The Toledo City Paper opinion conglomerate Hildo writes an interesting Jun 27, 2007 column titled Rethinking local government structure that should scare the jeeves out of non-Toledo residents in Lucas County.
First, definitions:
- unigov - county wide
- regionalism - involves multiple counties, including crossing state lines.
Toledoans are the ones that keep pushing for unigov because they see the other communities as a pile of money that can be spent on Toledo-centric projects. Of course, these unigov supporters will rationalize their thievery thinking by trotting out that worn out phrase, "How goes Toledo, so goes the region." Which means the other communities should be willing to give money to Toledo and expect nothing in return.
As I've said before:
County-wide school system
Okay, from the Hildo column:
Yeah, right. I'm sure the property owners in other Lucas County communities love this idea. Not only would they be supporting their schools in Maumee and Sylvania, but they would be supporting the buffoonery known as TPS. Look at how TPS handled the process of finding a new superintendent.
They could have hired a qualified individual from another part of the country who could bring new ideas to TPS. Instead, that whole process was a sham, and they gave the super job to a 30-year veteran of TPS. Someone who is part of the problem is now at the helm. And then "they" put Jack Ford on the school board. It's a tragic comedy. So why would other communities wand to pay for the boneheads in charge of failing TPS? One of the main reasons why residents move out of Toledo to the burbs is for better schools in the burbs.
How about this for starters: combine Washington Local and TPS. See if "they" can make that work. Why are there two school districts in Toledo?
The report cards for the school districts are released in August. Here's the report card for the 2005-2006 school year:
Lucas County - number of standards met out of 25
Anthony Wayne - 25
Maumee - 24
Oregon - 20
Ottawa Hills - 25
Springfield - 22
Sylvania - 25
Toledo - 6
Washington Local Schools - 18
For TPS:
- The 2002 report card showed TPS met 5 of 27 academic standards.
- 2003 = 6 of 22
- 2004 = 7 of 18
- 2005 = 4 of 23
- 2006 = 6 of 25
You can see why a hard core Toledo supporter would support a county-wide school district.
More from the Jun 27, 2007 Hildo group opinion:
Duh. Turf protection as in services received for taxes paid. First of all, the public schools should not be supported by property taxes. But since that's the case, I would want my taxes supporting a district that does well and doesn't fail and doesn't make asinine school board decisions that guarantees no positive change but does guarantee more failing. Damn right it's about "turf protection." Again, ask the people with kids why they moved out of Toledo.
County-wide government
More from Hildo:
This Hildo writing group is a collective idiot. Of course the burbs are worried and protective. Hildo answers its own questions. The burbs are worried about the Toledo regime stealing money from the burbs in order to support future failed Toledo projects. Look at the assclowns in Toledo and Lucas County government. Why would the other communities want to submit to those fools?
What has Toledo done that the other communities would say, "Yes, we should work together."?
Look at funding for the sports arena. County Commissioner Gerken, a former Toledo City Councilman, got a new hotel tax applied to all hotels in the county and not just applied to the hotels in Toledo when you know that some or many of these hotels will not see positive impact from a new arena.
Some of the contents comprising Lucas County government :
- Commissioners:
- Pete Gerken - former Toledo City Councilman
- Tina Skeldon Wozniak - former Toledo City Councilman
- Ben Konop - Toledo resident defeated Maumee mayor Tim Wagner in primary.
- Maggie Thurber - former commissioner and a Toledo resident
- Harry Barlos - former commissioner and a Maumee resident who was defeated by Gerken
- In 2006, current Toledo City Councilmen Phil Copeland and George Sarantou campaigned for the commissioner seat.
- Treasurer:
- Wade Kapszukiewic - former Toledo City Councilman
- Auditor:
- Anita Lopez - former Toledo School Board member
Even if a candidate from another community wins the non-Toledo vote, that person will probably still lose, since the Toledo population and the Toledo political machines, especially for the Democrats, overpowers the burbs. About 67% of Lucas County's population resides in Toledo. So yeah, the burbs are really excited about being ruled by the Toledo-based incompetents.
Recycling ineptitude
The June 2007 Hildo column inadvertently explains why the problematic orgs in Toledo need saved by the other communities via unigov.
Then there’s the other endorsed D, Lisa Sobecki. Her signs tout her as a “mom on a mission.” Doesn’t the school board already have one of those? And how’s that working out so far? We got bad news, Lisa. Carty wasn’t just whistling in the dark when he touted Ford and Peter Silverman as his candidates. We hear Pete’s mulling a run, too. Another shoo-in.
If this all pans out, Chris Myers can take down his multiple redundant Web sites and his mentor Steve Flaggs can stay off the radio. The “Urban” “Coalition” can move on to the next axes they have to grind. Other lesser-known candidates can crawl back into the woodwork. The election’s already over.See how the math adds up in this Hildo column? Retreads are being re-elected to old positions, like Carty, and other retreads are getting appointed to or will win election to other positions. And you wonder why Toledo and TPS has problems. And you can see why the Hildo group is promoting unigov to save Toledo and TPS. Again, based upon all of this, why would the other communities commit cultural suicide by supporting unigov? Maybe if people like Ford, Carty, and Silverman weren't being recycled, that might help convince the other communities that it's possible to work with Toledo.
The re-election of Carty to a third term, the Toledo dominance of county government positions, Jack Ford given the Toledo school board position, and so on, makes the unigov idea even more unlikely. This is why Toledoans flee the city: to get away from these career political screwballs. But the safest thing to do is to move out of Lucas County.
Ford running for school board
Jul 10, 2007 Toledo Journal story
Mr. Ford’s comments were sought after the mayor, earlier on July 9, volunteered to reporters that he hopes “the rumors I have heard” are true. The mayor brought up Mr. Ford while introducing Juanita Greene, the city’s Board of Community Relations director, as his office’s liaison to TPS. “Jack Ford has helped bring stability and settled things down, and hopefully the rumors I have heard that he might be seriously thinking of seeking to be elected in his own right in November come about,” the mayor said.
[Ford] wants to help TPS get a new general operating levy passed, take a lead role in an initiative to reduce the dropout rate among African American boys and help make TPS “the top district around” in developing effective Individualized Education Plans (IEP) for students with mental or physical disabilities. Also of concern, he said, is a very real prospect that the TPS board might not have an African American member after the November election in a school district that is composed mostly of black students and other minorities.Carty's view of the region
Jul 27, 2007 opinion by Thomas F. Pounds, President and Publisher of the Toledo Free Press.
Bingo.
A Toledo View of Region
Sep 3, 2008 letter by a Toledo resident to the Toledo Blade :
As a Democrat and resident of Toledo, I find myself growing increasingly perturbed at residents of our surrounding communities (Monclova, Perrysburg, Sylvania, and Lambertville) for blaming Toledo's economic problems on our Democratic-dominated political landscape.
Republicans have already shown their disdain and, I suspect, racism by choosing not to live within our city limits. Some may be former residents, and I'm willing to wager that a lot work and draw their wages within our city. One writer cited a study by Forbes magazine, naming the top 10 "Dying Metropolitan Areas" and, yes, surprisingly, Toledo was not named, but most of the other cities named were in the "rust belt."
Toledo does have economic problems, and they are caused by the same issues faced by numerous cities throughout the rust-belt region of our nation. These issues are a national problem traceable to Washington.
Free trade is a scourge to cities throughout the region. Policies on free trade and GATT were drafted by Ronald Reagan. Republicans defend free trade and free-market policies as if their lives depend on it. The sooner we sweep conservatives out of Washington the better.Ah, the old racist card dropped on residents in surrounding communities. Sounds like former Toledo mayor Jack Ford who is currently a Toledo Public School board member. Ford described the surrounding communities like this :
As to free trade agreements, Texas vs Ohio Wall Street Journal article :
Mr. Obama's claim of one million lost jobs due to trade deals is laughable in Texas, the state most affected by Nafta. Texas has gained 36,000 manufacturing jobs since 2004 and has ranked as the nation's top exporting state for six years in a row. Its $168 billion of exports in 2007 translate into tens of thousands of jobs.
Ohio, Indiana and Michigan are losing auto jobs, but many of these "runaway plants" are not fleeing to China, Mexico or India. They've moved to more business-friendly U.S. states, including Texas. GM recently announced plans for a new plant to build hybrid cars. Guess where? Near Dallas. In 2006 the Lone Star State exported $5.5 billion of cars and trucks to Mexico and $2.4 billion worth to Canada.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat who supports Mrs. Clinton, blames his state's problems on President Bush. But Ohio's economy has been struggling for years, and most of its wounds are self-inflicted. Ohio now ranks 47th out of 50 in economic competitiveness, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Ohio politicians deplore plant closings even as they impose the third highest corporate income tax in the country (10.5%) and the sixth highest personal income tax (8.87%).