The Observation Deck

I spent a few minutes looking for candidate web sites of the folks running for member of Council at Large. The list is in the same order as on the ballots. You can choose up to three in the upcoming primary on Sep 8th.

Anthony Davis - website launching August 6th, 2009
Ryan Patrick Demro
Edward M. McCartney - unable to find their website
Brian Powers * - unable to find their website
Jared K. Shapiro
Daniel E. Shields - unable to find their website
Monique Smith
Nickie J. Antonio *
Daniel Bartos

* = incumbent
If some of these have websites that I didn't find, let me know and I'll update this post.

[quote="Jerry Ritcey"]I spent a few minutes looking for candidate web sites of the folks running for member of Council at Large. The list is in the same order as on the ballots. You can choose up to three in the upcoming primary on Sep 8th.

Anthony Davis - website launching August 6th, 2009

Jerry why would you leave out Anthony's "I hate Lakewood, the police and people so much
I will start "Crimewood" to help thieves find foreclosed homes to break into then threaten
the people that called police, and run down property values" website?"

Started with his good friend Madison Drunk that has spent years trashing Lakewood, the
police, schools, and library to the world?

FWIW


.

Actually I didn't know Anthony Davis was the guy behind Crimewood, but my intention was to list their campaign websites. My first read of the existing websites is most are a bit uninformative, "I love Lakewood", etc. I was hoping someone might pose questions to them and compare answers.

Having said that, I don't think criminals are reading crimewood to figure out what to rob. Why the police records and blotter are not electronically available in the first place, I don't know. Hiding information doesn't make us safer, just less informed.

Jerry Ritcey wrote:
Having said that, I don't think criminals are reading crimewood to figure out what to rob. Why the police records and blotter are not electronically available in the first place, I don't know. Hiding information doesn't make us safer, just less informed.

Agree. And I actually was glad to see that site available and updated in a timely manner. The name could have been different, though.

Jerry Ritcey wrote:Actually I didn't know Anthony Davis was the guy behind Crimewood, but my intention was to list their campaign websites. My first read of the existing websites is most are a bit uninformative, "I love Lakewood", etc. I was hoping someone might pose questions to them and compare answers.

Having said that, I don't think criminals are reading crimewood to figure out what to rob. Why the police records and blotter are not electronically available in the first place, I don't know. Hiding information doesn't make us safer, just less informed.

Jerry

Great effort, many of us are wondering if any of these people were ever going to
start their campaigns.

Great effort.

The website I believe is "Love Lakewood" which was designed to dig at me, and the Lakewood
Observer as I had started "I love Lakewood" almost ten years ago to build up Lakewood
and catalog the various great features, flora, fauna, and people of this city. They. Mr.
Davis and close friend Madison Drunk(very positive) started their infantile effort to get
even and tear Lakewood down either further. Thinking if they grabbed my old name and
turned it into another hate site, it will only serve to underline again how immature he is.

As for Crimewood, it is on record with the city that at least one copper pipe thief located
a foreclosed home on Wynadote through Crimewood. Then when the neighbor called the
police, Crimewood published the police report along with the names and addresses of the
people that called the police who then started to get threats from "the friends" of the criminal
to the point they changed all of their online information, asked to be deleted from this
website, and stopped participating in everything they were involved with in the city. They
were looking to move to get away from the harassment as the police could not guarantee
their safety.

All of this was because Mr. Davis' wife was laid off from the city?

Yeah we should turn the keys to the city over to Mr. Davis and Madison Drunk?!

I hope the city is sober enough to say no thank you.

.

JOB, I do agree about the forclosure map to an extent. I was a bit taken aback as it did give someone a road map to potentially finding easy targets.

That said, I do believe that the blotter was a useful too to see what might be going on in your area and be in the know. I noticed in some reports that he was really god about blanking out names and info that should not have been public record. When I noticed that he missed one that named a minor, I emailed him and he removed it immediately. I think the city could be better about making these records more public without compromising witnesses if they really wanted to.

And do you really REALLY think that he was motivated by his wife being laid off? Really.

Granted, that site wasn't exactly showing the city always in a positive light, but I think he was honestly trying to do good by keeping people informed about what was going on.
It was the truth and not some false sense that a lot of people try to portray in this city sometimes... 'everything is ok, people, nothing to see here...hush hush." That kind of crap is disingenuous.

I would like to add that I think the cops are great in Lakewood, for the most part. They are responsive and ever present. That makes me feel good.

Valerie Molinski wrote:And do you really REALLY think that he was motivated by his wife being laid off? Really.

I would like to add that I think the cops are great in Lakewood, for the most part. They are responsive and ever present. That makes me feel good.

Valerie

That is what I was told by his partner at a party. Why would I doubt that?

I agree about the police.

This hush hush thing is not great, but I do like to see some sense of responsibility. Look at
the Hidden Village issue. We had knowledge but they had one of the most ferocious lawyers
in the country. To have blown it out would have cause an all out media war over if
the of Lakewood was racist. Who would that have served? Certainly not Lakewood, it
would have brought additional pressure on the board looking at the facts.

As far as disingenuous according to the police the site cost them about $10,000 a year
to provide the information. Also the name Crimewood, came up when searched and wasn't
it nice knowing someone thought crime was so out of control, that they would dedicate
their life to letting the world know, even when they were causing some of the crime
themselves directly or indirectly.

I will defend his right to do it, did it help anything, NO.

This is why the LO print version went from "open source" to "civic source."



FWIW

.

Reason for running for office: revenge - would probably be a deal-breaker for me.

Still I'd love to hear more about what the candidates say, so I'll keep an eye out. I cannot edit my earlier post, so I will just post new web sites in this thread, if I hear about them.

Jerry

I am not saying he is running for revenge.

All I am saying is look at the scope of his work.

It is a nightmare for building or even shoring up Lakewood
as a place businesses or people would want to move.

Is it his right, you bet it is and I would fight for that alongside of him.

Is it good for Lakewood, maybe Valerie is right, but Crimewood, reeks
of hatred, disdain, and negativity.

Is that who you want on council?

Look at the list, you have at least three people who actually care about
Lakewood and have done positive things to improve it.

I was going to run, just to debate Mr. Davis.

Also Mr. Davis called and has now threatened to seek some form
of retribution with me and or the LO. I mentioned I told the office
I would be more than willing to meet with him today or tomorrow,
but he assured the staff he was way to busy to sort this out.

FWIW


.

Retribution? Yikes.

I prefer to get catharsis killing internet dragons in Warcraft, myself.

Jim,

I decided to check out Mr. Davis’ website and was surprised to here that if elected he promises to stay in his position, not seeking higher office, would only serve 2 terms and would donate all of his council salary to the reforesting efforts of the city. I’m just curious as to what your take on this is?

Jim, I respect you and your efforts greatly, but your tendency to assign the absolute worst intentions to those who don't share your methods or attitudes, even when applied toward the same goals, is troubling.

Argue all you like about the effects of Mr. Davis' efforts - that's fair game. Unless you have direct evidence that his intentions were any less honorable than yours, your 'fightin' words' reflect as poorly on you as they do on him. He's never given me the impression that he's anything else than a concerned and involved citizen, interested in full disclosure and impartial reporting of facts. I've never seen him take an overtly anti-Lakewood attitude about the events he reported in the crime log or his blog, simply "here's what's going on - you should know about this". Everything you cite can be explained just as easily with a positive intention as a negative one.

Brian Pedaci wrote:Jim, I respect you and your efforts greatly, but your tendency to assign the absolute worst intentions to those who don't share your methods or attitudes, even when applied toward the same goals, is troubling.

Brian

I try to take in the full body of work and all aspects.
Go read what I posted, what other conclusion should I come too?

Does he have a right, sure.

Do I think he would be a good councilman, absolutely not, especially when you look at
the choices. Again my opinion, but at this website, as long as I put my name on it,
observe the rules, I can do that.

Chris
I decided to check out Mr. Davis’ website and was surprised to here that if elected he promises to stay in his position, not seeking higher office, would only serve 2 terms and would donate all of his council salary to the reforesting efforts of the city. I’m just curious as to what your take on this is?

I guess if that is all you are looking at, you might be swayed. I never really saw the $7,000
salary for council to be a huge problem, nor near enough. And the forestry problem was
not really on my top 100 list.

That promise makes me feel much better about Lakewood's future!

But lets look elsewhere.
Brian Powers - I bet we are opposite sides of most issues. That is life. But what I hear is
that he and Mike Summers are some of the hardest working people on council. Seems
to me we need a lot of hard work in the coming years.

Dan Shield - Really good Lakewoodite, lawyer, civic activist and damn good honest person.
Lives in the center of the city, has been a great father, kids going through Lakewood schools
and is really looking at many innovative things outside of the box.

Nickie Antonio - Has become the heart and soul of open thinking on council. Dedicated
to the arts and moving Lakewood forward.

Monique Smith - Good platform, only person talking about housing! new blood, active in
schools and the city. Comes highly recommended by people from all sides of issues in
Lakewood. Seems sharp and and a quick learner. Could be a great investment for
Lakewood to give her a little more muscle, on council.

Ryan Patrick Demro - What can I say. A true enigma, I have had some really hard fought
fights with RPD, but I have grown to respect many aspects of Ryan and his efforts.
Skate park, the parks, crime, nuisance, when you remove the tendency of all politicians to
worry about their legacy for running, he has always fought for his constituents, residents,
and city. Ryan's campaign manager could be a deal breaker for me. The one he used for
mayor was eager to burn the city to the ground, calling Arthur Ave., East Cleveland every
chance she could. As a person that is in East Cleveland all the time, she was delusional.

That group is pretty rich in talent. Please note I agree with very few of them, Ryan is
the only regular poster or writer in the LO Project. Still I could pull a lever for any of
them based on what I know without the "press release/stance." Others will have to make
up their minds based on their needs, thoughts and dreams.

We are getting into serious times.

Trees? Are you kidding me!

.

Brian Pedaci wrote:Jim, I respect you and your efforts greatly, but your tendency to assign the absolute worst intentions to those who don't share your methods or attitudes, even when applied toward the same goals, is troubling.

Brian

I think one of the very real things missing in all of Lakewood discussions is directly what
you are speaking of. Why were things really created and what was the hopeful result.

To understand that you really have to look deep into the the entire process, and where
the ideas, philosophy, and directors of the project come from and where they are going
and why.

I am not throwing around accusations around lightly or without reason, on any of the topics
you have often called me out on.

Example: If a person has said publicly at a meeting, "You can not afford to live in
Lakewood!" Can that person be trusted to help people losing their homes, or should
we believe there might be a conflict of interest in that person being paid to help people
losing their homes? Should we even ask if there is.

I am not speaking of the child that hugs a kitten so tight she kills it for love, because of
her own innocence and misunderstanding.

One of the reason I am removing myself from the LO Paper is that it was started
as a community effort, not a Jim O'Bryan effort. So it is now time to move on. But another
very real problem is that maybe I have come to know too much about the city, and its
players. I am seeing a city with unlimited potential fall victim to Spiral Dynamics, Orwellian
Programs, Faux Committee after faux Committee, good people bullied and run out of town
for the very profit of the person/group claiming otherwise, and it is very tough to swallow.

Lakewood's potential is so great, but...


FWIW


.