The Observation Deck

I know of many people here that either do not have Facebook, actually knowing more and
more dropping off FB. Anyway we bring it here for you.

Posted by "The City of Lakewood Municipal Government, maybe the Mayor, who knows as
they prefer to hide behind faux names.

The Lakewood Theater stood on Detroit Avenue until it was demolished, sometime in the 1950s. It was located at what is now Burger King. #tbt



It seems odd, in a city that just painfully lost it last theater to a McDonald's that has now
caused traffic hell for residents near it, that the Mayor(?) Dru Siley(?), Joe Beno(?) who
knows maybe all of them, are actively bragging on company time, our tax dollars, about
trading in beautiful buildings for crappy fast food chains.

While the Lakewood Theater was torn down for development, not Fast Food, the Mayor(?),
Dru Siley(?), Joe Beno(?) Kevin Butler(?) who knows maybe all of them were eager to
point out, Burger King is now there!!!! Are they trying to say they are not the only ones
eager to trade in history and quiet residential streets for fast food. Well that doesn't make right.

Another sign the city has not just lost their way, but are willing to rub your face in it
again and again and again.

I would like to remind everyone. That today we carry our garbage to the curb, to cover the
cost of the city bragging on FB, Twitter, about "Best Taco Bell" "This theater is now BK"...
Dare I saw curbside pickup was not sold to us for that. We were told the city was broke,
not needed a way to spin facts, and rub crap in our faces. It's getting old.

.

I don't see where the "bragging" is on that post.

Also, the theater was not torn down for Burger King. The theater was demolished in the 1950s, while the BK was not built until 1985 (I remember because I worked at Zakaria's Bi-Rite at the time).

I don't remember what was on that land during the intervening decades.

I'm with Michael on this. I don't quite see it as "bragging". And it probably took them 30 seconds to post. Not quite "taxpayer money" at work, at least IMHO.

Jim, do you really think they are trying to rub something in our face? It's not like they tweeted "Thank God we have a Burger King instead of a stupid theater".

I am definitely not in agreement with everything the city is doing, but I think this is a case of "Much Ado About Nothing".

Matthew Lee wrote:I am definitely not in agreement with everything the city is doing, but I think this is a case of "Much Ado About Nothing".

Matt

I could completely agree with you on one hand. Innocent facebook posting from the Mayor,
on "Throwback Tuesday" to be cool, relevant, or just get something out there.

But this is not, some kid named the "City of Lakewood, Municipal Government" is it? It is
a $70 million dollar a year business with hundreds of employees, and 52,000 shareholders.

It is a government that just used "City of Lakewood, Municipal Government" to further
comments they knew to be lies. Is a pattern emerging? Is it now the Spin Zone? I expect
Dru Siley to post positive things about what he is doing. FB/Twitter fabulous Narcissistic
Drugs for all to enjoy. But "City of Lakewood, Municipal Government" should not contain
the same desperate needs, in my humble opinion.

Then there are the facts of being told we are broke, and we are so broke we need to carry
our trash to the curbs to save "$43,000 in 5 years" now 8 years I believe. Most of that
savings, which really doesn't exist yet, squandered on spin not even real facts?

Which brings us to, this post. No matter who the poster was, probably The Mayor as they
are speaking for the Government, decided 1) it would be fun to remind people of historical
things we have lost to chains, especially now that so many are feeling the pain of
McDonald's, the new sports bar errrrr 150 seat micro brewery in the middle of a residential
neighborhood this will show them we don't care? 2) This will prove to them others
have traded history for chain stores, so they will blame someone else? 3) They
never thought about it at all and just did it.

End of the world, definitely not, but another quick insight into how truthful City Hall is
how they think of residents and how much they even think about what they post or do.

.

I dunno, Jim. I think you are reading way too much into an innocent tweet. There's nothing in that tweet that is not true:

"The Lakewood Theater stood on Detroit Avenue until it was demolished, sometime in the 1950s. It was located at what is now Burger King. #tbt"

* The Lakewood Theater stood on Detroit Avenue until it was demolished, sometime in the 1950s. -- Fact
* It was located at what is now Burger King. -- Fact
* #tbt - Fact (although I am not a fan of tbt in general)

I don't see any of the bragging or grandiose statements you see in this post. Again, they showed us a picture. Told us what it was. Told us where it was. That's it. I just don't see a hidden agenda at all.

But, I am more than happy to be proved wrong. Trying to tie the post to the trash dollar savings just seems to be a bit of a stretch.

And trust me, I dislike a LOT of what has happened in our city recently. However, the tbt post just isn't one of them.

I remember when "BURGER ING" was "BURGER KING."





I still miss that "K" ...

... but ...

... I guess there can only be one king in the 'Wood.

Matthew Lee wrote:I dunno, Jim. I think you are reading way too much into an innocent tweet. There's nothing in that tweet that is not true:

"The Lakewood Theater stood on Detroit Avenue until it was demolished, sometime in the 1950s. It was located at what is now Burger King. #tbt"

* The Lakewood Theater stood on Detroit Avenue until it was demolished, sometime in the 1950s. -- Fact
* It was located at what is now Burger King. -- Fact
* #tbt - Fact (although I am not a fan of tbt in general)

I don't see any of the bragging or grandiose statements you see in this post. Again, they showed us a picture. Told us what it was. Told us where it was. That's it. I just don't see a hidden agenda at all.

But, I am more than happy to be proved wrong. Trying to tie the post to the trash dollar savings just seems to be a bit of a stretch.

And trust me, I dislike a LOT of what has happened in our city recently. However, the tbt post just isn't one of them.

Matt

Facts - This post was turhtful.
Fact - All posts by City of Lakewood, Municipal Government have not been, and some have
been made to be complete misleading.

Back story - I have spoken with many members of City Hall saying, "Everything that comes out of
the City of Lakewood has a name on it. Press releases, emails, memos, etc. When the Mayor, Dru,
Joe, etc post on their FB pages it has their name, when they tweet it has their name, they take
ownership of the comments, as they should. But "City of Lakewood, Municpal Government, acts
like a "person" in the facebook stage. Liking comments, many untrue, making posts accountable
to no one, no one at all. Why? Why won't the city put a name on the comment from various
possible sources? Is it so when they push lies, it can't be traced backed. Transparency is key.
You cannot talk with council until you give them your name, address, and phone number. Why
should they be able to talk to use without at least giving us a name?

In my life, you can tell more about a person through the little things than the big things. When a
city plans big things they plan. But the little things off the cuff, like comments at the water cooler,
simple writings, and actions give you insight into the person or entity.Which brings us to the very
meaningless Throwback Thursday Post on FB.

There are over 9,000 historical files that can be easily dragged up from various sources easily on
the history of Lakewood. So why was a theater chosen. My bet is, it seemed relevant as we are
losing another theater, The Hillard, and they thought it would grab attention. I mean the entire
Narcissistic drug known as FaceBook is about content, and content that people post is to attract
attention to themselves, this is why it exists. (yes I am on FB). So if we give them credit for thinking
that much, then what made them mention, "It was where Burger King is now, which I actually
think is two addresses West of where the theater was.

The city has just closed the Detroit and traffic is a problem on the street they helped to put a chain.
Is there a connection, what was the thought process? Simply enough question. A question that
occurred to me while I was waiting to go into a meeting downtown.

It is like the question I have always had about George Bush, idiot, evil genius? Are they even
mutually exclusive?

Now back to the real world, so was their thought process on this, or was their none. Did they
realize, they were enforcing bad decisions of the past, and being insensitive to those that were
affected, or did they not think at all? Both to me are troubling, I have always preferred people
I am paying to actually think about the work I am paying them to do. When you take this little
chink if it is even that, and now blow it up to a $70 million dollar a year business that has
repeatedly told us how broke we are, it takes on either larger proportion. Then when you realize
that we carry our garbage to the curb now so that the city can spin things hiding behind faux
names all over social media, I have to be honest, it really makes me hate the trip to the curb.

Matt, the city does many things correctly. In my world, you do your job, and you get paid, you do
your job better than the rest, you get kudos, you jerk off on facebook all day on the company dime
while I now drag my garbage to the streets, I am going to make a comment.

FWIW


.

I don't do facebook, lest it be catching. But I think one would have to be a fool to use one's real name on such a system. When I worked for the government, virtually all service representatives in the phone room used aliases, because there was concern that some disgruntled client would take it out on the only person he new.

Like it or not, we lived in a society that has a lot of violence, and I don't think any employee should have to risk being shot for doing his job. That's why I always used my boss's name. That's why I disagree with the LO policy that we must use real names.

I participate in a travel forum under an assumed name. I am certain some readers have an opinion about me, but under my assumed name. I know I have opinions about many of them, and it doesn't bother me that they are using an assumed name, and we can have meaningful discussions. On occasion, an asshole joins the party; we can object to his post and the moderator deals with it; if the posting was of a commercial nature, it disappears. If it is insulting or abusive, sometimes he gets a warning, and if the misbehavior continues, he disappears. Sometimes the malefactor reregisters with a new assumed name and email address, but they get zapped as soon as they show their character.

I think city employees, like any American, should have a right to express themselves. But if they identify themselves as a city employee, they should only express official policy.

And not all of us carry our rubbish to the curb; some put it online.

I like the "TBT" Facebook posts from the city. It's fun to see old photos of the town.

My fear is that this kerfluffle will discourage City Hall from posting in the future.
They have a habit of overreacting to ranting individuals.

Michael Deneen wrote:I like the "TBT" Facebook posts from the city. It's fun to see old photos of the town.

My fear is that this kerfluffle will discourage City Hall from posting in the future.
They have a habit of overreacting to ranting individuals.

I see what you did there.

Nicely played, Mike.

Nicely played.

(For those of you not keeping score, see viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12663.)

Mike

I am amazed that you lay down some beautiful world jazz of your own, and miss the deep back
beat in my post. But I am sure you are correct, they will over react and shut something down,
pass some laws... It is not the post, but why won't Lakewood allow us to know who is posting
them.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:It is not the post, but why won't Lakewood allow us to know who is posting them.

Jim,

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."





Matt