I am sure many of you remember Marty Gelfand, walking up and down Detroit Ave. with a clipboard going to various meetings,
when he was Chief Counsel for Congressman Kucinich. Here Marty's daughter is tickled by Robert Kennedy Jr.
Sent to me by Councilman Marty Gelfand, who worked in Congressman Kucinich Lakewood Office for many years.
Jim,
I read today's PD article and was taken aback by Councilwoman Madigan's comments.
I was Congressman Kucinich's senior counsel when we saved St. Michael and Richmond Heights hospitals. Those hospitals would have been leveled in March or April 2000 but for our intervention. By our efforts in state, federal, and Bankruptcy courts, we kept Saint Michael open for three more years under the ownership of University Hospitals. While the Cleveland clinic would have fired every employee on the spot, when St. Michael did close several years later, every employee was placed either in the UH system or in other hospitals.
UH Richmond Heights is thriving today, serving my constituents in South Euclid and competing with Cleveland Clinic hospitals in the eastern suburbs. Without our intervention in 2000, the Cleveland Clinic would have had a monopoly there.
Madigan asks: where has Kucinich been? He got redistricted out of Congress in 2012, as you may recall. But we can see that he's been paying attention to the needs of the people in his former district. It makes me wonder why the current leadership is standing by while the Cleveland Clinic works to dismantle perfectly good hospital facilities which serve the needs of the people of the inner ring suburbs.
Councilman Marty Gelfand
South Euclid City Council
1349 South Green Road
South Euclid, Ohio 44118