Nearly a third of the uniformed people who patrol
the streets of Toledo, investigate murders, pick up trash, and put out
fires could be off the job if the 0.75 percent income tax on the ballot
next week is ultimately defeated, city leaders have warned.
"I hope and pray that thoughtful people will realize that there is no
evidence the city of Toledo has in any way taken taxpayers' dollars and
irresponsibly spent [them]," Mr. Finkbeiner said. "I think the track
record of safety, cleanliness, and improvements speaks for itself."
"The economic hardships, I do understand," Mr. Finkbeiner said. "But I
do not understand people who say 'vote no' to send a message. The
bottom line is, we have built up a quality of life here in Toledo since
1982 that is comparable to the suburbs," he said.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080225/NEWS16/80...
need more money, scare scare, need more money, scare scare. it's like they think we are stupid and will believe everything they say. they just don't seem to get it, quit spending on things we don't need, and put that money towards what we do. simple really.
Well, that too.
But what are the plans to raise the revenues?
Outsource the trash collection, maybe.
The population of Toledo has declined, although the Mayor wanted or still wants to spend thousands to refute the decline and yet we still rely on the .75% income tax as a revenue source, which is declining as the working population declines.
The population decline did not just start. It has been well documented but it seems that the leadership has been unaware of the decline as administrations and councils have continued to act as they have in the past, are not willing to do to what needs to be done, step up and look for ways to fix the problem instead of doing the same thing year after year after year.
They need to lower the tax to 1/2% tax. To all those who think that a $57 million is just a little dent and the city government is using scare tactics to say that its' important, you are morons. THEY DO need to lower spending, and THEY DO need to do something more drastic to get the ball rolling here in Toledo, but that $57 million is way to big of a hole to cut out like its' nothing. We need to gradually ween off of that tax as the city figures out how to adjust.
The administrations and councils that were in place during the decline failed to address the isse while the slide was under way.
Now, here we are, at the bottom, we can hope, at the bottom of the slide, looking back up.
Cut taxes at a time of declining revenue to invigorate or stimulate the local economy. How many takers would there be?
Can we do without the essential services that the city provides, trash collection is important but can it be outsourced at a cost that people can afford?
What spending can be cut, that amounts to a dent in the $57 Million?
Required spending on debt that has been taken on and must be maintained, services, like Police and Fire are essential, aren't they?
Maintenance of the roads and infrastructure are important aren't they?
Cut what from the budget or suspend what services make a dent in the amount needed to maintain the city?
Why do we focus on cuts but at the same time, we do not discuss the other side, the incoming revenue.
We are loosing people and tax base in the form of houses being abandoned and the resulting loss in tax dollars when the houses are knocked down and the little lots are unbuildable and sit vacant and generate nothing for the city, when the city takes over ownership of them.
What is the plan to bring in business and people to city, that is the city of Toledo, and not the burb's.
Seriously, is anyone surprised??
I mean, the same people have been running the city into the ground for thirty years, and EVERY time anybody makes any noise about tightening up the purse strings, they threaten the essentials -- EVERY TIME...
But then all of a sudden there'll be money found to fund the mayor's or council's pet projects..
What crap.
....bounded by Eastern, Sumner, South Avenue and the Anthony Wayne Trail. Apparently, VIVA South, or some other organization has got loans to put up new housing (that makes about 20 houses coming into an area that hasn't seen any new housing in 30 years). So it's not totally bleak.
... what "bleak" really means.
Those houses are just for speculation. When you build when there's already an abundance of houses that are abandoned, for sale or for rent, then it only stands to reason that somebody's just playing with bank money and it'll come to a bad end eventually.
The really bleak thing here is that people like you won't accept how enormous and damaging the Great American Housing Bubble really is.
Do you have any idea that the Bank of America just proposed that the US Congress create a new form of RTC to bailout nearly a trillion dollars worth of bad mortgage loans? The last RTC was a pure $200 billion cost to the taxpayers of the United States. Now we've gotta come up with a trillion?
Have you checked the prices of gasoline, eggs and milk lately, or what? THAT is what's happening here. We're having huge inflation before the ultimate crash and Depression.
...by cutting the man-pwer in the fire department. Make the Fire Department responsible for inspecting homes only. Most of the homes that would burn down would be in the area within a two mile circumference from downtown. The crack-heads, smokers, alcoholics, people who use kerosene space heaters, old electrical wiring, etc., would be able to continue their lives as they have, and as they go from house to house after burning down the last one we would eventually clean out a lot of the old housing to be replaced by new stock.
... I can't find a flaw in that plan. Those houses will burn one after another at a rate that will be faster than the Cartydozer can run.
Alas, your plan does NOT have an exit strategy, unless you imagine these neo-arsonists will simply flow outward in a form of "Blight Flight" which will move their "urban renewal business" into areas like West Toledo.
... is being built on vacant lots where houses once stood that burnt down. If we just eliminated the fire department within 10 years the older part of Toledo would have burnt to the ground (ready to be replaced by new housing stock). This is one of the reasons I am voting against the 3/4% tax. I hope the fire department takes a big hit.
I hope the fires start at your home. moron
Carty says he will NOT stop building bike paths!
He will NOT stop planting flowers!
He will NOT stop putting "flowering shrubs and colorful signage" by Southwyck!
He WILL cut Police and Fire if you mindless morons do not support the 3/4% tax renewal needed to pay for 100% health coverage for the city unions!
Hey Toledo morons! Did you know it is cheaper for a City worker to go to the doctor and get a perscription for Viagra than it is for YOU to go to Krogers and by asprin? ($0 vs $2.49)?
America and the unions are laughing at you.
The
bottom line is, we have built up a quality of life here in Toledo since
1982 that is comparable to the suburbs," he said.
Before 1982 my street was beautifully tree lined and and well kept. Since then it has gone down hill dramatically. Do people in Oregon (suburbs) have to live across the street from boarded up dwellings. Behind me across the alley, an abandoned house. Three houses down the street, abandoned and the one next to it. That's just on my block! They've cut down a lot the trees and never replaced them.
They now pick up my garage in the front of my house and I have to look at people's garbage cans sitting out in front, not to mention the garbage they leave behind on the street. Where is this Cadillac of garbage service?
It seems to me that they have been spending the 3/4% tax like a drunken sailor so where have I had it better since 1982? I do not benefit from this tax so why should I vote for it or any other tax that comes along?
Comparable to the suburbs?! Carty, you move into my neighborhood and then tell me it's comparable to the suburbs. While your at it, take a walk down MAIN STREET, TOLEDO, OHIO, USA. you won't want to walk your dog there he may cut his paws on all the broken glass. Oh, and watch out for falling bricks. One more thing, be careful when you walk in front of the building at 4th & Main, you have to walk in the street and you might get hit by a car.
... the the city pols used the 1978 blizzard to scare the public into voting for the tax hit in 1980.
The ironic thing is that if there's another such blizzard, virtually the same result will occur around here.
Toledo was perfectly livable prior to 1980. Nobody mentions that in the media.
Gorgeous young thing. The hottie from the Spiderman series among other things...
the year she was born,
Average Cost of new house $82,200.00
Average Income per year $21,050.00
Average Monthly Rent $320.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 91 cents
New Car Average price $7,983.00
US Postage Stamp 20 cents
The first CD player is sold in Japan
The weather channel airs for the first time on cable TV
Popular Films
* E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
* Rocky III,
* On Golden Pond
* Porky's
* An Officer and a Gentleman
* The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
* Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
* Poltergeist
* Annie
* Chariots of Fire
* Gandhi
And of course, who in Toledo can forget, the debut of the 3/4% TEMPORARY income tax!!
(Toledo Ohio, union owned and operated since 1837)
billy, that was pretty good, i was wondering where you were going with that. :)
That was a good one, fit for print. Nice job.
you had a 911 call answered promptly?
I've seen people complain of an hour OR MORE wait for a cop to respond.
When was the last time you were satisfied with dealing with your City Servant? Ask NC, Chad and other citizens performing heir civic duty about the runaround they put up REGULARLY with when dealing with minute tasks.
What was that about that shitty "Cadilliac" Garbage Service you're paying twice for? Now they're shoving it in deeper?
And you want to continue to pay for shitty services like that?
Then vote YES.
Shit - I have a pal who called 911 because people were breaking into his apartment WHILE HE WAS HOME!!!
He was in a typical apartment with only the one door and the balcony that was 3 floors up, so he really had no place to get away to.
THE COPS NEVER CAME!!!!! All this BS you see on TV where the 911 operator says "the police are on the way and I'll stay on the phone with you till they get there..." is a bunch of crap in this city. Hell, they didnt even show up after the fact to take a report!! THEY NEVER CAME AT ALL!! Feel safe??
This is the service we get when we're ALREADY paying this tax!!
Oh, and my friend?? He's fine. He bluffed them by telling them that he's called the cops. And the next time?? The next time he'll feel at least a bit safer. He's got his new gun.
And this is the 911 service Toledo "claims" is worth saving the tax for.
Brody had it right on another post. CCW. Hell, if one cop car can't arrive to an active B&E, what is the point of having a police force?
Imagine if those breaking into your friend's house didn't give a shit and ended his life?
If someone's life is being threatened while on the phone with 911 and the police never show up, how long would your body sit there before someone found it?
And that's just the police response aspect.
Yep, worth every penny.
Please congratulate your friend for me, and do it twice. Once for his narrow escape, and again for buying a gun and taking responsibility for his own safety. Your friend is in good company.
If the 3/4 tax pays for all the items King Carty says it does than what the hell are the property taxes for ? As stated previously before the 3/4 tax was passed in 1982 we had cops on the street corners and carry out and carry back garbage service. Don't try to tell us morons that the property taxes only pay for the schools which by the way are also poorly run. Just my opinon.......
After all, if Toledo really does go into Receivership, the Trustees of the matter will get rid of the cronies instead of the cops and firemen.
Alas, these scare tactics probably will work. People are not yet poor enough to understand what's really going on. They can still knuckle under and continue to pay into the City of Toledo tax machine. Of course, that will leave less for the consumer market, so my expectations of doom will be met, one way or another. There just isn't enough wealth left in the Toledo area to afford a First World standard of living ... being a large government and a gadget- and utilities-filled existence. Toledoans will have to choose one of those, and refusing to choose one will ONLY result in choosing another as a default.
Try talking with Toledoans about house prices. The denial of reality is still very deep in the collective mind. We're still in great danger of Toledoans making the default choice (i.e. choosing Big Government and therefore enduring a loss of the middle class lifestyle).
that electing the same morons year after year instead of people holding qualified credentials to utilize their experiences in the fields and/or offices they're elected/appointed/hired to will drive a community into the ground.
As long as the unions are sitting in power positions within the government, you can be assured the citizen's best interests are not being addressed. As long as unions are sitting in power within the government, you can expect their lemmings to vote accordingly.
Political infighting, personal agendas, and corruption are all responsible for the demise of our community. Who remembers the outpouring of support for McCloskey for blatently scamming our community. We're enablers for these incompetients because we don't debate our neighbors or hold these we elect accountable. Has Carty apologized sufficently as a community demanded? He is our represenative, right? See how quickly that story died?
Fleeing is all the option you have left if you can't step up and make a stand.
As are rehabs & condos, if you know how to apply.
BTW, at only 5% of TPS's annual budget, Issue 7 appears to be excellent weaning milk in light of enrollments declining nearly 5% a year.
As are rehabs & condos, if you know how to apply.
Ok, this I did not know, nor even guess at. Could you point me in the right direction please?
BTW, at only 5% of TPS's annual budget, Issue 7 appears to be excellent weaning milk in light of enrollments declining nearly 5% a year.
Yet another voice of sanity is heard from. So, if I understand you correctly, we should be voting against this tax for TPS's own good. Truth?
Because if that's true, then all those people who want to support TPSs should vote against this tax.
and then see how much money the city saves and how much is actually needed after cutting those BIG LOSSES. He's a huge fiscal detriment. Law suits....civil rights trials.....it is ridiculous and I would like to know what the tab is for that lunatic.