OK. For those who have both eyes open, here is what is really going on in Tiffin Ohio:
In an attempt to discredit the Miami Street Project Referendum Opposition, Advertiser-Tribune Editor Rob Weaver continues to discredit his own newspaper, and blame it on Melissa Topey, the A-T staff Writer. What a Peach of a guy! He's as good as TU's Dr. Grandillo at spinning public information. Sometimes you can't even tell the difference between the two, except for...well...I'm not sure how to tell the difference.
I have a copy of the letter to the Board of Elections that was signed by Mr. Lepard. The Advertiser-Tribune has one, also. No where in that letter does it say anything about who owned the actual computer used by Mr. Fenik. Mr Lepard's letter carefully states:
"Please do NOT certify the [election] results because the Tiffin University Organization sponsored criminal action against the Monaco Family in a successful attempt to hamper the Monaco's orderly campaign efforts during the 30 days prior to the November 4th election."
If you are not aware of the complexity of computer technology, you might miss one fact, that I personally discussed with Mr. Lepard before he gave the letter to the Board of Elections.
I sent a "Vote Yes" campaign email from this blog to the 120 Tiffin University employee listed on their web site so I could try to "flush-out" the person who sent two threatening emails. Immediately, and within only a few hours, I received two messages from the culprit under two different names, "Ryan Fenik" and "Ryan". The now convicted Mr. Fenik had to have used Tiffin University Computer servers. How would he have received my campaign email without the Tiffin University's Computer server, so he could respond to it? None of the Monaco's have ever met Mr. Fenik. Mr. Fenik had NO CAUSE to quarrel with us. Yet, his threat message was so graphically detailed that he had to have gotten his information from or through Dr. Grandillo, who frequently visited with the Monaco's and was privy to personal family information that was NOT public information. Needless to say, Grandillo is NOT welcome in our home anymore simply because we no longer wish to contaminate our family's "pursuit of happiness" with the sordid affairs of any more self-aggrandized, drunken chimpanzees.
Because Tiffin University Computer Servers were used, and Mr. Fenik did NOT act outside of the encouragement of Tiffin University's Dr. Marion and Dr. Grandillo, the fact that he was on his own personal computer when he keyed-in the threats, does NOT exonerate Marion of prompting, encouraging, and organizationally enabling any crimes that have been committed. Even his own student and employee (Resident Assistant) Cory Boyes, wrote a letter to the A-T describing Marion's "giving-away-an-apple-ipod-for-votes" scheme targetting his many 18 year old freshman students. Marion's professors were giving out "extra credit" to students who documented their comments on the Miami Street Project, after being whipped into a campus frenzy!
The fact that the Advertiser-Tribune published the "bad information" article is nothing more than pure "spin"...and another attempt to discredit and publicly embarrass ANY opposition to the Tiffin University's abusive policies, practices and tax-funded projects. Consider that Tiffin University might be correct in asserting that Mr. Fenik used his own computer. It is another clear attempt to provide misinformation to the public when the A-T implies that Tiffin University Computers where not involved in Mr. Fenik's email communications.
If Tiffin University was NOT involved in this crime, then why did they wait (nearly a month after receiving notice of the threat letter) to terminate the employment of Mr. Fenik who was apparently a cooperative and well-performing employee? Why did Dr. Marion NOT publicly repudiate the threat messages when he learned of them three weeks BEFORE the election? Why did he hold marathon meetings with lawyers, staff and Tiffin City Officials before and after the election? How is it that Tiffin University got the charges reduced to a simple misdemeanor instead of felony "Telecommunications Harassment", which is the charge the police department and prosecutor originally intended from the beginning? I'm tired of calling this stuff "local political corruption". Even the Sandusky Ohio office of the FBI isn't willing to make good on their own publicly stated mission on fighting local political corruption. What do you bet that someone there is "friends" with the Tiffin University? Did I say "corrupt"? "And the band played on".
I received a total of four (4) messages from Mr. Fenik who is somewhat of a computer expert, himself. He used some computer "magic" that made him difficult to track without a subpoena. You would think that The A-T Editor would reclaim his own integrity by reporting ALL the important facts.
Weaver continuously places Tiffin University into the best light possible, even when crime-after-crime is committed by Tiffin University Employees against regular Tiffin Citizens. Our newspaper editor has ceded his honor to the Seraphim and Cherubim of Tiffin University. Oh, did I say "crime" in the same sentence as "Tiffin University"? If Mr. Weaver had his say on THIS publication, my statement would certainly be twisted into a "headline" asserting that I acted on "bad information."...or in the words of Dr. Marion, "...all of it is irrellevant"
Sheesh, Mr. Weaver can now take his place among other like-minded so-called Tiffin Civic Leaders. I've written about them before, and I'll write about them into the future. Why? Because they keep handing me all kinds of information, documentation, and public assertions that would not otherwise be recognized as abusive by the regular taxpaying citizens of Tiffin Ohio or Seneca County! Besides, these people are doing real damage, physically, emotionally and civicly, to the Monaco Family and the ENTIRE town of Tiffin. Stop abusing my family and other Tiffin Citizens and I will delete this blog as requested by Tiffin University's latest convicted criminal, Ryan Fenik
If you think the abuse can't happen to YOU, I hope to disabuse you of that notion. If you think I'm making this stuff up, you can put my assertion to the litmus test. Follow this simple procedure:
Step #1. Show up at a Tiffin City Council meeting. You may have to show for several until you can perform step #2.
Step #2. When an Ordinance is discussed on behalf of Tiffin University, simply stand-up and say "I object because no one has analyzed, mentioned, or resolved how we protect regular Tiffin Citizens who will be abused if we go forward with this ordinance".
Step #3. When the polite and patronizing comments and questions from the Mayor and Council start, you start writing them down. Send them in to this blog!
Step #4. Consider your experience: Ask: Was I made welcome to participate in my local government's decisions? Did my objection get the Ordinance Tabled? (put on hold until another part of the meeting or a new meeting). Did my Council members represent my interest in this matter?
Step #5. Send an opposition letter to the editor of the Advertiser-Tribune.
What will happen? YOU will be rendered "irrelevant". Why? Because Tiffin University's President, Dr. Marion has already publicly declared your concern to be...in his word..."irrelevant". He isn't a Tiffin Citizen, but he runs a great deal of the political machine in Tiffin and beyond. His declaration that YOUR concerns are "irrelevant" will probably be echoed by the Advertiser-Tribune's Rob Weaver. He will immediately start organizing his newspaper to oppose your opposition or embarrass you with even the slightest twist of his imagination.
Being irrelevant means that you are supposed to "bend over" when Dr. Marion is in the room. Even if you are an elderly female approaching your 90's, Dr, Marion and his happy chimpanzees think nothing of thus abusing you. Get used to it!...or you will become consumed by civic and constitutional abuses that Dr. Marion has declared "irrellevant".
Mr. Lepard is an honorable man. He does NOT deserve to be treated with headlines that say he had "bad information" when he carefully documented in his letter, ONLY the verifiable information that is contained there. Mr. Weaver, like Dr. Marion is irresponsible in the least, and in the worst have offended the honorable Mr. Lepard, who seems to be the ONLY person of standing in our local government acting on good civic principles.
Our local government and political process is in collapse. It no longer serves the citizens and panders to the narcissism of economically powerful and politically entrenched private interests.
Who will do the right thing...only because it is the right thing to do for Tiffin Ohio Citizens?
Should I stop asking?
Joe Monaco
Tiffin registered voter who could NOT vote this year because of Tiffin University Employee Sponsored criminal threats to me and my family.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tiffin University's Paul Marion Renders Police and City Prosecutor Irrelevant!
As I have said before, I do NOT make any of this stuff up!
Tiffin City Councilman Lepard said in the Advertiser-Tribune only days ago that criminal action was sponsored by the Tiffin University in an effort to thwart campaign opposition to their Miami Street Project from the referendum on Ordinance 07-70. Mr. Lepard was ignored by our County Board of Elections when he asked them to delay the certification of the referendum vote. He clearly explained the circumstances that put a Tiffin University Employee at the middle of the threats that successfully shut down the Monaco Family's campaign attempts to raise money and appear in public to personally ask people to vote 'NO' on the referendum." Our Board of Elections soiled Seneca County's good name by not getting permission to delay the certification "on principle". Where is the honor in that? I guess Dr. Marion was right the first time when at the public hearing he declared Tiffin Citizen concerns to be "irrelevant". At that time, he did NOT mention that he was also including the Seneca County Board of Elections, too.
As the face of the opposition campaign, I was compelled to leave Tiffin in the last weeks before the election because of the threats of harm to my elderly mother, my brother, and to our family home. I did not return until after the election, and AFTER the police said they were soon going to charge the person responsible with "telecommunications harassment".
Up to the time I left, every indication said that we stood a good chance of winning the November 4th election. Tiffin University knew this from the results of their own "telephone survey". We had been beating them from the first reading of the Ordinance when Tina Miller's objections stopped the vote at that time. We beat them at the second reading, too. Then came the Public Hearing, where we had so many regular Citizens show up, Dr. Marion and Dr. Grandillo earned themselves the equivalent of a public de-pantsing for misleading the public, the US Congress, and for lying about various matters that are now immortalized on the video cassettes made possible by our local cable company's broadcast. Through a stroke of good fortune, Councilman Pete Galipaeu, on the forth meeting of the ordinance, gave us a chance to petition for a referendum ballot, even though Tiffin University, City Council and the Mayor secretly agreed to pass the Ordinance and then voted publicly to indeed pass it. They didn't think the Monaco's could get the required 470 signatures from Registered Voters. We did NOT get 470 signatures. We got 1170! This was far more than needed!
Like I said, we were winning from the beginning. Marion and Grandillo knew this. Now, with the Monaco Family fearing for their lives and home, there was NO WAY we could do much more than ask others to "talk it up", make phone calls, enter blog articles, go out only under cover of night, pray, and join the NRA. At that time, Tiffin University started "pulling out the stops". They enlisted EVERY available resource, legal and illegal, to mount their campaign. They even hired a nationally recognized political consultant to direct their campaign that spent well over $200,000, fully loaded. The Monaco's on the other hand were so hampered at this critical time before the election, we couldn't raise ANY money for the campaign and spent much of our time trying to figure out how to fund police protection from Tiffin University's students and employees who were whipped into a frenzy; ready to [kill] us and [fire-bomb] our family home.
What exactly do they teach at Tiffin University's Criminal Justice Program? I have a theory about why they have such a program in the first place. Can you guess what that theory might be? Is the head of the TU Criminal Justice Department, a former US Government (FBI, CIA, Homeland Security) employee now acting as a cartel on behalf of Tiffin University? It is a pathetic observation.
So, why is Councilman Lepard's claim of election wrongdoing so important? Well, Think about it! Mr. Lepard was the person who originally, ON BEHALF OF TIFFIN UNIVERSITY, sponsored Ordinance 07-70! When he started learning of Tiffin University's "dirty tricks" and abuses to Tiffin Taxpayers, he did the principled thing. He started campaigning against the very Ordinance that he originally sponsored! I don't care what anyone says on this matter, Mr. Lepard acted on good civic principles...even in the face of many others surrounding him that did not and do not.
So, do I blame Mr. Fenik for sending two threat messages? Please be clear that I do blame him, and I forgive him his transgressions. I also believe that his punishment is NOT as severe as it should be since the police told me from the beginning that the prosecutor was going for a much more serious charge, Telecommunications Harassment, that could have resulted in a felony conviction. I also know, and you should too, that Dr. Marion and his happy chimpanzees were working over-time to figure out how to do "damage control". The entire neighborhood knew of the the many and long meetings at the Tiffin University with every legal person who Tiffin University ever knew...and then some. So what was the "plea bargain?
Mr. Fenik was given the equivalent of a traffic fine for going 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, with jail time that was "mysteriously" suspended so he could celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas...if he so chooses! It is ONLY because he got caught doing Dr. Marion's dirty work that he is being rewarded with such a sweet punishment...orchestrated by Tiffin University Officials. I don't buy it. If you buy it, you are probably one of those drunken chimpanzees pandering to President Marion's sick idea of community leadership...or one of our so-called civic leaders without the courage to act on good principle.
Fenik's punishment should have been related to the fact that he SCREWED us all out of $800,000 worth of Federal Tax Funds, and screwed his employer's political opposition out of more than $200,000 worth of campaign activities on Tiffin University;s Miami Street Project Referendum. When you add to that the terrorism to my very elderly mother and to me and to my brother and to our family home, this is attrocious! It is bad politics! It is embarrassing to every Tiffin City resident who calls our town their "home". Marion and Grandillo need to be stopped! Their abuses are unacceptable. They need to be put in jail for enabling and encouraging criminal behavior in their employees and students. Here's a link to the A-T article that if you read between the lines, will confirm everything I've been saying:
http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/page/category.detail/nav/5006/Editorials.html
Now, why should we all be marching on the Mayor's Office? (Unlike the Tiffin University Students, please leave your incendiary devices home!)
Why should we be screaming anger down at City Hall? Why should we all flood the FBI, and Congressman Latta's office with phone calls? Why should someone call Oprah...or Hannity and Colmes?
Contrary to the public face of it, Tiffin University President, Paul Marion, has created a campus environment that is so aggressive and hostile that it enabled and encouraged, directly and indirectly, criminal actions against the Monaco's and other Citizens. Mr. Fenik did NOT have any quarrel with the Monaco's until Marion and Grandillo fed him and others with the idea that it was "OK" to abuse an 88 year old women and threaten her and her family out of their home.
Mr. Fenik, and others on the Tiffin University campus, who are now also under investigation for criminal actions, did NOT act outside of this context. Everything you see in the A-T about Mr. Fenik is orchestrated by Dr. Marion and those happy chimpanzees I mentioned. Even the misdemeanor menacing charge makes a mockery of our City police and prosecutor. Dr. Marion has become a very very large fish in a very small pond we call Tiffin. He publicly declared the Monaco's and other Citizen concerns to be "irrelevant". Now, with this latest action related to his Miami Street Project, and without having to say another word in public, he has rendered our Tiffin City Police and the Prosecutor's office "irrelevant", too. Am I making this up? Just ask any other regular citizen who has called the police for an offensive college student incident. Tiffin City Police Officers routinely respond to City Residents with either "I have to get permission from the school before I can do anything to a student", or "Don't call us. Call Tiffin University (or Hiedelberg) so they can take care of it". Did I say irrellevant? Did I say "dark"?
I am embarrassed for our Mayor. I am embarrassed for our Police Chief. I am embarrassed and saddened that NONE of our prosecutors are able to hold powerful and influential so-called Civic Leaders accountable for their criminal actions against the rest of us normal citizens.
It should not be this hard to participate in this democratic republic we call Tiffin Ohio. Because of it, Tiffin University's President, Dr. Marion, will sleep happily again, tonight, I'm sure.
Best wishes,
Joe Monaco
Tiffin Ohio Registered Voter
Tiffin City Councilman Lepard said in the Advertiser-Tribune only days ago that criminal action was sponsored by the Tiffin University in an effort to thwart campaign opposition to their Miami Street Project from the referendum on Ordinance 07-70. Mr. Lepard was ignored by our County Board of Elections when he asked them to delay the certification of the referendum vote. He clearly explained the circumstances that put a Tiffin University Employee at the middle of the threats that successfully shut down the Monaco Family's campaign attempts to raise money and appear in public to personally ask people to vote 'NO' on the referendum." Our Board of Elections soiled Seneca County's good name by not getting permission to delay the certification "on principle". Where is the honor in that? I guess Dr. Marion was right the first time when at the public hearing he declared Tiffin Citizen concerns to be "irrelevant". At that time, he did NOT mention that he was also including the Seneca County Board of Elections, too.
As the face of the opposition campaign, I was compelled to leave Tiffin in the last weeks before the election because of the threats of harm to my elderly mother, my brother, and to our family home. I did not return until after the election, and AFTER the police said they were soon going to charge the person responsible with "telecommunications harassment".
Up to the time I left, every indication said that we stood a good chance of winning the November 4th election. Tiffin University knew this from the results of their own "telephone survey". We had been beating them from the first reading of the Ordinance when Tina Miller's objections stopped the vote at that time. We beat them at the second reading, too. Then came the Public Hearing, where we had so many regular Citizens show up, Dr. Marion and Dr. Grandillo earned themselves the equivalent of a public de-pantsing for misleading the public, the US Congress, and for lying about various matters that are now immortalized on the video cassettes made possible by our local cable company's broadcast. Through a stroke of good fortune, Councilman Pete Galipaeu, on the forth meeting of the ordinance, gave us a chance to petition for a referendum ballot, even though Tiffin University, City Council and the Mayor secretly agreed to pass the Ordinance and then voted publicly to indeed pass it. They didn't think the Monaco's could get the required 470 signatures from Registered Voters. We did NOT get 470 signatures. We got 1170! This was far more than needed!
Like I said, we were winning from the beginning. Marion and Grandillo knew this. Now, with the Monaco Family fearing for their lives and home, there was NO WAY we could do much more than ask others to "talk it up", make phone calls, enter blog articles, go out only under cover of night, pray, and join the NRA. At that time, Tiffin University started "pulling out the stops". They enlisted EVERY available resource, legal and illegal, to mount their campaign. They even hired a nationally recognized political consultant to direct their campaign that spent well over $200,000, fully loaded. The Monaco's on the other hand were so hampered at this critical time before the election, we couldn't raise ANY money for the campaign and spent much of our time trying to figure out how to fund police protection from Tiffin University's students and employees who were whipped into a frenzy; ready to [kill] us and [fire-bomb] our family home.
What exactly do they teach at Tiffin University's Criminal Justice Program? I have a theory about why they have such a program in the first place. Can you guess what that theory might be? Is the head of the TU Criminal Justice Department, a former US Government (FBI, CIA, Homeland Security) employee now acting as a cartel on behalf of Tiffin University? It is a pathetic observation.
So, why is Councilman Lepard's claim of election wrongdoing so important? Well, Think about it! Mr. Lepard was the person who originally, ON BEHALF OF TIFFIN UNIVERSITY, sponsored Ordinance 07-70! When he started learning of Tiffin University's "dirty tricks" and abuses to Tiffin Taxpayers, he did the principled thing. He started campaigning against the very Ordinance that he originally sponsored! I don't care what anyone says on this matter, Mr. Lepard acted on good civic principles...even in the face of many others surrounding him that did not and do not.
So, do I blame Mr. Fenik for sending two threat messages? Please be clear that I do blame him, and I forgive him his transgressions. I also believe that his punishment is NOT as severe as it should be since the police told me from the beginning that the prosecutor was going for a much more serious charge, Telecommunications Harassment, that could have resulted in a felony conviction. I also know, and you should too, that Dr. Marion and his happy chimpanzees were working over-time to figure out how to do "damage control". The entire neighborhood knew of the the many and long meetings at the Tiffin University with every legal person who Tiffin University ever knew...and then some. So what was the "plea bargain?
Mr. Fenik was given the equivalent of a traffic fine for going 20 miles per hour over the speed limit, with jail time that was "mysteriously" suspended so he could celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas...if he so chooses! It is ONLY because he got caught doing Dr. Marion's dirty work that he is being rewarded with such a sweet punishment...orchestrated by Tiffin University Officials. I don't buy it. If you buy it, you are probably one of those drunken chimpanzees pandering to President Marion's sick idea of community leadership...or one of our so-called civic leaders without the courage to act on good principle.
Fenik's punishment should have been related to the fact that he SCREWED us all out of $800,000 worth of Federal Tax Funds, and screwed his employer's political opposition out of more than $200,000 worth of campaign activities on Tiffin University;s Miami Street Project Referendum. When you add to that the terrorism to my very elderly mother and to me and to my brother and to our family home, this is attrocious! It is bad politics! It is embarrassing to every Tiffin City resident who calls our town their "home". Marion and Grandillo need to be stopped! Their abuses are unacceptable. They need to be put in jail for enabling and encouraging criminal behavior in their employees and students. Here's a link to the A-T article that if you read between the lines, will confirm everything I've been saying:
http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/page/category.detail/nav/5006/Editorials.html
Now, why should we all be marching on the Mayor's Office? (Unlike the Tiffin University Students, please leave your incendiary devices home!)
Why should we be screaming anger down at City Hall? Why should we all flood the FBI, and Congressman Latta's office with phone calls? Why should someone call Oprah...or Hannity and Colmes?
Contrary to the public face of it, Tiffin University President, Paul Marion, has created a campus environment that is so aggressive and hostile that it enabled and encouraged, directly and indirectly, criminal actions against the Monaco's and other Citizens. Mr. Fenik did NOT have any quarrel with the Monaco's until Marion and Grandillo fed him and others with the idea that it was "OK" to abuse an 88 year old women and threaten her and her family out of their home.
Mr. Fenik, and others on the Tiffin University campus, who are now also under investigation for criminal actions, did NOT act outside of this context. Everything you see in the A-T about Mr. Fenik is orchestrated by Dr. Marion and those happy chimpanzees I mentioned. Even the misdemeanor menacing charge makes a mockery of our City police and prosecutor. Dr. Marion has become a very very large fish in a very small pond we call Tiffin. He publicly declared the Monaco's and other Citizen concerns to be "irrelevant". Now, with this latest action related to his Miami Street Project, and without having to say another word in public, he has rendered our Tiffin City Police and the Prosecutor's office "irrelevant", too. Am I making this up? Just ask any other regular citizen who has called the police for an offensive college student incident. Tiffin City Police Officers routinely respond to City Residents with either "I have to get permission from the school before I can do anything to a student", or "Don't call us. Call Tiffin University (or Hiedelberg) so they can take care of it". Did I say irrellevant? Did I say "dark"?
I am embarrassed for our Mayor. I am embarrassed for our Police Chief. I am embarrassed and saddened that NONE of our prosecutors are able to hold powerful and influential so-called Civic Leaders accountable for their criminal actions against the rest of us normal citizens.
It should not be this hard to participate in this democratic republic we call Tiffin Ohio. Because of it, Tiffin University's President, Dr. Marion, will sleep happily again, tonight, I'm sure.
Best wishes,
Joe Monaco
Tiffin Ohio Registered Voter
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
We Won 41% of the Vote! But the Flogging Continues!
The votes are now in. Even though opposition to the Tiffin University's Miami Street project was defeated in the election, a whopping 41% of Tiffin Ohio voters sent a clear message to our civic leaders.
What is the message? A very LARGE group of voters are NOT buying the stench of destructive politics that continue to waft through Tiffin City Council Chambers and the Mayor's Office. If they thought responsibly about it, those who voted 'YES' would NOT buy it either.
Now, Cherubim and Saraphim, Grandillo and Marion, have been exalted-by-vote as the official powers to run Tiffin City Government and inure the use of our tax dollars to lock-in political power and to line the pockets of their favorite contractors. Last April, Marion predicted he would win the day, when at Tiffin City Council's Public Hearing, he declared Tiffin Citizens to be "irrelevant" minions. Nice guy, huh. Must be real smart.
Is the Cherub and his boss really that smart? No. Smart has nothing to do with them winning the vote. Having unfettered access to a rich cache of campaign RESOURCES won the vote. This is pure political power! Economic power, too!
If you listen to the "buzz" around town, the total fully loaded cost of getting the YES vote was over $200,000! This included, Tiffin City Government employee time, TU employee time, paid political consultant time, ipod prizes, education channel advertisements, billboards, A-T Ads, direct mail, collateral materials, "dirty tricks", etc.
The Responsible Citizens for Tiffin opposition, headed by Monaco family members, with a small group of mostly elderly neighborhood and local church member citizens was able to deploy only a very small portion of resources that TU had at its disposal.
Why did Grandillo and Marion expend so much time, money and effort to ensure the win? Remember, Tiffin Citizens were deluged with political ads, mailers large, billboards, cable-casts played over-and-over. There was so much in-your-face activity, even our own supporters were saying how nice was the billboard drawing of the Monaco Family home. This has got to be the biggest, most expensive campaign in Tiffin...EVER!
Why so much effort indeed! If Tiffin University lost the Miami Street Project, they knew that they would loose a lot more than the $800,000 federal tax subsidy for Miami and closing Jackson St.
How so? Well, TU officials have been raiding the Tiffin Ohio "Cookie Jar" since about 1990. Ask any council person whether Tiffin University always has its "hand out" when approaching Tiffin Officials for anything. If they are honest with you, our official will admit the complicity. If they are NOT honest with you, you are probably asking someone who has profiteered from activities greased with Citizen Tax Dollars, or official approvals for seeking state or federal tax subsidies. If you don't think so, please stop reading here, open one eye wider, and then the other.
I would NOT object to any of this if it were NOT for the abuses to individual Citizens and "back door" politics that EVERYONE complains about, yet does little-to-nothing to stop it. So much for civic leadership in Tiffin! I'm embarrassed for Tiffin's so-called civic leaders. You should be, too. Did I say DARK?
Millions have been spent in the past. Millions of tax dollars will be sought by Tiffin University Officials in the future. And, like their Miami Street Project, Citizens will again and again be made to pay...sometimes for abuses to themselves by the use of TU's Tax subsidies...all approved by Tiffin City Council and our Mayor. Just "follow the money". The Mayor warns of a $1.8 Million Deficit. Duh!!! (Hey, those referendum-winning 'YES' votes will now raise taxes. Get out your calculator, and remember what was earlier written about tax abuses in this blog. Tiffin voters have done the equivalent of asking for the flogging-stick from Dr. Marion while he happily suggests to his buddy contractors that they can sit down, kick back, and watch the "irrelevant" Citizens flog themselves out of their own money!)
Tiffin University HAD to win the vote on the referendum! If it did not, everyone from Marion and Grandillo to their subordinates would find it harder to get tax subsidized cooperation from Tiffin City government for projects that frequently include abuses such as those opposed by citizens in or near the Tiffin University neighborhood. They HAD to win so bad, their bag of "dirty tricks" turned from a campaign resource to get 'yes' votes, to a resource for DESTROYING their political opposition's attempts to participate in an orderly campaign for the 'NO' vote. Politics in Tiffin has a dark side. The recent events, when de-coded from the local politico-speak, are NOT for children or innocent-minded adults. If you bother to get into the middle of any the sordid affairs of our leadership, it in part, explains why Tiffin is hemorrhaging its population of regular residents. Like I said, Tiffin is no place for the innocent-minded...and certainly not our children.
So, let us talk about how our children get abused. Think about it. The three 23 year old councilmen act like they really got voted onto city council for their wisdom, anticipated youthful contributions, and personal strength of their ideology! The abuse? Well, the sick joke played on them is that they are on city council as the political boy-toys of about a dozen "advisers" who subtly and confidently provide them with the trappings of local political power. Want to know who is really calling the shots? You can get actual names! Just ask around in Tiffin. Many are the Tiffin political machine. Someone needs to tell the children. It would be silly if it wasn't so sadistic. Who will disabuse the children of their mistaken understanding? Probably no-one. Just follow the money! It is so pathetic.
Am I making this stuff up? I don't have to make up anything! Marion, Grandillo, and their smiling young minions are so "drunk" with political and economic power, they have failed to cover-up documented facts of their dirty tricks...that are clearly irresponsible, and in at least one case, criminal. Yes, I said CRIMINAL! Remember? I don't have to make this stuff up! It is instructive what you can learn from a little reading of Tiffin University's or Tiffin City Government's documents provided by their own hand.
But, I can NOT explain further until the Tiffin City Police, the Secretary of the State of Ohio, or the FBI apprehend the person who committed such an egregious act that even Dr. Marion is speechless and unable to repudiate an act that clearly indicts his campus organization. For me, I am sickened by what has happened. Because of it, I am compelled to do three things:
1. Request, from the Tiffin Police, the procedure for purchasing a hand gun,
2. Request, from Tiffin Police, the procedure for registering a gun as a concealed weapon, and
3. Inviting all Responsible Citizens of Tiffin who have a permit to carry a gun in Tiffin Ohio to send a comment to me that I will not publish to this blog. Indicate your willingness to stand with me and others in an organized attempt to demonstrate our 2nd and 4th amendment rights in the face of people who would declare us so "irrelevant". I am making the same appeal to area members of the NRA.
I will explain more, in a later blog article, or privately if you provide full contact information.
So, we won 41% of the votes, yesterday! I thank all of you who voted with us on principle! You ARE the Responsible Citizens for Tiffin. I'm proud of what we were able to accomplish with so few resources.
I regret that the flogging will continue.
Thank you,
Joe Monaco
Registered Voter in Tiffin Ohio
What is the message? A very LARGE group of voters are NOT buying the stench of destructive politics that continue to waft through Tiffin City Council Chambers and the Mayor's Office. If they thought responsibly about it, those who voted 'YES' would NOT buy it either.
Now, Cherubim and Saraphim, Grandillo and Marion, have been exalted-by-vote as the official powers to run Tiffin City Government and inure the use of our tax dollars to lock-in political power and to line the pockets of their favorite contractors. Last April, Marion predicted he would win the day, when at Tiffin City Council's Public Hearing, he declared Tiffin Citizens to be "irrelevant" minions. Nice guy, huh. Must be real smart.
Is the Cherub and his boss really that smart? No. Smart has nothing to do with them winning the vote. Having unfettered access to a rich cache of campaign RESOURCES won the vote. This is pure political power! Economic power, too!
If you listen to the "buzz" around town, the total fully loaded cost of getting the YES vote was over $200,000! This included, Tiffin City Government employee time, TU employee time, paid political consultant time, ipod prizes, education channel advertisements, billboards, A-T Ads, direct mail, collateral materials, "dirty tricks", etc.
The Responsible Citizens for Tiffin opposition, headed by Monaco family members, with a small group of mostly elderly neighborhood and local church member citizens was able to deploy only a very small portion of resources that TU had at its disposal.
Why did Grandillo and Marion expend so much time, money and effort to ensure the win? Remember, Tiffin Citizens were deluged with political ads, mailers large, billboards, cable-casts played over-and-over. There was so much in-your-face activity, even our own supporters were saying how nice was the billboard drawing of the Monaco Family home. This has got to be the biggest, most expensive campaign in Tiffin...EVER!
Why so much effort indeed! If Tiffin University lost the Miami Street Project, they knew that they would loose a lot more than the $800,000 federal tax subsidy for Miami and closing Jackson St.
How so? Well, TU officials have been raiding the Tiffin Ohio "Cookie Jar" since about 1990. Ask any council person whether Tiffin University always has its "hand out" when approaching Tiffin Officials for anything. If they are honest with you, our official will admit the complicity. If they are NOT honest with you, you are probably asking someone who has profiteered from activities greased with Citizen Tax Dollars, or official approvals for seeking state or federal tax subsidies. If you don't think so, please stop reading here, open one eye wider, and then the other.
I would NOT object to any of this if it were NOT for the abuses to individual Citizens and "back door" politics that EVERYONE complains about, yet does little-to-nothing to stop it. So much for civic leadership in Tiffin! I'm embarrassed for Tiffin's so-called civic leaders. You should be, too. Did I say DARK?
Millions have been spent in the past. Millions of tax dollars will be sought by Tiffin University Officials in the future. And, like their Miami Street Project, Citizens will again and again be made to pay...sometimes for abuses to themselves by the use of TU's Tax subsidies...all approved by Tiffin City Council and our Mayor. Just "follow the money". The Mayor warns of a $1.8 Million Deficit. Duh!!! (Hey, those referendum-winning 'YES' votes will now raise taxes. Get out your calculator, and remember what was earlier written about tax abuses in this blog. Tiffin voters have done the equivalent of asking for the flogging-stick from Dr. Marion while he happily suggests to his buddy contractors that they can sit down, kick back, and watch the "irrelevant" Citizens flog themselves out of their own money!)
Tiffin University HAD to win the vote on the referendum! If it did not, everyone from Marion and Grandillo to their subordinates would find it harder to get tax subsidized cooperation from Tiffin City government for projects that frequently include abuses such as those opposed by citizens in or near the Tiffin University neighborhood. They HAD to win so bad, their bag of "dirty tricks" turned from a campaign resource to get 'yes' votes, to a resource for DESTROYING their political opposition's attempts to participate in an orderly campaign for the 'NO' vote. Politics in Tiffin has a dark side. The recent events, when de-coded from the local politico-speak, are NOT for children or innocent-minded adults. If you bother to get into the middle of any the sordid affairs of our leadership, it in part, explains why Tiffin is hemorrhaging its population of regular residents. Like I said, Tiffin is no place for the innocent-minded...and certainly not our children.
So, let us talk about how our children get abused. Think about it. The three 23 year old councilmen act like they really got voted onto city council for their wisdom, anticipated youthful contributions, and personal strength of their ideology! The abuse? Well, the sick joke played on them is that they are on city council as the political boy-toys of about a dozen "advisers" who subtly and confidently provide them with the trappings of local political power. Want to know who is really calling the shots? You can get actual names! Just ask around in Tiffin. Many are the Tiffin political machine. Someone needs to tell the children. It would be silly if it wasn't so sadistic. Who will disabuse the children of their mistaken understanding? Probably no-one. Just follow the money! It is so pathetic.
Am I making this stuff up? I don't have to make up anything! Marion, Grandillo, and their smiling young minions are so "drunk" with political and economic power, they have failed to cover-up documented facts of their dirty tricks...that are clearly irresponsible, and in at least one case, criminal. Yes, I said CRIMINAL! Remember? I don't have to make this stuff up! It is instructive what you can learn from a little reading of Tiffin University's or Tiffin City Government's documents provided by their own hand.
But, I can NOT explain further until the Tiffin City Police, the Secretary of the State of Ohio, or the FBI apprehend the person who committed such an egregious act that even Dr. Marion is speechless and unable to repudiate an act that clearly indicts his campus organization. For me, I am sickened by what has happened. Because of it, I am compelled to do three things:
1. Request, from the Tiffin Police, the procedure for purchasing a hand gun,
2. Request, from Tiffin Police, the procedure for registering a gun as a concealed weapon, and
3. Inviting all Responsible Citizens of Tiffin who have a permit to carry a gun in Tiffin Ohio to send a comment to me that I will not publish to this blog. Indicate your willingness to stand with me and others in an organized attempt to demonstrate our 2nd and 4th amendment rights in the face of people who would declare us so "irrelevant". I am making the same appeal to area members of the NRA.
I will explain more, in a later blog article, or privately if you provide full contact information.
So, we won 41% of the votes, yesterday! I thank all of you who voted with us on principle! You ARE the Responsible Citizens for Tiffin. I'm proud of what we were able to accomplish with so few resources.
I regret that the flogging will continue.
Thank you,
Joe Monaco
Registered Voter in Tiffin Ohio
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Mayor Divides City by Supporting TAX Abuses
In his recent Letter-to-the-Editor, Mayor Boroff joined Tiffin University president, Paul Marion to advance TU's Miami Street BUSINESS interests while again disregarding the “abusive” aspects of it.
Knowing that Tiffin Citizens are divided on TU's Miami Street issue, his letter is improper in the least. It fuels the very division of Citizens he attributes to others. At worst, he is redefining the term "local political corruption". And I used to like Mayor Boroff . Most regular Tiffin Citizens are so used to absorbing abuses of some civic leaders, they quietly endure most incidences of "corruption" when it shows it's smiling face. Below are the concerns of Responsible Citizens for Tiffin as they address each numbered point of Mayor Boroff 's letter.
Referring to facts he does NOT agree with as "mis-information and rumor", Mayor Boroff 's writing is adding public insult to injury. Yet, now it is clear that Mayor Boroff needs to serve the power brokers in
The matter is simple: Remove the abuses to Tiffin Citizen rights, and there will be no need to vote 'NO' on Referendum Ordinance 07-70. Even the formerly aggrieved would vote for the Miami Street Project, because EVERYONE would get their interests satisfied. Our Mayor is not working for us when he publicly chooses sides on this issue.
Each of Mayor Boroff's numbered points in his letter requires a response. So the record can be set straight from the vantage point of the regular Tiffin Citizens, I am compelled to provide information our Mayor conveniently left out of his letter. In this way, I hope we voting Citizens will use our voice in the face of Mayor Boroff 's obvious contempt for our concerns. Plan to vote 'NO' accordingly on the Referendum 07-70 issue. Please read on.
[For the complete text of Mayor Boroff’s letter see the Advertiser-Tribune link at: http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/page/content.detail/id/510089.html?nav=5008]
Here is each numbered point the Mayor writes with my commentary immediately following.
1). This project will be paid entirely from federal highway funds. The city has made it clear not one dime of local taxpayer money will be used. If the funds are scaled back, the project will be scaled back accordingly.
Everyone knows very well that TIFFIN TAXPAYERS pay local, state and FEDERAL TAXES. This was emphasized as "public input" at the April 21st Tiffin City Public Hearing.
Remember, one of our regular Tiffin Citizens, Tim Shock, said he did “NOT want” any of his FEDERAL TAX dollars used for closing
Further, suggesting “If the (Miami Street) funds are scaled back, the project will be scaled back accordingly” must be taken from some secret Mayoral code book because this idea was NEVER discussed with ANYONE I know in
2). No private property will be taken under eminent domain. This was never a part of the plan, nor would I, as mayor, support in any way, shape or form the adverse acquisition of any private property for such a project.
This is very “crafty” of our Mayor as he attempts to master the art of empty political rhetoric. Need I remind Citizens that while Mayor Boroff was a Councilman,
How many Tiffin Citizens would want to know that they will be forced out of their Family Home because our so-called civic leaders don’t have the decency to use their political power for good-faith community action? This is harming my family and others, any way Mayor Boroff spins it.
3). If this project is completed, the cost of any subsequent sewer separation in the
How many more projects does Mayor Boroff plan to administer under such highly controversial, divisive, and abusive conditions near
Mayor Boroff would have us believe that he did NOT hear Councilman Steve Lepard who, during every public meeting on Ordinance 07-70, explained the “additional money” TIFFIN TAXPAYERS would have to pay! Additional TAX money would be needed because the special and expensive features of the
Mr. Lepard, who SPONSORED Ordinance 07-70 Miami Street Project, is the Chair of the Street, Sidewalks & Sewers Committee.
Further, Mayor Boroff is "spinning" at full speed when he says, “If we were to halt any current project that might affect another project a dozen years down the road, nothing would get accomplished in the city.” P-l-e-a-s-e !
The extremely controversial Miami Street Project is vigorously opposed by Responsible Citizens for
Mayor Boroff is now abrogating his DUTY to hold up this ONE project that would UNNECESSARILY ABUSE SOME TIFFIN CITIZENS OF THEIR RIGHTS. Notice that
4). No house will lose convenient access to city streets. Yes, the intersection of Jackson and
Mayor Boroff is presumptuous to decide for the Monaco Family what is or is NOT convenient.
The “public input” from at least four Citizens at the April 21st public hearing clearly opposed closing
Further, if the
Constructive Eminent Domain would be an extreme inconvenience to the Monaco Family. To maintain the integrity of his written word, Mayor Boroff needs to publicly reverse his support for Tiffin University's Miami Street Project abuses and encourage all Tiffin Citizens to vote ‘NO’.
5). The Wall Street railroad crossing will not be closed. Again, this is something the city of
I trust Mayor Boroff’s intentions in what he has said in #5. However, let’s look at the facts.
Although
6). Truck traffic will be maintained on
Once again, our Mayor is well intentioned on this one. He hasn’t talked to any of the truck drivers I know. Their concerns are all those planned trees lining Miami Street that will surely, when grown, obstruct a clear view of pedestrians. They are also questioning whether the street will be wide enough to forgive any steering mistakes, and whether the curbs would be sturdy enough to keep from crumbling when hit by a heavy, loaded rig. With a tree-lined median splitting Miami Street, this engineering would certainly create TWO opportunities for students to possibly get slammed by a truck or car.
As far as “Pedestrian-safe” goes, this is again empty political rhetoric and “spin”. I will keep saying this as long as Dr. Marion and Dr. Grandillo continue to assert misinformation that does NOT stand up to facts in evidence.
A compelling argument was made at the April 21, 2008 City Council Hearing that demonstrated clearly that there was NEVER A PEDESTRIAN SAFETY PROBLEM, except as fabricated by Dr. Grandillo and Dr. Marion. “Pedestrian Safety" on
This too, defines "local political corruption". Just ask one question to decide the authenticity of their "Pedestrian Safety" assertions: "If closing Jackson and altering Miami Streets will "improve pedestrian safety", then, by how much?"
This is NOT a trick question. It does NOT require any understanding of mathematics beyond simple addition and subtraction. It does NOT require anything accept a "raised eyebrow". Given the facts, the ONLY correct answer is "Zero". If it was more than ZERO, don't you think the Tiffin University Officials would emphasize the actual number that might justify the great fun they would have spending $800,000 in TAX Subsidies?
If he was working for ALL Tiffin Citizens, Mayor Boroff would NOT call facts and conclusions that he does NOT agree with as "misinformation", "rumor" and "half-truths. This is preposterous.
So, when you are alone in the voting booth, please use the above facts and conclusions to inform your decision to vote 'NO on Tiffin University's Miami Street Project Referendum Ordinance 07-70. It is the right thing to do for this small town community we call Tiffin Ohio.
Thank you for your consideration,
Joe Monaco
Registered Tiffin Ohio Voter
Sunday, October 26, 2008
5 TAX Reasons to Vote 'NO' on Miami Street Referendum 07-70
Whichever way you decide to vote on Tiffin University's Miami Street Project Referendum, please be clear that our TAXES WILL GO UP if the referendum passes! Below are 5 tax reasons for which we should ALL vote 'NO'.
Tiffin University's Miami Street Project Referendum 07-70, if allowed to pass, will INCREASE TIFFIN RESIDENT'S TAXES in the immediate AND long term future. You can verify these key reasons if you have the time and inclination to study the public records at Tiffin City Council. Many of these written public records contain reasons to vote 'NO' ... and were provided by Tiffin University Officials and Tiffin City Council! Keep in mind that the deluge of printed information, phone calls, billboards, and half page advertisements to Tiffin Citizens is because our so-called civic leaders have hired an expensive, nationally recognized political consultant to "spin" all of us. So, please be clear on what your vote will mean regarding taxes, as follows:
1) Tiffin City Tax Payers will pay for the "sewer separation project". This sewer project will happen at Miami and Jackson Streets AFTER 2010, and AFTER the University, if permitted, would spend the $800,000 appropriation from our federal TAX Dollars. So, AFTER Tiffin University Officials would spend the Tax money on their project, much of the new street scape will have to be destroyed to make way for the two separated sewer lines. The cost of destruction and reconstruction of Miami and Jackson streets has been estimated to exceed $300,000, not including direct sewer separation costs. In their Miami Street Improvement Cost Estimates, Mr. Grandillo told engineers from Wolpert to NOT include any federal funds for sewer separation in their project. They knew from experience that the extra cost of the 2nd excavation and re-landscaping would be born by the unsuspecting Tiffin Ohio TAX Payers.
2) The PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS on Miami and Jackson Streets pay property taxes now. Tiffin University does NOT pay any property taxes on more than 200 acres of land. Since TU Officials have already taken preliminary Eminent Domain action to force the sale of the Monaco Family Home, if successful, the property taxes from that one property will then have to be born by other TAX PAYERS…NOT Tiffin University. This is only one property in a line of nearly 100 that TU already carries at the expense of TIFFIN TAX PAYERS. At their recent rate of growth, it is not absurd to conclude that TU will own all the current rateables on the west side of Tiffin in about 60 more years! If you don't vote 'No' now, consider the silly possibility that the taxpayers on the EAST side of Tiffin will have to carry the burden...if they can afford to live in Tiffin at all. Did I say absurd?
How many more properties should TU be allowed to own at TAX PAYER EXPENSE? [I resent this civic corruption Tiffin University Officials and others have inspired. Yet, there is BIG money and a lot of powerful political influence involved, so most people in Tiffin quietly suffer the fact that they might believe themselves to be "irrelevant" as Dr. Marion declared. Not being one to quietly suffer any obvious and pervasive injustice, I am NOT going away on this one...no matter how the referendum vote turns out.] On this matter alone, I urge YOU to please don't believe Dr. Marion's conclusion about us. Declare yourself and other TAXPAYERS relevant by casting your 'NO' vote. It wil stop this kind of abuse.
3) Without private property owner permission, Drs. Marion and Grandillo made a back-room deal with our local government to waive the normal requirements for “vacating” the public Jackson Street. They have ignored the normal rules everyone followed for more than 30 years. For example: About 20 years ago, they closed, through a “vacate” ordinance, part of Jackson Street that is now the walkway of north campus. “Vacating” the many alleys and streets near Campus has always been understood to be a fair and democratic government procedure to protect individual property owners from being abused by powerful corporate interests. But now, if TU Officials are not held to normal rules, TU’s campus will close a public neighborhood street without private property owner permission, turn it into a campus asset, yet that part of the campus will legally have to be maintained by Tiffin City through our TAX DOLLARS…because Tiffin City still owns it. This is improper, to put it mildly.
4) Here is the real danger to Tiffin Tax-Paying Residents: We know from their own publicly-available documents that Tiffin University Officials have misrepresented facts, obfuscated, delayed and unfairly manipulated nearly every important aspect of the Miami Street project.
Starting with Mike Grandillo’s 2004 application to the United States Congress, it was demonstrated with written facts TIFFIN UNIVERSITY PROVIDED, at the April Tiffin City Council public hearing that Grandillo mislead the US Congress (and now Tiffin Citizens) into believing that there was a "pedestrian safety" problem. (That's right, NO pedestrian safety problem exists on any official record of ODOT, our own Tiffin City Police Department, or at the Engineering Department! According to ALL uncontested statements at the public hearing, "pedestrian safety" is an imaginary problem fabricated by Grandillo, and repeated over-and-over again by Marion and some of his employees and students.) What hubris!
At the April Tiffin City Council Hearing, I presented the written facts from Tiffin University's own documents, and without saying the word, accused him of "lying". My public hearing statement, with 17 equally scathing facts, was accepted by the City Council, Mayor, and all of the rest of the 60 participants. As it is difficult to argue against facts, to this day, no one refuted one word of my facts as "wrong" or improperly stated! Given the formal chance to rebut my facts in his closing statement at the hearing, even Dr. Marion simply declared my concerns, along with all others to be "irrelevant". He did not refute one of the facts or conclusions. It was all cable-vised for viewers to see. So, dear reader, you decide how you are going to vote.
Our Tiffin University Leaders, no matter how much good they have done in the past, have finally succumbed to the temptations of "power" and mostly unfettered local political influence. To me, and a great many regular Citizens for Tiffin, the action of those involved in administering the Miami Street Project defines the term “Local Political Corruption”. The corruption has spilled over to the private sector where it is now difficult to tell the difference between Tiffin University Officials and the private businesses from which they profit BECAUSE of their close association with Tiffin University or our local government.
If the Miami Street Project is NOT stopped now, ALL of these actions will set a precedent for further TAX-Funded Projects that will just add to the many that the Tiffin University has already funded through our TAX Dollars. The long-term consequence is a continuing spiral of more taxes to subsidize the already financially successful Tiffin University. TU simply does NOT need this help from financially struggling Tiffin, Ohio Taxpayers...or any other tax payers.
5) Finally, there is the “Citizen Abuse Tax” quietly born by Citizens who do NOT have the same influence and political power of Tiffin University. It is the tens of thousands of dollars collectively paid by the regular Citizens as they try to oppose the influential and deep-pocketed business interests such as those represented by TU Officials on the Miami Street Project. It is money that Citizen Volunteers need to pay for gas as they went door-to-door for petition signatures or to inform the public of the unfair treatment. It is the money needed to make hundreds of phone calls, have an occasional meeting, print literature, and hire lawyers so those being threatened from their homes and streets can get a minimal amount of legal representation. It is the cost of a web site and the hundreds of costly hours needed to design it and keep it up to date. Unlike Tiffin University, regular Citizens cannot wright-off these expenses or charge them off to someone’s corporate budget.
The abuse tax is also the $14,000 cost to the Elections Board to get The Miami Street Project Referendum printed the November 4th Ballot. It is no secret that the people actively mobilizing to oppose the abusive aspects of the Miami Street Project are mostly elderly citizens. Although some volunteers and opposition supporters are fortunate enough to have the financial clout to participate, many live on fixed incomes or social security. They are making a serious sacrifice with this “hidden tax burden”. It should NOT be so difficult for these Citizens to participate in Tiffin City Governance. It should NOT be possible to suffer the “Citizen Abuse Tax” just because TU Officials, have misled the public and declared their concerns to be “irrelevant”.
Look elsewhere in this blog for links to no-spin, no-rhetoric information about the facts of the Miami Street Project and a rare view of Tiffin University Officials.
On November 4th, please vote ‘NO’ on the Miami Street Project Referendum 07-70. If you don’t, our taxes will go up because of it!...and you might be in line for the next tax-financed flogging sponsored by Tiffin University’s Dr. Marion and his powerful, influential associates.
Joe Monaco
Registered Tiffin Ohio Voter
Tiffin University's Miami Street Project Referendum 07-70, if allowed to pass, will INCREASE TIFFIN RESIDENT'S TAXES in the immediate AND long term future. You can verify these key reasons if you have the time and inclination to study the public records at Tiffin City Council. Many of these written public records contain reasons to vote 'NO' ... and were provided by Tiffin University Officials and Tiffin City Council! Keep in mind that the deluge of printed information, phone calls, billboards, and half page advertisements to Tiffin Citizens is because our so-called civic leaders have hired an expensive, nationally recognized political consultant to "spin" all of us. So, please be clear on what your vote will mean regarding taxes, as follows:
1) Tiffin City Tax Payers will pay for the "sewer separation project". This sewer project will happen at Miami and Jackson Streets AFTER 2010, and AFTER the University, if permitted, would spend the $800,000 appropriation from our federal TAX Dollars. So, AFTER Tiffin University Officials would spend the Tax money on their project, much of the new street scape will have to be destroyed to make way for the two separated sewer lines. The cost of destruction and reconstruction of Miami and Jackson streets has been estimated to exceed $300,000, not including direct sewer separation costs. In their Miami Street Improvement Cost Estimates, Mr. Grandillo told engineers from Wolpert to NOT include any federal funds for sewer separation in their project. They knew from experience that the extra cost of the 2nd excavation and re-landscaping would be born by the unsuspecting Tiffin Ohio TAX Payers.
2) The PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS on Miami and Jackson Streets pay property taxes now. Tiffin University does NOT pay any property taxes on more than 200 acres of land. Since TU Officials have already taken preliminary Eminent Domain action to force the sale of the Monaco Family Home, if successful, the property taxes from that one property will then have to be born by other TAX PAYERS…NOT Tiffin University. This is only one property in a line of nearly 100 that TU already carries at the expense of TIFFIN TAX PAYERS. At their recent rate of growth, it is not absurd to conclude that TU will own all the current rateables on the west side of Tiffin in about 60 more years! If you don't vote 'No' now, consider the silly possibility that the taxpayers on the EAST side of Tiffin will have to carry the burden...if they can afford to live in Tiffin at all. Did I say absurd?
How many more properties should TU be allowed to own at TAX PAYER EXPENSE? [I resent this civic corruption Tiffin University Officials and others have inspired. Yet, there is BIG money and a lot of powerful political influence involved, so most people in Tiffin quietly suffer the fact that they might believe themselves to be "irrelevant" as Dr. Marion declared. Not being one to quietly suffer any obvious and pervasive injustice, I am NOT going away on this one...no matter how the referendum vote turns out.] On this matter alone, I urge YOU to please don't believe Dr. Marion's conclusion about us. Declare yourself and other TAXPAYERS relevant by casting your 'NO' vote. It wil stop this kind of abuse.
3) Without private property owner permission, Drs. Marion and Grandillo made a back-room deal with our local government to waive the normal requirements for “vacating” the public Jackson Street. They have ignored the normal rules everyone followed for more than 30 years. For example: About 20 years ago, they closed, through a “vacate” ordinance, part of Jackson Street that is now the walkway of north campus. “Vacating” the many alleys and streets near Campus has always been understood to be a fair and democratic government procedure to protect individual property owners from being abused by powerful corporate interests. But now, if TU Officials are not held to normal rules, TU’s campus will close a public neighborhood street without private property owner permission, turn it into a campus asset, yet that part of the campus will legally have to be maintained by Tiffin City through our TAX DOLLARS…because Tiffin City still owns it. This is improper, to put it mildly.
4) Here is the real danger to Tiffin Tax-Paying Residents: We know from their own publicly-available documents that Tiffin University Officials have misrepresented facts, obfuscated, delayed and unfairly manipulated nearly every important aspect of the Miami Street project.
Starting with Mike Grandillo’s 2004 application to the United States Congress, it was demonstrated with written facts TIFFIN UNIVERSITY PROVIDED, at the April Tiffin City Council public hearing that Grandillo mislead the US Congress (and now Tiffin Citizens) into believing that there was a "pedestrian safety" problem. (That's right, NO pedestrian safety problem exists on any official record of ODOT, our own Tiffin City Police Department, or at the Engineering Department! According to ALL uncontested statements at the public hearing, "pedestrian safety" is an imaginary problem fabricated by Grandillo, and repeated over-and-over again by Marion and some of his employees and students.) What hubris!
At the April Tiffin City Council Hearing, I presented the written facts from Tiffin University's own documents, and without saying the word, accused him of "lying". My public hearing statement, with 17 equally scathing facts, was accepted by the City Council, Mayor, and all of the rest of the 60 participants. As it is difficult to argue against facts, to this day, no one refuted one word of my facts as "wrong" or improperly stated! Given the formal chance to rebut my facts in his closing statement at the hearing, even Dr. Marion simply declared my concerns, along with all others to be "irrelevant". He did not refute one of the facts or conclusions. It was all cable-vised for viewers to see. So, dear reader, you decide how you are going to vote.
Our Tiffin University Leaders, no matter how much good they have done in the past, have finally succumbed to the temptations of "power" and mostly unfettered local political influence. To me, and a great many regular Citizens for Tiffin, the action of those involved in administering the Miami Street Project defines the term “Local Political Corruption”. The corruption has spilled over to the private sector where it is now difficult to tell the difference between Tiffin University Officials and the private businesses from which they profit BECAUSE of their close association with Tiffin University or our local government.
If the Miami Street Project is NOT stopped now, ALL of these actions will set a precedent for further TAX-Funded Projects that will just add to the many that the Tiffin University has already funded through our TAX Dollars. The long-term consequence is a continuing spiral of more taxes to subsidize the already financially successful Tiffin University. TU simply does NOT need this help from financially struggling Tiffin, Ohio Taxpayers...or any other tax payers.
5) Finally, there is the “Citizen Abuse Tax” quietly born by Citizens who do NOT have the same influence and political power of Tiffin University. It is the tens of thousands of dollars collectively paid by the regular Citizens as they try to oppose the influential and deep-pocketed business interests such as those represented by TU Officials on the Miami Street Project. It is money that Citizen Volunteers need to pay for gas as they went door-to-door for petition signatures or to inform the public of the unfair treatment. It is the money needed to make hundreds of phone calls, have an occasional meeting, print literature, and hire lawyers so those being threatened from their homes and streets can get a minimal amount of legal representation. It is the cost of a web site and the hundreds of costly hours needed to design it and keep it up to date. Unlike Tiffin University, regular Citizens cannot wright-off these expenses or charge them off to someone’s corporate budget.
The abuse tax is also the $14,000 cost to the Elections Board to get The Miami Street Project Referendum printed the November 4th Ballot. It is no secret that the people actively mobilizing to oppose the abusive aspects of the Miami Street Project are mostly elderly citizens. Although some volunteers and opposition supporters are fortunate enough to have the financial clout to participate, many live on fixed incomes or social security. They are making a serious sacrifice with this “hidden tax burden”. It should NOT be so difficult for these Citizens to participate in Tiffin City Governance. It should NOT be possible to suffer the “Citizen Abuse Tax” just because TU Officials, have misled the public and declared their concerns to be “irrelevant”.
Look elsewhere in this blog for links to no-spin, no-rhetoric information about the facts of the Miami Street Project and a rare view of Tiffin University Officials.
On November 4th, please vote ‘NO’ on the Miami Street Project Referendum 07-70. If you don’t, our taxes will go up because of it!...and you might be in line for the next tax-financed flogging sponsored by Tiffin University’s Dr. Marion and his powerful, influential associates.
Joe Monaco
Registered Tiffin Ohio Voter
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Tiffin University Threatens Property Owners
Here is how it feels to be an Elderly Property Owner at Tiffin University