home

Toledo Blade Now May 30, 2017

Your Tuesday morning briefing

Toledo politics and roads

Mayoral election years are great for roads in Toledo as the city spends millions more when the mayor's job is at stake. The city of Toledo will spend more this year fixing residential streets like Mr. Woodson’s road than it has in five years — $7 million this year compared to $700,000 last year.

Like other mayoral election years, the city found millions that couldn’t be found in non-election years and will repave more streets using a mix of reconstructing streets from the base up, traditional resurfacing, and the mill and fill program — which involves milling off about 2½ to 3 inches of old pavement and then laying down a layer of hot asphalt like a thick, black carpet. It is also called the “pavement patching and repair” program.

Toledo has spent nearly $450 million since 1997 on road repair — an average of $21.3 million a year for 20 years. That includes $197.7 million from the state and federal governments. But it's not nearly enough, said Doug Stephens, the city’s commissioner of engineering services.

The city needs something like $1.1 billion over 20 years to fix all of its streets. That comes to $55.5 million annually. With that kind of money, the city would be on a 20-year replacement cycle since streets typically last that long, instead of an “every-50-year replacement cycle.”

Business

Rail unit profits The Andersons, but slumping coal shipments and other changes make the industry wary. Across the country, tens of thousands of railcars — particularly those that once hauled coal and crude oil — are sitting on the sidelines, forced into storage by changing energy markets and declines in overall rail traffic. While The Andersons' rail group has remained relatively strong, operating profits did fall by 36 percent last year to $32.4 million.

Downtown Toledo hotel delays opening again. A week after saying the new Renaissance Toledo would be open by the middle of next month, officials with the downtown hotel confirmed they’ve had to push back the opening to later this summer and cancel some bookings. Haley Gronemeier, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, said Friday crews are still installing finishing touches.

Toledo firm Meldrum Mechanical Services was cited for a “serious” workplace safety violation and fined $12,675 by OSHA. Authorities previously said David Brewer, 49, was killed Dec. 1 when he became entangled in the lathe. An incident report prepared by OSHA said Mr. Brewer was alone in the machine shop when the incident happened about 5 p.m. A co-worker who returned to the shop to check on Mr. Brewer found his body atop the lathe. Though no one witnessed the accident, OSHA said investigators could see part of what happened from security video. The agency said the interlock doors, which should close when the lathe is spinning, had been disabled.

Education

The University of Toledo picked Michael Toole, a professor at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, as its next engineering dean. Mr. Toole starts Aug. 1. The vacancy was created when longtime dean and former interim president Nagi Naganathan left UT to become the president of Oregon Institute of Technology. Mr. Toole will receive a salary of $245,000 at UT. The university announced the appointment today.

Toledo Public Schools will replace interior lights with energy-efficient bulbs in more than two dozen schools — a $3.35 million project the district expects will pay for itself quickly. Chief Business Manager James Gant said he thinks the project will result in enough utility savings to cover its cost in three years. District-wide, TPS spends roughly $8.5 million a year on utilities, including about $6.8 million for electricity. It’s one of the biggest expenses in the budget, after salaries, benefits, supplies, and textbooks. Lake Erie Electric and Shiffler Equipment Sales were awarded bids for the project by a unanimous school board vote.

Sylvania Schools' five-year financial forecast shows the district will start to spend more money than it takes in come fiscal year 2020. The district will use its cash reserves to keep the books balanced, but projections show those reserves will shrink from $8.68 million at the end of fiscal year 2019 to $6.54 million at the end of fiscal year 2021. Salaries and benefits make up 83 percent of the district’s total expenditures. Sylvania Schools passed a 5.7-mill property tax levy in November, 2016, that will generate $6.5 million a year in operating funds, as well as $1.3 million for permanent improvements. Records show the district has lost $11.1 million in real estate revenue since 2010 and will continue to lose $2.2 million each year.

Science

The Dinosaurs Around the World exhibit at Imagination Station in downtown Toledo is a limited-engagement exhibit at the hands-on science center featuring 13 full-scale creatures and related activities.

Editorial

Decriminalizing pot to make it easier to fight heroin isn’t an equation that is likely to add up to success for Ohio. Ohio Supreme Court justice and likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate William O’Neill said it is time for Ohio to decriminalize marijuana. Doing so, Mr. O’Neill said, will free up resources to fight the real drug problem in Ohio — the opioid epidemic that is killing more than 3,000 Ohioans a year.

While it is true recreational marijuana use is hardly the scourge that heroin and other opioids have been in Ohio in recent years, voters already have rejected a proposal to legalize recreational pot.

Every candidate in the increasingly crowded field running for Ohio governor should have a detailed strategy for addressing the urgent crisis of opioid addiction in the state. Everyone from law enforcement to school officials to social-service agencies is desperate for more resources and training to cope with the frightening numbers of overdoses and addicts requiring treatment. The state urgently needs more detox and treatment beds. It could truly benefit from more state resources for mental-health services, as Mr. O’Neill suggested.

It seems unlikely, however, that legalizing marijuana could really be helpful in shifting the state’s attention and resources from a relatively less harmful drug to a brutally deadly one.

Neighbors

FINDLAY — Local communities are plowing ahead with attempts to mitigate the impact of major flooding events along the Blanchard River in spite of a lack of federal aid. But not without controversy. Plans to end the flooding divide the region. Homes and farms are at stake in water fight. The city of Findlay and its surrounding rural areas battle over land use and possible dam construction.

SWANTON — Popular roller-skating rink the Swanton Coliseum will close after 60 years. The Swanton institution will host one final skate from 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday at 12725 Airport Hwy., before closing its doors. Admission and skates are free.

NAPOLEON — The Napoleon Civic Center Foundation is holding a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. today at the Armory Arts and Events Center, 127 E. Clinton St. Organizers will discuss the civic-center project and the community’s role.

Obituary

Madeline Josephine Drozdowicz, who test-drove military Jeeps during World War II for what was then Willys-Overland, died May 23 in Vibrant Life Senior Living in Temperance. She was 94. During the war, Mrs. Drozdowicz was employed in Willys-Overland’s road testing department and drove Jeeps over challenging terrain on a five-mile course around the streets in West Toledo to make sure that the Jeeps were combat-ready for use in Europe and the Pacific. She previously was employed in the company’s aircraft department, also during the war.

Food

Dinner Tonight: Smoky Grilled-Grilled Cheese

Prepare a medium-hot fire in your grill. Lightly butter one side of each piece of bread. Place four slices of the bread, butter-side down, on a baking sheet. Assemble the sandwiches, beginning with a slice of cheddar, followed by tomato, gouda, the sliced peppers, the onion, and ending with the gruyère. Set the other pieces of bread on top, butter-side up.

Use the baking sheet to carry the sandwiches to the grill. Place the sandwiches directly on the grill grates and cook for about 4 or 5 minutes on each side, or longer, depending on how browned you like your sandwiches.

home - info - search