The Observation Deck

Bridget Conant wrote:It’s all a shell game. The money is HERE! NO! It’s HERE!

Move it around so many times and no one can keep track of it.

All carefully planned and orchestrated so that most people get bored or confused and give up.

Bridget Conant wrote:My question- is anyone really surprised at this developer giveaway?

Well considering the Mayor assured everyone in 2015, it caught him by surprise, then Essi found out he worked on it since Ed FitzGerald appointed him on the LHA.

Betsy Voinovich wrote:I'm giving this topic its own thread, not that it doesn't belong in a thread about honesty in local government, or civic accountability, but this is outrageous, and I know that a lot of people see the civic accountability title and they scan past it, not because they don't care, but because, like me, they wait until they have time, or energy to delve deeper and sometimes they never get back to it.

But this is outrageous.

I'll copy what's in the last post of that thread, and hopefully Jim or Dan will move the rest of it and maybe Mark can keep the thread going here.

In Mark Kindt's last post he's copying excerpts from Public Records. The first is from a deposition, Transcript, page 97. I'm not sure who is answering. I think it's Mayor Summers.

Question: "Okay. What about an appraisal for the hospital itself?"
Answer: "We still own that hospital, and you know, what its future plans are remain undecided. So, you know, the idea of selling it is not-- it's not clear what's going to happen to that."

The next excerpt is from Deposition Exhibit H and is pretty simple.

"20 million." (Book value. City-owned Hospital Buildings and Land.)

The next excerpt is from the 2015 CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report)

"The City will retain ownership of the existing Lakewood Hospital site and all other property currently leased to LHA (Lakewood Hospital Association). The Lakewood Hospital site (consisting of 5.7 acres) will be available for redevelopment." (Note 22, page 88)

And the last note:

Media reports quote Mayor Summers as stating that the former hospital site would be transferred to the recommended developer for $0 or $1.

Yes, that's ZERO or ONE DOLLAR.

As if it wasn't enough to have given away our hospital.

WTF.

Mark's too polite to say that. And oactually, he doesn't waste his time saying things like that, because he has much more valuable things to say. I just wanted to make sure people saw this.

Betsy Voinovich

Bridget Conant wrote:My question- is anyone really surprised at this developer giveaway?

Mark Kindt wrote:A few more points:

1. Before the City of Lakewood transfers the former hospital site to its recommended developer for a nominal amount ("nothing or $1"), council members and citizens deserve to have a full understanding of the commercial real estate value of the former hospital site.

2. Is the former hospital site really worth $20,000,000 or is that just another "bogus" number anchored in public relations blather from the city administration. We don't know.

3. An independent commercial real estate appraisal of the former hospital site is a fundamental necessity.

4. We deserve to have a clear understanding of the approximate dollar size of any proposed municipal subsidy to the recommended developer whether direct (transfer of land for nominal value) or indirect (benefit of site demolition and remediation).

3. We also deserve to have a clear understanding of any other economic development incentives, e.g., loans, grants, guarantees, tax abatement/deferral, provided to the recommended developer.