|
Campaigning for elected
office, for example, had never been part of the Hicks-Hudson
plan. Back in 2010, after former Gov. Ted Strickland had
been defeated in his bid for re-election, Hicks-Hudson’s job
as chief counsel for the Office of Budget and Management was
at an end. Her plan at that time was to return home to
Toledo and open up a law practice – just the sort of “behind
the scenes” position she felt was her destiny since she was
never prone to “seeking the spotlight or glory,” she says.
However, on the same day
of Strickland’s defeat, then-Toledo District 4 Councilman
Michael Ashford won his campaign for state representative
leaving open his council seat. Hicks-Hudson began fielding
telephone calls from Toledoans urging the long-time Old West
End resident to seek appointment to the vacated seat.
As she pondered that
opportunity, Hicks-Hudson recalls that “I saw a need for
someone who could be a strong advocate – I couldn’t believe
what had happened to Toledo and especially District 4.” Even
though she had not previously entertained the notion of
seeking such an office, she knew she was both ready and
prepared given her lengthy service in government behind the
scenes. Seven years later – councilwoman, president of
council and, now, mayor – Hicks-Hudson is running again for
the city’s chief executive position with what she feels is a
well-established record of accomplishments.
Others feel the same way.
“We think about leadership
and the way the city works, the progress the city has made
and you have to think very positively about [Paula
Hicks-Hudson’s] leadership,” said Randy Oostra, CEO of
ProMedica during a fundraiser in August that he organized
for the mayor. “We have been really pleased with the great
things going on in the city, thanks to [the mayor].”
“Since her inauguration as
mayor, Paula Hicks-Hudson has remained committed to
resurfacing major and residential roadways,” writes State
Rep. Ashford of her accomplishments. “From 2015 to 2017,
there have been 62 firefighters and 70 new police officers
hired with 40 cadets going through the police academy and
will be sworn in February 2018. The last two city budgets
have seen record high net-gains and [she] has created or
retained 9,500 good paying jobs.”
At the top of the mayor’s
list of her accomplishments are three other items.
First, and without
hesitation, she speaks of the condition of the city’s water.
“We have safe drinking water each and every day,” she
states.
Second, she mentions
“Engage Toledo.” As far back as during her days as
legislative counsel, Hicks-Hudson had been disturbed by the
inability of citizens to get answers to their issues and
complaints. The lack of a system of coordinated responses
brought about Engage Toledo in which citizens’ questions and
complaints can be assigned numbers, can be tracked and can
be answered in a timely fashion. She calls it “breaking down
the silos.”
As for her third major
accomplishment, Hicks-Hudson points to the lead ordinance.
“I pushed that starting when I was on City Council,” she
recalls. “It’s actually groundbreaking and an opportunity
for education and social growth.” However, now that the
legislation has been passed and has begun to take effect,
the mayor is not content that enough has been done to
eliminate the threat of lead poisoning to the youth in this
community. “Let’s get rid of the lead pipes,” she says. “I
would like to help homeowners swap them out.”
Additionally, she would
also like to pursue an education program for parents so that
local residents could be thoroughly “aware of the hazards of
lead.”
Of course, she is
enormously proud of downtown development and the “whole
different vibe in the city,’ about the potential for growth
in investment and jobs. To continue the progress downtown,
and near downtown, Hicks-Hudson believes it’s critical that
the City of Toledo continue to foster partnerships. The
city, or the public sector, must seek partners, she says,
from within the private sector, non-profit agencies and
labor organizations. For the mayor, successful, sustainable
development must be achieved with all four segments of the
population moving forward together.
The good things happening
downtown now must be expanded, as soon as possible, to East
Toledo, she says, noting that long-time developer Frank Kass
has again become interested in the Marina District “because
of who is the mayor.” Kass had tried working with city
leadership years ago on the Marina District but became
disillusioned and decided not to pursue the matter further.
The mayor’s chief concern,
however, will be to spread the same growth and development
that is happening downtown into the city’s neighborhoods.
“We want to create strong neighborhood organizations that
have the clout to deal with City Hall, that can form
partnerships with the City,” she says noting that the
aforementioned partnerships of public, private, non-profit
and labor will be able to work to bring change and growth
to, first, the ring of areas around downtown, such as East
Toledo, Vistula and the former ONYX area. Not that
neighborhood development can be accomplished in a
cookie-cutter scheme, she says. Each neighborhood has
different strengths and attractions that can and should be
highlighted.
Hicks-Hudson also plans,
during her next four years, to focus her attention on the
related matters of educational attainment and job readiness,
working in partnership with the University of Toledo and,
possibly, with Bowling Green State University, developing
“internships, externships and jobs; we will provide
opportunities.” A partnership with Owens Community College
has already produced an emergency services technology
program collaboration.
Of course, the mayor is
now also busy working on getting re-elected. She won, by a
substantial margin in 2015 in a crowded field that included
past mayors, Carty Finkbeiner and Mike Bell. Now, in this
general election, she faces only one challenger and she has
become increasingly upset in recent weeks over what she sees
as a sea change in the culture of political conversation
that has been adopted by her opponent. For example, she and
her administration, she says, have been falsely accused of
improprieties when it comes to handling the City’s money.
“When you just out and out tell lies, we’re living in times
when civility and integrity is kind of upside down,” she
says.
Leading the City of Toledo
into a new era of prosperity; cleaning and developing
neighborhoods; ensuring that citizens are safe – from crime
and from environmental poisons; pulling together coalitions
to bring about effective changes and, yes, even dealing with
the seamy side of politics – these are not the kinds of
challenges Hicks-Hudson envisioned seven years ago when she
contemplated a quiet life in the shadows of One Government
Center practicing law behind the scenes.
Nevertheless, in spite of
her initial misgivings about taking on such a role in the
public sector, she realized she was both ready and prepared. |
