Kauffman Park - Plans to Redevelop?

[Jim O'Bryan]

I am quite prepared to sell Kaufman Park for the 35 to 45 million the land is worth.

Where is the outrage?

Bill


I am with you.

However I would like to see at least $50 million out of this deal.

Take $20 mill, trade it to the Beck for the land we gave them, as a no interest loan, and some more Lakewood people on the board and fix the Beck.

Take some more for land banking around the hospital, rockport, etc.

Start buying the apartments at the end of Detroit for $2 mill each, they are asking $3 mill, and kick that off rebuild with the Cliffs.

But what do I know about cities.


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[sharon kinsella]

Hey Jim

I live down here - hands off my apartment building or my new address will be at:

Mrs. and Mr O'Brians house on Rocky River Dr. - Bet the jump off at your cliff would look better and better to you.

[Bill Call]

I am quite prepared to sell Kaufman Park for the 35 to 45 million the land is worth.

Where is the outrage?

Bill
I am with you.
However I would like to see at least $50 million out of this deal.

Take $20 mill, trade it to the Beck for the land we gave them, as a no interest loan, and some more Lakewood people on the board and fix the Beck.

Take some more for land banking around the hospital, rockport, etc.

Start buying the apartments at the end of Detroit for $2 mill each, they are asking $3 mill, and kick that off rebuild with the Cliffs.

But what do I know about cities.


.

You know a great deal.

The sale of Kaufman for its market value can generate hundreds of millions in redevelopment throughout the City. This City really doesn't need much. The items you mentioned make a great deal of sense.

When I hear of plans to sell Kaufman Park for funds to "expand Cove Park" or dedicate the money for park maintenance I am left wondering where the vision is.

It's like being part of the business where the mission statement is "Let's Stay In Business Just Two More Months Before We Declare Bankruptcy".

I don't expect miracles, I do expect a miraculous effort.

What is the battle cry going to be, "Cove Park: It Can Be Twice As Big!!"? or how about "Sell Kaufman Park, The Lawns Must Be Mowed!"
or "Pave a Park and Save a City!".

Or maybe:"Settle For Less Than Mediocre, Its The Best We Can Do?"

I guess I better stop.

Ok one more.

"Lakewood, We Settle for Less Because We Deserve It!".

[Gary Rice]

Or

LAKEWOOD! GO GREEN GO! (thataway, that is!)

Once in awhile. I think of those little green weeds that struggle against unthinkable odds to come up through the cracks in the city blacktop.

It is a slight comfort to know however, that in the struggle, they do eventually win.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Last night at the 2nd of 3 City of Lakewood Mayor meetings held at Congregational Church this project was gone into in depth as a member of the audience asked "what is the story on Kaufman Park?"

You could hear a pin drop as the Mayor explained where it was at right now, and some very popular misconceptions. One was, "It is a little disingenuous for Ed and Ryan to have said they knew nothing about it as they were at three meetings where it was discussed in depth, and neither even bothered to ask a single question." All three in Observer questions said they would be willing to sell Kaufman Park.

Then it was turned over to Tom Jordan, who went into depth about square acreage, use, more park being added, baseball field being rebuilt as baseball fields far better that trying to fit a ball field into a park that already exists. Dugouts, turn styles, bathrooms, etc could all be done far better.

FWIW


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[Richard Cole]

[quote="Jim O'Bryan"]...the Mayor explained where it was at right now,

FWIW

[/quote

Jim - are you willing to relate what the Mayor said?

[Jim O'Bryan]

...the Mayor explained where it was at right now,

FWIW

[/quote

Jim - are you willing to relate what the Mayor said?

Richard

I was there taking photos, and I believe that what Tom Jordan said is more detailed.

To paraphrase - Any sale would not decrease acres of parks in Lakewood. That the actual size of parks in Lakewood is larger than quoted as Lakewood owns then leases part of Metro Park back to the state.

That City Hall was contacted awhile ago, and that it was infront of council or at least the two members of council that claim to know nothing about it.

No numbers were given.

Tom Jordan went into one of his long discussions about parks, lands, development etc. To be honest I was taking photos of the turnout and lost some of it.

I believe I saw DL and Bill there. There is also another meeting to talk with residents, I was pretty amazed at the numbers the guy was pulling in from FBI, police, evn courts, and how open he was. A discussion of Grow Lakewood and what was going on there.

A lot came out of that including Mainstreet, Bike improvements with the help of Bike Lakewood, Rockport, Rosewood and other newer ideas, the change from double to singles. Was asked about police and that was talked about with bikes, motorcycles, citistat.

When I get back from a meeting will go through some notes I made.


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[Richard Cole]

[To paraphrase - .

Thanks Jim.

[Valerie Molinski]

I've been following this thread in silence and finally got incensed enough to speak out.

This whole potential Kaufmann Park sale reeks of shadiness.... and who knew what, when, and all of the feigned ignorance on the real story? Large donations from the developers for campaigns? Please.

As someone said previously in this thread, once you start losing green space it is almost impossible to get back. Honestly, if I wanted more 'convenient shopping' and stripmalls, I'd have moved to Avon or Westlake instead of here.

So the park is unusable and somewhat blighted as it stands now? The same people that seem to be precipitating its sale are those who have appropriated the funding (or lack of) to take care of the park. In essence, it seems to me that these actions have made the land ripe for sale of development. That seems so wrong to me.

Others still have poo-pooed a land swap. Again, if this land is so unusable, then swap for some that is to balance the loss of the park out with new park. Why is this such a difficult concept? As a Lakewood resident with a postage stamp sized yard, I traded off private green space in exchange for use of public parks with my children. It is not only good for us, but it helps keep the community vibrant, strong, and connected.

Or, if we are so hell bent on selling the land, make the sale contingent on the developer setting some of the land aside for green space on their dollar. That way, we can keep some of the more usable park and still have the shopping area some people think we so desperately need. /eyeroll

Many of us have just had enough here. Again, this whole deal seems so gross and underhanded that I cannot understand why there isn't more outrage to the side stepping and lack of answers as to what is really going on.

[Kate McCarthy]

[sharon kinsella]

Kate -

I wasn't there last nite but I do know that this was brought up before city council and Ed and Ryan were there.

[Kate McCarthy]

Sharon,

Thanks but the question I had was about Jim's statement that all the candidates were willing to sell Kauffman park. I haven't seen any statements to that affect.

Also, this article states that both Councilmembers Antonio and Fitzgerald were not offered any details regarding sale of the park. The mayor keeps claiming no one should be surprised, everyone has been apprised of the details. This seems to be in contrast to statements both council members made to the press.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2007/10 ... _lake.html

I urge everyone to review the county planning commission's blog on development issues in Lakewood. I find it a wonderful resource.

http://planning.co.cuyahoga.oh.us/blog/ ... ewood.html

[Bryan Schwegler]

\The mayor keeps claiming no one should be surprised, everyone has been apprised of the details. \

Yeah, everyone but the people of Lakewood who found out about this officially through the press.

I'm not necessarily opposed to the possible sale once I know more about the details, etc. However, I'm appalled at the way Mayor George has handled this entire situation. IMHO, it just is one more demonstration of his poor community leadership and communication skills. This is a big deal and should have been brought before the public more openly. It's almost as if we found out by accident.

But heck...then maybe the developers wouldn't have donated to his campaign...

I would have thought if Fitzgerald was so "in" on the plan to sell as George claims, why wouldn't the developers have donated to his campaign also? I would think they'd want to "grease the wheels" of civic leadership regardless of who wins. But I think the money trail speaks loud and clear here.

[dl meckes]

All of council voted to fund a study on Lakewood's parks. That study has not come back. I don't know the details of the study.

When the study comes back, it would be up to council to make some decisions or recommendations regarding the information contained therein.

The Planning Director and the Mayor have stated that they will not promote anything that causes a loss of green space in Lakewood, but if development were proposed in Kauffman Park, whatever plans anybody had would have to go through several committees (in a public process) and would have to be agreed to and voted on by council.

Council makes the decisions.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Can you say, without qualification, that you'd never agree to sell
Kauffman Park?

Regarding Kauffman Park, I regret to say that this Administration has been very secretive about the scope of the plans there, with both City Council and the residents surrounding the park. I have been informed that somehow the green space would be moved to another location, but I must admit that I will believe that when I see it.


Kate, can you tell me where it says he will not sell Kaufamn Park? He was asked "Can you say, without qualification, that you'd never agree to sell
Kauffman Park?" and never answered it.

Would that not lead you to believe that he would sell it off?

He takes the RPD stance of making sure we do not lose green space. whic is a very interesting stance, and one I hope and heard all candidates mention.

FWIW