The Observation Deck

Is it the 4th?

Freedom and responsibility? Healing in Deckland....

My Dear Fellow 'Deckers:

Well everyone, as we are all aware, tomorrow will be the 4th of July. Picnics and parades galore will transpire throughout Cleveland's eleven neighborhoods, as well as Greater Cleveland's six eastern suburbs, five southern suburbs, and five western suburbs.

Lakewood, being one of those western suburbs, will add its own coloration to our local tapestry of celebration.

Each of our proud neighborhoods and suburbs will likely feel that they alone put on the best parades and fireworks displays.

Indeed, all across this land, those fireworks will light up the evening sky. Hot dogs, hamburgers, and enough potato salad to feed an army will grace the tables of America. Red-checked table cloths will bloom like July's tiger lilies.

Politicans will march in parades, candies will be handed out to eager children along the way, and lawn chairs will spring from musty garages like the mayflies by day, and the fireflies at night, and for a moment or two...everything will be good again.

Political parties will briefly be forgotten, liberals and conservatives will be a bit more quiet than usual, and...for that brief moment at least, at least for some of us...America's fallen will be remembered.

Some living veterans will march in those parades. Some will sit quietly in those creaky lawn chairs on the sidelines. Some will shed tears as the flag passes by. Some will stay home, or in nursing homes and whatever happens to pass for a hospital these days, but I digress.

This thread is not about hospitals. Let's please leave that sleeping dog lie. At least for one day.

Instead, while we begin to think about celebrating whatever it is that we, as Americans, will celebrate tomorrow, let's reflect for a second regarding the bitter acrimonious tone of so many online postings, particularly lately. In an effort to make things better, have some of us put our passions above other people's feelings? If so, does the end really justify the means?

Our Constitutional freedom of speech also implies a moral obligation to exercise that freedom responsibly.

The wise among us know that one can be 100% right, and yet, 100% wrong in the same breath, and so it is, and has ever been.

On July 4th, 1826, America's last two original Founding Fathers passed away. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had been bitter political foes. Both men had served as United States Presidents. Adams was an ardent advocate of a strong central government, and Jefferson had supported a government more supportive of state's rights. Indeed, thirty-five years later, our country would erupt into civil war over those same political positions, but in their old age, both men had become good friends in spite of their differences, because both of them believed that, in our country, things could be worked out eventually.

Being the last two Founding Fathers, both men had a strong sense of history, and in their declining years, both did whatever they could in order to strengthen America. Thomas Jefferson's last words, according to some accounts, was "Is it the 4th?". John Adams' last words supposedly were "Thomas Jefferson still survives", although in truth, Jefferson had passed away five hours earlier.

Can we, as Lakewoodites, look to these men for our inspiration, and heal our serious divisions with civility... and with a solid faith that discussions and even compromise will insure a brighter tomorrow, or will we continue to create animosity among ourselves?

That will be the question.

Happy 4th to all. Yes President Jefferson. It is the 4th, or rather, will be tomorrow...if tomorrow ever comes...

Back to the Banjo.

Great post Mr. Rice.

gary, you are the most eloquent poster here. your words are soothing. everyone here, i'm sure, appreciates your call for peace.

it's not gonna happen though. not tonight. probably not until November.

Gary Rice wrote:Is it the 4th?

Freedom and responsibility? Healing in Deckland....

My Dear Fellow 'Deckers:

Well everyone, as we are all aware, tomorrow will be the 4th of July. Picnics and parades galore will transpire throughout Cleveland's eleven neighborhoods, as well as Greater Cleveland's six eastern suburbs, five southern suburbs, and five western suburbs.

Lakewood, being one of those western suburbs, will add its own coloration to our local tapestry of celebration.

Each of our proud neighborhoods and suburbs will likely feel that they alone put on the best parades and fireworks displays.

Indeed, all across this land, those fireworks will light up the evening sky. Hot dogs, hamburgers, and enough potato salad to feed an army will grace the tables of America. Red-checked table cloths will bloom like July's tiger lilies.

Politicans will march in parades, candies will be handed out to eager children along the way, and lawn chairs will spring from musty garages like the mayflies by day, and the fireflies at night, and for a moment or two...everything will be good again.

Political parties will briefly be forgotten, liberals and conservatives will be a bit more quiet than usual, and...for that brief moment at least, at least for some of us...America's fallen will be remembered.

Some living veterans will march in those parades. Some will sit quietly in those creaky lawn chairs on the sidelines. Some will shed tears as the flag passes by. Some will stay home, or in nursing homes and whatever happens to pass for a hospital these days, but I digress.

This thread is not about hospitals. Let's please leave that sleeping dog lie. At least for one day.

Instead, while we begin to think about celebrating whatever it is that we, as Americans, will celebrate tomorrow, let's reflect for a second regarding the bitter acrimonious tone of so many online postings, particularly lately. In an effort to make things better, have some of us put our passions above other people's feelings? If so, does the end really justify the means?

Our Constitutional freedom of speech also implies a moral obligation to exercise that freedom responsibly.

The wise among us know that one can be 100% right, and yet, 100% wrong in the same breath, and so it is, and has ever been.

On July 4th, 1826, America's last two original Founding Fathers passed away. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had been bitter political foes. Both men had served as United States Presidents. Adams was an ardent advocate of a strong central government, and Jefferson had supported a government more supportive of state's rights. Indeed, thirty-five years later, our country would erupt into civil war over those same political positions, but in their old age, both men had become good friends in spite of their differences, because both of them believed that, in our country, things could be worked out eventually.

Being the last two Founding Fathers, both men had a strong sense of history, and in their declining years, both did whatever they could in order to strengthen America. Thomas Jefferson's last words, according to some accounts, was "Is it the 4th?". John Adams' last words supposedly were "Thomas Jefferson still survives", although in truth, Jefferson had passed away five hours earlier.

Can we, as Lakewoodites, look to these men for our inspiration, and heal our serious divisions with civility... and with a solid faith that discussions and even compromise will insure a brighter tomorrow, or will we continue to create animosity among ourselves?

That will be the question.

Happy 4th to all. Yes President Jefferson. It is the 4th, or rather, will be tomorrow...if tomorrow ever comes...

Back to the Banjo.

Gary,

I love you and your folksy banjo playing.

However, I am not sure your well played theme has anything to do with the 4th of July, 1776.

The 4th of July, 1776 was the beginning of a revolution and war to fight tyranny and the lack of representation. The way the revolutionaries fought that war was very unconventional and scrappy--they were accused of fighting like savages at times. While Thomas Jefferson was brilliant he also had his own children wait on his table as slaves. His form of compromise resulted in the prolongation of slavery and a Virginia economy built largely on the backs of slavery.

The "tea tax" like the hospital corruption was a match that lit the fire.

To have compromise you must have someone to compromise with. That is not the case in Lakewood today.

Currently, Summers, like King George, is trying to kill a key instrument of the revolution and its revolutionary publisher--LO and JOB.

Without a violent war in 1776 and without Jim's radical and revolutionary JOB Deck, you would not have a stage to play your soothing banjo compromise melodies.

Carry on with the music.

Gary, your post was very nice, however, I have to agree with Brian.

I too would like to see our city as one like it used to be. The leader of our city, Mayor Summers, is the one who has caused this great divide, and in my opinion, has failed the City of Lakewood and its citizens.

He chose to give our hospital to CCF for pennies on the dollar and violated the Federal trades Commission law of the process of open bidding. Metro Health DID have a nice proposal for us that would have allowed for a lot more jobs in Lakewood. Instead, we now have a school district that will be coming to the voters in 2017 and asking for more money because they failed to budget our tax dollars properly and the new schools are way over budget. Since the hospital has closed, we have businesses leaving Lakewood and some that are barely surviving due to a loss of a customer base. By letting CCF out of their lease early, the mayor allowed over ten million dollars to walk out of our city. I predict by 2017 or 2018, the city will be forced to come to the tax payers for more money.

The Mayor and Council have put so much time and effort into pushing their, what I believe to be illegal and immoral hospital deal through, that they have ignored the rest of the city issues. Crime and drugs, both use of and trafficking are on the rise, as is gang activity. They also have allowed anyone in Lakewood to put their trash out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our roads are falling apart and so are our garbage and service trucks. Housing stock is in such bad shape that the city has to demolish them.

Mayor Summers and Council have chosen to conduct public business behind closed doors and not speak the truth. I think it is time for our Mayor to quit hiding behind his trolls that he send here on the Deck and others that he sends to the senior homes to sell the older folks a bogus deal about the Urgi-Care Center, and tell his citizens the truth!

Today, I will celebrate with friends and family, our Country's Birthday. I will thank every Service Person, police and Fire persons that I see. I am grateful to those that died and gave me the freedom to speak freely. A right that our mayor is now fighting to take away by trying to shut down the Deck, especially with his cyber bullies that he sends to the Deck to post.

I will not give up my freedom of speech, and I will not let, what appears to be, the mayor's intimidation and harassment of some citizens of Lakewood stop me.

Mr. Mayor, it is time for you to speak the truth to ALL your citizens. We ALL pay your salary. If you continue to hide, I will continue to call you a coward and a failure. Gary, the mayor has caused the problems that you spoke of in your post and he is the one that needs to fix them by telling the truth.

Bump!

Believe me, I'm very aware of what's been going on in Lakewood.

The thing is, agree or disagree, Brian's and Lori's posts above were indeed thoughtful, heartfelt, and well-written. Those are the kinds of posts that appeal to the intellect. There are other posts intended for the emotions. Both types can serve to effect change.

Please do not EVER misunderstand me here. Does anyone reading this think for a nanosecond that Gary Rice has ever avoided standing up for principles that he believes in? If so, they would be sadly mistaken. My advocacy for disability rights, and a number of other causes, including better government, over the years, shows that I can scrap with the best of 'em, when necessary.

I've never been a "peace at any price" sort of guy. There are times when, as old Ben Franklin alluded, you either have to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.

Still, there are many ways to stand for something, while at the same time, figuring out how to get your point across constructively.

As any student of conflict resolution will tell you, the paradigm for disputation changed when the nuclear bombs came along. That whole "victor and vanquished" thing had to take a back seat to learning new ways of compromise, in our world of mutually assured destruction. Granted that there is no one way to get people to get along better, and as has been alluded, there are times that constructive debate remains preferential to compromise. These points being made, at the last, negotiation and compromise are still the means by which a great many conflicts finally come to an end.

Do we teach our young people this? Not really. I stopped into a video game shop recently to ask that very question. Were there any video games programmed to compromise? I could not find any. All that I discovered were win-lose scenarios.

The 4th of July is indeed a celebration of revolutionary life-changing ideas for citizen empowerment that inspire all of us, even today. Those ideas give us faith and hope that we can indeed constructively change our government for the better.

Back to the peace-making banjo...

Brian is right on the money.

Lori Allen _ wrote:Gary, your post was very nice, however, I have to agree with Brian.

I too would like to see our city as one like it used to be. The leader of our city, Mayor Summers, is the one who has caused this great divide, and in my opinion, has failed the City of Lakewood and its citizens.

He chose to give our hospital to CCF for pennies on the dollar and violated the Federal trades Commission law of the process of open bidding. Metro Health DID have a nice proposal for us that would have allowed for a lot more jobs in Lakewood. Instead, we now have a school district that will be coming to the voters in 2017 and asking for more money because they failed to budget our tax dollars properly and the new schools are way over budget. Since the hospital has closed, we have businesses leaving Lakewood and some that are barely surviving due to a loss of a customer base. By letting CCF out of their lease early, the mayor allowed over ten million dollars to walk out of our city. I predict by 2017 or 2018, the city will be forced to come to the tax payers for more money.

The Mayor and Council have put so much time and effort into pushing their, what I believe to be illegal and immoral hospital deal through, that they have ignored the rest of the city issues. Crime and drugs, both use of and trafficking are on the rise, as is gang activity. They also have allowed anyone in Lakewood to put their trash out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our roads are falling apart and so are our garbage and service trucks. Housing stock is in such bad shape that the city has to demolish them.

Mayor Summers and Council have chosen to conduct public business behind closed doors and not speak the truth. I think it is time for our Mayor to quit hiding behind his trolls that he send here on the Deck and others that he sends to the senior homes to sell the older folks a bogus deal about the Urgi-Care Center, and tell his citizens the truth!

Today, I will celebrate with friends and family, our Country's Birthday. I will thank every Service Person, police and Fire persons that I see. I am grateful to those that died and gave me the freedom to speak freely. A right that our mayor is now fighting to take away by trying to shut down the Deck, especially with his cyber bullies that he sends to the Deck to post.

I will not give up my freedom of speech, and I will not let, what appears to be, the mayor's intimidation and harassment of some citizens of Lakewood stop me.

Mr. Mayor, it is time for you to speak the truth to ALL your citizens. We ALL pay your salary. If you continue to hide, I will continue to call you a coward and a failure. Gary, the mayor has caused the problems that you spoke of in your post and he is the one that needs to fix them by telling the truth.

bump.

Brian Essi wrote:

Gary Rice wrote:Is it the 4th?

Freedom and responsibility? Healing in Deckland....

My Dear Fellow 'Deckers:

Well everyone, as we are all aware, tomorrow will be the 4th of July. Picnics and parades galore will transpire throughout Cleveland's eleven neighborhoods, as well as Greater Cleveland's six eastern suburbs, five southern suburbs, and five western suburbs.

Lakewood, being one of those western suburbs, will add its own coloration to our local tapestry of celebration.

Each of our proud neighborhoods and suburbs will likely feel that they alone put on the best parades and fireworks displays.

Indeed, all across this land, those fireworks will light up the evening sky. Hot dogs, hamburgers, and enough potato salad to feed an army will grace the tables of America. Red-checked table cloths will bloom like July's tiger lilies.

Politicans will march in parades, candies will be handed out to eager children along the way, and lawn chairs will spring from musty garages like the mayflies by day, and the fireflies at night, and for a moment or two...everything will be good again.

Political parties will briefly be forgotten, liberals and conservatives will be a bit more quiet than usual, and...for that brief moment at least, at least for some of us...America's fallen will be remembered.

Some living veterans will march in those parades. Some will sit quietly in those creaky lawn chairs on the sidelines. Some will shed tears as the flag passes by. Some will stay home, or in nursing homes and whatever happens to pass for a hospital these days, but I digress.

This thread is not about hospitals. Let's please leave that sleeping dog lie. At least for one day.

Instead, while we begin to think about celebrating whatever it is that we, as Americans, will celebrate tomorrow, let's reflect for a second regarding the bitter acrimonious tone of so many online postings, particularly lately. In an effort to make things better, have some of us put our passions above other people's feelings? If so, does the end really justify the means?

Our Constitutional freedom of speech also implies a moral obligation to exercise that freedom responsibly.

The wise among us know that one can be 100% right, and yet, 100% wrong in the same breath, and so it is, and has ever been.

On July 4th, 1826, America's last two original Founding Fathers passed away. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had been bitter political foes. Both men had served as United States Presidents. Adams was an ardent advocate of a strong central government, and Jefferson had supported a government more supportive of state's rights. Indeed, thirty-five years later, our country would erupt into civil war over those same political positions, but in their old age, both men had become good friends in spite of their differences, because both of them believed that, in our country, things could be worked out eventually.

Being the last two Founding Fathers, both men had a strong sense of history, and in their declining years, both did whatever they could in order to strengthen America. Thomas Jefferson's last words, according to some accounts, was "Is it the 4th?". John Adams' last words supposedly were "Thomas Jefferson still survives", although in truth, Jefferson had passed away five hours earlier.

Can we, as Lakewoodites, look to these men for our inspiration, and heal our serious divisions with civility... and with a solid faith that discussions and even compromise will insure a brighter tomorrow, or will we continue to create animosity among ourselves?

That will be the question.

Happy 4th to all. Yes President Jefferson. It is the 4th, or rather, will be tomorrow...if tomorrow ever comes...

Back to the Banjo.

Gary,

I love you and your folksy banjo playing.

However, I am not sure your well played theme has anything to do with the 4th of July, 1776.

The 4th of July, 1776 was the beginning of a revolution and war to fight tyranny and the lack of representation. The way the revolutionaries fought that war was very unconventional and scrappy--they were accused of fighting like savages at times. While Thomas Jefferson was brilliant he also had his own children wait on his table as slaves. His form of compromise resulted in the prolongation of slavery and a Virginia economy built largely on the backs of slavery.

The "tea tax" like the hospital corruption was a match that lit the fire.

To have compromise you must have someone to compromise with. That is not the case in Lakewood today.

Currently, Summers, like King George, is trying to kill a key instrument of the revolution and its revolutionary publisher--LO and JOB.

Without a violent war in 1776 and without Jim's radical and revolutionary JOB Deck, you would not have a stage to play your soothing banjo compromise melodies.

Carry on with the music.

and bump.