The Observation Deck

I would love to see both the plaza and the park renovated. I know the plaza is heavily used, it's just not very attractive. The park is often over ran with not so polite teens, the tennis courts are unusable, I don't know what to say about Little Links and the park isn't very clean. I would love to see something done in that area. I just think we would need to take into account that the park is bordered on three sides by residents. I definitely wouldn't want the city to give the land to owner of the strip center as Doug said. I think that the area could be better utilized but the city would need to proceed very delicately. BTW I love the idea of a park being on Detroit, that would be great to have it directly across from the library. I am sure it would be well used.

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world".- Ghandi

We must see the shortstop so that all things be the same.... L. Farris.

The change I Wish for is that more money is spent in Lakewood. I want more people to wander in Lakewood. I want more people to come to Lakewood from outside Lakewood. I want this "walk-able" city to have more destinations.

I truly don't see any other area in the city center to find an area for major changes.

Flower baskets .... 24" wider sidewalks.... awnings.... to me are icing on the cake. We are at a point where we need a new recipe.

What does the average softball player do after their game.... Does he or she get a hot cup of coffee @ Phoenix?(are there leagues the other 9 months of the year?).... Does he check the Art of Hitting out of the Library?.... Does he go to another neighborhood and go to a bar?.... does she get a great bottle of white wine from Rozi's?.... does he go home?... Does he wander the neighborhood with his family?....Does he spend money at multiple locations near the field?.

If Emerson Field gravel was replaced with dirt that would be a more adult friendly field.... If the back stop was moved at Tyler Field or the tall grass mowed in right field that would be a more adult friendly field.... If parking was slightly re-designed at Madison Field a second park could be added in the outfield. The north field at the High School is an un-used asset.

I was in no way suggesting up-grading the existing strip center.... It acts like a fence hiding the huge parking lot and nice park behind, hiding crime, creating a park that you drive to. I am suggesting a park in the front of the site that relates to other major buildings and activities in the city. A park and retail center that you walk to... walk to the library from this park and retail center. Who knows there are better ideas than mine.

All I know is that protecting one softball field is lower on my list of priorities than adding life to Up-town Lakewood. The city survived when the Elk's field was up-rooted for what is now Giant Eagle I think it could survive and thrive again.

Sorry about the Ghandi wrecking ball.

Mark,

First of all that second quote is not attributed to me. I don't think I ever said that.

But I do think you misunderstand my comment. Savannah looked at that location as one of the 3 potential areas for her thesis. While it has great potential - the fact of the matter is that it is heavily used now. I personally think an alternative location has to be found for the baseball/softball before you take this location away.

What does the average ball player do after the game? I think that depends on the age of the ball player. I think the little ones come with their parents and then go home - maybe stopping for an ice cream cone - or a pizza on the way. The adult players who play at night do often frequent our bars and eat.

I do think you have picked a park that could use some upgrading or conversion. But parks are important to a city - as important as shopping. I do think you need to remember that sales tax is collected by the county so money spent anywhere in Cuyahoga county is used by us. The money from Income Tax from waiters and store clerks is nominal at best.

Lynn,

Two groups that might prosper are business owners and employees of new businesses. Having businesses that are worth millions not tens of thousands might benefit some.

Parents that are afraid of the park now might benefit.

Police might benefit from having less vandalism in the city... the parks department might benefit from having less repairs.

Existing businesses might benefit from having visitors there 12 months a year rather than 3.

The library might benefit from having more people visit the area.

As typical in these posts this is just my opinion... just landfill.

For what it is worth,

I believe that Kaufmann is invaluable to the city. It is one of, if the not the only, parks that is within walking distance of a highly developed retail space.

There are a number of restaurants and pubs that are quite close by as well as the plaza, two shopping strips and the library. It has wonderful ample parking and the feeling of being an isaland in the middle of the city.

Where else are people brought into the city (for various sports events) and placed in an area that exposes them to all that Lakewood has to offer - from great cuisine, to culture, to eclectic shops?

Even if the players dont spend their money right then and there - they have to drive through some of best to get there. It is virtually impossible NOT too see a happening vibrant city when you are traveling to Kaufmann Park - unlike Lakewood Park and Madison, where the areas are much quieter and/or residential along the paths to and from them.

I think losing this self promoting oasis of green in the center of our city would be tragic. Instead I would advocate reinforcing its position as the premier place to go and watch evening softball, or afternoon soccer with the family.

Make it inviting for families and think it will do more for Lakewood than any office park, or Fashion Big could possibly hope to do.

Just my two cents
Charyn

I think it should be both also.... just park on Detroit and mixed use behind..... Park immediately opposite the new huge library.... Public building.../ public park.

Right in the middle of the city center.

Make it inviting for families and think it will do more for Lakewood than any office park, or Fashion Big could possibly hope to do.

Charyn, what upsets me is that I don't think the majority of our council people or our mayor get that. The report was given at last nights council meeting and honestly I felt like it was a yawn and no big deal to some of our local politicians. I don't think the mayor takes the criticism that has been stated about the parks seriously. I know that three of the council people feel the parks are in desperate need, but I don't know how the others feel. I would have liked more discussion last night. I would have appreciated the mayor talking to me last night, especially since I publicly voiced my dissatisfaction over the parks, but that didn't happen. I hope that council and the mayor take the situation with the parks seriously. Parks are important. It's sad that many of my friends leave Lakewood to take their children to the park, that is not acceptable. Something has to be done, a solution has to be found.

I agree that making the parks inviting and keeping them safe and clean does a great deal toward keeping people with families in the city. I lived right behind Kaufmann Park for many years. When we first moved there, there was no outfield fence and the large green space was more heavily used by children in the neighborhood all year round, with pickup football games, soccer and kite flying and sled riding in the winter. Once they put up a permanent outfield fence it evolved into solely a ball field with the little links plunked onto the other side. Fortunately there was still some sled riding in the winter. But all the activity of the summer, in the large green field, was fenced out.

A wonderful family friendly park built around Foxx Field would serve the community well. Couldn't the shopping center, which is heavily used but not well situated, be built in such a way that there would be dedicated pedestrian egress from Detroit to the park? Bringing a library into a park seems completely natural. And what's with the old Huntington kiosk, plucked in the middle of nowhere? Also any plan that better accommodates the farmer's market would be wonderful as well.

Having lived in the middle of this area I know that it is in many ways the heart and soul of Lakewood. This is a prime area for redevelopment. I loved my little house on Andrews and forever miss the easy pop ups to Drug Mart, Phoenix, etc. But I think the city is best served if this wonderful hunk of land in the middle of town remains public. I don't think it would take too much to make it work and there are a great group of people on Andrews that would probably be happy to make the park work for everyone.

This park is heavily used now, but primarily for one purpose. Expanding the mission of the park to serve more than just baseball would better serve the surrounding community.

Mark -

An interesting concept! I am curious about issues with softballs and cars or cars and kids... (the mom in me likes the big buildings and hill between the cars and my kids )

I suppose it would really have to come down to design. I do think that putting the park up front would add to the aesthetic aspect of downtown Lakewood and would draw more people in while making mischief-making a little harder....

Danielle/Kate -

I guess the question comes down to what can council or the mayor do? Obviously we have a constrained budget so it is a matter of priorities as well as a matter of making sure that we are effectively utilizing all of the existing resources.

If it is determined that the resources assigned to the park division are performing at or above expectations (as individuals mind you) then we can conclude we need more resources. If they are not - we need to fix that before we can determine the next step.

So the question/s in my mind is/are who is in charge of parks, what can they tell us, and what do they think they need and why?

Just my thots ...
Charyn

Mark Reinhold wrote:What does the average softball player do after their game.... Does he or she get a hot cup of coffee @ Phoenix?(are there leagues the other 9 months of the year?).... Does he check the Art of Hitting out of the Library?.... Does he go to another neighborhood and go to a bar?.... does she get a great bottle of white wine from Rozi's?.... does he go home?... Does he wander the neighborhood with his family?....Does he spend money at multiple locations near the field?.

All I know is that protecting one softball field is lower on my list of priorities than adding life to Up-town Lakewood. The city survived when the Elk's field was up-rooted for what is now Giant Eagle I think it could survive and thrive again.

Sorry about the Ghandi wrecking ball.

Mark

How odd, we rarely agree in the hallway, but you hit a home run with the thought process.

But as the Farris Family always go back to the Peninsula, I must go back to my idea form years ago for Kaufman Park, that makes sense to me.

I think I have posted the idea, drawing before makes sense to me, more than what is planned, or leaving the field that is used rent free by St. Eds for baseball.

BUY up and tear down everything from Andrews to Lakeland, south of the tracks. I think that is 14 homes, to one story buildings. Leave Masonic Temple and Christian Science Building and the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Use landfill to complete the amphitheater that is created by the hill.

Along Detroit put four stories English style Tudor(Mark as one of the city's finest architects you would know better than I). These would be set back enough to get parking lots in front. I picture the kind of buildings that are on the North-East Corner of Mayfield and Lee(will try to find my photos). The first floor would be high end shops, 2nd and third floors office space, 4 floor lofts for living or artists and what have you. Stone buildings, slate roofs, etc.

The park would be redeveloped similar to Cain Park in Cleveland Heights. Theater and winding park trail to make the park seem bigger than it is. Have concerts with acts similar to Cain, ticket prices $20 - $40. Maybe try to get Great Lakes Shakespeare back for the true Bill Experience, outside with the back drop being the amphitheater, and the English style buildings.


Rockefeller Building on Lee and Mayfield. This is 1930, so that the style would fit in with the rest of Lakewood.

Use the winding path for Art Show, Food shows, Starry Night, any show that brings people in to Lakewood, from Lakewood but outside of Lakewood as well.

I cannot think of anytime I went to Cain Park, about twice a year, that I did not park wondering if my car would be there as I went in, and thinking about how nice it would be to live near by on the way out. Very powerful brand builder for Cleveland Heights. http://www.cainpark.com/

Gives us the high-end stores craved by some, the park craved by others, and the theater and art space craved by others. When not in use it would be a perfect complement for the Library, and local eateries as people would grab the green for lunch.

Then when the Peninsula gets built, that ampitheater could 4,000 to 10,000 seats. Which would provide a perfect fit for the other theaters in town including Cleveland. Lakewood would become a mecca for music, arts, and good living. Not that it is not already.

Everyone wins.


.

Hi,
Interesting ideas. Jim.

Let me regress back to the main theme of this thread.

The parks need some attention. We are told that costs money. It does but who we have doing that work greatly affects the number of hours we have people actually working to clean/fix them up. Why, if we have some full time City employee that earns a large salary and gets paid all those benefits why then we can't get too many hours of actual work. I don't have actual salaries in front of me but for the purpose of this example it isn't really needed. Let's say the City has $50,000 budgeted to address a park. That's (let's say) the cost of 1 full-time City employee for 1 year. Ok, so that 1 person gets assigned to 1 park and we the citizens get at most under 2,000 hours of care and attention to the park during normal business hours and no attention on weekend. This is how I see our City currently addressing the problem.

But, if our City took a little effort and began using College Work Study students to maintain the park we could balloon the total number of hours of care and attention the park would receive. How? The College Work Study program is a federally subsidized program to help kids get through college. With this program the students are employed and paid by the college. The College collects a small wage from the organization (non-profit or City) that the student works for (say $2.00 per hour) and then collect the difference from the federal government. The student then gets a check from his/her school for about $10.00 and hour.

So, now that you see the federal work study program is an excellent way for a non-profit/government entity (Like the City of Lakewood) to get high quality employees very cheaply. Let’s look at what this could do for us in regards to servicing the parks.

$ 50,000 divided by $2.00/hr gives us 25,000 hours of service that College Work Study students could perform for the Park. That’s over 12 times the number of hours we are currently getting. Think about how there could be someone cleaning the Restrooms hourly. Or, they could be walking around the Park picking up litter all the time, including weekends. Maybe they could be painting and other doing other light maintenance items. As far as taking care of our parks, for the most part we don’t need highly skilled workers.

Lynn and I have mentioned this over and over to our City Administration but there does not seem to be any interest in it. Perhaps fellow citizens can help make them aware of this option.

Thanks,

PS. While the funding is tied to the School year, the students are able to work throughout the year, not just while school is in session.

Don -

I have no idea about the feasibility of such a program - but I think it is one of the best ideas I have heard!!!!

Hopefully, someone on council or in the administration will vet this out and give us the up or down on it (and why!)

Always,
Charyn

Donald Farris wrote:.....Lynn and I have mentioned this over and over to our City Administration but there

does not seem to be any interest in it.....

I think you have put your finger on the problem.

Your numbers raise an interesting point. How many man hours does it take to mow the lawn and empty the trash at Lakewood Park? If you hired one person to do nothing else could he do it?

Could High School students do the work better and cheaper?

The administration chooses to pay the laborers union $50 an hour for summer replacements. Is that the right choice?

Unions rarely appreciate lower paid or nonunion college students taking their work or potential work away from them.

Some unions have even made a big stink about having DUI/DWI offenders clean litter along highways, as in done in some jurisdictions, rather than hiring union sanitary engineers.

Doug

Hi,
Mr. Call, High School students would not qualify for this program so they would cost more (2.5 time more at least). Also, there is a question of maturity and direct supervision that makes High School students less desirable than the College Work Study Student. But I would think there would be huge cost savings even with High School students over full time City employees.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Mr. Huntingdon, do you care?

I care and respect the Unions that service us in our City. I would like for us to be able to maintain existing levels of compensation and numbers. We have to be creative to do that AND avoid increasing taxes.

We are in very tight times here. Which do you prefer? Happy unions (and I'm not sure they do care here) or clean usable Parks.