I drove by the Ottawa Park Ice Rink today to see if it is true that work has started at the ice rink. Sure enough, the demolition is in progress. I became very angry when I saw this. Our streets are in such need of repair I can't imagine how replacing an ice rink deserves priority over street repair. Am I being overly sensitive or is this work to spend over a half-million dollars for such a project pure madness?
I'm Confused
By lauralbloom - Posted on July 3rd, 2008
Tagged: Observation
• Beam me up Scotty
• Toledo
• Ice Rink
• Why Does The City of Toledo Need A New Ice Rink When Our Streets Are In Such Disrepair?
Thats is outrageous. Considering I needed a boat and a life jacket to get to work this morning. The streets were flooded. So fix the sewer system. Repair the roads. Hire more cops. And then we can think about quality of life issues in this city and county facing budget constraints.
We have 2/3rds of the uniformed police force either driving DESKS or "non-service" cruisers. Although slightly below in per-capita with respect to other Ohio cities, we still have 2/3rds of the force NOT TAKING EMERGENCY CALLS.
We can put 50% more cops on the street TOMORROW. But the police union would never tolerate having desk cops doing real police work.
That's the sad truth of what out-of-control unionization gets you.
P.S. After 3 years, probably half the cops you'd hire would disappear behind a desk or into a non-service cruiser. Hiring more police is NOT the answer.
Roads are infrastructure. Maintaining those is boring, unsexy, and frankly not even understood by the the yuppie freaks who infest government today. Parks are more comprehensible.
I mean, face facts: No city ever sold itself as having "well-maintained streets". And employers don't care that much about that sort of thing, anyway. You have to drag your ass to work no matter what your roads are like, what your neighborhoods are like, and what the price of gasoline is. You either drag yourself in or you're fired, and then you're just replaced by someone more desperate and pliable than you are.
Toledo has been given an award for being the third most livable city of its size in the world. Bad streets, abandoned buildings and homes, highest unemployment rate in the state. I don't see it. Is the City of Toledo leadership on drugs and can't see what's obvious. The City has fallen apart and is getting worse. An ice rink that is used 2 months out of the year? I understand that most of the people who use the ice rink are hockey players, somewhat of an elitist sport in Toledo. This ice rink doesn't help the common, everyday citizen who has to repair his car damaged by the poor streets, high taxes and no jobs. Can someone stop this craziness?
Contractors are repaving the road in front of my house in West Toledo. Monday, they milled the road down to the gravel. When I came home from work I walked out on the road and it was like a spongy trampoline. You could actually see the road bouncing up and down as you walked on it. I'm no expert on rebuilding roads, but I would think you would need a stable, firm base before laying any type of asphalt. Tuesday morning I called the Division of Streets and Harbors and was eventually transfered to an engineer in the Streets Division. After telling him of the problem, I was assured that the road was stable and that two coats of asphalt would "bridge" the roadway and that I shouldn't worry.
I got a text message from my wife Wednesday afternoon that the first layer of asphalt had been applied. It promptly collapsed into the soft spots and has created a grooved low spot about 15 feet long in the road. There are some nice cracks already in the asphalt as a result of the stress from the asphalt settling.
I'll post again from the sinkhole that swallows my house after the road fails in March.
Like the garbage tax, this Ottawa Park rink renovation is another double whammy. Why? Because the city wants to charge extra fees ($3) in addition to what they pay in taxes.
Yes, Marcy Kaptur obtained a grant to pay for part of this and the city that has no money somehow was able to find money to pay the amount the grant money didn't cover. But guess what? Grant money comes from taxpayers. The money in the CIP fund is taxpayers' money. So not only do we all have to pay to build the thing, everyone also has to pay for its upkeep and also to use it.
To make matters worse, some will be paying more (unequally) than others. Why should the people who can't or won't use it for whatever reason, be forced to pay for the few people who will use it?
The mayor's selling point to school hockey teams is, with the high price of gas, you shouldn't travel around to other areas when you can pay the city to use the new rink at Ottawa Park--think of the money you would save.
The mayor's slogan is "Toledo Pride", but is this (mis)use of taxpayer dollars something to be proud of or something to be ashamed of?
City Council had to have a role in this project. Why didn't they stop it.?
"Landmark Toledo ice rink will be rebuilt
One thing you won't see is a new roof which would allow for longer use. The city can't afford it right now.
Most of the $600-thousand dollar cost of rebuilding is being covered by a federal grant. It would cost another $600-thousand dollars to finish the job and add a roof."
http://www.wnwo.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=154562
"THERE are good ideas, there are bad ideas, and then there are ideas that make you ask: What were they thinking? The Finkbeiner administration's suggestion to repave more Toledo streets by asking the people who live on those streets to pay a portion of the tab is most definitely in that head-scratching third group."
"Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's spokesman, Robert Reinbolt, said they're just talking about "a few hundred dollars per year," although he acknowledged that for many people "a few hundred dollars is very important." City Council President Mark Sobczak said the idea has "some legs" and the assessments on homeowners would be "relatively small."
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080420/OPINION02/804...