Community Voices Forum tonight

Tonight I attended my first Community Voices Forum, the format of tonight was a bit different than what I had been told past forums were but I enjoyed it very much and will definitely be attending future ones. Even my youngest daughter who accompanied me enjoyed attending, however I realize part of her enjoyment factor was directly related to Ben Konop sitting with us.

First I have to say how wonderful the Leslie Adams Gallery is. Not just the art that is displayed but the interior design and the decor of the Gallery is exceptional.

FOX Toledo’s Laura Emerson was the moderator; Maggie Thurber graciously accepted a last minute request from Michael Miller to attend to discuss the topic of the downtown arena proposal. She very thoroughly discussed some of the points on this proposal that those of you familiar with this blog and her blog as well as recent listeners to when she has been on WSPD would be aware of. Maggie urged those present to read not only the proposal but the exhibits which she has linked on her blog and they are also on the Lucas County website. The questions from the audience were mainly related to concern about the financing and what the end result would be if no compromise could be reached with UT. It was also pointed out that the suggested increase in the hotel/motel tax would place Toledo as tied with Columbus as far as total percentage tax and make us in the top five of highest tax rates for motel/hotel costs in the nation. One member of the audience astutely pointed out that this additional cost would be one of the last things a visitor to Toledo would remember. It seems people are supportive of the concept of an arena, they are just concerned about how it would be financed and would prefer to see more marketing information and more of a firm commitment from actual teams.

Until tonight I was not aware that the recent Triple AAA championship that came to Toledo did not generate an increase in revenue for downtown businesses. Infact, those present reported they made less than what they normally do. It seems clear to me that we have to do more to support these downtown businesses as a community if we want a successful, viable downtown. (More on that later.)

Bob Fitrakis, who is running for Governor as an Independent due to Ohio's Election Laws was up next. I knew a bit about him because I've followed some of his previous work especially related to election fraud issues and I often read the blog of Andrew Warner who writes often about Bob and his campaign.

Anita Rios, who is from Toledo, is Bob's running mate as Lt. Governor, was also in attendance tonight. I think Bob did an excellent job in letting the audience see the difference in the Green Party platform as opposed to the two traditional political parties. Not only is he a very informed and experienced person but he has a great sense of humor that he used through out his discussion time with those in attendance. Redeveloping urban centers, mass transportation, increased support of green energy and trying to legalize the growth of hemp as an industrial product were a few of the topics he discussed. He very strongly feels that our colleges in Ohio are a great resource that we do not provide enough funding for and that we don't utilize enough as a catalyst for growth especially in technology related industries. Candidates such as Bob Fitrakis bring quite a bit to the table as far as ideas, it's unfortunate that they don't often get the same coverage to be able to access the public to share those ideas. However, events like tonight do give us the opportunity to start the discussion.

Besides Ben Konop and Maggie Thurber as previously mentioned, Lourdes Santiago was also in attendance for most of tonight's forum as well. There were less people at tonight's forum than the one last month from what I understand and in reading the thread on Toledo Talk it's unfortunate that some didn't feel they would benefit from hearing Mr. Fitrakis speak.

For it being my first time I've attended? I was impressed and I defintely plan to attend as many future forums as I can. Granted I'm biased towards the Toledo Free Press but I think this is a very awesome community opportunity and I thank them and Toledo Talk as well as Fox's Laura Emerson and the Leslie Adams Gallery and other downtown businesses who helped to support this. I also extend kudos to those who attended including Maggie and Bob Fitrakis for speaking tonight.