The Observation Deck

Today is the opening day of deer gun season.

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources over 72,000 deer have been harvested in Ohio so far in the early 2016 archery deer season and last year over 188K deer were harvested during the entire season. It is reported that the majority of the venison harvested in Ohio is processed to feed Ohio's poor.

http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/hunting-tra ... comparison

Most of the deer I see in Lakewood are here during the "deer rut" --the mating season when bucks pursue does who run to Lakewood.

Lakewood's food supply for deer just can't sustain many deer permanently.

Many other native Ohioans come to Lakewood to meet their mates at Lakewood's bars and restaurants--no shortage of food and drink in Lakewood for humans trying to mate.

Sometimes the "love struck" bucks get a little crazed in Lakewood and have to be put down by authorities, but mostly deer are "safe" in Lakewood from hunters.

Does anyone know how many deer actually live in Lakewood?

Does anyone know how many people who do not live in Lakewood come here to drink and eat each year?

It seems to me that Lakewood provides a good habitat for a diverse group of "lovers".

Lakewood continues to LOSE population - bars and restaurants won't help that.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.clevelan ... ent=safari

After Cleveland, the region's cities experiencing the biggest loses are Parma, down 1,664 to 79,937, Akron down 1,568 to 197,542 and Lakewood down 1,475 to 50,656

We are 656 people away from dropping below the critical 50K level.

What is being done to address that?

Bridget Conant wrote:We are 656 people away from dropping below the critical 50K level.

What is being done to address that?

A couple of notes.

I researched this a bit, earlier this year, and the census estimates have consistently overestimated Lakewood's population loss.

In the larger picture, however, they have consistently been right about the direction of Lakewood's population trend.

Beyond that, this is a difficult problem by no means new, or unique to Lakewood… but I do think we ought to be having more discussions about responding, anyway. I also think that anyone counting on "Millennials are a game-changer" or "Lakewood's property market is smoking hot" to solve the problem for us runs a risk of big disappointment.

I believe there is an increase in folks moving out of Lakewood.
Maybe these reasons could be contributing to this.

1. No hospital with an emergency room.
2. Hand picked medical providers chosen by Council and the Mayor.
3. Number one heroin suburb in the Cleveland area.
4. Increasing crime rates, including rape, armed robbery, drug sales and trafficking, auto theft, gang crime, etc.
5. Failing school system.
6. Collapse of housing structures and neighborhoods due to incompetent city leadership and housing department.

7. Most importantly, the appearing take over of the City of Lakewood by Summers, Council and the Extended Company. This would include, but not limited to, Alleged stealing of homes, especially if you are elderly, terminally ill, Black, Hispanic, Muslim, etc. The alleged misuse of HUD funds and Grant funds, the alleged theft of Lakewood Hospital, alleged vote tampering with the last two elections,and alleged money laundering of tax payer and foundation funds. This is just the tip of the ice burg.

No wonder the last time I saw Mr. Anderson, he appeared to be terribly troubled. Sir, in my opinion, you should be!

I suspect that much of Lakewood's population decline stems from a general decline in household size over the last 2-3 decades. And that Lakewood's appeal to millennials and young families has magnified that tendency here. I don't see, just anecdotally, that any more or fewer households are being created here, as there are almost no domiciles being put online or taken offline. Lakewood is built out, and its existing housing stock remains relatively popular and fully-occupied.

I suspect that average household size statistics broken down by metro area are available by way of the Census Bureau, maybe someone with more familiarity could dig those up.

Lori, Lakewood's population has been declining long before those factors you cite came to be. Which is not to say that Lakewood does not face some challenges brought on generally....

I would say that our city being taken over by a seemingly corrupt Mayor ,Council and some of their friends is a serious situation that people had better start paying attention to.
Alleged home stealing, alleged misuse of HUD and Grant monies, alleged theft of the hospital, and worst, the alleged money laundering of tax payer money and Foundation monies is VERY serious.

Yes Lakewood, we did have another rape, a drive by shooting, three persons being held up at gun point, a mad man shooting up Detroit Avenue, a man allegedly stabbing his father to death with a knife and then having a stand off with police. AND, we can now add the Latin Kings to our group of four or more gangs active in the city and at the high school.

While Summers, Council and Extended Company appear to have sent OUR money out to the laundry, our beautiful city is being ripped apart. It appears that they are all busy counting their "rewards", rather than doing the jobs they were hired to do and are being PAID by US to DO!