Hope 4 Lakewood: Candidate Night A Success

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Candidate Night A Success

Thank you to everyone who came out for the Candidate Night at Sullivans on Tuesday. There was a really nice crowd, good conversation, and fun. I hope everyone got a chance to meet the candidates they wanted to and learn more.

I found myself in some interesting conversations. I learned a lot and hopefully shared a lot.

If you didn't get a chance to join us and have questions, feel free to contact me at dhelbig44107@yahoo.com. I'd be happy to answer anything on your mind.

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From Where I Stand

From Where I Stand

I believe the issues facing Lakewood are community cohesiveness, security, and housing standards. I put community cohesiveness first because I believe it is essential to solving the security and housing standards issues. All of us – city government, city employees, businesses, schools, and citizens – need to work together to rekindle the spirit of Lakewood. It is up to each of us to play a role. From Neighborhood Block Watches to communication between government departments, it can take very little effort to make big changes.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, he describes something called the Broken Windows theory. It is ‘an epidemic theory of crime. . . crime is contagious . . . it can start with a broken window and spread to an entire community.’ He also states that ‘an epidemic can be reversed, can be tipped, by tinkering with the smallest details of the immediate environment.’

In the book 212◦ The Extra Degree, the authors remind us that ‘seemingly small things can make tremendous differences.’ ‘At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water comes steam. And steam can power a locomotive.’ Just one simple degree - just one little extra effort – can make all the difference.

I believe in both of these ideas, as well as the Law of Attraction. I am an optimist – I see opportunities in every challenge. I truly believe that ordinary people can do extraordinary things because I’ve seen it happen.

One of the things I’ve always loved about my street is the sense of community. I know that the neighbors down the block are watching out for my kids. And they know the same of me. We are all taking care of each other; watching out for each other. How great is that? Imagine if we had that sense city-wide.

As your Councilperson, I will work to make sure that all of us are working together to create the changes we seek – to revitalize a sense of community throughout Lakewood.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’d like to share something here. I decided to co-chair the Ward 3 Neighborhood Watch program well before I decided to run for Council. There had been many conversations amongst the parents and residents of the area. We just knew we had to do something. I’ve always been a person of action. A problem-solver. So, I agreed to do what I could to make it happen.

Well, a few weeks after that (and after attending some Public Safety Committee meetings) I realized that I had an opportunity to help our city on a greater scale. I made the decision to run for Council in Ward 3 because I believe I owe it to my children to try to make a difference in their community. And, not only my children. All of the children in Lakewood. They deserve to feel safe and secure, and the parents deserve the peace of mind that goes along with that.
As a homeowner, I have a vested interest in making sure our property values are going up, and that Lakewood is once again the city people love to live in and want to move to.

So, now we get to security and housing standards. In addition to working together, paying attention to what’s going on around us, being accountable and expecting accountability from each other, there are some specific things we can do in these areas. A few things that come to mind are these:
-set an ordinance to treat school playgrounds like parks with opening and closing times. This will help the police when patrolling these areas and will keep people from conducting illegal activity there at night.
-establish neighborhood watch programs throughout the city. When people who are interested in breaking the law know there are people paying attention, they’ll go elsewhere.
-create youth community centers throughout the city. These would be set up in what are now empty storefronts. They would be designed for the middle and high school age kids. We would fund them through grants. Kids who have nothing to do, tend to get themselves in trouble. We can work with them to give them a better avenue.
-Review, update where necessary, and enforce the housing standards. I believe that we all should be held to the same standard. It shouldn’t matter whether you’re a resident homeowner, a resident landlord, a renter, an absentee landlord, or in section 8 housing. We are all responsible for maintaining the properties we live in. We owe it to ourselves and each other to revitalize the housing values in Lakewood.

As I said, these are a few solutions that come to mind. I know that there are other people throughout Lakewood with equally good ideas. An essential part of being a councilperson is listening to the citizens.

Throughout my career – from leading teams of people, empowering them to create their own successes, to a successful sales career, to my current place as a professional coach – I have used the same skills and qualities that I believe will make me a successful Councilperson. They include: listening and problem-solving (you have to be a good listener to be a good problem-solver). In addition, I possess the ability to see things from several sides and therefore, offer unique solutions. My mother used to say – there’s your side, my side, and the right side, which is somewhere in the middle. I took that to heart and have used it to help some of my clients come together in ways they couldn’t before we worked together.

I possess strong intuitive skills and a genuine desire to help other people excel. That’s probably why, throughout my life, people have sought me out, knowing I would listen carefully and offer them insight and guidance that made good sense and produced positive results.

My vital statistics are these:
I was born in Columbus Ohio (go Bucks) and lived all over the US. After graduating from high school in suburban Detroit, I attended Michigan State University (go Green), where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Science. I received my coaching certification in 2006 from The Coach Training Alliance.

Through my position as Director of Operations for a Michigan-based service firm, I moved to the Cleveland area in 1990. My husband, Frank, and I moved to Lakewood in 1994 and became homeowners here in 1995. We have two children – Aaron who is 11 and attending Garfield this coming schoolyear, and Macey who is 8 and attends Roosevelt Elementary.

I have held Board positions for two area Chambers of Commerce. I have participated for the past few years on the planning committee for the Lakewood Relay for Life, in addition to captaining a team. I’ve participated on the Roosevelt PTA and will be doing the same for the Garfield PTSA.

I started my own business as an independent contractor and professional coach in 2006.

Hope 4 Lakewood

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Candidate Night A Success

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