Louis Escobar in the Toledo City Paper

If you have not read this week's cover story for the Toledo City Paper, it's worth checking out. Some of the things Louis says in this interview I believe are important to point out from this interview done by Jason Webber:

After I completed my first term, I was not happy about the way elected people conducted business. I kept using the phrase, ‘I feel like I’m in 5th grade again.’ There were veiled threats, people trying to buy you, thinking that you had a price. It just didn’t feel like we were working together for the best interests of the people of our city. Then the makeup of the Council changed. Some of the people who came to council, it seemed to me, didn’t really want to work together … concerned about their own success or their own district … not looking at their district as part of the whole city. When I became president, I wanted to fix city council. As president, I maintained a meeting with all the council members one on one at least two or three times throughout the year. But then … there began to be a little more of a breakdown. They said, "if I want to meet with you, I’ll call you." And then the change that was going on in the Democratic party—when the A-team formed their pact, I was never invited to be a part of that. And the B-team didn’t want me either, apparently. That was that whole issue when we appointed Phil Copeland — the people who are now in charge of the headquarters never once called me or any of my colleagues and said ‘Lets sit down and talk about who we want to replace Mr. Gerken." They had some meetings among themselves and at the last minute, they sent us a letter saying, ‘You will do this.’ That’s not democracy — that’s dictatorship. There’s no dialogue. I have said over and over again that there should be dialogue. There are people now who are in leadership of the party that I don’t want to be associated with — ethically and morally. I believe I could have won reelection for my third term, but I chose not to because I don’t want to interact with those people.

In the beginning, when (McCloskey) heard that I received the party nomination, I was told that he made some disparaging remarks about my sexual orientation. Lucy Weaver, a member of the Latino community, had arranged for a meeting at the Latino Club between Bob McCloskey and myself so that Bob could confront me on whatever questions he had. Supposedly, he agreed to just remain silent. But he never supported anything that I proposed. Even the Human Rights Ordinance that was passed—he intentionally walked out of the chamber when the vote came so he was not there for the vote. Any issue that I have championed or supported … I can’t think of any time where he’s supported it. Bob never really tried to get to know me or what I stood for or what I believed in.

There's alot more at the title link, but I do believe some of these points made are valid. Toledo needs to learn to work together better, we need to either stop commissioning study after study or at least start paying attention to some of the ones done in the past and actually start moving forward. Action can be taken, if people put their personal differences aside and start acting rather than just talking.