By Karl Rundgren in this week's edition of the Toledo Free Press
Toledo is teetering on a tightrope between two futures.
Where do you see Toledo and Northwest Ohio in 25 years? Some envision a former rust belt community that has found new life and new hope. Houses are once again full of people, and businesses expand and thrive. More companies want to come here, lured by our desirable lakeside life and a new energy that hums through everything. People walk around with the contented look that comes after a great meal, knowing that their home is safe and has a future.
Others see a far bleaker scene. Whole neighborhoods are crumbling, with streets full of abandoned homes, creating shelter for growing crews of criminals. Police don't dare go in. Most of the big businesses have moved away, including the ones that had previously escaped to the 'burbs. Unemployment is rampant, and even people with jobs are resentful, feeling trapped in a rotting husk. As for the people, they have the vacant, glazed-over look of having grown accustomed to loss.
RobertBrundage
I want to post here, in full view, the heart of Karl's column to inform those who haven't linked to read it all. Last Thursday eve of the month I attended a roomful of Toledo optimists & contributors, the monthly ReUrbanists meeting, @ Downtown Latte', the hub of Toledo's adult networking.
"There's another community that once found itself balancing on that tightrope, staring at a dream and a nightmare. They, too, had around 300,000 people and a long, proud industrial history. They had shipyards that cranked out vessels, some of the busiest in the world, and a strong, determined work force. But then the economy gutted the community, and the shipyards closed. Unemployment soared, and many middle class residents moved out of town, settling in the outlying suburbs. There they would heave a sigh of relief, grateful they got out before things really fell apart.
"The city was Malmö, Sweden — the same city that won first place at the LivCom awards.
"Back in the 1990s, Malmö, the most industrialized in the country, realized that it was dying and had to take drastic measures to revive. They took the old seafront, much of it abandoned and decaying, and converted it into apartment buildings and villas, luring some middle class people back to the city. They began working more with neighboring Denmark, finding new economic opportunities across borders. They also embraced diversity and attracted workers from countless countries."
If you read between the lines, Malmo's success appears to have had more to do with the fact that the new bridge opened up their access to the entire region. Some of us have been preaching a regional approach to growth since the late 1980's. If you dial up toledotalk.com; click on Lake Erie West in the right hand column, and then click on Lake Erie West (above SEED) on the left hand side of the page; you will find a reprint of a story that was published in "Toledo Technical Topics" in 1993. "Another Story That Will Knock Your Socks Off", which extolled the virtues of regionalism was applauded but ignored at the time. Sadly, it could be published today with no changes made. Had we implemented at least some of the suggestions back then, who knows, we might be in a growth mode today.