The status quo has to be dismantled one brick at a time. Or block, if you prefer.

Keep up the good work! Maybe someday the people that are left in this city will wake up and realize who really runs it!

Until then, keep hitting people over the head with the truth…

I’m hearing a lot of stories about the principal players in this story. If I can confirm half of them, this will be a novel.

If this is the “change” that we are to “hope” for, then we have many more disappointments to look forward to. Once again we see council giving in to the Administration in the old “go along to get along” attitude that has brought Toledo where it is today. As Lindsay Webb herself pointed out, she voted for an inferior candidate to protect her district from recrimination. A vote of 9-2 was both cowardly and predictable.

As for Mr. Chabler’s comments about WSPD, perhaps he would prefer that everyone get in line behind him, the Mayor, and Mr. Block, as this has served us so well in the past. This would allow local government to treat us not as sheep, but as lemmings.

Love the “Beta.”

If I had a dollar for every person who writes us who has left the area, I’d be able to buy my own Port Authority. It’s a lifetime war, nothing that will be solved soon, but at least there are some small battles breaking out.

As to your article … well, this type of backroom dealings and shadowy intimations is just the types of things that have made my decision to move out of Toledo (and Ohio in general) much easier.

Many of the projects that the Port Authority is attempting to champion have been on the table for years. And with each round of appointments to their board there is one more layer of denial.

Until such time as Toledo city government is full of fresh faces, fresh ideas and a will to accept the future and move forward … well, the same old stuff will remain the same old stuff.

It’s sad. Toledo has all the ingredients for success, but the plethora of chefs in the kitchen are spoiling the mix.

Thanks!

The Web site was designed primarily by Ryan Shull of Insight Advertising Agency. He has been putting in a lot of hours trying to translate my old-school newspaper design ideas into cyberspace.

The cartoon is by Matt Siffer, who worked with me at Business Venture, an early-1990s publication in Holland, OH. Matt submitted this cartoon after hearing the news of Chabler’s appointment; he did not read my column first or have any conversation with me. Needless to say, I cracked a big smile when I saw it for the first time.

I’m not sure I buy the theory on Chabler being acceptable because of his Columbus connections, especially when you consider the Mayor claims a great relationship with Governor Strickland and Lt. Governor Fisher and it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Chabler would have more access than already exists and is not apparently working for us.

What bothers me most is we keep hearing we want things in Toledo to change, that we want the “best and the brightest” yet our government continues to demonstrate that it’s not really about wanting to bring new people in, it’s all about the old guard continuing to hold power.

In a way it could be said that Toledo really is a “green city”, we have vigorously adopted one form of recycling. We recycle electeds and appointees in a much higher percentage than we do trash…