The Observation Deck

Jim O'Bryan wrote:This is very easy to fix. We need to rebuild the Lakewood brand of tough on crime. it seems from Harbarger to Cain, the brand of tough on police was allowed to erode all for political reasons. This current mayor seems to have allowed the police to do what they need.

OK.....

During the last four years we have seen an increase in crime and a deterioration in City services and it is all the fault of Madeline Cain.

Bill Call wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote: from Harbarger to Cain, the brand of tough on police was allowed to erode all for political reasons. This current mayor seems to have allowed the police to do what they need.

OK.....

During the last four years we have seen an increase in crime and a deterioration in City services and it is all the fault of Madeline Cain.

Who is at fault isn't relevant at this point is it? Starting to point fingers isn't going to help the current situation. It will only perpetuate the problems.

Maybe we can learn from prior mistakes and move on.

I have a real investment in this city. We can not allow it to become overrun by thugs. If we do, we all lose. Plain and simple.

Bryan Schwegler wrote:do we need to wait for city council or the mayor to do something?

Bryan I've been waiting. Haven't seen anything yet.

Again, I am surprised none of the council people or the mayor have posted anything in these threads where we commoners are looking to our leaders to create a better police force and let the thugs know they are not welcome.

I know some of them are reading these threads.

Which one of our 'leaders' has the goobers to stand up and admit there is a problem and offer a solution? Where are our leaders on this issue? Oh, yeah, someone said they were seen chasing a stray shopping cart down the street. I forgot.

This is the most fundemental issue to a viable 21c. Lakewood.

We all know that "economic development" is generally a practice of elevating real estate values (through build-up of amenities/housing) in order to displace or mitigate the destabalizing effects of an underclass's presence and or growth.

I write to you from San Clemente, California. For the past week I've traveled through costal and inland places that have been able to effectively displace / exclude / reduce underclass populations through development practices. The practice of exclusion is simply artificially extreme inflations in real estate values. While some of these places are still experiencing the crime and social dysfunction of a unregulated underclass population, the worst (Venice, CA / Santa Monica) are in full swing gentrification.

The young and upwardly modile population continues to grow where corporate cash is flowing.

I've quized my friends on their migration to CA & CO to get a better sense of where they stand.

These guys aren't making buku bucks, in fact, they have very little cash leftover after paying the piper for urban living. They left the 'Wood before safety issues entered the city's horizon. They left because the energy of deindustrialization was palpable. While they are not necessarily better off financially, they feel a sense of psychic relief by migrating with the rest of the mid-west youth.

Safety is a big issue for all of them. Everybody's running away from the socio-economic dysfunction and chaos of America's underclass.

Not knowing about the criminal class on Lakewood's horizon, they had all planned on returning one day to raise a family here.

While Lakewood will not be able to pull-in this young population during their initial blast-off for the coasts, maintaining good schools, clean streets, code compliant housing and SAFE STREETS, SCHOOLS, NEIGHBORHOODS and PUBLIC SPACES Lakewood can contintue to be the little big town, where young families settle or start and people of all ages grow old as neighbors.

They will not return if the streets are unsafe, unclean, and social chaos prevails over good order and neighborly reciprocity.

Without a plush job market in Cleveland, there is only one way toward safer, cleaner streets and thus the maintainance of the values and social norms which we as proud Lakewoodites, civilized people, adhere to.

If it is true that a prudent and efficient response to crime and social dysfunction can be met only with increases in police manpower and housing code inforcement, we are also looking at a need to increase our ability to jail and procesute an increasing number of offenders.

I hope that we can meet in person sometime within the next 2 weeks and establish a Citizen's Safety Committee.

As you have all pointed out, there are many questions to ask, and this must be approached properly. Time is of the essence.

As a young, potentially upwardly mobile Lakewoodite, I look forward to growing old here. I hope to one day raise a family here. Everywhere I go, I sell Lakewood, build the brand, cast the bated hook to mobile people of all ages. We have and continue to do amazing things here.

I have hope that we can work together as a community to intelligently resolve this issue, and with prudence. The future of our city as we know it is hinging on it.

Safety and cleanliness are fundemental.

I have been blessed to grow in and with a network of amazing, warm, down to earth people within this city, for 25 years. I believe that this is one of Lakewood's great virtues, we are down to earth people. It's a humble town. In an age where consumer capitalism dominates the global landscape, the collective mindset, values and attitudes in Lakewood are truley an anomoly..... a blessing, grace.

Would the majority of Lakewoodites rather migrate, potentially taking a loss on their home, than stand together as a community?

If the members of this community are not willing to cough up a couple hundred bucks a year to protect there ass and assets, Lakewood is doomed to hoodom.

Can council and the mayors office look beyond the myopia of their political machine allegences and get into the nitty gritty of saving this city from the regional butcher's block?

Bill Call wrote:During the last four years we have seen an increase in crime and a deterioration in City services and it is all the fault of Madeline Cain.

Please point out where I said that?

I said it traveled down hill from Harbarger with Cain easily being the worst offender, and worse mayor this city has had in my lifetime. The woman had zero vision coupled with zero honesty.

Madeline ended the bike patrols because they were busting to many kids, skateboarders and their parents vote.

You want stats real stats and you are going to throw Cain's name at me! The princess of spin and under reporting crime! Bill get real.

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Jim O'Bryan wrote:Please point out where I said that?

I said it traveled down hill from Harbarger with Cain easily being the worst offender, and worse mayor this city has had in my lifetime. The woman had zero vision coupled with zero honesty.

Madeline ended the bike patrols because they were busting to many kids, skateboarders and their parents vote.

You want stats real stats and you are going to throw Cain's name at me! The princess of spin and under reporting crime! Bill get real.

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In all honesty though Jim, the perception is that safety is getting worse, or at least I gather that from reading this and some other threads. While I agree you are correct that from my time growing up here under Mayors Sinagra and Harbarger, there was an unmistaken drop in safety under Mayor Cain (i had no love for that woman for sure), I haven't really seen Mayor George right the ship.

What exactly has Mayor George done to turn around the safety issues in Lakewood? And if he has made changes, why do people's perceptions seem to continue to think it's getting worse?

I'm not saying he's not doing things better with safety...just wondering why people don't seem to think so.

sharon kinsella wrote:We are also gearing up for a Presidential election - we have to keep these issues in mind when looking for leadership on the national level. The erosion of services are local, state, regional and federal responsibilities.

Various levels of government are drowning in money. In 1958 in today's dollars the federal government spent about $500 billion per year. Half of that was defense spending. Today the federal government spends $3 trillion dollars per year. In 1958 if someone told you that you would have an extra $2.5 trillion dollars to spend you would have thought that would be enough money. You would be wrong.

Or look at it this way: The federal government now spends $3 trillion per year. If we increase that spending by the percentage increase since 1958 the government will have $18 trillion dollars a year to spend. Do you know what? When it happens and things don't get any better the reason given will be: Weeee donnnn't haaave enough moneyyyy!

The City of Lakewood has over 100 more employees than it did 20 years ago and yet services continue to decline. The excuse? We don't have enough people!

It doesn't cost money to be clean.

It doesn't cost money to be responsible.

It doesn't cost money to obey the law.

We need to quit making excuses for people and start demanding responsibility.

People always worked hard. It's seems now that we spend so much time watching TV and playing video games we have the audacity to say: I'm irresponsible because I'm overworked! It's not my fault!

If you want a true renaissance in this City it won't come from hiring 30 police officers. It will come from an aggressive policy on obsolete housing.

Before this City agrees to $30 million dollars for 30 new jobs for Avon Lake it should ask the question: What could $30 million do for Lakewood's housing market.

Governing is about choices. Do we need more bodies bumping into each other at City Hall or do we need a housing and development program?

Bryan:

The issue is largely a matter of manpower sufficient to provide the proactive force required to fight chaos and disorder that create opportunities for crime.

This current situation cannot be managed through a “Let’s do more with lessâ€Â

Mr.Warren I believe you put it perfectly.

There is just no sense in pretending that anything other than greatly expanded police presence will solve this problem while it is still solve-able.

Block watches just wont do it. The new thugs arent misunderstood kids out of West Side Story. Theyre hard dangerous criminals with deadly weapons and no sense of respect for authority. Watch their drug deal on the corner a little too closely and yes, they WILL kill you.

Gentrification of the east end wont do it either. There is absolutely no evidence that there is a demand in the Cleveland area for older, inner suburb homes. Ohio City and Tremont are NOT unqualified successes.
Cracking down on slumlords is an indirect process at best and anyone who can afford a few apartment buildings can also afford lawyers to stall and ultimately beat charges.

Show me a police levy that works that is written specifically for the purpose and it has my support.

Ms. Martinez:

I am delighted we share a common sense understanding of the real tipping point in Lakewood. I am committed to doing everything I can to advance precisely what you sense is needed on the police safety front. As I have said in other posts, we will need a lock box commitment from elected officials that not one dime of existing funding or future cash flows for Police Safety will ever be diverted from this near sacrosanct purpose that will, more than anything else, ensure hope for Lakewood's future.

It’s the police safety tipping point. With all due respect for the housing inspection team, the court and all the time-consuming due process entailed in cleaning up the housing mess, I trust the professional officers with the guns will deal best with the here and now crisis.

I am not here to sugarcoat anything. Lakewood is at a critical moment.

Mr. Ulrick knows it, all too well. I am glad he expressed his will to fight for this community and territory.

It’s a fight I believe we can win. But we must pay for protection. Is this not the law of both civilization and the urban jungle?

Otherwise, one by one, we fold our tents quietly, heading for the hills, accepting the steady destruction of created real estate value by the chaos and criminality rolling from a hardened urban core with whom no courageous conversation will make a dent.

Last Sunday someone called me to say, “We need to do something on safety. We need to hire a block watch coordinator.â€Â

Ken,
I do agree now that we need more police as I continue to read these threads. I have been swayed although I think Bill still makes a lot of valid points to where in bleep is money going now? OK so we will move from second highest taxes in the county to first and if we are safer it will be worth it. But what are the chances to get Lakewood residents as the police? That would sure boost the safety around here. And if the starting rate is $45,000 for an officer, can't they require some higher education like a criminal justice degree? I would be much more supportive of a levy if they lived here as neighbors and weren't 18 and fresh out of high school.

If we ever had the luxuray, as citizens, to bargin with police for residency requirements, that moment has passed.

The situation at ground zero could turn bleak, within a short period of time. Time is of the essence.

Just drive Loraine, Madison or Detroit eastward into Cleveland. We are no longer insulated from the blight that scars these neighborhoods.

We are entering a phase of real estate down turn that could, 1. stabalize following appropriate meaures on the saftey front and eventually enter another upswing, or 2. turn into a phase of rapid destruction... clearing the blocks of Lakewood, just like the blocks of Cleveland before her.

The good news is that there is much hope and potential.

As a municipality of nimble size, Lakewood has the potential to rapidly adapt with an increase in manpower, whether by intelligent design through politically directed legistation, or a citizen directed storming of the gates.

Cleveland could never do this. Detroit could never do this. Youngstown could never do this. The mother cities cannot do this.

You can bet that the next mayoral election is going to hinge on a prudent strategy that quickly addresses this issue, no denial. It's about increasing taxes to pay the boys in blue, bottom line.

Some may fear that such a levy could interfere with passage of the next school levy.......

If our city is not safe, neither will our schools be safe. A city with insufficient troops on the ground amidst worsening social conditions will not retain young families, let along future supporters of school levies.

There's no time to deny. Just look at Cleveland, Detroit, Youngstown.

It's the real estate/population wake of deindustrialization, just now breaking over the shores of Lakewood.

May this board mark the words of those residents and politicians bold enough to demand a SAFTEY levy with funds dedicated to the boys in blue, no fire funds, no diversions to any other city need.

Without safety the stage will be set for mass-exodus.

If the politicians will not act, the citizens of Lakewood will demand it.

There's no time for long term, big headed strategic plans.

Long term strategic plans are a luxuray afforded to the financially secure, safety tight, budget balanced municipalities, states and nations.

We must act now. If the politicians cannot muster the political courage to advance a pro-active policy, the citizens of Lakewood will demand such.

It's time to wake up, people.

Protect your asses and assets. Special election police levy, now.

Dan Slife wrote:If we ever had the luxuray, as citizens, to bargin with police for residency requirements, that moment has passed................You can bet that the next mayoral election is going to hinge on a prudent strategy that quickly addresses this issue, no denial. It's about increasing taxes to pay the boys in blue, bottom line.

So the bureaucracy that owns a City wins again.

There is no evidence that increasing police manpower will have any affect on crime in the City. No one on this board has provided any statistics to support the contention that over the last four years crime dramatically increased.

Someone pulls the number 30 out of a hat and abracadabra that becomes our safety plan our development plan and our cure all plan. Doc Johnson's magic elixier; just add 30 City employees and all of your problems are solved!!

No accountability on fire department overtime. No accountability on productivity. No concessions on gold plated medical and retirement plans. No concessions on residency. No accountability on productivity. No housing program. No development program. No enforcement. Just higher taxes and raises all around.

Lakewood has some of the highest taxes in the country and yet its not enough. Lakewood has 100 more employees than it had when it was a City of 70,000 but its not enough. We pay more per student than most Cities in the country but it's not enough. We pay our employees some of the highest wages in the country but it's not enough.

Had enough?

Dan Slife wrote:There's no time for long term, big headed strategic plans.

Long term strategic plans are a luxuray afforded to the financially secure, safety tight, budget balanced municipalities, states and nations.

We must act now. If the politicians cannot muster the political courage to advance a pro-active policy, the citizens of Lakewood will demand such.

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Dan,

"financially secure, safety tight, budget balanced municipalities, states and nations" are the result of good planning not the cause. Just ask the Library and the Schools, Lakewood Hospital and First Federal. Naming and owning your problems, or challenges is the first step. Confronting them with an open mind and a deterimation to solve them is next. Running screaming from the room is really not a good option and generally doesn't deliver the needed results.

I would love to see Police Officers on the streets. I have advocated for the past five years for beat cops and a more visible police presence. Having said that, I don't know and I can't know how feasible that is because we don't have a clear picture of how the department is staffed, what the contract calls for, what resources (technologicial or otherwise) are available to meet internal staffing needs while officers are on the street. What tools the street officers need. To blindly advocate for a levy seems careless. The police chief would know the answers to this. What is Chief Malley saying? Does he want a levy and if so, what would he do with the money?

Suzanne