The Observation Deck

Lakewood population: 50,926
Deck Users = 1,490 or 2.9% of Lakewood
Deck 0 -10 posts = 1,260 or 2.47% of Lakewood or 84.6% of Deck users
11 – 100 posts = 136 or .267% of Lakewood or 9.1% of Deck users
101 – 500 posts = 62 or .12% of Lakewood or 4% of Deck users
500+ posts = 32 or .06% of Lakewood or 2.1% of Deck users
Banjos = 1
Stan Austin = 1

http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm

Corey

Corey Rossen wrote:Lakewood population: 50,926
Deck Users = 1,490 or 2.9% of Lakewood
Deck 0 -10 posts = 1,260 or 2.47% of Lakewood or 84.6% of Deck users
11 – 100 posts = 136 or .267% of Lakewood or 9.1% of Deck users
101 – 500 posts = 62 or .12% of Lakewood or 4% of Deck users
500+ posts = 32 or .06% of Lakewood or 2.1% of Deck users
Banjos = 1
Stan Austin = 1

http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm

Corey

Lakewood population: 50,926
City Council members-- 7 ---percentage of Lakewood .0013745%
Average number of citizens who speak a Council meeting ---9--percentage of Lakewood .0017673%
Average number of citizens attending a City Council meeting-- 24--percentage of Lakewood .0047127%

Conclusion: More Lakewoodites read the Deck and voice their opinions on the Deck than listen to Council and voice their opinions at Council.

Those darn statistics.

Corey Rossen wrote:Lakewood population: 50,926
Deck Users = 1,490 or 2.9% of Lakewood
Deck 0 -10 posts = 1,260 or 2.47% of Lakewood or 84.6% of Deck users
11 – 100 posts = 136 or .267% of Lakewood or 9.1% of Deck users
101 – 500 posts = 62 or .12% of Lakewood or 4% of Deck users
500+ posts = 32 or .06% of Lakewood or 2.1% of Deck users
Banjos = 1
Stan Austin = 1

http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm

Corey

Corey

Yep, that's right the most used most open discussion board in Lakewood Ohio.

Hard to believe. But here to serve everyone. PS don;t forget the 5,300 the are members through the front page, and the nearly 5,000 on FaceBook.

I do understand your point though, why would anyone go anywhere else.

Not only discussion, facts, opinions and news. But a chance to see people and how they handle themselves. Through the Deck we get to know the publisher of the Lakewood Observer, first hand, like no other publisher allows or takes part in. And we get to see first hand how the head of the Jordan Family Foundation handles himself in public discussions, and through that, we can make honest decisions about everyone who takes part.

Thanks again for posting the fact, the most used site in Lakewood. And for showing how well it works.

.

Not all Deck users are Lakewood residents ... though many of us non-Lakewood residents, for what ever reason, still care deeply about Lakewood.

Thanks Cory. That's a very useful post.

The Observer does an excellent job of reaching Lakewood residents and allowing them a venue to voice opinions and frustrations. If all of the contributors and readers of the Observer were to attend one Council meeting Council would have to hold meetings at the auditorium at Lakewood High School.

Bill Call wrote:Thanks Cory. That's a very useful post.

The Observer does an excellent job of reaching Lakewood residents and allowing them a venue to voice opinions and frustrations. If all of the contributors and readers of the Observer were to attend one Council meeting Council would have to hold meetings at the auditorium at Lakewood High School.

Perhaps it's due to my New England upbringing, but you can imagine my shock when I walked into my first Lakewood City Council meeting to see less than a dozen folks attending. I remember going to bi-weekly selectmen meetings in my home town of Gt. Barrington, Mass (pop. 7,500) and regularly seeing 100+ people in attendance.

I'd like to see the page views factored in. However you interpret the number of posts and posters, they get a very high readership.

Peter Grossetti wrote:

Bill Call wrote:Perhaps it's due to my New England upbringing, but you can imagine my shock when I walked into my first Lakewood City Council meeting to see less than a dozen folks attending. I remember going to bi-weekly selectmen meetings in my home town of Gt. Barrington, Mass (pop. 7,500) and regularly seeing 100+ people in attendance.

Peter

You speak of the mythical moment often, especially to me. I am curious, how old were you when this moment happened? What was it that took you too that first meeting? How many meeting in a row did you attend? Did the city have a website, and were the meetings brodcaast 30 times on free local TV? How many TV channels were there, and more importantly were the elected officials trusted by a majority of the people?

The old days of Lakewood City Council, George, Demro, FitzGerald, Dever, lead by Bob Seelie were always entertaining, and filled with open discussion and debate among the council members, and the audience. Today it is nearly always akin to watching paint dry with mad people. Half of council glaring with utter contempt for people at the podium. Members of both council and the executive staff paying more attention to texting, then paying any attention to those in the room. Not the years of open discussion and democracy we both grew up in.

I became addicted to Council Meetings back in the days of Locher, Kucinich, Forbes, etc. where the outright fights in council were better than anything on TV. Today, they are painful. While other Cities has spent millions giving residents a voice and a better way to attend and getting information out, Lakewood works hard to hide the workings and quell if not kill the discussion and questions of residents. Check out Westlake, they have a Rec Center, but they have a fully modern and totally accessible council chamber and meetings. Connection?

So Peter please answer my questions because when you say "New England" I think of...



.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Peter Grossetti wrote:

Bill Call wrote:Perhaps it's due to my New England upbringing, but you can imagine my shock when I walked into my first Lakewood City Council meeting to see less than a dozen folks attending. I remember going to bi-weekly selectmen meetings in my home town of Gt. Barrington, Mass (pop. 7,500) and regularly seeing 100+ people in attendance.

Peter

You speak of the mythical moment often, especially to me. I am curious, how old were you when this moment happened? What was it that took you too that first meeting? How many meeting in a row did you attend? Did the city have a website, and were the meetings brodcaast 30 times on free local TV? How many TV channels were there, and more importantly were the elected officials trusted by a majority of the people?

The old days of Lakewood City Council, George, Demro, FitzGerald, Dever, lead by Bob Seelie were always entertaining, and filled with open discussion and debate among the council members, and the audience. Today it is nearly always akin to watching paint dry with mad people. Half of council glaring with utter contempt for people at the podium. Members of both council and the executive staff paying more attention to texting, then paying any attention to those in the room. Not the years of open discussion and democracy we both grew up in.

I became addicted to Council Meetings back in the days of Locher, Kucinich, Forbes, etc. where the outright fights in council were better than anything on TV. Today, they are painful. While other Cities has spent millions giving residents a voice and a better way to attend and getting information out, Lakewood works hard to hide the workings and quell if not kill the discussion and questions of residents. Check out Westlake, they have a Rec Center, but they have a fully modern and totally accessible council chamber and meetings. Connection?

So Peter please answer my questions because when you say "New England" I think of...



.

How old were you when this moment happened? What was it that took you too that first meeting?
When I was about 10 years old, I was the ringleader of a group of neighborhood kids playing with matches in the woods behind my house. We set a clump of grass on fire and it got out of hand. The volunteer fire department had to come put the fire out (after approx 15 acres were burned). My father got me to confess to the "crime" (why do I right now feel like Arlo Guthrie?) and made me go the next meeting of town selectmen and the next meeting of the volunteer fire department and fess up.

How many meeting in a row did you attend?
Me? In a row? I was a kid. But I know there plenty of folks, including my father, who always attended.

Did the city have a website, and were the meetings brodcaast 30 times on free local TV?
Website? Al Gore hadn't even invented the internet yet. This was 1968, dude ... the printing press was a mere 528 years old!

How many TV channels were there?
Three ... CBS, NBC and ABC (and maybe a PBS station out of Schenectady) ... but no one watched anything but Walter Cronkite and Ed Sullivan on CBS!)

... and more importantly were the elected officials trusted by a majority of the people?
Trust? Ha! We are New Englanders!

That's Selectman Charlie Castronova on the left heeding the "No Smoking" sign. You can't make this shit up.

Jim - Sorry that you impression of New England is based on a Chevy Chase movie ... but I hear you loud and clear.

While we don't know what goes on behind the many closed doors, there is an unhealthy "go along, get along" dynamic with this Council. We need more oppositional voices.

Peter Grossetti wrote: How many meeting in a row did you attend?
Me? In a row? I was a kid. But I know there plenty of folks, including my father, who always attended.

Thank, thank you, please catch my 8pm show, it will be a tad bluer.

The secret is, to make it more accessible to everyone, all the time. It is 2015, all of this should be online. There should be no public record requests, it should be accessible. Everyone at City Hall is already inputing whatever they do into a digital device. We should be able to watch council meetings in our bathrobes, run the numbers ourselves when we want.

Don't you remember the massive move to City Stats? Do a search, it was going to do for Lakewood what it did for Baltimore, make us more accountable, while fighting crime and corruption. As explained by Mary Ann Crampton back in 2005, "CitiStat is one tool our city is evaluating to increase efficiencies i.e. cost savings. Using this disciplined approach to government operations, Baltimore has increased responsiveness to its residents and saved over $24 million in overtime. For its efforts and for its success, Baltimore won the Innovation in Government Award from Harvard last year. " Read it in this thread from 2005 "One Thousand New Jobs For Lakewood" http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/v ... at#p102592

While it was not the panacea they promised, ie the same players assuring us this new hospital deal is a panacea, it would have allowed for gentle oversight of the system, and the need for too many people sitting around watching 7 people from complete different walks of life agree with each other, again and again and again with the exception of the lone dissenter. IMHO

.