Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

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Jim O'Bryan
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Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Jim O'Bryan » Fri Dec 20, 2019 7:53 am

Many troubling things are coming to light about the Summers Administration which goes far beyond merely selling Lakewood's largest asset worth over $248 million employing 1,600 in high paying jobs for $1 to the man that started the nightmare and appointed him the LHA Board, then Mayoral post.

Word was coming out and reported here going back as far as February, that the Mayor was locking things up for the next 5 years in case his side did not win. Last week at Council we saw yeat another fear that was mentioned way back in January of 2015. "The Mayor and his supporters including groups like BuildLakewood will back the city into a place we cannot escape." Last Council meeting 4 members of Council to paraphrase, "We have to spend the extra money, we have no other choice but to finish this." Sure enough as this group have tried many times, get them on a road to nowhere gut the funds, and leave everyone holding the bag.

Yesterday I received a mailing the Lakewood Magazine which the Mayor has turned into his own little propaganda machine, speaking of how well the Mayor has done. Of course all of his sycophants chanting the same, though every fact underlines that it is probably the worst administration ever. Jen Pae, the very political and usually wrong ex-finance director's propaganda site going as far as calling any who question his record "A Turd in Lakewood punch bowl." Trump could have done it better, well worse.

In it, it talks about the millions Summers is leaving the City. Well if you back off current bills and bills about to hit, we see the Millions as under $600,000. While this is better than what Madeline Cain left Tom George $0, it is more bullshit from the most lying Mayor in Lakewood's history. And points to how Finance and the Mayor create illusions so they do not get discovered. But was most troubling is that the propaganda piece a 4 color glossy, was sent almost the most expensive way it could be sent. And the City knows better and have used less costly ways to get their bullshit out.

I am convinced a month and a half into this the Mayor and sycophants will do anything to make the next administration fail, so they can regain power, no matter what it costs the residents and businesses of Lakewood.

In coming Mayor Georger should demand an immediate state audit and accounting of both the books, and the actions by the Summers administration the last 6 months.

It is really getting old.

.


Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
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Michael Deneen
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Michael Deneen » Fri Dec 20, 2019 8:13 am

Jim O'Bryan wrote:I am convinced a month and a half into this the Mayor and sycophants will do anything to make the next administration fail, so they can regain power, no matter what it costs the residents and businesses of Lakewood.


Team Summers controls at least four of the six 2020 council members. The selection of the 7th council member will tell us everything we need to know.
If they choose Summers' Mouthpiece Pae, then we know the new council is hunkering down for a four year war with the new Mayor.


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Jim O'Bryan
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Jim O'Bryan » Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:14 am

Michael Deneen wrote:
Jim O'Bryan wrote:I am convinced a month and a half into this the Mayor and sycophants will do anything to make the next administration fail, so they can regain power, no matter what it costs the residents and businesses of Lakewood.


Team Summers controls at least four of the six 2020 council members. The selection of the 7th council member will tell us everything we need to know.
If they choose Summers' Mouthpiece Pae, then we know the new council is hunkering down for a four year war with the new Mayor.



When Madeline Cain ran against Tom George she spotted off about a $4 million dollar surplus. It instantly turned into a deficit when the bills were paid. Tom never asked for an accounting. 4 years later Ed FitzGerlald ran against Tom saying he squandered the excess. IS this Phase 2 of, "We left them millions and they poured it all into a hole in the middle of Lakewood."

We need a complete once over of the books, and the documents that they have not destroyed or hidden, as they have a long history of doing.

.


Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Pam Wetula
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Pam Wetula » Fri Dec 20, 2019 11:13 am

Didn't the Summer's administration and Lakewood receive ( 7?) millions from the Jacobs Estate? Summers did not enhance our financial picture. Once we cover his deferred maintenance, the loss from the hospital etc... the city cannot be in the rosy financial state he is congratulating himself on. :(


Mark Kindt
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Mark Kindt » Fri Dec 20, 2019 11:40 am

The Hole That Ate Lakewood

We can now add the value of future tax abatement AND the additional remediation costs for the hospital site PCE soil contamination problem as more public subsidies to One Lakewood Place.

I will update this table when I have time.

Scale of Subsidies Is Significant - Minimal Return To City.jpg
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Mark Kindt
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Mark Kindt » Fri Dec 20, 2019 1:29 pm

Here is the revised table.

Whatever the City of Lakewood is doing here, it is profoundly stupid.

Even if you treat the dollar value of the former hospital building at $0.00, the city would not be net positive on its public subsidies to its selected developer until around the late 2060s.

Take that to the bank! If you have a viable counter-analysis, I want to see it.

Public Subsidies for Luxury Housing -- Poor Public Policy Choice -- Lakewood.jpg
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Mark Kindt
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Mark Kindt » Fri Dec 20, 2019 4:45 pm

The City Must Have A Magic Calculator Hidden Somewhere

One Lakewood Place has been described as "a once-in-a 50-year investment opportunity" for the city or in other similarly glowing terms in the annual financial reports, year after year.

Once you factor in 100% tax abatement on the structures that the developer builds, it will take One Lakewood Place 129 years to return enough tax revenues to the public treasury to cover the amount of public assets and public funds that have been and will be dumped into the project.

Mr. O'Bryan is dead-on about this.

I don't care how they rationalize it, One Lakewood Place is another debacle.


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Jim O'Bryan
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Jim O'Bryan » Sat Dec 21, 2019 7:42 am

Mark Kindt wrote:The City Must Have A Magic Calculator Hidden Somewhere

One Lakewood Place has been described as "a once-in-a 50-year investment opportunity" for the city or in other similarly glowing terms in the annual financial reports, year after year.

Once you factor in 100% tax abatement on the structures that the developer builds, it will take One Lakewood Place 129 years to return enough tax revenues to the public treasury to cover the amount of public assets and public funds that have been and will be dumped into the project.

Mr. O'Bryan is dead-on about this.

I don't care how they rationalize it, One Lakewood Place is another debacle.



Mark

I placed a comment in bold which was the way Mayor Summers, Jenn Pae, Some members of Council, BuildLakewood, Active Living Task force said to everyone to push it through. Mayor Summers and GANG smothered the City with lies and BS to convince voters 3 times that this was the deal of the century. All, I repeat all of those people were in line for benefits from the sale. Everything and anything from keeping a job they desperately needed, to controlling millions that were meant to keep the hospital whole and working for all of us.

Now here is the real icing on the cake. The $4 million extra the City is on the hook for was already raised and sitting in a bank waiting to be used to keep Lakewood's hospital safe and functioning. But it went to Three-Arches which gave a chunk of it to Old Brooklyn for a study on bike lanes. This would be at least their third study. The first one done by Robin Sandys I believe back in 2007.

So this Christmas as Lakewoodites tighten their belts and get ready for the cost overruns, the TIFFs and such. Just remember the $60 million that we had which is now being given to other communities all over Ohio that are competing against Lakewood for jobs, businesses and residents.

When was the last time you gave $60 million in your pocket away?

And there is another problem I will mention when documents get back from City Hall. I predict, this cost overrun goes way over $4 million.

For those who doubt Mark's charts go back to the first story about the hospital in the paper. Mark was one of the team members on that story. On page one was a chart prepared in part by Mark in January 2015. His numbers are almost spot on for how bad this deal went. And as we thought then and found out this week, had the City simply closed the hospital and walked away the City of Lakewood would be millions ahead of where we are now, but tens of millions behind where would would have been had we spent the Foundation money to keep it open.

Summers Administration has completely destroyed a once whole community.

.


Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Bill Call
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Bill Call » Sat Dec 21, 2019 12:03 pm

The City received $7.7 million from the Jacobs estate in 2014. Without that money the City would be in an even deeper hole. Where is that money?

https://www.cleveland.com/lakewood/2014 ... ive_r.html

I hope that the Mayor elect sees the wisdom in reporting the true state of City finances as soon as possible. That should include the City's total expenditures for the demolition and site preparation of the Hospital site, estimated future costs and a detailed list of money transferred from Hospital accounts.

If she waits too long she will take the fall. Mayor Summers and his crowd have planted financial land mines throughout the City.


Dan Alaimo
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Dan Alaimo » Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:13 am

Jim O'Bryan wrote:.

In coming Mayor Georger should demand an immediate state audit and accounting of both the books, and the actions by the Summers administration the last 6 months.

It is really getting old.

.


Why is asking for an audit even remotely controversial?


“Never let a good crisis go to waste." - Winston Churchill (Quote later appropriated by Rahm Emanuel)
bentleymike
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby bentleymike » Sun Dec 22, 2019 10:00 am

Dan Alaimo wrote:
Jim O'Bryan wrote:.

In coming Mayor Georger should demand an immediate state audit and accounting of both the books, and the actions by the Summers administration the last 6 months.

It is really getting old.

.


Why is asking for an audit even remotely controversial?


Do you doubt Meghan is aware of the city’s situation? I’d say our Mayor-elect should be, and likely is, pretty aware of how the City’s books look, given her role in helping shape them as a Council member the last couple of years.

There is an audit done annually. Here’s the link to the latest one:

https://ohioauditor.gov/AuditSearch/Rep ... yahoga.pdf


Mike Bentley
Mark Kindt
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Mark Kindt » Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:48 am

With The City's Secret Magic Calculator We Now Have A $100,000,000 Investment

Mr. Bentley, I will just note that there are still hundreds of pages of redacted "blacked-out" documents that no citizen has ever seen.

As we can see from the Audit that Mr. Bentley relies upon, somehow One Lakewood Place has now magically jumped from a $70M project to a $100M project.

And now we know that all of a sudden tax abatement is smeared all over it.

I get the idea that this audit is dated December 31, 2018. Nobody will see the next audit until next summer.

Mr. Bentley, One Lakewood Place has the stench of cronyism all over it.

Please answer one question. Why was the project awarded to the client of the former mayor?

As a citizen, I seek honest, open, competent, ethical and transparent government. What is wrong with that?

Mr. O'Bryan's suggestions are more than reasonable given the abysmal performance of the Summers administration. I wish the incoming administration all the very best!

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Bill Call
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Re: Summers Administration Spending Us Into Black Hole?

Postby Bill Call » Tue Dec 24, 2019 11:18 am

I drove by the site yesterday and noticed a group of men standing in the middle of that hole digging deeper and doing more testing.

To call the Mayors Hospital debacle a Keystone Cop routine is an understatement.

The Mayor elect should get ahead of this issue or it will bury her. Getting to the whole truth would be a start.



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