Unfortunately due to technical problems beyond my control (the DVR did not record for some reason) I won’t have detailed notes on today’s Toledo City Council meeting. I will link to the media coverage out there and in watching Fox Toledo tonight I discovered that:

Amend lease with Ohio Cultural Facilities Comm. (OCFC) for COSI building, insurance & maintenance was approved, with Councilman Tom Waniewski making a statement against the continuing funding.

link to Fox coverage on COSI.
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I wrongly assumed with the type of problems that District One Councilwoman Wilma Brown was describing that she was referencing Type B Day Cares, because Type A’s face quite a bit more regulations now. However, after reading parts of the legislation on Maggie Thurber’s blog it’s clear that Type A’s are the target of the proposed moratorium that appears to be headed before Council next Tuesday. What are currently the requirements? Glad you asked…

1104.0701 Type A Family Day Care Home.
Type A Family Day Care facilities are subject to the Minor Site Plan Review provisions of Section 1111.0800 where permitted by right, and are subject to the following requirements:
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The common thought by many seems to be, “Casinos are inevitable, it’s a way that politicians can raise taxes without raising taxes. It’s just like state lotteries.” Yet all we have to do is look up north to Detroit to be able to get some realistic hints as to what we could expect if gambling did become legal in Ohio and if Portside was made into a casino. One of the studies quoted often when it comes to the issue of crime, gives us a clue into other important information. Who would actually be spending money in a Toledo casino:
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As always when I sit down to read the Sojourner’s Truth I head for the “This Strikes Us” column to see what the editorial opinion is this week. Sometimes it touches on one topic, others like this week it covers more than one. The main focus is on Scott High School situation part of which:

This one was pretty easy to forecast – the community would want renovation of the historic building and the whole issue of delaying any sort of improvement of the building for so long would cause a great deal of consternation.

On the other hand, funds are limited. We always knew this would have to be a problem in the latter stages of the building program. And as student populations continue to dwindle, it seems as if the administration has deliberately stalled to see if the student population for Scott would simply disappear altogether. It hasn’t.
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If you haven’t been keeping up to date on what’s happening over at the 1 Matters blog, there’s a post there that shows what can happen when you believe one person matters. Whether you believe in God or don’t believe in God, the post points out how one person who felt as if he didn’t matter had his life begin to change when he discovered…he does matter…

The Blade is beginning a series looking at our Downtown Toledo and the other large Cities in Ohio and how they have faced challenges with job loss and a decline in their downtowns. What I found most interesting is not all of the jobs just disappeared, as the first article in the series points out:

In Toledo, O-I’s move to Perrysburg from downtown in 2006 removed about 350 employees who helped keep cash registers chirping at restaurants and shops in the city core.
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I love stormy weather, some of you know one of my dreams is to be a storm chaser and to actually get video of a tornado, so I love Weathermen or as they are officially called, “meteorologists”. I love to look at the different radars, talk to my television screen when they are wrong and hope those huge red areas demonstrating a circular rotation come close enough to enjoy but not overly damage…It should be no surprise then that the cover story of this week’s Toledo Free Press titled, Stormy weather puts spotlight on local forecasters was one I enjoyed. Getting all four of the chief meterologists from Toledo’s news stations was quite a feat.
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Current Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray was in Toledo to talk about Consumer Credit issues and sat down to do an interview with Lee Conklin of Conklin & Company which is seen on WTVG. Cordray stated that they are making a push in Ohio as far as sharing information that help is on the way when it comes to making practices used by credit card companies more pro-consumer. That it was something that the federal government had been igorning for quite some time and have no made some pro-consumer rules, he gave the example of companies shortening their payment cycle which they would now be required to give each consumer 21 days.

Cordray has gone to other cities in Ohio to get comments from Ohioans and will continue that, there is also a website where you can share your thoughts and get more information, yourmoneynowonline.org.
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Over on the sidebar and at the top portion of this blog you’ll see Survival Resources Gov which not only contains links to make you navigate the information highway here in Toledo but also contains websites of interest such as the one created by Judge Michael Goulding. Rather than put his campaign website offline he’s used it as a way to update residents of the Toledo area to news and information.

There’s a recent update that shares some statistics about Judge Goulding’s performance as a Judge and also some thoughts on the recent budget drama between Toledo Municipal Court and the City of Toledo.

I do believe in a level of fiscal responsibility, but I also believe that it should be based on priorities and a bottom line of what option is more fiscally responsible. I agree with what Judge Kuhlman stated about the City continuing to pay for drug tests for those out on bond that costs $6.00 a day is a better option than locking them up or forgoing drug testing which is another option.

Shaun Hegarty from Fox Toledo was at the hearing yesterday and has a report online.
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In this week’s The Sojourner’s Truth the focus of the “This Strikes Us” column is the belief that an Obama victory will substantially erode support for affirmative action.. Some thought provoking poll numbers and other facts are presented in this article that is a highly recommended read.

Toledo City Councilman Michael Ashford sees fields of greens where they shouldn’t be and more detail is gone into about his belief that his District is not getting the level of services that it’s residents are entitled to. Ashford made this point also during the recent City Council meeting during the first call portion of the meeting.
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The Blade reports that the Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty conviction of James Were. Were is a former Toledo resident who was originally sentenced to Lucasville and after the riots when he was charged with the murder of Corrections Officer Robert Vallandingham and found guilty, given the death penalty, the Ohio Supreme Court in 2002 ordered a new trial since there were questions related to Were’s comptency and a competency hearing was not held.

If you believe the prosecution, Were was a huge part of the actual Lucasville Prison riot in 1993, if you believe the defense, Were could barely read or write and has an IQ of 69 or 70. The only real evidence that is stated to exist is tapes recorded during the riot in 1993 where even there conflicting evidence exists as to who ordered the murder of Corrections Officer Robert Vallandingham and what role Were had in the prison riots.
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I almost dread posting this with what normally happens, but? It’s news and it is something that has been of huge interest to the local blogging community, as reported in the Blade, Investigation shows 11 clients of McConnell Hancock had money missing from estates:

At least 11 of Karyn McConnell Hancock’s former Lucas County Probate Court clients have discrepancies in their accounts totaling more than $170,000 in missing money and possible thefts, a recently concluded investigation revealed.
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The “big items” related to the Marina District were near the very beginning of the Council meeting - all were held until the July 1st meeting:

Establish Tax Increment Financing (TIF) area for Marina District, require payments in lieu of taxes
Cooperative, Construction Management & Agency Agreements with Port Authority, Dillin & Bank of NY
Resolution - Assessment for Riverside Dr., lighting, sidewalks and clock tower in Marina District
Proceed with assessment for Riverside Dr., lighting, sidewalks and clock tower in Marina District
Levying assessments for Riverside Dr., lighting, sidewalks and clock tower in Marina District
Resolution - Assessment for storm water drainage and management improvements in Marina District
Proceed with assessment for storm water drainage and management improvements in Marina District
Levying assessments for storm water drainage and management improvements in Marina District
Designating a new public street Riverside Drive in the Marina District

On to the rest of the meeting - items are in bold if there was discussion I’ve also included the votes in bold to make the information easier to locate. The meeting ran just a bit longer than two hours today, a great deal of time was spent discussing several issues as you can see by the notes, these are not all of the items before Council today, just ones that had discussion or I felt would be of interest to know about.
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The Marina District financing has become even more complicated with the blame being levied at the Toledo Public School System for not wanting to agree with the proposals that have been presented by the administration thus far. In reading today’s Blade questions come to mind on this. It’s been previously reported that the TPS share of the tax dollars with no abatement would be 25 million dollars over the course of 15 years. The article also seems to indicate that the previous documentation that Larry Dillin was to provide demonstrating he had the necessary financing in place will not be coming until prior to closing:

The funding strategy is complicated, the mayor admitted.

The city intends to issue $6.75 million in five-year notes with an interest rate starting at 2.5 percent annually and increasing to 4.5 percent by 2012.

The Finkbeiner administration is planning to shoulder more risk by issuing $8.71 million in 20-year general obligation bonds in 2012. That amount is expected to be sufficient to pay off the five-year notes and accrued interest.
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I had previously seen the slide show thanks to WSPD giving it to Chris Myers who shared it on SwampBubbles but tonight was the first time that I heard the actual presentation that was made with the slides. WSPD will be covering this in even more detail tomorrow morning, Fred has a post up on SwampBubbles and Chris stated he has video that will be up tomorrow for those of you who did not attend tonight, so I recommend checking that out to make up your own mind on this topic.

The “breaking news” aspect of tonight was learning that there appeared to no longer be an issue related to the water lines that Brian McMahon’s company had purchased some additional land that allowed them to be able to access water lines. Fox Toledo had Shaun Hegarty there tonight so check their website later for video on the story.

Only two Toledo City Council members were in attendance tonight, District 2’s D. Michael Collins and District 6’s Lindsay Webb. Rep. Randy Gardner arrived after the presentation began. Some of the links in this older post here might be of interest if you did not read about them before.

There is some new material up at Fred’s podcast page on WSPD including an “Intermodal montage”.

Today on Troy Neff the Mayor talks about his belief on the topic of intermodal and WSPD.

He states the focus should be more on alternative energy and we are the solar energy capital of the US rather than concentrating on intermodal especially with energy prices. I recommend listening to the interview which also references a Blade article from today and several other recent articles.

Those can be found under the transportation category.

When you read the Blade article on the creation of Technology Drive and the County wanting to be reimbursed $560,980.00 one thing isn’t mentioned. While a deal was made in 2005 for a joint cooperation agreement with the county for the roadway’s construction, it does not appear that was ever approved by Toledo City Council. When this came up last year for a vote, it ended up being tabled.

If you listen to the interview that Troy Neff had today with Councilman Joe McNamara you’ll discover that and some other details about this scenario.

For some history on the actual Monclova land purchase? A great article by former Blade reporter, Joshua Benton. I recommend reading the article in full, here is a small bit of the history:

In 1987, Toledo joined the long list of dreamers who looked to Monclova’s open spaces as a way to make money. Toledo’s mayor at the time, Donna Owens, and then-City Manager Phil Hawkey, secretly agreed to purchase 1,187 acres in Monclova Township hoping to annex the land into the city, develop it for business and industry, and bring more taxes into city coffers.
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Fox Toledo has the story from last night:

John Foley, Toledo Public Schools Superintendent, and other school district leaders have extended an olive branch to the City of Toledo in helping reach a deal over the marina district project’s tax sharing impasse.

Fox has the two page letter, online.

Also of interest is this Blade editorial.

I was listening to the two interviews that Troy Neff did with Michael Collins and Judge Kuhlman. I recommend you listen to both but at one point of the interview Councilman Michael Collins states that there is no afternoon sessions at the Court, I thought this might be incorrect because I remember afternoon court times in some of my searching and being at court with friends/family members.

There are afternoon sessions at Toledo Municipal Court, it’s listed on the daily docket that is on the Clerk of Courts website. Court is scheduled at 8:30 a.m. and again at 1:00 p.m. with various other hearings scheduled in the afternoons, some at 2:30 p.m. and even one that I noticed at 5:00 p.m.

I can’t attest to the other statements Councilman Collins made as to how many hours per day the Judges put in, but there is afternoon court scheduled every day in more than one courtroom. The Board of Elections does not have the most current election finance forms on their website, they only have 2005 and 2006, however in going through the files online of the Judges currently in office only one received money from any branch of the UAW, Judge Schaefer received $3,000 in 2005 from the Ohio State UAW Pac. I will get the records for 2007 as soon as possible and look through them. Why that could be more relevant is the Lucas County Sheriff non-command officers voted to join the UAW in 2006, they were formerly represented by the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

Fox Toledo has the story as well as the link to the letter written to The Mayor and City Council President. The order is also included in that pdf, which I recommend reading, the most important part of the order states:

It is Therefore Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that the Mayor of the City of Toledo and Toledo City Council shall make the following appropriations for the Toledo Municipal Court for the purposes of entering into a contract with the Lucas County Commissioners and the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office to provide court security, court bailiff services and prisoner transport services for the fiscal year 2009. The Court orders that the Mayor of the City of Toledo execute a contract and that the Toledo City Council approve that contract between the City of Toledo and the Lucas County Commissioners for court security, court bailiff services and prisoner transportation to be provided by the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office to the Toledo Municipal Court for the calendar year in the amount of $1,951,789.65. That dollar amount represents the 2008 budget proposal from the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office for 23 deputies and one sergeant, plus a 3% cost increase, which is less than the cost increase provided by the most written contract executed December 31, 2004. So Ordered.

It was signed by Presiding Judge Timothy Kuhlman, Judge Amy Berling, Judge Robert Christiansen, Judge Francis Gorman, Judge Michael Goulding, Judge C. Allen McConnell and Judge Lynn Schaefer.

Fox will have more at 4:00 p.m. I’ll update as this story progresses. UPDATED link.

This information was included in the most recent newsletter sent out by District 5 Councilman Tom Waniewski:

City Council will consider an ordinance requiring owners of a vacant residential property to register their properties. As of this writing, I am not in support of this ordinance. Because so much can be misconstrued in a 10 second sound bite, I wanted to explain my reasoning.

While I applaud the hard work of the city’s department of neighborhoods, I feel the registry forces an unnecessary burden on law-abiding, tax-paying, property-respecting individuals. There are many exemptions for NOT paying the initial $100 fee, however I believe it adds another layer of government beuracracy to home ownership. The burden of proving that your home should be exempt from this fee (you are selling it, you are living in Florida for the winter, etc.) is on you.
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Neighbors over on St. Louis Street have been complaining for years about two properties owned by Neighborhood Housing Services and as you can see by the Blade article nothing has been done. The ultimate irony in this is that Neighborhood Housing Services is listed on the brochure that the Toledo Housing Court puts out as a resource see for yourself on page four. Ironic considering they don’t seem to follow the law nor do they seem to have to be held to the same standard as everyone else.

A glaring example:

Kattie Bond, director of the city’s neighborhoods department, said nuisance abatement had issued orders on 505 St. Louis St. as early as 2003 and in July, 2005, issued orders to board up the house.
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On Monday I went to Southwyck with my oldest daughter and saw two stores that were open not long ago, Ladie’s Foot Locker and Victoria Secret were closed, I also saw that Deb’s had a going out of business sale sign and talked briefly with a UPS driver who was loading up box after box of merchandise that the store did not want to clearance out that is being sent to other stores in the area. He told me that it’s been a busy week since he’s been doing the same thing for other stores in Southwyck Mall. I had not heard anything official but wondered if the recent “black mold scare” had driven off what was left of those who shopped at Southwyck.

Councilman Michael Ashford raised the question at the Toledo City Council meeting the next day, he had been told that stores had received notification that they had to be out at the end of the month. Apparently, any stores left in Southwyck have been ordered to leave before June 30th because according to WTVG Councilman D. Michael Collins is stating that stores have received notification of the closing.

Steven Flagg was at the meeting this morning, there are notes and audio on the tpsinfo.com website. The pdf for the fact finder report is also linked there. It has been reported as well in the Blade that the fact finder report was voted on this morning and was accepted four votes yes, one vote no. School Board members Jack Ford, Lisa Sobecki, Steve Steel and Bob Vasquez voted yes, Darlene Fisher voted no.

NBC24 has a brief report on this morning’s vote.

Yesterday I had a chance to talk to Olivia Holden about her involvement with Assets Toledo because they were holding a fundraising event this morning at the Toledo Club which she invited me to. Now those of you who know me, know I’m not a morning person, however what I heard this morning was a very inspirational way to start my day. The focus was on what this program gives people, which is a chance to develop/continue/enhance the entrepreneurial spirit that our society and our economy needs and survives as a result of.

From the Welcome by Olivia Holden to the Invocation given by Bishop Tisdale, the history shared by Frank Ulrich, the sharing of some of the successes by Maynard Sauder, thoughts shared by Dan Anderson, Lillie White and Jason Daniels sharing their personal experiences of what they gained from the program, Dick Anderson stressing why this program deserves community financial support to Frank Ozanski’s closing, the thought that ran through my mind was “imagine the possibilities”.
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This week’s Sojourner’s Truth has some serious moments and some light ones to point out. There are two parts to the This Strikes Us, the second part focuses on presidential politics but the first one focuses on the recent fact finder report approved by the Toledo Teachers Union. The suggestion to Toledo Public School Board members:

The fact is, we have a demand for teachers and a short supply of really good ones. That is really the important issue. If we want to increase the supply, we need to increase the compensation. That’s Econ 101 … basic Adam Smith stuff. Market rate is the market rate.

We trust that the school board will approve the fact finder’s report including the recommendations for future teacher pay raises.

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The first 40 minutes of today’s Toledo City Council meeting was mainly focused on resolutions, Resolution - Recognize Veterans Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio - Resolution - Recognize Sgt. Richard B. Murphy - Resolution - Employer support of National Guard and Reserve and the Delegation from China was recognized and spoke briefly.

Council President Mark Sobczak was not in attendance and neither was Council person Betty Schultz. Councilman Szollosi and Councilman Sarantou left before all of the agenda was gone through. It was probably one of the shortest council meetings on record that I’ve covered recently though I don’t believe it was the shortest meeting on record…What follows is some of what was discussed/voted on that I thought might be of interest, there was very little discussion tonight on any of the items before Council. Councilman Craig was the temporary Council President for the purposes of the meeting.

Sale of City-owned property, Erie St. Market & Water Distribution, to Tetra Tech, $4,200,000 - approved
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As reported in the Toledo Blade, Turnpike funds for state jobs plan cut in half which is a semi-win for Northern Ohio. A complete win would of course be if what was originally promised when the turnpike became a toll road in the first place that was voter approved was reversed, but I don’t think that will ever happen. As many know, originally when the initial bond issue was paid off the turnpike was supposed to stop being a toll road. However the General Assembly changed that in crafting this back in the 1990’s:

§ 5537.21. Continuance as toll road after debts paid; fixing and use of tolls.
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I’ve gotten the text of an email that was written to all members of Toledo City Council that was in reaction to an experience a Toledo area resident had with the over all tone of the meeting and in discussion with Councilman Mike Craig last night. Some of the local media was given a copy of the email, not by this person but by another member of Council, George Sarantou. Communication with all of Council is public record, yet most times this type of communication shared with the media is done by those involved.

Dear Mr. Craig:

I attended the Coucil meeting on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 4:00 pm with the intent of requesting City Council to find the needed funds to take care of the median strip that is so desperately needed at the new Bowsher High School for safety purposes.

Little did I know that I was to witness the display of unprofessionalism that I did as well as be offended by a councilman.
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Sure, I’m a Bowsher Rebel and always will be, but I received this in via email and I know many of you are Scott High School Alumni so I knew it would be of interest:

SCOTT HIGH SCHOOL…A CREDIT TO TOLEDO
By WW for Life May 19th, 2008

Looking through various Scott High School yearbooks, I could not help but be impressed by the many students that had moved into the real world and made their mark as judges, lawyers, doctors, entertainers, athletes, business people and just plain folks. The city of Toledo has been well served by the Bulldog alumni and their teachers.
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In addition to Peter Ujvagi who stated he has some major concerns about the diversion of funds and Matt Szollosi who were both on Troy Neff this morning, and the press conference that was held earlier today as well as the Mayor urging cities in Northern Ohio to join in protesting this…I’ve received the text of a resolution that will be presented by Councilman D. Michael Collins tomorrow for approval by Toledo City Council:

Opposing the change in the Ohio Revised Code, which would allow for the redirection of Turnpike Revenue to be distributed to projects not associated with the Turnpike; and declaring an emergency.

WHEREAS, Governor Strickland has requested in his $1.7 billion Economic Stimulus package, lawmakers to change the Ohio Revised Code which restricts the use of Turnpike Revenue, and opens those funds to uses not associated with the turnpike; and
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This in via email:

Councilman D. Michael Collins, along with members of Toledo City Council, to hold a press conference urging Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to reconsider the diversion of Ohio Turnpkie Funds.

Governor Strickland’s decision to divert turnpike funds could be critical to future Economic Development in Toledo, and Northwest Ohio

WHEN: TODAY, Monday, May 19, 2008
WHERE: City Council Office, 21st Floor of 1 Govt. Center
TIME: 2:00pm