The Observation Deck

http://media.lakewoodobserver.com/issue_pdfs/Observer_Vol_10_Issue_04.pdf

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Funny, how sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men…

As you can see after a winter of up and down consistency in snow removal, we sat down yesterday to decide who gets the headline, and we thought, why not the people in Lakewood City Services? Their management had taken a ton of heat on the Deck, and the workers took a ton of heat in every bar, restaurant and home in Lakewood.

Our thought was these people were doing more with less, and it was not really all on them if management decides to have more people plowing and less trucks on the road. I am not sure how many getting this note were ever in a situation where the company was downsizing, yet expecting the level of work to remain as high if not higher. It is tough and grates on one's nerves as those asking you to do more with less are not suffering themselves. As hours grow, and time from family shrinks, it becomes tougher and tougher to keep those levels of output high. Yet after a terrible time with a storm earlier, the crews really seemed to get on with the work at hand.

Then the new storm hit! As the paper was sent off for press I passed along a note saying, "Hold the front page, we might need to change it." This morning I woke up and drove around the city, and was pleasantly surprised to find all roads and side streets passable. Perfect like in our photos, no. But considering the amount of snow that came down, and when.

The only reason a person from Lakewood would have for being late to work would be digging their car out of the driveway, or the street.

The rest of the paper deals as always with a potpourri of things to do, or things that happened in Lakewood.

Embarrassingly the postcards from the Liveable Lakewood Project made the news again. After getting nearly 4,000 cards onto the streets of Lakewood, we started to hear some rumblings from 3 people in writing and calls from another 8 or so, that the postcard of sunrise over Cleveland was misguided and terrible. Everyone loved the image, but a few were troubled with the line, "Just far enough from Cleveland to enjoy life." They found it derogatory and over the top. Yet as I spoke with each person, they all said in one form or another, "We moved to Lakewood over Cleveland for, Schools, Safety, neighborhoods, parks, and the nightlife."

When I asked if they understood the card, they all answered "Yes" and "while we agree we think it is in bad taste," some demanding we remove the cards from the shelves and destroy them. While we are open to any and all ideas about the card, we are going to need a better reason than, "We agree with you but it seems a tad rough."

The fact is, Lakewood has a huge target on it. We have won numerous awards and commendations for what a great place we are. WE have continuously invested in our schools, and libraries. We chose to live in Lakewood because of what it is, and because we are the closest city to Cleveland without being in Cleveland. Those are the facts. Let's celebrate them.

No matter the heat has come in, and as we have always said at the Observer, "What is good for the goose, is probably worth everyone jumping in, for or against." We are more than willing to once again jump into the mosh pit of Word Jazz, and discuss with our equals, other residents in Lakewood, whether this beautiful card is over the top or not.

Some suggested, How about reprinting the card without the line? NO. The next 9 cards are designed and in production. No matter how nice the photo is of Cleveland taken from Lakewood's premiere restaurant Pier W, it will not be reprinted.

I would like to thank all of the businesses and all of the people who have helped this process go forward, and I would like to once again thank Steve Davis and NorthCoast Litho, for working with us on this project. The service and printing have been everything we could ask for.

Stay Warm!
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