TOLEDO – Toledo’s largest federal grant may be rescinded if the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is passed into law.
By just one vote the One Big Beautiful Bill successfully passed through the House of Representatives and is now on its way to the Senate. If the bill remains in its current form, it will not deliver the $28.5 million awarded to the City of Toledo to recreate the entrance to East Toledo, near Front and Main streets.
During a press conference at the site on June 12, Simon Nyi, the commissioner of grants for the City of Toledo, who was instrumental in winning the competitive grant, said that “the residents of this neighborhood have been clear. If we want our historic Main Street business corridor to once again thrive, we need to invest in its infrastructure.
“And, if we want downtown revitalization to bring jobs, investments and economic opportunities to the east side,” he continued, “we need to make Front Street safer for everyone who uses it.”
Front Street is the bridge between the Garfield neighborhood, which includes Waite High School, and the Glass City Metropark, the newest and most popular metropark.
In coordination with the multi-step Riverwalk project, pioneered by Metroparks Toledo, this grant would connect the Glass City Metropark with International Park and Downtown Toledo more holistically by revitalizing and beautifying Front and Main Streets.
In March 2024, the city was awarded the $28.5 million from the Department of Transportation through the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant, which was a subsection of the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program.
Thinking the grant was cut because it was confused for a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) initiative, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz thoroughly explained that there is nothing about this grant or its uses that is partisan.
“I can’t imagine a single citizen of our country objecting to a program that would calm traffic to make life safer for pedestrians, for bicyclists, for motorists,” he said, and expounded that the only reason he could think of for the funding cut was the words used to describe the program.
I honestly believe that someone sitting at a computer terminal in Washington saw the word ‘equity’ and must have misunderstood.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz
The mayor stressed the 225 construction jobs that would be lost by cutting the revitalization initiative, set to begin in 2027, and the $2 million the city had already poured into prepping the project through engineering the streetscape and roadway changes.
The city’s website includes drawn schematics of what the city hoped to build with the grant: a mixed use path for cyclists and pedestrians alongside two two-lane streets for cars, a sidewalk on the other side of the road and ample space to plant trees.
Nyi stressed the importance of the redesign for public safety. “This corridor is less than a mile long, yet in the past 10 years traffic crashes here have tragically taken five lives and left 34 more with life-changing injuries.”
Both the mayor and Nyi said there would not be an easy way to replace the $28.5 million if the funding is rescinded.
Even if the funding could be secured in the future, Nyi emphasized that “we don’t have 10 or 15, 20 years if we want to capture all the momentum and great things that are happening right now.”
Justin Lorenzen, owner of the Webber Block building at the intersection of Main and Front Streets, talked about the progress the city was making near the entrance to the east side.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen real, tangible progress: a beautiful new Metropark, the Marina Lofts apartments and renewed interest from investors and developers,” he said, but caveated, “East Toledo is in real need of well-designed streets equipped with new sidewalks, better lighting, green space and safer crosswalks.
“There are a lot of kids crossing the street for the Metropark, so safer crosswalks are definitely in need.”
Residents, community leaders and stakeholders all had input on the Front Street redesign, said Theresa Gadus, Toledo City Council member (District 3), who said they’ve been working on this project since around 2020.
“Front Street is a five-lane highway,” she said. “We’ve done traffic studies that clocked people going up to 90 miles per hour. There’s schools, there’s lots of schools, in the neighborhood, and if we want them to be able to utilize the Metroparks, they have to feel safe crossing.”
In a last ditch effort, as the bill heads to the Senate, Kapszukiewicz and the other city officials asked Toledoans to appeal to Republican Senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted to amend the bill, allowing for the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant to be fulfilled for this street project.
“Let them know how important this project is for our economy, for our neighborhoods and for our shared future. Thank you,” Kapszukiewicz said, finishing off a press conference.
It is unclear when the One Big Beautiful Bill will be voted on in the Senate.
The Toledo Free Press reached out to Senators Moreno and Husted for comment. Husted replied the morning of June 13th saying he voted for a budget amendment to protect Medicaid, but did not comment on this particular grant.
Toledo city officials said they also reached out to both senators concerning the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant, but have not heard more than that their messages were received.
