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The city council candidate
who succeeds Councilman Peter Ujvagi as representative of
District 3 will inherit a district with both promise and
challenges. The area which includes East Toledo, the
Historic South and parts of the Burroughs neighborhood touts
its ethnic diversity and gems such as the original Tony
Packo’s restaurant and the old Hungarian enclave, but also
claims several neighborhoods where the social and economic
disparities remain the widest in the entire city.
What the district needs,
if the promises are to equal or exceed challenges, perhaps,
is someone who can effectively listen to, understand and
communicate the needs of its residents. If, so, then Theresa
Gadus is the right candidate.
I had the opportunity to
listen to Gadus as she described her story and plan for
District 3.
Perryman:
Please tell me about yourself. Are you a native Toledoan?
Gadus: I am. I am a fourth
generation Toledoan. When my great grandparents immigrated
here from Hungary in 1910-ish it was Christmas morning and
they were walking across the bridge and St. Stephens was
having church service and the bells were tolling and my
great grandmother knew that she was home. We’ve been here
ever since. I grew up in East Toledo, pretty much my whole
life I’ve lived there, and I still live in my childhood
home.
Perryman: Please talk about
your past work experience.
Gadus: Well, I worked for
Kroger for a little over 10 years while I got my degree at
the University of Toledo and other than my work experiences
in high school, I did a lot of volunteering to tutor math
and I taught Sunday school.
Perryman: And you are
currently with Toledo Public Schools?
Gadus: Yes, this is my 13th
year and 10 of those I worked at Waite High School and this
year I’m at Oakdale Elementary School.
Perryman: What do you do
for TPS?
Gadus: I am an educational
interpreter; I work with the deaf kids and facilitate
language. I’m up there with the teacher and as she’s giving
the lesson or working with groups I’m there translating and
building language with them. It’s a really exciting field.
Perryman: How did you get
into politics?
Gadus: Well, I didn’t start in
politics. When I was working at Waite High School, I was in
a classroom, an English classroom, and it was maybe four
years after the economic crash of 2008, the kids had to
write an essay on what they were going to become when they
graduated and they were really giving the teacher a hard
time, they didn’t want to do it and finally the teacher was
like what’s going on? Let’s talk this through.
And one of the students
said look around, nobody gets out of this place. Look
around. And they were so upset, because I think our
children internalize what they see around them and that woke
me up. I did a lot in the school, but that woke me up to
really serving my community and getting involved in
community stuff and when Mr. Ujvagi said he was going to
step down, I thought this is an opportunity for me to not
only just serve my community, but our whole district and
continue my life of service.
Perryman: What other
community service have you done?
Gadus: I am a chair of One
Voice for East Toledo and through that I have been able to
do a lot of really cool things like I’ve been a community
stakeholder for the Glass City Metropark and the Navarre
Park revitalization, so I would make sure that the
community’s needs and wants are being met in the programs.
I facilitated an East Toledo Main Street initiative, so it
was a collaboration with The Toledo Arts Commission, The
Toledo Design Center, businesses, artists, residents and how
we are planning to implement to revitalize our Main Street.
I have also built Safer Neighborhoods. I was part of a
cohort and a team leader for Operation Safe Growth, which
again brought a whole bunch of people to the table and we
went through a class and learned how to build safer
neighborhoods.
Perryman: Any other
service?
Gadus: I’m kind of a jack of
all trades. I’m in a planning committee for EPIC Toledo
T-Town Dash, which in the summer they have a scavenger hunt
through downtown. I’m president of the Stonewall Democrats
of Northwest Ohio and TSA Liaison and professional
development coordinator for GLSEN of Northwest Ohio, which
strives to make inclusive schools, inclusive safe schools.
Perryman: How does your
experience, including your occupation as a translator and
extensive community service, shape your candidacy?
Gadus: I think that they’ve
all prepared me in ways to help pull me into being a better
listener, to collaborate because there’s a whole lot of
collaborating whether it’s in the classroom, in the
community and as far as politically, I think that I’m going
to bring a fresh perspective, fresh eyes to some of the
situations and challenges that we face in the district.
Perryman: What is your
agenda for District 3?
Gadus: Well, my agenda is
basically what I’ve heard from the people of the district.
So, everybody wants vibrant safe neighborhoods with good
efficient city services, good parks and expanding youth
programming. So, that’s what I’m really motivated to do,
make sure that we provide for our people.
Perryman: What
differentiates you from your opponent and what makes you
unique as a councilmember, should you be elected?
Gadus: I think, again, it
comes down to my leadership abilities and experience. I’ve
really honed those listening skills, those collaborations
and those leadership skills. I think that’s what sets me
apart and then I’ve really been in the community, whether
it’s in the school system working to help the kids have a
safer inclusive school, help them get their degree and
graduate or whether it’s outside of that and working in the
community. I have the ties that I think it takes to be a
successful city council person.
Perryman: What else would
you like to communicate to the readers of The Truth?
Gadus:
My drive since I was a little girl is to live the life of
service and I really believe that as a council person it’s
our job to listen and be led by the people and not only to
work for the people we represent, but with the people we
represent to take on all of the challenges.
Perryman: Thank you.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org |
