|
Perryman:
When most people think of Sandy Spang they think of a
wholesome, straight-laced person, basically a very
conservative personal image. What is it that most people
don’t know about you?
Spang:
I think that the fact that in my youth I was looked at more
of as an artistic person, an art major and everything that
that implies, so I think that probably is the piece that
maybe is not as well known. Because I focus so much on
economic and business issues, people see me more as a
businessperson, maybe less as an artistic person.
Perryman:
Tell us about your early history.
Spang:
I went to Bowsher High School and then I went to Bowling
Green and I got a bachelor of fine art degree with an
emphasis in metal, glass on metal specifically and I
graduated Magna Cum Laude. And after that I began working
for the Keidan’s Jewelry chain. Remember them?
Perryman:
Absolutely.
Spang:
I worked for them for 11 years and I actually won a national
award for jewelry appraisal and I became a gemologist
through the Gemological Institute of America. And so at age
24 I became the diamond buyer for a nine-store chain.
Eventually, they went out of business and then I worked for
Jacobson’s in their jewelry department, so all in all I
spent 17 years in the jewelry business.
Perryman:
I loved the Jacobson’s store.
Spang:
Well, it was a golden era and we had an amazing jewelry
department. We had fashionable, beautiful things there.
Well, after Jacobson’s my husband and I grew our real estate
business because we had our children and so I was in my 30s
when the kids were born and so I wanted to spend as much
time as possible with them. We would work on properties
together, cleaning a lot of ovens and toilets. I taught for
years and I did my art, but I did it more on the side. I
taught in an afterschool club for the Urban Impact for about
five or six years and taught art classes at the YMCA, mostly
just for enjoyment and because the kids were involved in
activities there.
So then
we bought the property on Rugby, and I think you know a
little bit about that story… that I invested because it was
the recession and nobody else was going to develop that
property and then I didn’t want to be the only person to be
investing there, so I got one of the city’s last façade
grants and doled it out up and down the street so that the
entire strip would be revitalized, which I would like to see
that happen in neighborhoods throughout the city.
Perryman:
And, in addition to the art, real estate and your
restaurant/coffee shop Plate 21, you were also a primary
caregiver to your brother who was born with Down Syndrome
until he recently died at age 62. How does the blending of
these various experiences contribute to your work as a
councilperson?
Spang:
As a member of council we really have to be generalists.
One day we’re talking to the arts commission and the next
day we’re discussing stores and so my property management
background helps me in some issues and my arts background
helps me in others. I feel like I am that generalist that
can converse on any topic.
Perryman:
What do you do for fun? Any hobbies?
Spang:
A few years ago, I actually got back to doing my glass on
metal and it was a lifetime thrill for me. I was able to
get a piece into the Toledo area artist show at the museum,
which was something that when I was a working artist when I
was younger and fresh out of college I wasn’t able to
achieve, so that was a thrilling experiencing for me. Right
now, most of my time is devoted either to my business, which
I find that’s my happiest place to be is at Plate 21,
meeting customers. I go in there sometimes and wash dishes
and so I would say that I enjoy that a lot. I’m a great
reader and I balance between reading, improving things about
how cities run or future trends and then I also read
fiction, so I’d say reading is important to me and I do try
to exercise and I love to cook. So that’s another unknown
fact about me I guess is that I’ve been a vegetarian since
1978, so who knew that?
Perryman:
You’re also an avid Detroit Tiger baseball fan. Right?
Spang:
Oh my goodness, thank you. I love to listen to baseball. We
had a summer cottage and we had a little rowboat, The
Lily-pad, and my dad and I would sit on that boat and fish
for bluegills and perch, sunfish and listen to Ernie Harwell
on the radio and I still enjoy baseball on the radio so
much. Of course I love to go to games and so listening to
baseball games, of course this has been a tough season, but
you know I was born a Tiger and I will die a Tiger and I
will not jump ship and I’m an optimist so I believe that in
our lifetime we will get there.
Perryman:
Okay, let’s shift into politics. Can you describe your
political philosophy?
Spang:
Well, obviously you know I don’t have a party affiliation
and I have felt that independence was really what Toledo
politics needed. I am entirely focused on our local issues
and I think that being able to just be that voice for the
right decision without political encumbrance has been right
for me.
Perryman:
Can you break that down for me?
Spang:
Well, I can talk about what I’ve been able to accomplish in
the first term and I think that people might have thought it
would be difficult to actually accomplish things, but of
course, the item that I am most proud of is the
priority-based budgeting. I just felt that Toledo didn’t
look outside of itself enough for things for best practices
that could work and you know we dropped our membership from
the National League of Cities nearly 20 years ago. I think
that that was a mistake because I think they are the premier
education and advocacy organization for cities.
Perryman:
Why is priority-based budgeting important to you?
Spang:
I thought this is what Toledo needs because I felt when I
was elected that I would dig deep into the budget, but the
budget that was presented to me was just a line-item budget
with no narrative, it gave me no idea of what we were doing
or why we were doing it. Priority-based budgeting, on the
other hand, has identified 733 programs that the city
performs, what they cost, how many employees, what the
supply costs are, and so that level of information I think
is going to be incredibly valuable for the 2018 budget
conversation. My hope is that we can liberate resources
from programs of the past and apply them to the priorities
of our citizens. We hear about what matters to them, but I
don’t think we’re aligning our resources with those
concerns.
So
bringing back these ideas and best practices to Toledo is
important to me and I’m proud that we were able to get the
priority based budgeting done. I’ve been able to accomplish
things that I think sort of transcends politics as usual and
it’s just about doing the right thing.
Perryman:
Any disappointments or negative experiences?
Spang:
You know what? I came to it late in life, but I love the
work. I love connecting people. You and I’ve had meetings
where we just start constantly trying to think of
connections and ways that we can bring people who are doing
things within the community together so that each brings
something that they can contribute to an issue. I think
that’s been really important. Disappointments…I would say
probably the lack of conversation among councilmembers. I
thought there would be far more policy conversations and so
if I had a hope for the next council it would be just that
we really engage more amongst ourselves in policy
conversation.
Perryman:
The topic of CDBG funding is something you seem to have very
strong opinions about. Please talk a little more about it.
Spang:
Well, I think that in Toledo it’s been a combination of some
of the CDC failures of the past as well as the budgetary
crisis created by the recession. Between those two, I think
we’ve really lost touch with the true mission of CDBG
dollars These are dollars that are not certain in the future
and they have diminished over the years for us, but they are
some of the only dollars that have the potential to be truly
creative and funded to our city. And I’ve sat with the CDBG
folks at conferences in Washington and I’ve heard them say
these are not dollars for personnel, these are not dollars
for programs. And yet, those are two ways we’re spending
most of the money instead of on bricks and mortar projects.
Starting
in 2013, we started using CDBG dollars for rent on
Government Center and we’ve spent $950,000 on rent in the
last five years. We are also paying for the equivalent of 58
full-time employees with CDBG dollars. I want to get that
money out of Government Center and into the neighborhoods
that it was intended for, for those public projects. It’s
really how to help spur private investments in neighborhoods
as well.
If you
want to get the salt piles off of the Vistula waterfront and
create a waterfront park area along there, that’s a CDBG
project and so that’s my goal, to bring that money out of
government center and into neighborhoods.
Perryman:
We have seen tremendous investment poured into downtown and
the University of Toledo, but little or nothing in between.
What kind of plans do you have, let’s say, for the central
city or Dorr Street?
Spang:
For me, it’s definitely about bringing retail, goods and
services, back to neighborhoods. So my focus for
neighborhoods is really on bringing commerce back to every
neighborhood. Putting traffic within the neighborhood makes
it safer and builds a greater sense of community. When you
see your neighbors shopping together at small local
businesses and it provides neighborhood jobs. Very often, a
little restaurant in the neighborhood, a little retail space
provides those entry-level jobs and really empowers
entrepreneurs to open their dream businesses within their
own neighborhood. It’s really my passion and additionally,
the bringing of access to food back to neighborhoods is
another piece.
Perryman:
You have made a tremendous effort to search for best
practices and exciting things happening around the country
and then bringing possibilities back to Toledo. If one is
able to come back with great ideas, though, we both know
that a great idea alone does not ensure success. That Toledo
is, more than anything else, a very political town. So,
given that, how do you get over the hurdle of politics in
order to get great ideas implemented?
Spang:
Well, you know, so much of what we want to do to innovate
requires money and so thus you can see how one idea leads me
to another. Desire to have the code upgrade grant led me to
a closer examination of our CDBG funds and to a closer
examination of our budgeting process and so I’ll use the
example of how I was able to get part of this budgeting
program through. I talked about it consistently. I
presented it to the Chamber of Commerce. I talked to
community members about it. I worked to build a general
consensus that it was the right thing to do. I appreciate
the administration being willing to…it was a heavy lift.
They had to go department by department, a lot of work. So
sometimes it’s just about being a consistent voice, calling
for something, being willing to do the work of sharing with
people, educating people. So I have no expectations that
simply because I think something’s a good idea that it’s
going to be adopted and I know that I have to do the work of
building a consensus and I’m willing to do that work. I’ve
demonstrated that I’m willing to work with anyone, I’m
willing to work and build consensus for a good idea.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
|
