Very interesting Perrysburg article in the Blade today

I'm confused - $1.25 million is less than $1.9 million.

I think it's a great idea for Perrysburg to do this. That way they have full control over it, can design the routes as they see fit (i.e. cancelling routes that have zero people riding the bus) and they're not being forced into paying for other areas' participation in the system.

Amounts got reversed - sorry, dell_diva.
And if Perrysburg's independent transit system is legally bound to city limits only, there may be legal troubles with ADA requirements.

So, in essence, the 'burbs are basically moving toward isolation? So rather than having a city with communities around the borders, we're just going to have a bunch of independent towns?

It's a 1.25-mill levy, not $1.25 million. Big difference. I don't know exactly how millage is figured, but it's based on population, etc. So it really is the $687k, which equates to a 1.25 mill levy.

It's pretty straight-forward in the article where it states "The 1.25 mill levy will generate $687k...."

Who profits from Perrysburg having their own system?

JohnnyMac the Perrysburg residents profit from it.

The consensus was that they were not getting the bang for their tax buck from TARTA and no longer wanted to pay for the service that wasn't being fully utilized.

Johio83, I would hardly call that isolating the burbs (or even just one burb LOL) - great expressway and road system that allows people to flow freely to and from Perrysburg.

Maumee hasn't put up border guards yet, so the last time I checked, with or without nearly empty TARTA busses entering and leaving town, people will be able to enter and leave Perrysburg. :-)

A millage is a millicent, so a 1.25mill would be $0.00125 for every dollar paid in property taxes. So whatever Pburg brings in each year in property taxes, they would multiply by .00125, and that's how much money they'd have to put toward this.

Fear not: 50 cents says P-burg will vote down the new proposal anyway.

What surprises me is that TARTA stood so firm regarding the cost of the service. I would have hoped they had tried to be flexible and work out a fee to Perrysburg that would provide for a more realistic cost after consideration of the actual usage.

It seemed that they want the suburbs to bear on unfair burden of the cost of their service.

I have fake documentation that allows me to enter Perrysburg.

I thought Perrysburg was already an independent town. It has its own city government, public school system, entertainment, farmers market, and more.

It's rumored that some of the Perrysburg residents are actually former Toledoans, but no proof of this exists.

I'm glad Perrysburg is "isolated." I want Perrysburg to be Perrysburg and not Toleburg.

The outlying communities do not trust Toledo.

Toledoans should worry about their own damn city and not what other communities are doing.

har har.

But really, we have a public transit system that services the entire metro area. Once one group stops, another will, and another will, and then it will go away. Why not just improve the system we have now, that serves everybody?

Good thinking jr -
Toledo should cut off their water supply (dirty, dirty Toledo water) and should blow all the bridges over the Maumee River (horrible Toledo residence spending their dirty, dirty Toledo money) to ensure their isolation, they don’t Toledo at all right?

lol, I was going to say the water thing too!

I forgot that Toledo invented Lake Erie. Toledo does well with its water extortion agreements with outlying communities, so it won't turn off the valves.

So Toledo can blow up the bridge that connects Maumee and Perrysburg? Do you outsource that activity to those young guys in Clevelend?

"(horrible Toledo residence spending their dirty, dirty Toledo money)"

What in the hell are you babbling about? Eat a candy bar. You must be low on sugar or something. So emotional. You life-long Toledoans get all sensitive and defensive too easily. I find it hilarious.

The thread was about Perrysburg planning to fund its own transportation system, but SensorG has knee-jerked to blowing up bridges and shutting down the water supply. Yep. Good old classy Toledoans, expressing their disdain for other communities. That's why outlying residents also mockingly laugh at Toledo. Unknowingly, you guys are embarrassing to Toledo.

Damn jr. going all medieval on his ass. I'm not a Toledo resident, but I was born there thankfully got paroled when I was 5. I think it was all in fun.

Will a Perrysburg transit system only serve Perrysburg? Or will it connect to TARTA?

And, by asking who will profit, I was speculating there is likely someone connected to the decision makers that will personally profit, like by owning a currently undeveloped piece of real estate that will be purchased and made into the transit hub, or a dealership that will sell the city the buses.

Well, to be fair jr, SensorG's knee-jerk to "blowing up bridges and shutting down the water supply" was actually in response to your comment, not directly the Perrysburg transit system.

I am a Perrysburg resident, and a former Toledo resident as well. I voted no on the Tarta levies when I was a Toledo resident, and voted to opt out of Tarta as a Perrysburg resident. I plan on voting no on the levie that Pburg puts on the ballot, also. All I've ever seen is empty Tarta buses, never have I seen them full, or even with more than a handful of people. I fail to see the logic in forcing property owners to subsidize a public transportation system that is under utilized or too large for the population's needs. I think the best way to force a massive overhaul is to strip the agency of it's funding, to size itself better for the true number of people it serves.

Some surprisingly unrelated, off-topic, emotionally charged contributions flying around, and not just from one person. Most of it seems to be existing resentment toward one side or the other, unrelated to the topic of mass transit. Obviously hyperbole has been accepted as threat out of convenience to one's point, not actual concern I hope.

But it was all worth reading "$1.25 million levy."

And to be even more fair, my humorous comment was in response to your hyperbole about the burbs striving for isolation. One community thinks it can provide better transit service, and you assume all the other surrounding communities are trying to isolate themselves.

I love this place!

:-)

Pulling up a chair and popcorn for this thread

Rossford has already stopped getting their water from Toledo, so P-burg may be next. Now Rossford is getting screwed from Bowling Green.

Johio - first you need to remember that Tarta does not serve 'the entire Metro area' - Springfield, Holland, Oregon, Monclova, and Whitehouse are not part of TARTA, so there are already gaps in coverage.

Second, Perrysburg has tried to work with TARTA to improve the service and TARTa won't budge. If they increase servie in Perrysburg, they have less money to spend in Toledo, which will tick off the Toledo voter population which is the bulk of their voter base.

I think it is quite telling that TARTA barely even campaigned against the initiative - no sales job or anything to try to convince the voters in Perrysburg that they do provide a needed and valuable and cost effective service.

If you look at the levies that communities like Rossford, Perrysburg, and Sylvania Township do support (zoo, library, parks, etc.), you can see that the voters will reach in to their pockets for services that they feel give them value. But TARTA doesn't give them value, doesn't try to give them value and finally people have a way out.

I'll give one specific example of how TARTA's services fail. Arrowhead Park now has a day-time business population larger than downtown Toledo, and yet all bus routes go to downtown Toledo. Pressure was put on TARTA to make a direct route from Sylvania/Sylvania Township to Arrowhead Park and they finally agreed. Guess where the park and ride location was? Downtown Sylvania. So more than half of Sylvania Township would have to backtrack and drive to Harroun Park on Main St. to get to the bus. Why would we bother to spend half the gas plus bus fare when we could go directly there and pay the same or save money. (I believe this route has since been cancelled.)

TARTA does not meet the needs of these outlying communities and they are not even trying to change that. They know their levies are secured by Toledo voters.

Kudos to Perrysburg for pulling out; hopefully Sylvania will follow suit.