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| Middletown Community News |
| Middletown City Council Member David Shiavone Talks With MiddletownUSA.com |
| Friday, August 28, 2009 11:49:04 AM - Middletown Ohio |
Interview By:Randy Lewis
You have served on Middletown City Council for 16 years, what has prompted you to step down now?
The opportunity to serve 16 years on council has been a tremendous experience. I have met so many wonderful people from Middletown that I wouldn't have met otherwise. Having the chance to shape the future of our city has been a challenging, but rewarding job. The reason I decided to step down at this time is to give me the opportunity to pursue others interests and employment opportunities.
Over your long career in Middletown politics, are there any decisions you have made that now looking back on you would make differently?
I began the practice early in my career that when a decision needed to be made on an issue, I would read and educate myself as much as possible about the issue and then at the council meeting listen to the other points of view, ask my questions, and then vote. At this point I am not going to second guess any of my decisions because I feel they were made with the best information available at the time.
Middletown has more section 8 than any one else in Butler County, what do you feel the city needs to do concerning section 8?
The section 8 vouchers increased extremely fast during the past decade. Several reasons are because of the available low to moderate income housing in Middletown, the available services to help this sector of our community and the lack of oversight of City Council.
The oversight issue has now been corrected and as a result we will see a better administered program in the future. The section 8 program is a valuable resource for people who are in need of housing and are caught in a very difficult time in their lives due to loss of income, divorce and other life changing events. We can not turn our back on these people as they need our help to turn their lives around.
I believe as the economy gets better and people get back to work we can begin to reduce the number of vouchers, but it has to be done in an orderly and manageable way as our actions will effect the lives of many people.
In a recent Council Meeting the discussion of the I-75 Manchester Road interchange was brought up. Do you believe this is something our city needs or is the cost just too high?
It would a great opportunity for the city to have another exit at
Manchester Rd. This idea has been on the Master Plan for the past 40
years. Realistically, I don't see ODOT or the federal government identifying this project as one they will fund. Building new exits are
very costly and with the Obama administration putting an emphasis on
the rail system, I don't feel it is smart for our city to spend money
on a study if we don't stand a chance of receiving federal or state
assistance to complete the project.
There has been a lot of talk about doing away with the ward system. Where do you stand on this issue and why do you feel the way you do?
As I stated during the council meeting, I don't feel 16 years of using
this system is a true test. Two decades ago the voters of this city
changed the make-up of the council to 4 wards and 3 at large to give
people who may not otherwise would have had the chance to serve on City
Council. I think it is a good idea to spread the representation across
the city instead of concentrated in one area as it was prior to the
present system.
A third of your life has been in Middletown city politics, what are your plans after you step down?
My wife Amy and I chose to raise our family in Middletown when we
married 25 years ago and we will continue to live and work in
Middletown. Amy loves her work as a school teacher in the Middletown
City Schools and I will continue selling real estate in and around this
area.
Discuss In The Forum
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Archived Comments
| 8/29/2009 5:17:54 PM | VietVet | | Disagree with Mr. Schiavone on the Section 8 numbers. His "the numbers grew because there was no Council oversight, but, now that it's here, we need to help these unfortunate people" That's a load of crap Dave. We have way too much and it is choking the city, not to mention dragging it's reputation through the mud. Are you and your fellow city leaders proud of the fact the YOU ALL have created a welfare town and made Middletown the laughing stock of the area? You should be ashamed, but that would require a conscience, which none of you have. I, for one, am glad you're leaving as we need a change in direction to save this town from people like you. We should gut Council, the School Board and the city building and see to it that all the current people who created this mess leave town. Your services are no longer needed. You have destroyed a once properous town. |
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