The Observation Deck

Hello, all. I wanted to weigh in a bit here.

Our parks are and will continue to be incredibly safe and I appreciate the thought that we need to curb graffiti and vandalism. It seems there are a few knuckleheads out there who do this sort of thing.

Not wanting to sound too much like a politician, I also want to express my respect for my colleagues on council and this committee in particular, Ryan Nowlin and Shawn Juris, and know they want what’s best for Lakewood and hope they have the same opinion of me.

I decided to vote against the ordinance for a couple of reasons. First, a motive given for the ordinance was that the parks are dark in many spots and not designed for easy patrols and this ordinance would provide a new tool to our officers. I see these points very clearly and feel this ordinance does provide that extra tool but does not make the parks easier to patrol or less dark.

The second and, I think, more important point, is that I feel we should be sending the message that regardless of how trivial the matter may seem in a practical sense – an hour or so in July/August, two hours in September/October – knuckleheads will not prevent us from keeping these parks open until 11:00 p.m. Not everyone agrees with my two sentiments and I respect their opinions.

To expand, the symbolism of closing parks earlier in an effort to curtail vandalism is hard for me to accept regardless of how few may us the parks after dark for legitimate reasons. (Just off the top of my head, legitimate uses may include working their plot at the Madison Community Garden, volunteers working the LEAF plot also at Madison, folks walking home with their children on a warm October evening after the library closes who opt to cut through Kauffman and tennis/exercise just to name a few.)

I felt the message we should send is that we will keep the parks open to all residents (Madison and Kauffman have been open until 11:00 p.m. for many years) and do everything possible to find vandals, prosecute them, make them pay for the repairs and invite them back into the park. That’s right – invite them back into the park. If it happens again, we’ll do the same thing over and over and over until the knuckleheads realize at least three things: (1) we’re serious, (2) they aren’t getting anywhere but lighter in the pocket and heavier in the number of community service hours served and (3) we want them to mature and be prideful members of the community. I know the police department is working to find those few who are responsible but it's never going to stop it unless we figure out a way to tap into it peer to peer.

However, I am hopeful that this ordinance may curtail these incidents. I also appreciate the administration volunteering to offer an update on graffiti and vandalism a few months down the road. I look forward to this communication.

Lastly, I know it’s happened elsewhere around the country but I do not believe anyone has devious intentions to drive down the value of these or adjacent areas so that a developer could pick them up on the cheap. Nor do I believe this is a north side of the tracks versus a south side of the tracks issue.

I also appreciate this forum and the opportunity to participate.

Yours in service,
David W. Anderson
Councilman, Ward 1
216-789-6463

David

Thanks as always for coming in, and kicking it with us.

I am just curious, what the reasoning was with the committee(?) that studied this? I would hope
they looked at what had worked in other cities. Many cities have dealt with this, but very few
have effectively dealt with it keeping people out of parks.

Did anyone think $100 of a picture sent from a cell phone of someone in the act? It would seem
that many would sell out a tagger for a new skateboard, burrito, and clothes.

Graffiti is a crime of opportunity. No one pulls out a can of spray paint in well traveled areas and
starts tagging. Keeping people out is the wrong way to go.

Which brings me to another comment. I am not saying there are people profiteering from the
destruction of Lakewood residential areas. That there is a massive plan. What we actually see
in the book "The Slaughter of Cities: Urban Renewal As Ethnic Cleansing" are many very good
honest minded leaders reacting out of fear, that causes poor not well thought out decisions. That
a person can be betting on a new strip mall for taxes, while never seeing the residents or other
businesses fleeing.

A perfect scenario is the casino. More people, more money, more jobs good, Right? Then through in
the crime, the broken marriages, the ring of poverty around the casino, and all of the pull from
other areas of a city that were full of life, and it becomes easy to see. How one seemingly good
project can gut a city.

Thanks for the insight. I do hope this discussion continues.

Thanks again.


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_________________
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama

A Graffiti-Free City:

http://www.mocities.com/resource/resmgr/review_articles/tenstepsgraffitifreecityjuly.pdf

http://www.nograffiti.com/

FWIW

Looks like the boys and girls are back, and might be planning a camp out at Kauffman Park!

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_________________
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Does anyone have any more information about this?

I'm guessing that this Occupy Lakewood event will certainly test LPD's "discretion." Here's hoping that all parties involved keep it civil.

(isn't it kind of ironic to see Lakewood Little Links on this poster?)

Loving The Wood!

Dan

I have seen posters on Madison, probably for Madison Park? and Detroit. This was in front
of the Root Café, and has no date for the start of the Occupy Movement. Of course that was
the way the Occupy Movement spread, get the word out about the complaints, then build
the structure once lawyers, media and bodies were ready.


Peter

Little Links? Must be graffiti, Little Links hasn't been there for years.


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_________________
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Dan

I am sitting down with two of the members tomorrow for an interview. I guess they are not
looking to scale up until April, when some of their Occupy Cleveland Brothers and Sisters
come back from something in NYC.

Not sure why, but he said his friends were the campers and lawyers.

Anything you want me to ask them. They had some interesting legal points.

FWIW

_________________
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama

campers AND laywers?? sounds like it might be a drawn-out affair.

Peter

I learned a lot about this kind of stuff from me covering the Cleveland Occupy Movement,
and it was funny how it compares to my experience. They had the campers (fodder), the
group leaders, the enforcers, the lawyers, and on the outer circle had the politicians, and
civic leaders.

Little did I realize just how planned out and scripted the entire event was.


.

_________________
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama