The Observation Deck

Suzanne

I too, have made frequent calls for forecasting, and budgeting on something other than an Ad Hoc basis. But I think where we differ on this is my very real concern that we simply don't have the luxury of time to study the data, determine who or what is to blame (if anyone or thing) and then move forward. There is no question but that there is a safety issue. I would prefer that we we first address the present symptoms and once these are under control we will have the time to examine and cure the underlying cause of those symptoms. Must we first determine why the ship hit an iceberg before we start running the pumps?

I would much rather stop the perceived decline in safety now. We can then figure out who is to blame for these present circumstances once kids aren't getting held up at gunpoint for their cellphones. It's simply more important to me to be safe and secure then being able to point at one or another elected official and being able to say, "Our present mess was his/her fault". We can and should get to that point, of course. It may get someone elected, or thrown out of office. But in the meantime, let's get a bandage and some antiseptic on this before it turns gangrenous and has to be amputated.

Jeff

P.S. It isn't a scare campaign if there really is a monster in the closet.

DougHuntingdon wrote:David, if she is in one of the nicest parts of Des Moines and it is that noisy, is it even much noisier in the parts that are not as nice? How do you define "nice?" Some people feel that living in the flats or warehouse district in a penthouse is the nicest. However, that also can be a very noisy area. I'm not trying to take Councilman Demro's side on the noise ordinance necessarily--just trying to be fair.
Doug

I'm the Des Moines girl, haha. I live about three small blocks from the governor's mansion on Terrace Hill--http://www.terracehill.org/--former Governor Vilsack jogged every morning down my street. I also live by Salisbury House: http://www.salisburyhouse.org/--which is about another three small blocks from me. I live on Grand Avenue, a main artery into the heart of Des Moines. The tree-lined streets and mansions are deceiving. I was surprised by how noisy it is, but it is nowhere near as noisy as other areas of Des Moines. A med student friend of mine had to move away from Drake University because of the noise and the growing violence in the area. I'm lucky because I am not at an intersection, but my friends who live in a grossly overpriced apartment at the intersection of 31st and Grand had to get used to the constant honking, shouting, and screeching of tires. There have been nights when I've heard cars/motorcycles drag racing on Grand Avenue and every morning at 7:15, a guy in a white van with an orange ladder honks its horn to get the attention of his carpool friend. It is a common occurrence at the Grand Stratford apartments--which, thank God, are under new management--that are across from my apartment complex. There is no such thing as a doorbell or cellphone to announce one's presence there. Car horns are not used out of frustration, but as "hello!"--that is something I'm still getting used to there. Some of them also like to sit in their cars and blast music, which always seems to be when I have an exam. I've given up trying to catch up on sleep on the weekends.

The amount of noise surprised me because the western area of Des Moines represents itself as a purely residential--almost suburb--area. If I wanted noise, I would've have chosen to live in the lofts on Locust Street near the Court Avenue nightlife. I think that is what David was trying to get across that I chose to live in an area that was represented as a quiet, residential area, but in honesty, the city is failing to maintain that quiet. Unlike Lakewood, I never see a police car on Grand Avenue. I can do 45mph in 30mph zone with the comfort of knowing I won't get pulled over. If there was a police car stationed on Grand Avenue at night, I doubt there would be as many drag races, or bicyclists or students hit by speeding cars. I've learned that the school zone speed limit is just a suggestion when flashing and not the law.

I guarantee there are probably very noisy areas of Lakewood and areas were the people are thinking, "What noise?" If people choose to live in a residential area that markets itself as a quiet hideaway, all residents should be guaranteed that quiet. Landlords and management companies are to blame in my case: a simple intercom system would alleviate some of that noise. A police car on Grand once and awhile could help too.

Jennie

Jeff Endress wrote:Suzanne

I too, have made frequent calls for forecasting, and budgeting on something other than an Ad Hoc basis. But I think where we differ on this is my very real concern that we simply don't have the luxury of time to study the data, determine who or what is to blame (if anyone or thing) and then move forward. There is no question but that there is a safety issue. I would prefer that we we first address the present symptoms and once these are under control we will have the time to examine and cure the underlying cause of those symptoms. Must we first determine why the ship hit an iceberg before we start running the pumps?

I would much rather stop the perceived decline in safety now. We can then figure out who is to blame for these present circumstances once kids aren't getting held up at gunpoint for their cellphones. It's simply more important to me to be safe and secure then being able to point at one or another elected official and being able to say, "Our present mess was his/her fault". We can and should get to that point, of course. It may get someone elected, or thrown out of office. But in the meantime, let's get a bandage and some antiseptic on this before it turns gangrenous and has to be amputated.

Jeff

P.S. It isn't a scare campaign if there really is a monster in the closet.

Jeff, Councilman Demro's interest in asking for info has always been to get the work done. Can't get the job done without answers, can't get answers without questions. We are fortunate to have leaders who are willing to ask questions that others are uncomfortable to ask.

Crime is a problem in Lakewood. Go door to door and ask anyone. Currently we address that problem by denying it. Even you said "perceived decline in safety", so you're not sure? Councilman Demro doesn't deny it nor has he ever. This is not a new problem, it has been developing over years and no one wanted to say it out loud. Councilman Demro was BLAMED for helping Lakewood look bad when he began speaking out against the rise in crime.

His concern is that we do the best we can with the dollars we have. His call for assessment and planning is not a personal attack - it's his job. The police know that Councilman Demro supports a strong police force. That includes staffing and equipment. However, we can't just assume that because we have a problem that we know why we have a problem. Assessment helps define the problems and develop solutions. Planning is a key element for good government. Vision plans, strategic plans, long range plans with inches of dust on them are useful only as props for campaigning. Photo ops with key community leaders are no substitute for meaningful collaboration between community assets to the benefit of the taxpayer.

Elections are about blame. Sometime before November voters are going to have to decide with whom to blame the failures and with whom to credit the successes. And they're going to have to look carefully to determine what's real and what's not.

What I find interesting is the contingent on this board who are carefully sheparding the spin on our present situation. Is the status quo so comfortable that we should be willing to sacrifice the future to it? Or do we fear the status quo so much that we don't want to challenge it? Or is that just my perception?

Suzanne

So, I guess we'll just have to wait for November, the election results, the blame. Then we can plan to start the process of beginning the initial stages to institute a study about how to get a grant to look into the data to tell us whether we have a problem. In other words, pretty much the status quo. At least in the colder weather, most of the thugs stay inside.

When I used the word perceived, it was due to over concern about being labeled a fear monger. It's a real problem. It needs real action, real soon. Rather than waiting to see who we can blame for the decline, I'd prefer to look for someone to credit for stopping it. I really don't care whether that visionary is in council, the administration, the third estate or a concerned citizen. But, that's just me.

Jeff

Jeff, it makes no sense to me that throwing money at a problem is your idea of a solution. Lakewood doesn't have it and if we have to ask for it, we better KNOW what its for. And that's why I'm suspicious of this sudden concern for blame and agenda. For the past three years I've listened to a constant litany of blame for the city's ills. City council, the judge, the past mayor, citizen activists, but never any indication that the present group will name it and own it. Where was the righteous indignation of those who are so concerned about blame calling now?

Lakewood is in trouble. The tools are in place to help fix it. The reality is that we can't fix anything. The Mayor has to fix it. So I guess you're right. Until November....we just better pick carefully and thoughtfully. Same ol', same ol' just ain't cuttin' it.

Suzanne

I guess it depends on what problem we're looking at. I'm looking at the crime issue and would love to throw some extra police at it, and yes, that takes money.

Or we could focus, as you do, on the leadership problems. If crime gets bad enough, it probably will affect November's election. I'd love to see the crime issue solved, sooner, rather than later. Not for any political ramifications in November, but for safety issues in September. That's the extent of my agenda. You may choose to take me at face value, or not, but I would deem it a personal favor if you could, in the midst of the political rhetoric, refrain from questioning the sincerity of my expressed concerns for the city.

Jeff

If multiple violations occur or originate from a single residence, would this new curfew law fall under the nuisance law umbrella?

Ryan Patrick Demro wrote:...the residents of Baxterly Avenue that feel terrorized these days.

I'm on the phone with my friend that lives on Baxterly. I asked him if he feels terrorized. He laughed and wondered why I asked. He's currently watching a baby being pushed up the street in a stroller by her grandfather.

He wants to know what point Ryan is trying to make.

I sure can't explain it.

Ryan Patrick Demro wrote:Demro’s Curfew Passes Unanimously
snip....

Clap. Clap. Clap.

This is the best our city leaders can do?

“It was time for city hall to get proactive about crime and mischief in our communityâ€Â

stephen davis wrote:

Ryan Patrick Demro wrote:...the residents of Baxterly Avenue that feel terrorized these days.

I'm on the phone with my friend that lives on Baxterly. I asked him if he feels terrorized. He laughed and wondered why I asked. He's currently watching a baby being pushed up the street in a stroller by her grandfather.

He wants to know what point Ryan is trying to make.

I sure can't explain it.

Steve

I am sure Suzanne will be posting any second to warn Ryan about scare tactics and political campaigns!

This is about getting out front of the issue.

When I read Ken's words I understand what he is saying, however it has the tone of the family member of a victim's survivor. Of course he is. We were out for a night of fun when the call came in for the library. If there is one thing Ken Warren is it is protective of his workers and friends. We saw first hand the result, the gang from outside the city, and the outcome.

I sense the panic and frustration in his words. I think even he will agree that this is preemptive, but the clock is ticking, and it is not slowing down. Right now we have the kind of problems we have always had. there is another wave coming. This needs to be one of the points of focus.

Going back to the Prism reports, we see Urban Elders, these are elderly that have taken over raising their kids. Law abiding people that are doing their best. We are also seeing in influx of mothers trying to get their children out of bad schools, neighborhoods and gang activity. These are good people, trying the best they can.

What we saw with the Library, and much of the riff-raff on Detroit, people coming in top visit and meet up with old friends. The library was the case of one going back to his old neighborhood for a party and the new boyfriend not being so happy about it. This is WestSide Story stuff nothing more.

This is why building up the police and safe city brand pays dividends now. The cancer is not here, yet. I was out driving all over the city looking for graffiti and gang markings. I could not find any! I have been waiting to see graffiti pop up in on of these discussions. The only real graffiti in this town is the Anarchy A in a circle, Broke, and Kill Cops. I am willing to bet these are are the tagging of a poor misunderstood upper middle class 16 -30 year old.

We have got to stay ahead of this.



.

Suzanne Metelko wrote:Lakewood is in trouble. The tools are in place to help fix it. The reality is that we can't fix anything. The Mayor has to fix it. So I guess you're right. Until November....we just better pick carefully and thoughtfully. Same ol', same ol' just ain't cuttin' it.

Suzanne

Suzanne

What are the tools you speak of in place? How does the mayor fix this? I am just curious.

When I speak with police about adding people to shifts they all doubted the effectiveness. Then I mention 30 police, 9 police a shift, they have all said, "Now that would make a big difference."

FWIW


.

Jim:

You know I have been saying Lakewood needs more police officers since the day we met four years ago and we began exploring possibilities for Visionary Alignment in the city. Sure, I dreamt we could pay some of the tab in a community currency along with a portion of our taxes.

Anyway, I had looked into Lakewood’s future and considered it in comparison to Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. These two inner ring suburbs had with experience in diversity, had police strategies, staffing and technology for protecting and serving a community that interfaces more with the hardened urban core.

When I visited the Shaker Heights Police Department while attending the Leadership Academy at the Levin College of Urban Affairs in 1991, I noticed a room of monitors of video surveillance cameras on key street areas. I wondered when and if Lakewood might have the need to deploy such technology.

While the assault on the young man at Madison Branch brings a sense of heightened urgency to my spirit, I am not in a state of panic.

My father had a working class restaurant and bar in New York city, five blocks from East Harlem, a borderline, buffer neighborhood. Working there often as a teen and young man in the late 60s and early 70s, I have had my share of experience with people good and not so good, and with chaos-makers and closing time intimidations coming from white, black, Puerto Rican. I learned from my father, my uncle and others working there how to treat people from all urban walks with dignity and respect and not to accept garbage. I learned how to stand my ground, how to mind the store.

I lived and survived a poor neighborhood in Waco, Texas far worse than Lakewood. So I have my wits about me. I retain a sense of comparative and historical experience bred from living in different places, ones well ahead of the Lakewood’s chaos curve.

I know what I see. I am intent to raise the community’s consciousness through the means available to me concerning an issue ignored too long. That in the midst of attempting to ramp up this effort a young man was attacked by a pack from Denison at Madison Branch Library touches me and disturbs me greatly, heightening my resolve, yes, my conviction that my gut is correct, yes…

But this incident as troubling as it is has not set me into a state of panic. While I appreciate the analysis, my inner shrink tells me that panic is not the correct word to describe my state of mind.

My eyes are open. My mind is sound. I know what surrounds me, the city and the people I love.

I’ll tell it like I see it. I must press for what I believe. After doing so, I can accept through the cognitive mapping of community dialogue and inquiry new learning, information and experience that tells me my experience and perspective needs to be updated.

Kenneth Warren

As a Baxterly Avenue resident....

This is probably one of the most peaceful streets you can live on in Lakewood.

Aside from the drug dealers in the apartments across from UPM and in the Baxterly, and the gun robberies that happened by Roosevelt the other week, oh and that one guy that used to peek into our front window every now and then until the police surrounded him, I love the street. Or how about when a male entered a house in the middle of the day through a open front door while a family and kids were inside, and stole $200 and jewelery and walked right out. Or when in the middle of the night, one of the former mayors cars was put on cinderblocks and had all four tires stolen. Classic.

I'd sleep in my front yard if I could. I wouldn't be scared and I won't be scared. Why should I be scared? It's Lakewood. I think Mr.Demro got his facts from the parents of children that aren't allowed to walk down four houses to get ice cream because they'll be kidnapped, raped, mugged and eventually shot to death by the thousands of criminals that are roaming the streets of Lakewood nowadays. OoOoOh I'm scaaaaaaaared.


Mr.Demro, I wouldn't count on Baxterly residents to be the voice of Lakewood in your campaign. Meet with more citizens. This street is so out of the loop as to what's going on nowadays that the majority is screaming "We need a Draft", "impeach Clinton" and "Bomb Iran".

We're the type of street that avoids eating lettuce because you have 1 in 9,000,000,000 chance of catching ecoli.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:
Suzanne

What are the tools you speak of in place? How does the mayor fix this? I am just curious.

When I speak with police about adding people to shifts they all doubted the effectiveness. Then I mention 30 police, 9 police a shift, they have all said, "Now that would make a big difference."

FWIW


.

Jim, I can't speak for the Mayor. Perhaps you might ask his campaign.
Oh, that's right, Demro's campaign is the only one to engage here. We're happy to be the only campaign under your scrutiny.

In the spirit of fair play I'll just direct anyone who would like see what Ryan's ideas are to ryandemro.com. Feel free to look at the platform, the ideas, the plans and leave your comments, questions, criticisms. Ryan will be happy to call or email anyone who would like to meet with him or talk with him.

It was MY comment about the fix. I was refering to Citistat. A program embraced by the administration, paid for by the taxpayers, and just waiting for someone to pull the trigger. We've been waiting for three years.

Good that you're speaking to the police. So is Ryan. Glad Steve's buddy wasn't feeling terrorized today - the campaign walked the street and plenty of the neighbors were. Plenty of people on Wyandotte feel that way, Plenty of people on Ridgewood and Lakewood and Lakeland and Arthur and Revely and Mars and Cook and Virginia.....it's not fair to pretend those people are alone in their fear, and at the same time exploit it in an effort to futher a policy levy agenda. But who said life is fair?

Suzanne

Kenneth Warren wrote:Suzanne:


Do we really have to wait for a new Mayor to get the data needed to act on the safety front?

Sure, it would be great to have it, to have meaningful measures. Can we really afford to wait?

Does the city wait to see how data will be spun by whomever is elected while the guts of so many citizens are telling us we need to do something bold?

Kenneth Warren

Ken, Are you really advocating governance by gut? If the Mayor were to just gut it out and throw a large amount of money at the police without knowing if that's the answer - what kind of managment is that?

Am I reading this right? We are in a badly managed war with criminals and you're advocating a surge?

Suzanne