From Marc’s to Drugmart, Family Dollar to Dollar Tree, budget class shopping accounts for the largest share of mid-sized national retail in the ‘Wood. As one laissez faire indicator of underlying economic conditions, the proliferation of these outlets within the ‘Wood speaks to our natural market state.

What's the middle-class Lakewood kid to do with his energy and time? Either it's wallow alone in the muddle. Or it’s call a S.W.A.T. team huddle. The Lakewood kids huddled in the thick of the swarming mob gathered around Kaufman Park have answered that question. When seeing the swarming kids from afar, it is difficult to realize that within the swarm there really is a Lakewood S.W.A.T. team ramping up a rough and tumble positive identification of youth with the good of the city. They are doing so on their own creative, energetic and unsanctioned DIY terms, of course, the way youth has been doing it for ages. Sure, there will be bumps along the way, but let's probe for positive potentials.

Some people believed in his snake-oil cures for the ills of a struggling public institution. Few took the time to examine his charter school mythology in a critical light. It seemed cool, counter-cultural, esoteric and wildly anarchic. Behind the charter school mythology was the pagan friar named Brother Petty. Now he is known by the Lakewood and Rocky River Police Departments as Philip J. DiStasio.

The Ohio Senate recently passed SB 82, stripping municipalities of the right to impose residency requirements on city employees. SB 82 opens the way for the coronation of "The Have It Your Way - Burger King Public Servants," who will rule from exurban castles that sprawl across the region.

Lakewood’s walking man; Vernon Bognar is a living legend. Barely a year old in 1914 when his family relocated from Cleveland's Westside to Olivewood Ave in Lakewood, Bognar has watched nearly a century pass. Except for time spent in military service he has lived his entire life in Lakewood. Doing his best to show respect for the city he describes lovingly as "the most densely populated living quarters from New York City to Chicago," he can be seen daily, walking and collecting refuse along Madison and Detroit Avenues.

Superintendent Dr. David Estrop remembers a time when public schools across the nation upheld strict uniform policies and separated students by gender for certain courses.

This summer Lakewoodites walking, biking and hanging out on our city streets should take notice. The Lakewood Observer is listening to the community voice at ground level. We’re patrolling the streets of Lakewood to capture the pulse of our community.

The dust seems to have settled. Political fallout from the defeat of Issue 47, the West End Development Project, has resulted in a shift of office holders, one that did not exactly elect a unified platform on the issue of development, however much that development seemed a key friction point leading to a populist-style victory for several candidates. What has changed significantly in the months following 47’s defeat has been the level of conscious citizen participation in civic life. In this regard Issue 47 can be conceptualized, in essence, as the “crack that let the light in.” The community was polarized along two lines, either for or against the project. The need to preserve and save our city in these tough times of changing life conditions was not the polarizing issue. Rather, the most effective way of getting there became the trigger point dividing the city. Each side was convinced that they knew what was best for the city.