The Observation Deck

Mayor Mike Summers is starting to make our residents, families, the LOBC, Kauffman Park Friends, and, yes, even City Council look like the Washington Generals ...

... again ...





... very sad ...

... Lakewood deserves so much better.

Nice update Ryan, thanks.



Another half court in Lakewood this Saturday!

I suppose what got me looking at this, and all the BS around it going back decades is why does
it take so long. Why is it all going to hell in a handbasket? Mike played basketball, he hung out
with friends, and got some exercise and some growing up.

Taking the hoops down was a huge mistake, a no brainer is put them back up.

Mixed messages everywhere from City Hall.

OK when are the two full courts going into Madison Park with lights?

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Jim O'Bryan wrote:Mixed messages everywhere from City Hall.

Really, Jim?

It's just the usual "lying game" being played by City Hall.

The last time City Hall told us the truth ... on the record ... was ... when?

Jim O'Bryan wrote:OK when are the two full courts going into Madison Park with lights?

You mean, where the kids can actually be seen ... in the open ... safely ... having fun ... in a city park?

That's not going to happen.

Matt

Matthew John Markling wrote:

J Hrlec wrote:.... why not put the hoop in your backyard?

Ironically, that's just what the folks at City Hall tell our residents and families.
"Just put a hoop up in your backyard and shut up!"

Actually I was telling the poster this, not the city.
I am also a Lakewood resident and family and the city government has never told me anything such as this.

Matthew John Markling wrote:Not everyone in the 'Wood has a backyard.
It's okay to have basketball hoops and courts in city parks.

Most do and probably most of the people overreacting, but this is besides the point.
I think the city believes it is perfectly fine to have courts in the park, sounds like they are trying to make it work with balance between court users and residents.

Matthew John Markling wrote:For some reason, Bay Village, Rocky River, and the like seem to do just fine with basketball hoops and courts in their city parks ... but ... not here in Lakewood.
Why is that?

Take a look at the Rocky River and Bay courts and tell me whose backyard they are built by.... you'll figure it out (well maybe)

Lakewood


Rocky River



Bay Village

J,

I agree with you that the hoops at Kauffman are too close to residents. I also agree that it may upset those residents. That being said, the mayor fabricated a story about kids at risk to relocate the hoops. He said he had watched the video surveillance and said it wouldn't impact many people. I am sure he was hoping no one would have noticed and he could just move the hoops.

If he would have just come out and said, I was wrong, we should have never put hoops here so we are moving them I would be totally on board. If there was a true credible threat, there are tools available, that he has even used in the past, to take care of the threat.

SO... Do you fix one mistake by making another?? Look at the picture below, the distance from the hoop to the houses are the same or possibly even closer than at Kauffman. There is a nice elderly woman that lives near this park, she isn't happy now but apparently isn't upset enough to be a credible threat. In a couple years will the mayor make her a credible threat and move the hoop again?

J Hrlec,

Simply put, Lakewood is a very, very condensed and populated area.

As Ryan points out, all of our city parks are next to houses in Lakewood. So are our train tracks. And, City Hall is now even putting cool bars/breweries next to our elementary schools.

As Ryan also points out, the real issue is that Mayor Mike Summers is simply lying to our families, residents, the LOBC, Kauffman Park Friends, and City Council about his alleged pal being an alleged "credible concern for public safety near the park."

Do I expect Mayor Mike Summers to lie to us?

No doubt.

Do I hope that Mayor Mike Summers will start being honest with us?

Yes.

Ryan is spot on:

Ryan Salo wrote:[T]he mayor fabricated a story about kids at risk to relocate the hoops. He said he had watched the video surveillance and said it wouldn't impact many people. I am sure he was hoping no one would have noticed and he could just move the hoops.

If he would have just come out and said, I was wrong, we should have never put hoops here so we are moving them I would be totally on board. If there was a true credible threat, there are tools available, that he has even used in the past, to take care of the threat.

SO... Do you fix one mistake by making another?? Look at the picture below, the distance from the hoop to the houses are the same or possibly even closer than at Kauffman. There is a nice elderly woman that lives near this park, she isn't happy now but apparently isn't upset enough to be a credible threat. In a couple years will the mayor make her a credible threat and move the hoop again?

Matt

Yea it's great that Wagar got a half court. However, this hoop was removed from Kauffman Park.

I'm concerned that with the vision we want to see enacted at Kauffman Park and other parks in Lakewood, that any neighbor that is persistently complaining about park activities can have a park closed for "safety concerns". This is a precedent that is unfair to park users, advocacy groups, and most importantly unfair to kids that want to safely ride their bike to play at their neighborhood park:

http://www.cleveland.com/lakewood/index ... asket.html

But yea it's great that the same city hall who cites "safety concerns" allows an over 150 seat bar to exist in the middle of a residential neighborhood and next to an elementary school?

So in sum, a neighborhood court that attracts elementary school kids from Lincoln and Grant is shut down over the sound of a bouncing ball and the threats of a menacing neighbor but we will allow a bar to exist right next to an elementary school?

Groups like Kauffman Park Friends inspire other people and residents to get involved in their community, one resident who complains about the noise of a bouncing ball, should not dictate park policy for 52,000 residents.

Thanks, Nadhal. Good one.

Are there any updates on this issue?

Have any other Lakewood leaders spoken out against the "self-aggrandizing practice adopted by one branch" of our local government - i.e., Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers?

Ryan Salo wrote:J,
I agree with you that the hoops at Kauffman are too close to residents.

Yep, that's really all that needs to be said.

Ryan Salo wrote:SO... Do you fix one mistake by making another?? Look at the picture below, the distance from the hoop to the houses are the same or possibly even closer than at Kauffman. There is a nice elderly woman that lives near this park, she isn't happy now but apparently isn't upset enough to be a credible threat. In a couple years will the mayor make her a credible threat and move the hoop again?

Don't know what map you're looking at but although the new hoop still may not be ideal distance, it certainly is futher from anyone's front or back yard than Kauffman. Also, once this "elderly woman" complains to the city in the same manner as the gentlman near Kauffman, then I'll worry about the concerns you mention here.... until then I'll assume the daily existing noise at that park was never really an issue.

When I was young, we played a lot of tennis at what was then called Andrews field. My observation is that tennis (this was before grunting when you served was popular) is a lot quieter than basketball (I think of the courts near Harding which had a lot of noise).

But I think some people misrepresent the situation here. One man is not dictating policy. He is demanding that the policies that exist be enforced. From what has been written in this thread, it appears that there have been numerous incidences where the closing time has been ignored, and some of the posters here even threaten to hassle this resident for demanding that the rules be obeyed. So the major has acted to defuse the situation and I praise him for that.

I don't live near the park anymore, but my memory is that there was a lot of unused land on the edge of the park abutting the rail line. That land is not near any homes. So why not build a basketball court there and let all the neighbors live in peace?

Matthew John Markling wrote:Are there any updates on this issue?

Have any other Lakewood leaders spoken out against the "self-aggrandizing practice adopted by one branch" of our local government - i.e., Mayor and Public Safety Director Michael P. Summers?

This is out there from State Representative Nickie Antonio...

Download pdf here.
http://media.lakewoodobserver.com/media/docs_1403875583.pdf







.

Will Brown wrote:When I was young, we played a lot of tennis at what was then called Andrews field. My observation is that tennis (this was before grunting when you served was popular) is a lot quieter than basketball (I think of the courts near Harding which had a lot of noise).

But I think some people misrepresent the situation here. One man is not dictating policy. He is demanding that the policies that exist be enforced. From what has been written in this thread, it appears that there have been numerous incidences where the closing time has been ignored, and some of the posters here even threaten to hassle this resident for demanding that the rules be obeyed. So the major has acted to defuse the situation and I praise him for that.

I don't live near the park anymore, but my memory is that there was a lot of unused land on the edge of the park abutting the rail line. That land is not near any homes. So why not build a basketball court there and let all the neighbors live in peace?

Well said, I also agree with your assessment and remember much of the same with the tennis courts at Kuffman and hoops at harding.

You need to realize that "Observers" love to focus more on the mayor and government conspiracy side of a topic, not really concerned about moving forward and getting more hoops up.

Oh but I'm sure more whatever to come.

J Hrlec wrote:Don't know what map you're looking at but although the new hoop still may not be ideal distance, it certainly is futher from anyone's front or back yard than Kauffman.

I am measuring distance from hoop to house, using technology, not just guessing. The hoops at Wagar are 15 feet CLOSER to a house than at Kauffman. Kauffman also had a $5,000 sound barrier and trees, Wagar has neither.

Will Brown wrote:One man is not dictating policy. He is demanding that the policies that exist be enforced. From what has been written in this thread, it appears that there have been numerous incidences where the closing time has been ignored, and some of the posters here even threaten to hassle this resident for demanding that the rules be obeyed. So the major has acted to defuse the situation and I praise him for that.

Do you realize that the mayor was the person to blame for the courts not being opened and closed at the correct time? So he fails to do his job then closes the hoops to eliminate his responsibility and you praise him???

J Hrlec wrote:You need to realize that "Observers" love to focus more on the mayor and government conspiracy side of a topic, not really concerned about moving forward and getting more hoops up.

I call BS. Do you have any proof of this statement? The pro-basketball "Observers" I know and talk with all want hoops at every park the city will allow. I was even willing to buy portable hoops to put up and take down at open tennis courts and was told I would be arrested.

The mayor is the person restricting basketball, the "Observers" are calling him out and helping to make things happen.