The Observation Deck

Jim O'Bryan wrote:
STOP BURNING OUR MONEY ON YOUR MISTAKES.

I had a good laugh when at first I read "MONKEY."

One of these years I'm going to make it to that festival

On a more serious note, this thread makes me uncomfortable…from the topic title to the personal attacks.

Obviously we have a problem maintaining a walkable city year round that needs to be addressed, or change our marketing to a more honest “walkable 6-9 months a year.”

I don’t understand why this discussion is centered on a city employee whose job it is to focus on long term planning and development.

I do understand the frustration but there’s got to be another way forward.

Gary, where are you?

Mayor?

Council?

Meg,

Dru actually wears a few hats at city hall and one of which is to run the department in charge of enforcing the sidewalk ordinance.

Maybe he has too many responsibilities on his plate...

Meg Ostrowski wrote:or change our marketing to a more honest “walkable 6-9 months a year.”

Thank you for the chuckle.

.

Meg, I will speak for myself and I suspect many of my neighbors on Grace who have dealt with Mr. Siley . During the Drug Mart process Mr. Siley misled us. He also engaged in political gamesmanship ( a form of dishonesty from a public servant). He suppressed a legal memo. Finally in what amounted to a political ambush his Planning Commission restricted our right to speak, without prior warning, while allowing Drug Mart to ignore promises they made under oath concerning truck traffic on Grace. That's the short version. We still live with the consequences . If your interested in a more detailed account of how Mr. Siley conducted himself I would refer you to Colleen Cotter's article in the Lakewood Observer titled "Grace Ave Lessons Learned", complete with timeline. Given all of that, I reserve the right to note when Mr. Siley is being a hypocrite or when Ms. Madigan answers a straight question with a disingenuous " I've heard that rumor too" or when the mayor sits in silence while potentially putting others at risk ( as he did last summer). I also reserve the right not to move on. Nothing would benefit this clique more than providing them with a political vacuum within which to operate. This is about collective memory. It's about remembering how Mr. Summers, Mr. Siley and Ms. Madigan conducted themselves in the past. How they conduct themselves in the present and using that knowledge to inform the discussion on how they conduct themselves in the future. Respectfully, Mark Buckley.

Ryan Salo wrote:Meg,

Dru actually wears a few hats at city hall and one of which is to run the department in charge of enforcing the sidewalk ordinance.

Maybe he has too many responsibilities on his plate...

Ryan, I think you might be on to something.

m buckley wrote:Meg, I will speak for myself and I suspect many of my neighbors on Grace who have dealt with Mr. Siley . During the Drug Mart process Mr. Siley misled us. He also engaged in political gamesmanship ( a form of dishonesty from a public servant). He suppressed a legal memo. Finally in what amounted to a political ambush his Planning Commission restricted our right to speak, without prior warning, while allowing Drug Mart to ignore promises they made under oath concerning truck traffic on Grace. That's the short version. We still live with the consequences . If your interested in a more detailed account of how Mr. Siley conducted himself I would refer you to Colleen Cotter's article in the Lakewood Observer titled "Grace Ave Lessons Learned", complete with timeline. Given all of that, I reserve the right to note when Mr. Siley is being a hypocrite or when Ms. Madigan answers a straight question with a disingenuous " I've heard that rumor too" or when the mayor sits in silence while potentially putting others at risk ( as he did last summer). I also reserve the right not to move on. Nothing would benefit this clique more than providing them with a political vacuum within which to operate. This is about collective memory. It's about remembering how Mr. Summers, Mr. Siley and Ms. Madigan conducted themselves in the past. How they conduct themselves in the present and using that knowledge to inform the discussion on how they conduct themselves in the future. Respectfully, Mark Buckley.

Mark, I am not defending the behavior you describe. I sympathize and respect your right to be where you are.

My concern/discomfort with the tone of this discussion is that it may keep others from participating who are vital to solutions.

Meg Ostrowski wrote:My concern/discomfort with the tone of this discussion is that it may keep others from participating who are vital to solutions.

Meg,

I understand your concern and I was hesitant to create this thread until I was told NTB was in compliance and I didnt know what I was talking about when obviously they hadn't touched the side street.

Just so I understand your post, who are the "others" that are "vital to solutions" that we may be keeping away?

In my opinion most of the leadership that can fix the problems are the ones creating them...

While I am not trying to marginalize the smaller side streets, it concerns me how poorly Clifton Boulevard and Lake Avenue sidewalks are taken care of. Clifton and Lake are the main routes for children walking to Lincoln, Lakewood City Academy, Lakewood Catholic Academy, and Emerson. If I recall, Lakewood ordinances permit police officers as well as building inspectors to issue tickets to those that violate the code. I feel that police officers could be assisting the code compliance person with enforcing this law during times when they are not busy.

FWIW:

"Mr. Dreger,

My name is Kevin Meyer. I am the district manager for National Tire and Battery in Cleveland. I saw your email regarding snow removal at businesses in Lakewood, and I understand your concern.
I have spoken to the manager at the Lakewood store and let him know what our responsibility entails: the sidewalks should be cleared with every snowfall. I’ve been assured they will be cleared sometime today, and cleared moving forward.
As a former Lakewood resident, and from time spent in the store, I realize that there are a lot of folks using the sidewalks in that area. We want to accommodate the foot traffic, as well as the car traffic.
Thank you for your concern, and bringing this to my attention. If you have any further concerns or would like to contact me, my phone number and email address are below.
Thanks again, and have a great day.

Kevin R. Meyer
District Manager- Cleveland 9446
National Tire and Battery
(216)272-3130
kmeyer@tirekingdom.com"

Of course, actions speak louder than words.

Great job Jeff! That is a great idea to reach out to regional or corp offices!

NTB sidewalk is clear! Great job Jeff!

Ryan Salo wrote:

Meg Ostrowski wrote:My concern/discomfort with the tone of this discussion is that it may keep others from participating who are vital to solutions.

Meg,

I understand your concern and I was hesitant to create this thread until I was told NTB was in compliance and I didnt know what I was talking about when obviously they hadn't touched the side street.

Just so I understand your post, who are the "others" that are "vital to solutions" that we may be keeping away?

In my opinion most of the leadership that can fix the problems are the ones creating them...

Ryan,

Mother Nature created this problem. City leadership merely amplified it by legislating/marketing our community walkable and then not meeting expectations. They are vital in implementing solutions.

You have done a great job raising awareness of this issue, documenting and following up. I admire your commitment.

When I said “you might be on to something” in an earlier post, I was just suggesting that perhaps Dru and ALL of us have too much on our plates to be effective in ALL areas of responsibility ALL of the time. It seems to have become the way of our world…and too often ONLY the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

While I have my own short stack of unanswered letters to leaders on issues that only they can address, I hate to think that the only way to get some action is to shame them publicly. I keep hoping they will step up and lead or be replaced by others who will.

I’ve been told I hold the record for being patient.

Multi-tasking is simply a way to do multiple things more poorly than you would have had you done them individually...

Jeff, great job. While Mr. Siley was busy blocking names from his twitter account, you and Ryan Salo stepped up and addressed a serious issue. Thanks again.

Dru must be upset channel 5 did a story on the volunteers that are calling businesses. He now unfriended me on Facebook!