Can David Anderson and City Hall Come to Terms with Reality Instead of Chasing Big Dreams and Ideals?

[Brian Essi]

Dear Mr. Anderson,

You write about “balancing ideals, realities, and vision for a city” and “moral absolutes”, but with all due respect, you and the other elected official have completely failed come to terms with reality. That is why there are so many lies about the bad process and bad result that City Hall has controlled.

Let's get real. I wrote an article that was based entirely on facts contained in:
1. The City Audit (CAFR)
2. LHA audited financial statements
3. The Black and White terms and conditions contained in the Master Agreement.
4. Documents in CCF's own hand that CCF was forced to deliver in the taxpayer lawsuit.

City Hall can't get around those facts so they have gone into "damage control" mode with smoke screens and such.

But there is an undeniable reality of Council’s and Summers’ failures—that reality cannot be avoided by resort to the abstracts of “ideals” and “moral absolutes” and "Big Dreams."

The reality includes huge unanswered questions:
1. Who will be in control alleged $32M of public money that CCF currently controls through its wholly owned subsidiary LHA that is supposed to be put in the new Fake Foundation.
2. What is the development plan for the "MOTHBALLED" gutted building encumbered by a non-compete and CCF surface parking lot rights?

Reality check: There is NO PLAN that has been made public that would answer either of these questions as to where the people's money has gone and who will benefit from it.

That is why you can’t answer questions in a straightforward manner.

Nevertheless, here are my Straightforward Answers to your most recent Questions:

a. The reality is the “World Class” Cleveland Clinic has admitted it was legally obligated for $278 million in capital improvements and other money to operate the hospital until 2026--so there was no need for “emergency” legislation and no short term need to identify an alternative hospital operator.

b. The reality is that we had a well-funded, well positioned and profitable hospital with CCF before Mayor Summers announcing it was closing and manufactured a crisis.

c. Reacting to phony crisis, the reality is that Council never asked anyone to propose an FHC/ER and liquidation bid for Lakewood Hospital.

d. Despite Council’s failure ask anyone to bid on anything, the reality is there were two other alternatives that came forward, but Insiders rejected and rebuffed both.

e. The reality is that the $90M capital needs figure was generated from a CCF consultant, not a Lakewood consultant. The facts and legal obligations are clear, CCF and not the City was responsible for capital improvements so your question above is fully answered above or is otherwise misplaced and moot.


So you see, Mr. Anderson, the reality is that the answers to your questions were right there in front of you all the time. Your questions attempt to shift the blame to others, but the reality is you failed, not me or any citizens who failed to serve up an alternative bidder that was never needed in the first place.

Moving away from these realities, I will play along on your and the Burgess Boy’s theme of balancing “ideals, realities and vision for a city” and “moral absolutes.”

“Ask, and you will be given what you ask for. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open.”

Taking that moral ideal, we still circle back to reality: Council never asked. Council never sought. Council never knocked.

So Council never got much. Council never found much. And Council never saw behind the doors that could be opened.


So I’ve answered your questions, but our conversation does not end there---can you extend me the courtesy of answering my questions in a straightforward way?


1. Mr. Anderson, can you admit that CCF was given one RFP by LHA for and other parties were given a separate RFP?
2. Mr. Anderson, can you admit that CCF was given an inside track in the Summers Step 2 Committee sham bidding process? Come on, the documents that prove this are on the city website.

3. Mr. Anderson, can you admit that it would be Council’s responsibility to issue an RFP, and not any citizen’s obligation to solicit bidders?


You and Council have been using the proverbial “straw man” for almost 2 years now. Summers created that “straw man” scheme on December 12, 2013 when he created the secret Step 2 Committee to conduct a sham “bid” process to “whitewash” what Summers, Bullock, Madigan and CCF Insiders had already decided on—closing the hospital for a CCF FHC in exchange for crumbs and “economic development” pipe dreams. Please explain, if you can, how it is the responsibility of citizens to solicit bidders?

4. Mr. Anderson can you balance ideals and realities and do you believe in accountability?

In our meeting of November 15, 2015, you said you wanted to hear from the Court in the taxpayer lawsuit before voting to get rid of the 1996 Agreement. CCF has now admitted in its own hand that it has a $278 million liability under that 1996 Agreement. That begs the questions:

5. Do you agree that overturning the bad deal and holding CCF accountable would be a far better way of balancing ideals, realities and vision for a city?

6. Would you rather have CCF pay us $9.6M and have an FHC or have CCF pay us $278M and a hospital?

7. Mr. Anderson, can you admit a mistake and work for the people of Lakewood by coming to terms with reality in a balanced way?

The CCF documents prove that my April 13, 2015 letter Council and my analysis was 100% correct---JOB posted it here on the Deck
http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... ssi#p94128

Here was my advice back then--this directly addresses your thread title questioned “what would I do?” in the context the reality of what I said I would do last year and not in the abstract ideal of hindsight. With Issue 64 pending, my analysis remains valid today:

“You on behalf of our City currently have at least five aces in your hands:
1. If my analysis is valid the Lease and Definitive Agreement are assets;--My analysis was and is correct—Court documents prove it.
2. CCF needs and wants to retain its share of Lakewood’s valuable market;
3. CCF desperately wants the prime real estate location owned by the City upon which the hospital rests—tearing down the hospital insures their monopoly in the Lakewood Service Area for years to come—25,000 hospital admissions;
4. The possibility of a hospital continuing at that location after 2026—keeping this option open is very important for our City and any future negotiations.
5. The ability to seek competitive bidding for well thought out options with many others besides just CCF.”

8. So Mr. Anderson, can you balance your ideal of “going along to get along” with the realities and a vision for a city that actually enforces its agreements and takes care of its people, and can you admit you were mistaken and misled, and can you now support the people of Lakewood in defeating Issue 64?


9. Mr. Anderson, can you be fair, balanced and open minded and admit the Master Agreement is a bad deal?

[Brian Essi]

Dear Mr. Anderson,

You write about “balancing ideals, realities, and vision for a city” and “moral absolutes”, but with all due respect, you and the other elected official have completely failed come to terms with reality. That is why there are so many lies about the bad process and bad result that City Hall has controlled.

Let's get real. I wrote an article that was based entirely on facts contained in:
1. The City Audit (CAFR)
2. LHA audited financial statements
3. The Black and White terms and conditions contained in the Master Agreement.
4. Documents in CCF's own hand that CCF was forced to deliver in the taxpayer lawsuit.

City Hall can't get around those facts so they have gone into "damage control" mode with smoke screens and such.

But there is an undeniable reality of Council’s and Summers’ failures—that reality cannot be avoided by resort to the abstracts of “ideals” and “moral absolutes” and "Big Dreams."

The reality includes huge unanswered questions:
1. Who will be in control alleged $32M of public money that CCF currently controls through its wholly owned subsidiary LHA that is supposed to be put in the new Fake Foundation.
2. What is the development plan for the "MOTHBALLED" gutted building encumbered by a non-compete and CCF surface parking lot rights?

Reality check: There is NO PLAN that has been made public that would answer either of these questions as to where the people's money has gone and who will benefit from it.

That is why you can’t answer questions in a straightforward manner.

Nevertheless, here are my Straightforward Answers to your most recent Questions:

a. The reality is the “World Class” Cleveland Clinic has admitted it was legally obligated for $278 million in capital improvements and other money to operate the hospital until 2026--so there was no need for “emergency” legislation and no short term need to identify an alternative hospital operator.

b. The reality is that we had a well-funded, well positioned and profitable hospital with CCF before Mayor Summers announcing it was closing and manufactured a crisis.

c. Reacting to phony crisis, the reality is that Council never asked anyone to propose an FHC/ER and liquidation bid for Lakewood Hospital.

d. Despite Council’s failure ask anyone to bid on anything, the reality is there were two other alternatives that came forward, but Insiders rejected and rebuffed both.

e. The reality is that the $90M capital needs figure was generated from a CCF consultant, not a Lakewood consultant. The facts and legal obligations are clear, CCF and not the City was responsible for capital improvements so your question above is fully answered above or is otherwise misplaced and moot.


So you see, Mr. Anderson, the reality is that the answers to your questions were right there in front of you all the time. Your questions attempt to shift the blame to others, but the reality is you failed, not me or any citizens who failed to serve up an alternative bidder that was never needed in the first place.

Moving away from these realities, I will play along on your and the Burgess Boy’s theme of balancing “ideals, realities and vision for a city” and “moral absolutes.”

“Ask, and you will be given what you ask for. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open.”

Taking that moral ideal, we still circle back to reality: Council never asked. Council never sought. Council never knocked.

So Council never got much. Council never found much. And Council never saw behind the doors that could be opened.


So I’ve answered your questions, but our conversation does not end there---can you extend me the courtesy of answering my questions in a straightforward way?


1. Mr. Anderson, can you admit that CCF was given one RFP by LHA for and other parties were given a separate RFP?
2. Mr. Anderson, can you admit that CCF was given an inside track in the Summers Step 2 Committee sham bidding process? Come on, the documents that prove this are on the city website.

3. Mr. Anderson, can you admit that it would be Council’s responsibility to issue an RFP, and not any citizen’s obligation to solicit bidders?


You and Council have been using the proverbial “straw man” for almost 2 years now. Summers created that “straw man” scheme on December 12, 2013 when he created the secret Step 2 Committee to conduct a sham “bid” process to “whitewash” what Summers, Bullock, Madigan and CCF Insiders had already decided on—closing the hospital for a CCF FHC in exchange for crumbs and “economic development” pipe dreams. Please explain, if you can, how it is the responsibility of citizens to solicit bidders?

4. Mr. Anderson can you balance ideals and realities and do you believe in accountability?

In our meeting of November 15, 2015, you said you wanted to hear from the Court in the taxpayer lawsuit before voting to get rid of the 1996 Agreement. CCF has now admitted in its own hand that it has a $278 million liability under that 1996 Agreement. That begs the questions:

5. Do you agree that overturning the bad deal and holding CCF accountable would be a far better way of balancing ideals, realities and vision for a city?

6. Would you rather have CCF pay us $9.6M and have an FHC or have CCF pay us $278M and a hospital?

7. Mr. Anderson, can you admit a mistake and work for the people of Lakewood by coming to terms with reality in a balanced way?

The CCF documents prove that my April 13, 2015 letter Council and my analysis was 100% correct---JOB posted it here on the Deck
http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... ssi#p94128

Here was my advice back then--this directly addresses your thread title questioned “what would I do?” in the context the reality of what I said I would do last year and not in the abstract ideal of hindsight. With Issue 64 pending, my analysis remains valid today:

“You on behalf of our City currently have at least five aces in your hands:
1. If my analysis is valid the Lease and Definitive Agreement are assets;--My analysis was and is correct—Court documents prove it.
2. CCF needs and wants to retain its share of Lakewood’s valuable market;
3. CCF desperately wants the prime real estate location owned by the City upon which the hospital rests—tearing down the hospital insures their monopoly in the Lakewood Service Area for years to come—25,000 hospital admissions;
4. The possibility of a hospital continuing at that location after 2026—keeping this option open is very important for our City and any future negotiations.
5. The ability to seek competitive bidding for well thought out options with many others besides just CCF.”

8. So Mr. Anderson, can you balance your ideal of “going along to get along” with the realities and a vision for a city that actually enforces its agreements and takes care of its people, and can you admit you were mistaken and misled, and can you now support the people of Lakewood in defeating Issue 64?


9. Mr. Anderson, can you be fair, balanced and open minded and admit the Master Agreement is a bad deal?

Oh, BTW the $90M, to the extent it is valid number is built into the $278 M that CCF owes us.

In the 1996 Triple Net Lease LHA and CCF were responsible for all of it.

[Lori Allen _]

Does anyone really expect any real, truthful answers from these people? I feel it is futile at this point to keep going back and forth with David Anderson.

It would appear that the whole city, from the hospital to housing is being stolen from underneath us, possibly as fronts for money laundering. All of that allegedly dirty money has to be cleaned through seemingly legitimate transactions. It is worth noting that it is generally agreed that real estate and housing is one of the top fronts that criminals use to clean money.

I was out for an hour today speaking with residents in the city. When I tell them not only about the hospital, but about the alleged housing scam and I show them my evidence, they are furious. I am out every day in different parts of Lakewood speaking with residents. Anyone wanting to use my evidence on here for the alleged housing scam, feel free to print it and use it.

[cmager]

Be sure to speak with residents at The Westerly.