The Observation Deck

LAKEWOOD (POP. 52,000):

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/locations ... ctors.aspx

BRUNSWICK: (POP. 34,000)
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/locations ... ctors.aspx



What is a health care desert?

the handwriting is on the wall . . .

Could this have anything to do with the fact that the Clinic has 3 medical office buildings in Lakewood? How many doctors are at the other 2?

Bill Burnett wrote:Could this have anything to do with the fact that the Clinic has 3 medical office buildings in Lakewood? How many doctors are at the other 2?

There are four doctors at the Rockport office. Since the building is not owned by the Clinic don't be surprised to see it closed down soon.

If you access the Lakewood Hospital web site they will list 100 or so doctors. However, those doctors are not based in Lakewood, they only have the right to work at Lakewood, Fairview, Lutheran etc.

A while back I tried some of the phone numbers of doctors who were listed as Clinic doctors in Lakewood. The numbers were disconnected.

Years ago Lakewood Hospital built a facility in Westlake. A good decision? It would seem so except that:

1. Lakewood built a facility on land owned by someone else (not the Clinic).
2. Lakewood paid property taxes to Westlake for 20 years on the building.
3. Lakewood transferred the operation and revenue stream to Fairview.

A good decision? Who approved that deal?

Bill Call wrote:

Bill Burnett wrote:
Years ago Lakewood Hospital built a facility in Westlake. A good decision? It would seem so except that:

1. Lakewood built a facility on land owned by someone else (not the Clinic).
2. Lakewood paid property taxes to Westlake for 20 years on the building.
3. Lakewood transferred the operation and revenue stream to Fairview.

A good decision? Who approved that deal?

Bill

You mean Lakewood Hospital paid the taxes to Westlake for 20 years, not Lakewood.

Also it is not like the Clinic did not have plans to build here or enlarge here, they just couldn't
acquire the land they wanted, and in the end were fought against the expansion.

I am not making excuses for the Clinic but Bill would you expect them to build where they
are welcomed and wanted on property that is 1/4 the price of Lakewood, or would you
expect them to go against all of that for serving Lakewood, that had worked against them?

Just curious.


.

[quote="Jim O'BryanI am not making excuses for the Clinic but Bill would you expect them to build where they
are welcomed and wanted on property that is 1/4 the price of Lakewood, or would you
expect them to go against all of that for serving Lakewood, that had worked against them?

Just curious.
[/quote]

It was a good idea for Lakewood Hospital to build in Westlake but:

They should have owned the land and the building to:

maintain control of the business and the revenue and save

millions in property taxes.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:
I am not making excuses for the Clinic but Bill would you expect them to build where they
are welcomed and wanted on property that is 1/4 the price of Lakewood, or would you
expect them to go against all of that for serving Lakewood, that had worked against them?

.

Who was against them and why?
When did this happen?

This sounds like news. Was it reported?

I remember back when they expanded the emergency room and how the residents fought against them buying houses on Belle & Marlowe for that expansion. Look at all the expansion that was done at Fairview Hospital in the past 10 years then come back and look at the footprint for Lakewood Hospital. Where do you think they could have added the square footage that has been added at Fairview without tearing down at least a dozen homes. They probably would have had to take every house in the block all the way to Franklin to add that much space to the building. How easy do you think it would have been to acquire those homes?

Somewhere in the deep recesses of the deck I remember JOB alluding to pushback on expansion and lack of cooperation from City Hall ...

Paul Schrimpf wrote:Somewhere in the deep recesses of the deck I remember JOB alluding to pushback on expansion and lack of cooperation from City Hall ...

I don't know much about the news business but I'm pretty sure a campaign by officials at City Hall and Lakewood non-profits to keep the Clinic from expanding its service in Lakewood is NEWS.


The Lakewood Center Building recently sold for under $4 million dollars. It seems like a great place for Clinic expansion.

Years ago I suggested that the Rockport project be expanded to Clifton with the North end of the development being a new medical service center on Clifton that would have been as big as what was built in Avon. The facility would have captured a lot of the downtown and Westside medical business.

I get the clear impression that no one at Lakewood Hospital was interested in the BUSINESS of health care.

Bill Call wrote:

Paul Schrimpf wrote:Somewhere in the deep recesses of the deck I remember JOB alluding to pushback on expansion and lack of cooperation from City Hall ...

I don't know much about the news business but I'm pretty sure a campaign by officials at City Hall and Lakewood non-profits to keep the Clinic from expanding its service in Lakewood is NEWS.

Bill

It probably was NEWS before the Observer came into its own, it took CONCERNED RESIDENTS
to put it together, and find out that at various times the City, and the residents worked
to stop and or slow expansion.

I do remember one young inexperienced publisher waiting for Bill Call to show up twice at
meetings with the Clinic to ask any questions he wanted. If I remember correctly at one
we had Jack Gustin, one of their lawyers, one of their accountants, and some members of
administrative staff, but no Bill Call.

It was later when asking why you didn't show I asked what your real beef with the Clinic
was and you told me. Appointments at two different locations for you and your wife at the
same exact time. With the missus not driving, it was a huge burden. When I asked if you
tried to reschedule one of the appointments you said, "No."

And you went on the Clinic is leaving rant for the past 8 years, 1/2 of their contract. No we
both know that the Clinic at best is here for 2 more years (most popular figure) and lets see
what City Hall does to make sure we have the emergency care a city of 52,000 needs or do
they fail with that too?

Seems to me we have lost a lot in the last couple administrations, but we have "popcorn!"

.

Bill Call wrote:
It was a good idea for Lakewood Hospital to build in Westlake but:

They should have owned the land and the building to:

maintain control of the business and the revenue and save

millions in property taxes.

Not speaking specifically about the clinic, as I do not know their motives..... but nobody (big companies and non profits) want to own buildings and property anymore. They hire developers to do it for them and rent from them. They sign 20+ year leases. Owning land and property is a losing proposition for them, at least in this region. Then they can call on the property owner to make improvements and expansion and leverage their presence to get it done, while paying only a fraction for the improvements they need. I would think it is also tax related too. They do not want to take on that burden either. Most companies want to do their business and do not want to add the burden of managing a real estate portfolio, or hiring others to manage it.

Also, some companies do it because they want the ability for a clean exit. Should things go south, they do not have to unload an albatross of a building or land when they need to move.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Bill Call wrote:

Paul Schrimpf wrote:Somewhere in the deep recesses of the deck I remember JOB alluding to pushback on expansion and lack of cooperation from City Hall ...

I don't know much about the news business but I'm pretty sure a campaign by officials at City Hall and Lakewood non-profits to keep the Clinic from expanding its service in Lakewood is NEWS.

I do remember one young inexperienced publisher waiting for Bill Call to show up twice at
meetings with the Clinic to ask any questions he wanted. If I remember correctly at one
we had Jack Gustin, one of their lawyers, one of their accountants, and some members of
administrative staff, but no Bill Call.


.

That's simply not true. I was never invited to any such meeting. Anyway, why would you need me? What did Jack, the lawyers and their accountant have to say?

I did have one meeting with Jack Gustin about the Vision for Tomorrow. I posted the results of the interview on the Observer. As I recall I let myself be snookered. I actually bought into the idea that the Vision for Tomorrow was real and not a scam.

Since the people who run Lakewood Hospital are so eager to meet me why not set up another meeting. I'm sure they have have plans for the future. Will they share those plans?

If it was the incompetence of City Hall that led to the loss of the Hospital that's news.

If it was the bad faith of the Clinic that led to the loss of the Hospital that's news.

If the agreed date for the closure of the Hospital is two years away then that's news too.

So... where is the story in the Observer, or the PD or anywhere else? Come to think of it the Cone of Silence around this issue is news as well.

Bill, Bill, Bill

tak, tsk, tsk

I would encourage anyone to do a search for "clinic meeting" and "Bill Call," you will see that
it has been mentioned since the 4th year of this project when I set up the meetings. Bill has
never denied the meetings until now, 6 years later.

The facts of the meeting are not important, neither is who screwed the pooch, military term.

The fact is within a couple years the Clinic will be gone or in a space about the size of the
building on Detroit and Winchester.

WE can say that many administrations screwed the deal with the Clinic, and one could also
make a pretty good case for any and all Lakewoodites involved that have had a sneaking
suspicion the Clinic might pull out, and did nothing.

Until this past year, the Clinic seemed to be happy serving out their contract as a prisoner
would a sentence. This past year, the conversation has changed, from no way, to maybe, if
we do this and this and the city let's us do this and this, we can uphold the "substance" of
the agreement, but not the financial end.

Again, this does not matter as much as what comes next. Do we have the emergency services
we need? Do we have the primary care we need? 30 years ago, when looking at property in
Columbia Station we spent a day, tracking time to Hospitals in the area. Based on the
length of time, and the location we passed on the property.

One would believe that families would also check for schools, parks, hospitals, etc. So
where does this leave us with the future of Lakewood? Friday night, ab extra busy night
for the police in this town with the bar business, a young hispanic patron broke a bottle
over the head of another patron at World of Beers. Facial and head cuts being what they
are, does the young family looking for a great place to raise a family follow the ambulance
to Metro General Hospital and say, Hmmmmmmmmmmm?

All legitimate questions as we look at what will this administration does. They seem pretty
talented at bringing in places that serve alcohol and beef. How are they at attracting world
class health facilities, or are they the ones that send us down the same road East Cleveland
went down?

.

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Lakewood is a fringe community. If you haven't noticed, no one lives in Lake Erie. That leads to the conclusion that any business that wants to draw from a large body of clients or customers will not locate where they can't draw many from one direction. That is why there are no large stores in Lakewood, and why Fairview Hospital is better suited than Lakewood Hospital to draw a large number of clients. That is why there was no serious interest in the proposed artificial peninsula off Lakewood Park.

We don't really need an emergency room in Lakewood, because other hospitals provide adequate coverage. We don't really need a hospital in Lakewood because other hospitals provide adequate coverage. We do need Primary Care facilities in Lakewood, but only for convenience; we could live without them. At one time we could support such facilities, but advances in transportation have changed that, just as changes in the economy of Cleveland have eliminated a lot of jobs, and have made Lakewood less attractive as a bedroom community.

I think it is past time to try to preserve or rebuild the past, and do what we can to build a future.