A Tale Of Two Cities

The Cleveland Clinic recently announced the imminent closing of the birthing unit of the Medina Hospital on July 1, 2017. The Medina City Council immediately reacted with a 6-0 resolution to stop the closing of the birthing unit. The Mayor of Medina made futile overtures to the Cleveland Clinic and currently he is in discussion with another healthcare provider to continue to provide birthing center services to the citizens in the Medina area.

In complete contrast, when the non-profit Cleveland Clinic deemed that Lakewood Hospital was no longer profitable, the current mayor of Lakewood and Lakewood City Council led the charge to close the hospital over objections from many citizens. Instead of incorporating citizen input and fighting for local health care and local jobs, the elected officials of Lakewood paved the way to transfer pubic assets to a private entity.

Citizen opposition in Lakewood continues. The taxpayer lawsuit  is currently being considered by Judge John P. O'Donnell in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Requests for public documents that would shed light on the reasons behind the decision to close Lakewood Hospital have been stonewalled by the Lakewood law director, Kevin Butler. City Council has remained quiet on this issue. 

Kudos to the Mayor and council persons in Medina for standing up for the interests of their constituents. Lakewood lost a hospital and in the process, many Lakewood citizens have lost faith in their elected officials. Elections for the three city council at-large positions are in November. It's time to elect new leadership to represent the citizens who demand transparency in government. One such candidate has already announced his candidacy. His name is Tristan Rader. With new representation on city council we will begin to move our city forward.

Bonnie Sikes is a Lakewood resident.