Dem Club Breaks Down In Chaos Police Called

[Dan Alaimo]

What do you think the chances of that happening are? My guess: slim to none.
In lieu of that, isn't the referendum our best option to send a message about accountability and transparency? To me, it's less about the hospital and SLH, and more about a very bad deal for the City. Even if what they say is true and the deal can't be stopped, if enough people vote against the deal, maybe the Mayor and his friends will start to get the message. And if it can be stopped - or at least partially stopped - then we have the chance to either start over, or at least get some answers. Maybe.

Dan

Mayor Summers has a long legacy here. I have agreed with some things, questioned some things. The Hospital Deal is a disaster. Everyone knows it, even the Mayor will admit it was handled badly.

You are on the street, you know people are more upset with the lies and BS, and intimidation on people and businesses like the Observer and others to get in line, than the deal. They do not understand the deal. They understand government hiding facts, and cover ups, and they hate it.

Residents are not as ignorant as they think.

People might not like hospitals, or talk about hospitals but NO ONE LIKES DIRTY GOVERNMENT, people assume they are corrupt. And why wouldn't they. This administration has cut the time they hold documents from 4 years to 2. Hmmmmmmmmm Seems pretty odd to me with the unbelievable low cost of online storage. Getting rid of the 3 reading rules and more movement to "emergency votes." The crack down on public input, and then the shouting down and bullying.

Go do a search I posted the very first week of this nightmare.
Governor Christy was investigated by the Feds, for moving 22 orange cones on the George Washington Bridge slowing down traffic. What if he had sold the bridge, for half the value, and channeled all of the funds to friends and business associates? Bridges and Hospital, apples to oranges? Nope. public assets to public asset.

Residents see it.

They have also seen a mayor they knew and liked, turn into someone they fear. A person that stood for Lakewood being the best place to raise a family. Has taken the steps so that it has become nearly a fascist state. I hope the Mike Summers I grew up with realizes before it is too late, this has never been the right way for government to behave.

People know they do not know the truth, or what truth they know they read in the Observer. Heck even Lakewood Voters For Progress know they don't know the truth of the deal. They don't care but voters do, and the outrage is growing on the streets.

All the mayor has to do is release documents, and explain it as he explained it to me over a year ago.

He saves his legacy, he creates a new happiness in the city, and restores trust in government. Now there is a legacy!

Then we can decide what to do with whatever is left.

Only a fool would allow the people that drove the car into the ditch, costing us $350 million, to even get near the steering wheel again.

We can all agree, honest transparent government and...



.

.

Someone once told me the man never, ever changes his mind. Do I understand that you disagree with that?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Someone once told me the man never, ever changes his mind. Do I understand that you disagree with that?

Dan

I was once walking down Edgewater talking with Councilman Summers at the time. He was talking about how his son Ted, a good smart kid, had him almost convinced that Gulf War II was not needed and forced on us. This would have been during Obama's first years when every democrat, and most others realized the war was BS. Still it gives us a lot of insight into the man, and now the mayor. The man is a really good father who loves his kids and family. BUT he needs a ton of input from people he loves and trusts to even consider changing. Mayor Summers will tell you, at least he has always been open to me about it "I am not an out of the box thinker," and indeed he proves it every day. That is not a bad thing for a mayor, running a healthy non-desperate city. He is not stupid, but very pragmatic, and changes movements about as fast as an ore boat can turn.

All of this makes him very open to ideas from friends he trusts, that are not always as straightforward as Mayor Summers. When I say straightforward, when eating or dining with elected officials sometimes they are worries about me picking up the tab, though I have never asked an elected official for anything but do the job openly and honestly. Mayor Summers and Councilman O'Malley are the only people I know in office, in most cities I deal with that will not let you pick up the bill. $5.00 - $50.00 it is never considered even legit by either. It actually bothers them both when you try to get it from them.

Certainly that indicates a certain moral compass, that one hopes resurfaces in the biggest deal in Lakewood's history. This is why I cannot believe he would fight so hard against resident's rights, business rights, and running the entire deal in the open, now that we all know. Also Mike is a good father, and husband. You can see it in his eyes when he talks of the kids, and you can see the pride as he works the city with Wendy at his side. This might be why so many are completely confused over what is happening.


Some of the class of 1964 McKinley. As I have posted before, Mike laughing at me telling him, he plays it right, he could be the first 5 term mayor of Lakewood. His answer was "I would be in my 80s!!! No!!!" To this day Mike and I talk, when we run into each other.

The problems are many buy the biggest one with Mayor Summers, is he digs in. He does not do well with people questioning him. Not because he hates to talk, but he hates being put on the spot because he is not a fast thinker, nor out of the box thinker. So what we are seeing is Mike digging in, getting input from a bunch of sycophants, and people that will benefit from the sale of the hospital. The more the city argues the deeper he goes and the more they pile on, and the worse it gets.

I mean how can a democrat fight against first amendment, and a residents right to know and understand the facts? How does a man that worked so hard for new schools now fight to dumb down and lie to the residents that have trusted him for the truth for so many decades?

For what it is worth, this is not entirely Mike's fault, the residents have let these guys get away with murder since Ed FitzGerald. Reward a dog for peeing on a rug, and that dog will go for a reward peeing on that rug, every rug everyday of its life. City Hall has been rewarded for lying to us, and treating us like rubes.

.

[Dan Alaimo]

Thanks, Jim. There's a lot of insight into the man in those paragraphs.

[cameron karslake]

Yes, it is all confusing.

How can a democrat fight to PRIVATIZE PUBLIC ASSETS? Not to mention for a fraction of the value of those assets.

How can a democrat insist that the NON-COMPETE CLAUSE remain in the Master Agreement when the Clinic was willing to remove it? (Thank you, Dr. Bronson for filling us in on that tid-bit) Positively UN-American!

[Tim Liston]

There is only one major political party in the U.S. It has two factions, "Republicans" and "Democrats." The two factions are very closely aligned in their policy prescriptions, close enough that they can and do flip-flop from time to time. Study the classic "two ice cream sellers on the beach" game theory problem and you'll understand why.

[Brian Essi]

There is only one major political party in the U.S. It has two factions, "Republicans" and "Democrats." The two factions are very closely aligned in their policy prescriptions, close enough that they can and do flip-flop from time to time. Study the classic "two ice cream sellers on the beach" game theory problem and you'll understand why.

Mr. Liston,

I agree.

Check this video out of Trump dressing in drag like Bill Clinton:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4351026/ ... ation-sotu

Hmmm

[Jim O'Bryan]

I am not sure how this works here though. It is the opposite problem.

If you talk with Marcy Kaptur, Sherrod Brown, they will tell you up front, they are not going against a Demcratic Mayor or elected official.

If you talk with the Republicans in Columbus, they will not go after a lifelong Republican elected in a Democratic stronghold, when the Republican leaders in the area tell them to lay off.

And both sides need Cleveland Clinic Money for campaigns.

The perfect political storm at the wrong time for honest Lakewoodites.

.

[Kate McCarthy]

Please note that Anderson mentions that it has been a very long time...unprecedented I recall...since Lakewood has had a income tax increase. I'm sure he's been told that a little income tax increase will make it all good. I know the city has taken hits from the state and estate tax regarding revenues but a tax increase when a government throws away a city commodity? That will be a hard sell. I think they are scared. They have no constituency because they have turned their backs on most of us.

[Dan Alaimo]

Please note that Anderson mentions that it has been a very long time...unprecedented I recall...since Lakewood has had a income tax increase. I'm sure he's been told that a little income tax increase will make it all good. I know the city has taken hits from the state and estate tax regarding revenues but a tax increase when a government throws away a city commodity? That will be a hard sell. I think they are scared. They have no constituency because they have turned their backs on most of us.

Awhile back, I along with others, wrote that closing the hospital meant an inevitable tax increase and I remember how fiercely they fought back, especially Jenn Pae. Maybe we should dig up some of those conversations before they get too buried. Some were on Facebook.

[Bridget Conant]

An income tax increase - GOOD NEWS!