Safety Service Director Ley Provides Update

“In the next few years we are going to be talking about a good neighbor policy,” said Bob Ley to the Cambridge Lions Club. Ley is the Service and Safety Director for the City of Cambridge. “We have good people in Cambridge. We want to encourage a sense of pride in our community.”

“Maybe you can help those less able by offering to mow a neighbor’s lawn,” Ley said. “You could offer to trim their shrubs or adopt a vacant lot. We would like to see people helping each other to turn this into a community we can all be proud of.”

“We saw people last night and this morning helping others clean up after to remnants of Hurricane Ike passed through here,” Ley said. “I want to publicly commend the people in the street department who have been working all night to clear trees off the streets.”

“We want to encourage more people step up like Don Davis and the historical society and the veterans,” Ley said. Davis approached city council to support efforts to repair and replace tombstones vandalized at the cities cemeteries and to identify and mark all veterans’ graves and repair or replace their tombstones.

“We are also working to get the different departments to work together,” Ley said. “We want everyone to be on the same page. We now have the different departments helping each other out so we don’t have to pay extra for outside help.”

“We are confronted with budgetary constraints,” Ley said. “We have had layoffs in the police department. Costs of materials have risen. Blacktop has gone up forty percent so we can’t pave and patch as much. Salt has doubled in price since last year so we may have more problems keeping streets clear this winter.”

“Gasoline prices have gone up so this increases our costs when we operate police cruisers twenty four hours a day seven days a week. It also increases the cost of the storm cleanup when we have to drive the trucks more.”

“We want to make Cambridge a great place to live,” said Ley. “Our city park is a masterpiece. We plan to make upgrades to the park on the south side.”

“We need to get a handle on our housing stock. Fifty percent of our housing is rental property. Council is considering updates to the code to help us address the problem of deteriorating housing. We have looked at rental codes in other cities. Ours is less restrictive.”

“We are experimenting with pocket video recorders for our police officers,” Ley said. “Two officers have been testing them. They are like the dashboard camcorders but they allow us to follow suspects. The recorders help the prosecutors and the judges see what actually happened. They are a real plus.”

“When I was a business owner I decided what needed to be done and just did it as long as the money was there,” Ley said. “Now I have to deal with three unions, the mayor, and city council. It’s something I have to get used to. We have highly qualified and competent people in city government.”