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State Bound See page 22
RESS October 19, 2015
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Serving More Than h 33 33,000 000 H Homes & B Businesses i iin 4 C Counties ti
Spreading the Pope’s message See page 14 M
Candidates vow:
Clean up the city By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com
Candidates at the Toledo mayoral debate held at the East Toledo Family Center are, top row, Mike Bell, Sandra DrabikCollins, Opal Covey, Mike Ferner. Bottom row, Carty Finkbeiner, Paula HicksHudson, and Sandy Spang. (Press photos by Ken Grosjean)
Northwood will see a new mayor for the first time in 15 years. City councilmen Randy Kozina and Edward Schimmel are the mayoral candidates seeking voter support in the Nov. 3 election. The Press asked the candidates questions to help voters decide who they want to be the next mayor. Here is what they had to say: What will be your priorities if you are elected mayor?
Edward Schimmel: My priorities would be economic development, strengthening of the zoning code, and stricter enforcement of the laws in order to clean up the city. I want to build closer relationships with our current businesses in order to address their needs. We need to clean up the look of Woodville Road. If we create a friendly business environment in our city, and a more appealing look, we should attract new businesses without difficulty. You have been on city council for several years. Why should voters pick you as mayor? Randy Kozina: I feel my experiences on city council Continued on page 6
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Other energy drainers are television, the Internet, and social media.
Bryan Golden See page 11
Marina District
Can next mayor be the one to see it? By J. Patrick Eaken Press Staff Writer news@presspublications.com Of seven candidates running for Toledo’s mayor, three have served as mayor before, one is the spouse of someone who served and passed away, two ran for mayor at least once before, and the seventh is a city council member. That means all have addressed or dealt with Marina District issues before, but all seven still believe that the 127-acre riverfront property along the east side of the Maumee will be developed someday. The question is, will one of these, when elected, be able to see vertical development? The seven are vying to fill the final two years remaining on the term of the late D. Michael Collins, who passed away after serving only 13 months in office. Wednesday night, all seven appeared at the East Toledo Family Center for a debate moderated by Press General Manager John Szozda and hosted by the East Toledo Club and One Voice for East Toledo. About 100 residents and neighborhood leaders filled the gymnasium. What to do with the Marina District was the first question presented, which did not surprise city council member and coffee shop owner Sandy Spang, who proposes a mixed-use residential and commercial development. “I can certainly understand why that
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...that is how cities that are winning are accomplishing great things.
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Randy Kozina: My first priority is to pursue every legal avenue to clean up abandoned properties and buildings. The duration from complaint to compliance must be streamlined to enable the situation to be resolved much quicker. While many of us want the Woodville Mall site and other abandoned buildings to be returned to their original use, it won’t always be feasible. We must also force owners to remove building at their expense, not taxpayers’, if possible.
was the lead-off question because you’ve certainly been waiting for a long time for that piece of property to be developed,” Spang said. “We need a strategic plan for the entire waterfront property that will be comprehensive. We need to stop waiting for a developer to ride in on their white horse and work with developers that are already here — you (local developer) take the residential part, you take this piece, and you take that piece. “Collaboration — that is how cities that are winning are accomplishing great things,” Spang continued. “I’ve seen other cities where there is great cooperation for a shared vision, and I want to change the attitude here. Cities that win do so collaboratively.” What happened to Dashing Pacific? Currently, most of the property is
owned by Dashing Pacific, a development firm owned by Chinese investors that purchased the property while candidate Michael Bell was serving his only four-year term as mayor. Dashing Pacific has done nothing with the property since, even though a groundbreaking was held during Bell’s term, meaning the property could revert back to the City of Toledo after five years. However, another candidate, incumbent mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson, says the city doesn’t have the funds to purchase the property back. At the debate, Bell says the property still “creates energy” and he believes there is an opportunity for ProMedica, which is moving its headquarters to downtown Toledo, to move medical facilities there, consolidating even more of the corporation’s resources. Even though vertical development has not come to fruition at the Marina District, Bell says it did result in 80 jobs, partly because of remediation efforts, that bring in an estimated $100,000 per year in tax revenue. Bell says the dream for developing the property and revitalizing adjoining neighborhoods is still in place. “What I want you to do is imagine what we could do first — what could be over here,” Bell said. “Imagine that flows over to The Docks (restaurant complex) and down Main Street and the neighborhoods. We are Continued on page 5