The Observation Deck

I got the joke and I loved the song. Well, I didn't know it was a song, I thought it was just a funny poem.

Dear dl,

Thanks! You made my evening. I was beginning to think I'd lost some cognitive brain function due to too many treatments.

Here is the real DARE song. Seriously, this is it. If you'd like to hear the uplifting melody that goes with the equally inspiring lyrics, go to:

http://www.ci.galion.oh.us/Police/Dare/Dare.html

THE D.A.R.E. SONG

THE WORLD'S A DIFFERENT PLACE
WHERE LIFE'S BECOME A RACE
AND UNLIKE THE WORLD OF PAST
OUR KIDS GROW UP TOO FAST
'CAUSE WHAT THEY SEE IN STORE
IS THREATS OF BOMBS AND WAR
AND THAT DEADLY GAME THEY'RE TAUGHT
THAT HAPPINESS IS BOUGHT
SO THE CHILDREN OF TODAY
HAVE NO TIME FOR CHILD'S PLAY
AND THEY FEEL THEY'RE ALL ALONE
EVEN STRANGERS IN THEIR HOME
SO TO HIDE THEIR PAIN AND TEARS
THEY DESTROY THEIR YOUTHFUL YEARS
GIVING UP ON LOVE AND HUGS
AND ESCAPING INTO DRUGS
AND IF WE SAY THAT WE WON'T HELP
BECAUSE THE PROBLEM ISN'T MINE
THEN IT'S MORE THAN JUST A SHAME
OUR LACK OF CARING IS A CRIME ...SO (CHORUS)

DARE TO KEEP A KID OFF DRUGS
DARE TO KEEP A KID OFF DOPE
DARE TO GIVE A KID SOME HELP
DARE TO GIVE A KID SOME HOPE
HELP US!

LYRICS BY: MICHAEL WAGMAN MUSIC BY: JOHN ANDREW TARTAGLIA

This may sound completely absurd, but I think the Siebert character may be on to something.

Drinking in the streets!

http://www.dynamiccity.org/weblog/files ... sprawl.pdf

Ellen Malonis wrote:Here is the real DARE song. Seriously, this is it.

I apoligize.

Thank you.

But do take some license. There was no sterotypin with Moe's. The sign was illegal and dangerous, and the merchandise in the store was 90% less than anywhere else. As far as the meaning of Hook You Up I used Moe's own music video to underline that it was 80% sexual in nature.

I will not rehash this, Jim. When the sign first went up, no-one even knew for sure who the owner was. Point of FACT: I stated SEVERAL times that sign was improper and should be removed and the proper actions taken by the city.

In regards to the planters, the sign carriers as of late have been sitting, lieing and having their kids play in them, leaving flowrs crushed and dead.

And I would have known this.... how? Not everyone hangs out at the giant ashtray we so proudly call our city center watching the sign guys.

To fight for the right of the sign guys

When, Jim? When did I ever? Please point it out because someone must've slipped me something in my drink. FOR THE RECORD: I detest the walking billboards and find them a nuisance. Too bad you didn't ask me before you assumed what I did and did not support.

OK you tell me, kids walking in the street being kids, or vulgar, possibly violent, criminal illegal sign walkers, destroying a city. Which is worse?

Dead sign guy... dead rude child... hmmmm.... I'll take the no-one dies today choice.

Ohhhhh - that RIGHT! You are not offering that one - ya know, the one where we expect and enforce jaywalking and/or other pedestrian laws.

So it is OK to paraphrase me, but...

No paraphrasing here at all - strictly from your direct quotes as pasted, fair enough?

I know you are a good person, and a great mother.

You dont know a damn thing about me, really, just some random facts that are running fast and lose here. So quit playing like you have some deep insight into my personality, life, or history - you dont.

You just sometimes get my head spinning when you fight for things you previously thought were wrong, or vice a versa.

Such as? Please provide examples - not just from your memory - but of my contradictory words. I am curious if they are really contradictions, or if they were items of discussions where I was trying to see both sides, or if they are really apples and oranges.

I bet $5 on apples and oranges myself.

Responsibility! You forget, my entire bottom line is responsibility for MY actions and my thoughts. Both here on earth and where ever I land in the after life. No one is going to be asked to pay my tab. You will never see me argue for letting people not accept responsibility. One of the reasons for real names here on the deck.

Fair enough - BUT children aren't born with it - it must be taught.

But again I ask, is the street walking thing a slight nuisance? A problem? or as Chris Trapp describes "this is the type of nuisance that detracts from the livability of the city."

IMO - all three depending on the situation. I dont care nearly as much about the image of the city as I do about the fact that someone's child will get hurt sooner or later. And as a community we dont COLLECTIVELY set the norms that can minimize that risk

[aside to Suzie I understand your point; however, if every adult spoke to the kids that were behaving this way (especially the teachers/admin/police/etc.) there would be a huge social pressure to conform and there would be much less of it - that's a simple sociological fact and the basis of my point. Right now - we, for the most part, turn a blind eye, drive real slow, and wait it out. THAT is a shame because it doesn't discourage the action that places these children in danger to begin with.]

From my eyes as a street walker of the past with the infamous Webb Gang, I look back and think we did it but not in a rebellious manner, and the ones that didn't die are doing pretty damn well in life today.

Lakewood, transportation norms, society, etc. were all different then and you know it. Additionally, that is reverse logic - I'm ok therefore it must be ok. Well, Jim - six kids play russian roulette and five dont get shot - does this mean the game is safe for the sixth kid? Or would we try to prevent the game from continuing? Answer seems pretty easy to me.

But I am clearly not as smart as those around me.

Regards,
Charyn

Charyn Compeau wrote:

I apoligize.

Thank you.

Regards,
Charyn

Charyn

Of course you are correct.


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Dan Pilgrim wrote:This thread has kind of lost the meaning of why I posted.

My main concern was high school age/college age students who completely disrespect traffic and walk directly in the middle of the street. I am not talking about cutting cross a street (jaywalking).

I've noticed this sort of street walking behavior downtown and in East Cleveland and other urban areas. People just walking right in front of your car, daring you to hit them! Unbelievable! Since everything else is becoming "ghetto" in Lakewood, why should we be surprised that people are walking in the street like they do in the ghetto?

*drops laughing on floor*

you guys make me laugh. this is some ulcer-worthy material right here.


on a more...serious...note-

Mr.Uldricks, great point.

even the cleveland police officers I talk to at Jacobs Field every night say that Lakewood is getting "worse, because our morons are moving to the suburbs".



man this kool-aid is sweet, who put that much sugar in it?

Yes, let's get the thread back on track with War, "The World is a Ghetto," just the sound for bringing together the Delightful Dancing Daughters of Delhi with the Lakewood Visionary Alignment Dancing In the Streets Club:

"Walkin' down the street, smoggy-eyed
Looking at the sky, starry-eyed
Searchin' for the place, weary-eyed
Crying in the night, teary-eyed

Don't you know that it's true
That for me and for you
The world is a ghetto

Don't you know that it's true
That for me and for you
The world is a ghetto

Wonder when I'll find paradise
Somewhere there's a home sweet and nice......."

Kenneth Warren

Charyn Compeau wrote:

But do take some license. There was no sterotypin with Moe's. The sign was illegal and dangerous, and the merchandise in the store was 90% less than anywhere else. As far as the meaning of Hook You Up I used Moe's own music video to underline that it was 80% sexual in nature.

I will not rehash this, Jim. When the sign first went up, no-one even knew for sure who the owner was. Point of FACT: I stated SEVERAL times that sign was improper and should be removed and the proper actions taken by the city.

Regards,
Charyn

Charyn

This is untrue, you called me a racist and accuse me of libelous actions. I a private email you asked why would Moe advertise with a paper that attacked him. You might have gone back and changed or deleted the post but I have the original attack on me.

You say no one knew him, I did, Ken did, Steve did. You said no one was in the place. I was. I saw the $100+ shoes for $25. We knew and I directed you directly to Moe's video that preached violence against woman and that in his terms, Hooked Up meant "ohoh baby I want to get inside you."

But you chose to turn a blind eye to the violence against women, the sexual nature from Moe, and the danger in the sign.

But let's get back to this thread. Where you now ask the community to raise your kids. I have voted for every school levy. I have offered my services time and again for FREE to help the schools and other groups that deal with kids. I have dedicated huge sections of the paper to schools and children programs, yet I am told that is not enough. Now I must sit with the kids and explain the dangers in the street.

My wife and I decided not to have kids. We never thought we could afford them or have the time to do it right. Now I have to take in children off loaded by parents that could care less? Wouldn't it be easier to hook them up with Moe and give them some CDs to learn from?

Finally I find it refreshing that you take the time to call the city an ashtray.


er peace



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I've lost track of what this thread is about.

Is a guy named Moe walking in the middle of our Lakewood streets with his pants down yelling mean things at women?

If so, Moe must be stopped!

There is some walking in the streets or improper crossing of streets that is done out of necessity or convenience. There have been plenty of times when I have hurried across a street in the middle of a block rather than using the cross-walk where left-turning traffic can take me out like an animated bowling pin.
There is other walking in the street, our sauntering across the street mid-traffic that is just insolent. It used to be thing that happened in front of me driving other peoples expensive cars through the near east side of Cleveland and parts of East Cleveland.
It is definitely a Ghetto thing. "I'm a pedestrian and I have the-right-of-way". "They can wait for me". These kids aspire to...the ghetto. As for the adults, they may just not know the difference. Unfortunately, some of them raise kids.
The solution? I don' know. "A good talking-to" is just the sort of thing these kids enjoy blowing-off. A $100.oo jay-walking ticket might be in order.
I gave into weakness once a few years back. Three kids crossed the street in front of me as my preciously short left turn arrow was lit. One was on a bicycle. Realizing that he could make me sit for another light cycle, he started circling in front of my car. I lurched forward about 4'. Startled, he fell on his arse. Got laughed-at too.
I do not generally recommend menacing pedestrians and cyclists as the situation will rapidly deteriorate into games of "Chicken". What I did was wrong. But it felt sooooo good at the moment.

You'd have to have a deathwish to walk down the road and not the sidewalk on my street. Apparently the 25MPH sign is just a suggestion. There is a reason you see a lot of jogging strollers in Lakewood. They have better suspension than the regular ones. Useful if you're afraid of giving your child shaken baby syndrome while going for your afternoon stroll.

AS for snow removal - all we can do is shovel more than our fair share for the neighbors who can't and hope that will shame those who can't be bothered into doing their bit. Can't we get rid of the little wagons that come up the driveway to collect the garbage and get the sidewalk clearing snow-blowers instead? Or we could invent a stroller with a plow on the front...

I'm hesitant to enter this conversation.

I know that pedestrians ignoring the right of way of cars is a real problem. I rarely drive on Detroit, partially because of this reason. Going from Tops to my house I usually use Clifton.

The converse is also true. Cars ignore the right of way of pedestrians. I have crossed on a Walk signal several times and had cars nearly hit me when turning. Rarely if ever do I see a car stop at a cross walk for a pedestrian no matter what kind of signage would give them the indication that the pedestrian has the right of way. In my experience people in cars seem to feel that their business is more important than those people on foot, and so if there is any question of right of way (such as in parking lots) people in cars, in my experience, seem to expect pedestrians to wait.

I think the only way to work on these and other issues is to continue to work to build community. The more people know each other, the more they have an interest in each others lives and feel that people know them, the more they are inclined, in my experience, to defer to one anothers' needs and rights. As the community diversifies the need to spend time with one another becomes harder and more urgent. Customary events and organizations that we have used for 100 years to help people be connected to each other may no longer be enough. We will need new ways to show people that we really are glad they are in our community and find out what their lives are about.

I feel that regulations (and education about them) are useful only when people are motivated to follow them. They are more motivated when they love their community (as all of you do) and know that their community loves and wants (not just tolerates) them.

David Bargetzi wrote:I feel that regulations (and education about them) are useful only when people are motivated to follow them. They are more motivated when they love their community (as all of you do) and know that their community loves and wants (not just tolerates) them.

David

Sweet words of wisdom.

There are many problem in act here and I think your note hits on many. This takes me back to my orignal comment. Problem or inconvienence?

I think a traffic study would be in order on Madison and Detroit. It seems that in the last three years they have been very congested.

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