The Observation Deck

So I just came from Mayor Fitzgerald’s ‘State of the City’ Speech. I enjoyed it and found it quite informative. I am curious however as to what some of you thought of his speech. What were your initial, and over all reactions to what he had to say?

After you have answered the previous question, I am curious as to how you may have reacted to specific things Fitzgerald talked about. For instance the idea of combining city employee health benefits with another suburb or the possibility of switching to a regional fire department, as apposed to out current city one.

It was an impressive turnout, though I could not help but think how the next couple years will unfold for Lakewood and our residents.


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Christopher Bindel wrote:For instance the idea of combining city employee health benefits with another suburb or the possibility of switching to a regional fire department, as apposed to out current city one.

Larger health insurance groups can sometimes get lower rates because the risk is spread out over a larger group. The real way to lower health insurance costs is larger deductibles. City employees should also be required to pay 25% of the premium.

There was talk of merging fire departments in Parma and Parma Heights and some other communities. They lost me when it was announced that the merger wouldn't save any money and that it might actually cost more.

A regional fire department can save money if it started as a new government entity that allows fire fighters to compete for the new jobs under a new contract structure.

So far this year City income tax revenues are steady. The number of returns filed has increased. Normally that would be good news. In this economy that is great news.

The number of foreclosures in down substantially as is the number of vacant homes. There is a narrow window of opportunity for bold action.

The City is in much better shape than its peer cities because the Mayor and council took strong action last year. If that action was taken four years ago the City would have $15 million in the bank and the resources to take advantage of a soft housing market. Oh well...

I couldn't make it to the State of the City presentation. Those are usually pretty interesting. I wish someone would post the text of the speech.

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Bill's comment made me think of this:

Libertarian Reluctantly Calls Fire Department