Walking the Wood! Hell's Kitchen?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Last night a got a call from Ken Warren, "What are you doing?" I explained that I had finally found enough free time to dust off the Playstation Deux and was ready to sit back and enjoy some down time first I would have since starting this project. "I got a call about some drug and gang activity and other problems, want to walk tonight." "Let's roll," I answered.

On the way there Ken filled me in on the "stories" and that he had been warned to not even try to walk these streets.

Tonight we were going to walk Hird and maybe Newman two "hot-spots" on the city's east side. As we pulled down and parked in a vacant lot, we saw our first gang member. A male wearing a Bulls Jersey, as we got out we followed him down an alley at a respectful distance of about 200'.

At the cross street of Idelwood, he disappeared with his grocery bags into an apartment. So we headed North on Idelwood. The first thing that hit us was how nice this street looked. Nothing like we would have thought from the "stories" of the east side we had been told and warned about. I saw at least 5 forms of vegetation that I knew my wife would love in her garden. Homes in good shape, and people on porches even in this heat. At the end of the street we ran into a woman that was working on her garden in the tree lawn. We asked about gang activity in her neighborhood. She told us about a couple bad neighbors that had been and moved with pressure from police and the neighbors calling. Then about a guy who had a dog that was always drunk and belligerent, but from there everyone else seemed to be good neighbors to her, and judging by her yard, she had tough qualifications to be a good neighbor.

Arriving on Clifton, we decided to turn and walk right into "Hell's Kitchen" and headed for Beach, scene of a currant success story where the city with the help of Mary Louise Madigan, Ed Favre and a local "Block Watch" was able to get two groups of Bad Neighbors to move from the neighborhood. As we hit Clifton, a group of three males, one black, two white came up to us and asked, "How are you guys doing tonight?" We answered and they gave us the friendly weather report of "Man is it hot or what." As these were not bad gang members, Ken and I moved on.

When we got to Beach, we ran into another friend from the library. She was out walking her dog. We asked what she knew of the neighborhood, and she gave the low down on the house we came to see. As we headed up Beach I was again struck by how nice a majority of the lawns looked. I turned to Ken and said, I thought most of the yards were nicer than yard by me.

Approaching the house the first thing that hit me was the number of violations I hope to find listed in the city on this house today. I got cited for a plant in my gutter, paint that was ready to peel possibly on my door, and had to switch the polarity of plugs in the kitchen although in 13 years they had never been wrong before. This place had missing siding, a back yard that was filthy and very unsafe, hanging wires, broken windows, no blinds, broken steps, unsafe porch, broken railing and on and on.

After looking at that we headed south talking about the experience and looking at the gardens and people in the Wood. At the top I asked Ken if he wanted to walk down Beach Parkway, a group of 6 apartments of 6 families on a street that almost no one in Lakewood even knows about. As we walked down between these apartments just north of Rockport we were taken back at not just how nice and clean they were, but the potential for someone to come in and re-fit them as more modern. Gardens through the middle and an acre with fruit trees at the north side. Ken started to go into his Food Security rant, while I asked him to find a place to jump or cut through the fence to the tracks. Certainly we would find activity on the tracks.

We both climbed down the bank we noticed a fair amount of trash some dangerous on the tracks. Ken turned and said "I guess you and Gill don't get down here to often to clean." We headed down the tracks with the goal of making it alive to the "Drug Zone" a series of apartments along the tracks off Hird. As we walked I noticed a girl walking with groceries on the tracks in front of us. By this time it was getting towards dusk and I couldn't help but think, it must be safe as the locals seems to be unafraid of walking alone. Young, old, male, female, white, black all seemed to love walking the streets. Maybe nobody had warned them!

Looking towards the "Golden Triangle of Apts" we again cut through a break in the fence and found ourselves in the middle of the parking lot. We had been told the parking lot was especially bad. As I looked out of the bushes left and right I saw no one! Hmmmmmmm. We got out and headed for the heart of the complex. Much like the Parkway, the Apartments you see from the street and the parking lot are really the backs of the buildings the fronts all exit into green space that is very narrow, but offers bushes, roses, flowers and grass. One one side we found a man huddled over listening to his IPOD, as we round the corner we found another elderly woman walking with a grocery bag, which made me wonder, did the person that told us about this very bad neighborhood think grocery bags were gang clothing?

Walking to the north side of the complex, we saw a break to Drug Mart. Now anyone that listens to the scanner knows this is the WARZONE of Lakewood. thieves come in, shop lift then make a dead run to to Cleveland. With the border so close, it makes it almost sport. I said to Ken, "I'll buy water." We went in and it took me instantly back to the messy shelves of Drug Mart West that used to be on Sloan, by Clifton Park. That place too had gotten old and unkempt, but we were lucky, Dollar Tree arrived to clean it up and make it livable again with thousands of items for a dollar or less! As we walked the aisles we ran into one group of kids, white, baggy pants, hats cocked to the side, if I was not the same race I would have called them a gang, but filtered that through to a group of kids in my mind.

Leaving without water, all they had was flavored and pop. I was getting a little disappointed. I hate getting my adrenaline up, like s squirrel testing reflexes with on coming cars, for nothing. As we headed east on Detroit on was itching for action, we went past the Adopt a Spot Park on the entrance to Lakewood and noticed, no one had adopted this KEY park. Ken and I both thought, this had a lot to say about the members of this city. The park leading into Lakewood, a place that welcomes you to the Wood, with no care taker, no bench, and no welcome left. This was sad. Then north on Highland Road, in Cleveland they call this W117, if you look up you see large W117 signs. Any Lakewoodite knows this is just Cleveland trying to steal half a street from us. In Lakewood it is Highland Road, and I would love to city the city do something to recapture our "annexed" land. Even larger HIGHLAND signs are needed.

Walking through parking lots, back to the car, we thought of what a nice walk it had been. I mentioned to Ken, I am not going home without finding trouble. So convinced him to head towards Birdtown. After all we had walked it many times in the past and never found crime, maybe tonight it was on fire with activity. We had not traveled 2,000 feet when we saw trouble, a couple people with lights in their front yard. I turned to Ken and said, let's rumble.

We got out and met Dave, his wife Amy, and a friend. They were working on filling their bird feeders for the next day. Standing next to them was a garden that was pretty wild, fountains, fish, tadpoles. Dave looked up at us and said, "you look hot want water or a pop." Ken said water, I mentioned I was fine, but Dave would not take no for an answer. He went in got us a pop and we sat on his porch and talked. He told us of trouble months ago, but they had left. The neighbors did have a problem, but Terry Novak and Mike Flynn from city hall had come down and taken care of some it. They were forming a block watch, I mentioned so is Lakewood Avenue, Clarence Avenue, Riverside, West Clifton, Cordova/Winton, and other streets. That at the Observer we were trying to get everyone on the same page, so that we could provide support to the Observers and walkers, he said count us in.

He agreed that it would be important to not just walk his streets but other streets, meeting other neighbors around the city. That that was the best was to meet people and build a community. We agreed, and told him to sign on, and work with us and other Observers. They mentioned that they had foot traffic all night going by the house. I mentioned how people on the street make cities safer and Dave said I can see how that would help.

By this time it was nearly 10:30 time to head home. We thanked Dave and Amy for their hospitality, and headed home. As we drove down Detroit reflecting on the night we had to smile. "Hell's Kitchen" was more like Mom's Kitchen, the city, especially the east side was filled with good neighbors that were working hard to keep streets safe, clean and beautiful. Crime, we saw very little evidence of. Then we saw Charlie!

Charlie is a black male, that was dancing up a storm when we drove by at 6, four and a half hours later he was still dancing! Ken looked at me and I said, "Oh yeah, we are talking with this guy." We parked the car and went back. As we are writing a story on this, I will go light on details. But Charlie has been dancing his whole life, 35 years. He just loves music and dancing. When asked how he chose Lakewood, it was very simple, "Everyone knows Lakewood is safe."

With that we put an end on the story, and drove back.

It was a great night on the streets in the Wood, and I will never pick up the Playstation again. The streets of Lakewood, my town is some of the best entertainment I know. From know on I grab the walking shoes, camera, and take to the streets. I mean why live here if you do not partake in the action.

It's fun, healthy, and makes the streets safer, even though they appear OK on this night.

peace.

[Lynn Farris]

Thanks for a wonderful story and a great way to begin my day!

[Jim O'Bryan]

Charley who comes to Lakewood because it is safe, dancing up a storm on Detroit. Charley was listening to ColdPlay and dancing for at least 4 hours last night.

[Suzanne Metelko]

So you and Ken have formed your own version of the urban gang. I think tshirts and jackets are in order and of course new recruits. How about "Wood Walkers" for a name?

[Stan Austin]

Let me echo Lynn's sentiments.

Your "adventure" more or less confirms what I've felt. And, that is that many people have made instant judgements about an area of Lakewood that just aren't accurate.

I'm sure that many of us in our idle chit chat with acquantances have heard the phrase, "I wouldn't go there anymore!" The "there" being referred to is the East end of Lakewood and the reason, once you cut through all the crap, your conversation partner won't go there anymore is because they saw some black youths there! Lest we think that racism is a bygone phenomenon in Lakewood it still prevails among older folks and some class conscious and class fearful younger folks.

I think that Jim and Ken chose a pretty typical evening for their stroll and by extension this would be typical of most evenings. In my listening of the scanner the kinds of calls that predominate now are parties and loud music on porches and occasional suspicios behavior. I've not heard any report of the random person on person violence that some people must feel is rampant.

I will, however, review the police logs for last evening to see how many calls there were about two suspicious white men walking around bumming free water and pop!

Stan Austin

[mary b dobrowolski]

Thank You Jim for recognizing one of Lakewood's weakest attributes. The East side of Lakewood has always been spoken of negatively. I have lived on Beach Ave for twenty years,and have heard the same comments for twenty years. This problem is not new. Thank you for your wonderful compliments, I am part of the neighborhood block watch. The system did work well with the problem neighbors we had. I hope in the future we can involve all the other streets around us and create more awareness. In my travels I have seen plenty of problems with the west side of Lakewood also. The same issue we are dealing with are happening on the west end they are just ignored so no one has to admit the problem is there. We are one Suburb. When one side falls the other will follow. I am not giving up on the East end and my neighbors feel the same way. It is a safe area and we will fight to keep it that way. Thanks to Lakewood Police Dept , Sergent Favre and Mary Louise Madigan who did a wonderful job for Beach and the east end. Unity is the only way Lakewood can better it's self.

[Mark Crnolatas]

Sounds excellent. We'll be out and about Fri and/or Sat night just for the fun of it. Welcome to be out also.

Mark

[Jim O'Bryan]

Mary

The city would be very wise to follow the lead the east side has taken. Beach Idlewood, Beach Parkway, Coutant etc has some beautiful yards and homes. I left much out of the story. At one point we ran into a landlord that was not just fixing the doors on his house, but stripping the paint from the outside to repaint. As a person that did this a couple years ago I can attest that on 90 degree days this is a labor of love.

The on common thread through much of this is how to address things with absentee landlords.

I was speaking with Tom Corrigan assistant Law Director for the City of Lakewood and he reminded me that only a few absentee landlords are bad, but when they are bad they are very bad.

I can't blame you for not moving, it is a great section of the wood. When Rockport comes online, and Virginia Marti continues to grow it will be wonderful.

If we each walked once in a while in our neighborhoods, and once in a while in other neighborhoods it would be a great start to making Lakewood the tight knit community many of us remember from the past.

.

[Chris Trapp]

I love walking or biking through birdtown. When I moved to Lakewood five years ago, I heard nothing but bad things about it. Most of the yards and houses are very well kept. Better than many other streets around the city.
It is a shame that all of the storefronts have been converted to apartments. If someone choose to convert a storefront back, would it be permitted by the zoning code...or has that been lost?

[Mark Crnolatas]

I agree Chris,

My grandparents who were polish immigrants, lived in Birdtown, met there, and my mother was born there, in a kitchen there.
My mother can tell you who had what business in each of those storefronts, who had the business and what they sold. She can also tell you who lived in nearly many of the houses at the time too. There was a well known ummmm, card game house there, back in the '30s, even. It's really facinating, since it was a world of it's own.

I often wondered the same thing.


Mark

[David Lay]

So you and Ken have formed your own version of the urban gang. I think tshirts and jackets are in order and of course new recruits. How about "Wood Walkers" for a name?

Count me in on this new gang....what's gonna be the initiation ritual?

[Kenneth Warren]

David:

Submit to the sword at Mike's Barber Shop.

Make a really cool cape.

Walk and talk an investment strategy of good company block by block.

Kenneth Warren

[dl meckes]

Talking about storefronts, there are a lot of possibilites.

Right now, getting the historic district designation completed for Birdtown is important and that process has to be completed before other things can be addressed. The official designation will probably take place in October or November.

A lot of things take time before they can move forward. That can be maddeningly slow, but it's important to get it right.

I think there are going to be some interesting proposals coming forward.

[dl meckes]

David:

Submit to the sword at Mike's Barber Shop.

Make a really cool cape.

Walk and talk an investment strategy of good company block by block.

Kenneth Warren

There has to be a different initiation for women, although I'll buy the "Walk and talk an investment strategy of good company block by block." part.

Actually the cape part isn't too bad because that would really lighten up everybody's mood.

But Wonder Woman didn't need no steenkin' cape.

[ryan costa]

just don't make the place too shiny, or you'll end up gentricizing most of the people you saw out of the place.