Letters to the Editor

TARTA’s future in Rossford up to citizens

8/4/2013

Your July 26 editorial “Wrong road in Rossford” questioned the wisdom and ideology of a community-based effort to place the future of Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority service in Rossford on the November ballot for citizens to decide.

Because you made no effort to contact members of this group to discuss our rationale or political inclinations, we must question the motives of The Blade’s nameless and faceless editorial board.

Citizens’ Choice is composed entirely of Rossford citizens of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. We hold widely varying political beliefs. We have different thoughts about what may be an ideal level of public transportation service for our community.

What unites us is the well-considered, rational belief that the residents of Rossford should make this decision — not our committee, not the elected officials whom we trust to manage the basic functions of our city, not out-of-town special-interest groups, not the management of TARTA, and certainly not the unknown Blade editorial board.

Residents of Rossford voted in 1971 to join TARTA through a separate and distinct tax levy. They have voted numerous times over the decades on the question of continued or expanded financial support. They alone should and will be the voice that sets the future.

Perhaps if you had bothered to practice a modicum of journalistic integrity by contacting our group, you would have known what is in our hearts and minds; that the voice of our fellow residents be heard.

DON MONTAGUE

President

BOB DENSIC

Secretary Citizens’ Choice Rossford