The Observation Deck

...lead with ACCOUNTABILITY AND HONESTY at City Hall, walk away and find one that does.

As I have said many times, we might be ablr to survive the sacking of our Lakewood Hospital, but we can no longer liver under a City Hall that will not comply with simple public records requests, and fight to hide, cover-up, conceal, misinform, intimidate, bribe, through 3 elections, while turning over no facts, no documents that would allow the residents to understand, what happened? How? Why? And most importantly is it clean?

Way back in 2015 I suggested, we would look at many terms in the coming years, and that it was going to get very ugly. I used terms like, terrorism, hits being made, RICO violations, and worse.

The problem was not Cleveland Clinic, the problem is not the liquidation of our largest asset.

The problem is Lakewood City Hall has lost their way, their morals, and their purpose.

And the growing problem, a City Council that sits by and not only allows it to happen, but enables the coverups and lies to continue.


As featured in the SLAPP Lawsuit in a desperate failed attempt to silence the only group gathering facts and sharing them openly with discussion to the citizens of Lakewood.

Set volume to 11


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I don't believe that city hall is the only culprit in the mess that has practically taken over Lakewood.

Ms. Antonio came to some Save Lakewood Hospital meetings and was seen several times helping at Mike Skindell's campaign office.

Next she stood up at a city council meeting and backed the mayor and council. This is known as infiltrating a candidates campaign, which I believe, is against the law.

Then it appears that Armond Budish and Cuyahoga County may have had a part in the Lakewood takeover.

In time, I believe, we may know the real truth.

Lori

I have read you stuff, I worry for Lakewood first.

Feel free to start your own thread about county and state corruption.

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Jim,

Ms. Antonio and the County are a part of the mess in Lakewood!

First amendment rights are important too!

I feel that someone at city hall is trying to take your's and the Deck's away.

Again, tell Mr. Summers that he does not have to portray his anger at me through some here on the Deck. He can call me anytime.

Mr. Mayor, it is called extortion! Mr. Mayor, the truth will come out no matter how much you try to have others shut me up.

If we are going to start complaining about posts being derailed, there are other posters here on the Deck that should follow the same standards.

This thread says a lot about current council:

http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/v ... =7&t=23895

The city is engaged in a lawsuit over access to PUBLIC RECORDS. When council members are asked to state their position on the city withholding public records from citizens, NOT ONE can respond.

The current crop needs to be replaced.

Send them a message by voting them out.

There are several alternative candidates vying for positions on council.

Lakewood voters should make sure they research these candidates carefully. It appears that in the last election, the mayor placed plenty of his friends on the candidate roster.

Not accusing anyone in particular, but, we know this mayor is a slime ball that controls EVERYTHING in Lakewood.

Lori Allen _ wrote:Jim,

First amendment rights are important too!

I feel that someone at city hall is trying to take your's and the Deck's away.

Again, tell Mr. Summers that he does not have to portray his anger at me through some here on the Deck. He can call me anytime.

Mr. Mayor, it is called extortion! Mr. Mayor, the truth will come out no matter how much you try to have others shut me up.

If we are going to start complaining about posts being derailed, there are other posters here on the Deck that should follow the same standards.

Lori

I get the First Amendment part, I also get people wanting to kill the Deck.

But I am really confused over the rest of your message.

No one was trying to shut you up, pure over the top hyperbole, and untrue.

I asked you to move it to another thread. Many have asked you to keep the diatribes out of their threads, as a courtesy, to them and their rights for a clean discussion.

Do you really believe, the Mayor or his minions called me to shut you up?

Really.

OK enough of the sideshow.

Vote for honesty and transparency.

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OK!

Honesty.

Transparency.

Tristan Rader.

n.b. It looks like announced challengers are all starting to publish information, as of this point; I see Facebook pages for three campaigns as of today.

At the moment I'm only really familiar with current council members, and with Tristan Rader, on whose campaign I am working. But I expect plenty of opportunities to read, meet, ask and discuss with candidates. Please take advantage of them!

mjkuhns wrote:n.b. It looks like announced challengers are all starting to publish information, as of this point; I see Facebook pages for three campaigns as of today.

At the moment I'm only really familiar with current council members, and with Tristan Rader, on whose campaign I am working. But I expect plenty of opportunities to read, meet, ask and discuss with candidates. Please take advantage of them!

Matt, or Tristan Rader, or anyone who can speak for Tristan:
If the election were held at this moment, I would probably vote for Tristan and enthusiastically, but I have a question.
In my opinion, one of our greatest needs in Council is someone who will stand against bad ideas, and stand up for such things as the court-ordered disclosure of documents, and damn the consequences.
As I look at Tristan, I see someone destined for bigger things than Lakewood City Council, and that can be a good thing. One problem with it is, in order to advance, such a person needs to go along with the Mayor and the Council majority if he/she has any hope of passing whatever initiatives will help them win future elections, and that can be not such a good thing in our current political climate. How does Tristan respond to this?

Dan Alaimo wrote:As I look at Tristan, I see someone destined for bigger things than Lakewood City Council, and that can be a good thing. One problem with it is, in order to advance, such a person needs to go along with the Mayor and the Council majority if he/she has any hope of passing whatever initiatives will help them win future elections, and that can be not such a good thing in our current political climate. How does Tristan respond to this?

While I'm confident in him making good choices for the community, this is probably one that Tristan will best answer more fully. I'll send him a note. I know he had to travel today, but you should hear back fairly soon. Thanks Dan!

Dan Alaimo wrote:How does Tristan respond to this?

So Tristan got my message and responded promptly. He is beginning a couple of busy days, and today in particular it was simpler for him to explain his answer on the phone, and let me type and post it. (Don't type and drive!)

His comments:

"I think this is a real concern for Lakewood, and it's actually one of the reasons I'm running for city council. Dissenting votes are extremely rare. I want to change that. I think we have a stronger government and community when we set out our disagreements in the open. If I believe something is right, I want to vote for it, and vice versa if something is wrong. I think there is value in doing that even if a majority votes otherwise. Change typically doesn't happen all at once; someone usually has to be the first to speak up and I believe in doing that.

"I think that we can be respectful and look for common ground, and do that even if there are times when we don't find it, and those disagreements are open and on-record. I'll talk to people who I have disagreed with. There's usually somewhere we can have productive dialogue. I think that's actually more likely when you establish that people can trust your position, at least, whether or not it's the one they want.

"The legislators I admire most all take that approach, and I think they would say they're effective. I'm willing to follow their examples the best I can. I can't guarantee how it will turn out in Lakewood, but it's the approach I represent; this is what I'm offering voters. If Lakewood responds by sending me to city council, I'll try to carry out that approach, and do what's in the community interest throughout my term in office. That's my goal above anything else."

mjkuhns wrote:

Dan Alaimo wrote:How does Tristan respond to this?

So Tristan got my message and responded promptly. He is beginning a couple of busy days, and today in particular it was simpler for him to explain his answer on the phone, and let me type and post it. (Don't type and drive!)

His comments:

"I think this is a real concern for Lakewood, and it's actually one of the reasons I'm running for city council. Dissenting votes are extremely rare. I want to change that. I think we have a stronger government and community when we set out our disagreements in the open. If I believe something is right, I want to vote for it, and vice versa if something is wrong. I think there is value in doing that even if a majority votes otherwise. Change typically doesn't happen all at once; someone usually has to be the first to speak up and I believe in doing that.

"I think that we can be respectful and look for common ground, and do that even if there are times when we don't find it, and those disagreements are open and on-record. I'll talk to people who I have disagreed with. There's usually somewhere we can have productive dialogue. I think that's actually more likely when you establish that people can trust your position, at least, whether or not it's the one they want.

"The legislators I admire most all take that approach, and I think they would say they're effective. I'm willing to follow their examples the best I can. I can't guarantee how it will turn out in Lakewood, but it's the approach I represent; this is what I'm offering voters. If Lakewood responds by sending me to city council, I'll try to carry out that approach, and do what's in the community interest throughout my term in office. That's my goal above anything else."

Many thanks, Matt and Tristan (who called me from the car).
That's exactly what I had hoped to hear.

One other thing, after a helpful nudge in the ribs I recalled that Dan also specifically mentioned court-ordered disclosure of documents. He may only have been mentioning that as an example, but I'll address it too, because it's also important. In fact I have discussed this area enough with Tristan that I don't need to check with him.

His position is that our city should be handling disclosure based on the question "do we absolutely have to keep this information classified," rather than "do we absolutely have to release this information." Unfortunately, I don't think there there can be any doubt at present that our custodian of records is employing the second test instead of the first.

So, Tristan is in favor of releasing documents when instructed to do so by a court, and in basically any case where there is no compelling requirement not to release them. We are actively looking into specific reforms to recommend, also, in addition to saying "I think this situation should change." I feel safe in saying that if he's on city council, he will back up the values of open government by introducing policies, which (if you approve of them) you can tell your other council members "please support this measure."

Meanwhile, thanks everyone for your patience with me as "campaign surrogate." I'm happy to say that we are preparing a number of upcoming events specifically for people to talk with Tristan about their priorities; I will certainly provide updates as we fix the details.