The Observation Deck

With the loss of the Democrat Club endorsement last night and a majority of Councilmembers embarrassed of her leadership, it is time for Council President Madigan to step down with grace.

A majority of Councilmembers attended Dan O’Malley’s fundraiser this week.

President Madigan’s friends and supporters say that she has a big heart. Those same friends (and now fading supporters) acknowledge she is not very bright and is insecure—others not on her side ditto those sentiments and find her to be dishonest as well. Many who have known her for years are now confused as to what happened to her in the past two years that changed her from being an open listener to being the way she is now. May I suggest that things started going wrong for Ms. Madigan since she became President of Council about two years ago—power corrupts. She may have been effective when she had Brian Powers next to her and propping her up, but even he can't make that horse ride from his distant perch-he can't save her now, she's too far gone. Dishonesty, insecurity and stupidity are simply not the character traits of good leaders.

In my own experience, before I knew or heard a thing about her, I saw all of these traits in her when I first witnessed her in action at the April 6, 2015 Meeting of the Whole–she was concealing important facts from colleagues--clearly she is not a very good leader—in fact, she is horrible. She is the only Councilmember who would not engage with me at any serious level. When people are on the defense like she is, they don’t act rationally.

The Cleveland Clinic has employed a textbook strategy to divide and conquer the elected leaders and citizens of Lakewood to achieve their goal of demolishing Lakewood Hospital and continuing their healthcare monopoly in Lakewood. As part of their strategy they use people as pawns—promising these pawns things important to only the pawns so that the pawns fall in lock step with the Clinic’s overall strategy. In Mary Louise Madigan, the Clinic saw her as I have described her above—at Clinic social functions, they seated her at the Clinic table of bigwigs (instead of at the lowly Lakewood table) to make her feel important---she ran to the Kool-Aid punch bowl “healthcare is changing—the hospital is doomed”--she eagerly drank. By way of example, she is so “owned” by the Clinic that she nodded approvingly as Clinic attorney Michael Meehan threatened another Councilman for suggesting accountability on the part of the Clinic---divide and conquer implemented to perfection. So while her colleague was displaying courage and standing up to the Clinic, Madigan sided with the Clinic. Bravo Toby & Mike—your box “Council President Owned”—CHECK! Madigan is not just sleeping with the enemy--she is now the enemy within.

Some other specifics of her poor leadership are: failure to attend important LHA meetings and sneaky last minute agendas that leave other Councilmembers at a disadvantage to be prepared and productive on the critical hospital matter. She just makes the rest of Council look bad. She makes Lakewood look bad.

I understand that what I write above will be viewed as harsh and politically incorrect. I believe that the most loving things you can do for someone is to tell them the truth. I will continue to call it like I see it in an effort to right the ongoing wrongs at City Hall and fight to protect the citizens and the underserved from the disaster in the making.

Ms. Madigan is a fake leader. It is past time for her to go.

Well said Brian, thank you. Your tenacity on all aspects of this fight is commendable and very much appreciated. I wish I could add evidence to this subject but I'm still observing and learning about her.

cameron karslake wrote:Well said Brian, thank you. Your tenacity on all aspects of this fight is commendable and very much appreciated. I wish I could add evidence to this subject but I'm still observing and learning about her.

I wish you could have seen her back when she started! She was the best.

I think the Chicken thingy really made her bitter, and burned out, no interest.

.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:I wish you could have seen her back when she started! She was the best.

Yep ... before those Power-ful hooks dug into her.

Peter Grossetti wrote:Yep ... before those Power-ful hooks dug into her.

I see what you did there.

For me the big story last night was Madigan being rejected by The Lakewood Democratic Club. She's the sitting City Council President and they in effect said we've seen enough. I can tell you that many of her constituents on Grace Ave had seen enough by August 2012, at the time of the third Planning Commission meeting regarding Drug Mart. Summers, Siley and Madigan cut their teeth on Grace Ave. The lack of transparency, the willingness to mislead, the gamesmanship, it was all on display during The Drug Mart process. As this campaign season unfolds I think it's important to keep in mind that we're looking at a pattern here that goes back at least three years.

m buckley wrote:For me the big story last night was Madigan being rejected by The Lakewood Democratic Club. She's the sitting City Council President and they in effect said we've seen enough. I can tell you that many of her constituents on Grace Ave had seen enough by August 2012, at the time of the third Planning Commission meeting regarding Drug Mart. Summers, Siley and Madigan cut their teeth on Grace Ave. The lack of transparency, the willingness to mislead, the gamesmanship, it was all on display during The Drug Mart process. As this campaign season unfolds I think it's important to keep in mind that we're looking at a pattern here that goes back at least three years.

I continue to be puzzled by that Club vote.

Summers packed the room with his minions....but he forgot to instruct them to vote for his lieutenant?
It's hard for me to see why anyone would be a "ticket splitter" in this vote.

On June 15, 2015, Mr. Foran told City Council and the public in a recorded statement: “,I know there is a rumor out there about a recreation center or something like that and I just would say to that we talked about that at the outset of our effort long before a mention of a Lakewood Hospital change or anything like that and we came to the conclusion that we had sufficient facilities to deal with most of the active living opportunities within the community” Note: the proposal to demolish the hospital and build a Community Center predated Mr. Foran’s appointment to the Recreation Task Force.

June 15, 2015 Councilman Nowlin asked Mr. Foran: “Was there throughout the various meetings and field work was there any discussion about the City taking over responsibility for some of the services that are currently provided by the Rec Department?”

Mr. Foran answered: “[b]Within our committee[/b], at the outset there was some discussion about that, but it was only because there was a rumor again floating that was the intention from the formation our organization we quickly vetted that that was not really a legitimate opportunity that we were really focused on how could we improve the operations of all the providers within the community to get behind everybody who that’s trying to work in the right direction on active living.”

Again, the Recreation Task Force was first proposed in December, 2013 and supported by Mayor Summers and Ms. Madigan to discuss “forming a new Recreation Department as a joint venture between the City and School District.” See the December 13, 2013 letter I've attached above.

So on June 15, 2015, President Madigan seemed content with Mr. Foran saying the Recreation Task Force that she started was not about the city "taking over" recreation. That was just a "rumor."

The Summers/LHA/Clinic written plans from May 15, 2014 included the Lakewood YMCA as a manager, and Lakewood City Schools and Lakewood City Recreation Department as "Affiliated Partners" with the City in the new Recreation Center.

If called upon to give sworn testimony, will Ms. Madigan claim she never saw this plan and did not participate in it? Did she miss that many meetings? Did the Mayor and Tom Gable keep these plans from her?

Does Jay Foran (the Mayor's life long friend) claim he did not know about the plans that the Lakewood YMCA as a manager, and Lakewood City Schools and Lakewood City Recreation Department might be "Affiliated Partners" with the City in the new Recreation Center?
The Mayor never told him as the Chairman of the Recreation Task force about plans to build a Recreation Center at the hospital site when the hospital was being torn down?
Or was it just that he did not discuss these plans with his committee?

Brian Essi wrote:Does Jay Foran (the Mayor's life long friend) claim he did not know about the plans that the Lakewood YMCA as a manager,

The year before that the Y was formulating plans for a second YMCA in a Lakewood location on Madison near 117th or some other location on the East end.

http://patch.com/ohio/lakewood-oh/ymca- ... son-avenue

Then, nothing. Did plans for the demolition of the Hospital kill YMCA expansion?

Were we about to get a second recreation center without the need to fire 1,100 people and lose millions in tax revenue and millions more in economic activity?

Speaking of 1,100 jobs... members of Council seemed to have lost interest in those people. The only guarantee the Clinic has made is that if you talk "you will never work again".

That Y deal would be what Tom Gable would call "just a coincidence" but that is just me speculating.

Some members of Council have expressed concern for employees, but Monday night Ms. Madigan seemed unconcerned when Tom Gable repeated more yarns about "managers wanting to leave" and being hired by "other hospital systems." The Clinic has been hiring them away. The Clinic has been giving employees bad reports and setting them up for termination. The Clinic has been minimizing services so that hours are reduced.

If Madigan cared about these employees she could and would do something for them--after all, she is an LHA trustee---their plight started with her vote on January 14. 2015 to demolish the hospital--she can hardly claim she cares about them. She was all too happy to hear what Gable said--more pressure on her colleagues who have such trust in her leadership.

What made Gable's claims so absurd is that if Council took the action he and Madigan want, the fate of the employees would be sealed--the hospital would closing. So the employees would all be relieved and all would then want to stay? Really?

Mr essi...so when its all said an done do you think the citizens will win? I actually work at the hospital. I wonder what my fate will be...still work at lakewood hospital, or get transfered out to avon? with the lawsuit it seems things are dead in the water, the clinic could always just walk, then it would leave the hospital vacant esepically since the metro deal is kaput

First of all, hats off to all of the employees of Lakewood Hospital for their fine work and for putting up with the dysfunctional situation.

Secondly, the citizens are already winning--Summers and Madigan thought they would have run over Council by now--they have not and I don't think they will.

Thirdly, the lawsuit seeks to keep the hospital open until 2026, to restore services and for the Clinic to pay damages. If successful, this means folks keep their jobs and more people will be hired at the hospital. Right now, the Clinic is behaving like a spoiled child who can't get its way, so it is punishing everyone around them in a desperate attempt to get its way--they will have to come to terms with the reality that they have created for themselves--just like Summers and Madigan.

Fourthly, the Clinic will never leave Lakewood with an empty hospital--they want to keep their monopoly in Lakewood and they want that building torn down.

Fifthly, There are others interested in running the hospital in addition to Metro and with Summers and Madigan out this fall there will be an even playing field and other bidders will emerge. By way of example, one such party has told me of their continued interest, but they will only surface "if there is sunshine on the process." Summers/Madigan et al continue to work in the shadows.

Metro stepping back has been repeatedly misinterpreted and twisted to serve their narrative. The rescinding of the proposal was only AFTER the city did not respond. Most people do not realize that in many contract situations, failure of one party to respond or meet a deadline prompts the other to rescind or withdraw an offer because you don't just leave offers open out there. Even in real estate when you make an offer on a house, it has a date after which it is no longer valid to protect the potential buyer. So what Metro did was completely normal and good business and legal practice.

Now, with all of the protest, legal issues, and likely pressure from CCF, they wisely are stepping away from the situation. Doesn't mean that if this "agreement" with CCF is clarified and the city can legally seek new proposals that Metro wouldn't be right back in there. That's what irks me. Not only did they DENY Metro was interested, they are twisting Metro's subsequent actions to make it look like they were suddenly uninterested in the facility.

Brian Essi wrote:Fourthly, the Clinic will never leave Lakewood with an empty hospital--they want to keep their monopoly in Lakewood and they want that building torn down.

From US News most recent reports:

Lakewood:

Lakewood Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital in Lakewood, OH, with 250 beds. It is also accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). Survey data for the latest year available shows that 35,180 patients visited the hospital's emergency room. The hospital had a total of 8,647 admissions. Its physicians performed 2,131 inpatient and 3,221 outpatient surgeries.

Euclid:

Euclid Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital in Euclid, OH. It performed nearly at the level of nationally ranked U.S. News Best Hospitals in 1 adult specialty. It scored high in patient safety, demonstrating commitment to reducing accidents and medical mistakes. Euclid Hospital has 231 beds. The hospital had 8,242 admissions in the latest year for which data are available. It performed 2,373 annual inpatient and 4,158 outpatient surgeries. Its emergency room had 36,992 visits. It is also accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

Lutheran:

Lutheran Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital in Cleveland, OH. It performed nearly at the level of nationally ranked U.S. News Best Hospitals in 1 adult specialty. Lutheran Hospital has 198 beds. The hospital had 7,111 admissions in the latest year for which data are available. It performed 1,888 annual inpatient and 3,603 outpatient surgeries. Its emergency room had 26,045 visits

Lakewood Hospital is as busy as Lutheran or Euclid and yet the Clinic is investing heavily in both while abandoning Lakewood. Both see referrals from throughout the Clinic system. Lakewood residents are routinely referred OUTSIDE Lakewood for medical care.

The Cleveland Clinic needs to close Lakewood Hospital because they need the business in Avon. The Cleveland Clinic was intent on leaving an empty, outdated hospital without any customers at the end of the lease term in 2026.

The Mayors plan to tear down the Hospital for a recreation center just accelerated the time line. The Mayors offer to give the Clinic a monopoly in Lakewood and keep other providers out of Lakewood is just a bonus.

P.S. Always keep in mind that Lakewood Hospitals level of business is measured AFTER the transfer of its most important and profitable segments.

I can assure everyone on this forum that myself and other people i work with are loyal to the patients it serves.....Lakewood hospital was my first job out of college when i graduated in 2006...i have been there ever since.....I drive in from Norwalk ohio out by cedar point every day..been doing this for about 10 years. I love the hospital it is home. Do i want to see the hospital close NO! i do not. But for me i really want to be at Avon hospital. I hope i will end up there it will be about 20 minutes closer to home. with that said the clinic has been great to me as an employee, and its still a business. its tricky with Lakewood because its leased. I love the people i work with, love the patients the only thing i wish is that it was busier and that it was not going threw this. The Drs I work with are Top notch ---however when i first started i never knew what a Cleveland Clinic Dr was, it was all private DRs. This situation is almost biter sweet, major career advancement at avon, vibrant hospital----many memories here at Lakewood hospital.---- I can say this with most certainty.....leadership at Lakewood hospital has been upfront and transparent with the employees. we openly talk about things we hear and whats going on.......your leadership of the city seems to have a problem with crucial conversations.......I spoke directly to Cosgrove back in jan 2015 hes a stand up matter a fact fellow, regardless of what happens leadership has made it clear about employees and them finding jobs.....I believe that the right thing will happen for the city and that the right thing will happen for "good standing employees. If it was up to me, Id clean house with this opportunity for the employees that do not value their job, the patients or the clinic, but thats a different topic....