Here we go again with the Journal..Puff Piece

Pacman- Don't you get a feeling that the Journal has been monitored and told what to print by city leaders? Got a call from the Journal wanting to know why I canceled my subscription after so many years of receiving the paper. I told her that there are two reasons. One- the old Journal had 90% Middletown news/10% out of city news. The "new" Middletown Journal- aka- the Dayton Daily News, has 50% Middletown news/50% news about Cincy, Springfield, Fairfield, Dayton,etc.- towns that don't interest me on a day to day interval. Second- the Journal has absolutely no investigative reporting. They don't ask the in-depth questions that could put our leaders on the spot and embarrass them, exposing the real stories on how this city is run and by whom. The lady seemed surprised by these answers and gave me two phone numbers to call. I told her that it would do no good to call. Cox has demonstrated that they don't care about Middletown and have probably lost a major portion of their customer base here in town. Finally, the lady gave me two phone numbers to call. Said they would be interested in what I have to say. I said that I doubted that- it would do no good to call- since outside sources have taken over the Journal, it has gone downhill on quality of investigative reporting, quality of the use of the English language, proof reading, and town interest. Sad            

OK- just read the Editorial that has revisited the Ashworth/Mort suggestion(already talked to death) that we clean up the city through an upcoming "year long spruce up/invigorate" program that Ashworth and Mort will announce. The editorial mentioned the poverty rate rising, median household income levels being low, and education levels being low. Poverty rate rising- stop being the Butler County attraction for Section 8. Stop the vouchers, stop the influx and start farming these people out to other communities that aren't carrying their fair share of subsidized housing. Boot the slum lords out/ make the residents pick up their trash, quit tearing the siding off the houses, quit writing graffiti all over everything, quit letting the blinds hang out the windows. Act like civilized people. Mercy, have a little pride/class! Turn the whole nightmarish program over to Butler County and get rid of the headache. Enforce the housing codes for those who remain. Low education levels. Middletown has an affinity to attract "lower education" type people. Started years ago when the Kentucky folks came out of the coal mines to work at a "better" job at Armco Steel and the Middletown natives didn't need to go to college- just go directly from high school to Armco to make a good living. Lowering of the educational level has continued, even with the downsizing of the steel influence in town, with the primary job selections in Middletown being lower skill level service jobs to select from. Begin to upgrade the job selections to higher educational requirements which will require the job hunters to seek more education. Gee, that would require an economic development program, (imagine that), working with the local schools/colleges/financing for people to upgrade their hiring credentials, enforcing the housing codes to penalize the slum lords, booting the Section 8 cancer out of the community, competent leadership that knows how to recognize, prioritize, and organize a plan, people and direction to get IMPORTANT things done and that doesn't include PAINTING HOUSES, PLANTING FLOWERS, and ARTSY FARTSY/IT WON'T MATTER nonsense that will be proposed by certain people. This won't attack the REAL PROBLEMS and isn't a top priority now. This should be proposed "down the road" after the IMPORTANT THINGS are taken care of.    

Spider, Merrell surpassed Mort's suggestions and at least went to the root of the problem.  There is room for both activities, but they must both be worked on not just slap some paint on the buildings and invite Forbes back, that is an over simplication of the issues at hand.