The Observation Deck

"I have neither aligned myself with SLH, nor BL." ~ Jim O'Bryan
"I am not neutral." ~Jim O'Bryan

A quote of mine I love.

Actually that quote represents most of my friends and neighbors. There were more than two sides.

There were many more than two sides in the Hospital Debate. If you add up all the members of SLH and BL it is a terribly small percentage of the city. Let's be honest the only thing more disappointing than the group thrown together by residents after the announcement of the hospital closing, not coming up in a solution to save the hospital in 3 months, was the group that had all the facts, the money, lawyers and been planning since 2010 did not have one either, City Hall and LHA.

Many wanted better transparency from government. Many wanted to understand the economic impact. Many wanted what elected officials told us in private to be said in public, so that everyone that cared had a chance for all the facts, and the fully understanding of the single biggest deal in Lakewood's history. Many did not want to see City Hall and other government agencies work against the residents when it simply came to understanding the facts. Many of us just wanted a better deal for the city working to get more from our assets.

Accountable government? Are there really people against responsible government? Accountable government is negative?

No matter it is 2016, time to make sure no matter how good or how bad the deal is, as a community we make the entire debacle better together.

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Let's progress forward into the future. Remember, as the Harbor Inn changes hands, "40 miles out of Barstow, the drugs took hold"

Stan Austin wrote:Let's progress forward into the future. Remember, as the Harbor Inn changes hands, "40 miles out of Barstow, the drugs took hold"

Stan

With your lengthy background in politics you get it.

As I said to so many people, there will be a Lakewood after the election, and we are going to have to talk, look each other in the eye, and work together.

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Rite On My Irish bro--did I get that right? Steve--jump in and sort this stuff out!!!!!1

Jim O'Bryan wrote:No matter it is 2016, time to make sure no matter how good or how bad the deal is, as a community we make the entire debacle better together.

The grim reality is that City Hall isn't interested in doing things "together".
They've made their intentions very clear: they bought the election, and they intend to use it.
They'll use euphemisms like "healing", but in reality they are going to do whatever they want.
They don't care what the citizens think.

Stan, One of my favorite books.
Jim O'Bryan wrote :" we are going to have to talk, look each other in the eye and work together."
Jim, going back as far as the Drug Mart deal and right up till this moment, that is not how the Summers administration operates. And given the endless Executive Sessions, that we were all excluded from leading up to this deal, that is not how City Council operates.
It's a bit of a one sided proposition.

Michael Deneen wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:No matter it is 2016, time to make sure no matter how good or how bad the deal is, as a community we make the entire debacle better together.

The grim reality is that City Hall isn't interested in doing things "together".
They've made their intentions very clear: they bought the election, and they intend to use it.
They'll use euphemisms like "healing", but in reality they are going to do whatever they want.
They don't care what the citizens think.

Mike

Let's be honest. If they are making their intentions clear, it is at least a baby step in the right direction.
I am not making a comment on BL or SLH, but damn, we are losing tax money, employees, humans on the streets, and about to get a huge kick in the tax ass.
Hating each other, is absurd and childish. Do we trust each other, well that like respect is earned.
This was one of our real hopes, that no matter how screwed up things got, open dialogue would get the community through the worst times.
People, all people, have to get back to dialogue.
Lakewood cannot afford to be branded with our problems, only with our real successes. We have enough, we do not have to lie. The schools, the libraries, and the people.

We are better.

.

m buckley wrote:Stan, One of my favorite books.
Jim O'Bryan wrote :" we are going to have to talk, look each other in the eye and work together."
Jim, going back as far as the Drug Mart deal and right up till this moment, that is not how the Summers administration operates. And given the endless Executive Sessions, that we were all excluded from leading up to this deal, that is not how City Council operates.
It's a bit of a one sided proposition.

M

I am not saying become absent minded.
No matter what, you have to be willing to have the dialogue.
Communities are not built with 5,100 bridge burnings.

My Economic Development Voice of Reason, at least today, Val Molinski, was correct in another post, we got to be smarter.

We got some really tough days ahead of us. We must retain our desirability as a community or it could get real ugly real fast. Buying property, opening a business in the lowlands between the Hatefields and McCoys would seem a terrible idea. It would also be squandering decades of solid work by many mayors to keep the Tony Sinagra dream alive, a city where it is easy to sell homes and businesses because people want them.

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Jim,

In my view, accountability begins with taking money out of politics in local elections. Lakewood's hospital campaign is a microcosm of how money influences elections. The assumption that a "majority of voters" supported the closing of the hospital on the surface is accurate. However, when you look at how campaigns are financed across the United States, you will see a very different picture. To put things in perspective, during the 2012 congressional campaign cycle, candidates who raised more money won their respective elections 95% of the time.

"Build Lakewood" raised an impressive $50k in a 4 month time frame and registered as a political action committee on July 9th, 2015. The reality is that they won the election by outspending SLH 10-1; This is perfectly legal. When a Political Action Committee forms and raises 50k in 4 months and wins an election by 4 points it was not a popular measure to begin with. Further, I don't think it's ethical for an incumbent mayoral candidate to receive campaign contributions from the following LHA members:

"The mayor reported donations from several Lakewood Hospital Association board members including Curtis Brosky, $200; Thomas Gable and his wife, Kathleen, $200; Kenneth Haber and his wife, Kathleen, $250; Dennis Roche, $200, and Kathleen McGorray, $100"

Publicly financing elections is one of the best ways to ensure that the interests of the public are protected. See the link below for further information:

https://represent.us/2015victory/

Nadhal

Some people need to admit there are problems here before we can do anything about it. Also, I believe the City Administration needs to be truthful about the crime in our city and our drug problem.

As we "move forward," I think it's actually a good thing that only one person in city leadership can say they were not intimately involved in the deal. Everybody has to own it, top to bottom.

From 15 months ago

Jim O'Bryan wrote:"I have neither aligned myself with SLH, nor BL." ~ Jim O'Bryan
"I am not neutral." ~Jim O'Bryan

A quote of mine I love.

Actually that quote represents most of my friends and neighbors. There were more than two sides.

There were many more than two sides in the Hospital Debate. If you add up all the members of SLH and BL it is a terribly small percentage of the city. Let's be honest the only thing more disappointing than the group thrown together by residents after the announcement of the hospital closing, not coming up in a solution to save the hospital in 3 months, was the group that had all the facts, the money, lawyers and been planning since 2010 did not have one either, City Hall and LHA.

Many wanted better transparency from government. Many wanted to understand the economic impact. Many wanted what elected officials told us in private to be said in public, so that everyone that cared had a chance for all the facts, and the fully understanding of the single biggest deal in Lakewood's history. Many did not want to see City Hall and other government agencies work against the residents when it simply came to understanding the facts. Many of us just wanted a better deal for the city working to get more from our assets.

Accountable government? Are there really people against responsible government? Accountable government is negative?

No matter it is 2016, time to make sure no matter how good or how bad the deal is, as a community we make the entire debacle better together.

.