The Observation Deck

I did not go to the Build Lakewood/City of Lakewood "Dream Really Big" Meeting last night,
as I think the entire deal is BAD, ethically challenged, and potentially illegal. But others were there and here are some of the boards from the discussion...












Mayor Summers who arrived late, checking out the list.

Wonder why "type of residents desired?" is in bold?

I thought this was about health care, errrr wellness, errrr active living, errrrrrr recreation,
errrrrrr economic development, errrrrrr

DREAM BIG - Of A City Hall We Can Trust!

Discuss among yourselves....

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My position on this right now comes from the Treasury Department...

"Money laundering is the process of making illegally-gained proceeds (i.e. "dirty money") appear legal (i.e. "clean"). Typically, it involves three steps: placement, layering and integration. First, the illegitimate funds are furtively introduced into the legitimate financial system. Then, the money is moved around to create confusion, sometimes by wiring or transferring through numerous accounts. Finally, it is integrated into the financial system through additional transactions until the "dirty money" appears "clean.""

I am still trying to figure out how liquidating a public asset for 1/6th its value and giving money to a yet
unnamed non-profit, probably run by a friend, does not fit the above definition.

When asked to "put on our big boy pants," lets make sure they are not striped or orange jumpsuits.

FWIW

What is RICO Law?

RICO law refers to the prosecution and defense of individuals who engage in organized crime. In 1970, Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in an effort to combat Mafia groups. Since that time, the law has been expanded and used to go after a variety of organizations, from corrupt police departments to motorcycle gangs. RICO law should not be thought of as a way to punish the commission of an isolated criminal act. Rather, the law establishes severe consequences for those who engage in a pattern of wrongdoing as a member of a criminal enterprise.

Title 18, Section 1961 of the United States Code sets forth a long list of racketeering activities, the repeated commission of which can form the basis of a RICO Act claim. These underlying federal and state offenses exist independently of the act, and include the crimes of homicide, kidnapping, extortion, and witness tampering. Racketeering activities also include property crimes such as robbery and arson. A number of financial crimes are also listed, such as money laundering, counterfeiting, securities violations, as well as mail and wire fraud.

Now I am not a lawyer, nor a prosecutor, my understanding of the laws is pretty limited to tickets are cheaper
the earlier you pay them. But it seems, when you put the timeline out there over at least 4 years, people
soliciting for things they know will not exist, the transfers of money back and forth through various groups
and always in control of a very small group of people, how one could get easily confused and jump to conclusions.

When asked to "put on our big boy pants," lets make sure they are not striped or orange jumpsuits.

FWIW

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People have asked why I posted this, here, the reason is simple so many at "BuildLakewood" including its
founders have asked me and others, "What do we do when nothing is there?" While the question is being
asked 5 years too early I have a question for them.

What if we do all of this, and find out it is not legal, and we really end up with NOTHING?

Nearly 80% of the documents being found under discovery and information requests is uncovering more and more
troubling items worthy of public discussion or explanation. !00% of the questions asked about Ethics have
resulted in potential ethics violations that have seen one law abiding person step down, one councilman unable
to vote, and now "ethics violations" possibility for Wendy and Mike, based on one small mistake, that is now huge.

Does it not make sense to double check what one can only think is flawed thinking and practices to make
sure they are legal and will stick, before we let anyone out of anything? Does it not make sense to check these
things before we lose more good people to laws and regulations they obviously never bothered thinking of?

Is BuildLakewood willing to turn into "BailLakewood?"

Too many good meaning people can get dragged into this nightmare, ruining good people's lives and reputations.



From the same movie...



Good ideas stand up to scrutiny. People are not needed to DREAM BIG when they buy in to real ideas.

I fear the hospital is not the biggest issue in Lakewood. Our biggest problem is a government that is not
forthcoming, honest, ethical and there for the residents.

peace/out

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I'm actually a little disappointed.

The Mayor and his friends have been planning this for at least three years and all they can come up with is a wish list?

Boutique Hotel?
A new office building in a town where EVERY major office building has been in foreclosure?

The only realistic option for that acreage is a first class medical center.

For some reason the Mayor is intent on ANYTHING but a first class medical center.

He is also intent on tearing down the parking garage even though any successful development is going to need a LOT of parking.

Speaking of the parking garage, what happened to all of the garage revenue?
Why was an important City asset allowed to be degraded?

Bill

I wish someone would answer your question about CCF employee parking. I checked today and employees at the main campus pay about $90 a month to park there. That's the employee rate in the main garage across from Miller Pavillion

Bridget Conant wrote:Bill

I wish someone would answer your question about CCF employee parking. I checked today and employees at the main campus pay about $90 a month to park there. That's the employee rate in the main garage across from Miller Pavillion

Let's see that's 1,000 employees times $90 times 12 which equals.... $1,080,000.

Each year.

Not including visitors, vendors, visiting doctors and others.

What happened to all of that money?

Why was an important City asset allowed to degrade?

ANY successful development is going to need parking. Why is the City intent on demolishing the garage? Even if all we get is a recreation center the and second rate medical building people still need a place to park.

Anyway... four years of planning and all they have is a boutique hotel?

Bill Call wrote:Anyway... four years of planning and all they have is a boutique hotel?

Actually that is a recent addition to get historical society buy in.

Dream Big!


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Bill Call wrote:[
Anyway... four years of planning and all they have is a boutique hotel?

And that (a boutique hotel) was the finding of a $7,000 study. (nickels and dimes and chump change, I guess, compared to the dollar figures being tossed around when talking about paring garage revenue.)

For me, the operative phrase is "type of residents desired" = let's try to minimize people of color? ? ?

Alex Belisle wrote:For me, the operative phrase is "type of residents desired" = let's try to minimize people of color? ? ?

No, they dislike poor white people too, pick a color, if it can't afford "the club" or "the club" screw them.


Not a color thing, hate to disappoint.


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Yes, so true.

I recall a meeting where a soon to be Lakewood Alive founder said that they needed the West End neighborhood along the cliff because "people with money and good incomes want to live there!"

I was like, ummm, people ALREADY live there and they like where they live and their homes.

She just didn't get it and never will.

Remember, all this was to ensure that the "best and highest" of the redeveloped land. Hmmm.

Maybe we already have that? Maybe that is why, deep down, these proposals seem like a let-down considering what is there right now and what we will be losing.

They say you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone.

I hope people will wake up from all this fantasizing and realize that it's just not worth it; to trash an existing asset for a dream that has little to no chance of ever looking like what was presented the other night.

cameron karslake wrote:Remember, all this was to ensure that the "best and highest" of the redeveloped land. Hmmm.

Maybe we already have that? Maybe that is why, deep down, these proposals seem like a let-down considering what is there right now and what we will be losing.

They say you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone.

I hope people will wake up from all this fantasizing and realize that it's just not worth it; to trash an existing asset for a dream that has little to no chance of ever looking like what was presented the other night.

Cameron

You are wrong.

This was presented to us from day one as, "The future of healthcare in Lakewood, making sure we have
everything we need for a healthy future." The same day we heard that load of BS from the mayor, I asked
the public information officer for city hall how all the meetings were legal in executive sessions, he answered
"This is just a real estate deal"

Compulsive liars, cannot stop.

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I great thread topic could be, "Help Pick The Team Summers & Build Lakewood Campaign Song!"

I suggest they keep spinning and go retro ...