Sanders at top in leadership
8/1/2004
Eleven bite-size Lemmon Drops to nibble on while waiting for a distortion-free political ad:
Eugene Sanders, superintendent of Toledo Public Schools, may have a tough decision to make this month. He reportedly is one of two finalists for the superintendent s position in the District of Columbia.If he is offered the job, I hope he mulls it for a week or so. Perhaps then he would conclude that he can make more of a difference in Toledo.
Toledo has a severe shortage of leaders, and losing Mr. Sanders would be a setback for the community.
In this space in late 2002 I touted him as a future mayoral candidate. I still say no one locally can match him in the Big Three of politics leadership, passion, and charisma.
If Friends of the Market can rescue the Erie Street Market, it will be an economic miracle. For the tax-supported facility to reach its potential, there needs to be a cheerleader in the mayor s office and even then, as we discovered with Carty Finkbeiner, profitability is an iffy proposition. I don t know if it was the $8 parking, the $6 beers, the $4 snow cones, or the $3 soft drinks, but no one in our group of six uttered the word bargain during a recent trip to Cedar Point. Here s hoping Toledo bar owners gather enough valid signatures to put a measure to modify the city s smoking ban on the November ballot. That s on the condition they cease with their whining should voters reject it. Enjoy your time in the national spotlight today, Bowling Green. It may be one of the last times that John Kerry and John Edwards, and their spouses, campaign together. Something to remember the next time you empty your pockets while going through airport security: Nationally, the Transportation Security Administration has collected about $250,000 in loose coins that were left on plastic trays. The money is deposited in the federal government s general fund. The paragraph below was found on a Web site for television news professionals. A man who planned to apply for a job at one of the local stations asked for input from his peers about life in Toledo. It s just not an exciting place to live. The art museum is pretty good. I m told the new Mud Hens stadium is nice. And you can get to real cities fairly easily. But unless you re good at creating your own entertainment, much of the year you ll be bored to tears.
That was written by someone who made a career stop here in the 1990s. I suspect the city would receive a similar review today.
In his inaugural address, Toledo Mayor Jack Ford promised to transform our cultural climate. Make this an elegant city a point of destination, not departure. (With about 17 months left in his first term, he has yet to cross this off his To Do list.)
It all starts with downtown, Mr. Ford. As it goes, so goes our national reputation.
As the Mud Hens flirt with the single-season attendance record, the die-hard Fifth Third Field naysayers may want to beat the rush and order their annual plate of crow now. Left-wing extremist Michael Moore, of Fahrenheit 9/11 fame, says his next project will be on the U.S. health care system. Talk about a topic that is ripe for some intense scrutiny, and no one twists the screws harder than Mr. Moore. I m thinking the Catholic Diocese of Toledo has no regrets about moving the Lathrop House when it did. Repeat after me: The Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic presented by Kroger. (That s going to take some getting used to, isn t it?)
