Metro Edition 11/16/15

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Clay grad named ALL-MAC See Second Section

Blockwatch pushing for teen curfew

RESS November 16, 2015

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A Veterans Day celebration was held at the Oregon-Jerusalem Historical Society featuring a rededication of the restored World War I cannon. Top photo, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur cuts the ribbon as historical society president Connie Isbell, and State Representative Mike Sheehy look on. Bottom left, representatives of Battery H, 1st Ohio Light Artillery Union soldiers. Bottom center, members of the Black Swamp Pipes and Drums. Bottom right, Dunberger Post American Legion Color Guard. See story on page10. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)

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These days, the debt ceiling is a political pawn... Lee H. Hamilton See page 9

$2.3 million grant

Land bank targets 30 blighted homes By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com Several blighted homes in the Birmingham neighborhood in East Toledo will be demolished thanks to a $2.3 million award to the Lucas County Land Bank’s Neighborhood Initiative Program (NIP) from the Ohio Finance Agency. Wade Kapszukiewicz, chairman of the land bank’s board of directors, told The Press last week that the funds will go towards razing 230 blighted properties in Toledo, 30 of which are in the Birmingham neighborhood. “Our experience, over the last five years, is that demolishing a home costs about $10,000. We can stretch $2.3 million into 230 homes,” he said. Since last year, the land bank has

We welcome all the feedback from the neighbors that we can get.

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Cannon rededication

By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com Oregon block watch members want city council to pass a curfew that would address juvenile crime. Several expressed their concerns at a Safety Committee meeting last month. Vandalism, vehicle theft, and trespassing were just a few juvenile crimes they said were impacting their neighborhoods. “We have repeated issues with juveniles,” said Lori Render, a block watch member. “We have groups of juveniles waking up sleeping residents, vehicles ransacked, teenager mischief, and juveniles cutting through residents’ properties. Oregon police are limited in what they can do or say without a juvenile curfew,” she said. “Disruptive individuals come from surrounding towns and cities because there is currently no juvenile curfew in Oregon,” said Render. Juveniles congregate on street corners, in parks and residents’ yards, egging vehicles and houses, she added. A juvenile curfew would discourage juveniles and adults from other communities from “entering our communities for the purpose of disruptive or illegal activities,” she said. Police Chief Mike Navarre said he didn’t think a curfew is needed. “A curfew ordinance is a major decision in a community. You really have to consider it very carefully,” he said. Oregon, he added, is a “very safe community” with little crime. “I looked at burglaries, theft of autos, types of nuisance crimes. The numbers were not only relatively low, but a majority of those - 70 percent of thefts of autos and 80 percent of burglaries - occurred during non curfew hours or daylight hours. I don’t want anyone to think that passing a curfew ordinance will make all those crimes go away. It’s not.” Juveniles, he said, like to hang out at night, especially in the summer. “We have a convenience store that’s open 24 hours a day at the corner of Starr and Wheeling, a very busy location, which attracts a lot of business, some of which are young people. I know it’s a concern of many of you - young people out on the street up

State champ gets national attention See Second Section

conducted demolition and greening work under NIP. With the addition of the $2.3 million award, the land bank has now received a total of $11.25 million, the highest

award per capita of any county in the state, according to Kapszukiewicz. Those funds have helped the land bank demolish a total of 200 deteriorated houses in East Toledo alone. The land bank recently conducted a survey of 122,000 parcels in Toledo and assessed each property’s condition. Based on the results of the survey, blighted housing in specific neighborhoods are being targeted for demolition with the $2.3 million, said Kapszukiewicz. “Last summer, we did something that never before happened in Toledo. We sent volunteers and staff to each property. I’m not talking about driving by at 35 mph. I’m talking about walking on the sidewalk in front of the house, with either a phone or laptop that has an app attached to it. Photos Continued on page 2

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