The Observation Deck

Lakewood was cited as a positive example by two speakers at today's TEDxCLE event during a segment of the program titled "Building Community through Historic Preservation."

The focus of these presentations was on the preservation/repurposing of community assets and the difficult choices that come with that territory. The value of a building should not be exclusively determined by its architectural details (or lack thereof); its purpose and usefulness in building/maintaining community should be at least as strong a consideration.

This conference was organized and attended largely by a generation of young people who seem determined to strike a better balance. Best of all, Lakewood is on their radar and hopefully they’re headed our way.

http://www.tedxcle.com/

I talked with some young people who attended TED at a nearby restaraunt today. I was very impressed with their knowledge and enthusiasm.

There is hope!

After an unsuccessful campaign headed by our students to be a presenter at the conference, I was lucky enough to have been given two free tickets for the event and a promise to meet with the event organizers for next year's conference. I was unable to attend, but my wife went and also mentioned that Lakewood was referenced in a positive light as an example of a great community several times. In particular, they mentioned our avoidance of the big box stores and an insistence on maintaining a walking community of small shops and services. I got a fancy t-shirt out of it

If you haven't seen a tedtalk yet, I'd highly recommend it to anyone who likes to think. Just head to ted.com to get started. I like to think of it as a digital Woodstock for smart people.