The Observation Deck

In the context of a thread drift debate over the "McKinley Place Development" thread, Councilman Anderson made the following statement on January 26, 2018:

David Anderson wrote:
850 Columbia was studied inside out and appraised by a Ritley and Associates’ independent state certified real estate appraiser.

David Anderson

Here is the 850 Columbia appraisal Mr. Anderson referred to:
Note the following key points from the appraisal:

1. The appraisal was based and conditioned upon the EXTRAORDINARY ASSUMPTION that it would be used for non profit (See highlighted page below). This lowered the fair market value by over $6M.
2. The appraisal was ordered and directed by Tom Gable---a CCF Trustee and Chairman of LHA (a non profit board of trustees that was a captive of CCF)
So, what Mr. Anderson claims was "studied inside out" by an "independent" appraiser is not accurate.

The City of Lakewood allowed CCF to tell them what 950 Columbia Road was worth and City Hall rolled over for that value---they never studied a thing about 850 Columbia Road!

Additionally, Mr. Anderson knows that Surgical development partners offered over $9M for 850 Columbia and I offered $10M cash for it in December, 2015. These offers came without listing or advertising.

The property was valued by a top real estate company in Cleveland for $13M without that EXTRAORDINARY assumption--I told Mr. Anderson and City Council this when I made my cash offer. They sold it for $8.2M extending an interest free loan to CCF to boot, placing the true sales price below $8M.

As long as City Hall continues to misrepresent what it has done to the taxpayers and underserved of Lakewood, they will continue to divide Lakewood.

And that's Bad Government. That's divisive government.

Wait, we lent CCF the money to buy it interest free? I wish my business had a partner like Lakewood!

todd vainisi wrote:Wait, we lent CCF the money to buy it interest free? I wish my business had a partner like Lakewood!

All

At some point it should start to become obvious, that while the Cleveland Clinic is a Corporation, and some view as bad.

It was the City Hall and out civic leaders that opened the door and got them to leave, $78 million, interest free loans, letting us give them prime space and pay for building their buildings, giving them exclusive rights. This was not done by a big bad corporation pulling out. It is is from avery smart corporation getting bought out and paid to leave.

Why?

Look who ends up with all the money and the property, friends of the mayor, and an ex mayor.

The same people that tried to run 15,000 out of their homes for a strip mall. The same people that deemed it important to relabel parts of Lakewood as "DowntowN." The same people that thought a city that no one had any trouble navigating desperately needed "wayfinding" where some of the signs still remain blank, but are conveniently where new things are being built. That told us hoe badly we needed to give to LHF to keep the hospital open. The same people that now have control of the land, the money, and our future.

The same people that declared success paying "Mainstreet" to declare us a "Mainstreet Community."

And the same people that had ZERO success on their own, except to give each other awards for giving awards.

Fellow Lakewoodites, wake up we have been played. Why do you think they still fight to open the books, and show anyone even the courts the paperwork.

Probably time for a cigarette, well we just got royally screwed.

What's next declaring crappy little buildings historic? Finding out the School Board building cannot be saved, and must be torn down?

In 2015 Mayor Summers told us "The Hospital is not closing" It was, he said, "It was suddenly and we did not know." We now know not only did he know, be he had been part of the plan for almost 10 years. They asked for community input.

We have been played.

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Brian Essi wrote:In the context of a thread drift debate over the "McKinley Place Development" thread, Councilman Anderson made the following statement on January 26, 2018:

David Anderson wrote:
850 Columbia was studied inside out and appraised by a Ritley and Associates’ independent state certified real estate appraiser.

David Anderson

Here is the 850 Columbia appraisal Mr. Anderson referred to:

Appraisal Westlake Medical Campus 850 Columbia Rd..pdf

Note the following key points from the appraisal:

1. The appraisal was based and conditioned upon the EXTRAORDINARY ASSUMPTION that it would be used for non profit (See highlighted page below). This lowered the fair market value by over $6M.
2. The appraisal was ordered and directed by Tom Gable---a CCF Trustee and Chairman of LHA (a non profit board of trustees that was a captive of CCF)

EXTRAORDINARY ASSUMPTION.jpeg

So, what Mr. Anderson claims was "studied inside out" by an "independent" appraiser is not accurate.

The City of Lakewood allowed CCF to tell them what 950 Columbia Road was worth and City Hall rolled over for that value---they never studied a thing about 850 Columbia Road!

Additionally, Mr. Anderson knows that Surgical development partners offered over $9M for 850 Columbia and I offered $10M cash for it in December, 2015. These offers came without listing or advertising.

The property was valued by a top real estate company in Cleveland for $13M without that EXTRAORDINARY assumption--I told Mr. Anderson and City Council this when I made my cash offer. They sold it for $8.2M extending an interest free loan to CCF to boot, placing the true sales price below $8M.

As long as City Hall continues to misrepresent what it has done to the taxpayers and underserved of Lakewood, they will continue to divide Lakewood.

And that's Bad Government. That's divisive government.

Thank you, Mr. Essi, for this document that confirms your analysis. It also confirms the positions of Mr. Call and myself.

We should all be deeply frustrated and disappointed that our elected leaders, like Council-member Anderson, continue to misrepresent aspects of the hospital liquidation that any plain reading of public documents will discredit.

That was the primary reason that I decided to call-out Council-member Anderson on this point in my various recent posts.

As a voter, all I seek from my elected officials is a reasonable level of competence and public service that is honest, ethical, and open as possible.

And, when local elected officials are discussing matters that relate to the material financial condition of their locality, they have a federally-mandated duty not to misrepresent those matters (when that locality issues public bonds.)

Jim O'Bryan wrote:We have been played.

We have been played by Summers and Fitzy and their Merry Gang, and by the CCF. CCF does not get a pass in this.

If someone came to you and said they were going to rob a bank, and offered you a bunch of the loot to go along, what do you do? Do you take the loot, or do you go to the police? You're saying it's OK for CCF to take the loot because they're a corporation? How swell that the corporate PR machine of NE Ohio (and for that matter, that of America) can normalize such expectations. I call bullshit.

cmager wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:We have been played.

We have been played by Summers and Fitzy and their Merry Gang, and by the CCF. CCF does not get a pass in this.

If someone came to you and said they were going to rob a bank, and offered you a bunch of the loot to go along, what do you do? Do you take the loot, or do you go to the police? You're saying it's OK for CCF to take the loot because they're a corporation? How swell that the corporate PR machine of NE Ohio (and for that matter, that of America) can normalize such expectations. I call bullshit.

CM

A couple reasons for me to say what I say, and I am not absolving CCF of blame, just putting it in proper perspective, and honest perspective. I also personally believe that the war against CCF is like throwing yourself against a wall, and somewhat pointless, as the city of Lakewood had no contract with CCF, but LHA did. Is CCF complicit sure, but to what end, what did they owe Lakewoodites as opposed to what they owed themselves and their board. I would also point out the CCF has never lied to me about what was going on, City of Lakewood continues to lie, misrepresent, cover-up, and destroy documents. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm?

More to the point, the City of Lakewood, the Mayor, Law Director, Finance Director and member of council have fiduciary duties to the residents of Lakewood. They by law and through election our our eyes, ears, and legal arms to protect and serve. To my limited knowledge, I have never heard of a document from CCF asking to be released from their contract. However there are documents from City Hall and LHA asking them to reconsider their contract and basically move on. These are now the infamous RFPs issued by City Hall the first one ignored by CCF as they already had a contract with LHA. Now we can talk about the decanting of the hospital, but I would think the fiduciary duties of our elected officials would be to sound an alarm, now expedite, cover-up for 8 years, and assist them in doing so. From all I have read and seen, it was moves by Mayor FitzGerald that actually allowed all of this to start and happen. It was with the move of heir apparent to FitzGerald Mike Summers to the LHA Board, that solidified the exodus and threw the entire decanting into full speed ahead mode. Again, it was the duty of our elected officials and especially those on the LHA Board to sound the alarms, not silence the alarms and look the other way.

At every turn of this debacle, CCF did exactly what I would expect any corporation to do, get what they can for the corporation. At every turn I now see City Hall, Council and some of the members of LHA, especially our elected officials, working to keep it silent, hurry it along, and confuse and misrepresent at every turn what was really going on. This gets us back to this thread and what Mr. Kindt is pointing out and underlining in "Bad Government." Go back and look at the discussions and the misrepresentation and outright lies from City Hall. No average resident could wade through the BS and smoke they were pouring out. Do you really belive that was to protect the clinic, or their own malfeasance? It was the Mayor that said "Lakewood Hospital is not closing." When he had a document in his hand he had worked on for years in secret calling for the close of Lakewood Hospital at least 64 times. When he chose to lie to Lakewood residents, he had already agreed to close Lakewood Hospital. This was not the clinic forcing him to close it, it was all part of a long running plan by the Mayor and friends to close the hospital, loot the foundations, and get the property. This was not CCF making them do it. As an outsider not paying attention you would never notice the same names pop up time and time again in the sacking of Lakewood for personal gains, personal job security, and some sick need to control everything.

No I am not absolving the clinic from being the Clinic, but I refuse to take my eyes off the real scoundrels in all of this. The Mayor, his friends, Build Lakewood, and now LHF who have been waiting and salivating for their chance to get their hands on the scraps of the corpse.

When you look at the countless charades and BS they did, fake police reports, fights, misrepresentations, all in an effort to cover up and be in the cat bird seat. It is sick.

Lakewood was played, by the Clinic was merely a red herring and misdirection in the scam, not the culprits. In a proper con game like 3-card Monte, you need a person to misdirect, win a little, and make everyone else think the cons are on the level.

Yeah we were played, we will never hold the Clinic accountable, but we must not let the hustlers get the rewards. After all they have proven over the last 15 years, they have little if no ability to be honest and or to deliver anything but jobs and awards to themselves.

If you really think Civic Leaders worked for over ten years on this in secret and never figure out to do with the "booty" you are merely being played again.

Watch for someone to come up with some lame brain scam of us being the new "XXXXXXXXX City" and for only $50,000 - $1 million we can mange it and award ourselves some more awards, build ourselves an office and...

BET ON IT. Healthy Region, Wellness Region, Green Region, Red Region, Blue Region... BET ON IT.

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Brian Essi wrote:In the context of a thread drift debate over the "McKinley Place Development" thread, Councilman Anderson made the following statement on January 26, 2018:

David Anderson wrote:
850 Columbia was studied inside out and appraised by a Ritley and Associates’ independent state certified real estate appraiser.

David Anderson

So, what Mr. Anderson claims was "studied inside out" by an "independent" appraiser is not accurate.

The City of Lakewood allowed CCF to tell them what 950 Columbia Road was worth and City Hall rolled over for that value---they never studied a thing about 850 Columbia Road!

Additionally, Mr. Anderson knows that Surgical development partners offered over $9M for 850 Columbia and I offered $10M cash for it in December, 2015. These offers came without listing or advertising.

Excellent work Mr. Essi!

Once again your facts have disrupted their narrative.

I still remember one LHA Board member dismissively stating that the LHA ""did not want to get involved in a bidding war" over the Columbia Road property.

One of Metro Health's offers included the phrase that they were open to lease, lease purchase, purchase or whatever other type of arrangement that could be negotiated. Mayor Summers refused to respond.

Bill Call wrote:

Brian Essi wrote:In the context of a thread drift debate over the "McKinley Place Development" thread, Councilman Anderson made the following statement on January 26, 2018:

David Anderson wrote:
850 Columbia was studied inside out and appraised by a Ritley and Associates’ independent state certified real estate appraiser.

David Anderson

So, what Mr. Anderson claims was "studied inside out" by an "independent" appraiser is not accurate.

The City of Lakewood allowed CCF to tell them what 950 Columbia Road was worth and City Hall rolled over for that value---they never studied a thing about 850 Columbia Road!

Additionally, Mr. Anderson knows that Surgical development partners offered over $9M for 850 Columbia and I offered $10M cash for it in December, 2015. These offers came without listing or advertising.

Excellent work Mr. Essi!

Once again your facts have disrupted their narrative.

I still remember one LHA Board member dismissively stating that the LHA ""did not want to get involved in a bidding war" over the Columbia Road property.

One of Metro Health's offers included the phrase that they were open to lease, lease purchase, purchase or whatever other type of arrangement that could be negotiated. Mayor Summers refused to respond.

Mr. Call,

What is wrong with a "bidding war" when it comes to helping the underserved? Or..what is wrong with a "bidding war" when you are businessman selling an asset?

That is another good example of how an ignorant (and perhaps conflicted and self-serving) board member acted to divide Lakewood----the law is clear that a trustee for a non-profit charity has a fiduciary duty to obtain fair market value for charitable assets being sold. At least 48% of residents of Lakewood who voted seemed to understand that in two separate elections.

The LHA board funded the Build Lakewood PAC to the tune of $50,000 and directly spent an undisclosed amount of charitable money to spread "deadly spin"---i.e. lies in order to "sell" charitable assets at below FMV---they divided Lakewood.

Will Justice Ever Be Served To The Perps?

"DowntowN"

These signs always crack me up, they are trying to do something, we know not what!

Signed

Jerry ritceY

Jerry Ritcey wrote:"DowntowN"

These signs always crack me up, they are trying to do something, we know not what!

Signed

Jerry ritceY

Jerry

Congratulations, you win a Lakewood Observer glow in the dark T-Shirt for mentioning one of the top posts and one of my favorite posts of ALL TIME!

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Logo for Downtown Lakewood A must read for everyone in Lakewood, and it features many of those that not "hate the Deck."
Viewed at: http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... t=new+logo

While it does not go back to the same small group working to throw 1,500 people out of their apartments for a "Cheesecake Factory" it goes back to when they all melted down after getting caught running another one of their schemes.

While over 24 pages long, grab a coffee, hot chocolate or beer, curl up by the fire and read a hilarious posts. Watch civic leaders melt down and attack anyone who dare question them, and watch as the Deck does what the Deck does best, ferret out the BS.

The sad part it resulted in a couple people being told by their boards, "You cannot go on the Deck, you cannot handle open conversation."

I find it terrible when civic leaders cannot control themselves in public.

Read on, party on.

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