| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Toledo: the mayor's $57m mistake |
| 2008-02-16 |
| Maggie Thurber, Toledo Press Well, it was only a matter of time. There is intense anger over Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's decision to halt planned urban exercises in Downtown Toledo by the U.S. Marines — and the horrible way in which he implemented his decision, waiting until after the advance team had already arrived to tell them to “go home.” After the outrage expressed by many, he refused to apologize, insisting he'd do exactly the same again while using everything from citizens being “scared” to “it's for the children” as his excuse. To further demonstrate his complete and utter lack of understanding, he told WJR radio in Detroit that he doesn't believe this incident has negatively impacted Toledo's reputation. In the meantime, just about every national news agency has carried the story, with posts on multiple blog sites such as Drudge Report, Instapundit, Little Green Footballs and Michelle Malkin. Even Web sites such as ESPN and the New Orleans Saints have featured posts in their forums expressing dismay and disgust with the actions of our mayor. . . . So what is a citizen to do? As there was a failed recall effort last year, another cannot be undertaken for 12 months, which means late this summer. And that's where the .75 percent payroll income tax comes into play. This temporary tax, which generates $57.7 million for the City of Toledo, is on the March 4 primary ballot. Since the city's announcement this would be on the ballot, there have been calls to defeat it. But with the most recent embarrassment foisted upon the citizenry by Mayor Finkbeiner, the calls to vote “no” have grown louder. Toledoans know that serious cuts would have to be made if the city were to lose that much revenue. The mayor and council are counting on their claims of loss of police and fire to “scare” the people into voting yes. But Toledoans, already close to rejecting such pleas, may have been pushed over the edge by this latest mayoral fiasco. And without any other readily available means to express their dissatisfaction, they may decide to vote “no” on the .75 percent tax in a couple of weeks. . . . And if voters take out their frustration at the ballot box, Carty's arrogance and stubbornness may end up being a $57.7 million mistake. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #2 "It's for the children" the new refuge of scoundrels. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2008-02-16 18:01 |
| #1 Oh! That would cost even more than Berkeley's loss of earmarks! Reminds me, I gotta e-mail Senator DeMint again... |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-02-16 10:26 |