Article published June 05, 2006
GRADING THE MAYOR
Finkbeiner's 1st months raise some concerns
Too early to judge, others observe
By TOM TROY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Carty Finkbeiner promised during last year's mayoral campaign he would "get results" and was elected in a landslide.
Now some people are wondering whether they like the results.
Since taking office five months ago, Mr. Finkbeiner has sniped at the proposed $30 million Westgate Village Shopping Center, become embroiled in an ethics investigation, planned a walking/biking path with little neighborhood or City Council support, witnessed the defeat of his hand-picked appointee to a City Council seat, and is still looking for private investors to develop the Marina District.
Some in the business community say they welcome the mayor's passion, and have seen some promising trends.
But they're disturbed at Mr. Finkbeiner's interference in the Westgate project and his insistence on being his own economic development director rather than hiring a professional.
"It should probably be up there in his top priorities for our industry to have a point person to go through and to have the follow-up it needs," said Patty Camacho, executive director of the Property Rights Coalition, which represents the real estate sales and development industry."You've got to give him a little time. The first quarter's for getting your feet back in it, getting your staff in line," Ms. Camacho said. The first quarter ended March 31.
Kathy Steingraber, executive director of the Toledo Warehouse District Association, said the poor economy doesn't give the mayor the luxury of a long transition. And so far, she said, the city's economic development department isn't led by people who give developers confidence.
"They need to get some people who are very enthusiastic, who are upbeat, who really know how to put a project together," Ms. Steingraber said.
Toledo City Councilman Frank Szollosi, a Democrat who has locked horns with the mayor, said Mr. Finkbeiner is mishandling economic development, Toledo's No. 1 priority.
"I wish he would devote as much time to economic development as he does to trying to stack his deck on City Council," Mr. Szollosi said.
Mr. Finkbeiner, 67, last year capitalized on the perceived sluggishness of business activity under former Mayor Jack Ford to deny Mr. Ford a second term and return to office. Mr. Finkbeiner was elected to two terms as the city's first "strong" mayor, serving from 1994 to 2002.
Early in his latest term, the mayor helped secure a $504 million commitment from General Motors Corp. to build new transmissions at the Powertrain plant on Alexis Road, saving hundreds of manufacturing jobs years into the future.
He talked TalentTrack, an executive search firm, into reversing its plans to move from downtown to Maumee.Mayoral boosterism
And he revived a style of mayoral boosterism not seen since his previous term when he tried to woo the president of Bass Pro Shops to bring one of his giant outdoors stores to Toledo - using billboards, a high school marching band, and a helicopter ride.
He has put development of the 125-acre Marina District on a visibly higher track than it had been under Mr. Ford, scheduling a weekly meeting on the topic in his office suite.
Larry Dillin, the developer of Southwyck Shopping Center who was recruited by Mayor Ford, is confident about starting work soon on a proposed $100 million renovation of the aging South Toledo mall into The Village at Southwyck, but is still looking for a retail anchor.
Still in doubt is the future of One SeaGate, which is threatened with being closed after master tenant Owens-Illinois Inc. decided last year to move its headquarters to Perrysburg. Fifth Third Bank of Northwestern Ohio is considering moving its headquarters there - if it can sell or lease the large downtown building the bank already owns, at 606 Madison Ave.
Mr. Finkbeiner talked about the last five months with The Blade on Saturday after earlier declining interview requests. He said his emphasis so far has been to get a competent team in place and infuse them with his sense of passion for the job.
He said he had hoped to have all his key positions filled by the end of three months, but that six key positions remain open - including director of economic development.New appointees
In the last two weeks, Mr. Finkbeiner has appointed an interim parks, recreation, and forestry director, Denny Garvin, and a coordinator of public information, former Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority spokesman Brian Schwartz.
"If you've got the right team, you've got a chance to have a good tenure," Mr. Finkbeiner said.
The mayor enthused about the number of people he saw in the downtown area Saturday when he went to Promenade Park to check on the cleanup from the season's first Rally by the River.
Economic development officials give high marks to Mr. Finkbeiner's pro-growth attitude, but are concerned about the pace - as well as the distractions:
He launched an abortive effort in March to raise money, a car, and a summer teaching job to augment Toledo Public Schools' Superintendent Eugene Sanders's contract and get him to stay. The Ohio Ethics Commission is investigating the effort as a possible violation of state law, which could force Mr. Finkbeiner out of office.
In one of his Wednesday staff meetings two weeks ago, Mr. Finkbeiner referred to Fire Chief Mike Bell, who was absent, as "King Kong." Chief Bell, an African-American, later held a press conference urging the public and the media to "let it go," saying the mayor is not a racist and didn't have any racist intent.
A proposed walking/biking path in South Toledo has brought protests not only from residents along the 2.5-mile route, but from council members who say the $600,000 is better spent maintaining existing parks or on economic development.
Mr. Finkbeiner attempted repeatedly to change a $30 million deal that had been inked by Mr. Ford to redevelop the aging Westgate Village Shopping Center. The mayor sought unsuccessfully to impose an "urban village" design on the Westgate project, and then vetoed a waiver of the living-wage law for Costco, Westgate's planned retail anchor.
The veto was promptly overridden by a unanimous City Council.
Tom Palmer, a member of the port authority board of directors and a longtime friend and legal adviser of the mayor, said Mr. Finkbeiner's brinkmanship with Costco/Westgate was risky but served to get across his points, which included the need for better pedestrian access.
"I think that was fair. Where the line should have been drawn on that, I don't know. The result is the points were enunciated and the deal didn't go away," Mr. Palmer said. Costco still has not signed a lease.Business image hurting
Mark V'Soske, president of the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the Westgate episode didn't help the city's business image.
"What we need to do is not get Toledo crossed off somebody's list before they investigate further," Mr. V'Soske said. "I still firmly believe that Carty's intentions are correct; he wants to grow and improve the city. You're starting to see improvements already."
Last week, Mr. Finkbeiner attended the ceremonial beginning of the Westgate project and assured the audience that he was a Costco fan. But he said he still likes the urban village concept where people can live above retail shops.
"Those of us who are strong on the appeal of the urban village concept believe it can work here," he said.
Mr. Finkbeiner, who controls the so-called "B-team" side of the Democratic Party, continues to battle critics from the "A-team" side of the party who supported Mr. Ford.
His candidate to fill an opening for a Council District 3 seat, Democrat Taylor Balderas, was narrowly defeated in a special election May 2 by Mike Craig, who had A-team support. The mayor was successful in getting council to approve his choice for another council vacancy, Lourdes Santiago, on May 23.
City Councilman George Sarantou, a Republican running for Lucas County commissioner, said the mayor needs to stay on council's good side.
"He's got a very slim coalition on council right now," he said. "I think he is more pro-jobs and pro-growth [than the previous administration], but he needs to have an economic development director because that's a huge job."
A summary of economic development activity provided by Mr. Finkbeiner's staff for the first quarter shows 509 jobs created since he returned to office - of which 144 will be at Westgate Village. The city's statistics also show 1,287 jobs retained - including 893 at GM Powertrain - and $540 million in capital investment at Powertrain as part of a total $555.2 million citywide.
Among those saying it's too early to grade the new administration is Keith Wilkowski, a former city law director who ran against Mr. Finkbeiner in the mayoral primary election last year.
"People knew what they were electing and overwhelmingly chose Mr. Finkbeiner. He has an optimism about him that is infectious and that infectious optimism, in contrast to the style of Mr. Ford, is something people wanted to embrace," Mr. Wilkowski said.
Contact Tom Troy at: tomtroy@theblade.com or 419-724-6058.
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