Mayor Outlines Goals, Challenges in State of the City Address

Housing, parks, public safety and commercial development. 

These were just a few of the issues shared by Lakewood Mayor Michael Summers at his annual State of the City address at the Lakewood Masonic Temple on Tuesday night.

With more than 100 residents attending, he covered some of the initiatives, goals and challenges facing the city.

Entering his third year in office, the address was one of Summers’ shortest to date.

Following his remarks, Summers fielded questions from about half-dozen residents in the audience, ranging from the trouble that hauling new recycling bins could cause to frequent power outages in the city.

Here are a few of the key issues outlined in the address:

Commercial development: Summers rattled off dozens of new businesses and investments in the city’s commercial districts. Among them, he highlighted the overhaul along the Detroit Avenue commercial corridor — an estimated $40 million in investments. 

Public safety: Maintaining the city’s public safety remains a priority in Lakewood, Summers said. “Being safe and feeling safe are integral to every aspect of our strategies,” he said.

Lean Lakewood: Summers continued with a message he’s stressed before: "Lean Lakewood.” It’s a part of a philosophy known as "kaizen," the Japanese word meaning "many small changes for the better." He said it's a process of introducing "continuous improvement concepts and cost reduction opportunities."

Moving Lakewood into the 21st Century: Summers highlighted the “heavy investments” the city has made in technology. He shared the some of the recent advances in technology, including a state-of-the-art dispatch commucations platform as well as $130,000 in computer upgrades. 

Challenges: “We have some headwinds,” he said, including the challenges stemming from the EPA mandates to clean up storm water runoff. “For many years, the solution to pollution was dissolution… Nobody benefits more from clean water than Lakewood.” Summers also noted that the city recently reached an agreement with the US EPA and is making progress to address the issues. 

Housing: Still one of the city’s top priorities, Summers said “housing will remain an exciting challenge for us in the next century. He also outlined the importance of projects such as the Clifton Pointe development. “We have a challenge to create a diversity of choices.”

Automation, efficiency in cost management: Summers talked about the plan to begin distributing blue bins to encourage residents to recycle. “It will be a fairly complex operation.” The plan, he said, will be coming within the next three years. Also included on the topic were automated water meters and GPS mapping.

Public spaces: Summers said that the city has 75 acres of parks that could be improved, including plans to provide “better lake access” and an upgrade to Kauffman Park. “A lot of things are on our mind to improve the quality of our shared spaces.”

Madison Avenue: Summers talked about improvements to Lakewood’s second major commercial corridor, including a plan to repave the entire 2.5-mile stretch. That proposal, along with others, should expand private investments on Madison Avenue. “We’ve had very big success on Detroit (Avenue),” he said. “We believe we are ripe to have that kind of success on Madison. There’s no doubt — while it’s different — (Madison) can remain as equally successful as Detroit.”