The Observation Deck

Jeff

The secret is to ask first. If you ask they will tell you. At the same time it can be frustrating. A friend of mine was designing the signage for the medical building next to Mr. Hero. The rumor was, the ARB did not like the color blue, but was unwilling to tell him what blue they wanted. While it seems extreme, it is very fair. However the redraws costs clients money.

Jim
It is not that I do not know or hear the problems. I have multiple businesses in Lakewood, and homes. Was in the food business, and have to deal with health inspectors for some of the events we put on.

All in all I find them to be very helpful, when asked before. When they are brought into a process, they are pretty good partners. When they show up because of being tipped off or stumbling on something, they get as frustrated as the rest of us would.

Throw in the fact they are all human, and have all the problems of being human, with families, and all the same hopes and dreams as the rest of us. I can understand some of the problems.

I spend a lot of time at city hall they are not evil.

Calhoun, nice to see you.

.

The other factor, which I have heard from numerous business owners and "would-bes" in Lakewood, is that opening a business in the city is much more of a gamble than in a place like Avon Commons but that no one appreciates the risk a Lakewood entrepreneur takes.

You may have to jump through even more hoops in a place like that, and the rent certainly is more expensive, but in return you get parking, modern space that doesnt need extensive rehab, promotion, proximity to proven anchors, the whole thing.
Mrs. Farris' comment from the banker, "It would be better if you went somewhere else" is what the athletes would call a "locker room quote", a motivator to get serious. It should be posted on every other office door in city hall.

The resentment I hear comes in the form of "I could have opened in Avon/North Olmsted/Westlake/whatever and made more money. But I wanted to be in Lakewood, and THIS is the thanks I get?"
Ive heard this from people who opened or contemplated businesses as far back as the Harbarger days, and from the conversations Ive had, neither Cain nor George improved the situation.

Jim- To your point, I dont disagree with you. I have found the same for the most part. If you speak to them ahead of time about your plans and what you want to do, they can be helpful in seeing your ideas come to fruition. That being said, I have known people that have had their ideas stopped at the gate because the city was not interested in accomodating their type of business. As past posters have said, the city should not just let anyone do business here, and I agree with this, but who is to say what can and cannot do business here. I have seen some questionable business go up, and some viable options tunred away. I am hoping to do more in the city, aside from being a resident, and business owner. I am using this forum, to discuss and find out organizations I can become an active member of to help better lakewood. I am currently an active partner in MAMA, and LIA, both great ideas of coming together for the betterment of Lakewood. If we don't have active citizens trying to make a difference and moving forward we are going to be in trouble.

[quote="James Mullen"]. As past posters have said, the city should not just let anyone do business here, and I agree with this, but who is to say what can and cannot do business here. /quote]

The Constitution says the city cant. There is something called the "takings clause" If I buy a piece of property, the city is limited in what control they have over it, and its power limited through zoning. If I have a retail property and the city is telling me I cant have a check cashing place because they want a coffee shop or a bookstore, my lawyer puts the kibosh on that in short order. A city simply does not have the power to do that, and Mr. Endress has nicely laid out the rules.
If the city through its actions limits what I can do with my property after the fact, that is a "taking," a cousin of eminent domain, and they are liable for damages. The legal minds in the city I believe understand this.

Jim,
It isn't black or white here. I didn't read anyone calling the city building dept. "evil" or saying "we want YOU to work for us" or saying that they want carte blanche on their sign or business. The fact is, it is currently difficult for small businesses to open up in Lakewood because of many details, from signs up, and yes if they don't like your business, they will let you know it. Go talk to Kathy about some of her experiences. And oh, when she put up $500 flower boxes to beautify her corner, they were vandalized and destroyed and there is no compensation for her.

At the same time, people are really wondering WHO let in all the check cashing, staffing places, etc. recently in Lakewood? And as for signs, there are some horrible ones up now that should be addressed. Why is a non-profit govt. office (WIC) allowed to have those cut-outs? Donate a sign to them Jim please! I agree signs are important in keeping the city looking nice, but it sure seems the city picks and chooses and nitpicks the wrong ones! Changes need to be made with making it more attractive for businesses and beautifying empty storefronts, working with landlords.

James, welcome to Mama!!!!

James, Thank you for starting this thread, and to everyone who has posted their experiences and opinions. I hope this one goes further to explore the topic of finding ways to either get the city to be more proactive in assisting new small businesses to open up shop in Lakewood, or to create an organization to where entrepenuers can turn to find the information they need but may not know it.

I am always fascinated with learning more about opening a small business. I posted on another thread that I have been looking into the begining stages to open a business, but have decided that I cannot afford it right now. I am putting together my 5 year goal plan, and am starting initial steps right now, that could end in my opening a unique shopping location for Lakewood. If this ends in opening a physical location (which I would love to do) I more than want it to be in Lakewood.

I have heard that some people are looking more for higher end retail, and while this is initially seen as chain store, I would like to see Lakewood express more interest in its residents who want to open up their own high end retail store. Rocky River has several. Deco on Detroit would be a great idea in Lakewood, especially with off of the older houses that have an arts and crafts style. Deco, I would consider to be on the higher end of furniture retail, and it is an independent store. Just something to think about when we look at trying to attrack better businesses to Lakewood.

Oh, and if high end clothing is wanted, why not try to attract Kilgore Trout? Or something like it.

http://www.decostudio.net/
http://www.kilgoretrout.com/

Dee Martinez wrote:

James Mullen wrote:. As past posters have said, the city should not just let anyone do business here, and I agree with this, but who is to say what can and cannot do business here. /quote]

The Constitution says the city cant. There is something called the "takings clause" If I buy a piece of property, the city is limited in what control they have over it, and its power limited through zoning. If I have a retail property and the city is telling me I cant have a check cashing place because they want a coffee shop or a bookstore, my lawyer puts the kibosh on that in short order. A city simply does not have the power to do that, and Mr. Endress has nicely laid out the rules.
If the city through its actions limits what I can do with my property after the fact, that is a "taking," a cousin of eminent domain, and they are liable for damages. The legal minds in the city I believe understand this.

Whoa whoa whoa. I think you misunderstood me or I wasnt clear in the way I stated this.

Yes, the city cannot tell a landlord who to rent to. I understand that. But I am saying that a city should be actively involved in setting standards for the types of businesses we would like to attract in the city. WE need to create an environment to harbor and encourage locally owned smaller businesses as well.

The landlords should be actively involved in try to attract those types of renters... thy can do this by upgrading their properties both aesthetically and mechanically.. and the city can be involved in that aspect. By doing so, the landlords can command better rents and attract those types of tenants willing to pay that for a nice building and location. By lowballing the rents because the buildings are craptacular, we are in turn attracting a lower end renter.

There is a HUGE opportunity in Lakewood to attract and maintain a 'boutique' type retail that could really thrive. We could really create a niche here that is not being met in one place in the west side. I would love nothing more than to be able to walk to places like this, restaurants and stores, and never have to leave Lakewood. The city is so densely populated that we do have the client base as far as numbers to support this as well.

Chris and everybody on this thread:

You might want to check out or join the Lakewood Entrepreneur Group. They had a meeting last night - I don't know when the next one is scheduled. Lynda Meeks started this group for new business owners and those interested in starting new businesses in Lakewood in order to network and share experiences. If it takes off, it could be an organization to liason between entrepreneurs and the city.

www.LakewoodBiz.com

It's affiliated with LakewoodBuzz, but that shouldn't deter this open-minded group, right?

Bobbie-

You have to sign in to see information about the group - even to see the meeting times and locations, which is not something we wanted to do.

We could see the value of signing in to see a virtual meeting room for the group, but not simply to see where the meet-ups occur.

The group seems to have declined the invitation to post their meeting times and places on the Observer calendar.

Great discussion. I doubt that it would have been quite the same had someone who has potsted on the topic before brought it up, but thanks for starting it Jim.
On the topic of an ombudsman, would a possible be to do this without the need for approval from city hall? While it may be something that gets set up a service like this might be more consistent if it is not within the structure of government. I'm picturing a local version of SCORE, which offers business consulting services from retired professionals at no charge. Is this something that between MAMA, DADA, the Chamber and the city a collaboration could be developed to provide a consultant to deliver the checklist for starting up a business, walk through the process and serve an advisory role as well as act as the business "welcome wagon"? I agree that there is a need for teeth when unnecessary stipulations are put in place but as Jim O'Bryan mentioned these standards are there for a reason. Hopefully, an ounce of prevention would be worth a pound of cure. If this service could clearly communicate what the new business owner should expect then many of these hurdles should become something that is built into the planning and help businesses launch on schedule.
I had attended a forum at CSU right before Mayor Jackson was elected and the ease of doing business was one of the top issues listed for attracting new members to the business community. Even if it just the perception about Lakewood and each of the individual requests are reasonable, it is hurting the city's future. Any effort to address this issue will help. I hope that the end result is not to maintain the status quo.

Valerie Molinski wrote:[
Yes, the city cannot tell a landlord who to rent to. I understand that. But I am saying that a city should be actively involved in setting standards for the types of businesses we would like to attract in the city. WE need to create an environment to harbor and encourage locally owned smaller businesses as well.

.

I guess that leads to the question, who is "we" and what it is "we" want.

What if the majority of Lakewood residents actually DO, for convenience and economys sake, want Dollar General, Aldi's, Dollar Tree, Check Into Cash? Or at least Target Cici Pizza and Applebees? What if "we" dont have much use for cutesy little teddy bear stores capuccino bars and overpriced consignment shops? What if more of us have more use for a Value World?

These are very valid questions and I am not at all sure that the posters here represent the whole of the city. I know that some of the things people say "we" want dont reflect MY personal desires.
Your core point that I am in 100% agreement with is that the city does need to determine what the market is asking for and to attempt to develop its space accordingly. but you might not like the answers.

Dee Martinez wrote:

Valerie Molinski wrote:[
Yes, the city cannot tell a landlord who to rent to. I understand that. But I am saying that a city should be actively involved in setting standards for the types of businesses we would like to attract in the city. WE need to create an environment to harbor and encourage locally owned smaller businesses as well.

.

I guess that leads to the question, who is "we" and what it is "we" want.

What if the majority of Lakewood residents actually DO, for convenience and economys sake, want Dollar General, Aldi's, Dollar Tree, Check Into Cash? Or at least Target Cici Pizza and Applebees? What if "we" dont have much use for cutesy little teddy bear stores capuccino bars and overpriced consignment shops? What if more of us have more use for a Value World?

These are very valid questions and I am not at all sure that the posters here represent the whole of the city. I know that some of the things people say "we" want dont reflect MY personal desires.
Your core point that I am in 100% agreement with is that the city does need to determine what the market is asking for and to attempt to develop its space accordingly. but you might not like the answers.

Ok, then you need to be prepared for the clientele that those type of discount stores attract... which may or may not be ideal.

We have Targets on either side of us. I dont need another one RIGHT in Lakewood for convenience sake. I can get my cheap good shop on by driving ten minutes either way.

The 'boutique' concept doesnt HAVE to be useless crap like overpriced coffee and cutesy teddy bears. You have to think beyond that. And my argument if all that people really want is an Applebee's, then so be it. That would be nothing to differentiate us from every other suburb, and to me, that spells boredom and death. Lakewood has always strived to be alittle bit different and offer things that other do not. A good example of something like this working locally is Tremont. So think Tremont, but with better schools. Great restaurants of all price ranges and not a chain in th bunch. Nice stores too. We're almost there, we just need to foster it alittle more.

I think the middle ground is that "we" want a solid foundation of Lakewood businesses owned by Lakewood residents. They don't all have to be coffee and consignment shops, but we don't want a lot of chains, neither dollar stores nor big box stores.

But, most importantly, we want full store fronts.

What about all the election talk about reducing retail space and increasing office space in Lakewood? How does that fit into this discussion?

Thanks for the info, Di.

I go to both sites (and cross the Cuyahoga River, too), so I didn't realize one has to register to read.

Ah, I wish everyone could play together!

LEG still seems like a group some people here might like to investigate, even at the price of registering.

Dee Martinez wrote:What if the majority of Lakewood residents actually DO, for convenience and economys sake, want Dollar General, Aldi's, Dollar Tree, Check Into Cash? Or at least Target Cici Pizza and Applebees? What if "we" dont have much use for cutesy little teddy bear stores capuccino bars and overpriced consignment shops? What if more of us have more use for a Value World?

There is room enough for both high end and low end, and even in between in Lakewood. I would love to see a good thrift store like Value World or St. Vincent De Paul's in Lakewood. As well, I would like to see some of the higher end retail stores I mentioned above, and some like the one I mentioned in another thread that are in the inbetween range.

Having shopping and eating options in varried price ranges would make for a healthy and happy city. One that would appeal to people wanting to keep their standard of living positive and upward moving.