What don't you like about Toledo? (Columbus, Cleveland: transplants, apartments, high crime)

[jrm2811]

I know this may be beating a dead horse, but thought I would just throw it out there. Maybe we could state what we don't like and offer a solution to the problem. I'll start:

1) Lack of any activity downtown. I know we have new arena and Hens park, but very few shops, restaurants and bars.

2) Lousy weather. This is the midwest...

3) Too many empty buildings and parking lots in the central city.

4) Bad transit system. TARTA has old buses that never run on time and bus shelters downtown are old and need replaced. Be nice to see a streetcar system that runs from downtown to the museum.

5) Tear it down mentality. Empty building are torn down in a hurry and replaced by, you guessed it, parking lots.

6) Pot holes, pot holes and more pot holes.

7) One shopping mall. Wow.

8) Why are they building the casino in ROSSFORD?

9) Everything is in the outer city limits or the suburbs.

10) In case you haven't noticed, there are NO jobs here!

[canudigit]

Incompetent, one party, good ole' boy "leadership". It's not about what you are, it's about who you're related to in Toledo.

Lack of action on the part of the city to collect delinquent property taxes and red light camera fines combined with the city constantly wanting to raise everyone's taxes to plug financial holes. How about collecting the money that the deadbeats owe you first, instead of coming after the hardworking taxpayers over and over????

Inferiority complex attitude of many of the residents. Toledo has a lot of great assets, but you would never know it when all people there do is b*tch about how bad the place is.

Lack of a vibrant downtown. The new arena and the ballpark are great, but people only use them during a scheduled event. Toledo needs housing, shopping, etc. to get people downtown everyday, not just on days when there is a hockey game or a baseball game.

The safety issues at the one and only mall. My dd and I came out of Dick's Sporting Goods last Sunday afternoon and found our van blocked in by police cars and a young man lying on the ground screaming and crying with several cops standing over him. Seems he had either shoplifted or robbed someone and gotten tackled by the police. Really makes me want to shop there again when you combine things like that with the teen/police altercations that happen there more and more frequently. I'll have to shop in towns outside of Toledo that actually feel safe from now on.

[FleeTheRustBelt]

1) I don't think downtown is that bad, but then I'm a sports fan. A shortage of shops maybe, but that's a decades-old problem that's hardly unique to Toledo.

2) At least we're not bombarded with lake effect snow like the UP or NE Ohio, and not as cold as Wisconsin or Minnesota. Toledo's winters are more GLOOMY to me than anything. I hate the late sunrises, wish we were on Central time. But spring, summer and fall are nice except for when it's too humid or raining too much, and that's not that often really.

3) Personally I like having plenty of places to park when I go downtown, instead of a nightmare like some cities. I agree too much of downtown is abandoned, but as long as the city is generally a lousy place to raise a family (high crime, bad schools) the Toledo area is going to be suburban-oriented.

4) TARTA is a joke, yes. Doesn't even exist in some of the higher-density parts of the metro area (Oregon), yet I see two-thirds empty buses bunched up on Nebraska Avenue when I'm driving home.

5) If anything, not nearly ENOUGH derelict buildings are torn down. Driven through the south end, the north end or the east side lately? Outside of downtown, Toledo's most efficient method of land clearance is arson.

6) Yeah, the streets in the city of Toledo are deplorable. I look nervously at all four tires almost every time I get out of my car at this time of year. At least the expressways are in slightly better shape than the surface roads.

7) One shopping mall because the rest failed. Not really much sense having multiple Macy's or A&F in a town where most people are on a Wal-Mart budget.

8) Why not? Where would you put it? That's vacant land that's just been sitting there forever and it'll bring a little money and a few jobs to the area, including the nearby rundown east side neighborhoods.

9) Yeah, except the Mud Hens, the Walleye, COSI, the art museum, the library, most of the better restaurants, the zoo (well, that's kind of near the outer city limits). But yeah, to go shopping or see a movie you're headed somewhere besides downtown.

10) Combination of the sluggish national economy and manufacturing continuing to die a slow death. A lot of cities almost completely had lost their blue-collar factory jobs by the end of the 20th century, but Toledo has just sort of slowly bled theirs over the past few decades. Which is almost worse. People and politicians like the idiot ex-mayor kept thinking there would be thousands upon thousands of factory jobs here forever.

I think electing Bell as mayor was a good step to fixing some of these problems. Not all can be fixed.

[jrm2811]

Would have liked to see the casino in the so-called Marina District. I know Larry Dillan has other plans (Levis Commons by the river), but the area is shovel ready and it would be a start.

[vroomster]

Originally Posted by jrm2811

...1) Lack of any activity downtown. I know we have new arena and Hens park, but very few shops, restaurants and bars.

I wouldn't say there isn't ANY activity downtown. There's moderate-to-brisk activity daytime during the week and low-to-moderate activity at night unless there's a hockey or baseball game and then it can actually get busy. And there are lots of bars and restaurants... at least 20-30.

2) Lousy weather. This is the midwest...

Can't do much about that. Heard it can be worse on the east side of the lake.

3) Too many empty buildings and parking lots in the central city.

I agree.

4) Bad transit system. TARTA has old buses that never run on time and bus shelters downtown are old and need replaced. Be nice to see a streetcar system that runs from downtown to the museum.

Don't know much about the bus system, but bringing the streetcars back - at least in a small way - would be great.

5) Tear it down mentality. Empty building are torn down in a hurry and replaced by, you guessed it, parking lots.

This is true, but most of what's been done was a long time ago. Can't change the past... can only learn from it.

6) Pot holes, pot holes and more pot holes.

Southern motorists don't know how good they have it.

7) One shopping mall. Wow.

I'm with you there... this town was borderline spoiled when we had four of them. If Rossford were smart, they'd market some of that Crossroads land next to Bass Pro as a mall site.

I'd like to see a second mall somewhere within the city limits... but where? West Toledo is totally built-up. Still waiting on a new Southwyck.

8) Why are they building the casino in ROSSFORD?

I thought this was a bad idea also at first. People were saying that a casino is more of a 'destination' type facility and doesn't need or generate much foot traffic. It would've been cool to see it downtown, but apparently there wasn't a big enough site next to the highway.

9) Everything is in the outer city limits or the suburbs.

Partly agree with FleeTheRustBelt on this one, but get what you mean. New commercial like national restaurants, nice groceries, big box stores, retailers etc. usually winds up on the outskirts. That's typical of most mid-sized cities though. Downtown, for example, would need to have a lot more jobs and high salaried residents nearby before you'd see a Nordstrom or Trader Joe's on Summit street.

I'd like to see city government take a 1-2 mile stretch of any number of dilapidated central city streets... Dorr, Monroe, Cherry, Detroit, etc. and designate it as a total redevelopment corridor. They started to do this a little bit with the new brownstones on Dorr, and they need to keep going.

10) In case you haven't noticed, there are NO jobs here!

Foster partnerships between local government and the universities. Continue funding and incentives for new technologies and growth industries. Attract bright minds by letting people know about the many pluses the region has to offer.

[canudigit]

2) Lousy weather. This is the midwest...


Define lousy. To me, lousy weather is Phoenix weather, while other people think that Phoenix is the Promised Land. I hate snow as much as the next person, but not nearly as much as I hate 118 degrees with the sun pounding down on you like a laser and nary a shade tree in sight. Palm trees are pretty, but they don't do much for you when what you need is a good, old-fashioned maple tree to stand under.

[Art1979]

The more I travel, the more I realise that the first thing that needs to change is the attitude of the residents. Before the construction comes, before the shops set up, before the transplants arrive, the residents themselves must believe in their city and work together. It's the cheapest change you can make.

[jrm2811]

Originally Posted by Art1979

The more I travel, the more I realise that the first thing that needs to change is the attitude of the residents. Before the construction comes, before the shops set up, before the transplants arrive, the residents themselves must believe in their city and work together. It's the cheapest change you can make.

Well put. I would like to see a change in leaders attitudes as well. If the citizens always see their leaders bickering and getting nothing done, I think that attitude rubs off on citizens as well. One of my biggest gripes about this city is that there seems to be no planning at all. The city is always in a reactionary mode, and it shows.

[bobsbase04]

No matter what city people live in there are pros and cons. At work a about 2 years ago, a couple in their 60's came in. I noticed they had a New York accent. After speaking to then for awhile they moved here from NYC. The duaghter was going to UT for school. They came to visit her, and stayed for 3 weeks. They loved that you can get anywhere in town in about 20 minutes. So, they had visited a few more times, and then moved here.
Granted we are in a bad economic state. We are entering a new era with Mike Bell. I believe things will slowly change for the better, Hopefully with a focus on downton/marina district.
Growing up, always wanted to move away. I have visited many different cities. But Toledo area will be my home.

[austiNati]

I haven't been to Toledo in years, but when i was there it was soooooooooooooooo underwhelming. I attened the University of Toledo (which is actually quite nice), but was bored to death ALL of the time. If it weren't for my friends there, I would literally have nothing to do. The area around the campus provides no areas for social interaction, hang-out spots, shops etc... Actually, the campus is surrounded by the following on all 4 sides: Decent Middle Class Neighborhood, Campus Apartments and housing, A BP gas Station, Taco Bell, Wendy's, Marcos Pizza, Papa Johns, Adandoned Warehouses, new student housing.

Ummm, aside from the Student Union, where are people supposed to hangout, what are people supposed to do for fun (besides get drunk as hell, which is all there is to do lol). It seems as if there were some kind of Shopping down Secor ave. but it looks more like a failed mall. Is the movie theater on Secor still open?

Many a nights, we would venture to Columbus, Detroit, Windsor or Cleveland to satisy our night life needs. Hell, even Bowling Greens nighlife takes a dump on Toledo. At least they have an entertainment "strip" with hangout spots in walking distance from campus.