How Important Things Happen
Those of you who know me know that one of the things I do is election campaigns. In fact, I’ve been doing them a long time.
People denigrate politics and elections—for some good reasons. But it’s a fact of our society that sometimes something important can’t happen until you win an election. And when you can pave the way for something important to happen, it’s highly satisfying.
When this year started, I was coming off the most disappointing loss in my career: a school levy in Bowling Green, by a couple dozen votes. And, I had started my own company…creating a virtual agency to service client needs. And, you know, 2020.
By mid-year, I found myself working on two very important projects.
Issue 17—the Citizens Campaign for the Metroparks—to build a landmark park on our riverfront and create jobs—and be a beacon of hope in a tough time for our region.
Issues 3 and 4—for the City of Toledo. Issue 3 is the vital funding engine of city government. Without it, 600 firefighters and police officers would be laid off. Think about that when you stare at the ceiling at night. And Issue 4 was a .25% increase to fund BADLY needed road repairs. A similar issue had already failed.
Add in a pandemic, severe economic disruption and social unrest…2020 is going to be remembered.
The terrific news is that all these levies ended up on the positive side of the ledger. The Metroparks have 62% right now, which is a very big victory for a new money issue. And 3 and 4 passed comfortably as well.
These are all team efforts, and we had great people on our teams. I am thanking them all personally and thank them as a group here. These are incredibly complicated and focused efforts requiring discipline and speed, and together we got it done.
So, what important things are going to happen?
First, Toledo is finally going to take advantage of its riverfront. As the Mayor said at one point, “we used to look at our riverfront and think, ‘that would be a great place for a pile of salt.’”
You are not going to believe this park when it is done. Like Fifth Third Field, no one will remember being against it. The best park system in the country is going to knock your socks off. And, 500 people will go to work creating needed economic activity. If history is a guide, private investment will return ten dollars for every dollar taxpayers are putting in. Thank you to the voters for giving us your trust. It’s going to be a transformational win for our community.
Second, Toledo’s safety forces are going to remain in service and responding to the calls of its citizens. As I noted above, when you think about the cost of losing this levy, you appreciate winning it.
Third, Toledo is finally going to make some progress on the roads. There will be five times more road repairs in the next four years, hopefully breaking the back of this serious problem in Toledo. The money will go into a special fund and can only be spent on roads, which is what the voters asked for and approved.