Maybe this is part of the reason for a drop in Toledo tax revenues.
"The city of Toledo tried to persuade Hammill Manufacturing Co. and Thread Inc. to keep their businesses in Toledo, but couldn't match the lure of Arrowhead Park in Maumee."
Back to the original news story:
"... looking back with envy on the Finkbeiner years ..."
It's rediculous to believe that Carty was soley responsible for Toledo's so-called glory years of the 1990's. It's also unfair to blame Ford for all the problems that have existed since he has been mayor. Afterall, the Blade writer in the story that started this topic said:
"The revenue stream was propelled by a fast-moving economy that entered a recession in 2000 and hasn't emerged yet."
Recession started in 2000? That's before Ford took office.
Sidenote: I wonder if the Blade writer made a slip-up by saying the recession started in 2000, because President Bush didn't take office until Jan 2001. The Blade writer indirectly implied that Bush inherited a recession, just like Mayor Ford did. And the terrorist attacks of Sep 11, 2001 certainly didn't help the economy recover. Timing plays a key role when it comes to the economy.
posted by jr at 01:41 A.M. EST on Sun Sep 12, 2004 #
I can certainly blame Ford if he tries to conduct another 5- or 6-digit "study" to find out why Toledo's economy sucks b*lls. He's done enough of them so far to illustrate the fact that he's a do-nothing administrator that would make Columbus's fiscal CIA very proud of their undercover agent.
Why things are so terrible is clear and present: Toledo is dying. Manufacturing is the heart of any sustainable industrial economy (once the agricultural sector produces enough for all while being just background noise), and the city's mfg is fleeing. The base has largely fled already. Those that remain, and those few lured back, are given horrid (from the viewpoint of the common man) tax breaks. Then there's the accompanying drop in wages, which of course hits income taxes.
The housing bubble could only support Toledo's sinkhole economy for so long before the sheer weight of financial gravity sets in. Toledo's avg housing prices sank 5% last year -- AT LAST, as I had been waiting for price falls to happen, what with all the lost jobs. $100K for a house on Olson Street? What moron buys that?
Toledo could possibly survive as a service economy if it could service a nearby real (i.e. manufacturing) economy like Detroit. And we all know what's happened to Detroit -- it's been destroyed, and it's only a hollow shell of the economy it had been in the 1960s.
So a service economy is the usual elitist lie in that people are supposed to keep spending and life will somehow be better. Of course, when we talk about spending, there's the unavoidable topic of that awful credit bubble from the 1990s, and with interest rates rising (FINALLY!) this irrational exuberance is coming to an end. The corresponding "wealth effect" (what little Toledo had) is coming to an end also. Cash is king, and Toledo's people are loaded up with debt, with nearly zero savings, while their jobs are under continual assault from the "crony capitalists".
So, go ahead, Toledo. Put Carty back in office ... you dumb bunnies! The man is a functionally insane person, but it's not like he can do much more damage to an economy in critical status and dying fast.
At this point, we must append a Note to the Yuppies: All that downtown facelift-and-arts CRAP means nothing but happytalk and feelgood fluff before the real economic crash happens. Then you're going to see some real fires, Detroit style.
I just heard a couple of days ago some Collingwood Arts Center dweeb talk about how "life is returning" to Toledo. He must have meant the panhandlers, since he looked like one. While there are monstrous potholes on Toledo's streets, I will vote NO (with pleasure!) for any such foolish ballot items "for the arts". Necessities before luxuries. If anything can attract industry to Toledo -- so you can have an economy an' stuff, duh -- it will be a smoothly operating infrastructure ... you know, the boring, unsexy stuff like sewers, electricity, police and fire protection, and all the rest of the stuff we should be having as an alleged First World geographic area.
P.S. I haven't even gone into the vast undercurrent of America's new fiscal revolt. It's real, it's here, and it's just picking up steam. How many of your neighbors are blatantly avoiding taxes and dodging debts? You'd be shocked to know the answer. How many bankruptcies again this year? ... heading for another record, I hear.
posted by Guest at 09:33 P.M. EST on Sun Sep 12, 2004 #
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