The Observation Deck

Ferguson has been at the forefront of national news for the past ten days, and I don't expect it to end anytime soon.

On the surface, Ferguson is a lot different than Lakewood:

*Lakewood's minority population is far smaller
*Despite whatever issues you may have or have had with it over the years, you should agree that Lakewood has never had a mayor or council as incompetent as the current Ferguson City Hall
*At least based on my experience, Lakewood Police are very professional (the opposite of Ferguson)
*Lakewood is not as dependent on traffic ticket revenue as Ferguson

However, there are some parallels between the towns:
*Both are inner ring suburbs of a troubled major city
*Lakewood's minority population has been growing strongly
*At least as far as I know, Lakewood's minority population is not politically engaged or organized at a local level.

It's easy to poo-poo this subject by saying "Things are great here in Lakewood".
However, in recent years we've seen racial issues bubbling under the surface.
The basketball hoop and pit bull issues are examples of not-so-subtle racial attitudes.

Thoughts?

Michael Deneen wrote:It's easy to poo-poo this subject by saying "Things are great here in Lakewood".
However, in recent years we've seen racial issues bubbling under the surface.
The basketball hoop and pit bull issues are examples of not-so-subtle racial attitudes.

Thoughts?

The City of Lakewood is doing well in a lot of ways. However, over the long term the City is probably doomed.

Here is one reason:

Net domestic migration of adults age 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher by metropolitan area. Source: 2007-2011 ACS



Forget all the happy talk you read in the Plain Dealer. This region is suffering a net loss of people with college degrees and the young. We are in the same league with upstate New York and Detroit.

This may come as a surprise to some but the $6 million chandelier on Euclid and the (third) major remake of public square and the billions spent on the downtown entitlement zone are not going to change that.

Well

Do not kill unarmed men in the middle of the street in broad daylight. Well, anytime?

Actually I believe that Lakewood is getting on far better with our diversity than others.

While our police force has been militarized, the heavy equipment is in the hand of SWAT,
not the individual stations, and I have not seen abuse yet, though I know Chris Trap was
upset when the tanks rolled over his sidewalks.

As for the Chandelier.... https://www.facebook.com/Chandazzzzlelier
I give the Playhouse Square Development kudos for pulling the same "promotion" as did
HOLLYWOOD with the sign, and the biggest live theater area between New York and
Chicago, hmm bigger than Olean, Jamestown, Erie!!! hard to believe.



Anything to make sure no one notices people are still leaving the county.

.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Actually I believe that Lakewood is getting on far better with our diversity than others.

.

Diversity is highly overrated.

Honest discussions on race or any discussion on race is the third rail for any website that requires the use of real names. A lot of people might read this post but very few will comment.
People don't want to think about the truths about race in America.

Truth number one is that racism is alive and well in America and everywhere else in the world. Here in Northeast Ohio it affects economic development and housing patterns. A week ago someone in the know told me that the area around 271 and I-90 near Euclid was all set to have a major office development like what exists in Independence until "Euclid changed".

Truth number two is that people speak in code. They use the term "Euclid changed" instead of the black population increased so much that most of the white people with money moved farther East. Westlake has changed a lot in the last 20 years but no one ever says "Westlake is changing". The County and our County institutions are spending billions to create a mini apartheid state in Westlake, Bay Village, Avon and Avon Lake. What's annoying is that that's OK with our regional institutions but if Lakewood resists the conversion of our homes and apartments into halfway houses they come down hard and heavy.

Truth number three is that our regional institutions are subsidizing segregation. They are well aware of the racial attitudes in this region and they play to those attitudes. Mental Health Services can find a hundred reasons to relocate Cleveland's homeless in Lakewood but never in a million years would they locate them at the new downtown, Crocker Park. Did you ever wonder why there is not bus service to Legacy Village?

As usual I've strayed from the discussion Mr. Deneen wanted to have but not as much as you might think.

[quote="Bill Call"] Did you ever wonder why there is not bus service to Legacy Village?
[/quote]

Never have wondered that because the #32 bus goes right by Legacy Village.

http://www.riderta.com/routes/32

Bill Call wrote:As usual I've strayed from the discussion Mr. Deneen wanted to have but not as much as you might think.

Actually, your comments have not strayed much at all.

I'm not surprised that there are few commenters on this thread..the subject makes people uncomfortable.
Ironically, the unwillingness of reasonable people to speak honestly actually makes things worse.

I think no one is commenting because you're drawing a line between a town overrun with race riots and Lakewood.

I live on the east end, where diversity is rampant. I love it here. You can have your drunk zones on the west end and traffic downtown.

My only prejudice is against bad citizens. People who can't see the harm in littering, or leaving garbage cans on the curb all week, or loud music, or finding unique uses for swear words. They come in all colors, all ages. But on balance it's great here.

The board has its ups and downs, and I haven't visited for a while, but this is a pretty sour place right now. Doomed? Wow.

Bill Burnett wrote:

Bill Call wrote: Did you ever wonder why there is not bus service to Legacy Village?

Never have wondered that because the #32 bus goes right by Legacy Village.

http://www.riderta.com/routes/32

You can certainly ride the bus down Cedar Road and walk to Legacy Village but that's not quite the same as offering service to Legacy Village.

The RTA route to Crocker Park takes you right through the development:

http://www.riderta.com/routes/49

The lack of bus service to Legacy Village was first mentioned to me by a building department official from that area. It think it came up in the course of a conversation about the problems with the street festival in Cleveland Heights on Coventry. Race is ALWAYS a consideration in the building of new developments just as the homeless are a consideration in downtown development. No one likes to say it out loud.

The Cleveland area does not have the same racial animosities that you see in St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit and Washington. My own pet theory is that the Black leadership in this town is not part of the racial grievance industry so there is no one to feed the hate. There is a general consensus to spread the power and avoid Jesse Jackson type Mau Mauing of the Flack Catcher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Ch ... k_Catchers

I don't think there are any similarities between Ferguson and Lakewood.

We don't have a lot of racial animus in this town and the Police are pretty professional and low key.

Of course the other truth that dare not be mentioned is that when the Black population approaches 40% things start to change.

In the post-industrial economy, It is necessary to slum up places
to generate demand for building new places.

Bill Call wrote: No one likes to say it out loud.

They do behind closed doors.

Paul Schrimpf wrote:I think no one is commenting because you're drawing a line between a town overrun with race riots and Lakewood.

I live on the east end, where diversity is rampant. I love it here. You can have your drunk zones on the west end and traffic downtown.

My only prejudice is against bad citizens. People who can't see the harm in littering, or leaving garbage cans on the curb all week, or loud music, or finding unique uses for swear words. They come in all colors, all ages. But on balance it's great here.

The board has its ups and downs, and I haven't visited for a while, but this is a pretty sour place right now. Doomed? Wow.

Paul


I usually love your posts but I noticed two things that stopped me long enough to post.

1) Race riots in Ferguson. I have seen ZERO RACE RIOTS, I have seen a very diverse group
walking to stop police from killing unarmed people. And I have seen looting. I have not seen a
single race riot. No one hating whites, no one hating blacks, no one blaming race for anything
except the police do not know how to deal with it. Every black leader I have seen blames the
African-American population for not voting. Rev. Al said 10% turnout is an embarrassment to
your parents and children.

2) Deck sour place? Last week someone said "I can't take the negativity of the Deck so I went
back and looked. It took 3 1/2 pages to find a "negative" post. Sure some people disagree with
others but that doesn't make it good or bad, positive or negative, it is civic discourse. They very
thing Ferguson, and Lakewood needs, well all communities.

So, we throw a party, we throw a car show, we stop a recall, we post beautiful photos, and
wonderful positive stories, "And the place is sour."?

Do not be part of the "Don't Bees" stay positive and be a "Do-Bee." Don't complain or trash
the Deck who is nothing more than friends and neighbors, lead through example. Post something
positive, but reading through post on this thread, yours' might be the most sour. Not just with
race riots, but slamming the Deck for no reason than to do it?

Be the person you are asking others to be. Be positive.

Thanks for the time to post, and as always your views are welcomed.

.

I live in Lakewood and am working just outside of St. Louis so the Ferguson tragedy is very close.

I agree that there haven't been race riots. It appears that the citizens of Ferguson just want to have their voice heard and want justice for what happened. I think that a number of non-Ferguson out of towners have also instigated some of the violence and the looting, which resulted in a massive police overreaction.

I recently moved back to Lakewood from suburban Dallas because I wanted diversity and to live in a community that had minorities. My family and I personally felt like Lakewood was the best place to raise our young daughter. Since coming back in early January, I still feel the same way.

Lakewood has the same challenges that any inter-ring suburb in the country would have. I think that we as citizens need to meet those challenges head on. I think that we also need to engage all members of our community. I would hope that one of the lessons learned from Ferguson is that if a group of citizens does not get involved, the vocal minority will try to take as much power as possible. Historic minority communities or people that grew up in the lower rungs from a socio-economic perspective, have a natural distrust for civic institutions based on past treatment. We should acknowledge that fact and work more diligently to engage all groups.

The debate needs to continue, whether it is uncomfortable or not.

the lesson is 'try not to be like ferguson'.

http://www.copinthehood.com/2014/08/rac ... es_24.html