Where Have You Been Joe?

Today's Journal....

Joe Mulligan: Middletown is repeating the mistakes of the past


"In a two-step process over seven months, Middletown’s Architectural Review Board, planning commission and city administration took actions that repeated the mistakes of Middletown’s past. They squandered an opportunity to attract high-income families to our city".

That ain't all they've squandered over the years Joe. Thank your city leaders.

"Right now, Middletown has plenty of affordable homes for potential buyers. A recent check of real estate Web site Zillow.com reported 88 percent of the current homes for sale in Middletown are priced below $150,000"

With Middletown's reputation and being as undesirable as it is, the number of low-priced homes shouldn't surprise anyone. Thank your city leaders.

"For decades, the city has pursued a flawed “economic development” plan that aimed to fill Middletown’s homes with citizens who require government subsidies. Caring for those in need is noble, but a city cannot build a prosperous local economy by relying on policies that attract residents who are at or near the poverty level".

We have been telling the city leaders this for years Joe. They won't listen to you nor anyone else. (See your city leaders)

"For the next decade, we need to find a sustainable balance, and focus on attracting high-income residents to Middletown. We can and should compete with West Chester Twp., Mason and Springboro, and many other Dayton and Cincinnati suburbs".

Too late Joe. The city leaders have already created an atmosphere and a reputation for Middletown as a low income, government assisted ghetto with the overabundant Section 8 slumlord program as the focal point. (Hey!- city leaders again)

"With a strategy that attracts high-income families, the city’s tax base can expand, along with city services and amenities".

They don't care about attracting high-income families Joe. They're getting their city revenue through government handout programs, resulting in the destruction of a once-proud town. They are too lazy (or stupid) to know how to get revenue the old fashion way....jobs and taxes. They have ruined this town to the point it is no longer attractive to anyone other than those who want free handouts and are too pathetic to work. (This is getting redundant but point the finger at the city leaders again, Joe)

Joe, your complaint is with the Planning Commission and Marty Kohler. Might want to tell the common source of your (and our) problems also- you got it....the city leaders. (Suggestion- they won't listen so don't waste your time)

I concur with Joe Mulligan here. he makes a very valid case on bringing in those who have higher income. I'd be most interested in his views on bringing jobs, public safety, getting our infrastructure updated.

With all due respect to Mr. Joseph Mulligan, I am unsure that we can any longer compete with “West Chester Twp., Mason and Springboro, and many other Dayton and Cincinnati suburbs”.

We impose higher payroll and property taxes than most of those communities, yet we expect anyone who chooses to buy a home here and pay those higher taxes, in addition to pay the additional costs to repave their own street when necessary (unless they happen to live on a street favored by the bureaucrats at city hall, or their friends).

We, by ordinance and red tape, discourage the types of businesses and amenities desired by the residents of such communities from flourishing.

Heck, we expend our scarce taxpayers’ dollars at interstate exits in such communities both north and south of our city to advertise our municipal golf course on billboards, yet are barred by city our own ordinances to do the same at our very own exit.

How can we compete against those communities when we handicap ourselves and our own businesses by our very own ordinances from competing fairly against them???

How can we compete against those communities when we squander our tax money on scheme after risky scheme to benefit a few, thereby making it more expensive to live here than those other communities while receiving less for the tax dollars paid???

How can we compete against those communities when it is the stated “Master Plan” of this city to strive to be a “quaint small town (20,000 pop.) with downtown retail center” over five miles from the interstate??? Can such a model thrive along a busy interstate in the 21^st century outside the imagination of the naïve???  How does city hall plan to eliminate the other 28,000 residents???

No.  I fear that we will simply stand back and watch while our city government hires more bureaoucrats and screws up whatever plans any propsective new owner may have for the Towne Mall property, turning it into another municipally sponsored give-away of tax money that will seal our fate as the "fastest dying city" for another decade or three or four.

Joe Mulligan is a very sharp guy. I like him, see him as open-minded, and hope that he has the ear of  our Mayor. I agree with his stance on the Fischer situation, which means that I also back Mr.Kohler here. If Mr.Wolf,Mr.Mulligan and Mr.Brickey voted against this legislation, then every other Planning Commission member had to vote against it(Mr.Marconi, Mr.Amburgey, Mr.Dalton and ??--what reasoning was given outside of Mr.Amburgey's quote?). Obviously Section 8 in that area is just down the road. So we will be butchered and hamstrung from our far east to far west borders, with new lower-income housing to compete with our older inner-city existing base of marketed residential real estate.