http://keithwilkowski.com/ ---> Jobs for Toledo

Jun 24, 2009 WTOL story

Here are the economic development priorities of a Wilkowski Adminstration:

1. HIGH VALUE MANUFACTURING JOBS: Toledo was built as a manufacturing city, and we must regain our leading position in the manufacturing sector. We can do that by focusing on high value manufacturing, that is, on making the new and innovative products that arise from research at the University of Toledo, especially in the advanced energy sector: solar, wind, geo-thermal, advanced materials and bio-fuels. Our skilled and highly productive autoworkers stand ready to build the next generation of clean and fuel efficient electric cars right here in Toledo. And our proud history in automotive and glass manufacturing makes our community ideally suited to build solar panels and component parts for wind turbines.

2. GREEN COLLAR CONSTRUCTION JOBS: Just as Toledo must be a manufacturing city, so also we must renew our commitment to being a community that builds great buildings that serve the needs of our people. Here again, we have a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of the New Energy Economy and put our highly skilled and productive building trades people to work. We can create good-paying green-collar construction jobs retrofitting our homes and our businesses to save energy. “Green Collar Jobs” will put people to work lowering our energy costs, making our local businesses more competitive, improving our building stock and creating thousands of good-paying construction jobs. A pretty good return on investment.

3. HIGH TECH AND KNOWLEDGE-BASED JOBS: Jobs in high tech industries hold great promise for Toledo because those jobs require a higher skill level and pay higher wages. High tech and knowledge-based jobs are associated with innovative products, advanced materials, new processes for production and higher rates of productivity growth. An economy based on knowledge and technology can only exist in close proximity to strong universities and research institutions. Here in Toledo, we are blessed with a growing University of Toledo and a Medical School that, now combined into one powerful institution, is gaining national prominence in research and development. The City of Toledo must make partnering with the University of Toledo to commercialize that research and bring it to market a key economic development strategy.

4. TRANSPORTATION JOBS: Toledo must aggressively pursue opportunities to build intermodal connections to facilitate the containerized shipment of products that define the efficient movement of good in the 21st Century. In addition to creating intermodal opportunities for the transportation of goods, Toledo should pursue intermodal transportation systems for people by developing high speed passenger rail in connection with the Obama Administration’s commitment to a Chicago to Pittsburgh high speed rail line. Toledo is strategically positioned to convert our downtown railroad station into a regional multi-modal hub for passenger cars, buses, and high speed trains. Even beyond that, with high speed rail on the horizon, Toledo should aggressively pursue the engineering, design and manufacturing jobs that will be created by America’s new investment in high speed rail. What better place to build our country’s next transportation industry than right here in Toledo?

5. SMALL BUSINESS: Small businesses (firms with fewer than 500 employees) are the lifeblood of the economy, creating approximately 75 percent of the new jobs in this country. Yet in Toledo, small businesses too often get little attention from City government. Worse, bureaucratic requirements and red tape present roadblocks for business owners trying to build their businesses and create jobs. A Wilkowski Administration will ensure that small businesses are given the attention they deserve, that our rules and regulations are reasonable and fairly administered, and that the taxes and fees businesses pay are fair and competitive with other communities. With the right leadership, Toledo can change its reputation from one where it’s hard to do business, to a city with a well-earned reputation for treating small businesses like customers.

For an extended and in-depth copy of the plan, please click here [pdf file]