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Silent Protest at Sylvania Township Trustee Meeting

By Tricia Hall

Sojourner’s Truth Reporter

 

Toledo and Sylvania Township residents filled the monthly township trustee meeting on Tuesday, December 18 to stage a silent protest on the decision of the trustees to deny the TARTA proposal to shift its local funding source. Sylvania Township Trustees John Jennewine, John Crandall and Neal Mahoney along with fiscal officer David Simko were in attendance.

 

TARTA’s proposal needed to be approved and placed on the general election ballot for area voters. Sylvania Township Trustees, alone amongst the member communities that utilize TARTA’s services, nixed the idea of letting voters approve the plan, even though polling had shown that most voters in the township would have approved.

 

As a result, TARTA announced a decision to reduce services at the start of the new year. A large chunk of TARTA’s funding – 46 percent – comes from local property taxes. Thus, funding has been greatly reduced over the years – by $6 million between 1987 and 2010. TARTA teamed with a local marketing firm and a multinational engineering firm to create a new plan that would essentially replace property tax funding with an area sales tax.

 

The silent protest recruited three dozen individuals who sat and stood during the entire meeting until selected public speakers were permitted to address the Sylvania Township Trustees during the non-agenda portion of the meeting.

 

“I’ve been taking the bus for over 60 years,” began Mary Stapleton, Toledo-area resident. “I rely on TARTA because I don’t drive, and cab services are too expensive. We need to change from property tax to sales tax.”

 

The second testimonial was delivered by Paula Mathis. “No one can transport me, because my chair is too large and weighs 200 pounds. I’m actually close to tears right now.” Mathis pointed to her wheelchair and continued to address the trustees. “I pray you find it in your heart to continue services. TARTA services are the only way to get around the area for $5 roundtrip. If you’re not in this situation, it’s really hard to understand.”

 

The protest was organized by Shelly Papenfuse of Disability Rights Advocate, and Rev. Cedric Brock, pastor of Mt. Nebo Baptist Church and president of Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance .

 

Immediately following the last testimony, Sylvania Township Trustees Jennewine and Mahoney addressed the protesters in attendance.

 

“There are some new faces here. We said TARTA is the right service and we’re sticking to our guns. Since the levy didn’t pass, I’ve been asked to join the new transit board,” said Mahoney. “I don’t want you to think we’re bad people. We wanted TARTA, I feel like we’re been mis-represented by the media. My heart is in a good place, and will I communicate on this process with the transit board, but I’m not the only one who raised concerns about TARTA. The Toledo Blade and County Commissioners have raised concern about TARTA and leadership. I wanted to be crystal clear.”

 

“All of these cuts and loss of services came at a surprise,” stated Trustee Jennewine. “The cuts are being blamed on us and these cuts weren’t mentioned to us. I hope we can come up with a good idea. Saying that we are preventing this is furthest from the truth. I’m focused on TARTA leadership and why they didn’t mention this earlier.”

 

Most Sylvania Township residents would support the new Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority proposal to expand its service area and hours and implement a sales tax to pay for the expanded service according to the results of a telephone survey conducted by Odesky and Associates of 300 likely voters in the township.

 

According to the survey, 46.3 percent supported the TARTA proposal, 21 percent were against it and 32.7 percent were undecided; 58 percent favored a sales tax and only 5.7 percent supported a property tax.

 

The protesters organizers outlined their next steps towards ensuring the TARTA proposal is on the 2020 General Election ballot in front of supporters before leaving the Sylvania Township meeting.

 

“Our focus still remains the same, we need to change how we fund our regional transit services because there isn’t any money. I don’t care what task force is formed, it doesn’t change the real issue, that we do not fund TARTA properly,” Papenfuse began. “TARTA cannot sustain itself by continuously being underfunded. This group will continue to work on addressing that issue to move transportation for all county-wide.”

 

“This doesn’t end, we’re here on behalf of the people that we represent,” said Brock. It was a major disappoint to hear the comments that were given by the Trustees. We’re not trying to make this a war, because they (the Sylvania Township Trustees) do a great job at what they do by managing the township well. We are here to speak on behalf of our community, that’s it. We still plan to meet with the Lucas County Commissioners and also Representative Marcy Kaptur. We want to push them to meet with us.”

 

 

   
   


Copyright © 2018 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 12/27/18 22:28:42 -0500.


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