City Council

Mayor ‘disappointed’ by increases in midst of city financial pinch

Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner yesterday urged City Council to reconsider the pay raises it recently handed out to six council aides, and one councilman pressed his colleagues to put the matter to a vote.

While Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's administration has been mulling over whether to lay off employees to fix Toledo's looming budget deficit, City Council members have been giving their administrative staff double-digit percentage point raises.

This is what drives people nuts. 100K for the Erie Street Market nothing for the residents living on Woonsocket Road. No one will go nuts if the City can just do what they are supposed to do well. One can dream, right?
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"Toledo may have a $3 million to $5 million general operating fund deficit by year's end, and city officials may lay off more than a dozen employees within days to stop the red ink.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's administration has yet to decide which cost-saving strategies to pursue, but it is seriously considering layoffs along with voluntary and temporary work furloughs among other measures.

I sure hope King Carty does not try to steal the show when Extreme Home Makeover comes to Toledo. Carty is bad news all the time. We don't need or want him on TV.

Maybe the TV show will treat him just like the DNC and Obama has! Cold, Real Cold !

The cold shoulder !

Carty, a real %$%^%&*# !!

Carty tells us that revenue is down in Toledo. And cutbacks are coming.

One of the revenue items he talked about was the Red Light Cameras!

That the revenue was down from the cameras.

WHAT ! I seem to remember that King Carty said that it was NOT about the money or the revenue from these cameras. He said this in defending them and the additional cameras that were being put in.

More Property Taxes ! ?? Come on. A Levy was just passes in Oregon, Toledo and many other areas. Now the same areas want more. We were told that the problem was down in Columbus. And they would fix it. Did this happen? NO!

Now they want just more Taxes. NO!

We need a NO Means NO Law. That once a levy is turned down it cannot be on to vote for 2 years.

The WebSites of both Carty and Marge Brown have been updated!

http://www.cartyfinkbeiner.com/ and www.margebrown.com

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Today Joe McNamara's office faxed me a letter advising that a revision of the Toledo "loud sound" ordinance was being considered. The current law will be modified to make it "illegal to be able to hear a sound inside a residential structure located 200 feet or more from the source of the sound."

Here's a link to the proposed language: http://www.wtol.com/Global/Link.asp?L=338009

the mayor wrote then. "We can and will disagree. But let us do it civilly. The citizens expect us to act together to advance the city."

Mayor shares blame for political feud, Toledo council trio says

A longtime plan to develop 125 acres on the waterfront in East Toledo could be in jeopardy as the city's developer has been unable to secure a letter of credit to back part of the Marina District project.

Lucas County commissioners today are expected to decide whether to put a 0.16-mill, five-year additional levy on the November ballot to reopen COSI.

Yesterday, representatives from four local businesses said they would escalate their efforts to campaign for the levy — and would help the museum create new exhibits if the levy passes.

Toledo City Council President Mark Sobczak shied away yesterday from the city taking over operations of Toledo Express Airport and Metcalf Field - one of four options proposed by the director of both airports.

"I think the city is probably not best suited to run the airports," Mr. Sobczak said. "The port authority has been doing a good job."

The Lansing-based owners of Toledo's largest vacant building - the 30-story, former Fiberglas Tower - have a new plan to clean the asbestos-contaminated hulk of a structure and transform it into a collection of office space, condominiums, and a hotel, restaurant, and health club.

The total investment could top $35 million, said Nick Eyde, a limited partner for the Eyde Co.

Today while driving in my neighborhood, I saw a "No Loitering" sign posted on a telephone pole. Is this enforceable and if so how?

How do you know who is loitering and who is just shooting the breeze with their neighbor?

and writes a letter - oooh. What I did not read in the Blade article was that it is prohibited to do-business with someone who owes taxes, according to City charter- this was mentioned on WSPD.

In the Blade article we find out Croak had the handicap accessible ramp demolished in order to expand the deck-ooops that may come back to haunt them.

The Finkbeiner administration seems to be bowing to pressures from Toledo City Council and has agreed to take a close look at Erie Street Market records from the past two months detailing how nearly $80,000 was spent to renovate a section of the building into a concert venue.

School Meeting

"A study about vacant properties in Ohio released earlier this year said vacant and abandoned properties cost Toledo taxpayers at least $3.8 million in 2006 in demolition, boarding-up, grass-mowing, and trash-removal costs.

Councilman Collins report and comments about upcoming meeting with regards to the Erie Street Market.

http://toledoohioneighborhoodconcerns.com/blog/media/images/collinscorne...

In its quest for answers regarding the expenditure of $80,000 in taxpayer money to renovate part of the city-owned Erie Street Market, Toledo City Council yesterday took the unusual step of subpoenaing a concert promoter selected by Mayor Carty Finkbeiner to renovate and revitalize that venue.

The months-long battle between Toledo Municipal Court judges and Toledo city officials over the court's budget is now in the hands of another set of judges.

The seven municipal court judges filed a petition in Ohio's 6th District Court of Appeals Thursday against the city, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, and the 12 members of city council.

Developer Larry Dillin, who has committed to the creation of $320 million in private investments - including condominiums, restaurants, and hotels - for the Marina District in East Toledo, yesterday proposed changes to the financing structure he needs the city to back.

Toledo's money problems from unemployment, overtime, and fuel costs during the first half of 2008 have helped sink the city more than $2.5 million in the red, Finkbeiner administration officials said yesterday.

At its rate of spending, the city could end the year with a $5 million deficit.

Toledo City Councilman D. Michael Collins yesterday floated the idea of doubling the city's monthly storm water assessment to drastically cut the number of years it would take to complete $44 million in improvements the city needs for storm water control.

The current $3.16 assessment is charged on Toledo water bills and generates about $8 million annually.