Housing trust needs the money

Toledo Mayor Mike Bell is in hot water, as he should be, for refusing to hand over funds the city promised years ago to the Toledo-Lucas County Housing Fund (“Housing trust, mayor still at odds on funds,” Aug. 12).

The 19-year-old housing fund supports housing initiatives in Toledo and Lucas County that other state and federal funding sources, such as the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, cannot support. In all likelihood, the fund will not survive without the reimbursement.

The controversy is about more than Mayor Bell's broken promises. It highlights the fragile nature of local housing trust funds. Like Toledo, other cities without dedicated funding streams remain hyper-vulnerable to the whims of local politics and politicians.

Each year, Toledo housing advocates have to duke it out with city and county officials for budget crumbs to help pay for emergency home repair, energy assistance, homeowner foreclosure prevention, and handicap modifications for low-income seniors and disabled Toledo residents, among other important projects.

To lose the Toledo-Lucas County Housing Fund would be tragic; to keep it forever would be relatively simple. It's called a dedicated revenue stream.

The Franklin County and Montgomery County trust funds use the real estate transfer fee to generate millions of dollars each year for affordable housing. Columbus generates millions for the same purpose through a portion of the hotel-motel tax paid by city visitors.

A dedicated funding stream for the Toledo-Lucas County Housing Fund should be a public priority. Once in place, the citizens of Toledo no longer will have to bear the brunt of the mayor's broken promises.

Bill Faith

Executive Director

Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio

Columbus

Distorting truth does a disservice

The first paragraph of S. Amjad Hussain's Aug. 23 op-ed column, “Planned mosque puts residue of bigotry on display,” is itself an example of bigotry. To say that just “right-wing Christian clergy and opportunistic political — mostly Republican — leaders” are filled with hate for all Muslims is contemptible.

Painting with such a broad brush and distorting the truth does a disservice to everyone.

Two leaders of the Democrat Party oppose the location of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean. President Obama has backpedaled on his statements about the mosque.

Many Democrats question the wisdom of this location.

Carol Taylor

Bedford Township

Religious freedom must be for all

To many Americans, freedom of religion means you may choose any form of Christianity you want. 9/11 was an attack on all Americans, not just Christians. Americans of many faiths, including Muslims, died both in the attack and as first responders.

Now the hate machine has decided the way to divide us is to claim that building a Muslim cultural center near Ground Zero is an affront to the families of those who lost their lives there.

No one would deny Christians the right to build a church because of the acts of the Ku Klux Klan or the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.

Hatemongers say the building would be a propaganda victory for terrorists. Showing religious intolerance by not letting it be built would be a much bigger propaganda victory for them.

Terry Crandell

Sylvania

Don't condemn an entire group

Our all-too-human tendency to condemn an entire group for the criminal acts of a few is the source of many of our worst problems.

The furor over the proposed mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is an example of holding an entire religion responsible for the criminal actions of 19 terrorists.

If after 9/11 we had tracked down and punished the planners of the attacks instead of Iraq and Afghanistan, we would have enjoyed the support and friendship of millions of innocent, good-hearted people in every religion and every country, rather than attracting the smoldering hatred that now threatens our security.

We could welcome Muslims in this country who want to plant seeds of peace and healing in the wounded heart of Manhattan.

Phyllis Palmer

Lambertville

Mideast revisions aren't helpful

When Israel pulled out of Gaza five years ago, it did so under an agreement that the Palestinian Authority would ensure a peaceful co-existence with Israel and, with hope, a step toward a viable Palestinian state.

Contrary to the revisionist historical drivel put forth by S. Amjad Hussain in his July 12 op-ed column, “Hard-liners present hurdles to peace in Mideast,” Israel tried to work with the Palestinian Authority to improve the economy of Gaza. Israel, like any other sovereign nation, only controlled its borders to prevent terrorist infiltration.

Rather than concentrating on their economy, the Palestinians of Gaza have given Hamas the green light to kill Israeli women and children by lobbing rockets from schools, hospitals, and mosques.

Hamas is essentially a proxy for Iran. Only in self-defense did Israel act to isolate the enemy Hamas after it declared war on the Jewish state.

A great majority of Israelis desire a two-state solution to live side by side with their Palestinian neighbors. This was offered in 1948 and again in 2000, but inexplicably was turned down by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Iran has a different version of a two-state solution: Hamas attacks southern Israel while Hezbollah invades from the north. Israel could presumably have the Mediterranean Sea.

The real reason there is no comprehensive peace agreement is Israel's justifiable fear that once Israel leaves the West Bank, Hamas will violently take over just as it did in Gaza. This is an existential threat to the state of Israel.

Until Palestinian leaders denounce Hamas and Iran's destructive goals, as well as accept the Jewish state of Israel, there will be no peace for the Israeli or Palestinian peoples. In the meantime, Dr. Hussain should spare us his revisionist theories.

Jeannette Meyohas

Sylvania

No bus service? Let kids walk

Several of us from East Toledo, just a block from Oregon, went to Macomber High School on Monroe Street in the early 1960s. We walked over the High Level bridge. After school we ran, and most of the time we got home before the kids who took the bus.

I don`t want to hear the boohoos (“Parents, police fret as TPS ends bus service for 5,000,” Aug. 21). Walking will do the students good.

Alan Kine

4th Street

Politicians fit the mold

A federal grand jury has indicted Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens for allegedly lying to Congress.

Seems this is what Congress has been doing to the American people for years.

Chris A. Mollis

Fremont

Why publicity on young trespasser?

Trespassing on railroad property is against the law and dangerous, but was it absolutely necessary to print the photo of the 11-year-old boy who did so for all to see and to give his name (“Trespassers on rail tracks target of local enforcement,” Aug. 20)?

He was wrong, but so is embarrassing him and his family.

A. Pinciotti

Westcastle Drive