According to the “Grow Lakewood" Committee Report, our city is at a tipping point when it comes to economic vitality. One of the most glaring problems identified in this report is the lack of city and school employees that actually live in Lakewood. The following information is in this report: According to statistics provided by the City of Lakewood Finance Department and the Lakewood City School District Treasurer’s Department, only 31% of the 534 full time city employees and only 43% of the 788 full time school employees live in Lakewood. The economic impact is HUGE! This means that $41 MILLION of taxpayer payroll (and housing buying power) leaves Lakewood annually. Convenience services that these people use, such as shopping at local grocery stores, restaurants, auto repair, etc. also suffer from this exodus of money. It doesn’t even mention part-time employees, of which the City of Lakewood has at least 150. This is not something I made up, it’s all in the report. A copy of this report is located on the City of Lakewood website (City Government tab – Docket Agendas July 16th– click on PDF format) http://www.ci.lakewood.oh.us/citygovern_council_agendas.html.

Yes, I know, the state of Ohio made it illegal to require employees to live in the city they work. I won’t argue that, it’s a free country and you can live whereever you want. But I’m still disturbed at these staggering numbers. Why do all these people choose not to live in Lakewood? Is it because the school system is bad, the city services are poor or the crime rate is high? Oh, wait a minute; these are the same people that provide for education, city services and public safety. Hypothetically, if all 768 of these employees purchased homes in Lakewood, the number of available homes would be almost nothing. Instantly, your home would appreciate in value as supply would fall well below demand. In addition, common sense tells me that some of these people may even do a better job at what they do because they would be more affected by the outcome. They would see and experience first-hand what goes on in Lakewood 24 hours a day, rather than only 8 hours a day. On weekends they would walk in our parks rather than parks in another city.

Adding to this disturbing fact is that many of the “leaders” of these areas also don’t live in Lakewood. They are not setting an example to the people reporting to them. How can a department head encourage his employees to live in Lakewood when he or she does not? Did you know the Police Chief, Fire Chief, Planning and Development Director, HR Director and Building Commissioner all live outside Lakewood? And several of these positions are appointed by the Mayor, who apparently is not concerned with their residency status. What’s up with that? In total, only 20% of our Public Safety employees, which include policeman and fireman, live in Lakewood.

Don’t get me wrong, I happen to think education is good, city services are adequate and public safety receives considerable attention. I’m not saying these people aren’t doing their job, so please don’t start defending your job performance to me because that is not the point. But I have to wonder if all these people realize what kind of negative economic (and indirectly - social) impact they have by not living in Lakewood.

It is a fact the city is experiencing financial difficulties. Don’t believe me, ask your council person. Lakewood's population continues to decrease and city administrators keep increasing expenditures and asking for more money by way of OUR tax dollars. And who suffers the most? We do, the common citizens. When dollars are hard to come by, the first things that go are the “non-essentials”, like park maintenance and upkeep. It produces a spiraling effect that ultimately decreases the attractiveness of living in Lakewood.

I think the Mayor, department directors and school administrators need to have group meetings with all employees and inform them about the negative impact they have by not living in Lakewood. Ask these non-resident employees why they don’t live in the city and what it would take to get them to live in Lakewood. I would also like to present a challenge to all those city and school employees that don’t live in Lakewood: lead by example! Live and take pride in our city, quit making excuses for not living here and help the economic vitality of your employer and those that pay your salary. The more of you that live here, the less likely your job will be cut due to budgetary concerns. Help us rebuild Lakewood and make it a better place to live. Let’s do something grand and come together as a community. Let our public servants and educators band together and make a decision on their own to live in our community. I happen to believe that these 768 people would make great neighbors!