The next big thing!

Storm- your daddy was a very observant, intelligent person who hit the nail on the head with his take on what's happened in this town. He is right. The good leaders who really cared for this town died off/retired and left and the new wanna-be/no ties to the city/could care less about the city airheads, void of any common sense at all, became firmly entrenched in running this town into the ground. Hence, we see what we see today.

VOR- I'd like to respond to some of your observations concerning Middletown.

The most recent property evaluation by the county auditor revealed a drop in my property value of approx. 20% in the last 5 years. Not close to 50% as you say acclaro has cited. Perhaps there are properties in Midd. that have dropped in value by that much. Don't know.

You accurately mention the fact that the Sorgs and AK's won't be coming back. Not coming back to any town. Steel and paper have gone to China. They occupy the leader position in these disciplines and have for 10+ years. Black Clawson, a paper machine manufacturer to the paper companies saw the US market dry up in early 2000's. Now, their main customers are the Chinese, who are building new papermills. I worked for Black Clawson back then and know first hand how the customer base vanished in the US for them. I would like to see Robinette and his Econ. Dev. Department go after some communications companies. How about some fiber optics, corporate research and development centers, corporate warehousing operations, software manufacturers, electronics manufacturing, anything lighter than steel or paper. The emphasis for the Midd. city government should be to provide job opportunities to its residents. It has failed miserably in the last 30 years to supplant the loss of paper and steel in this town. Not only have they not kept pace with the companies closing or moving elsewhere, it appears they haven't even given it much effort at all. JMO

There are many good ideas interspersed within these pages. It will take some searches as they are not concentrated in one area. As expected, the locations of these town-improving ideas are tied to the topic of interest. Pick a topic and you will usually find some solutions attached somewhere in these posts.

Most of us probably realize that to entice a potential employer here, concessions must be made. We must practically give away the land, give tax breaks for years in advance, wine and dine them and basically kiss their behind to overcome the competition. I just wonder how often this has occured in the last 30 years. From what I have seen over the last 30 years, its always the "other towns" that have lured the new employer to town with no indication that the Middletown gov. people were even aware they were in the area to look, much less being in the running to land them. I question Robinette's Econ. Dev. department's effort compared to the surrounding area's econ. dev. Midd. just doesn't seem to be as aggresive in its pursuit of new employment and seems content to keep it "business as usual" around here. JMO

I would have felt a little more "giddy" if the new kid on the block was an electronic manufacturer rather than an arts center to locate here. I see much more potential in the electronics manufacturer producing viable opportunitites and money flow to this town than I do anything an arts center could provide. Coffee shops? Surrounding restaurants? They pay little (with little to no benefits package) compared to a decent manufacturing job. I don't understand why council and the city leaders don't want to provide decent job opportunities to the citizens of this community? No effort at all on their part to even try as if jobs, money flow, payroll/corporate taxes aren't important revenue for the city. Too much concentration on fed money revenue from handout programs than to do it the right way with revenue from company/worker taxes. Apparently easier to get revenue by soliciting gov. funds taking on gov. programs no one else wants for their cities than to make an effort to attract jobs like most other towns do.

Acclaro,

Thank you, Vet. Mike Presta is out of town but I've talked to him twice and he is up on everything and will be rarin' to go as soon as he gets back.

Where's Mike Presta been and why hasn't he commented on any of the events of the past week or so?  Not a word on the budget crises, or the sewer/EPA, or the Cincy st. matter.  Don't tell me that some city big shot offered him enough for his house to shut im up, and he sold out the regular citizens of Middletown.

VOR, you generalize and defend Middletown on all its problems and leadership as if its a national epidemic. Say what you will about housing decline, but Middletown property in all corners, has dropped by at least 50% or more. That is not a national trend. You further neglect to state the problems with the city have been around for decades, associated with entitlement of the unions and a reactive mentality. Whoever has an idea, then Middletown follows. Doug McNeil says by consolidating with the Premiere Group, a massive biomedical campus and growth will come. That has and will not occur. The ER has a poor reputation, and I have been there many times with family members and many floors have been at very low occupancy.

VOR- thank you for the suggestions. I had originally asked for Mtown to generate a list at least 3 times, but no response, so your list is appreciated. Apparently Mtown has no ideas, just MUSA criticism on the negativity and a need to agitate.

I noticed that in your suggestions to cut firefighters and to maintain the current level with police that you didn't mention looking at city building positions and city employees in general to see where cuts could be made. Was this an intentional oversight on your part or a more deliberate one? IMO, there could probably be some cutting at the city building. Last time I saw the Public Works hierarchy, they had a Director, Manager, Supervisor, Team Leader, Lead Operator, Admin and two operators. IMO. way too top heavy in management for such a small department. I would imagine that if we took a look at each position, we could find many glorified, overpaid paper shufflers that could be eliminated and those left behing could double up on some of these job responsibilities if they are really needed.

You state "Lock up the Cincy State deal"..... "This may be expensive for the city".....but COULD (speculation) be big for downtown. Really??? So you are willing to lavish these education people with over $500 thou in funds to buy buildings for them to sign a lease to stay for how long??? And what happens to the empty buildings the city is stuck with after they leave? As it is now, there are no guarantees that they will stay for any reasonable length of time. They could leave after two years. Could stay for a lengthy amount of time. We simply don't know yet if the city has negotiated a contract with them as to commitment, do we? Throwing money into the fray, setting them up with a sweet deal just to lure them to town to have SOMETHING downtown with no contract for commitment is stupidity at it's finest. We've already run the risk of going stupid with the Verdin deal as there was no lease commitment signed there either. Verdin could close shop in less than a year and the city is out $250 thou on the building rehab that will sit idle for years and has the potential to become another vacant eyesore. Now, you want to do it again??? Illogical.

No time like the current time to do the Manchester interchange. Got alot of construction equipment setting out on I-75 right now. Would help me immensely getting out to 75 to go to Dayton each morning instead of up through Franklin.

Section 8- agree- reduce it to the correct level and send the other Butler County communities their fair share ASAP.

We long time residents are frustrated by the way the city has been run since the 70's. We usually direct our wrath toward the current admin. with a sprinkle or two sent in the direction of past admins. This and past admins. have had their own agendas and it never has meshed with the wants of the people. To compound the resentment, the current and past admins. have ignored the general populace and concentrated their efforts toward making a small contingent of people in this town happy. We believe this small group of people are the same as those people in the MMF circle of influential friends. Council seems to be accomodating this small faction of closed-loop inner circle wanna-be elitists and acting like anyone else in this city doesn't exist. That is our frustration. That's why we talk about recall once in a while. We older citizens are tired of the many years of a small contingent of people running the city.

Mtown, tell us...are you or your family employed by the city?

What scares Mtown and the other shills?

Still waiting Mtown. Part the waters and lay some of that wisdom on us as to your gameplan to improve the town.

mtown--I was also asked to consider filling a term on Planning commission--turned that idea down

tomahawk35 wrote: I have way you can change my whole negative opinion about this city,just meet me tomorrow and bring me a cashier check for the value of my home and I will be the happiest son-- bitch that you ever met. If that isn't possible, buy yourself some earplugs.

'Hawk,

VOR and Mtown, you both convey similar sentiments so I may assume you are the same. Really makes no difference, just fascinating how the logic becomes so easy to unravel. Its easy to state Middletown is just like any other community making the transition. Or, the new council is making progress. Hell, property values are so low right now, it will take Middletown 20 years to get rid of existing stock.