The Observation Deck

There is no doubt that that "old guard" is calling the shots at City Hall. In the years leading up to last year and throughout last year, the the Good Old Boys and Gals of Lakewood controlled the process.

Summers, Madigan, Foran, Beebe, Gable, Gorton, Haber, Crampton, Patton, Brztwa--you know, the usual suspects--old people. The younger members of City Council all admitted that they caved to the power of this "old guard". The younger members used phrases like "there's no other option" and "these were the cards we were dealt" and "its not the role of Council to..."

Nonsense!

My late father taught me that people who are good at making excuses are usually not good at much else.

There is also no doubt that the choices City Hall has hoisted upon the current and future generations of Lakewoodites are very limited and a recipe for disaster:

1. They have given away our largest City Asset for pennies on the dollar and the rubble they kept cannot be used for its intended public use--it will likely go to a private developer for a song.

2. The small amount of money going to the new foundation will be largely controlled by CCF, and limits future choices in healthcare (and "health and wellness") to a singular myopic CCF Old Guard controlled agenda.

3. City Hall and their attorney think they have set the table to limit the choice of the voters in the upcoming referendum.

The old guard controlling City Hall is reminiscent of the days of Huey Long and era long gone.

The Old Guard wants no competition in healthcare or in independent thinking.

They are counting on the Millennials buying into the the false narrative that what is being offered is "new, innovative and exciting."

The truth is that it is the same old same old, OLD!

There are a couple ironies here:

*City Hall mocks SLH as being "old", when in fact their decision makers are "Golden Buckeyes".

*Despite being a "Democratic" town, it's the Republicans that actually call the shots. Summers, Foran, Carson, Pam Smith, etc.
(hold your fire Brian and Lori, you have to admit it's true)

We already know all this stuff. How about some suggestions on what can be done?

Michael, Mike Summers is a Democrat, not a Republican. He is a member of the Lakewood Democratic club. Don't blame the Republicans. Using your philosophy, are the Republicans to blame for the last eight years of problems in this country resulting from Obama and his friends. No. If a republican were in office we wouldn't be making friends with the Iranians and giving them tons of money. We wouldn't be releasing terrorists out of Gitmo, only to have them fighting against us, again. We wouldn't be letting North Korea pull all the crap they have been pulling., we wouldn't be giving money to the Muslim Brotherhood.

That being said, I guess Summers is a Democrat. His philosophies are like Obama's. Summers can destroy a city about as well as Obama has destroyed the country. There is one difference, Summers didn't give away free phones!

Also using this philosophy, Hillary Clinton is actually a Republican. She was Republican before 1968.

Mike and Lori,

I really don't care if they are red, blue or purple.

They are OLD OLD OLD

These old people have sold out the future to pursue selfish NON PROFIT GREED

All of us here on the Desk KNOW THIS! Must it be repeated over and over and over again!

Gotta be a little careful with the age-related stuff. The BL'ers have been real obnoxious throwing that at SLH and I've been throwing an accusation of ageism right back at them. It is a civil rights matter, after all.

"Old guard" is a valid point, though.

Perhaps if some of the folks from Save Lakewood Hospital would have taken the time to read the hours and hours of research dealing with this hospital situation, that has been posted here for you on the Deck to share with anyone you wish to, you would really understand the in depth subject of corporate greed . SLH doesn't know it all. Perhaps it is because they didn't listen to past members who had relevant information to share and instead told them they were full of it!

Speaking of BL, anyone else notice that they've been real quiet lately - their social media guy in particular?

No, but, at least they aren't mean!

Dan Alaimo wrote:Gotta be a little careful with the age-related stuff. The BL'ers have been real obnoxious throwing that at SLH and I've been throwing an accusation of ageism right back at them. It is a civil rights matter, after all.

"Old guard" is a valid point, though.

Dan

In reality, both "sides" at their heart are old. One one side I come up with about 62, on the other about 63.5, of their core.

BL is a younger crowd, but not in board.

However, you speak to most people under the age of 50, they do not care about hospitals. Not that they know anything about them, or even healthcare is changing, but because they don't read the obituaries yet, they don't have issues yet. As I put it, "I used to jump off garages and cliffs, now I look for low curbs."

But what we have here are a ton of baby boomers planing health care and wellness for the next 50 years of the millennials.

Like one last grab of everything by the baby boomers on our way out the door.

.

Who else is going to plan it then? If you leave it to the 20 or 30 somethings (or even 40 somethings), it's just not a personal priority yet for them, as you say. Although it will be. Wait till they have kids with some kind of health problem or aging parents, and watch the concerns take hold. Meanwhile, the devil's in the details and we're fighting tooth and nail over the details.

Mr. Essi, I agree there is a lot of OLD in The OLD Guard but there is also a lot of OLD in the Sam O'Leary's and the David Anderson's of Lakewood politics. For me it's about repeated patterns. It's about the insular nature of The Club. The mayonnaise on Wonder Bread exclusiveness of all this. The political inbreeding. The Summers, Siley, Madigan, O'Leary, Anderson, swill of all this. The corruption. The willingness of O'Leary and Anderson to huddle in a back room and exclude the rest of us from the process. The cynical nature of the game they are still playing.
In the end you are right. This is OLD,OLD,OLD.

m buckley wrote:Mr. Essi, I agree there is a lot of OLD in The OLD Guard but there is also a lot of OLD in the Sam O'Leary's and the David Anderson's of Lakewood politics. For me it's about repeated patterns. It's about the insular nature of The Club. The mayonnaise on Wonder Bread exclusiveness of all this. The political inbreeding. The Summers, Siley, Madigan, O'Leary, Anderson, swill of all this. The corruption. The willingness of O'Leary and Anderson to huddle in a back room and exclude the rest of us from the process. The cynical nature of the game they are still playing.
In the end you are right. This is OLD,OLD,OLD.

Mr. Buckley,

You have more experience and history with this clan than I do. I started engaging with them and in the process less than 11 months ago.

I started out with a pledge to each of them to help them and help our City---I pledged to them that I would be the "first one up the hill" --even if it took 11 years.

One by one they ignored me and the facts---one by one they shut me out and withdrew to what you call "The Club"--perhaps I've been naive and they were all in "The Club" to begin with--I still hold out hope for one or two of them, but the mounting evidence does not paint a pretty picture for hope.

I never thought that I would be fighting the "enemy within," but that's where the facts have led--I like to dig up facts and follow them wherever they lead.

I must say, that in my 32 years of practicing law and investigating corrupt lawyers, accountants and business people, this is the most widespread corruption I have ever encountered.

I've never been one to sit in a foxhole. I'm still charging forward and up the hill. The sunshine melts their contrived arrows and as they hit me I am energized.

I'm only 11 months into what might be an 11 year battle for the truth.

I see the "hill" as a pile of facts that comprises the "truth" ---when we get to the top, I will defend that ground to the bitter end.

The folks at City Hall all have choices--embrace their fantasies or embrace the truth.

The casualties will be those who make the wrong choices.

Thank you Brian and all the other truth seekers in Lakewood.

Therese K. Buckley

I never did trust council and I stated this quite clearly with information to back it up. Others kept thinking they could be trusted and did not act soon enough. In battle, never trust your enemy and never assume they will come around to your point of view. This is how battles are lost.