The Observation Deck

If you have been to the Kamms Corner area lately you can't have missed the general disheveled look of the once vibrant area. When I mentioned this to a City of Cleveland employee she nodded in agreement and then said:

"The City employees who live in that area are quietly refusing to shop in that area. They are mad at the Mayor of Cleveland and angry that they are forced to live in the City." She added that they are consciously taking their business outside the City.

She also added that when she talks to fellow employees, with no non city employees within listening range, they exhibit an actual hatred of the City they work for and live in.

Do you suppose this attitude exists among Lakewood's City employees?

Bill

I think that a significant part of Cleveland's employee discontent stems from the residency issue.....I would think that this is particularly true in the Kamm's area where there is a concentration of Cleveland municipal employees.

I would also suspect that the discontent with any city employee is about the same as discontent with private employers. Every employer has a number of grousing employees with real or imagined inequities. The difference with a city employee is that instead of retaliating against the "boss" with petty theft and work slowdowns, the muni employees can get back at the entire city...which accomplishes little but unnecessary collateral damage and is akin to taking a self-inflicted wound in the foot.

Jeff

I could be wrong, but I suspect this has to do with the socio economic status of the city workers compared to the socio economic status of the typical shopper in that area, although unions are known to boycott now and then. Kamm's Corners is one of those areas that looks like paradise as you drive through but not quite so great if you actually get out of your car and walk inside that Tops, etc. I'm not saying it's East Cleveland.

I see Lakewood's elite shopping at Heinen's and Trader Joe's and maybe Tops, but not at Sapell's on W117. There are always exceptions, of course.

Doug

Well, a lot of cops and firefighers shop at my favorite Kamm's store, Carol and John's comics. It is interesting that it is a store part-owned by a Cleveland Firefighter, too. I will have to bring this up to him when we next chat.

As for being a troubled area, I am not sure what people are talking about. I go there weekly for comics and no matter what time I go, the lot (on the north end, anyway) is usually quite full. Kids of all sorts shop at the game store, older folks hit that restaurant on corner (which one is that?), kids of all ages are in the comic shop (which has done so well this past year that they are moving to a larger shop in the same plaza). I work in various parts of Cleveland, some less safe than others but this never looks hinky to me. It is certainly not Westlake, but it never was. As a kid, I had friends who would occasionally work the KFC in that neighborhood and it always had stories about this or that. It IS Cleveland, after all.

I also agree that people don't always shop for EVERYTHING in their neighborhood. I don't grocery shop in Lakewood at all. I shop at Marcs (and I hate Lakewoods so I do River's or Westlakes), Aldis (we don't have one yet) and sometimes Giant Eagle (and also with this, Lakewood's version is no good for me). We don't have a comic shop of note (beyond Collector's Warehouse, which didn't take that trade too seriously), bookstore or many other things that I have to leave. Sheesh.

That said, if city workers are being crybabies about having to live in the city (something that they can change any time...by leaving that job and working in another city, if that is what they want to do). Lots of jobs have restrictions, especially government jobs. I say live with it or move on. It isn't like they would shop at Kamms if they lived somewhere else, would they? I don't see them hearing from their boss, "Okay, you can live anywhere you like" and suddenly see them commuting from their new Avon Lake home back to Kamms to shop. Ridiculous.

Bill Call wrote:Do you suppose this attitude exists among Lakewood's City employees?

Bill

With roughly 75% of Lakewood's public workers(fire, police, teachers) living out of the city, I suppose we could call it a boycott of such.

I cannot see them driving in from North Roylaton, Strongsville etc. to shop in Lakewood. When I worked downtown and there were stores there except for lunch I rarely returned.

Residency incentives should be on the top of the list for the city, fire, police and schools.


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Can a family buy everything they need in the Kamm's Corners area?

Should a family be forced to shop locally? Micro-locally?

Should a family be forced to make the decision to send their kids to private schools or have their children go to bad schools?

Hey, if you don't like it, leave. No other local jobs? Leave the state.

They do have union reps that are supposed to mediate these conflicts right? Are they seriously saying that their solution is to take it out on local business owners because of a decision made at city hall? Why not just boycott their job or not pay taxes, that seems to be more directly related to their gripe. Seems someone is lacking foresight to consider what will happen to this area, if they really think that their boycott will work. Won't they just simply need to work more if these businesses do start facing troubles, either policing or cleaning up.

In all honesty, I doubt that this is at all representative of the city employees that have helped develop and maintain one of the best zips in Cleveland proper. I can't imagine that the intelligent ones are so short sighted as to cut off the business from their friends and neighbors. I was through there not too long ago and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. It's a fine little part of town and while a decision to allow city employees to live outside of Cleveland may jeopardize that, I doubt that a few disgruntled folks buying bread in Lakewood for a week or so is going to make a difference.