Vote 'NO' to agree with Advertiser-Tribune Editorial

I agree with the Advertiser-Tribune on the principle of protecting the use of our TAX DOLLARS.

In his recent editorial entitled: "Bailout shouldn’t protect profits, salaries" (http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/page/content.detail/id/509337.html?nav=5006) the A-T Editor reminds us that TAX DOLLAR decisions "...must not cross the line to protecting the profits - or the salaries - of companies and executives that will benefit."

Unacceptable behavior is permitted by government officials, and encouraged by big business, whenever the big financially successful institutions are subsidized by our tax dollars. Remember what the A-T Editor wrote:

"Taxpayers who probably will be on the hook for $700 billion to fund the bill are reluctant enough to spend that kind of money to keep financial institutions from sinking. If they learn anyone, either personally or corporately, actually has made additional profits as a result of the measure, they will be furious. They should be."

Thank you, Mr. Editor, and everyone else at the Advertiser-Tribune who supports this line of responsible thinking! It is clearly in every one's best interest that NO single person, business or institution profiteers from TAX SUBSIDIZED decisions that are supposed to benefit ALL of us...but would abuse us, instead. I agree with the A-T that we should all be "furious"!

Do you notice the civic-minded principles the Advertiser-Tribune espouses, and to which nearly all Tiffin Citizens agree?

Did you notice that these principles clearly explain what has gone wrong with the financially powerful Tiffin University and their Miami Street Project? Did you notice TU Officials are trying to get TAX MONEY to pay for their Miami Street Improvement project, even if it would harm every Tiffin Tax Payer in the neighborhood, while it benefits a select group of businesses?

Tiffin University continues its march as the most financially powerful and influential business in Tiffin, Ohio. They don't need the tax subsidy from financially struggling taxpayers, but every private business person in line for a contract is "drooling". The financial drooling of these private businesses is based on the hope that Tiffin University Officials, along with the Chamber of Commerce Board, will be able to confuse Tiffin Taxpayers into abusing each other from the voting booth.

I agree with the Advertiser-Tribune when the Editor said,

"That is human nature. It is understandable. But it is not acceptable."

So, get furious! The right thing to do is to vote 'NO' on the Miami Street Project Referendum from Ordinance 07-70.

I'm glad to hear that the Advertiser-Tribune agrees with good principles of Citizenship! This is only one more principled reason to vote 'NO' on Tiffin University's Miami Street Improvement Project. Please vote 'NO' on the Referendum for Ordinance 07-70. Your 'NO' vote is for responsible use of our TAXES. Please get furious, now!

Thank you,

Joe Monaco
Tiffin, Ohio Voter

Vacate Street, vacate alley, vacate alley, vacate alley, STOP...just take it through eminent domain!

There was a time when Tiffin University Officials played fair and honorably` in Tiffin, Ohio. Remember when they wanted to create that nicely landscaped walkway through what is now the North Campus? That area used to be called "Jackson Street" and was home to about a dozen taxpaying home owners. Tiffin University negotiated the purchase of the last of those properties about 20 years ago. Since they purchased the entire block on both sides of Jackson Street, they petitioned Tiffin City Government and were rightfully awarded that part of the public street through a "vacate" ordinance. No one else had a claim to that end of Jackson Street as it dead-ended at the railroad tracks.

Tiffin University followed the same rules for vacating the alleyways that split Jackson Street about halfway down the block and again for the alley that ran parallel to the railroad tracks. University buildings now sit on those former alleyways of the North Campus.

Again-and-again, Tiffin University Officials negotiated the purchase of more properties and used Tiffin City Government "vacate" rules to capture many of the other neighborhood alleyways that used to abut private property. As Tiffin University has grown and prospered with its enormous additions to student population, buildings and financial clout, its appetite for real-estate has fueled a lucrative neighborhood market for real-estate rentals and growth in property valuations.

As Tiffin University has captured more and more real estate through "vacate" ordinances, their purchases of bordering private properties is getting significantly more expensive with time. If you believe in free enterprise, own property, and have been paying attention to property values in the neighborhood, you can't help to smile with glee on the news of the "deals" Tiffin University has made with some of your neighbors!

The so-called "deals" are only partially reported in the newspaper, because they are too financially complex, and would require the Tiffin Advertiser -Trubune to publish about 100 lines of text instead of the one-liner "Property Transfers" that are traditional. Besides, private owners and Tiffin University Officials do NOT want the public to know that they have agreed on sale compensation packages that have been valued at nearly 200 thousand to 500 thousand or more dollars. These same homes, if located away from the University by only two more blocks, would not be valued at half the "deal" compensation. Needless to say, the real-estate professional practice of valuing property by "comps" (comparing recently sold and similar properties) does NOT apply in the Tiffin University neighborhood. This is the reason that property owners, if they can set any jealousy aside, will smile with such glee! They know that one day, their long term determination, foresight to invest in the neighborhood, or luck will eventually see them likewise rewarded.

Because of its success, Tiffin University Officials, sometimes acting in the dual capacity as Private Property developer, have the opportunity to create good will and share their new-found wealth with Tiffin Citizens in the neighborhood. They can afford to buy homes, even at the extraordinary valuations that they created, because they are bursting with resources and know-how and can recover their investment in only a few short years. This "financial machine" is made possible because of the increased cash flow from various fees they charge the continuously growing population of students. It is no secret that college students are a lucrative business.

So, with Tiffin University's wildly successful wealth-generating machine, civic leadership, political clout, and know-how; why are they jeopardizing their own and other's reputations by flogging the five remaining private property owners out of their rights to use the Jackson/Miami Street intersection?

Why is Tiffin University by-passing the normal procedure on Jackson Street for securing a "vacate" ordinance from Tiffin City Council? Why are they taking preliminary Eminent Domain Action against the Monaco Family?

Why does the Miami Street Project from Ordinance 07-70, if allowed to go through, abuse the many neighbors of their right to use Jackson Street, enjoyment of the mature shade trees, and suffer other indignities?

The answers are simple if you think about them. Tiffin University Officials could choose to do the right thing, but how would they save face? That too, is simple. [Just think about it and it will come to you, Dr. Marion.] Please act before it is too late. Not even the Monaco's want TU to fail. They just want to stop the abuses to their family and the neighbors...and so does most everyone else.

Please Vote 'NO' on the Miami Street Project Ordinance 07-70 Referendum.

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

Did Tiffin City Council Members Ignore Citizens at Meeting?

On March 24th after politely listening to the many Citizen objections on the Tiffin University's Ordinance 07-70, Tiffin City Council concluded the meeting by again allowing Paul Marion, President of Tiffin University to have the last say. By saying "You can't please everyone", Dr. Marion dismissed the concerns that neighborhood property owners expressed:

• Neighborhood property owners lose the use of Jackson Street and parking will be eliminated.
  

• There are NO safety issues on file at city hall, and even the Tiffin City Engineer agrees that his observations conclude "NO SAFETY ISSUES", but TU keeps saying "Safety of pedestrians is the primary reason for the ordinance".

• The Private Monaco Family Home will be land-locked into the Tiffin University Campus, thus encouraging Tiffin University to force another Eminent Domain Action in the future.

• Eleven (11) large, mature, shade trees will be destroyed.

• Tiffin University's Miami Street Improvement Plan (2005) still includes closing the Wall Street Railroad Crossing Intersection.

• Council Members (such as Arron Montz) assert publicly that TU's project should take precedence over the few individual citizen rights because it "benefits" Tiffin as a whole. If this is true, why won't City Council or the Mayor say publicly the EXACT "benefits" Tiffin Citizens would receive?
  

So, as the meeting broke up, I asked council "How does a normal citizen have any influence with City Council?" Both Paul Elchert, President of Council and Lori Ritzler, 3rd Ward Council Member, chided me. They both asserted that Tiffin "Citizens are not interested enough to show up at Council meetings, so why should we listen to people who are not bothering to come?" They said that the turn-out for council meetings is seldom more than one or two normal citizens. Mr. Elchert said he would be over-joyed to see so many citizens that he'd "have to rent the Columbian high school auditorium." So, using my cell-phone, within 30 minutes of the meeting's close, I already had a pledge from 10 people to show up at the next meeting and speak-out. My prediction is that having even one or two dozen people speak out will have NO affect on council voting. If I can get a lot more people, will Council be influenced by them? Or, did Paul Elchert and Lori Ritzler spout empty rhetoric? Will Elchert, Ritzler, Cline and Montz be approving of Paul Marion's intent to ignore the neighborhood citizens? Who benefits from such actions such as Tiffin University's Miami Street Project? I'm interested in an answer.

Joe Monaco
Tiffin, Ohio Voter