Next we will have the Council Comments with 7 denials of the Forbes Story on Middletown being a top 10 dying City.  Each Council member will basically say the story in wrong and inaccurate, even though the data used is available on the net to view.

 

Next we will have the rolling out of the Merrell Wood Middletown is wonderful list:

 

• Location, location, location.

• The I-75 exchange, the Renaissance district and the new Atrium Medical Center.

• The new Senior Center.

• Miami University Middletown and Dave Finkelman Auditorium.

• The new 12th District Court of Appeals building.

• Our new city manager, City Council, finance and economic development director, and police and fire chiefs.

• Middletown Transit System.

• Five new elementary schools .

• A new Kroger Marketplace.

• The Manchester Inn & Convention Center.

• Drury Inn.

• Middfest International.

• Sorg Opera Company.

• 32 public parks.

• 80-plus churches.

• 40-plus restaurants.

• The Ohio Challenge hot air balloon competition.

• The Multicultural Arts Festival.

• Middletown Habitat For Humanity.

• Downtown Eric Henn murals.

• The Fourth of July and Memorial Day parades.

• AK Steel Corp.

• Middletown Lyric Theater.

• The South Main Street historical district.

• Sunset Pool and new splash pads.

• Middies sports programs.

• The Great Miami River bike trail.

• Keep Middletown Beautiful.

• The MUM Downtown arts center.

• Weatherwax Golf Course, Browns Run, Wildwood and Forest Hills country Clubs.

• Light Up Middletown.

• The Fenwick Festival.

• The Wings Of Freedom Air Show.

• The ability to go anywhere in the city in 15 minutes.

• The Middletown Antique Mall.

• The Middletown Symphony Orchestra.

• The Aeronca Fly-In.

• The YMCA downtown and at Atrium Medical Center.

• Affordable housing.

• Port Middletown.

• Hook Field Regional Airport.

• The Middletown Historical Society.

• The Canal Museum.

• Baker Bowl skate park.

• Middletown pickle ball courts.

• Smith Park's fishing pond.

• Middletown youth baseball, soccer and football programs.

• The Downtown Art Central Foundation.

• The AK Riverfront Pavilion.

• Middletown Public Library.

• TV Middletown.

• The Main Street Art & Music Festival.

• The AK Steel soccer fields.

• The Butler County Bombers.

• The Chamber Of Commerce.

• The Blues & Bikes Festival.

• BeauVerre/Riordan stained glass studio.

• Goldman Park's handicapped baseball field.

• Middletown Arts Center.

• Bulls Run Arboretum, the Woodside Arboretum and Veterans Memorial Wall.

• Bicentennial Commons.

• The Great Miami River.

• Middletown Tennis Club.

• Sebald Park.

• Middletown Pioneer Cemetery.

• The Woman's Center.

• Middletown Community Foundation.

• Governor's Square with the Broad Street Bash and the downtown farmers' market.

• The Sportsman Club.

• MADE Industrial Park.

• The Community Center.

• WPFB Radio.

• The Middletown Journal.

Indecision and lack of agreement on virtually everything any more.

 

Actually Middletown is no worse off than b4 the Forbes article surfaced.

No denying the fundamentals behind our ranking.

Many things to enjoy here.

 

Had a nice meal at 56 Degrees last night, and mingled with many friends there.

Same at Stefano's Saturday night, and introduced AJ Smith to the place and the staff/patrons. He liked both the place and the pizza.

 

Enjoy the holiday season, and support your local businesses.

Bela Flecktones Christmas cd is too cool.

Treat yourself to an exploration of just what you can do here.

You might enjoy yourself, and realize that we are far from dying.

 

Once again last night we got the, "we are not talking about the merits of Sections 8".  That conversation seems to be taboo by the City.

 

The council seems to be concerned about only 2 things when it comes to Section 8, The landlords and the People on Section 8, this is unfortunate for a city of 51,000+ plus residents.

Haven't you heard???  Middletown city hall does NOT recognize the universally accepted meanings of "conflict of interest"!!!

 

One thing that really disturbs me when the Council discusses the Section 8 issue is that pretty much 100% of the talk is about the impact on Section landlords which I will guess represents maybe 200-300 people is could be less.  The one landlord I talked to, suffice it to say he has more section 8 houses than McCain has houses.  Then they talk mostly about the impact on the Section 8 recipients.  They do not mention the impact on the city, its residents, it businesses, etc.

 

Mr. Becker has on several occasions tried to steer the conversation to "what do we want to do with this program", but each time he has been shut down.  At the beginning of each discussion we get the old, "we are not here to talk about the merits of Section 8".  Which personally I don't get.  It would seem to me you layout the parameters of the program prior to possibly hiring a new company under the pretense of having 1662 vouchers and then decide to cut the vouches to a more reasonable level.  To me th approach council is taking lends itself to hire a company to deal with it and then the program gets shoved onto a shelf and forgotten for another 3 years and the city continues to suffer.

 

Personally I don't think anyone of council is profiting from Section 8 housing.  I believe Marconi stated on another board that at one time he had been involved with Section 8 housing but was out of it currently. 

 

Another matter that disturbs me is councils reasoning for maintaining an excessive amount of Section 8 as compared to any other area in Ohio.  The city has 1 voucher for every 31  residents.  To put that in perspective for Butler County to catch up to Middletown they would need approximately 11300 Vouchers, whereas they currently have less than 1000.

 

Mr. Schiavone says we need to keep the program due to the economy and the foreclosure situation.  Now let me ask anyone reading this.  The city has 1662 vouchers all in use, they have a waiting list of 500 people, according to Marconi.  If you lose your house is your first action going to be to go and try and get on the Section 8 housing list.  Even at 1 voucher a day turn over rate it would take you a year and a half to make it to the top of the list.  This argument holds no water.

 

Then we get the, "we have to remember who we are" a "steel town" from several members.  As if it is some type of disease and the City and its residents and businesses don't deserve any better.

 

Then we have the issue of this taking 18 months to try and resolve, I am sorry but this is not an 18 month issue.  This is at the most a 4-6 months and we are done with it.  But council continues to drag it out with little to no action on the matter.  Last weeks meeting is a prime example of what is wrong with council.  Committee makes recommendation and some council members get upset and the issue gets dragged out even longer.  Mr. Marconi it was a recommendation by a Committee that Council appointed.  You don't like the finding fine don't approve it, but move on.  To sit there for 20-30 and go on and on about Consoc etc. is ridicules. 

 

There are 49000 other residents in this City who deserve better leadership than what we are getting on this issue, but unfortunately it appears that 49000 other residents don't matter.

 

This will eventually get voted on in the future and then shelved for another 3 years and Middletown will probably move on down to the # 5-7 slot in a year or so.  As far as the poverty issue goes that Forbes brought up.  Lets 1662 section 8 vouchers, 500 on a Section 8 waiting list, Marconi's claim of 400 or so Public Housing units, lets say 200 on that waiting list.  Lets see we have about 2800 families/persons.  Lets say 3 people per voucher that is 8400 residents.  Now Forbes claimed about 11200 residents living in poverty, well there are about 8400 right there, 2800 short of Forbes number.  I don't think it will be to hard to get to Forbes 11200 or 22% in poverty in Middletown currently or even back in 2007.

 

 

 

Yet we get a new City manager who looks at the situation and can make a decision in a reasonable amount of time.

 

Then we have have a City paid Consultant who comes to the same conclusion as the City Manage in short order.

 

Where is Council, it nixes both the City Managers and Consultants recommendation of moving Section 8 to Butler County and is still warming up in the Batters Circle waiting to strike out.................

Let your imagination flow.

Beautiful!