I've sadly watched the better part of an important historic block, in an important historic neighborhood, fronting an important historic park, be demolished and cleared without so much as a peep of concern from anyone in NEO, other than on REALNEO. Are we really so disengaged, or are we just so dumbfounded by the rapid succession of bad plans coming from NEO leadership that we can't keep up and focus. The block I question, today's header above (full size image here), was a wonderful grouping of interesting mixed use urban landmarks, complimenting the astounding Rockefeller Park to the west, University Circle to the south, and the surrounding Wade Park neighborhood, now a massive demolition zone that looks suspiciously like a surface parking lot. In a few short weeks, "they" have done immeasurable damage, and that is exactly how leaders in this region operate... quietly destroying what they may and explaining what they must as they must, largely through their Plain Dealer. Already, I doubt there are many people who remember the buildings just demolished here, or the many mature Rockefeller Park oak trees ripped from their roots in the haste of greed (did they have a right and permit to do that)... see the earlier demolition picture here to see the beautiful setting before this eco-disaster. Seeing the trees gone made me wonder what evil "they" lurks behind this tragedy, and of course learned this is another Carney Port Authority bond deal, this time to be repaid at the expense of Cleveland taxpayers, to enrich a new character on the "developer" scene... Michael Forlani... CEO of Doan Pyramid Electric, of Bedford Heights, Ohio, and a major Republican contributor, who has formed a new company, Veterans Development, LLC, to process $ millions in federal and Cleveland taxpayer contributions to his bottom line, this time routed through the Federal Veterans Administration. This deal is an extreme example of what is wrong in Northeast Ohio and America today.

The interesting thing is that all of this is happening in plain sight of all of us, but we just don't pay attention. We don't notice when a block of historic buildings or a line of 100 year old oaks are ripped from our community. We don't notice when freeways are being planned through our parks and historic fabric. We don't notice when parks are planned to become ports. And we don't notice the politics of all of this. We don't notice when our leaders are failures. We only seem to notice planes hitting buildings... anything less is ground-clutter.

What I notice about this situation, in addition to all I don't like about how this project scarred my community, and killed my trees, and demolished my historic buildings, is I do not see proof the developer is qualified to provide an exceptional result in this important site, and in all the media-puffery I have not seen plans for the development supposed to come, and I don't like the developer's connection to the Republican Pioneer Political Action Committee, along with all the folks of Forest City and others you will recognize.

I wrote that introduction to the evil that is Michael Forlani in November, 2007 - "That's a hefty tax break..." - that Son-of-bitch never fooled me.

How real are the FBI and leaders of Northeast Ohio about dismantling the Pyramid schemes that make this the most corrupt place in America?

In 2007 - before the FBI first pounced -  I realized that corruption was demolishing the history and character of University Circle - University Circle Cancer Moving Down East Boulevard - Is there an Urban Planner in the House? - when I surfaced that promoters of cancer were in my neighborhood conspiring to ruin our community (embedded link to Plain Dealer is of course DEAD):

The last two realneo headers are pans of a site I pass often, on my way between the East and West sides, which is bounded by East 105, Wade Park and East Boulevard, in one of the most important historic and cultural neighborhoods in America, where I was shocked to find a group of significant apartment buildings being demolished.

Being on the edge of "University Circle" and next to the Veterans Administration hospital, and knowing the lust around there for parking, my immediate thought was "these MFing "NEO-planners" are demolishing more of our scarce historic fabric to build a garage... and I was right. In typical cloak of NEO stupidity and sell-out fashion, many historic buildings were demolished without any public input or outcry I know of, days before the Plain Dealer printed the NEO PR machine's gushing announcements of plans for the by-then vacant properties... see the bullshit here..

Gotta love the pathetic headline playing to the "Social Consciousness" bug in we morons who just allowed more important historic buildings to be destroyed and the fabric of our neighborhoods to be further demolished in the interest of sprawl and automobiles... er, sheltering homeless defenders of America and apple pie... "Veterans homeless shelter part of Wade Park project" God bless war and the Port Authority.

Of course, the great and powerful Port Authority has its fingers all over this one and surely has planned this demolition, as the PD reports: "A committee of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority recommended Tuesday that the port board approve issuing taxable bonds for the $125 million project". " The port will own the developed property." They have been planning this for a long, long, long time.

The scumbags behind all this corruption turn out to be dead congresswomen Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Michael "Bagman" Forlani - briber of Jimmy "Fat Man Sings" DiMora - as the Plain Dealer reported in Feds say Bedford Heights businessman Michael Forlani was go-between for Jimmy Dimora.

Federal prosecutors say Dimora used Forlani as a go-between with William Neiheiser, whose Reliance Mechanical company was bidding on construction work at the county's new Juvenile Justice Center.

Dimora and others including Neiheiser were indicted Wednesday on corruption-related charges. Neiheiser's lawyer said he didn't bribe anybody.

Forlani was president of Doan Pyramid when federal authorities searched the company's Bedford Heights offices in July 2008. No one from the company has been charged, and Forlani's lawyer declined to comment.

In 2006, Crains puffed Forlani, to support him building his Pyramid Scheme, clearly masterminded in Washington DC by deceased Democratic political operative Stephanie "Money-Tubbs" Jones, with local support by John "The Authority" Carney's Port, all designed to pimp 102 acres of public property and $120 million in public funds INTO THE PYRAMID...

Doan Pyramid Electric LLC, an electrical contractor, is growing into a developer.

The company is taking on the financing and construction of a $120 million office tower and parking garage that will support the planned hospital expansion of the Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center at University Circle.

Veterans Development LLC, which is led by Doan Pyramid president Michael Forlani, is putting together a project that would cover most of a block along the west side of East 105th Street between Wade Park Avenue and East Boulevard across from the main hospital complex.

Plans call for the project to include a six-story, 175,000-square-foot office building for VA administrative staff, a 122-bed residence for homeless veterans and a 2,000-car parking garage. Also planned is an undetermined amount of retail and rentable office space in a two- or three-story building along East 105th.

Congress appropriated $170 million for the consolidation of the VA’s hospitals in University Circle and Brecksville. The key part of that capital improvements package is a new, 240-bed hospital tower at the Wade Park campus.

However, the $170 million covered only part of the consolidation plan devised by the VA’s regional administration. Congress, though, left VA hospitals a financing back door called enhanced-use leasing.

A private development partner, unlike the VA, could borrow money, so it could build a facility that the VA could lease.

Hospital director William Montague and his staff decided they could lease the 102-acre Brecksville property to a developer and could use that revenue and the cost savings they anticipate from the consolidation of the Cleveland and Brecksville operations to finance the additional facilities.

After advertising for a private developer, Mr. Montague settled on Mr. Forlani and his group. LDV Inc., a minority-owned firm in Cleveland that has contracts for other VA projects, will be assisting Veterans Development.

Several hundred administrative support jobs will end up in the office building on the west side of East 105th.. The office/retail building will allow stores such as a barbecue restaurant and a barber shop that long have operated on the block to remain.

Mr. Montague said the plan is for Veterans Development — likely in a joint venture with the city of Brecksville — to take a long-term lease on the Brecksville property for a redevelopment that would follow completion of the consolidation of VA programs at University Circle.

The complicated network of deals also includes the Famicos Foundation, a community development group, and the Volunteers of America. The latter would operate the residence for homeless veterans.

When Mr. Forlani laid out his plan before City Council last week, he said he hoped the city would agree to approve the tax increment financing. If it does, taxes on 100% of the increase in the assessed value of the property would be diverted to help cover construction costs.

That’s a hefty tax break, more than the city would grant in a tax abatement, but Mr. Forlani argued that the financing structure of the deal and the nature of the project justify it.

“The market rents wouldn’t support the project without some incentives to reduce the capital cost,” Mr. Forlani said after the City Council hearing. “And if the VA had the money to do the project itself, it would pay no taxes.”

Under a tax increment financing arrangement, the county auditor would bill the project for its full tax payments. However, the bulk of the tax money collected would be diverted to pay off the port authority bonds rather than be sent to the city or to the Cleveland Municipal School District.

"A minority-owned firm"?!?!  Gangsta is not part of any minority in this corrupt town...

Even after the FBI implicated Foriani in their investigation of corruption in the region, in 2008, the Carney Port Authority funded his plans... or at least the parking garage: Friday, July 10, 2009:

Port board votes to OK financing for parking/office project near Louis Stokes VA Medical Center
Published: Friday, July 10, 2009, 5:40 PM     Updated: Friday, November 06, 2009, 10:11 PM
Kathryn Kroll, The Plain Dealer Kathryn Kroll, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND -- The developer of a delayed office and parking project near the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center says he could break ground as soon as this month.

The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority board voted Friday to approve up to $115 million in taxable bonds for a project involving developer Michael Forlani, principal with Veterans Development LLC.

The port approved financing for the project in late 2007. But the tight credit market and other problems forced the project into limbo.

The development includes a 126,000-square-foot administration building and a 2,080-car parking garage across East 105th Street from the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital.

A 122-bed dwelling for homeless veterans that was part of the first deal with the port will be privately financed, officials said.

Note - at that stage the project had lost 50,000 square feet of the office component, and all socially oriented developments... "A 122-bed dwelling for homeless veterans that was part of the first deal" and "an undetermined amount of retail and rentable office space in a two- or three-story building along East 105th" are off the drawing boards and unfunded... even though the buildings RESIDENTS AND BUSINESS they were to replace are now GONE!

On Saturday, September 04, 2010 the Plain Dealer reported a different bleeding heart veterans development for the same VA site, without mention of prior more substantial development plans:

Local group raising funds to build Fisher House at Cleveland's University Circle for wounded veterans
Published: Saturday, September 04, 2010, 8:00 AM
James Ewinger, The Plain Dealer James Ewinger, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Construction is probably a few years off, but a local group pledged Friday that the region will have a Fisher House -- lodging for the families of wounded warriors being treated at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.

The goal is a 20-suite home with a communal sitting and dining areas. A tentative site has already been identified at East 105th Street and Wade Park Avenue, adjacent to the VA hospital in University Circle.

On September 15, 2010, the Plain Dealer reports:

Feds say Bedford Heights businessman Michael Forlani was go-between for Jimmy Dimora

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Businessman Michael Forlani has not been publicly named by investigators or charged with any crime, but in a federal indictment Wednesday, he emerged as a sort middleman for County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora.

Federal prosecutors say Dimora used Forlani as a go-between with William Neiheiser, whose Reliance Mechanical company was bidding on construction work at the county's new Juvenile Justice Center.

The Plain Dealer, VA, COngress, White House, lawyers and PRstitutes are clearly busy at work to rescue the chosen ones from this wreckage. We see colluding together Stephanie Tubbs Jones, dead, with Famicos, the Veterans Administration, the Port Authority, Cleveland City Council, Jimmy DiMora, Michael Forlani and certainly all the unions. Who may be innocent in any of this - I mean, it is only a $multi-hundred-million FEDERAL VA development project... no need for things to be legal or transparent...

Feds say Bedford Heights businessman Michael Forlani was go-between for Jimmy Dimora
Published: Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 8:53 PM     Updated: Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 11:33 PM
Sandra Livingston, The Plain Dealer Sandra Livingston, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Businessman Michael Forlani has not been publicly named by investigators or charged with any crime, but in a federal indictment Wednesday, he emerged as a sort middleman for County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora.

Federal prosecutors say Dimora used Forlani as a go-between with William Neiheiser, whose Reliance Mechanical company was bidding on construction work at the county's new Juvenile Justice Center.

Dimora and others including Neiheiser were indicted Wednesday on corruption-related charges. Neiheiser's lawyer said he didn't bribe anybody.

Forlani was president of Doan Pyramid when federal authorities searched the company's Bedford Heights offices in July 2008. No one from the company has been charged, and Forlani's lawyer declined to comment.

The indictment charging Dimora reveals that the powerful commissioner and Forlani talked about more than contract bids.

Dimora complained to Forlani that Neiheiser had persuaded him to buy a jersey of former Ohio State star running back Chris "Beanie" Wells at a charity auction for about $3,600.

And Forlani complained to Dimora when he was hit up for campaign contributions for Probate Judge Anthony Russo, the brother of Frank Russo, the former county auditor who federal prosecutors charged last week with 21 corruption-related crimes.

Forlani was not named by federal authorities but The Plain Dealer previously identified him as someone referred to as Business Executive 10. Doan Pyramid was implicated in the federal investigation when former MetroHealth Medical Center executive John J. Carroll pleaded guilty to bribery charges. Prosecutors have said a Doan executive gave Carroll gifts in exchange for construction contracts. No one from Doan has been charged. Earlier this year the company sold its assets to another company.

Forlani shows up in Wednesday's indictment as telling Dimora that Jerry Skuhrovec was chasing him down for donations to a public official who The Plain Dealer has identified as Judge Russo.

Skuhrovec was also indicted. He had been a part-time employee for Frank Russo and -- according to prosecutors got a second job with Russo's help as an appraiser with then Sheriff Gerald McFaul.

The indictment also describes a series of conversations between Dimora and Forlani about Neiheiser -- some involving the jersey, others the bid for the Juvenile Justice Center (JJC) project.

In February 2008 Dimora bought the Wells football jersey at a Cornerstone of Hope charity auction and then complained to Forlani that Neiheiser persuaded him to buy the jersey as a charitable contribution and agreed to pay for half the price. Neiheiser's lawyer said Neiheiser ended up reimbursing Dimora for the whole price.

Separately, Reliance Mechanical had bid to do heating, cooling and plumbing work on the JJC project.

But the company was $2 million higher than the low bid -- and Dimora said as much to Forlani.

Forlani told Dimora he would call Neiheiser. The indictment describes other conversations between Forlani and Dimora about the bid.

Forlani says "I wanna make sure Neiheiser takes care of business. That's all I care about."

Dimora later saw to it that a $3,600 check written out to his wife and drawn on Neiheiser's account was deposited in a joint account he held.

The indictment charges Neiheiser with giving Dimora free or discounted home improvements in exchange for Dimora's influence.

Charges say that in March 2008 Dimora asked Lakewood's mayor to listen to Neiheiser's proposal to lease the city's ice rink.

Neiheiser's lawyer, Bob Rotatori, said the city determined his client's proposal was the best. He said Neiheiser never got a contract with the Juvenile Justice Center and did nothing wrong.

"He didn't get anything. He didn't offer anything," he said.

Rotatori said the only home improvement Neiheiser did was install a toilet that Dimora bought.

As for the jersey, Rotatori said all Neiheiser did was reimburse Dimora for the $3,600 he had paid to the charity -- and he got nothing for it.

piece added to VA puzzle  - Electrical contractor plans $120M project with large office building, parking garage

By JAY MILLER
6:00 am, November 6, 2006

Doan Pyramid Electric LLC, an electrical contractor, is growing into a developer.

The company is taking on the financing and construction of a $120 million office tower and parking garage that will support the planned hospital expansion of the Louis Stokes Veterans Affairs Medical Center at University Circle.

Veterans Development LLC, which is led by Doan Pyramid president Michael Forlani, is putting together a project that would cover most of a block along the west side of East 105th Street between Wade Park Avenue and East Boulevard across from the main hospital complex.

Plans call for the project to include a six-story, 175,000-square-foot office building for VA administrative staff, a 122-bed residence for homeless veterans and a 2,000-car parking garage. Also planned is an undetermined amount of retail and rentable office space in a two- or three-story building along East 105th.

The entire office building and most of the parking spaces will be leased to the VA medical center, which is undergoing its own $170 million transformation that will merge its hospital in Brecksville into the University Circle complex. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates the consolidation will bring 1,000 jobs to University Circle.
 
Veterans Development would finance its project with bonds issued through the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority. However, Mr. Forlani told a Cleveland City Council committee last week that the VA’s lease payments would cover only about 80% of the debt service on the project. He said he would be asking the city to approve a tax increment financing plan to bridge the financing gap once final agreements have been reached among the parties.

The VA consolidation in Cleveland is mandated by a change in strategic thinking at Department of Veterans Affairs, which is merging facilities nationwide to save money and improve care.

A complex arrangement

Congress appropriated $170 million for the consolidation of the VA’s hospitals in University Circle and Brecksville. The key part of that capital improvements package is a new, 240-bed hospital tower at the Wade Park campus.

However, the $170 million covered only part of the consolidation plan devised by the VA’s regional administration. Congress, though, left VA hospitals a financing back door called enhanced-use leasing.

A private development partner, unlike the VA, could borrow money, so it could build a facility that the VA could lease.

Hospital director William Montague and his staff decided they could lease the 102-acre Brecksville property to a developer and could use that revenue and the cost savings they anticipate from the consolidation of the Cleveland and Brecksville operations to finance the additional facilities.

After advertising for a private developer, Mr. Montague settled on Mr. Forlani and his group. LDV Inc., a minority-owned firm in Cleveland that has contracts for other VA projects, will be assisting Veterans Development.

Several hundred administrative support jobs will end up in the office building on the west side of East 105th.. The office/retail building will allow stores such as a barbecue restaurant and a barber shop that long have operated on the block to remain.

Mr. Montague said the plan is for Veterans Development — likely in a joint venture with the city of Brecksville — to take a long-term lease on the Brecksville property for a redevelopment that would follow completion of the consolidation of VA programs at University Circle.

The complicated network of deals also includes the Famicos Foundation, a community development group, and the Volunteers of America. The latter would operate the residence for homeless veterans.

Famicos would run University Towers, a federally subsidized high-rise apartment building on the same block as the new project. Veterans Development last December purchased the high rise for $3.2 million from a partnership that includes Associated Estates Realty Corp. CEO Jeffrey Friedman and members of his family.

That deal principally was made by Veterans Development to gain control of a surface parking lot and other undeveloped land around the residential building that it needed for the VA project. Mr. Forlani said while his group wanted to maintain the residents in their homes, it did not want to be a landlord. So it is giving Famicos the building.

In total, Mr. Forlani said his group already has spent $7.5 million to acquire the land it needs to move forward with the project.

Confident developer

Mr. Forlani said he has ventured into the development arena before with smaller projects. But he said his company is a longtime VA contractor and he’s confident about taking on this project.

“Our company is a $180 million company,” he said. “This is work we know how to do.”

When Mr. Forlani laid out his plan before City Council last week, he said he hoped the city would agree to approve the tax increment financing. If it does, taxes on 100% of the increase in the assessed value of the property would be diverted to help cover construction costs.

That’s a hefty tax break, more than the city would grant in a tax abatement, but Mr. Forlani argued that the financing structure of the deal and the nature of the project justify it.

“The market rents wouldn’t support the project without some incentives to reduce the capital cost,” Mr. Forlani said after the City Council hearing. “And if the VA had the money to do the project itself, it would pay no taxes.”

Under a tax increment financing arrangement, the county auditor would bill the project for its full tax payments. However, the bulk of the tax money collected would be diverted to pay off the port authority bonds rather than be sent to the city or to the Cleveland Municipal School District.

Mr. Forlani told City Council he is negotiating with the Cleveland schools to make payments in lieu of taxes and would give the school district a portion of the tax revenue.

An analysis of the project by the city’s Economic Development Department describes the entire VA expansion as bringing 1,200 jobs to the neighborhood, in large part by creating a hospital complex that employs 2,700 people. The analysis estimates the new jobs will bring in $1.6 million a year in city income taxes at current salary and tax levels, and it projects a total of nearly $80 million over 30 years.

Mr. Montague of the VA said he’s optimistic that ground will be broken for the projects on both sides of East 105th by early summer. Completion is not anticipated until 2009.