Published: 2/6/2005

UT seems like right partner for new arena

Before sitting down for Super Bowl XXXIX, please enjoy the bite-size offerings of Lemmon Drops CCIII:

I felt like I was living in a parallel universe after reading Monday's paper.

Headline A (from the front page): Mayor pushes downtown projects to attract new people, businesses.

Headline B (from the sports section): One way or another, UT arena to get new look.

It seems so simple. A win-win partnership. A $50 million no-brainer.

The City of Toledo has a 57-year-old arena that is a civic embarrassment. The University of Toledo's arena is pushing 30 and is in need of an extensive renovation.

A state-of-the-art downtown arena, with UT as the major tenant, is the answer to both problems.

UT's president previously said the school is not interested in joining with the city to build a downtown arena. There's still time for him to reconsider.

Raise your hand if you believe Ohio Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick, arrested Monday for driving under the influence, would be taking "full responsibility" for her actions had the media not made the Ohio Highway Patrol video available for public consumption.

Too bad the Lucas County Board of Elections doesn't have a video of Ray Kest's $346.80 meal at the Sanibel Steakhouse on Florida's Gulf Coast. Even then, Mr. Kest probably wouldn't take "full responsibility" for exhausting his campaign war chest after deciding against running for another term as Lucas County treasurer.

In case you're wondering, only 218 days until Wade Kapszukiewicz begins to "clean house" in the treasurer's office.

Prior to moving here in 1997, we asked some people for a scouting report on Toledo. A former resident's capsule review: "It has some neat bookstores and coffee shops."

Thackeray's, we later deduced, had to be one of the bookstores. It will be missed.

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, a 1973 graduate of St. John's Jesuit High School, is the first Democrat to enter the 2006 governor's race. Once upon a time I envisioned Jack Ford being so popular as mayor of Toledo that he would be re-elected in 2005 and then, in response to pleading from the Ohio Democratic Party, run for governor in '06. Mr. Coleman's decision makes that scenario highly unlikely, but it can't be ruled out -- only because Mr. Ford will, one assumes, "worry about 2006 in 2006."

Sensing my exasperation over Toledo's seeming contentment with mediocrity, loyal reader Larry provided a chuckle with this solution: "Let's get the feds to come up with a 'No City Left Behind' program."

In this space on Jan. 9, I praised snow-removal crews in Lucas County for their consistently quick work. Don, a carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, scoffed because, through the years, he hadn't seen it on his mail route.

On Jan. 25, three days after we received a foot of snow, Don sent an e-mail with "You were right" in the subject line.

"I guess it takes a record snowfall to get the machine working," he said. "In 24 years, I had never seen the streets on my route cleaned so quickly. If you mention, again, in your column about our snow-removal efforts, please include the kudos of an old mailman. And pass the crow."

No disrespect to Holland Huckleberry and Buckeye Chuck, but Punxsutawney Phil is the best there ever was.

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