"Should SunCoke be permitted to build a coke plant in Middletown?"

The question should be " Are we willing to accept the consequences of not permitting SunCoke to build the coke plane in Middletown" ?

"Local IAM International Union Representative", hardly an impartial person, you expect him to speak against this plant.....I think not.

The day will come when AK leaves the city and in their wake will be one of the biggest epa super fund cleanups that Ohio has ever seen.  AK is not the future of Middletown anymore.  Its work force has been cut 70-80%.  Its management moved to better digs and a better show place.  We hear the same story over and over, we need this to stay competitive, yet Ak is making record profits and Middletown begs for scraps.

The SunCoke facility will be built, regardless of the shortsighted efforts of the NIMBY group led by Frank Schiavone!!  It doesnt matter what the Middletown Planning Commission does or doesnt do, they are simply an advisory board....nothing more!!  Middletown City Council can approve this with or without the recommendation of the planning commission.  Middletown City Council has the votes to move this forward AND they will!!  Final vote in favor of the project will be 6-0!!  Middletown and most importantly AK Steel need this project in order to remain viable!!

 For the sake of Middletown and all employees of AK Steel, including those who are retired, I hope you are right Hornet 48. 

NIMBY (not in my back yard) and a Bald Eagle, those are two of the funniest things I have ever seen on this forum.

 Is anyone else shocked?

http://middletownusablog.blogspot.com/2008/03/suncoke-plant-has-south-middletown.html - SunCoke Plant Has South Middletown Residents Concerned

This reminds me of a TV show I watched last night. When discussing the rising cost of energy an analyst said This not in my back yard mentality that has been applied to our energy infrastructure for the last 20 years is not sustainable for the country as a whole.

I would say that the same could be said of this Sun Coke deal and the current not in my back yard movement that this project in running into.

Threat from Garden Manor:

 After watching the ongoing city council meeting last night as it relates to the coke plant, I was appalled at the arrogance and rude comments of Mrs. Schiavone.  As a life long resident of Middletown, she has never been to Ottawa Street?  Is she better than us that  live there?  Is her crusade only to protect her own "diamond in the rough".  I am a hardworking individual who struggles every day, but I couldn't imagine living in a house with a $600,000.00 mortgage.  How many more people will her husband have to steal from and then leave high and dry due to his inability to worry about paying clients to keep making those payments.  If suncoke bought her property so she could continue living in her rich surroundings, would she still be speaking at city meetings, I think not.  The Schiavones are living in their "diamond in the rough"  at the expense of people who  trusted her husband for legal support, and he took the money and forgot about them.   I feel for the hardworking people who have made this home for their familes, but it seems like poor Frankie and his arrogant, better than everyone wife, are in the same boat as the rest of us now 

You all might think I am naive for this statement but I sincerely believe that the Middletown City Council came across as very caring and concerned about the outcome of this vote rezoning the Bake-Martin farm. I think council understood the importance of the vote and that no matter how the vote turned out that a lot of people would be upset. And just so you can put me on your boycott list right now I think council did the right thing.

But speaking of upset: Whats really starting to get on my nerves is all these people from Monroe who act like the world will end if they have to breathe any part of the air that we in Middletown have lived with our entire lives.

If air quality is so all consuming and important to these Monroe people could some one please tell me what they have been doing about it before they thought it would affect them? Really, what can you tell me? Because I would hate to so quickly dismiss such a large group of our neighbors as hypocrites who just learned to spell particulate matter when some one told them it was headed their way.

The last thing thats bothering me is the entire Not In My Back Yard" mentality that plagues this entire country. Though I am sure its just human nature, and I admit there are plenty in this world whose shoes I would not want to be in, there are a good number of necessary evils that we must endure to support the well being of the country as a whole.

Besides, if we could push a button and magically move any factory that ever polluted our environment, or cost a loved one an arm or a limb or a life, if we could some how make go away every factory with every smoke stack that disturbed anyones view and lowered their property value, where would we be?

We would be living in the early 18th century with no electricity, no combustion engines, no medical care beyond natural herbs and home remedies, and no internet on which to spend our days crying.