The Observation Deck

Last nights crime spree will generate renewed demands for tax increases to pay for more police. That is the wrong answer.

The problem is not trouble makers sneaking into your community to cause mischief or opportunistic criminals preying on an undefended City.
The problem is your new neighbor. And that problem will only be solved by a real housing policy.

And of course the problem will not be solved by closing your eye's and saying out loud "Everything is just fine, everything is just fine, everything is just fine".

The City cannot afford four more years of pretending there is not a problem.

Bill Call wrote:Last nights crime spree will generate renewed demands for tax increases to pay for more police. That is the wrong answer.

The problem is not trouble makers sneaking into your community to cause mischief or opportunistic criminals preying on an undefended City.
The problem is your new neighbor. And that problem will only be solved by a real housing policy.

And of course the problem will not be solved by closing your eye's and saying out loud "Everything is just fine, everything is just fine, everything is just fine".

The City cannot afford four more years of pretending there is not a problem.

Bill

I agree no more police would have helped anything in either case. Might have helped looking for the shooter, but neither crime could have been stopped by more police.

This all came down to how parents raise their kids. Allegedly we have a mother buying alcohol for underage kids. That get drunk and problems happen. One girl drinks herself into passing out, and with impared judgement and NO MORALS three drunk teens rape her.

Last night, we have one kid being threatened ALL DAY by a guy, who was probably known to have a gun, and he never talked to the police. Then we have the low life shooter, out hunting for this guy all day, the two girls in the car with him never got out and called police, and now will end up in court as accessories.

I throw all of these on the parents and the kids.

Not the mayor, not council, not the police.

Speaking of police, Bill, and here is where you loose the argument for more police on the street. While 5 cars are at the scene, and another 3 are with the shooter's girlfriends, and his car. The rest of the city is without protection. So when the fight broke out at the Silver Coast, the kid breaks his leg on Maile, The loud neighbors with a fire to close to the neighbors house, the woman locked out of her car, etc happens, there are no police to answer.

This is exactly what more police can do.

Another thing they can do, is build the brand that Lakewood is well covered, and it is not the place to move or live if you have those pesky criminal tendencies.

So please tell me how the mayor would have stopped this, or Ed Fitzgerald, or Ryan Demro.

I would hope all candidates would understand this, and if any of them use last night for politcal gain, is a cheap political whore.

One thing I have always loved about the county, over Chicago, New York, Miami, etc. To get hurt or involved in a violent crime 99.5% of the time you know the person kicking your ass, shooting you, etc. These crimes will continue to rise as jobs disappear, and American lifestyle goes down the crapper.

.

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Jim O'Bryan wrote:Bryan

I have no idea how Tom, Ed, or Ryan would explain these. Ryan was there when I arrived, and was at every stop last night. The Mayor was at the scene working out of the "command area." As was Brian Corrigan Law Director.

These were real crimes last night, and last month. No doubt about it. I am not trying to frost crap and make it taste good, but...

Once again all the victims knew each other. Doesn't make it any easier on the victims. Will not make it any easier in the courts on the criminals, but...

The is not the same crime wave hitting Bay, Westlake and River or the same thing going on in Cleveland. It happened in my parking lot. The same lot I walk ten times a day. the same lot I park in for the office. This will not worry me today, or down the road. Personal fight between two people that knew each other. Of course it will never be the same for me, or those that live looking at it. But it is also the same lot I left my phone, police scanner, and ipod on top of my car by mistake at 8am, and when I came out to my car at noon, still found them on top of my car.

Bad night for Lakewood no doubt, but...

Jim, I agree, horrible night for Lakewood. I also agree that these incidents are isolated and not a sign of a crime wave....but...

These incidents are shocking and will simply stoke the fears of those who feel that crime is a growing problem.

My main point for Mayor George is that running on a campaign of "crime's not an issue" with something like this happening right before the primaries is not a smart tactic. It simply appears like he's minimizing the real perceptions of a voting block of people.

Here's a new bit of statistical juggling going on in this campaign.

I just got Fitzgerald's mailer. On the back, in bright yellow is a block detailing criminal statistics. If you just look at it, your eye is drawn immediately to the statistics apparently proving crime is up.

WRONG - Look above the statistics "Lakewood Court filings have increased". What this means people is that more cases are being prosecuted which would be the job of the Law Dept. and the Police Dept. under the supervision of Tom George!

Maybe it's time to quit slamming the people who point these things out and start calling out the ones who are attempting to mislead us.

I forgot to mention the fact that, on the same card, right below the filings percentages, there is a replica of a police badge. Someone just glancing at it would think that he was endorsed by the police. Mind you, the mailer doesn't say that, but the badge is prominently displayed below the yellow box containing the filings. This is misleading and wrong on many levels.

Tom George was endorsed by the police union, not Fitzgerald.

Bryan Schwegler wrote:

Jim, I agree, horrible night for Lakewood. I also agree that these incidents are isolated and not a sign of a crime wave....but...

These incidents are shocking and will simply stoke the fears of those who feel that crime is a growing problem.

My main point for Mayor George is that running on a campaign of "crime's not an issue" with something like this happening right before the primaries is not a smart tactic. It simply appears like he's minimizing the real perceptions of a voting block of people.

Bryan

I would hope you are too smart to allow two incidents that could not be stopped decide the election for the city? So the future of the city is going to be decided by "an alleged drug dealer from Cleveland, and an alledegly drunk stupid mother passed out in a bathroom!" That is insane. This is why I called out all candidates when Bill made it an issue.

Which has the worst effect on a town. 1) drug related shooting, amongst friends? 2) Busting someone with weapons, and 10 pounds of cocaine? 3) A mature city offical stating publicly again and again to the media how unsafe a city is?

What is the single most important job of the mayor? What is the best way to measure his/her success?

I have to think property values. If a city is worth living in property values are OK. Look on the front page, a majority of questions have to do with property. Business owner, building owners, home owners, condo owners depend on this. This is one reason why we bought here. Location, Location Location.

Now we have a city that has been the butt of jokes, unfairly for decades, but we have bucked the trend and stayed even even making small gains, even after the devaluation. While the area around us falls. Any idea how hard this is?

If you want to see what happens when it goes wrong, come with me to East Cleveland, and walk the streets with me there, at night. When I walk Lakewood I have a great conversation with other walkers, home owners, joggers, people out. Never on edge, always at peace. Walk the streets at night in East Cleveland with a camera and it takes on an edgy feel that makes your senses sharper.

Now we have an election that is driving a majority of the candidates to a red herring. Beating a drum so loud it can be heard everywhere in the county. Crime, Safety, Crime, Crime, Crime, Safety. One candidate going on WTAM more than once to explain, to paraphrase, "I am a 27 year old councilman who is afraid to walk into Lakewood Parks." Followed by front pages like the Sun today. This is the BS, it hurts the city, and will cause us to turn into East Cleveland, far faster than anything else.

The mayor should always be building the brand in public. The mayor should be able to instill calm over the residents, especially in the time of anxiety. The mayor has to be fair, honest and realistic. The mayor has to wear many hats, one being the head of a city looking for development, looking for new residents, looking for a future. This is impossible if you start the conversation with "how unsafe a pretty safe city is."

Speaking with a council person running on safety, he/she mentioned it was the number one thing residents want to talk about. Dare I say before the election it was property values, parks, trash, taxes. But those are not splashy enough, no headline or radio there. Yes let's stick with if it bleeds it leads. Yeah I am sure with maybe as many as 8 candidates talking up crime, some on the radio, that Lakewood residents are worried of crime. After all that is where our candidates have delivered them. To the edge of fear. For what?

I cannot wait to get this election over. So that some of us can go back to building the brand, attracting new residents, and businesses.

.

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Jim O'Bryan wrote: Bryan

I would hope you are too smart to allow two incidents that could not be stopped decide the election for the city?

Jim, of course I won't. What I'm trying to say is that for those people who believe there is a crime problem, these two incidents will stoke their fears. You can try to rationalize it, but we're dealing with people's emotions. If you feel crime is an issue, all they hear is a rape and a shooting...they don't care the details.

My main point is that for the mayor to continue to proclaim "there's no crime problem" it's basically political suicide to that voting block that believes their is a crime issue with these two events happening right before the primary.

I don't tie these events to a larger crime problem. Like you, I see them as isolated. The problem though is that a majority of the electorate isn't as informed nor do they apparently care to be based on past voting behaviors. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't have Bush in the White House

Jim,

I'm not sure that I agree with your statement regarding that nothing could have been done. More police presence could have noticed some of the altercations before the shooting - or the presense of police in the area could have made the shooter think twice before going off on his shooting spree.

I'm not sure I accept the premise that there has been no real increase in crime - it is all a perception. But lets say you are correct. Do you score points with people by telling them their belief that there is a crime problem is faulty that it is all in their imagination? If people don't feel safe to go out at night - shouldn't we as a city do something to make people feel safer?

We moved to Lakewood initially because of our perception that it was the safest city in NE Ohio. Don was still in college and I didn't have a job yet. We didn't want me to be afraid to walk home late at night. The perception 30 years ago was that you don't come to Lakewood with even a headlight out - because you will be ticketed. That feeling is gone now - rightly or wrongly.

So how do you change perception? Maybe it is multi-fold. I agree you have to be doing the PR about it - but that PR has to be backed up with more police visibility, more arrests, more PR about the fact that you don't come into Lakewood to commit a crime and if you live in Lakewood and intend to commit a crime - you must go elsewhere. I don't think you can do the PR without the actions to back it up. That is why I think that either Ryan's or Ed's plans for lack of a better term have at least the perception of action while the Mayor saying that we are doing better than Youngstown to Ms. Steiner seems to have given up.

Perhaps Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Demro are picking up on the feeling in the city about crime and echoing it. But they didn't just create that feeling in the last year - it has been building. Could they be using it politically? Sure, they are both skillful politicians - but let's be fair the Mayor is most likely the most skillful politician of the 3.

From the FBI Crime Stats Site-makes an interesting read about the use of crime stats and comparison to other cities.

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/about/v ... crime.html

Like some of you, I have been trying to get the straight story on crime in Lakewood.
I have not seen the Lakewood CitiStat report, nor the Lakewood Court report that Ed Fitzgerald refers to in another thread(9/24 FBI Crime Statistics Released):
"The FBI only keeps statistics on FELONIES....If you are assaulted by a juvenile, that also won't show up on these statistics....Lakewood Court records all criminal filing, both misdemeanors and felonies. In the last ten years, the number of criminal filings for violent crime is up over 20%, drug crime filings up 70%, and property crime up 134%. These numbers were provided by our court, and were not disputed by the police chief at our safety hearings."

Can anyone tell me where I can find those two reports?
Is a "filing" the same as an FBI "offense"?
How can a criminal filing for a violent crime not be a felony, and not reflected in the FBI statistics?
How else can I verify Fitzgerald's claims?

(I wrote him an email about this Friday and have received no response.)

1. I found the following FBI and OH Dept. of Public Safety-Office of Criminal Justice Services statistics. I did not go back 10 years as Fitzgerald did, but to 2001. That seems more than far enough back to be relevant to the current mayoral campaign.

Number of Offenses
Violent Crime
2001 - 115
2002 - 64
2003 - 85
2004 - 125
2005 - 114
2006 - 108

Property Crime
2001 - 1375
2002 - 1067
2003 - 947
2004 - 1178
2005 - 1343
2006 - 1287

2. For 2004, our worst year for violent crime,
www.trulia.com/real_estate/Lakewood-Ohio had these
statistics. (I'm sorry the colums don't line up. I
hope you can read this.) It shows that, for example
our property crime was less than half the Ohio average
in % of the population affected.

2004 Crime Statistics and % population affected
Lakewood, Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Property Crime: 2.15%, 3.32%, 4.74%
Arson: 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.05%
Burglary: 0.53%, 0.89%, 1.10%
Larceny Theft: 1.43%, 1.83%, 3.13%
Motor Vehicle Theft:0.19%, 0.60%, 0.52%
Violent Crime: 0.23%, 0.62%, 0.51%
Aggravated Assault: 0.14%, 0.23%, 0.21%
Murder: n/a, 0.01%, 0.01%
Rape: 0.01%, 0.06%, 0.05%
Robbery: 0.07%, 0.32%, 0.24%

3. In addition, in Money Magazine's 2006 Best Places to Live study,
(http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag ... 41664.html), here are the crime comparisons between Lakewood and the average for their top 10 best places to live:

Category Lakewood 10 Best Places average
Personal crime risk (100 is nat'l average; lower is better)
Lakewood: 25; 10 Best Places average:45
Property crime risk (100 is nat'l average; lower is better)
Lakewood: 57; 10 Best Places average:74
Personal crime incidents (per 100,000)
Lakewood:229; 10 Best Places average:228
Property crime incidents (per 100,000)
Lakewood:2,155; 10 Best Places average:3,105

According to these statistics, crime is not rising in Lakewood, and it it not a serious problem by comparison with other places. Granted, if one is a victim of a crime, it is a very serious thing to that person. And I don't claim that more police on the street wouldn't be a good thing. But I am undecided in this mayoral race, and I want to take the measure of a candidate's honesty and straight-shooting-ness. Understanding the truth behind these crime claims will help me with that.

I've been looking at these statistics over the last couple of months. Reports of crime have not increased. Incidences have not increased.

What has increased are COURT filings, which Fitzgerald has put on small print on his literature. The increase in filing would probably mean that the police have been able to find more of the perpetrators and put together solid cases against them. Kudos to our police.

You should be able to get a copy of the citistat by contacted city hall and maybe you or a representative from city hall or the police force could post it on the forum.

I didn't pay a lot of attention at the time, because the crime rate had not increased, but I'm pretty sure that I saw the FBI statistics in a spring copy of Cleveland magazine, where they compared many factors for all the suburbs.

I do not believe the focus on crime stats and scientific management captures the deeper practical, subjective and symbolic concerns over quality of life offenses documented with some regularity on the LO Deck and rippling through conversations across the city for the past several years.

The crime stat issue offers a simplistic sheathing, scaffolding - a shorthand, if you will, that allows a candidate to say either: 1) Things are really OK; or 2) Things are slipping out of control.

The complex matter behind Lakewood’s present social conditions and how candidates and voters respond in the election involves not so much crime stats per se, much less those felonies filed with the FBI.

The crux of the matter is the deteriorating social conditions that have emerged from Lakewood’s oversupply of cheap and obsolete housing, which attract special interest groups that advance anti-social, contemptuous, sociopathic and sometimes criminal behavior. All this confronts traditional values of family and property that have long been a feature of Lakewood's neighborhood small town identity.

Again, there is plenty of anti-social behavior on the cusp of criminality that fails to make it into the stats. These offenses are what has aroused much of the thin-skinned populace who object to the assault on their sensibility and territory.

Home owners are, of course, anxiously concerned about the potential for speed-up in the turnover times for real estate and its churning inhabitants in a low rent district to destroy neighborhood values – both financial and moral – with the mores and behaviors associated with “the culture of disrespect.â€Â￾

The territory of Lakewood has attracted from the urban core, the ghetto, if you will, a mix of persons. Some are law-abiding residents hoping to step up and integrate into community norms; others are criminal visitors breaking into your house or garage; some are lawless residents, contemptuous of social norms, intent on struggling for territorial power though chaos-making, disrespectful behavior and criminal acts.

Those who witness the de-moralizing and de-stabilizing effects of an urban tribe, hostile to Lakewood neighborhood norms, littering, catcalling, looking to boost stuff, persisting in commitments to aggressive behaviors and in-your-face survival strategies bred in a ghetto past, don’t need FBI crimes stats to know which way the wind is blowing.

The critical questions are: Do the mayoral candidates get it? Do they have a credible plan to repair the damage? Can the candidate execute?

Kenneth Warren

The deteriorating social standards, the norms and traditional family values as you described them and as defined by some. seem to ignore the fact that this "ghetto" mentality is not just focused on Lakewood, but is a national societal issue with more serious issues than the deconstructing of crime statistics is going to impact. Statistics have been listed and analyzed and the analysis has not always been accurate.

If this is to be a true discourse and if it will addressed in Lakewood, it will not be in demonizing those of lower economic access who may want what everyone else wants, what's best for their kids.

Frankly, when the drug culture first hit the white, middle class burbs in the 1970's, the sky was falling, damnation was at hand and the country was going to hell in a hand basket. Residents of Lakewood were decrying the bad influences coming into their town and predicting that it would be the end of western civilization. Obviously, that did not happen.

Traditional family values are defined by whom? The churches, the government, the media, or the people who live their lives, day to day in their own familial structures.

Frankly, the 50's and 60's weren't necessarily a great time for women. Police didn't even arrest husbands for beating their wives, they sat them down and gave them a "good talking to". Happened in my own living room.

Each generation has it's own problems and obstacles. Hand wrenching and pointing fingers do not solve anything. Distorting mathematical data does not solve anything. Residents becoming involved and taking responsibility for what's going on in their neighborhoods, their cities, states and country all need to happen for change to happen and succeed.