Summers Asks For Rec Center, New Park at Hospital Site

[Lori Allen _]

Corey,
I'm just curious. Are you any relation to the Rossens that gave a lot of money to the mayor's campaign this year?

[todd heckeler]

Build Lakewood continuously claims that noone reads the Deck

Oh I'm sure a lot of people read the Deck Mike, and I'm sure it gets some nice hits on it daily, but what you lack is participation and replies from anyone but maybe 5-6 people.

[Corey Rossen]

Corey,
I'm just curious. Are you any relation to the Rossens that gave a lot of money to the mayor's campaign this year?

Are you any relation to Tim Allen?

[Lori Allen _]

Actually, I am. This guy could maybe become the next cell mate for some of our city officials. I'll take your answer as a yes. Have a great day!

[Corey Rossen]

Actually, I am. This guy could maybe become the next cell mate for some of our city officials. I'll take your answer as a yes. Have a great day!

I remember back in middle school, or maybe high school, playing 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon. I bet if we tried hard enough we could play 6 degrees of Lori Allen and maybe, just maybe, you and I are related as well. I bet we are!

Just added this edit - that means you would also be related to "those" Rossens.

Corey

[Stan Austin]

Be it known--- I am not related to Corey

Stan Austin

[todd heckeler]

From the most underrated poet of my day, Gibby:

[Corey Rossen]

Be it known--- I am not related to Corey

Stan Austin

...and the world is a better place for it!

Corey

[Brian Essi]

For the record:

Metro DID NOT WITHDRAW THEIR OFFER.

The city IGNORED their offer.

I see this going around a lot but wondering who said they ignored their offer? Did someone from Metro say this?

Metro set a deadline and Summers let the deadline pass. He told Trustees, "I don't want those kind of people in my City."

So in addition to his admission that he wanted to control the land and money, there is a socio-economic and perhaps a racial overtone as to why Summers chose to ignore the Metro proposal.

Greed, elitism, race--take your pick Todd--this is your guy, not mine.

[Paul Porter]

For the record, Mike, I don't consider myself a "corporate appeaser." Additionally, I haven't donated to any of our current elected officials, or to Build Lakewood.

However, the outright bullying on "The Deck," in the comments section of Cleveland.com articles, and around the community in general by SLH supporters has made me consider that maybe I should do more than just have a BL sign in my yard.

I'm not a part of any BL-affiliated ideas, and I've taken it upon myself to speak up about the behavior I've seen from SLH supporters, which reflects VERY poorly on our city. It was stated that I'm playing the victim on here, and for the record, though there have been personal attacks and insinuations against me in reply to last night's post, I invited that upon myself by calling out SLH supporters for their behavior.

When you have to resort to personal attacks and allegations against individuals, it really looks like your arguments don't stand on their own merits or hold water. I may be young, but I feel like I can argue a point without personally attacking others.

In my posts, I laid out rational reasons for the closure or "transformation" of Lakewood Hospital. I realize those plans would result in job losses, and that sucks - particularly for those who could lose jobs. However, I'm given to understand that many LH employees would be given the opportunity to transfer within the Cleveland Clinic system. It would indeed result in a loss of income tax revenue for our fair city, but further maintenance and renovation costs would also weigh heavily on our budget.

As I've stated time and time again in other forums, the SLH folks have an argument to make, and they do make it passionately (stepping over the line of constructive and respectful debate on many occasions, in this Lakewoodite's opinion). However, I feel like my argument is a better one.

My question to SLH supporters is this -- Putting aside all the controversy (manufactured or otherwise) regarding the way the Clinic's decision was reached and the involvement of our elected officials, when faced with the market realities that people are locating further away from Cleveland's urban core and that the West side of Cleveland and the inner-ring suburbs to the rest are home to many, many medical facilities, do you think the hospital could really continue to operate on a cost-effective basis for the next 50 years? Would it be worth millions in repairs? Would it lose patients to the planned massive construction effort at Metrohealth (full disclosure - I am a Metrohealth Select member, and I receive my care through their growing network of facilities). Is it worth it for our city to make those massive investments, given the rise in outpatient medical treatment through new technologies and the wide availability of medical care throughout our area? I say no. The healthcare consultants say no - or that only a MUCH smaller hospital would be viable in our area.

Change is hard. But that doesn't mean it isn't good.

Again, I'm no city employee or "inside" guy, and I've never donated to any of our elected officials or Build Lakewood. Please refrain from referring to me as such. I'm a regular joe, living in Lakewood, who has given due consideration to our situation and who believes that change is coming, and we need to embrace it and right-size our available healthcare offerings.

In response to the Metrohealth questions - Do SLH supporters believe that Lakewood's inaction on the Metrohealth proposal is the sole reason they're no longer interested, or did they shift their priorities during the past year based on their own massive construction plans - including their new facility at Crocker Park, and massive investments at their main hospital??

Hopefully some of the SLH replies are a bit more cordial from here on out.

[Michael Deneen]

For the record, Mike, I don't consider myself a "corporate appeaser."

You and your BL buddies want the city to forgive the Clinic's decanting of our hospital and reward it with a healthcare monopoly.
That is the definition of "corporate appeasement".
Why do you defend the Clinic's actions? Do you think lying is OK?

outright bullying on "The Deck," i

Another classic BL talking point.
What they call "bullying", reasonable people call "stating facts"

The Deck exposed multiple lies about this deal, including the secret Rec Center plans, the second Metro offer, and the Decanting process.
Isn't it good to expose information? Or do you, like Mayor Summers, think that the citizens should be kept in the dark?

Hopefully some of the SLH replies are a bit more cordial from here on out.

BL's idea of "a bit more cordial" is "agree with us.....do what city hall says!"

[Paul Porter]

BL's idea of "a bit more cordial" is "agree with us.....do what city hall says!"

Nope - didn't say you need to agree with me. You just don't need to be a jerk about disagreeing with me. But again, I've said the same thing several times, and it doesn't seem to be getting through.

That's why I haven't posted on this board before last night, and I may not post much after.

My brief interaction, like the experience of others, has led me to the same conclusion - some folks on here are indeed mean-spirited, and it may not be the best place to come if you're trying to have constructive dialogue.

Paul Porter, out.

[Bridget Conant]

From the PD: http://www.cleveland.com/lakewood/index.ssf/2015/04/metrohealth_statement_seems_to.html

Lakewood Hospital Association trustees repeatedly have said MetroHealth withdrew from talks about operating the hospital, but a MetroHealth spokeswoman on Tuesday seemed to say Lakewood made the decision.

"Yes we responded to the [request for proposals]," MetroHealth spokeswoman Tina Shaerban Arundel said in a written statement. "The city of Lakewood decided to go with the Clinic's proposal."

Metro followed up with:

"MetroHealth has spent considerable time and effort in response to the [request for proposals] and has set a deadline of October 1 for conclusion," Boutrous wrote Oct. 3. "Since this date has passed, please accept this as confirmation of our withdrawal from the selection process."

It's clear that Metro made a proposal, a serious one that they spent time and money putting together. Lakewood ignored it so Metro got the message loud and clear - it was all a sham and they were being used. Of course they withdrew it AFTER the deadline - that is proper legal contract protocol to not leave an offer open.


So what would you expect Metro to do at this moment in time? They see the same things we see. They stepped back to avoid getting caught up in the mess and to avoid being dragged into a legal situation.

Would they reconsider investing in Lakewood if the LHA, city, and the Clinic signed a release? Yes.

Does their expansion and remodel affect whether they still want to invest in Lakewood? No, because the plans for the remodel and the Crocker facility were already a known factor at the time they made their proposal to Lakewood. - they aren't recent decisions and they had been in the works for some time PRIOR to the Lakewood proposal.

See this PD article: http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/05/metrohealths_plan_for_new_main.html

And here, proving the main campus remodel had been in the works even earlier than the formal announcement: http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2015/04/metrohealths_finances_solid_in.html#incart_story_package

Last week, the City Planning Commission unanimously approved the design for a two-story expansion of the health system's critical care facility on the main campus, the first step in that transformation plan. There are no clear plans as of yet for the design of the overall master plan, almost a year after the decision to overhaul the health system's aging main campus was announced.

[Corey Rossen]

For the record, Mike, I don't consider myself a "corporate appeaser."

You and your BL buddies want the city to forgive the Clinic's decanting of our hospital and reward it with a healthcare monopoly.
That is the definition of "corporate appeasement".
Why do you defend the Clinic's actions? Do you think lying is OK?

outright bullying on "The Deck," i

Another classic BL talking point.
What they call "bullying", reasonable people call "stating facts"

The Deck exposed multiple lies about this deal, including the secret Rec Center plans, the second Metro offer, and the Decanting process.
Isn't it good to expose information? Or do you, like Mayor Summers, think that the citizens should be kept in the dark?

Hopefully some of the SLH replies are a bit more cordial from here on out.

BL's idea of "a bit more cordial" is "agree with us.....do what city hall says!"

I am a reasonable person and I call it bullying.

Corey

[Michael Deneen]

I am a reasonable person and I call it bullying.

Wow, that's a shocker.