Not only did the city try and sue the person they want to now name a street after, but also the article points out how the city lost tax money from others, willingly.
Here's the link:
http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20101203/NEWS16/12030309
WTF? This is a great example of why Toledo is broke.
updated by hockeyfan on Dec 03, 2010 at 03:15:29 am Politics Comments: 20
Comments ... #
Toledo City Council will consider legislation Tuesday to rename Woodstock Avenue from Dorr Street to Nebraska Avenue as "Jimmy Jackson Way."
Hippies and fans of the Peanuts will be upset.
I'm glad the city is finally tackling the tough issues.
What's the status of Toledo's 2003 proposed 'Water is Wet' resolution that comes up for a vote next summer?
Let's take the money involved to actually do something stupid like this and apply it to something that is really needed, like the "supposed" water department maintenance crisis.
Like this guy is ever coming back to Toledo. It's a close race on who will be back in Toledo sooner. This guy or Bowersox. My guess, neither in this lifetime.
In a July 2005 Toledo Free Press interview, Jimmy Jackson said of Toledo, Ohio:
NBA star and prominent local businessman Jim Jackson said Toledo is a "Class C" city that needs to adjust its attitude toward development projects. Jackson said some of his developer friends have shied away from starting projects in Toledo because of the negative attitudes of city politicians.
"We’re 10 years behind Columbus, 10 years behind Cleveland, probably about five to six years behind Akron," Jackson said. "… the mindset of Toledo has to change."
“I know a few developers from out of town who’ve tried to do some deals here, and they say it’s extremely difficult because of the cynicism and the negativity that surrounds trying to do projects here,” he said. “You have people who vote on these projects who don’t understand development. They understand politics, but development is totally different.”
“A lot of my friends who are in the business ask me, ‘Why Toledo? There’s nothing there. The population is declining,’ ” Jackson said. “But I say it’s a Catch-22. Because there is nothing here, you have an opportunity to introduce some great things because there is a void in the market on certain things.”
“People here are used to a certain thing, and they don’t like change, they’re scared of change,” Jackson said. “They want it, but they don’t know how to accept it. And if you want to grow as a city, you have to kind of let some of those things go and build from anew. And until we get that on a consistent effort, we’re still going to be a Class C city. And if you want to get to a Class B city, you have to know how to accept change and understand what change can do.”
No matter what the project, city developers and politicians said Jackson is a positive force in Toledo. “I wish I had 20 Jim Jacksons investing in Downtown Toledo and our neighborhoods,” Toledo Mayor Jack Ford said.
But Jackson is not without his critics, especially on the most recent steam plant renovation project. When Jackson’s proposal for the steam plant was accepted in August 2004, many argued a different plan proposed by Rod Kagy of KG&R Development was superior. Kagy said at the time that he did not need the $300,000 the city was offering to developers willing to start the project. Jackson’s group, Water Street Development Co., LLC, a partnership between Jackson and developer David Ball, accepted that money.
Jackson said his proposal — which includes plans to build 111 apartment and condominium units at the Maumee River steam plan site Downtown — was not only the best one, but it was the only one turned in by the Aug. 16 deadline “At the end of it, when our timetable was up, our deadline was due, our proposal was in,” Jackson said. “Kagy and his group came in after the deadline.”
Mayor Ford agreed that Jackson’s proposal was the best one turned in by deadline and dismissed the idea that he accepted Jackson’s proposal because Jackson is his friend.
“I don’t think a lot of people have the foresight on how to develop the core, especially Downtown, to help bring in business,” Jackson said. “The first thing people want to say is ‘Well, Downtown, we need shopping, we need retail,’ but to do that, you got to have people. Without people, retail doesn’t work. Commercial sale doesn’t work. You have to start at your basic, ground level and get market rate housing Downtown first, and then you bring in other stuff.”Jimmy Jackson? You have got to be kidding me. All JJ ever cared about was JJ, baby - just ask any teammate he ever played with. Plus, the bigger the game, the smaller he played (remember when five freshmen blew by him in the '92 NCAA tournament? Heh.)
Way to go, Toledo. Tacklin' the tough issues!!
"remember when five freshmen blew by him in the '92 NCAA tournament?"
Oh hell yes!! loved it.
To be fair, a lot of what Jackson said about Toledo's business and political climate is dead-on true. The project (steam plant) was stupid. But he's right about the "we fear change" attitude.
All the same, these are the kinds of awards you give to people who are dying--not people who are 40 years old.
I remember going to the St. John's/Macomber game in 1988 or 1989 when the crowd was shouting "2-4-6-8...Proposition 48!" at Jackson. Principal Rick Sullivan called a special all-school meeting in the SJ gym the next day and (literally) screamed at us for half an hour for being racist. Fun times.
posted by oldhometown on Dec 03, 2010 at 01:18:28 pm #
Hockeyfan - I'm pretty sure JJ still owns a home in the area and spends at least some time here. We see him occasionally when my family goes out to breakfast.
(We don't know and/or talk to him - he just happens to go to the same place where we regularly go for breakfast.)
I went to high school with JJ, he was a likeable guy. I run into him about once per year or so, so he still must be around. I also went to school with Chuck Web, now there was a complete dick.
JJ's house at 15 Tremore in Holland has an accepted offer on it, so I don't think he is going to be around much longer.
I remember going to the St. John's/Macomber game in 1988 or 1989 when the crowd was shouting "2-4-6-8...Proposition 48!" at Jackson.
I remember that game as well. There was only one black guy on SJ's team back them and he tried to dunk, couldn't make it over the front of the rim and landed on his ass. The Macomber fans laughed like crazy as JJ was doing 360 reverse dunks like it was nothing.
I also remember Sullivan's chewing out vividly. I don't think I have ever seen someone so mad in my entire life...
My mistake. He still lives here? I can't see why.
Now, if this is an attempt at making amends with him to get him to invest in a project for toledo, then great, rename the entire street after him if that's what it takes.
If the Bell administration is reaching out to those who have previously tried to invest in Toledo, then good for them and "Thanks".
These things take time and I wonder if the damage done already can be repaired.
If you want to know why Toledo is broke google Toledo 2010 election results. That will start you on the way to solving the "Mystery of the missing tax money".
HF, the damage that was done was that a pair of questionable developers misled the city of Toledo about a project. They should just cough up the money that the city foolishly wasted on them, and everyone should be honorably content.
Not that that's actually going to happen, since you can read the law suit actions (not details) on the docket for case G-4801-CI-0200702985-000, here:
http://www.co.lucas.oh.us/index.aspx?NID=99
Remember to enter the leading-zero for the case number: 0200702985
Also use a date range of 01/01/2000 to today's date.
The case was dismissed by pleading, which is pretty much what I expected. The city dragged it out and had no stomach to actually pursue the matter. I can only conclude that my initial fears were correct: The city filed the suit for PR purposes. They pushed the money on a pair of incompetent jackasses. Now that the Steam Plant Scandal is ancient history in the Toledoan mind, it was just swept under the rug. There go our hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money into the pockets of more crooked developers while the politicians who threw all that money around are either gone or don't look any worse than before.
I see him from time to time-outside 7-11s and laundromats. Maybe it's time to have a section to post "JJ sightings"?
Blade wrote of a $1.7M city investment in the property. All I ever read of was $300,000 the city gave them. Was the rest $ invested in the building since Toledo Edison gave it to the city?
Wulf, you only wish you could rub shoulders with JJ. He has more class, talent and heart for Toledo than you could ever dream of. But, at least you have the internets.
Micah - flies back and forth to Chicago on a weekly basis because he works for the Big Ten Network in Chicago.
Micah - flies back and forth to Chicago on a weekly basis because he works for the Big Ten Network in Chicago.
Glass City Jungle notes of the Dec 7, 2010 Toledo city council meeting:
Designate Woodstock Ave. from Dorr St. to Nebraska Ave. as Jimmy Jackson Way – passed by all present
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