The Observation Deck

Mr. Florian.

I'm not going to make a lot of people happy with this, but it's a realistic perspective that thinking people need to take into consideration.
Many have this interesting view of Lakewood as a bohemian enclave, full of intellectual types who browse used book stores and are looking for authentic replacements for the original drawer pulls in their kitchens.
That exists, to be sure., but the average household income is right around $30,000, pretty low, and it's not because everyone's a starving artist or working on their PhD, OK?
People who invest cold hard cash, including bankers, want cold hard facts. In this case, the fact is that Lakewood has clusters of upwardly mobile and urban professionals, but it has a lot more "downscale".
Put Lakewood's stats into a computer and it suggests Dollar General, which by golly, is a national retail chain operating in Lakewood.
Add the dearth of parking, the expense of converting old retail space to useable new room, theft/shrink risk, etc, and you need to do a LOT of sales to make a profit in a place like Lakewood.
It's one thing to say "why can't Lakewood have a bookstore?" but are YOU going to take a second out on your house to get the $50,000 to start one? Don't ask the banks for help. They like to see demographics and parking.
The perception is, if you want to sell to that bohemian creative class, the east side is a far better bet.
I'm sure that for a lot of people, investing in a Lakewood operation would have some romantic appeal. But bankers aren't romantic sorts (I know that better than most, trust me). so unless someone is willing to take a huge PERSONAL risk, Lakewood just doesn't seem like fertile territory.
I believe that every problem has SOME solution. I'm just hoping we're being realistic about the actual problems.

Many have this interesting view of Lakewood as a bohemian enclave, full of intellectual types who browse used book stores and are looking for authentic replacements for the original drawer pulls in their kitchens.

Ken Warren is the maven of demographic data. Notable is his on-going effort to frame the data in advanced way; via the PRIZM, and, Spiral Dynamics.

Whereas I, acting from the anthropological perspective, am more interested in the drill down to the individual self-report. In light of this, I stand back from over-generalized characterizations while noting, at the same time, that the quasi-typology implicit in Ken's research, is worthwhile too.

Hmmm, but then Ken and me discuss this all the time! We say... Lakewood is, overall, grindingly working-class, and, there is a strong class divide between the sweep of single houses, rentals, and, the 'north of Clifton' neighborhoods.

Case in point. One can count on two (one hand?) hands the number of 'intellectuals' who have sustained involvement with the Lakewood Observer project. This isn't to say they do not live in Lakewood, but is to say, instead, that the Observer has not smoked them out or evoked their growing participation. ...for whatever reasons. But, no Lakewoodite has hipped me about where Lakewood's intellectuals hang out. It's not at the library.

I'm not sure what counts for a bohemian anymore, but the 'creative classes' valorized by Richard Florida (and others,) don't cause much of a crease in the social contours of Lakewood. The PRIZM report reflects this.

***

The city that knows itself well will know exactly what its make-up is and how it is trending.

My own sense is that Lakewood's positive future will be built on the human foundation of substantially increased integration, diversity, ethnicity, and less, (what I term,) caucasian foundationalism, class snobbery, and anti-intellectualism. Etc.

and Etc.

I.e.: vibrantly global, richly cultural, radically democratic, much more consciously feminine (in the psychological sense).

(Or so the dreamy Dr. Puck whispers into my ear!)

Mr. Calhoun.

I've only recently become aware of Mr. Warren's research and I can't say I understand it all.
One of the messages that comes through isn't necessarily that there is a BIG "creative class" here, but there are SOME. And if SOME can be happy in Lakewood, can we attract more?
Interesting point to ponder. However, that speaks to where we'd like to go, not where we are now. The here and now, as you've noted, is not exactly Tribeca East. Lakewood needs to have one eye on both the future AND present. Not everyone is willing to hang around for 20 years.

Thanks for the responses!

Ms Roberts: On demograpics, you describe Lakewood accurately but you can also use those demographics to describe many of the east side neighborhoods where these cool "bohemian" resources are located. Cleveland Heights, while home to a lot of nice (by that I mean huge and expensive) homes is really no better off than a Lakewood, where we have a ton of such properties to the north of the city and sprinkled in between (and we are better off in that we don't have to share a school district). Heck, Mr. George just posted a sale for a nearly half-million dollar condo on Detroit Rd.!! We clearly have the deep pockets as well as the penny pinchers. But I think a book store or movie theater or other such entertainment destination isn't just for the folks that live here, it is for bringing other folks into town from all over the West side. That is why I suggest finding things that don't compete directly with established big boxes like Target or Borders. A quality thrift store would meet the needs of both bohemian hipsters and practical folks with little money just the same.

The demographics are even more bleak for areas around Cedar-Lee or in Tremont or Ohio City, yet these areas are thriving in the realms of food, arts and after hour entertainment. They have the brunt of neat bars and restaurants and many of the smaller, quality theaters on the West Side. Demographics are certainly a starting point but giving in to them as the end-all-be-all will halt all growth. We need to be a destination, not just build for the working class (self included...I am on holiday today!) of our residents.

Ms. Varkonyi: I really don't know for sure. As I live near this area I see the corner of Hilliard and Madison a lot and think "what a waste." There is always a TON of traffic passing over that corner but none of it has much of a reason to stop there (or a place to stop, when you think about it). But it has a great old theater (that would need tons of work, of course) and row upon row of half-empty storefronts. While having tennis courts in the middle of the city is neat, I wonder if that lot on the north side of Madison by Hilliard could be better used as a mixed parking lot and park area? I am not sure if business growth, like the chicken and the egg problem, will thrive because there are things to come to but no parking or will start only because there is parking for businesses to build off of. These shops are laying dormant and I give them props for experimenting from time to time but single stores opening with little or no fanfare aren't going to find their audience but a concerted effort to open a bunch of new shops with new parking would make this West end of Madison a great anchor for the middle and eastern end bars and restaurants. To me, anyway.

Lakewood has several points of distinction in a structural sense. One is its density, another is the high percentage of rental units. Another is the fifteen or so linear miles of retail and business frontage. The combination is extremely unusual as far as I know.

Lakewood's demographics are relatively dynamic but not very much in the vector of race as they are in more finely grained descriptions of what householders and renters do for a living, and, where they are in developmental (i.e. socio-economic,) cycles at the level of individuals.

But it's the churn and flow through the rental spaces that is, to me, most interesting and not as much spoken about in the same breath as references to Lakewood being a city of fine homes, decent schools, churches, and watering holes.

There's probably more movement through Lakewood as people go up the economic ladder than there is movement through Lakewood as people go down the economic ladder. I think a lot rides, if this is true enough, on Lakewood being a place where residents can stabilize their economic connections to the world-at-large.

Culturally, it's hard to define differences. There's no doubt the cafe society in Cleveland Heights is glowingly smart because of the proximity to University Circle. Cleveland Heights supports a small used bookstore. The Cedar-Lee is a very successful first run (mostly,) art film 'house'. Dobama is moving to the new library complex. And, Cleveland Heights is both very segregated and much more diverse than Lakewood. Terrible high school unless one, as a student, is really self-possessed.

Methinks Lakewood is much more interesting too. For one thing, to me, Lakewood is weirder, more intriguing.

***

This said, Lakewood, unlike Cleveland Heights, is, generally, 'the response' to volatile working-class economics, whereas Cleveland Heights is strongly tied to the stable professional classes in the cultural and medical center of University Circle.

It would be interesting, given the inter-generational interval of 20 years, to discover how much churn there has been trhough 20 year intervals in the single family houses in Lakewood.

Upon closer consideration, by way of comparison, Cleveland Heights has a mediocre Borders and a big multiplex cinema at Severence Center. The suburb has three distinct semi-3rd space business centers. Most prominent is the Cedar-Fairfax neighborhood along Lee Rd. at which are the Cedar-Lee, and a dozen+plus restaurants and coffee houses, a few galleries, and in 2007 the new main library-Dobama complex.

There is Cedar-Fairmount. Smaller yet very successful because it sits in the midst of student-occupied apartment buildings and is walking, bike distance from CWRU and UH, and, for that matter, Little Italy.

There is Coventry; both post-boho and post-slacker, yet, nevertheless, a sort-of happening place with bad parking, lots of students, the Grog Shop, and numerous eateries and small retail stores. It has little dstination appeal for me a fat balding hippie, but I grew up two blocks away and remember fondly when you could walk down and pick up incense, a pack of zigzags,, the new Byrds LP, while steering of the Bikers.

"almost cut my hair today..."

Joan Roberts wrote:
I'm not going to make a lot of people happy with this, but it's a realistic perspective that thinking people need to take into consideration..

Thank you for bringing up points that people wont necessarily want to hear. It isn't easy being the 'bad-guy' but we DO need to keep our eyes open and consider ALL angles.

Joan Roberts wrote:<snip> ... but the average household income is right around $30,000, pretty low, and it's not because everyone's a starving artist or working on their PhD, OK? ..

Actually, that is incorrect. Census data from 200 indicated that the average income is just over 40k. Cleveland Heights is just above us are around 45k and Mayfield Heights is just below at 37k.

Some additional demographics(all numbers are rounded for my sanity's sake):

Lakewood - pop. 54k, avg age 34, avg house 118K
Cleveland Heights - pop. 49k, avg age 35, avg house 109k
Mayfield Heights - pop. 18.5k avg age 44, avg house 126k

As you can see - demographically, we are on an equal playing field here.

Joan Roberts wrote:People who invest cold hard cash, including bankers, want cold hard facts. In this case, the fact is that Lakewood has clusters of upwardly mobile and urban professionals, but it has a lot more "downscale".
Put Lakewood's stats into a computer and it suggests Dollar General, which by golly, is a national retail chain operating in Lakewood.
Add the dearth of parking, the expense of converting old retail space to useable new room, theft/shrink risk, etc, and you need to do a LOT of sales to make a profit in a place like Lakewood...

Again - from the census: Lakewood has the lowest unemployment of the three communities mentioned, but the highest number of single (never married) people. Education-wise we are in between the two communities - with Cleveland Heights having an (expectedly) unusually high number of people with college degrees compared to the region as a whole.

This is inconsistent with your description of Lakewood having a larger number of 'downscale' people that other communities.

Joan Roberts wrote:It's one thing to say "why can't Lakewood have a bookstore?" but are YOU going to take a second out on your house to get the $50,000 to start one? Don't ask the banks for help. They like to see demographics and parking..

They also like to see solid business plans with experienced and qualified people running the business. Parking an issue? Certainly. But that is the case in EVERY metropolitan area I have ever been to. Let us not forget - we are a first ring suburb to a fairly large city. The parking issue is not one that is unique to us. (As a side note - we went up to Little Italy to eat the other day and well... let's just say Ill take finding a spot here any day over the hike there!)

Joan Roberts wrote:The perception is, if you want to sell to that bohemian creative class, the east side is a far better bet..

And THAT is (IMHO) our biggest problem. Perception. Not only how we are perceived by others, but how we perceive ourselves.

Joan Roberts wrote:<snip> But bankers aren't romantic sorts (I know that better than most, trust me). so unless someone is willing to take a huge PERSONAL risk, Lakewood just doesn't seem like fertile territory.
I believe that every problem has SOME solution. I'm just hoping we're being realistic about the actual problems.

Again, I thank you. Without your post I wouldn't have taken the initiative to scour the census to get the real story on our demos. And hopefully, we can ALL see now that investing in Lakewood is not just a romantic notion. There is plenty of quantitative data to support development here...

Now where are my business plan templates??????

Peace,
~Charyn

Forgive me if I somehow gave the impression that no business could be successful in Lakewood. Clearly that's not the case. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if Lakewood is as fertile a ground for business as you claim, why aren't more businesses here? I don't believe there's an anti-Lakewood conspiracy out there. Businesses, big small and in-between, will go ANYWHERE they think they can turn a profit.
I think we need to rationally understand why businesses choose other cities than ours, and I'm sorry, but I don't believe it's merely a matter of marketing. If it's solely about promotion and marketing, the people who have held that positron over the years have failed miserably.
I believe it's about space, parking, and yes, demographics, probably in that order.

To all I would say, take heart, for these things take time. I took a number of trips to Washington, DC a few years ago and found a stunning bed and breakfast in the northwest quadrant near 14th and Q. The neighborhood was ok, not great, and at the time a number of homes were being renovated and restored in the area. The owner, Jackie Reed, told me they had bought the three story brownstone shortly after the riots decimated most of the neighborhood in the 60s. They slowly renovated it and began operating it as a B&B in the 80s. Meantime, Jackie went to work organizing businesses and neighbors in the area, working to encourage the rebuilding of the area.

More than 30 years later, it's still not the best neighborhood, but it has made slow and steady progress. Trendy restaurants and a Whole Foods market are within a block or two of the Dollar General and the Rite Aid with barred windows. And my favorite meal in the neighborhood is still a Chinese restaurant called Yums, where suits and vagrants wait in line for takeout.

Lakewood is in flux. The population mix is evolving, the housing stock is eclectic, people are still coming and going. Hopefully things like the improvements to the school will help keep families. Our half block of Alameda is different every summer -- some good, some not so good. But there are some positive signs. Some nice new neighbors here, an eviction there . . . when you live in a real place with real people and not protected by your 2 acres, that's life. But I wouldn't live anywhere else.

Do I hear the Battle Hymn of the Republic ???

Paul, good point! I just can't wait!! The grass always seems greener on the other side of the Cuyahoga, I guess. I can't say things are stagnant, either. We have a ton of new schools going up (two within quick walking distance from my home...which will be great for my young girls very soon!), we have a library that will (some day) be bigger and better than before. A rapidly growing YMCA is closer to finished than I thought it would be in such a short time. East Detroit is getting (what I still can't believe) nearly half-million dollar condos and store fronts. So stuff is happening in bits here and there. I guess I just want more. While "new" is fine I think there are so many spaces left open that it is still frustrating to not know what will happen to it or if there are even plans for it. Some friends visited Detroit this past weekend and described a similar inner-ring suburb (Royal Oaks, maybe??) that had the same rows and rows of storefronts and similar housing stock but where ours is mostly empty storefronts, there they had full shops and lots of walkers. I just want that. Is that too much to ask??