Ok Mr. Adkins. You wrote it and here is the first of what I hope is a large amount of feedback on your article.

Mr. Adkins:
"we have the funding available to pave our streets, fix our parks and offer a great quality of life"

If you read back through this forum, you will notice a great deal of discussion related to this statement. We mentioned these things before it was on your radar, but, as usual, the previous administrations ignored our comments. Hard to participate if it is a one way street with no response from your city government. We have been labeled as malcontents for going against the city doctrine and not believing all that is shoveled. Contrary to popular belief from the kool-aid drinkers, not all agree with all that happens in this city.

Mr. Adkins:
"It often sat on the shelf in all of our offices as something aspirational but not practical and real."

So, it was an exercise in futility from day one and only more lip service to the people. Why waste the time and taxpayer money paying government workers to write this? More gov. waste.

Mr. Adkins:
"We know about what revenue levels we need to take care of city operations in a sustainable way. We know about how many jobs and/or new families it will take to reach that level. This plan is first and foremost, the plan to gain those jobs and families to reach our required revenue levels"

If you know this, then why, three paragraphs above, were you not prepared for any recessionary situations that occurred in 2008? Know how much you need to budget the household and plan on a certain percentage above that for any shortfalls. A well thought out budget always accounts for lean times/emergencies. Ask most families how they prepare for emergency situations. Do you borrow the money and pay on it for years to replace that heat pump or do you save and pay in full in anticipation of it being replaced?

Mr. Adkins:
"The community visioning is what we want as a community."

"As the visioning document is completed, CBI, MMF and I will be rolling out the concepts captured in that document to ask the question"

Let's see, you've asked the MMF, CBI, you and your government people to roll out some concepts, but I don't see where you have announced that the RESIDENTS were invited to participate. When will that happen? When will the city leaders actually acknowledge the existence of the people and give them a sayso in the direction of THEIR city? You do the same thing downtown. Has anyone asked the PEOPLE what they want for the downtown? NOPE. Never have. You have put millions of the people's money into the downtown at the bequest of a small faction of arts people and have not once asked the other 99% of the people what they wanted as you spent their money on resurrecting your little downtown area. Why have the people been excluded? Where is our representation on the spending of our money? Big mistake Mr. Adkins.

Mr. Adkins:
"As we look at economic development, housing, etc., we’ll want to make sure that each piece is consistent with the sustainable framework and the community’s vision of what Middletown should be."

This will be a difficult task for the city to overcome. Housing, economic development. image and reputation have all been severely hurt by the city government decisions in the last decade or two. When the city decided to HUD saturate the housing scene vouchers and along with that attracted some "undesirables" to town, creating more crime (and made no attempt to replace the AK Steel and paper mill jobs lost by the way), it brought to an end, any remaining positive reputation this city ever had. Because of this action, we are now considered a lower class "ghetto---ish" non-desirable place and certainly not to be considered a place to reside. The low performing schools just add to the tarnished reputation too. No one wants to educate their kids in this school system anymore. It has been a collaborative effort between the city and the schools in bringing the city to it's knees the last four decades.

Mr. Adkins:
"Ideally, we’ll create a document that is consistent throughout with the needs and wants of our residents"

Gotta include us first.

Mr. Adkins:
"My only request is that if you hate some piece of what I’m doing, tell me why, but also offer an alternative"

Ok, you asked for alternatives....

1. Stop forcing the downtown down our throats by insisting it will succeed and plowing millions into a black hole. Take the money and divert it to the streets and the basics. You will serve more people that way rather than plowing the money into a downtown most don't care about.
2. Clean up the city and rid it of the HUD housing, the low income welcoming program and work on the PR to reinstate the hard working blue collar theme of respectability the city once had. We have gone from middle class to lower class in image, demographics and in the attraction of decent people to this town. Gotta change that first to have a prayer of rebuilding a respectable resident base. Let the undesirables filter back to the ghettos or wherever they came from.
3. Put the econ. dev. dept to work and get some decent paying jobs in here. Good job on AK Research opportunities. Need many more like that. (How many potential employees will live in and pay taxes in Middletown by the way?) You have MUM, Butler Tech and CS in place to train a workforce now. That was the complaint earlier......IE, the city didn't have an educated workforce.
Mr. Adkins:
"As we look at each piece of the puzzle, we’ll be rolling them out to the public, discussing them, and eventually seeking Council support"

Will there actually be a time when the public will be able to have their sayso? Or, will it be decided by those who always decide and rushed to council for that rubber stamp approval as in the past or will you give us a chance to participate? If not, you're wasting our time by reading your article.      

What a City,

You've hit on about 10 different areas. I'll try to start responding as I have time to each one individually. It gets confusing (at least to me) when we try to handle too many issues in one post.

Doug