The Observation Deck

Mr. Essi posted the question on the Deck: What is Dru Siley's legacy? My take is that Mr. Siley's legacy is the manner in which he and his department dealt with Lakewood residents in order to push commercial over residential interests. He was consistent and persistent in his approach, and my guess is his former office will continue in that vein.

The first time I remember someone publicly challenging Mr.Siley's actions was during the Planning Commission meeting in 2012. Mr. Artiano, the lawyer representing the owners of The First Church of Christ Scientist building on Detroit Ave., looked directly at Mr. Siley and angrily expressed that the city had misled him about the process. If those of us on Grace Ave in attendance that night had known then what we know now we would have taken Mr. Artiano's outburst very seriously. It was a clear warning.

We would raise the same objection of being misled by Mr. Siley during the Drug Mart process. If you're not familiar with what occurred, read Colleen Cotter's article in The Observer "Grace Ave: Lessons to be Learned" - http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2013/1 ... be-learned. Pay particular attention to the timeline. Time and time again Mr. Siley fed residents a steady diet of misleading statements, last second dumping of revised plans, a suppressed legal memo, and delayed information. Constantly maneuvering to insure an unlevel playing field. For know this about Mr. Siley as well as the rest of the Summers administration... the tougher the opponent the more they need to skew the field.

Which brings me to the Hospital crisis and the appalling conduct of the Summers administration. It's the same pattern. The misleading statements, the political subterfuge, the lack of transparency and now the mythical Development that wasn't. The destruction of Lakewood Hospital was at least two years in the making. Mr. Siley as Director of Development knew what was coming. Mr. Siley as a member of Build Lakewood contributed to the hospital's closing. In the end, when it counted most, after a thousand jobs lost and millions of dollars literally given away, Mr. Siley had nothing to offer. The Summers administration has created Lakewood's biggest challenge in terms of development and Mr. Siley chose this moment to walk off the field and into the private sector.

In announcing his new hire, Mr. Siley's boss, Liberty Development President and CEO Tom Kuluris, felt the need to stress that Mr. Siley "is smart and he's honest." A neighbor of mine put it best: "when I read that sentence, I laughed and then I felt a little ill." If you went through the Drug Mart process with Mr. Siley, you would know just how easily "Honest Dru" could have that effect on you.

Mr. Siley's legacy was a disdain for the truth coupled with an almost instinctive aversion to transparency. Over time these traits became part of the DNA of the body politic and ultimately they came to define the Summers administration. Mr. Siley was a public servant who when challenged was willing to twist and distort the process, willing to skew the field to assure the ascendency of commercial interests over residential concerns.

And now I come to that awkward moment when I should express my hope for something better, when I should hope for open, honest government. When I should implore the next Director of Development to turn their back on Mr. Siley and his legacy. But I won't go there. Because the reality is that as long as Mr. Summers and his clique run this town, nothing will change. As long as we have a City Council that huddles in a broom closet, nothing will change. They posture about diversity while ensuring sameness. They posture about truth and transparency while brokering deals in back rooms. They march on, never looking back at the divisiveness they've sown. Greedily, myopically following their agenda, so sure of their perverted version of the Greater Good, so sure of their just rewards. The time for change is way past due. Lakewood is better than them.

In the end, "Honest Dru" was unfailingly true to himself but only selectively so with the rest of us. That's his legacy. That's the Summers administration's legacy.

I hope every Lakewoodite reads your post, m buckley, because it's a succint assessment of this administration, typified by Mr Siley's conduct. The man behind the facade choked at the last minute and got out before the proverbial shite hits the fan.

and now the mythical Development that wasn't.

Bingo!

Where are the national developers the mayor spoke of? The ones chomping at the bit over that massive 4.5 acre lot that is now tied up for the next two years, thanks to our "leaders."

In two years we have no clue what the economy will be like. There may be no one interested in taking a chance to build anything on that site, yet we effectively tied our own hands by allowing the Clinic to build on the other site while leaving the "bricks and mortar" to sit idle and prevent any development until the medical building is complete and the phony ER moved across the street.

No one with any level of competence would have allowed that situation to proceed as it did.

Mr. Buckley,

Another fine post.

I am told that Dru Siley led an "us and them" department with his clique management folks taking over substantial office space, leaving rank and file employees in cramped quarters.

I've seen and heard evidence that his hiring practices were questionable.

In my own personal experience with him, he was a gentleman, but he had a hint of arrogance about him--I was always left wondering where he was coming from both philosophically and intellectually.

For example, at the University of Akron gig (allegedly about giving citizens an opportunity to give input on what to do with the hospital acreage) I found it curious that he led the forum without any market studies, traffic studies, and not a clue or any estimates of the number of office workers, retail workers, office tenants, retail businesses or even the number of potential residents to occupy the proposed developments scenarios. Yet when a citizen asked him: Wouldn't the developers who buy the land have their own market studies and plans and build what they want? Dru Siley without hesitation said "No. We own it. We will tell them what to build and they will build it." I couldn't help but feeling I was in the presence the central planner for the USSR--here was our "Director of Planning" with apparently no plan and no studies telling the public that he and the city were going to dictate to a private developer what the developer would build. Huh?

Another example was when I met one-on-one with Dru Siley at the end of the initial Build Lakewood meeting at Mahal's bar. After listening to Dru explained the west side of Belle avenue CCF development, I asked him why not just appraise the parking garage and medical building and have CCF pay the appraised value and let CCF do the demo etc.? After all, CCF has done dozens of construction projects and has much more experience than the city. Dru responded by saying that doing the demo and site work increased the value of the property. But under the terms of the Master Agreement that Siley and Build Lakewood pushed for, the city agreed to give away $3.1M for demolition and pay $2.5M to CCF for CCF to build its own garage, CCF paid $1.6M for the developed land.

That means he gave away the two properties to CCF and gave them $4M in cash. So if the properties appraised at the low end of $5M, Dru promoted a $9M giveaway on just his West side of Belle planning.

And this money came at the expense of the underserved--not a good deal for the poor or for Lakewood.