Leadership Vacuum in Northeast Ohio

[Mark Kindt]

A very interesting article in this morning's Crain's:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/ ... hip-vacuum

The last several paragraphs have all the numbers.

The criticism is that that same old players are still at the game and lack fresh ideas.

Sound familiar, Lakewood?

Our city couldn't even qualify for an Opportunity Zone.

[Bridget Conant]

A very interesting article in this morning's Crain's:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/ ... hip-vacuum

The last several paragraphs have all the numbers.

The criticism is that that same old players are still at the game and lack fresh ideas.

Sound familiar, Lakewood?

Our city couldn't even qualify for an Opportunity Zone.

There is no better example of this than the inept and laughable Amazon HQ “proposal.” It was a loser from the start - thank Jackson and TeamNEO for that.

Not one credible, creative, or forward thinking idea in that POS.

[Mark Kindt]

And, much like the situation in Lakewood, the public was denied access to these obviously public documents and it took months to obtain them by lawsuit under the Ohio open records laws.

And, I hope that we see some truly fresh faces on the board of the Healthy Lakewood Foundation.

[Stan Austin]

I posted on a Facebook site to this article. My response was (sanitized) that it is also the responsibility for the recent grads 20 to 30 somethings to kick the fuc**** door down. We've seen this in Lakewood with Tristan Rader and Meghan George. Batter Up!!!

[Mark Kindt]

A further point:

It would send a terrible message to our community if former directors/trustees of the Lakewood Hospital Association and the Lakewood Hospital Foundation, and current directors/trustees of the Three Arches Foundation were appointed to the board of the Healthy Lakewood Foundation.

These appointments will tell us whether there will be any fresh thinking and fresh talent as the City of Lakewood launches its re-visioning of local healthcare.

Or, will it just be the usual suspects?

[Dan Alaimo]

One time when I was sitting through a SLH meeting, the thought occurred that the next group of Lakewood leaders would come out of that movement. Maybe not with the specific people in that room, but it is starting to happen. The hospital debacle exposed the shortcomings of our current leadership. I noted a few of the names of the people in that room running for the Dem committee this year. I even got a call asking if I was interested (thanks, Matt - but it turned out my precinct had people running).

Maybe something good will eventually come out of the hospital closing.

[Mark Kindt]

One time when I was sitting through a SLH meeting, the thought occurred that the next group of Lakewood leaders would come out of that movement. Maybe not with the specific people in that room, but it is starting to happen. The hospital debacle exposed the shortcomings of our current leadership. I noted a few of the names of the people in that room running for the Dem committee this year. I even got a call asking if I was interested (thanks, Matt - but it turned out my precinct had people running).

Maybe something good will eventually come out of the hospital closing.

This is a fine opportunity for new and emerging leadership across-the-board in Lakewood.

New council-members George and Rader, as well as newly-elected precinct leaders, are emblematic of this needed change.

The municipal elections next year will offer another opportunity for municipal reform.

I base my comments on the following principal:

Those council-members that voted for the demolition of this invaluable, long-standing, community asset now have little or no credibility with the electorate. They have no record to campaign upon.

Municipal reform now!

[Bill Call]

The most interesting part in the article is at the very beginning where the article mentions that if anonymity is guaranteed local leaders will admit that strategic plan after strategic plan has failed.

Sounds a little like the Lakewood Hospital debacle. Privately Board members and others will tell you what a bad deal it is. Publically, they offer nothing but silence.

If our regional "leadership" is still looking for a strategic plan that will work the first step would be to ask for a PUBLIC discussion of previous plans and why they failed.

The biggest reason for the failure of the plans is that the plans never made any sense. Here are my thoughts on those plans:

1. Tax increases to subsidize baseball, football and basket ball stadiums and their operations is not a strategic development plan. It's feel good wish list.

2. I can say the same $300 million in subsidies for the arts. If institutions like Playhouse Square were economic engines they wouldn't need operating subsidies.

3. I can say the same about millions in subsidies for Downtown apartment development. If the City had job growth the apartments and housing would follow. The current plan simply spends hundreds of millions to pay people to move from one side of town to the other.

4. The obsession with the Cleveland Clinic has done more damage to the region and its priorities than people are willing to admit.

Don't hold your breath waiting for anyone to challenge the existing template.

Of course, the whole idea of "grooming" the next generation of leaders is an absurdity. What they mean is that the current failed leadership picks the succeeding leadership which will promise to continue the current failed policies. Think of Ed Fitzgerald grooming Mike Summers who is grooming Sam O'Leary. True leadership will come from people who CHALLENGE the current leadership.

[Mark Kindt]

You may remember a Plain Dealer series called "The Quiet Crisis" on similar topics that began in 2002.

Here is a link to my Op-Ed Article called "Reinventing the Economy" (Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 13, 2002)

http://kindt.com/?page_id=50

[Stan Austin]

Quite prescient. I think that generally Cleveland suffers from the perspective going back to the late 19th Century that we are the recipients of economic trends and have no say in the bottom up theory of affectation. Our sister (brother, other) City--Pgh 20 years ago took the bridle and started self directing its future. It's doing better than us (with all those hills!)

[Bridget Conant]

Interesting articles in PD about the joke bid for the Amazon HQ. These are the people who have kept Cleveland from ever realizing its potential.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2018/01/heres_the_codename_cleveland_l.amp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2018/05/heres_cleveland_amazon_hq2_loc.amp

And just think - Lakewood’s own Jay Foran is a bigwig at TeamNEO. Keep knocking it out of the park!

[Jim O'Bryan]

Interesting articles in PD about the joke bid for the Amazon HQ. These are the people who have kept Cleveland from ever realizing its potential.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2018/01/heres_the_codename_cleveland_l.amp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2018/05/heres_cleveland_amazon_hq2_loc.amp

And just think - Lakewood’s own Jay Foran is a bigwig at TeamNEO. Keep knocking it out of the park!

Of course it was. The group was dedicated to bringing businesses to Ohio, then taking businesses to Europe, then...

Anything for grant money I suppose. One took credit for bringing Nestle to the area even though they were in 10th Grade when they acquired Stouffer's!

Cleveland dying thanks to groups like this. All hype not muscle, no deliverables.

So here we liquidate a $280 million publicly owned asset, that would have provided 1,600 high paying jobs and $250 million in income and maybe a billion in trickle down businesses, for new office space for the pirates that did it, and MAYBE a Mitchell's ice cream.

WTF, Class of 72 should be banned from holding public office.

ANYONE connected to this debacle should be banned from having any input or access to the funds from it.

They schemed, they lied, they covered up, and they pulled off the worst deal in Lakewood's history.

Bring on the youth!

.

[cmager]

Interesting articles in PD about the joke bid for the Amazon HQ. These are the people who have kept Cleveland from ever realizing its potential.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2018/01/heres_the_codename_cleveland_l.amp
https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2018/05/heres_cleveland_amazon_hq2_loc.amp
And just think - Lakewood’s own Jay Foran is a bigwig at TeamNEO. Keep knocking it out of the park!

Team NEO was a leader of the brains that offered the Terminal Tower and the PO Complex to Amazon? The Terminal Tower? That is smaller ball thinking than killing a hospital for a 5 acre infill anchored by an ice cream shop. That is embarrassingly incompetent.

[Bill Call]

When an expert (economist?) was asked about what it would take for Cleveland to reach its economic goals he said something like (to paraphrase), "I don't know an effing thing. If I had that answer I would win a noble prize".

That's an honest answer.

One of the conceits of local politicians is that they think that Columbus or Seattle or San Francisco or Washington D.C are economic success stories because of the cleverness of local politicians. While local leadership can do a lot of damage or do some small things to secure economic growth they are mostly powerless.

When Xerox and Kodak where economic giants employing hundreds of thousands of people the politicians in Rochester, New York, thought it was because of all of the great things local government did. When Xerox and Kodak collapsed up State New York collapsed as well.

If Bill Gates was born in Cleveland this town would be booming. If Columbus was NOT the State capital it would still be a cow town.

Is Northern Virginia booming because it's people are so clever or is it booming because it is home to the largest company in the world, the US Government?

There are things that government can do that can make a difference. If 50 years ago the federal government made the Lewis Research Center a priority, if the federal government invested $100 billion in Case for research and development ( think Sanford and Harvard) things here would be a lot different. If Ohio elected Senators and Congressmen and women who actually fought for the State things might be different.

If the Cleveland area worked with local corporations like Revco, Revco might still exists as the biggest drug store chain in the U.S. Instead we elect leaders who think industry is the enemy (think Kucinich) or that business is a cash cow (think the Cuyahoga County progressive Caucus).

I wonder, what if 30 years ago we hadn't decided to invest in sports stadiums and "downtown" development to the exclusion of all else? What would be different?.

What is the solution? If I knew that I would win the effen Noble Prize.

Of course, at the City level there are things that can be done to steal jobs and economic activity from other local cities. One is to fight for the only growth area in the region, the health care industry. Another is to spend $100 million in city assets on retail development and condominiums. Take your pick.

[cmager]

^^^ What Bill Call said. Boom!