The Observation Deck

Among much fanfare yesterday, followed by reposts and retweets by sycophants and people deeply involved to make sure the world knew it, Mayor Summers decided after two years to try TRANSPARENCY OUT, and let the public see some of the very documents they are by law entitled to EVERY DAY. There was a long diatribe about how this would be good for all Lakewoodites to see...blah, blah, blahhhhhhhhh.

All a show.

First the documents released were hand-picked, and after distilling duplicates and blank pages went from 1,300+ to just under 300 actual pages.

So after two years of people asking for specific items with good reason and being refused, the good Mayor has decided Democracy, Transparency will come back to this small handful of handpicked documents. He will share with us a small glimpse of the records we are entitled to, and say, "Nothing to see here, told you."

All a show...

Meanwhile, the court docket remains empty. ZERO DOCUMENTS PRODUCED IN THE LAWSUITS.

FACT - No documents produced by June 12th deadline imposed by Courts.

ZERO DOCUMENTS ON WHAT MATTERS.

Lakewood residents, you are being played, oh how you are being played.

I can prove you are being lied to and played yet again with one simple question. City Hall, Councilman Anderson, The Law Director assured us, the residents, and the courts, it would take hundreds of hours and more than 500 REAMS OF PAPER to produce the documents. Far too hard, far too costly, far too much paper and expenses.

QUESTION: In 1,300 pages of documents how many actual reams of paper were used? (500 pages in a ream)

ANSWER: 0, as we told you from day one, they could be produced electronically. These people are lying.

Mayor Summers, TRANSPARENCY NOW, release all the documents the courts have said are public documents.

Quit stonewalling, quit covering up, quit lying and quit intimidating people.

.

On March 9, 2017, the city was ordered by the court to produce an index of the records it provided and a listing of all records redacted or withheld.

They were to provide the court with copies of the withheld records so that the court could determine if they were appropriately withheld.

Date the above was due MAY 1, 2017.

Compliance with above order?

ZERO.

There have been NO documents submitted to the court per the above order.

Read it for yourselves. It's right on the docket under the March 9 date.

No one is making this up or exaggerating one bit. It's ON THE COURT RECORD for all to see.

In fact, you can't make this up.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Lakewood residents, you are being played, oh how you are being played.

City Hall is winning.
They realize that most people don't have the time or will to read their little announcement.
Most people just see a headline and assume that City Hall responded.
All City Hall has to do is PRETEND to be transparent, and their acolytes will gladly play along and sell their farce.
Most people in town are too busy worried about their jobs, lives, health, and Trump to notice what's going on.

It's sure as heck a lot easier to ignore the unpleasant reality of how politicians, corporations, and everyone in power use and abuse the average citizen. I get that.

And so do they.

I believe I mentioned several months ago about the possibility of Summers having a close relationship with Armond Budish. Do we think that maybe Armond is telling the courts to drag their heels?

If any of us tried to get away with not complying with a court order, we would be held in contempt of court!

I wonder if Mr. Budish will be the next public official to leave town.

I believe Mr. Budish is just one of many that have been or have become involved in the alleged illegal and immoral dealings within the city of Lakewood.

When this all rears it's ugly head, some of you will be amazed at how far the scope of all this is.

As I have said before, they could make an episode of Law and Order Criminal Intent out of all this.

There are a lot of us who are really enjoying watching the Mayer and Council squirm and lawyer up!

A question for Mssrs. Essi et al and other attorneys who have posted on this topic:
Criminal charges have been filed against various State and Local officials in the Flint Michigan water catastrophe which could generally be characterized as not executing the prescribed law and duties of a particular governmental office or agency.
Are there comparables to the situation in Lakewood?
Stan Austin

I have said for the past two years that I believe , when all is said and done, we will probably find that along with Armond Budish, several other county employees may be in trouble.

Mr. Summers appears to be buddies with Judge O'Donnell, and others in the courts. Why else would Mr. Butler not already have been charged with contempt of court? Why else would the judge be permitting all the BS to continue? Does the judge really think Mr. Butler is coming forward with the best intentions?

I believe it is time to file a complaint with the Federal Bureau of investigation. Something does not appear to be on the up and up with our county courts.

I forgot to mention (see my above post) that I have photos of City Hall apparently burning the "midnight oil", such as lights on in the council meeting room and the council office late, late at night, and even on weekend nights. Who is up there and what are they doing? At one point in time, I recall seeing a "Shred-It" truck at City Hall.