Re: Welcome to Pottersville
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 3:47 pm
Jim Kenny wrote:Michael, you are correct that I am repeating someone else’s message. It’s Nickie Antonio’s. She said as much at the Dec. 21 City Council meeting. It’s her expectation that Lakewood’s citizens will come together to acknowledge Council’s hard work by getting behind their collective decision or getting out of the way.
Pam, I appreciate your passion and good intentions. I suspect, however, that these are blinding you to the fact that these tired arguments that you’ve regurgitated again have proven false in the court of public opinion. This was evidenced at the voting polls in November where every issue was somehow defined by the hospital, even school board, which its most outspoken candidates and BL supporters had the most sweeping success. These arguments also failed again with the recent Skindell lawsuit to prevent the council’s 12/21 vote. The judge called these claims “rumors and hearsay.” To now perpetuate these again in 2016 and at more taxpayer expense is simply selfish.
Brian, I’ll gladly buy you a coffee, despite the fact this deal is better than the LOI; it’s just not an inpatient hospital. If you’re sincere about wanting to understand the difference between your valuation of the assets and what was decided by two negotiating teams, maybe you should invest at least a quarter of the same effort critiquing your methods. You might discover you don’t have the full breadth of information necessary and this shortcoming is biasing your assessment
For instance, you were willing to guarantee $10 million dollar payment for the hospital’s Westlake property after it had been valued by an independent, third party as being worth only $6.8 million. If you had better information, you would have been less likely to make such a sensational offer, especially knowing that the transaction would do nothing to change the fate of the hospital.
Lastly, you are correct that the good and civic-minded members of Build Lakewood have been silent since the Council voted to replace the hospital with a state-of-the-art ER, a well-funded foundation dedicated to the healthcare needs of Lakewood citizens, and the opening of the endless opportunities that the hospital real estate offers once reimagined and repurposed. We’ve been quiet out of respect for our neighbors who feel the loss of the hospital. We recognize the goodwill they’ve invested. We’re attempting to honor them, even when being called on and challenged to debate issues that have already been decided. We do so because of our desire to help our community move forward.
Jim
You can continue to spin the general falsehoods about "better" deal but that won't make them true. It never works that way with CCF and it did not in this case. My CCF insiders say that CCF punished Summers, Madigan and Bullock because they could not deliver Council early in earlier the year. The black and white of the Master Agreemenr proves it.
BTW, the $ 6.8 million was an "MAI" appraisal aka "made as instructed" and conducted by a Bleed Lakewood member who tried to report my free speech as a "crime". He obviously ignored even the CCF pending $8.2 million and $ 9 million offer when taking public money for his "appraisal"--I have been told he will do as he is told for his clients. What a foolish charade. I know the Westlake medical real estate market quite well and verified it again with one of the best real estate professional in Cleveland that I could have flipped that and made a quick 10%-20% if my goal was to profit at the City's expense--like CCF has done. What you don't know is that I put my offer in writing before they voted and they never responded. Show me one comparable sale of a medical building in Westlake for less than $100 per sq ft in the last 3 years. I could never find any medical office properties in Westlake at less $150 per sq ft. FYI the new CCF FHC MOB will come in at $548 per sq ft and they are getting the land for free.
As Meg has accurately pointed out, Bleeders value money and property over human life--not a very respectful group as you claim. So cut the PR man crap about "respect".
It is telling that you claim to have such inside information and yet you keep it secret. Why don't you post the appraisal and all valuations you have been provided by virtue of your insider status?
I have numerous outstanding public records requests for appraisals, wind down expenses and much more that Butler and City Hall withhold in violation of law while they apparently favor you with the insiders' info because you agreed with their foolish plan.
This is typical of the warped favoritism of Madigan et al who favored you, Kathleen McGorray and I think Tom Gable on Decmeber 14th allowing you to speak out of turn while the cameras were there. The rest of us peasants that you claim to "respect" were pushed to the end of the line. That was but one example (a ring on a tree) that underscores a forest of wrongful abuse, corruption and insider elitism that defiles our City. It is truly rotten to the core.
You claim "honor" for an organization but I see nothing honorable about them.
The repeated notion of some in your clan that there can be healing under the circumstances underscores a sad reality of just how out of touch they are.
They have guaranteed us a largely empty building for 2.5 years--the very "fear" they fomented is now a reality. I won't let any of my family members go there anymore. Scary!
Just wait and you will all see how very wrong the deal you claim is "better" actually gets. CCF will walk with over $20 M in our charitable cash on top of the free land, free equipment, free bed licenses, free restrictive covenant and get out of jail free card. The free cash alone $3.5M more than the new foundation will receive.
Riddle me this Jim--post here on the deck the estimated amount and categories of wind down expenses and show how it can ever exceed the over $27M in LHA cash the CCF has been given.
The wind down expense "risk" thingy is a con man's scam that CCF pulled over on group of fools.
Sorry if I offend your PR man PC minded sense of civility, but only an idiot could say this is a good deal.
Lakewood got screwed. No doubt about it.
And this is not about having to "play the cards we were dealt". DeVito et al turned over a few aces and face cards for Lakewood. But Summers, Madigan, Bullock and Butler desperately tried to bury them in the deck again. It was just too painful for them to come to terms with the reality of just how badly they have screwed up over the years. So to save face they spun their crappy stories to bury their failures by selling out the underserved and the rest of us.
So Jim, just go right ahead and put me down and whine about my tone and pretend like I am ignorant of some phony insiders nonsense.
Unless you or someone else can produce some facts or evidence of elusive "wind down expenses" and associated "risk" my facts rule.
BTW I spent a good part of your career doing complicated loan workouts and liquidations with failing companies. LHA was profitable until January of this year and had $84M in financial assets to support it as of 9/30/15. I fell of my "high chair" laughing at very troubled companies threatening bankruptcy---LHA's threat to file bankruptcy should have been laughed at or welcomed by City leaders. We would have gotten everything--now we have almost nothing.