Glass City Jungle

Once upon a time I worked in a cubicle, though not as an engineer, once you’ve worked in the corporate cubicle world, you can become even more of a fan of Dilbert. The cover story in the Toledo Free Press is an interview with the creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams, entitled, ‘Dilbert’ creator marks [...]

I got home late this morning so I missed most of the first segment of Conklin & Company. I saw the last few moments of District 6 Toledo City Councilwoman Lindsay Webb talking with Lee Conklin about the Ottawa River dredging issue. I plan to watch the re-broadcast tonight so I’ll update with [...]

I recommend watching the video of the Toledo City Council meeting of November 18th which you can watch online. I recommend watching it because there were quite a few things that happened that were not fully reported on in the media. In theory it’s supposed to be up the Friday of the week [...]

Two weeks in a row the Toledo City Paper has had a cover story that I find informative and recommend, this week, The Leaps and Leaks of the 2008 Great Lakes Compact by Julie Mattera. Mattera does a good job in covering the basics of the history as well as some of the concerns, [...]

When I headed over to the Sojourner’s Truth website to read the columns/articles, I wondered what this week’s This Strikes Us would be about. It’s a last look at the reasons why President Bush is a terrible president, giving him credit for a few things, such as the ability to throw a baseball. [...]

That’s the basis of the reasoning being given as to why Toledo and many other cities are facing hard economic decisions in Toledo not alone in its budget miseries.
It’s interesting to reflect on who’s been blamed before, our Governor has stated it’s the fault of President Bush. So has our Mayor and [...]

It seems as if almost every year someone is injured or killed in the rush to enter the materialistic season we call “Christmas” that formally begins on “Black Friday”. This year a man died because people were in such a rush to grab that “great deal” that it’s being reported they broke through the [...]

It was great to read the article that the Blade had today about Yvette Hall who I am a huge fan of. I’ve had the chance to get to know her because of last year and this year’s Tent City. The article gives you a glimpse into a woman who truly meets the [...]

It’s rather ironic that recently there has been a look back at the year 1988, as pointed out in last week’s Toledo City Paper:
According to reports in The Blade, then City Manager Philip Hawkey fired Pete Culp and demoted L. Michael Duckworth from director of the department after releasing a report that detailed alleged irregularities…
The [...]

It was my turn to put together the submissions for this week’s Carnival, which got a bit of late finish due to my pie baking tasks. Like the pies however, it is hot and hopefully filling fare for those of you who venture over to read this week’s edition. Similar to my kitchen, [...]

Light posting alert for the next few days, my oldest daughter got in last night and I’m doing the whole “mom” thing of cooking for everyone for tomorrow. If you’d like to use this thread as a place to share what you are thankful for, I hope you do so. For those wondering [...]

Several other local media sources reported on this story tonight, but WTOL has the complete list of the positions targeted:
Here are the proposed layoffs:
Non-bargaining Unit
* 1 clerical specialist in OMB
* 1 clerk in Administration
* 1 fiscal specialist in OMB
* [...]

WTVG has the listing of the counties and their unemployment rates as well as the larger cities in Ohio.
Statewide rate was 7.3 percent
Pike County in southern Ohio has the highest county unemployment rate at 10.5 percent
Toledo and Youngstown have a 9.6 percent unemployment rate
Lucas County is at 8.9 percent, Fulton County 8.6 percent and [...]

I can find one bright side to the report on NBC24 about the price of scrap has falling dramatically. Since it’s clear it’s not as profitable as it was before, it’s possible that the number of thefts related to people breaking into vacant homes and/or businesses to steal material that could be sold for [...]

I recommend reading and watching the story on Fox Toledo. The basics, the house does need to be painted, the couple can not afford to paint it and there’s concern of how they would even be able to paint it within the four month time frame they were given by Encompass Insurance.
The [...]

The title of the Blade article states, Rainy day fund off limits for Toledo budget but in reality what it means is that the Mayor is perfectly willing to take 2 million of the $6.4 million rainy day fund, but no more than that. Kudos to the Blade for providing the list of the [...]

I really had mixed emotions when I was first contacted by Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop’s assistant a few weeks ago letting me know that Commissioner Konop wanted to recognize Ken Leslie and myself for the homeless voting project and Tent City.
Ken deserves recognition as well as a host of other people which if I [...]

I read this over on Jason’s blog, “Rowsey Blog”, where he writes this is More “Proof” of Our Failing System of Education. I recommend reading his post, as a teacher his thoughts on this topic are thought provoking and also reading the article he’s linked, US elected officials scored with an average grade of [...]

As reported on Fox Toledo:
BELLEVUE – State Fire Marshal Michael Bell and the ATF have ruled that Sunday morning’s fire at Progress Plastics in Bellevue was deliberately set.
The nine-alarm fire started at 3:49 a.m. in the manufacturing company’s warehouse, said FOXToledo.com media partner The Sandusky Register.
Less than 48 hours after announcing its intention to close [...]

This is not a local story, but it is something that has happened here in the past and will no doubt happen again. Throwing those who made a historical contribution to our society under the bus, or in front of the bus whichever cliche you prefer, and re-naming schools, roads, bridges, parks, etc., after [...]

Senate bill aims to soften public ban on smoking which I’ve read in other areas but has now been reported in the Blade.
The actual text of S.B. 346 for those interested in the complete details.
The two largest area of changes are below with the struck out portion being how the legislation [...]

One of the nice things about podcasting is if you’ve missed hearing an interview or if you’d like to hear it again, it’s possible to either listen on your computer or on your MP3 player. A few of the interviews from this week that I recommend related to Toledo area politics are under the [...]

This received in via email from District 6 Councilwoman Lindsay Webb, in regards to the plan by the City Administration to take the funding for the Ottawa River dredging project to offset the budget deficit that was reported on in today’s Blade; a press conference is scheduled with additional material included with this post:
Councilwoman Webb [...]

This in via email:
Three Toledo community based organizations — Community Development Corporation Alliance, Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity and The Fair Housing Center, will hold a press conference Monday, November 24 at 2:00 PM at the Fair Housing Center. These organizations will convey their support for the proceeds of the proposed Lucas County transfer fee [...]

Before I get started doing my weekly post on what’s in this week’s Toledo Free Press I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Michael Miller and the rest of the TFP staff who were Crystal Award winners. If you are a UT football fan, or a fan of college football, the The Chuck [...]

This week on Conklin & Company on WTVG Sherrod Brown to talk about the auto bailout, George Sarantou on the City Budget and Dave Murray who wrote “the little book of Carty” and Take Three: First up Murray:
He started with, “Times are tough and we felt Toledo deserved a laugh, we started looking back [...]

If you haven’t headed over to check out this week’s Toledo City Paper, the cover story is an interesting one, A Minister’s Mark: How a 1988 protest against City Council shaped a Civil Rights journey. I recommend reading it, especially if you are interested in some of the history of the city especially as [...]

Since the very first show held by the Verso Group on August 1st, there have been 13 shows, maybe 14, the one Gaelic Storm is listed on the Toledo Civic Theatre website as a past concert but when you look at the Verso Group website it appears that concert was moved to Frankies because it [...]

Last time we had fun with finding YouTube clips of your favorite songs, so this time I thought we’d go with classic movies. It may be a bit more of a challenge as far as finding a video clip, but some are out there, as an example the trailer to one of my favorite [...]

According to the latest update Resolution reached in city-union court battle:

The city and three of its unions agreed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court Friday afternoon to decrease the number of employees who will be forced to take an unpaid day off next week.
In all, 242 people will be involved in the layoffs on Nov. [...]