive Insurance, Hyland Software, Direct TV, Home Depot, Cuyahoga County, Bay Village School District, University Hospitals, (just a partial list) and THIS was his reply . .


The data in No. 2 comes from the tax department. The major corporations you mentioned — Key Bank, Sherwin Williams, Progressive Insurance, Home Depot, etc. — generally aren’t in Lakewood. The statement refers to 12,000 workers in Lakewood. Of course Lakewood residents work elsewhere, but the point references jobs in Lakewood. The tax department obtained that data from withholdings accounts. I hope you understand that individual residents’ tax withholdings are not public record.

I've never seen such convoluted doublespeak in my life. Firms, establishments, companies, and blah blah. So now even an attorney working out of their home counts as a business!

Hey, you can count everybody who sold something on eBay as a small business, too! And next time I have a garage sale, I'm another "small business" located in sunny Lakewood! And how about anyone who owns a double - viola! Another small business!