The Blade wants uni-gov - No doubt, JR Block wants to add Oregon, Sylvania, Maumee, Ottawa Hills, etc. to his empire. As mentioned earlier, uni-gov will be a major topic in 2004. Councilman Pete Gerken expressed his support for uni-gov on local radio a couple months ago. Mayor Ford gave his backing for it last week. On the most recent airing of the editors, Harry Barlos said he supported uni-gov. Now, through the editorial page, the blab wants uni-gov too. Communities outside of Toledo, how do you feel about your services being controlled by Toledo government? Does uni-gov mean forced-fed legislation by Toledo government, such as the smoking ban, would apply to the entire county and not just to Toledo? If so, doesn't this thought frighten citizens outside of Toledo?
From The Blade editorial:
"In his "State of the City" speech, Mayor Jack Ford showed that whatever he might lack in charisma is more than offset by the scope of his personal vision for the future of Toledo and Lucas County."
In other words, Mayor Ford is not a dynamic public speaker. In fact, he's a cure for insomnia. But Jack is the mouthpiece for The Blade's vision.
"We were particularly struck by his bold call for a move toward metropolitan government."
Oh please. The blabber is making it sound like this uni-gov idea is 100% Jack's, and it came out of nowhere. Like no one saw it coming. Dude, take up drama writing.
"Consolidation of city and county government, which has proceeded successfully in such medium-sized U.S. cities as Indianapolis, Louisville, Jacksonville, and Nashville, presents a number of opportunities to streamline and improve public services."
Barlos mentioned snow removal as a service under the control of uni-gov. Are you kidding? After a major snowfall, it's typically several days later, if at all, that our street is cleared by Toledo, and we live one street off of a major road in the city.
I don't think Rossford is a candidate for the Toledo empire, since it's in Wood County, but no community in the Toledo area has the snow removal capabilities like Rossford. They do the best at clearing the streets in the winter time. Smaller towns are better able to get their streets cleared than a big city like Toledo, so how does uni-gov improve these other communities?
These uni-gov supporters make it sound like the outlying communities are in chaos and need help. I don't think that's the case.
"Judging from initial reaction to Mayor Ford's proposal, officials of smaller cities and villages in Lucas County may not be eager to proceed with consolidation."
"May not?" I wonder if the reaction is stronger than just "may not?" Ah, but The Blade dictates to the other communties on what to do.
"But they should forget the battles and jealousies of other eras. The concept merits a thorough hearing and even a feasibility study."
Fine. Then Toledo, you pay for the study, since you want it. What am I saying? That means taxpayers will pay for it. Sounds like more waste of money.
"In fact, there is more than one way to achieve metropolitan government. While the Indianapolis model provided a total merger of city and county governments, Louisville preferred to tweak its approach, merging most county functions with the city but allowing some smaller jurisdictions to remain in place."
Wait a minute. Is the Louisville model really uni-gov then? Sounds like a token attempt at it. If it happens around here, the Louisville version, whatever that is, would be chosen over the Indianapolis model.
There are a ton of questions right now. Where's the detailed Toledo uni-gov plan that citizens in other communities can read? Does one exist? How does uni-gov benefit the outlying communties?
So let's say uni-gov is implemented across Lucas County. It will finally give Toledo that which it has wanted for years: Maumee's Arrowhead Park. If Toledo, for whatever reason, drives businesses out of the city and into the burbs, why wouldn't uni-gov drive businesses out of Lucas County?
What's to stop a new Arrowhead-type business development from being created in the Wood County communities of Rossford or Perrysburg? Or maybe across the line in Michigan?
posted by jr to politics at 8:05 P.M. EST
(3 Comments)
Comments ...
After doing some light reading I noticed a couple troubling points.
"...the basic argument there [Louisville] went like this: 'Merger will make us money. We'll vault from 65th largest U.S. city to 23rd. We'll be on the radar screen of major metropolises. We'll attract more jobs. Our young people won't have to go elsewhere for economic opportunity.'"
The city size statistic is misleading at best, which is why any company considering a move to a community looks at the stats for the entire metropolitan area instead. For example, everyone knows Cleveland is larger than Columbus, but not if you look at population stats. (Cleveland - 478,403, Columbus - 711, 470) I believe it was Disraeli who first said "lies, damn lies and statistics."
So, will a new misleading stat actually attract more jobs? Doubtful.
From the Indianapolis Unigov site: "Because they wished to retain their autonomy, the cities of Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and the town of Speedway were not included in Unigov. Instead, residents of these "excluded" units of governments elect their own mayors, councils and boards. As residents of Marion County, however, dwellers in Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and Speedway are obligated to pay countywide taxes. Because of this and because the Indianapolis mayor's power extends to the entire county, residents of the four communities can vote for the mayor of Indianapolis, a city-county council member and the four at-large council members."
So let me get this straight. Those 4 cities do not receive the services but are still paying for them with their taxes? In other words, "you're going to pay for our services whether you want them or not." Do these people now pay Federal, state, county AND city taxes? At best I would call this soft annexation, at worst... extortion.
This is nothing more than the city of Toledo trying to grab the tax income back from the people fleeing to the suburbs. They need to address the reasons people are running instead of trying to make them continue to pay for them after moving. Address the problems with Toledo schools, safety, property value and people will come back.
-Dan
posted by photodan at 01:39 P.M. EST on Mon Feb 23, 2004 #
On Monday: Ford leads on ‘Unigov,’ but who will follow?
"Mayor Jack Ford hopes to take Lucas County on its first real step toward regional government next week in a summit to be convened at a train station. Using the term "Unigov," known to municipal policy wonks as the merger 34 years ago of Indianapolis and Marion County, Mr. Ford repeatedly has pressed the Lucas County commissioners to begin planning for unified government. When the commissioners didn’t act, Mr. Ford announced during his State of the City speech last week that he would take the lead."
"Local officials may be ready with some answers to Mr. Ford’s questions when they meet next week. "I have heard very little," said Stanley Wielinski, mayor of the village of Whitehouse. He said an outright merger won’t be popular in his village. "We’re kind of a close-knit town. We don’t like somebody else telling us what to do. I would probably put a committee together to oppose it," he said."
"Marge Brown, the mayor of Oregon, said she’s in support of cooperating to deliver services and share information whenever possible, but doesn’t want to lose control over local functions, like the police department."
On Tuesday: Council left in dark on ‘Unigov’ plan, Szollosi says.
"Toledo Mayor Jack Ford should have informed City Council about talks to merge government functions with Lucas County before making them public, Councilman Frank Szollosi said. Mr. Szollosi, who chairs council’s intergovernmental relations committee, said city council has no idea what the mayor is planning. Mr. Szollosi said he wants to know whether the mayor is planning on combining individual functions, such as purchasing and planning, or something more comprehensive."
posted by jr at 02:54 A.M. EST on Wed Feb 25, 2004 #
I think installing a Unigov could and would benefit Toledo IF done right. The key to doing it right is to have the right people running it. Which means, if Sylvania, Maumee, Oregon, Ottawa Hills and so on become a part of Toledo, that would mean that some of these city leaders could be elected officials of Toledo. From what I understand with a lot of the Unigovs set up around the country, a lot of absorbed suburban communities have kept their own services and schools, as is the case with Louisville. Either way, Unigov or not, Toledo will still fail if idiots keep running the show. But hey, we're the idiots who elect them.
posted by lprmesia at 12:46 A.M. EST on Sat Mar 13, 2004 #
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