Poaching Schmoaching, is it true that O-I purchased the land that they currently occupy in Wood County decades ago, with the expressed intent/purpose of building their future corporate campus there?

He also said if the blogger is getting 2 comments per week, than you better watch out. hehe

The Mayor took the airwaves and made the claim that Wood County is some how taking businesses from Toledo.

Is this even correct in light of the statements now in the media?

And is Toledo not part of the region and if so why does the administration continue to paint itself as some how separate from the region.

And in the article I posted a url about there is a statement that city of Toledo failed to visit and follow up on enterprize set up to create jobs and so on and what in today’s administration is there any hope that the same troubles will not be repeated when the administration is not aware that the Erie Street cannot be sold, after it was listed, because of federal funds that were used.

Where is the confidence in our leadership that they can and will be competent and be fully informed and not simply lash out when a county, that is part of the region, has its ducks in a row and mean while Toledo considers itself some how left out, again and again and again.

Is Councilman McNamara right about having an Economic Development head when the current head strikes out so often?

Often, I will have a company who is obviously desperate for my business bid, knowing that they will take a little bit of a loss to hook me.

Would you say that if I do go with the desperate printer to save some money, that they “poached” business from the main printer? Loyalty plays somewhat of a role in my decision but ultimatly my job is to get the best quality product for the best possible price; should I pay more for printing simply because we’ve been with the main printer for x years?

Maggie, after listening to the audio from yesterday and the additional material you provided while on air, I would agree with you that the spoken speech was a bit more “passionate” than the written one. I do still believe that poaching can be wrong if communities are planning on developing regional economic development yet I also understand if a company is the one who first solicits the idea of moving that most Cities/Counties are going to pursue it.

On the Rossford arena aspect Maggie, the information you covered from the past on that does indicate more research should be done on a previous position/statements before new statements are made. That’s one area where we are at an advantage as we can bring it up to compare and contrast.

I’ve got to hand it to the Mayor and City Council for being very clever by tying trash tax to the water and sewer service in order to pirate, pilfer, and pocket our money to pay for parks, paths and potholes.

“The city of Toledo, Ohio got in the incentives game early.

In 1978, city officials gave Owens-Illinois $24 million, a generous sum in those days, to stay in town. Unfortunately, the firm was sold to a New York company several years later, and hundreds of the jobs that Toledo thought it had bought were cut.

A nearly identical break would be offered to Owens Corning in 1994 to keep it from moving. The city’s development director, Holly Wiedman, said the break was worth it for P.R. reasons. “[Losing Owens Corning] would have been a black mark on Toledo that would have gotten more national publicity than we would have wanted.” Company officials responded that the tax breaks were key to keeping the firm downtown, although, they said, it might have just moved somewhere else within Toledo without them.

Toledo, struggling to maintain its shrinking industrial base, was long an aggressive player in the incentives game. When the state authorized an Enterprise Zone program in 1983, Toledo was quick to take advantage.

Local officials touted the tax breaks as necessary and effective. “Due to the present cost of doing business,” said Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, “Toledo must utilize any and all incentives available to keep business from leaving the city and to lure business from other states and outside areas.”

http://www.cfed.org/focus.m?parentid=34&siteid=1629&id=1657#1

Thanks for the update, I’m heading over now to listen.

“What of it?”

“NC, I believe Toledo took steps to create a tax-exempt municipal utility – I searched and found this on the May 29, 2007 City Council Agenda:

Amend TMC Ch. 949, establish Toledo Public Power for municipal electric utility ”

What is the purpose of a Municipal Electric Utility in Toledo?

Does the administration believe that it can sell power to the citizens at a profitable level and compete with Toledo Edison?