The Observation Deck

...was very interesting.

Lots of people turned out in support for the Lakewood Dog Park, which some Rocky River residents want closed. Mayor George made the announcement that the city has no intention of doing so.

Congrats to Ennis Court for making the Top 10 list of nursing homes in Ohio.

Very interesting comments by Silvia Weber, Brian Jules, and Charles Abou-Chebl regarding the volumes of complaints regarding Charles Calanni and Calanni Auto Service.

More photos coming in my blog as I get them edited.

David

It was one of the best council meetings I have attended. It would seem that safety has caught the eyes and ears of council and city hall.

I have to credit Chief Malley for laying it out there.

Crime is down, no gang activity to speak of from "real gangs"

Demro, "would more police help?" Chief "Not if we are talking a couple but if we are talking the numbers I have read of 30, then yes. Just realize that 30 more police need cars, equipment, training, etc."

The mayor stole the night by saying in affect, Rocky River has no say in the Lakewood Dog Park. If they have noise problems they should try to address them and we are willing to work with them. The dog park stays!

Standing O to all.


.

I was at the meeting last night. Until Mr. Fitzgerald spoke on the crime issue, it appeared that city council was trying to avoid any discussion on the topic. They kept congratulating the woman that spoke of the nightmare around baxterly ave. and thanked her from coming. It seemed they wanted to move to the next topic. Finally Mr. Fitzgerald made the comment such as, "It would be an injustice if we didn't address this issue..." Then Mr. Demro spoke up and then Mr. Butler. I'm not at all impressed with city council at this time. I was impressed that a significant discussion took place. And I have to disagree with Mr. Fitzgerald when he made a comment on how it will be hard to get things done in a political year. I fully disagree. This may be the only time we might see some significant changes or steps in the right direction, due to politicians trying to make a name for themselves. I don't give kudos to the mayor or city council. I give kudos to Chief Malley. He did speak as best he could as the leader of the lakewood police department (as politically correct as he could be) and it's not all puppy dogs and roses in this city.

Chief Malley made another good statement. He stated there's a lot of people living in lakewood that can't afford to live here and it's draining our resources. And he's not talking about the high taxes. I believe he's talking about the glut of rental units where rental owners are taking anything that's walking through the door and all those (zero down) 80/20 loans that were flying around the sub-prime market. Loaning money to people who could afford to repay them or upkeep the property they used the loan to buy. I know a lot of cities around our are got hit with those. Foreclosure, foreclosure foreclosure.

"Loaning money to people who could afford to repay them"

I apologize. That statement in my previous post should say, "Loaning money to people who couldn't afford to repay them."

More photos are up:

http://lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs/ ... il-meeting

Dave Sharosky wrote:Chief Malley made another good statement. He stated there's a lot of people living in lakewood that can't afford to live here and it's draining our resources. And he's not talking about the high taxes. I believe he's talking about the glut of rental units where rental owners are taking anything that's walking through the door and all those (zero down) 80/20 loans that were flying around the sub-prime market. Loaning money to people who cannot afford to repay them or upkeep the property they used the loan to buy. I know a lot of cities around our are got hit with those. Foreclosure, foreclosure foreclosure.

The Chief is correct. Not only is this problem bringing problems into Lakewood, it is driving good people (and business) away and causing good and sometimes long-time residents to leave. In addition, this problem is affecting Lakewood's reputation.

Dave Sharosky wrote:They kept congratulating the woman that spoke of the nightmare around baxterly ave. and thanked her from coming. It seemed they wanted to move to the next topic. Finally Mr. Fitzgerald made the comment such as, "It would be an injustice if we didn't address this issue..."

I wasn't able to attend the council meeting, (I was busy watering the "Adopt a Spot" flowers outside city hall) but can anyone tell me what was said about "the nightmare around Baxterly Avenue"?

Rick Uldricks wrote:The Chief is correct. Not only is this problem bringing problems into Lakewood, it is driving good people (and business) away and causing good and sometimes long-time residents to leave. In addition, this problem is affecting Lakewood's reputation.

Rick

Slow business is driving businesses away, not some perceived crime issue. What is driving residents away is the same thing that has always driven residents away from Lakewood.

Crime is down. That is a fact.

Doesn't matter, chances of being involved in a violent crime goes up as the lots get larger. By the time you get to rural America the chance nearly triple.

You think crime is bad here? Check the coasts. Check the sunbelt.

AMERICA has been sold down the river, by our politic ans, big business, and ourselves. Those brave enough to speak of this are ridiculed and made fun of.

Lakewoodites need to take a step back and see the truth. Everything going on here is going on everywhere. However because of the very nature of our city, we can make it exactly the place we want to live. The ways are very easy. Take part yourself, or pay higher taxes for someone else to do it.

I grew up here, worked all over the place, and love living here. I am always amazed when people do not see the potential right in front of their faces, and the opportunities to make it even better.

When I factor in the economy, how Cleveland and Lorain have let us down and not kept their end of the bargain, and the forces at work. It is exactly the same city I was born in. Exactly, actually better.

I know we all get tired of reading this but in the 70s there were many spots in Lakewood I would not be comfortable in. 5 biker bars, one pizza shop. Kids at Lakewood High with guns and knives. Time Magazine, Lakewood Ohio easiest place to buy drugs in America, including the drug shopping center known as "behind Manners." Students taking out contracts on other students. "Gang fights" Fights at parties, and on and on and on and on.

That is gone, so how is it worse again?

As for the "riot" on Baxterly, the Deck has three very active members that live on Baxterly. NONE has spoken of a riot or even trouble. I went down Baxterly three times last night. NO ONE seemed to be in fear of anything but heat exhaustion.

LCannon, just like Suzanne Metelko, I think you have this one very wrong.

But that is my opinion. The opinion of Jim O'Bryan.

FWIW


.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Rick Uldricks wrote:
As for the "riot" on Baxterly, the Deck has three very active members that live on Baxterly. NONE has spoken of a riot or even trouble. I went down Baxterly three times last night. NO ONE seemed to be in fear of anything but heat exhaustion.

LCannon, just like Suzanne Metelko, I think you have this one very wrong.
.

Jim--I think you misread. I was simply quoting another poster on this site. As a Baxterly homeowner, I wanted to know more about the "nightmare" to which the poster referred. Just trying to keep in the loop.

I don't know anything about the Baxterly Ave. riot.

What I do know is that the real estate market still sucks, there are a lot of homes for sale in Lakewood and sellers are slashing prices to move them. The same holds true for rentals. A lot of landlords are slashing prices on monthly rent and are no longer performing credit or background checks. In addition a lot (but not all) landlords no longer perform the routine maintenance that goes along with being a property owner. As a result, many neighborhoods are left with dumpy looking, inexpensive rentals and housing stock that is losing value.

LCannon wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Rick Uldricks wrote:
As for the "riot" on Baxterly, the Deck has three very active members that live on Baxterly. NONE has spoken of a riot or even trouble. I went down Baxterly three times last night. NO ONE seemed to be in fear of anything but heat exhaustion.

LCannon, just like Suzanne Metelko, I think you have this one very wrong.
.

Jim--I think you misread. I was simply quoting another poster on this site. As a Baxterly homeowner, I wanted to know more about the "nightmare" to which the poster referred. Just trying to keep in the loop.

LCannon,

I do not know of the "riot" Mr. O'Brien is speaking about. I don't believe it was mentioned by the resident. As for the woman that spoke who lives on Baxterly and the nightmares AROUND baxterly, she detailed about 10 serious incidents in the past year or so. The chief did explain a couple incidents and gave good explanations of what happened. One was a robbery of a person leaving his car. They believe it was random due to the fact the people were from New York and the next day they were using the victims cell in New York City. Then they spoke of a teenager who broke out of a Kids home in Hudson, came to Lakewood because some friends lived here and he felt safe here. Well in turn, the juvenile commited numerous felonies in Lakewood.

Also, the chief mentioned, according to statistics, crime is down in the city for the previous year. He did state that crime is up around Birdtown and south of madison. In fact he said they're having a lot of problems in that area. They've created special details on bicycles, motorcycles and specific car patrols.

And Mr. O'Brien, I dispise the premise that the increase in crime is just a fact that society as a whole is having the problems we're starting to see, so live with it. That drives me nuts. It sounds like toleration or acceptance of the ills of society. Let's be a city, have a mentallity that drives our laws and actions to tell northeast ohio and other regions that we're not going to accept this. No one should.

Dave Sharosky wrote:
And Mr. O'Brien, I dispise the premise that the increase in crime is just a fact that society as a whole is having the problems we're starting to see, so live with it. That drives me nuts. It sounds like toleration or acceptance of the ills of society. Let's be a city, have a mentallity that drives our laws and actions to tell northeast ohio and other regions that we're not going to accept this. No one should.

Dave


Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I along with others have been speaking of block watches for years. I am on board with the 30 police.

What I meant was look at the situation, this is going on every where.

Reminds me of a story that was being written for the paper on drug abuse for the Observer. The numbers were shocking, until place next to Rocky River, Bay, Westlake, Solon, etc.

Many of these things need to be taken into context.

My context is, "Bad everywhere in a falling country. Let's make sure Lakewood has the best police around."

Does that make any sense?


.

Jim,

It makes sense with your explanation.

I believe you were at the council meeting? What did you mean by your comment, "As for the "riot" on Baxterly, the Deck has three very active members that live on Baxterly. NONE has spoken of a riot or even trouble. I went down Baxterly three times last night. NO ONE seemed to be in fear of anything but heat exhaustion."

The woman at the council meeting never mentioned that. She had some serious crimes around her area that has serious cause for alarm. And she's not the only one. It's not just from hearsay, it's from personal experiences. I've had them, my fiancee has had them. Friends of my mom have had them. I've had friends who also live in the city have them. I have a scanner and listen to it frequently. Sure there's a lot of domestic violence, music complaints and what I figure cities deal with day in and day out. But there's some serious things starting to creep upon this city with more frequency. I'm not blaming the police for one second. I think they're doing an excellent job. Combining the housing problem (both single family and rental units), our financial situation, etc. I think it's time for some serious, decisive and focused actions to get some positive and long lasting results.

I'm not attacking your personally, you just happened to be in the way of my annoyance today.

L Cannon and others

It has been brought to mu attnetion that the three people I know on Baxterly, are wrong.

It was not that I thought anyone was lying, it is just that the LO Deck has three members on Baxterly and did not know.

I just want to make sure the record of the youth fight on Baxterly was correct.


.