The Observation Deck

I found this creative and innovative.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/11 ... loans.html

Why would Lakewood do that when they’ve just recently shown such disdain for college students when they removed the income tax exemption they had enjoyed for many, many years?

Mark Kindt wrote:I found this creative and innovative.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/11 ... loans.html

Mark

Nearly 13 years ago Stephen Davis came up with an even better plan to attract intelligent people to Lakewood, and keep them here. He posted vague references to it on the Deck, and we spoke with at least 7 elected officials and civic leaders about the idea. They all thought it was genius, but not right for Lakewood.

Of course now we realize that intelligence is the enemy of City Hall and Civic Leaders in Lakewood. People that can think can see right through their BS.

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Mark Kindt wrote:I found this creative and innovative.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/11 ... loans.html

Like, I said -- I found this to be creative and innovative.

It's timely, too. Seems to me that any one of our city council members would want to give this some thought.

For some reason I find this kind of proposal troubling. To wit-- what if I was a graduate of the General Motors Institute. Would I not be eligible for this program?

Stan Austin wrote:For some reason I find this kind of proposal troubling. To wit-- what if I was a graduate of the General Motors Institute. Would I not be eligible for this program?

Wouldn't that be a relatively small percentage?

Then let's expand and localize the group. How 'bout a graduate of CCC nursing? Why wouldn't a journeyman from one of the trade unions qualify?

Stan Austin wrote:Then let's expand and localize the group. How 'bout a graduate of CCC nursing? Why wouldn't a journeyman from one of the trade unions qualify?

Excellent point.

One reason that college costs so much is that the government provides unsecured loans without credit checks or income verification or any financial qualifications at all.
If you want to control tuition costs end the student loan program. If that is a bridge to far then have the college co-sign the student loan.

Let's see, an average student loan debt of 80,000 means attracting 1,000 residents costs will cost the City $80 million.

How long will they have to live in Lakewood? 5 years? OK, so every 5 years the City spends another $80 million to attract another 1,000 residents. How long does this go on?

Notice that the items that increase in cost greater than the average inflation rate are heavily influenced by government.

This opens the broader questions of which types of initiatives, like public subsidies, are cost-effective for a municipality of 50,000 residents.

Mr. Call, thank you for posting this very interesting chart. I did not know that college-costs inflated at a higher rate than healthcare.

Subsidize upscale housing?

Subsidize business occupancy?

Subsidize recent college or technical school graduates?

Maybe none. But as long as money is being thrown around in Lakewood, there should be a discussion of alternatives.