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Political analyst: Toledo 'looks like a war zone' - By Justin R. Kalmes
Toledo Free Press Metro Reporter
jkalmes@toledofreepress.com

The comments of a political analyst and former adviser to four U.S. presidents have several top local officials up in arms in defense of the Glass City.

In the Nov. 30 issue of Rolling Stone, David Gergen, who served presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, told publisher Jann S. Wenner Toledo "looks like a war zone" when asked what he made of Ohio's political climate change following the Nov. 7 election in which Democrats took control of several top state and national offices. Gergen preceded the statement by saying Ohio "is the best hope for the future of Democrats" and the state, especially its northern region, has felt the effects of globalization. He visited the city earlier this month to participate in the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library's Authors! Authors! series.

"Mr. Gergen insulted - not only Toledoans - but himself," Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said in an e-mail. "He knows nothing of Toledo after spending a few hours here. Had he visited our art museum, our zoo, our parks, or our university, he would have been informed. He did not and his comment reflects his ignorance of our city."

Gergen complimented the library system and the audience present for his appearance, but said he was surprised by what he saw driving into the city.

"On the outskirts of town, I saw this factory that looked like literally half of it was falling off," Gergen said. "It looked like it had been hit by an earthquake.

"Don't mistake that for the great spirit I found in Toledo at the library system. I wasn't being critical of Toledo, I was trying to be descriptive of the areas that have been hard hit by globalization."

Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken agreed Toledo has faced its share of challenges, but said the city and its surrounding region should benefit from changed leadership after 16 years of Republican control in Columbus.

"We don't want to be described as desolate and in the war zone context, but it's a struggling city, it's a struggling Midwest economy," Gerken said. "It's not just Toledo. I think 16 years of Republican leadership in this state have left us battle scarred."

Lucas County Commissioner-elect Ben Konop said statements such as Gergen's in national publications cast Toledo in a negative light to young people throughout the country. As of June 30, Rolling Stone's total paid and verified circulation was more than 1.4 million.

"I would characterize Toledo as more of a sleeping giant than a war zone," Konop said in an e-mail. "Gergen was probably in the city for about 20 minutes on his way to and from the airport in a limo so his comments were undoubtedly ill informed and typical of the bias towards places like Toledo often found in the Washington, D.C., corridors of power."

Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce President Mark A. V'Soske said Gergen was wrong in his depiction of the city.

"Clearly Toledo is a different community and a different style of community," V'Soske said. "Toledo is obviously not a war zone. Toledo has great stuff going for it."

Though Konop took issue with Gergen's "war zone" description of Toledo, he agreed the rest of the comment was accurate.
"There is no doubt that our community has taken a major hit economically in the last several decades," Konop said, "and that elected leaders have, in some cases, not been looking out for the economic well being of working families in places like Toledo."
posted by Fuselighter to news at 9:02 A.M. EST     (15 Comments)

Comments ...

Wow to hear Pete talk it would seem he hasn't been in a position to affect the Toledo area at all. Just the state Republicans.
posted by MikeyA at 09:15 A.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

Hey it's the Democrats that have been in control of this city. Keep the blame locally where it belongs.
posted by rooky at 11:39 A.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

Kinda reminds me of Granholm blaming Michigan's unemployment on the President when Michigan's unemployment was roughly double the national average. I'd say you could blame half of that on the president but the other half would have to fall on her.
posted by MikeyA at 12:53 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

Yeah, the real story here is Gerken and his obscenely stupid comments. Democrats have ruled the People's Republic of Toledo County for years, yet Gerken blames others.

Once again, let's look at some stats:

1. (2005 story) - "Toledo's home county, Lucas, is the only one of Ohio's major urban counties to lose private-sector professional, scientific, and technical services jobs over the latest five-year period."

Blade stats for each county and the % change in employment in these types of jobs:

Summit (Akron) 45%
Montgomery (Dayton) 16%
Franklin (Columbus) 15%
Hamilton (Cincinnati) 14%
Cuyahoga (Cleveland) 2%
Lucas (Toledo) -11%


2. (2006 story) - "Fifth from the bottom. That's how Toledo ranked in the latest national study of job growth among the 200 major metropolitan areas. The No. 196 ranking was worse than the previous report more than a year ago by the Milken Institute, a California think tank."

Other Michigan and Ohio cities in the largest metro list:

135. Columbus OH
149. Cincinnati-Middletown OH-KY-IN
156. Ann Arbor MI
160. Akron OH
169. Kalamazoo-Portage MI
175. Holland-Grand Haven MI
187. Dayton OH

Bottom 10:

191. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton NC
192. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Division
193. Grand Rapids-Wyoming MI
194. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor OH
195. Warren-Farmington Hills-Troy, MI Metropolitan Division
196. Toledo OH
197. Lansing-East Lansing MI
198. Canton-Massillon OH
199. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman OH-PA
200. Flint MI


3. (2006 story) - "Toledo shrinks 13th-fastest of U.S. cities, census says; 1.1% population drop in '05 among worst in Ohio."

Biggers population losers in 2005.

13 Toledo -1.1
21 Flint, Mich -0.9
23 Dayton -0.8
35 Ann Arbor -0.7
50 Akron -0.5


4. (2003 story) - "They’re young, single, college-educated, and coveted by leaders across the country for helping revitalize regions - and they’re leaving the Toledo area in droves. The latest census figures confirm what some area leaders and scholars have pegged as a major hurdle to northwest Ohio overcoming its long-term economic woes: Metropolitan Toledo continues to lose twice as many residents in that demographic than it gains."

"The figures, released this week, rank metro Toledo - which is Lucas, Wood, and Fulton counties - as 207th out of 276 metro areas across the country. That’s worse than every major metro area in Ohio, including Youngstown, and worse than smaller metro areas in Ohio except for Steubenville."
posted by jr at 01:20 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

The factory he's talking about.. must be the old Jeep plant?

By that measure, yeah, I can see the warzone comment. But you think he'd do a little... uh... journalism and figure out exactly what it was that he saw, and whether it was an example of a larger truth, or just an example of an existing stereotype.
posted by shaneh at 01:24 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

I wouldn't be that quick to dismiss it shaneh. We really need to examine this for what it's worth. This is a out-of-towner who passed by Toledo and this was his impression.

If it looks that way to him it probably looks that way to other out-of-towners. Now we need to discuss what we could do to change the perception.
posted by MikeyA at 01:37 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

Mikey,

It seems from the excerpt that the evidence he used to based his claim was a 100 year old factory that is being torn down. Did he not notice the brand new shiny replacememnt factory just a couple miles away?

Toledo is far from paradise, but the only reason he even wrote that column, I'd guess, is that what he saw reinforced a stereotype that he already had.
posted by shaneh at 01:51 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

Good point Shaneh but you're assuming that it is the Jeep plant he's referring to. I can think of a number of other factories that fit the description.

He does comment on the spirit of the people he met at the library. So I wouldn't completely dismiss his comments (which I doubt you were doing anyway).

Instead I think we should evaluate what he said. We are always talking about planting trees and painting houses and moving garbage cans to beautify Toledo. Maybe we should examine our highways and views of the city from them and ask ourselves if the impression that those just driving through get from those landscapes does it make them more apt to want to stop or drive through?
posted by MikeyA at 02:25 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

If Gergen thinks Toledo "looks like a war zone" (which, to a certain extent must be true for a coastal urbanite like himself), then what does he think of Detroit? Certain areas around Detroit's downtown look too much like those aftermath photos from Hiroshima.

What Gergen is actually implying is that we're dropping economic nukes on our own cities, and that we're conducting class war ... to the extent that "time and crime" are doing as much damage to our culture as a real but low-level war might do.

Note, according to the article:

'' "On the outskirts of town, I saw this factory that looked like literally half of it was falling off," Gergen said. "It looked like it had been hit by an earthquake. ''

What's false or misleading about such an observation? Toledo has many sites that look equally shabby from such a description.

The article continues to quote him:

'' ["]I wasn't being critical of Toledo, I was trying to be descriptive of the areas that have been hard hit by globalization." ''

The only thing that's actually misleading about this true statement is that he fails to recognize that the Capitalists gave up on Toledo many years before the full effect of modern globalism took place. Since Gergen is as much a whore for the urban wealthy as any of his class is, I hardly expect him to reveal that line of thought.

The article continues:

'' Lucas County Commissioner-elect Ben Konop said statements such as Gergen's in national publications cast Toledo in a negative light to young people throughout the country. As of June 30, Rolling Stone's total paid and verified circulation was more than 1.4 million. "I would characterize Toledo as more of a sleeping giant than a war zone," Konop said in an e-mail. ''

Oh, here we go, more cheers from the cheerleader. Honest assessment of Toledo is that it IS a Rusty City, and that that IS negative. On top of that, Ohio told the homosexuals (who are largely yuppies, which Konop allegedly appeals to) that they are second-class citizens with the most restrictive anti-gay-marriage language in America. Ohio just told a significant fraction of the yuppies to go the fuck away. Who then is shocked that a certain monied elite don't find Ohio's Medieval social policies attractive?

Anyhoo, Konop needs to admit that although a sleeping giant has potential, it's not very useful in its sleeping state. Awakening such a thing will require investment -- and (aha!) we're just back to Toledo's now very old problem. Toledo is now routinely starved of investment capital and there's really only one class that's responsible for that: the wealthy. Of course, Konop has the equal problem as Gergen has, in that he can't actually come out and say that the Capitalists are intentionally starving Toledo (and American areas like it). The Imperial model demands that all who speak against the Capitalists must be marginalized and demonized to minimize the effect of Populism upon their wealth.

However, Konop deserves some kudos since he did pursue that lawsuit (now thrown out by the judge) against Convergys. It does show some socio-economic spine to take a powerful Cincinnati corporation to court.

MikeyA said: "Wow to hear Pete talk it would seem he hasn't been in a position to affect the Toledo area at all. Just the state Republicans."

He hee! Yes, the Dems around here are staying in the blame-the-Republicans mode without any gear-shifting whatsoever. We can clearly blame local Dems for the structure of our crony-dense stupid government. In that sense, they must take responsibility for the governmental aspect of the economic blame. However, the Republicans (who largely represent capital interests) must take the capital aspect of the economic blame. Again, Gerken will never even make that latter distinction, since as I explained above, anyone who speaks of class differences is hounded out of the public eye. Like Konop and Gergen, Gerken realizes not only who butters his bread, but where the butter comes from.

MikeyA said: "If it looks that way to him it probably looks that way to other out-of-towners. Now we need to discuss what we could do to change the perception."

Gee, Mikey, you could start taxing the run-down properties of the Capitalists, and if abandoned, you could start locating the owners and seizing their assets to perform the inevitable environmental cleanups of their nasty sites. Unfortunately, Toledo's politicians refuse to do this. Look at the Arbuckle Building property, for instance. The owner was in arrears for taxes ... then the building was obviously torched from arson. Has the city collected on the back taxes? Has the city charged this man for the money the city had to spend to tear down the dangerous building remnant after the fire? I just bet you know the answers to these questions.
posted by GuestZero at 03:02 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

Gergen is right, for God's sake. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the obvious. Pretend you are going to host a business delegation here thinking of relocating. Try to map a route through the city and yes, the suburbs too, which show the city in a favorable light. Where are the best neighborhoods for executive families to live? Where are the best schools? Look at this area from an outsiders viewpoint and then contrast/compare with Ann Arbor, Charlotte NC, even Findlay for crying out loud. We look awful. It's true.
posted by holland at 04:31 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

Well, according to Michael Miller, it was the old Jeep plant which he saw...and it does look like it was hit by a bomb or an earthquake. Unfortunately, he drew the wrong conclusions. He probably didn't have anyone explain that the old building is coming down because of the new plant and the growing supplier park that we now have.

Rather than be an indicator of the negative impacts of globalization, the Jeep plant is a great example of how a community CAN compete in the global marketplace.

But others here make a valid point...we need to see our community as others see it so we can understand why they come away with such perceptions.

on a different note, when I first heard about his description, I thought he was referring to a-team/b-team issues ... lol
posted by MaggieThurber at 05:09 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

This is a very similar opinion that many outsiders have of Toledo.....including myself and my family. I just moved to Toledo a little over a year ago, and when asked by our friends back home (Kentucky) what's it like I always tell them that is largely run-down, it's very manufacturing based, the unions are very powerful, and for fun I tell them it's 90% Polish (I know it's not, but it seems that all my friends have a name I can't pronounce the first time).

I also give tours at UT for prospective medical students coming from around the country. They always ask what the worst part of going to UT for med school is, and without fail the honest answer by current students is, "the City." The interviewees then respond by saying they thought so from what they have previously heard and seen on their drive in.
posted by HeyHey at 06:20 P.M. EST on Tue Nov 28, 2006     #

LOL.... I was confused when I first heard of it too Maggie. I thought he was talking about the condition of the Toledo Public Schools until I read the article.
posted by MikeyA at 08:30 A.M. EST on Wed Nov 29, 2006     #

For the most part i think he's right. It is an ugly ass city minus the usual suspects.
posted by drago at 12:08 A.M. EST on Thu Nov 30, 2006     #

He's dead on.
posted by junta330 at 12:23 A.M. EST on Thu Nov 30, 2006     #

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