The Observation Deck

...of the property that Lakewood Hospital sits on".

That is one of the "principals" our city council is going to be guided by in future negotiations with CCF.

Last night at the C.O.W. meeting, Kevin Butler presented a list of principals that city council should keep in mind while preparing to "move forward" on the hospital deal with LHA and CCF.

Boy, I've been racking my brain for a while now and cannot come up with a better use of the land the hospital sits on except the HOSPITAL itself. It has the potential to affect every citizen's life in a very positive way. What other entity can claim such a possible positive influence in so many ways? None! It is an incredible asset, that too many of our "leaders" are all too willing to throw away. Keep in mind that the hospital is OUR asset, not THEIR asset. THEY have been trusted to see that it stays viable far into the future to serve the people of our city. To think they are actually entertaining the idea of destroying it for another office building blows my mind!

The COW did act as if the closing of Lakewood Hospital is a fait accompli.

You are correct. The best use for this land is to maintain our largest employer, restore her to her glory and retain the unique service of a full service hospital for our 52,000 residents.


Keep Lakewood Hospital open!

I agree completely about the hospital.

But I'm a bit concerned about the way their current plans are taking shape. It sounds like they've defined the health center out of the main parcel of land and forgotten about the rec center so they can do a Crocker-type commercial development. Or is it more of a West End-type development?

Either way, they seem to have packed in the idea of creating a health campus of some kind, and I find that only a little less disturbing than the plan to tear down the hospital, which I find horrifying.

And there's no consideration of the impact on existing businesses. Or maybe that's by design. That will give them more buildings to tear down and more development options. One prominent backer said in another forum that hospital employees don't eat in nearby restaurants because they have the hospital cafeteria. Gotta love that hospital food!

"Build" Lakewood. Right.

OMG - who said hospital workers don't eat at area restaurants and instead eat in the cafeteria????

They MUST be outed.

Although a "Build" backer, she was nice and polite, so I don't want embarrass her. Her point was so ludicrous I didn't even respond. But if it's really important to anyone, it's somewhere in the discussions on Nextdoor, where people also use real names.

Still, no one's talking about the impact on downtown businesses. Maybe the Huron report will shed some light.

Dan Alaimo wrote:
Still, no one's talking about the impact on downtown businesses. Maybe the Huron report will shed some light.

The impact on business will be substantial. Look for independent doctors to leave Lakewood, look for local nursing homes to downsize, look for local restaurants to close and look for the exodus from Lakewood to accelerate.

I don't know what kind of dream world this administration and Build Lakewood are living in.

The Cleveland area ranks below Cincinnati and Camden New Jersey in job growth:

http://www.newgeography.com/content/004 ... s-rankings

Build Lakewood tells us that those jobs can easily be replaced but they refuse to tell us how. It's a trade secret I guess.

A Lakewood resident I know recently had surgery at Fairview. It was the type of surgery that was once performed in Lakewood. After the surgery she was transferred to Avon for a short nursing home stay and rehab. Services that were once provided in Lakewood.

Since we were already in Avon we picked up a few things at the grocery store and stopped for lunch. A good way to measure the economic affect of the loss of the Hospital is to multiply that one visit by the 140,000 annual patient visits to Lakewood Hospital.

Lakewood restaurants are already under a lot of stress. How many will be pushed over the edge?

AND

What is this secret development that will replace 1,500 jobs? Why won't they tell us? Could it be that it doesn't exist?

You should respond. Most of their points are ludicrous, that's the problem. The total disregard for the economic impact the hospital has is mind boggling. They want shiny new baubles and aren't thinking clearly. The problem is, they repeat things that are not true over and over and it becomes true in the followers' minds.

Hospital workers only eat in the cafeteria when they have no other choice- they bring food from home, but regularly order take out from area restaurants or go out for lunch. NO ONE eats regular meals in a hospital cafeteria.

And as Bill noted, it's more than just hospital employees patronizing the businesses, it's the visitors, as well. The hospital closing WILL negatively impact area restaurants, forcing many closures. Food service runs on such tight margins, they can't take that loss of customer base.

Bridget Conant wrote:You should respond. Most of their points are ludicrous, that's the problem. The total disregard for the economic impact the hospital has is mind boggling. They want shiny new baubles and aren't thinking clearly. The problem is, they repeat things that are not true over and over and it becomes true in the followers' minds.

The hospital discussion has died off on that site.

Team Summers has been drifting from site to site looking for a place where they can spout their talking points unquestioned.

Thankfully they haven't found one.

At NextDoor?

That site is great for busybodies, vigilantes, and racists. Figures they'd go there.