Did Paul Marion Dis-Honor the Late Congressman Gilmore?

If you heard or read the accounts of the public hearing (Click title, above), where record-setting numbers of Tiffin Citizens opposed the Miami Street Project Ordinance 07-70, you gotta ask at least one question. "Is the President of TU, Paul Marion, trying to dis-honor himself and those who supported him in the past?"

At the end of the public hearing, Dr. Marion declared the many participant's concerns "irrelevant". In an obvious cable-televised attempt to intimidate the citizens and remind our City Officials of his politically powerful associates. He continued his closing remarks by invoking the memory of the late Paul Gilmore, who represented Tiffin, Ohio as a US Congressman. The Gilmore Family Name is on several important buildings in Tiffin. The respected Gilmore Family is indeed one of the most generous influential public benefactors in Seneca County, Ohio, and beyond.

I believe Paul Marion should apologize to the Gilmore family. Why? He has caused their unwitting participation in a project that clearly harms those families who live in the Tiffin University Neighborhood .

We had no idea until March of this year (2008) that TU Officials were trying to use the power of Tiffin City Council to abuse us. Certainly the Gilmores didn't intend their legacy to include a growing number of Tiffin Citizens who scoff at the misuse of power their name might now represent. The Gilmore's do not deserve to have their name soiled in public by certain Tiffin Community Leaders.

The project may well benefit some Citizens. But, the Tiffin University's project and our City government's approval of it is misguided as it disregards the wishes and welfare of neighborhood property owners. (I have written of this earlier, and presented detailed facts at the Public Hearing, that was televised on local cable).

Remember, Congressman Gilmore took Tiffin University's application to Washington D.C where he successfully secured an appropriation of $800,000 for the Miami Street Project. The application (see copy on file at City Council) has misrepresentations embedded in beautifully crafted "word smithing". So, Congressman Gilmore could have no way of discerning for himself that even he was being used to advance the financial interests of Tiffin University Officials while abusing Tiffin Citizens of their right to use Jackson Street. I assume that the late Congressman Gilmore counted as honorable the President of Tiffin University and his Director of Development, Mike Grandillo. Did the betrayal of Tiffin Citizens start with the betrayal of Congressman Gilmore's trust? Why don't I just let it go? Well, I'm trying to make the situation "right", for myself, my family, and my many neighbors in Tiffin. Many, many respond with contemptuous disapproval when I simply mention Tiffin University's Miami Street Improvement Plan.

So, what was so deceitful and misrepresented on the Application that US Congressman Gilmore took to Washington, DC? [So that you don't think that I'm making this stuff up, read a copy I got from our Mayor at this location: http://groups.google.com/group/rctohio/files]

Note 1: In the Congressional Application, Tiffin University's Mike Grandillo clearly documented that the purpose of the Miami Street Improvement Project was "Pedestrian Safety". He made eleven (11) references to "Safety" throughout the formal application. In that 2004 application, the manipulation of public opinion, of our City Council, and that of Congressman Gilmore, started with each "Safety" reference. Why was this manipulative and deceitful? Mr. Grandillo knew fully that there was NO SAFETY ISSUE that would justify spending upwards of the requested one(1) million tax dollars to close neighborhood streets. If there WAS a safety issue that justified such an expensive re-engineering of the neighborhood around TU, the Tiffin City Engineer, the Tiffin Police Department, and the Ohio Department of Transportation would have files describing so many crash incidents, personal injury, and other costs that would make this a real issue. If that was the case, I would concede, and stop thinking up ways to irritate those who I would then have to honor with my sincerest best wishes.

But, NO SUCH FILES EXIST! Our Tiffin City Engineer has said to me in a recent telephone interview that during a walk-by, with ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation), and a Tiffin University Official, he observed NO safety issues on Miami or Jackson Streets. Our Police Chief also was unable to recall any reports of injuries or crashes when asked during a recent Public Tiffin City Council Meeting.

Further, if our Tiffin City Government was to spend $800,000 of taxpayer funds to improve the safety of neighborhood streets in any other part of Tiffin, they would justify the tax-spending based on something other than a "wink-and-a-nod" from each other. To be responsible with our tax dollars, and to avoid unnecessary abuse of any individual citizen's rights, A PE (Professional Engineer) such as our own Tiffin City Engineer would be told by the Mayor to commission a formal Traffic SAFETY Study, including the fully-loaded cost of pedestrian injury, auto crash costs, and property damage. But, why isn't our City Government interested in such a traffic SAFETY study? In other communities (but not likely in Tiffin) such obvious pandering and un-justified, abusive decisions on the part of local government, would get a whole bunch of City officials sued by the more assertive and righteous Citizens among them.

Finally, if you talk to ANY of the more honorable members of Tiffin City Government, or those who know Tiffin University best, they will recount to you that at least one Tiffin University Official has, in private, gleefully admitted that "...of course there is NO safety issue. How else were we to get the public and City Council to approve of our plan?" ...wink...wink...wink.

Note 2: If you read the 2004 Application to Congress, at a certain question it asks whether TU Officials expect "...any opposition..." to the proposed plan. They marked this "NO". If they marked it "Yes", they would have had to explain in the space provided. So, they marked it "NO".

Well, who could have known they might want to oppose anything? How could I know my family home, and the neighborhood streets were about to be "captured" in a grab for real estate? That Jackson Street would be closed to through traffic? Except for only a few of the privileged, the Miami Street Project Plan, that was quietly funded through confidential efforts of TU Officials, wasn't seen by anyone until March 2008. I went to the City Engineer's Office and asked to see "the designs and specifications" that Dr. Marion referred to in the Advertiser-Tribune as "Approved...by the City Engineer...". It took a half hour to find the documents that the Assistant Engineer said were only preliminary plans and would NOT yet be in the "approval" stage. Should someone be held accountable for hiding and misleading everyone from the US Congress to the Tiffin Citizens the project is to benefit?

Did Tiffin University soil the good name of the late Congressman Gilmore, who certainly would NOT have approved of the abusive parts of TU Official's Miami Street Project Plan?

What happened to the concept of "Honor"? Who among us, with local political power, and a belief in decency, will step forth to do the right thing, only because it is the right thing to do?

You can help set the record straight by joining us on November 4th to vote 'NO' on Ordinance 07-70 Miami Street Project Referendum.

Joe Monaco
Tiffin, Ohio Voter

On-Fire Citizenship Shows Itself throughout Tiffin

Well, its been a couple of days since the public hearing on Ordinance 07-70 which has the Tiffin University seeking permission to spend $800,000 worth of our tax dollars to make Miami street prettier, close Wall Street at the railroad crossing and to close Jackson Street, too...without the permission of bordering property owners. TU officials Paul Marion and Mike Grandillo know that neighboring property owners resent the suggestion that they should loose some of their frontage, have eleven 75-100 year old shade trees destroyed, give-up free access to their homes via the Jackson/Miami Street intersection, and suffer other indignities.

So, why doesn't Tiffin University just quietly get the Tiffin City Council and the Mayor to approve of it? Didn't Mike Grandillo run City Council since about 1990? Doesn't he curiously appear to still order some Council members to do his bidding for him? He knows how to make things work at City Hall.

If I was a devious Tiffin University official, I'd simply start a campaign to misrepresent the facts, repeat them over-and-over again, and declare with absolute authority that it is for the good of Tiffin, Ohio. (Don't bother justifying the project on any particular principle) If they say it repeatedly, certainly enough city council members will learn the correct wording and thus have compelling reasons to vote for the Ordinance. This strategy would silence all Citizen opposition...who Dr. Marion believes to be "irrelevant", anyway.

This strategy has worked in the past, so it will work now, as long as we can keep those loud-mouthed, pesky, voting citizens out of it.

Or...Tiffin University officials Marion and Grandillo could STOP the destructive aspects of the Miami Street Project, and let us forgive them, so we can ALL live and work here in Tiffin, Ohio.

If they don't do so, they may create so much acrimony among more people of Tiffin who will count themselves among the abused. Remember, a record-setting number of Citizens came to the hearing to voice their opposition to the Miami Street Project Plan. Thousands more saw the hearing on cable television. It will soon be clear whether Council will vote with the voices of the citizens, or ignore those voices.

What do you think is going to happen? Will Drs. Marion and Grandillo use their high standing in our community to take the high road and prove themselves to be responsible and welcome Leaders of the Tiffin Citizenry? Will they see that forgoing the abusive aspects of the Miami Street Project will benefit them many times over in the future?

Joe Monaco
Tiffin, Ohio Voter

Large Crowd of Tiffin, Ohio Citizens Overwhelm City Council Hearing

Click on the title, above to see Advertiser-Tribune's report on the Public Hearing and 3rd reading of Tiffin City Ordinance 07-70: Miami Street Improvement Project that includes closing Jackson Street to neighborhood private property owners. Why did City Council decide to NOT vote that night?

Here is my take:

Wow! I think an important event in Tiffin's history is being made, starting with last night's Tiffin City Council Public Hearing that was supposed to conclude with a vote of City Council...but didn't.

Never before in the history of our local government did so many Tiffin Citizens unite in opposition to a Tiffin University initiated ordinance that would normally get "rubber-stamp" treatment by City Council and the Mayor. In fact the Tiffin Citizens are so angry that they converged on city hall, where some turned away or left early because of the crowded, uncomfortable court room pews. It was so crowded that people were standing ten-deep in the hallway. Terminally ill and elderly people, one of which was using an oxygen canister, came early. Young people who would speak out in opposition came with their families. Normal Citizens came from every Tiffin City Ward and beyond.

This was Tiffin Ohio Citizenship at its finest! Starting now, Tiffin Citizens can claim to be different from others in the United States where citizens often complain of their lack of influence on their government. But, they never act to perform their civic and constitutional duty to set their government straight..."or to remove it".

With their action, and I'm sure more will follow, Tiffin Citizens are setting a fine example for what other American citizens can do to influence their local government...if they just focus on one issue at a time.

Even the grandson of the founder of Tiffin University, Dr. Thomas Keen, came with his wife to make an articulate and compelling argument for why City Council should defeat the ordinance. Mrs. Keen publicly chastised the President of Tiffin University, Dr. Paul Marion, for his lack of "integrity" for misleading information, attempts to mislead the public, and using his standing as a high-profile community leader to get Tiffin City Council and the Mayor to ignore our own citizen/neighbors. Dr. Marion is NOT even a Citizen of Tiffin.

For nearly 2 and a half hours, about 35 of the people each got up and spoke. Person after person gave one or more reasons for City Council to defeat the ordinance. After all were finished, I presented a Power Point litany that gave documented fact-after-fact that pointed to Dr. Marion, and Dr, Grandillo's lack of regard for the individual Citizens of Tiffin who were now opposing their Miami Miami Street Project Plan. Their Plan includes closing Jackson Street without the approval of the neighborhood property owners, and to have the private property owners suffer other indignities.

The hearing was covered on Tiffin's Cable Television network and viewed by about two-thousand people at home. My presentation disclosed misrepresentation-after-misrepresentation for which I believe these TU Officials should be held accountable. Yet, it seems that some Council members were getting bored as they pretended to listen. When Dr. Paul Marion was allowed, by Council President, to make the concluding statement, the Tiffin University President took the podium, turned to address the Tiffin City Council and said,

" Well, I heard a lot of emotion tonight.

As far as I'm concerned, it is all irrelevant."

I could NOT believe my ears! With his declaration to City Council that Tiffin Citizen concerns were all "irrelevant", Dr. Marion announced his dark political view and contempt for local governance. He might as well have said:

"The Citizens of Tiffin are irrelevant, should
quietly pay their taxes and accept that they
have NO say in how they are governed."

or

"The Citizens of Tiffin are too stupid to know
what is relevant to their own governance.
Government needs to be firmly in the hands
of those who command power."

or

"How dare these people assume that anything they said at this public hearing will be given any consideration by those of us who really govern Tiffin, Ohio. Do they think this to be a Democratic Republic?"

It is now clear and public knowledge that Drs. Marion and Grandillo, have acted arrogantly, and hurt the trust of Tiffin Citizens. They have publicly embarrassed the institution we call Tiffin City Council. It is hard enough for individual council members to do their often thankless job of governing our City. Our honorable council members do not need to be again flumoxed to provide their official votes to favor the tax-financed plans of Tiffin University Officials...because such plans are...wink...wink..."for the good of Tiffin"; any justification of which will never come. These Tiffin University Officials have thus acted dis-honorably.

Tiffin Citizens are people who can govern themselves in the true spirit of being an American...even if they are from this small Ohio town called Tiffin. City Council Members and the Mayor are elected from the ranks of Citizens, but they are human and not immune to powerful and beautifully crafted attempts to persuade their votes. They are under a lot of pressure, so before you judge them, please first understand their quandary in the face of raw political power.

Why did Dr. Marion think it appropriate to ask our Tiffin City Council President to come to his campus office at Tiffin University for a "Damage Control" meeting?

Is someone confusing the governance mission of Tiffin University with the governance mission of Tiffin City?

I think we need to take account of what has happened. The unusually large crowd of Citizens at Council's Public Hearing have delivered their certain message. Our normally quiet Tiffin Citizens have found their voice and have now taken an important step in learning how to use it.

The abuses of Tiffin, Ohio political power against those Citizens who can't protect themselves, needs to stop.

Now, it is up to Council Members and the Mayor to take the next step that will either embolden Citizens to participate more in their government, or embolden Tiffin University Officials to continue abusing the sick, elderly, and hopeful among us. Maybe both.

Joe Monaco
Tiffin, Ohio Voter