Sometimes, trash can't wait a week
7/11/2007Okay, so we now have to pay, in addition to our taxes, a fee for trash pick-up so we can have, as Mayor Carty Finkbeiner puts it, "service that we should expect and deserve" or something to that tune.
Now he wants to do away with the one-day delay for holiday trash pick-up, which will mean some people will have two weeks of trash sitting around. This so the city does not have to pay overtime to the workers.
The Finkbeiner family and City Council obviously do not have any children at home or remember what it was like to have diapers and everything else child-driven that creates many, many bags of trash. To have this sitting around for two weeks is not only taking up space at the home but can be a health hazard as well.
So, to Carty and City Council, please stop trying to squeeze every last dime out of us. Just do the job you were hired to do. We cannot have trash sitting around our homes for two weeks. It is unhealthy and smells. To keep the animals away from the bags, you have to keep it in the garage. To keep the smell away from inside your home, you have to keep it outside.
It is a no-win situation especially for two weeks around a holiday. Gee, let's guess what goes on during holidays at your home? Parties and family gatherings creating extra trash? Yep, that is exactly what happens.
Please, Toledo government, start using your head for something other than a hat rack. And yes, Carty, you can send the "look what I have done for the City of Toledo" letter to my same address as you usually do.
Dale R. Perne
Talmadge Road
Amazing. The City of Toledo cries poverty and enacts garbage fees, reduces jobs through layoffs and attrition, wants to renegotiate union contracts for concessions, and talks about reducing the number of police officers because of all these budget woes, but then comes up with $10 million by their July 1 deadline to meet their commitment to help fund the Marina District. Kind of sounds like begging for cash from all your relatives and friends while your house is in foreclosure, and then taking the wife and kids for a nice trip to Disneyland.
Chuck Hymore
Oregon
People of Toledo, wake up. The marina project is all Mayor Carty Finkbeiner cares about right now. Where do you think he got the extra $10 million from? Cuts to city services, then that money gets channeled to his office so he can do with it as he pleases, such as delaying trash pick-up and pools not opening, just to name a couple.
The people along Front Street are all happy about the value of their houses going up so high. Wait until they get their next bill from the city and see how much their property taxes go up. Not such a good deal now? How do you like the mayor now?
Every time there is a cut in city services, we know where the money the city is saving is going to. The same thing happened when Fifth Third Field was being built.
T.H. Bauman
295th Street
Toledo residents are paying for weekly refuse collection through the 1 1/2-percent payroll income tax. On top of that, they are paying an additional 3/4-percent "temporary piggyback tax" to assure that they receive police, fire, and weekly refuse collection. To make matters worse, they are being charged an additional fee for weekly refuse collection.
When you pay for a service you have every right to expect to receive that service. If you are paying $100 a month to have your lawn mowed every week and your provider skips a week, you expect compensation. And any reputable business that provides you with a service will adjust your bill when that service is interrupted or eliminated. The people who did not have their refuse collected last week should have their bill adjusted (taxes and assessment).
Ken Smith, Jr.
North Wheeling Street
Mayor Carty Finkbeiner is failing Toledoans on many fronts, including his responsibility to protect citizens. The mayor became "passionate," raising his voice and swearing, when questioned about cops on the street last week at a town hall meeting, but the fact remains: Toledo needs more cops on the street.
Mayor Finkbeiner promised us two new police classes when he was campaigning in 2005, but that campaign promise has taken a back seat to everything else. The safety of Toledoans should be the number one priority of every government official, and it should especially the priority of the mayor of a "City of the Future."
At that town hall meeting, Mr. Finkbeiner cited a 17 percent drop in crime, according to the FBI. Why would he willfully mislead the citizens of Toledo? In 2006, Toledo crime dropped 4.5 percent and homicide jumped 25 percent. The 17 percent figure was the national drop in crime. Toledo is behind, yet Mr. Finkbeiner refuses to perform his duty properly by blowing off any concerns citizens have about crime and lying about facts he has made comments about.
No new police class will be coming through this year. We have a steep budget deficit to tackle next spring, so what are the odds of getting any new cops on the street then? Police are currently operating below operational minimums.
I call upon Mayor Finkbeiner to keep the promises he made to get in office. For the sake and safety of your constituents, Mayor Finkbeiner, put more cops on the street.
Tom Morrissey
Leader, Recall Carty
www.RecallCarty.com
Secor Road
A set of tickets to the Mud Hens. Perfect weather. God Bless America at the seventh inning stretch. Kevin Hooper's bottom of the 9th game-winning hit. The Hens' post-game fireworks. The City of Toledo's fireworks.
You could not ask for a better Independence Day in Toledo, Ohio.
Bud Thomson
Maumee
In response to Equality Toledo, to quote 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is God breathed."
So here are some verses from the New Testament only, that in your opinion prove God to be a bigot. I didn't print the whole verse to keep this brief, but they show what God said about sexual immorality: Romans 1:29-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:3-7, Colossians 3:5-6, Revelation 21:8, Revelation 22:15.
I believe we saw how mainstream Christians and Jews believed on the same sex-issue at the last election.
So you might as well lump this Lutheran in with the Baptist extremists because I will stick with the Bible.
Rod Young
Oregon
In general, the only way boys can improve their learning skills in high school is by being separated from the girls and wearing some kind of uniform. It's high time that the school board recognize this de facto "fact of life," especially the females on the board.
There would be more emphasis on learning in high school, versus the current socializing whereby boys and girls are a distraction for each other. The majority of boys need structure, discipline, and no girls to learn better. Girls would also benefit from this.
This is the way I was raised and, believe me, it does work. Believe it or not, separation is the answer in high school.
Mike Schlee
Lambertville
Through his balanced work on the The Blade's Pages of Opinion and WGTE's The Editors, Tom Walton was a terrific teacher of current events.
Thank you, Tom, and best wishes.
Phineas Anderson
Perrysburg