The Observation Deck

When the multi-million dollar Downtown project was announced for Lakewood, we had no
idea the number of national chains that would be attracted by just how perfect Lakewood is
for out-of-the-box unique brand-building stores. At the time, all we knew was that it was
something special, and would add to the entire Downtown experience.

It would not be the nightmare, or emotional letdown that Marc's Plaza was. Every member
of LakewoodAlive and the city would often tell me, "We do not want another debacle like
like what happened at Marc's Plaza." For those that were not following, in the Mayor
Harburger days, a group got together to build upscale shopping, something a few in this
city have coveted for decades if not their entire lives.

Then because "no one could see that coming..." Marc's opened up, and judging by the
number of cars in the lot every day, it is not going anywhere. After that, it became the drive of the same small handful of people that we need "high-end stylish shops like they have at Crocker Park in Lakewood." It was this cry that started the now infamous "WestEnd Project that ironically was called "Mainstreet." The plan was for a multi-use strip mall that would bring in "2,000 cars an hour" according to one source in charge of traffic studies, to shop at such cool stores as Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn for Kids, Naked Pottery Barn, and their dream target "a Cheesecake Factory!"

When that was defeated, it was because the cost was too high. The cost? We have to blight the entire city, be humiliated on national TV, and run 1,500 Lakewood residents out of their homes along the metro parks. The residents said no. The cost was too high, the principles too low. Still, a few had dreams that were starting to border on religion, and they formed LakewoodAlive to educate the ignorant through a series of lectures/meetings on THE NEED FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT to keep their taxes, errrrr our taxes low. And to finally have a city they could be proud of with chains of big box stores, just like in thousands of other suburbs they have visited and dreamed of living in.

So they turned their attention and their needs (keep their own taxes low, and have high-end shopping nearby, but not in their backyard) to rebuilding "DowntowN" Lakewood to be a mall "just like Crocker Park, Legacy Village" or other soulless strip mall like so
many other faux towns that double as "Retail Development Districts." This will save us
and we will never make the mistakes made before with Marc's Plaza. No this time, the city
is with us, the civic groups are with us, and we have the inside line to high-end shops
that will line Detroit Avenue, and add to the streetscape that we have worked 10 years on,
and have poured millions of residential dollars into.

Now we finally get the "Lakewood" we have dreamed of. Rodeo Drive of Cleveland...

Welcome to DowntowN!

One of 5 in the city, and to my knowledge no Dollar General Store has closed or moved,
so that would be an anchor for eternity. A brand builder that will place us alongside other
great shopping districts like Beachwood Place, Legacy Village and the much coveted Crocker Park.

Really?

How many millions?

Does this mean Shawn's Boutique Hotel will be a Motel 6?


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The free market system - not someone's "agenda" - always has and always will drive business decisions.

I, for one, have no issue with Dollar General opening in Our City. "They" may not want to admit it, but Our City is largely made up of working class families who need economic relief. Dollar General will thrive! (and I can guarantee you I will see some of you shopping there!)

Oh, but wait a minute .. I almost forgot about the bad element who will flock to Our City to shop there, and then loiter and spit and throw trash on the streets and then try to sell drugs to our youth. Oy

Peter Grossetti wrote:The free market system - not someone's "agenda" - always has and always will drive business decisions.

I, for one, have no issue with Dollar General opening in Our City. "They" may not want to admit it, but Our City is largely made up of working class families who need economic relief. Dollar General will thrive! (and I can guarantee you I will see some of you shopping there!)

Oh, but wait a minute .. I almost forgot about the bad element who will flock to Our City to shop there, and then loiter and spit and throw trash on the streets and then try to sell drugs to our youth. Oy

Peter

I am not trying to stop anyone from coming in. I am not talking about the bad element that many say will
come in. I am not even saying I am anti-big box stores.

What I am addressing is the decades of bullshit civic leaders have poured down our throats about how
using residential funds to invest in commercial districts will bring in a slew of high-end shops that will cut
our taxes and pay HUGE dividends in the long run.

It is frustrating that they just cannot be straight from the get go, pardon the pun.

I am sure had they been honest with, "We will invest millions of your dollars in getting things perfect for
3 dollar stores and some other chains of similar style" the residents might have at least been able to say,
"how about we invest in Parks, and continue to invest in schools, and safety."

That's all, just stop the talk of monorails, and glassed in walkways to highend shopping.

PS - Drive south on Spring Garden and count the Dunkin Donut wrappers before Madison.
Head north on Gladys and count the Burger King wrappers. Please do not act like these
places create liter free living.

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Jim - my comments were not aimed at you ... just tossed out there like a hand grenade.

People first

Peter

I appreciate that you stand up for the little guy and the underdog. I completely agree that all people deserve respect and should be treated in a dignified manner, regardless of their economic situation. But, I sparred with you before about stores like Value World and Unique Thrift. When they proposed a Value World would move into the old Drug Mart site, I expressed concern. Let me reiterate, I shop at VW, Unique, and Salvation Army regularly. I "mingle with the masses" there. I don't put anyone there down and I'm not afraid to be there.

However, I ask you to visit the VW at 105th and Lorain. Or the Unique at Fulton and Lorain. Or all three on Warrensville Center by Randall Mall. Take a look at the condition of the store, and the surrounding parking lots. There is garbage everywhere, the lots are full of holes, and there is an assortment of people hanging around, panhandling and asking for cigs or money. I don't disdain these people, but I must insist that these stores attract that kind of traffic. It is what it is. They aren't bad people, but the average suburban housewife is not gonna go shop there precisely because of the condition of the stores and the people hanging around it. Since all the VWs are like that, why should I think the Lakewood one would be any different?

And again, I have to ask, is this the best we can do? Are low budget, low class stores all Lakewood can hope to attract? Does adding more and more of these low end stores make it even harder yet to attract businesses that people claim to want in Lakewood - fancy high end stores, chain restaurants?

I don't disdain these people, but I must insist that these stores attract that kind of traffic.

May I offer the suggestion that perhaps it is the other way around? What if the Lakewood demographics have changed to the point that these people are here already and the stores are following them?

Roy Pitchford wrote:May I offer the suggestion that perhaps it is the other way around? What if the Lakewood demographics have changed to the point that these people are here already and the stores are following them?

Yes, Roy. THANK YOU!!!

"these people" ARE here ... in vast numbers. Problem is, few are willing to accept that fact (let alone do something about it)

PEOPLE (nay, RESIDENTS) FIRST

Peter, Roy, Grace

"These people" are here and everywhere. I have seen many a person bitch about Marc's, the parking, the aisles, the selection, the check-out. When I ask why do they put up with it if they hate it, the response is, "Well prices are low, and it was nearby."

While you three seem upset with who is or who is not shopping there, and how they get here, and if they should be here, I figure, if you make it to Lakewood, you are a Lakewoodian I think Peter has called them, while others prefer Lakewoodite, or "Woody."

This was not posted as an attack on poor people, or bargain hunters, or the thrifty or needy. It was a call for honesty from the people who continuously gain access to our tax dollars, CDBG funding, tell us grandiose plans that exist only in their twisted minds, as none it would seem have done their homework, and as soon as they get the money… they spend the money, have various awards and ribbon cutting ceremonies, then shrug their shoulders and say the same lame ass stuff like, "Well we cannot control who comes into the spaces..." or "WE could never envision this happening, what a shame."

Which are generally the same people complaining about how Marc's Plaza turned out. If that is true, and for the sake of debate let's say that it is, then stop lying to us, with YOUR dreams of our tax dollars being used on "high end shopping that will keep our taxes low."

One would think the entire city is filled with Republicans making serious jack, and/or that high-end shopping had ever keep our taxes down. It is all an outright lie, and has been, since they started this ten years ago. High end shopping brings minimum wage jobs. The money made by these stores doesn’t stay in Lakewood, it goes all over.

At the same time, it would be interesting to understand, do Dollar General, and Value World bring needy people to Lakewood, or do these corporations study the city, and see it as ripe for a low income store? If both are correct, then how could our City Hall and civic leaders not see or even remotely understand what Dollar General is seeing or doing?

Again, I often go back to "Slaughter of Cities" that describes in detail how, for hundreds of years, cities have been ravaged by developers using ignorant or worse--bought--politicians/civic leaders to destroy the value and fabric of a community just so they can buy low and sell high.

Why is Lakewood City Hall so eager to be used in this way? After years of slow steady positive growth which is obtained by working with businesses that add to a community, and come not for the tiff money, but because a city has 50,000+ quality consumers who need what they have to offer. This is the natural selection, free enterprise system America is known for. When you insert false incentives, you end up with 238 food places in 5 square miles, that are all hurting, even the new ones. And we have yet to talk about the slaughter of the neighborhoods, the great neighborhoods like Grace, Woodward, Hall etc. Just so the city can add another clean, but very bland piece to their make pretend "mall city" as they have thrown away the walkable, community with character.

Another point was that stores like Dollar General, Dollar Tree, etc. have a great shelf-life and longevity. So let’s look, as the real world does, to the stores that seek out Dollar General to be near or next to. 1) They are not the high-end shops creating big taxes that the city and civic leaders promised. So once again major lies or mistakes--I could care less which-- but, they are magnets for cell phones stores, and other let's say interesting stores, that can be seen in and around these stores whenever one drives into the inner city. Five Dollar stores brands Lakewood on a national level with other retailers. Is that the brand we wanted or were looking for?

Will the new completely faux "Vision Project" place in the first line of the first paragraph: "We must work to save the dollar stores on Detroit Avenue" as the last faux vision project did with car dealerships?

Instead of asking that question City Hall asks, "Aren’t dollar stores just like the dime stores of yesterday?"

Well, except for the names mentioning money (“dollar” versus “dime”) in them, NO!  Five-and-tens or dime stores were created in the streetcar era to handle the small things, and odd things—haberdasheries-- that corner groceries and delicatessens didn't. They were not conceived as places that allow families to live who have less than $12,000 a year coming in (Dollar General), or families with less than $20,000 coming in (Family Dollar) or for families who bring in less than $40,000 (Dollar Tree). These are survival stores, not dime stores. And when a city is filled with them it would indicate to many, this is a broke-n city. A city that has lost control of its brand, position, neighborhoods and…?

Is it the dollar stores that attract, or the housing that the city has let fall into disrepair as they turned our tax dollars and energy nearly 100% to the "high-end shopping in Downtown?"

Could it be that by chasing the dream that everyone involved, including the mayor, now readily admits was "not within their control" we have let down our guard? Or better, put at risk our potential to capitalize on the very organic and sustainable "best city in the area" that we have earned year after year, with shops like The Root, Melt, Deagen's, and NEVER stores like Panera, 5 Guys, or Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree or Value World?

As has been commented hundreds of times here going back over 9 years...

Lakewood: our own worst enemy.

No matter, the streets are cleaner, well, newer, but they are filled with mumblers, screamers, panhandlers, and troublemakers who were brought into this city in no small part by City Hall and many of the programs flowing out of City Hall. Again, our tax dollars at work slaughtering our city.

Those who know me, know I do not care what you make, who you are, what color or religion you are. I could care less if you are straight, gay, asexual, or something else. It is what is in your heart, and your deeds I care about. Make it to Lakewood, fit in with the neighborhood you have chosen, try not to act out so others need the police, or intervention, and you are a Lakewoodite I am proud to call brother or sister.

But at some point, City Hall and the civic leaders must take credit for the downgrading of our community, when so many groups and businesses not connected to the city have been what is keeping this city's head above water for over a decade. At some point City Hall has got to realize that things have always worked out better when they stick to governing, safety, cleaning, and nearly always seem to fail when they get into faux community building/engineering.

This past week Kenneth Warren came back into Lakewood still on his book-signing tour. As we drove around and walked the streets he kept saying, "I guess they never read my piece on dollar stores."


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I'll be honest, I didn't read over everything you wrote Jim and I'm not in the mood to do so at the moment. I have only two comments on what I did read.

1. I'm not upset about the people. I was only presenting an alternative conclusion to Grace's observation.

2. If Mr. Warren expects people to read anything he writes, perhaps he should learn how to write without 5+ syllable words that one needs an full-length Oxford Dictionary to understand.

Lakewood-bound? http://www.wdrb.com/story/20019769/dollar-general-stores-want-to-sell-liquor

Roy Pitchford wrote:I'll be honest, I didn't read over everything you wrote Jim and I'm not in the mood to do so at the moment. I have only two comments on what I did read.

1. I'm not upset about the people. I was only presenting an alternative conclusion to Grace's observation.

2. If Mr. Warren expects people to read anything he writes, perhaps he should learn how to write without 5+ syllable words that one needs an full-length Oxford Dictionary to understand.

Roy

I am sorry I do not write in little sound bites that are easy to digest. But that is because so many of these
problems are so interconnected then can or should not be talked about one at a time.

I understand that you are upset with the people, many are. However if we are discussing Dollar General or
Value Mart being either a magnet or a comfort, we should understand how most of the mumblers, and
downtrodden arrive at our fair city. Many through programs offered by the city.

As the city is now looking at future visions, with heavily moderated discussions with city hall folks in
attendance in figure of at least 1 - 2 if not 2-1. We should understand what Dollar General as an anchor store
in Downtown Lakewood means to others looking to Lakewood to live or open a business. All of these
dollar stores are online with their "annual reports" and you can read in their words who they are aiming for
and what sorts neighborhoods they are looking for. skip the mission statements as most are pure hype
and read the prospectus. As this also has an impact on who follows.

You are upset with the people, Grace and myself upset with the low end delivery of high end promises. But
maybe the real problem is not either, but somewhere else, and that is what needs to be addressed. Neither
Dollar General, Kenneth Warren, nor advertising brought the Hidden Village nightmare to Lakewood. In the
end it would appear that a good meaning person at city hall did. I mean how much negative impact could
there be on a neighborhood if you drop a half-way house for juvenile violent offenders into it? I mean we all
want them to have a place to live, right?

As for Kenneth Warren, I have never told anyone what to write or how to do it. While Ken has a propensity to
use large words, they usually are wrapped around large ideas. Ken's book would seem to be selling well, and
many people have made it through the first hundred or so pages. But is it the large words that turn you off, or
that you worked for him and many did not agree with some of his stances at the Library, so you just brush
him off as being wordy or hard to understand. What I have found, and I am sure I have to look up far more
words than you do, is that each time it sheds light on the meaning, the story, and the man.

Scott,

If the pay-off was dollars, as promised it would be somewhat different. But clerk jobs, counter jobs while needed
and appreciated by me, rarely are at the high end of the spectrum. Food servers are the lowest pay of them
all, actually legally paid 50% of minimum wage, as they get tips. As for the tax revenue form the sales they
are spread out throughout the county. So Lakewood does not need a Coach Bag store here to get some of
the revenue, and that is a key to what Lakewood could have become, which is what we were. A great place
to live, and have a family. A strange little city, where you can rent a 3rd floor, meet a partner, move into a
half of house, get married, buy a house, and raise a family. That is gold, it never goes out of fashion, it never
looses it cool, as long as the neighborhoods are stable, clean, safe and fun.

But what do I know.

.

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For someone who doesn't tell anyone what to write or how to do it, you're sure putting a lot of words in my mouth that I'm not saying.

Roy Pitchford wrote:For someone who doesn't tell anyone what to write or how to do it, you're sure putting a lot of words in my mouth that I'm not saying.

Roy

That is exactly why I do not tell people what to say.

Seriously...

Sorry if I misunderstood.


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Scott Meeson wrote:
Lakewood-bound? http://www.wdrb.com/story/20019769/dollar-general-stores-want-to-sell-liquor

Hey Scott,

Thanks for posting this report. I found it fascinating. I don't know how many other Deck readers are like me, but often I don't click on links when I don't have time, or my I-phone isn't happy about connecting me, so I'm copying that report into this thread.

Dollar General stores want to sell alcohol

LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- Is it good for business or bad for the community? Some Louisville Dollar General stores want to start stocking shelves with alcohol in a move that's being met with cheers and jeers.

Read story here: http://www.wdrb.com/story/20019769/dollar-general-stores-want-to-sell-liquor

That's how you do it.

Betsy Voinovich

Betsy said: "That's how you do it."

Actually Betsy I think you are precisely 100% wrong. This is copyrighted material, correct me if I am wrong but the fair use doctrine allows you to post snippets but certainly not the entire article. By doing so you put the LO at risk. Jim correct me if I'm wrong.

My company makes a living by creating intellectual property so I am sort of sensitive to this.