The Observation Deck

Lakewood Observers

Thanks for your participation, and understanding what the Lakewood Observer is all about. This issue of the paper has hit 28 pages again and we could have easily gone 32 pages!

Thanks to all that take the time to tell a story, write a release, want to promote their non-profit, block watch, block party, of agenda. Together, we are setting a tone for the city and defining the brand.

Thanks to all that make it possible including all of our advertisers, and sponsors.

We are trying to get another advisory board meeting before the end of the year. We like to have at least one every two years. I will be looking to introduce is the idea of a weekly paper. We have the backing, and we have the content.

If anyone has any other ideas, please send them in through email, a suggestion box, or even post.

The Lakewood Observer is a true civic project run by the members, and citizens of Lakewood Ohio.

Thanks to all, especially Heidi Hilty, (who I forgot to thank once and now thank her every chance I get)


peace



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Thank you and your staff.

The Lakewood Observer must be commended for always striving to perfect its mission of attracting, articulating, and amplifying civic intelligence and community good will in the city of Lakewood and beyond! The fact that the Lakewood Observer is even considering expanding “this twenty-first century urban experimentâ€Â￾ to a weekly paper is awe inspiring. Thank you!

Congratulations Observer!

Thank you for providing this voice for the city.

Joe Ott wrote:Thank you and your staff.

Joe

Indeed, it is the staff, the editors, advisory board, and every citizen that has take the time to stop, read, lurk or hopeful post has made this project larger than we ever thought possible.

I am the luckiest boy in the world.

I have met and worked with so many people since starting this with what could be called the advisory board almost 5 year ago! Some have come and gone, others have become deep in this project and my life.

We have many questions to answer before this can go ahead, but it would seem we have the capabilities. But is the city ready?

Matt, Sharon

Thanks for the kinds words to all Observers.

Yes, that afternoon at Wu's was a magical moment.

Much like Bill Call's Brigadoon.



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getting down to it, I can think of a few things that I would look for in the Observer if it were a weekly...

Movie Theater listings
Band/Act schedules for local clubs
Weekly High School sports schedules and locations
Regular postings of high school sports box scores, results, standings
Similar postings for local league results & standings

and call me old fashioned, but I wouldn't mind seeing a cross word puzzle or sudoku in there.

just my opinion.

how about a weekly "things you don't get to see at Jacobs Field"



just kidding.

A weekly paper would be wonderful. Most of the people that talk to me when I'm on location ask why the LO runs every two weeks and they'd like to see it more often.

what makes this project great is that everything is free, and it's truly run by lakewood citizens that cover only lakewood.

(except the ones that get jobs with the indians)

Congratulations to you, Jim, and to all who help this project to just get better and better.

Council candidates are meeting and greeting all of us and each other; online, in print, and at community meet-and-greets. They are also writing articles for the paper. The three mayoral candidates all cooperated in answering some difficult questions put to them by some of the community's leading writers. Special kudos this week to Mr. Dave Anderson for helping to put these answers into a riveting and readable format. It looks as if we finally had our LO virtual debate after all, and it looks just great!

People are posting community notices here, and other people are responding. Quite a paper happens when just about EVERY article becomes a letter to the editor, and therefore, a letter to the people! Every day, it seems like more and more people become aware of what this synergy of technology and community vision is doing for our city.

Best wishes to THE LAKEWOOD OBSERVER PROJECT in the future! Online and in print, I think it's the best thing to happen for Lakewood in a long time!

Weekly? Yikes - better get some new runnin' around like crazy shoes for Dan Slife!

Seriously, nothing would be better for Lakewood than making the LO a weekly reality. Maybe it is actually time to have another AB meeting.

I agree with Brett ... a weekly would be a great idea, and there's a lot of standardized features you can add now ... such as sports scores (a regular sports section, in fact), reviews of restaurants, movies, books, etc. How about some comics by local artists? A page or column every week devoted to Lakewood history, and featuring vintage photographs from the Lakewood Library, Lakewood Historical Society, or the folks at the Cleveland Press Collection at CSU? Definitely keep putting in short profiles of residents, a "get to know you"-sort of thing where we can all start getting to know our neighbors in Lakewood. In short, there's no end of regular features and things you can add to make a weekly paper an easy reality.

It's actually pretty easy ... back in my glory days long long ago at BGSU I worked for the BG News in a variety of jobs (columnist, reporter, entertainment editor, layout man, etc.) and we had a foundering weekly entertainment tabloid, a la the PD's Friday Mag, and to strengthen it and make it easier to put out, when I got my hands on it as editor, I stuck in regular features, in the same page each week, and at the same column length each time ... so that the writers knew exactly how much to write (which sometimes is a godsend to a journalist, knowing how much they need to write, rather than wondering), and the ad people knew they could sell consistent ad spaces (and indeed, some of our advertisers wanted spots on those pages because they knew that their target audience would go for those pages, i.e., the video store and movie theater was happy to have ads on the pages where we had movie reviews and new video reviews). It also made layout easier (in those backward days when we still did layout by hand with point/pica rulers, Xacto knives and tape), because then those pages were essentially done week to week with only minor tweaking, which made the layout guy's job easier. Ultimately, it makes my job as editor easy too, because then you know what's going to be in the paper each week, and you just have to focus on getting it edited right, and done by deadline. And instead of being in the production shop into the wee hours on thursday night before going to the printer ... the paper was done and put to bed by 9:30 every thursday night, thus freeing up valuable time to be spent on my usual bar stool at Howard's in scenic downtown Bolwing Green.

28 pages weekly is only the start ... dare I say it you'll be up to 32 ... and then who knows? The world is at your feet, Lakewood Observer.

c. dawson wrote:28 pages weekly is only the start ... dare I say it you'll be up to 32 ... and then who knows? The world is at your feet, Lakewood Observer.

CD

Please come to a meeting, we can always use more.

We have offered every church and civic group in the city space in the paper at no charge. What you see is what we get. We are now offering them websites at no charge, and those fruits are coming to the front quickly. Lakewood Is Art, LEAF Community, The Lakewood Historical Society and more are signing in every day. This is the pleasure of running a paper that only benefits the city, not one person.

As for the world is at out feet.

Come to a meeting you might be surprised, where this is headed, will take your breath away I promise.

Thanks for being part, and really, please come to a meeting or call Heidi or Dan.

peace


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Come to a meeting you might be surprised, where this is headed, will take your breath away I promise.

when and where will the meeting be?

come to think of it... 28 pages weekly? or how about 4 pages daily?

ouch! I think Heidi just stuck another pin in her Callentine voodoo doll.

It is also nice to see that The Lakewood Observer can be found in more and more locations throughout Lakewood!

Today, I found a stack of the newest edition in Caribou Coffee. The Lakewood Observer and a large, moosed, mocha with soy make for a great start to any morning!

Sounds good, Matthew, but you can hold the moss on my mocha.

Brian Pedaci wrote:Sounds good, Matthew, but you can hold the moss on my mocha.

Brian,

Thanks for pointing out my mosstake. Although I do hear that moss is very popular in the Adirondacks.

Matt