The Observation Deck

Ken

Speaking as the library director, I have no desire to see the example of Lakewood Public Library used in arguments over management and governance issues that fall outside the scope of the library itself.

I know that LPL is the finest Library, perhaps in the known universe. It has been my privilege to work with you as director and the other board members for a number of years in a cooperative fashion. The results speak for themselves. But comparison of LPL structure to city governance is not a realistic parallel, unless of course, we were to have the school board appoint City Council.......

Jeff

Rick Uldricks wrote:The mattress and box-spring are there because another person is moving out of Lakewood.

Rick

Let's keep this upbeat and positive.


Maybe the owner of the mattress died.



.

Maybe they bought a new mattress. Or a couch.

ryan costa wrote:Maybe they bought a new mattress. Or a couch.

Or one of those bed/couches, you know a futon.


After the guy or gal died.


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Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Rick Uldricks wrote:The mattress and box-spring are there because another person is moving out of Lakewood.

Rick

Let's keep this upbeat and positive.


Maybe the owner of the mattress died.



.

I didn't say anything negative, Jim.

Why would you post a picture of a dead person's mattress? That's kind of creepy.

Hi,
My son is studying modern artists and Jim, I have to say, photographing anything related to the dead is quite modern. Creepy, yes. Modern, yes.

Now, just make a "coffee table" book of them and you are on your way.

Rick Uldricks wrote:I didn't say anything negative, Jim.

Why would you post a picture of a dead person's mattress? That's kind of creepy.

Rick/Don

Ask my wife of 22 years this month. The answer would be "Who knows why he does or says what he does or says."

This thread started after a beautiful weekend like many in Lakewood. Out walking around taking pictures, and thinking. It is the thinking or non-thinking part that always gets me in trouble.

As for the book of dead people's matresses, it will have to wait. I am working on another book.


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King Jim wrote:
"thinking or non-thinking"

Assez Zen.

Maybe if you get tired of one of those activities I can take over the other for you. No charge.

Charyn Compeau wrote:So Bill - explain to me how you can divine that no-one cares and what - exactly - your solution would be and what precedent should be set for all future instances of this type (of which as pointed out there are many a week).

Thanks!
Charyn

Were talking about picking up a mattress not about building the Golden Gate Bridge.

One management technique is Management By Walking Around. The person in charge walks around the factory floor (store, office, city) and points out things that need to be done. Pick that up! Put that down! Fill that hole! Dig that hole! Clean it up! So how long are breaks anyway?

The City needs supervisors who walk around town pointing out things that need to be done.

One of those great mysteries of City government is that you have more and more employees serving fewer and fewer residents but less and less seems to get done. How long does it take forty public works employees to move two hundred pieces of furniture? Apparently all summer.

I think this is a perfect example of Kowalski's Theory on Bureaucratic Efficiency.

Simply put the theory states:

In a any large bureaucratic structure as the level of activity approaches infinity the amount of work actually completed approaches zero.

Bill Call wrote:The City needs supervisors who walk around town pointing out things that need to be done.

One of those great mysteries of City government is that you have more and more employees serving fewer and fewer residents but less and less seems to get done. How long does it take forty public works employees to move two hundred pieces of furniture? Apparently all summer.

Bill

I am confused, you say we need more supervisors, then talk about having too many.

I would suggest a radical concept. These people work for us. We are the supervisors.

At the same time, you are exactly right, we do not need to hire more. We must become more pro-active. Every spring I join with others in the very illegal act of cleaning the railroad tracks of debris, from one end of the city to the other. Takes 4 hours, would even take less if more got involved. Many live no where near the tracks, most hold high profile jobs, that would be interesting if they were arrested for this act.

But to bang the drum more slowly. I have yet to see one person on the city's payroll from out of town show up and help. Thought there is one member of City Hall that lives out of town has given positive input, and a form of assistance.

When X leaves his.her job at City Hall and drives past the mattress or whatever, on their way home at 5:00pm, does he/she stop, Call the city, wait till it is corrected or do they go, "Can't wait to get home."?

Much like the argument used by some of these people on Section 8, "Without ownership their is very little pride or reason to keep it nice." I now ask if that is not true for officials?

It is all tough, and I do not envy the job the mayor has.


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At the risk of belaboring the obvious, I want to bootstrap Gabe’s question “How many L.O. posts does it take to move a mattress?â€Â￾ into a recent incident that casts a more positive light on bringing order and repair to something broken in the public order.

As participants in the loopy communication loops of the LO Deck, we like to believe in the magic wand concept that our effusions here frame a smoke signal context for action on the public order by the powers that be.

Practically speaking, however, I would ask did anyone make a phone call to City Hall, or the street department, or the Mayor’s Office, about the mattress, a practical step - leaving a message even on the weekend, in order to get the matter into the formal area of oversight, supervision, scheduling and execution of the task at hand?

I realize any bureaucracy can be a painful order to negotiate, harder sometimes than posting to the LO Deck and gratifying ourselves, while hoping the powers that be might eventually notice. In fact the reality of problem-solving a matter like this effectively is that one will likely negotiate the public order in a modern urban place through formal communication with bureaucracy.

I say all this because, I generally find the Lakewood bureaucracy quite responsive to inputs about broken order. Easy for me to say, because I am a public bureaucrat.....

Anyway, on Wednesday night around 7:30 p.m., I was leaving the library and noticed the pedestrian push button for the crossing light on north east side of Detroit and Arthur was handing off by the wire.

I went back to the library and called the non-emergency police number listed in the phone book to report the matter. I asked if this was a matter I could report to her. The dispatcher said she will pass the message onto the Street Department for the next day.

The next morning, around 8: 20 a.m. I saw two street department workers on their knees, making the repair.

I joked to them, saying, “This is good, you guys are saying your prayers to the totem pole of safety. I called in last night to the police and I really appreciate you coming out so quickly and getting this fixed.â€Â￾

The crew smiled and said “No problem,â€Â￾ politely and respectfully.

“This is great. The city that works. Have a good day,â€Â￾ I said.

So let’s recognize practical matters at hand, doing what we can to bring our attention, skills to the proper channels for the work at hand in an effective and constructive way.

I enjoy waving the magic wand of instigation on the LO Deck, like everyone else. Let’s just be certain that we don’t lose sight of the prize and constructive communication and relationships that provide the real substance for a city that works.

Kenneth Warren

Good point Ken. As much as we might like to think that a post on LO is somehow a direct line into City Hall, in reality, we know that isn't the case. Sure, sometimes a post might get read, maybe a response, sometimes some kind of action, but there's no substitute for picking up for the phone.....or for that matter, dropping by City Hall. I've always found a willingness to engage.

While sometimes we like to complain to let off steam, usually a more direct approach can get some results.

Jeff

Kenneth Warren wrote:Practically speaking, however, I would ask did anyone make a phone call to City Hall

yes, a visit.

not a believer in magic wands.

It was gone the next day.

But let's not forget, that matress was just a metaphor.

FWIW

I thought it was a Sealy Posturpedic

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Bill Call wrote:The City needs supervisors who walk around town pointing out things that need to be done.

I am confused, you say we need more supervisors, then talk about having too many.

Jim:

I didn't say more.