The Observation Deck

I'm trying to get a better grasp of what the article and the Prism report itself says. I may be asking more than the tool is intended to provide. I don't mean to be insulting in any way about this just inquisitive. Forgive my skepticism of a glowing positive report, I've just heard too many times that there are socio-economic problem on the horizon.
First, what is the defininition of these terms; hip, upscale and urban. For instance, if "American Dreams" are defined as a family (I'm reading traditional family with possibly 2 earners) then a median income of $51K doesn't sound very upscale to me. Given a median income in Ohio of $44K, even with one not taking on a full time job, that seems below average.
Second, on a related topic, if the sample is households and not individuals and the young, single demographics (digerati, Bohemian, Urban achievers) are living with roommates then were those situations considered dual income households or counted twice?
Last, is the average Lakewood household occupancy really just 2? I count just under 24K households across the 9 categories that were listed in the article. Sure there can be a strong percentage of individually occupied apartments but that doesn't sound right.

Shawn:

The glow stems not from cash flow but human flow.

No doubt, you will find the income glow brighter and shinier in suburban and exurban demos.

The glow here comes from the fact that in the Wood we are dealing primarily with urban demos, which can go much lower, perhaps something people might have been expecting.

Hence the glowing report.

The economy is tanking in Cleveland, but relatively speaking Lakewood is hanging tough. That’s good news, better than many expected.

I don’t make up the terms or the system; I simply report and interpret the numbers provided and the descriptions supplied.

By the way, we are still preparing a document for the library’s website on the 2006 PRISM.

Go here to see where Lakewood was last year, and in previous years.

http://www.lkwdpl.org/focus/

There was not much change.

For more detailed income info see the P$YCLE report on the library’s website from 2005/

http://www.lkwdpl.org/focus/psycle2005.pdf

If you want to get your bearings on the PRISM descriptions, take a look at the following:

http://www.tetrad.com/pub/prices/PRIZMNE_Clusters.pdf

And here’s the Claritas site. You can run some zip codes for other places to see what is glowing elsewhere.

http://www.claritas.com/claritas/Defaul ... pn=prizmne

There are demos that log $200K and perhaps that is where we all would like to be and find our glow.

American Dreams is an urban upscale that is not very high, closer to middle, and on the way up, likely to a higher income exurban demo.

The social problems on the horizon would typically stem from “66 Low-Rise Living:"

"The most economically challenged urban segment, Low-Rise Living is known as a transient world for young, ethnically diverse singles and single parents. Home values are lowâ€â€￾about half the national averageâ€â€￾and even
then less than a quarter of residents can afford to own real estate. Typically, the commercial base of Mom-and-Pop stores is struggling and in need of a renaissance.â€Â￾

That demo is not showing up in Lakewood. Yet Cleveland possesses much of that demo and that demo sometimes comes to the Wood to enjoy the amenities.

I don’t know how the household income and room-mate speculation in the article would align with the PRISM methodology. I suspect that only one earner is showing up in the upscale income demos, which are lower than suburban or exurban upscale demos.

As the Platter sang it in Twilight Time, “……Here in the after-glow of day/ We keep our rendez-vous beneath the blue…â€Â￾

Hope this helps you find the glow in the Wood.

Kenneth Warren

A complete copy of the PRISM Report is now posted on the Lakewood Public Library Website:

http://www.lkwdpl.org/clusters/clusters ... on2006.pdf

Kenneth Warren
Director
Lakewood Public Library