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He expressed his
willingness to have these meetings as often as necessary and
opened the floor for questions.
The first question to the
mayor focused on public safety specifically methods to
prevent incidents like the one resulting in the death of
22-year-old Marquise Byrd last December when youngsters
threw a sandbag from a I 75 overpass. A community member
asked why didn’t the city provided training and prevention
tips prior to such a tragedy?
The mayor resounded, “This
is not passing the buck but that was the state of Ohio’s
responsibility and they should’ve done it and they didn’t
and that’s not an acceptable answer.” He went on to say, “We
have to do better to anticipate problems and cut them off
before they happen.”
Then followed a question
about the threat of water regionalism and its tendency to
create urban sprawl. “Is it regionalism by giving away the
water or is there some way we can share some revenue and the
city can benefit and the suburban communities in an equal
way,” asked community member Terry Glazer.
Kapszukiewicz assured the
audience that the concern was keeping water in and not
forcing it out. “I would be thrilled if we can merely hold
on to Sylvania and Perrysburg and Maumee as our customers,”
he said. He expressed that water talks are still in the
beginning stages of the process despite the celebration by
the Chamber of Commerce and extending the water beyond its
current limits would result in a tripled water rate for its
consumers.
Earlier that day the
Toledo City Council had held the first meeting to discuss
the water proposal. The mayor confessed that the suburbs are
starting to leave and get their water from neighboring
cities including Bowling Green. “This isn’t about extending
water I’m just hoping to hold on to what we have.”
A question directed
towards street repairs and transforming the vacant buildings
in the city into training centers for the youth to aid in
the reduction of crime seemed to be one of the easier
questions for the mayor. He explained that Toledo was simply
an older city with an aging infrastructure and that funding
was an issue in regard to rehabbing abandoned buildings.
“We have a pretty good
vessel in this town to get our hands on vacant abandoned
properties. But, here’s the trick, you have a whole bunch of
great ideas and how to redevelop them, but where are you
going to get the money to open your center? That’s tough.”
In a similar question
about training programs for youth, the newly-elected mayor
said that those programs are carried out through Lucas
County through the Jobs for Ohio initiative but admitting
that it’s “a kick in the gut when you have businesses that
want to hire and people who want to work and we can’t
connect.”
Expanding on youth issues,
a young questioner suggested a curfew to decrease in
trafficking and homicides. Councilman Larry Sykes joined the
conversation to discuss the ordinance he has drafted for a
curfew for those 16 and under to be home by 9 p.m. and
those, 17 and under, home by 11 p.m. Unless members of
either age group are accompanied by an adult or legal
guardian, they will have to abide by the curfew, he has
proposed.
The councilman went on to
say that the city cannot hire enough police and arrest its
way out of safety problems and suggested that “what we have
to do is start taking back out our neighborhoods.”
The final question the
mayor fielded was one in which he described as trying to
solve world peace in 90 seconds. It was a question of the
education system and the return of extracurricular
activities. He disclosed that the library is investing $8.2
million in Smith Park. “There’s a brand new school there and
a brand new library,” said the mayor.
“We’re going to do our
part for youth and Smith Park is going to be the first
example of that.”
Before leaving for another
meeting Mayor Kapszukiewicz closed with a thank you and the
hopes that this isn’t the last of these conversations.
“This is the first of a
long conversation, this is not the end, this is not
goodbye.”
These meetings are planned
to be held on a semi-regular basis by the organizers in the
hope keeping elected officials informed on the residents’
wants and needs.
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