“Don’t underestimate the things that I will do.”

British singer Adele sings this line in her hit single “Rolling in the Deep.” Tyler Wiley of Toledo — arguably the 26-year-old star’s biggest fan — lives by the same motto. Anyone who’s met Wiley quickly finds out he should never be underestimated.

Wiley, 22, said he adores Adele for her beauty, voice and charisma. He also models her positivity and grace through his own actions. When he’s not listening to music, he’s busy knitting hats for children in need and painting scenes to sell at Shared Lives Studios, a collaboration with Lott Industries in Downtown Toledo.

A graduate of Rogers High School, Wiley has been an active member of the Toledo Public Schools (TPS) community since he was in elementary school. Living with Down syndrome, he inspires and encourages others to respect the disabled community through communication and interaction — as well as his wit and charm.

His mom, Sandy Wiley-Steward, said she had Wiley start speaking at TPS board meetings in fifth grade to help give him exposure to a diverse group of individuals.

“I started taking him to meetings and he would read one little sentence about what he’s doing. Something positive,” Wiley-Steward said. “It was simple, but I was doing it to help him learn to speak publicly.

“If he has something prepared and written, he can read in front of a thousand people. It doesn’t bother him,” she said. “He overcame a lot of obstacles by practicing.”

Wiley put that practice to great use in November when he presented an original idea to the TPS Board of Education. Wiley inspired TPS to create Tyler’s Travel Pass in collaboration with the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities (DD).

The program aims to improve the lives of those in the district living with disabilities. This pass allows disabled community members to attend school activities, including sports games and plays, free of charge.

Wiley’s love for sports and the desire to watch his brothers, Aaron and Ian Steward, play basketball inspired the idea.

“He wanted to go to these three games in one week, and I was like, ‘Buddy, you got a check for $18 for two weeks. It’s $6 every time you want to go.’ He said, ‘I’m going to change that,’” Wiley-Steward said.

Wiley’s favorite sports are basketball, baseball and volleyball and he loves watching his brothers participate on the court. Aaron is in ninth grade and plays for Bowsher High School; Ian is in seventh grade and plays for Beverly Elementary.

Support from his family allowed Wiley to move forward with his initiative.

“His family is so supportive of him. They back him up and don’t just accept things how they are. They allow him to chase his dreams,” said Steve Mentrek, manager of Tyler’s Travel Pass distribution with the Lucas County Board of DD.

“Tyler has a lot of family support. When he has an idea, he can run with it,” added Lon Mitchell, manager of public information for Lucas County Board of DD.

Wiley thought the pass would offer the perfect opportunity to enrich not only his own life, but also the lives of all disabled community members living within TPS’ district.

After the initial meeting in November, Wiley used his persistence to ensure his idea came to fruition.

“He was emailing people every day. He’s very persistent,” Wiley-Steward said.

Wiley’s dreams came true when  TPS teamed up with the Lucas County Board of DD to approve the resolution for the pass within one month of his presentation, thanks to the essential need for a program of this nature, said Linda Meyers, transformational leader of community relations for Bowsher and Rogers learning communities.

“Tyler’s incredible,” Meyers said. “He made a huge impact on the board and we all thought this was a great idea.”

“The board embraced it. There is not another district in the region or state, maybe even nationally, that is doing this,” Wiley-Steward said.

This is the only free pass program for disabled community members offered within the Northwest Ohio region, and Wiley-Steward hopes other school districts take notice.

“This is setting the bar,” Wiley-Steward said. “I would love to see all the school districts provide this service for people with developmental disabilities.

“Anything to help them get out in the community. That’s one of the biggest struggles and, financially, it’s tough.”

Mentrek said he’s thrilled to get these passes distributed.

“I think it’s great,” Mentrek said, “As Tyler’s mentioned, fixed income makes it difficult to do fun, recreational events. Especially with the price tags. Just like you and I, they want to be a part of the community as much as possible.”

Mitchell said integration for those it serves is the ultimate goal of the Lucas County Board of DD and Tyler’s Travel Pass is the perfect way to help achieve it.

“We would like to see more people with developmental disabilities sitting in the stands, sitting beside people who don’t have a disability,” Mitchell said. “The mission of the board is to make sure people with developmental disabilities have the same opportunities as everybody else.”

Currently, there are 655 students in kindergarten through 12th grade who have a disability in the TPS district, Meyers said. There are also hundreds of alumni living in the TPS district who are eligible to receive the pass.

Community integration is highly beneficial for the city, Mentrek said.

“It gives the general community an opportunity for exposure to individuals with disabilities, which is a huge advantage,” Mentrek said. “When community members have contact and interactions with people with disabilities, it allows opinions and attitudes to positively change.”

This program allows those with disabilities to have a voice and for people to pay attention, Mitchell added.

“It’s a new world for people with developmental disabilities,” he said. “This is something different than we would have experienced in the past, say 10, 15, 20 years ago. It’s a positive change. An opportunity for individuals to interact more with the general public.”

Wiley’s program is already improving the lives of fellow community members with disabilities.

“Tyler is a wonderful example of a self-advocate. [He’s] out there trying to make life better for all,” Mitchell said.

Wiley’s friend BJ Axe, 25, received his Tyler’s Travel Pass last month and said he is excited to take advantage of the opportunities available though TPS.

“I think it’s great that Tyler took the initiative to create the pass,” Axe said.

He said he plans to use the pass for sporting events at Bowsher High School, including basketball, baseball and football.

The pass also increases school spirit, according to Meyers and Wiley. Wiley loves leading the cheering section at high school basketball games, his mom said, and the fans follow his lead.

“The cheerleaders love him,” Wiley-Steward said. “He’ll get up and say, ‘Let’s Go, Rebels,’ and then everyone in the stands will start cheering.”

The Lucas County Board of DD is distributing Tyler’s Travel Passes now. Any community member living in the district who is registered with the board is eligible to receive a pass. People can contact their service and support specialist through the board to fill out a referral form and get approved, Mentrek said. For more information on receiving Tyler’s Travel Pass, contact the Lucas County Board of DD at (419) 385-5771.

“We have roughly 10 requests so far, but with it just being released I am sure we will see that number rise over the next few months,” Mentrek wrote in an email to Toledo Free Press.

According to TPS, the pass will allow the holder to get into all TPS home athletic events for free (excluding All-Star games, City League championships or state tournaments), as well as plays and musical performances at TPS schools by TPS performers.

It was a surprise to Wiley and his family when TPS decided to name the pass after him.

“The fact that they named it after him was completely a surprise. We had no idea,” Wiley-Steward said.

Meyers said Wiley’s charisma and enthusiasm were the driving force behind this passion project, which is why TPS made the pass his namesake.

“It was a natural choice,” Meyers said.

Drone technology for the masses may still be in its infant stages, but several enterprising Toledoans are eager to jump in and explore the role of drones in photography.

James Jackson and Phil Myers are co-owners of Toledo Aerial Media (TAM), a business they founded with a third partner, Oregon police officer Brandon Begin. The fledgling company specializes in taking aerial photographs and video using drone quadcopters.

Jackson, a nurse, said TAM began with a common interest among friends.

“We were both into handheld videography,” Jackson said. “[Myers] said he was going to pick up a drone, and I thought that was really cool, and it all kind of spiraled from there.”

Myers, a Web designer, said being able to easily access drone technology inspired the friends to explore new avenues of discovery.

“After seeing some videos taken with drones, it kind of sparked our interest as tech junkies,” Myers said. “I was always into RC cars when I was younger. It was just a natural thing to progress into, and I thought, ‘What’s the next best thing we can do?’”

Myers and Jackson began to notice other drone businesses forming around them, which motivated them to take their hobby to the next level.

“The more I looked into it, the more I saw other startup aerial businesses,” Myers said. “I thought if we could get some practice time in and see what we can do, maybe we could turn this into sort of a business for us.”

Myers said the trio officially started TAM about four months ago, but have been “messing around” with the idea for over six months.

Since then, TAM has photographed properties for real estate businesses, shot the University of Toledo’s Glass Bowl, and is planning to cover numerous other events during the next few months.

All three are Whitmer High School graduates, and have talked with the school about covering football games next season.

Currently, the world of drone photography is a lot like the Wild West — highly unregulated. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been scrambling to create some order among the chaos by developing new laws.

For example, Myers said there are currently no official regulations governing the commercial use of drones, though the FAA has issued guidelines that advise against it.

“There are current guidelines, such as not being able to fly over 400 feet in elevation, out of the line of sight, over large groups of people or moving traffic,” Myers said. “They are working on new guidelines. There have been so many people that have bought [drones].”

In the meantime, Jackson, Myers and other entrepreneurs eagerly await an official set of laws, which would likely include a certification requirement to operate drones for business purposes.

“We’re all for that,” Myers said. “We like the idea of stricter regulations, so you don’t get some dummy putting one up in front of an airplane.”

Meanwhile, other local drone owners, such as Shawn Rames, are in it mostly for the fun. Rames runs a website called Exploring Northwest Ohio from the Sky, which highlights aerial photographs he takes with his quadcopter.

Rames has been a professional photographer “on and off” over the years, but said the personal satisfaction of getting the right shot from the drone is reward enough for him, for now.

“I love making creative images and capturing things others may not have the opportunity to see,” Rames said. “My goal this past summer was to display Toledo — and really much of Northwest Ohio — in a positive light through photography. I’ve had the opportunity to meet some amazing people and get access to photograph some unique places as a result.”

Rames originally purchased a drone to capture images of ice floes on the Maumee River in January 2014. Since then, he’s photographed the Glass City Marathon, the demolitions of the Clarion Hotel and the former Toledo Edison Acme Power Plant smokestacks in East Toledo and more.

“My social media pages have become quite popular,” he said.

Rames also said he looks forward to more defined rules on drone flight.

“The current regulations make a few common sense points, but they leave a lot of gray areas,” Rames said. “In my opinion, the biggest problem with the current regulations is the FAA saying, ‘Absolutely no commercial use.’  They have given permission to a handful of companies to use them commercially, but their current stance is still don’t do it.”

Rames said he’s not interested in professional drone photography, despite frequent requests. However, he acknowledged that the market is currently ripe for picking.

“I’ll leave the market to [others],” Rames said. “I am content keeping photography and videography as a hobby and using my social media pages simply to help promote our region.”

Until new regulations come, Jackson and Myers are concentrating many of their efforts on helping teach new drone operators. The two are part of Drone University, a collective group interested in promoting education and safety in flying drones.

On March 14, TAM will captain the Northwest Ohio team for International Drone Day festivities, a new nationwide event created by ThatDroneShow.com.

The location of the Toledo event is still being settled, but Myers urges those interested in attending to check the TAM or International Drone Day Facebook pages for updates. Myers plans to perform free live demonstrations and teach attendees about the equipment used for drone photography.

For more information, visit toledoaerialmedia.com, exploringnwo.com and internationaldroneday.com/team-toledo-ohio.

Sandra Drabik never considered running for office.

Not as a child growing up in Toledo or as a student at Sylvania High School.

Not during her career in law and administration at the University of Toledo, where she met her husband, D. Michael Collins. Nor during her time in high-ranking roles with Gov. Bob Taft and Gov. George Voinovich’s administrations.

Not during her more than a decade of supporting Collins’ campaigns for City Council and mayor.

But on March 4, Drabik admitted she has “made a commitment to myself to explore” a run for mayor to finish her husband’s term. Collins died Feb. 6, five days after going into cardiac arrest while driving in South Toledo. He was 70.

The initial nudge came Feb. 22 when Drabik, 67, still reeling from her loss, answered a phone call at home. It was a “robocaller,” asking who should be Toledo’s next mayor.

She hung up.

“When that happened, it actually upset me quite a bit,” Drabik said. “I would think they would have been able to take D. Michael Collins out of their base. But it upset me so much that I knew I should think about it in the future. I think in my mind I said, ‘I will start thinking about this in mid-March.’

“They called twice, actually. I didn’t respond. But that call made me think that things are happening in this city. I really wasn’t watching what was happening for quite a while. I didn’t really see the news or read the papers. And that’s from a person who was seeing all the news every day and then talking about it with [Collins] when he came home. I went from that to a complete news blackout.”

The nudge came again after watching the election process for a new Toledo City Council president and District 4 representative. On March 3, Council voted Steve Steel president and appointed small business owner Scott Ramsey to fill the Council seat vacated by Paula Hicks-Hudson, who became mayor after Collins’ death.

“That reminded me City Council doesn’t get along real well, and there’s a lot of political bartering,” Drabik said. “The thing about Mike is, I think he made all of that irrelevant. He rose above that. And so it made me think, ‘I should think about this.’ But I still thought, ‘I will think about this in mid-March.’ Then I ineloquently answered a question today (March 4) that brought it all up.”

The admission came during a conversation with a Blade reporter.

“This was not planned,” Drabik said. “But Mike was so transparent. I couldn’t be any different than he was. And there was the question. And I answered it with, ‘I’ve committed to myself to think about it.’ Not that I’m thinking about it.”

Besides soul-searching, Drabik said she also needs to speak with her family, including Collins’ three daughters, before she makes a decision.

“I would never decide to do that without talking to family first,” Drabik said.

No matter who Toledo’s next mayor is, Drabik said she wants to see Collins’ hopes and plans come to fruition.

“I’ll tell you what he said to me on that Sunday morning after we went to Mass and I made breakfast. We were sitting here talking before he went to the meeting about the snow, and he was very excited,” Drabik said. “He said, ‘Southwyck’s gonna go. ProMedica is going already. And Chrysler, that’s so important, it’s going to go.’ I think those are important. But he had many others going on.

“When you talk about those things he was working on, the projects, those are the nuts and bolts and there is a lot of art and science to it. But on top of that was, if we can build trust in government and the people can know that it’s a great place to live and they tell everybody and we all help each other and we’re all ambassadors. He really believed this about Toledo. And he wasn’t a professional politician so he didn’t let politics get caught up in any of this.

“I do think Mike was a great leader and he already has a legacy. But I would like to see it achieved and even grow.”

Drabik, a registered Republican, said it’s premature to say, but that she would likely run as an independent, like Collins did.

“I think Mike turned me into an independent. I’m for sure Mike did,” Drabik said. “Mike was independent and this agenda is independent. And I can’t even imagine not doing it as an independent. That was something I learned from Mike. That was an important part of his strategy. I think to him the party affiliation was irrelevant and it became irrelevant to me.”

Drabik said she admired her husband’s drive, leadership, problem-solving ability and the way he persevered through a series of crises during his first year in office.

“The real leader in him kept many things moving at the same time as those crises occurred,” she said. “I think there would have been a  lot of  people who would have stalled, and he did not let it stall him.

“He was leading a team that was accomplishing economic development at the same time as all this. Because it can’t wait in Toledo. We’re on the threshold of an extremely positive time. And I really believe that’s because people trusted him. And he would live up to that trust. So they would trust government. I thought he really had it right.”

Drabik said she and Collins rarely disagreed on issues.

“I can’t even think of any case where we agreed to disagree, because I think when we got done sharing information, we got to the same point,” she said.

“The big picture of his vision, I would hope that’d be anyone’s vision for Toledo, that it really is coming into a new prosperous time and that companies will invest here and people will trust government and will love living here. And then the projects will go. So it’s really a time to figure out how to fulfill what the city can do to facilitate all that.”

Although she’s never held public office, Drabik’s job experience, particularly with state government, would serve her well as mayor, said Collins’ campaign manager and family friend Matt Zaleski.

“When you go over Sandy’s career in government, you need to really look at what she did, because the issues she would face as a mayor she’s already handled on a state level,” Zaleski said. “That’s really where, when we look at her as a possible viable candidate, that’s where it really resonates.”

As director of administrative services under Voinovich, Drabik’s responsibilities included public works, building projects, negotiations, land purchases, human resources, collective bargaining and purchasing, to name a few.

“To be director of administrative services, everything you do is a creature of state law and those are the same issues the city deals with,” Drabik said. “I touched city government in many ways at that time. For example, I was buying the police cars for the state and the municipalities buy off of that. I was supervising the construction of the prison that sits in Toledo. So that’s why I was Mike’s sounding board.”

The role of mayor would be a departure from her usual behind-the-scenes roles, which is part of why Drabik said she needs time to think.

“I don’t think it made me uncomfortable. I just didn’t seek political office. So I don’t know exactly what it would feel like,” she said. “But I was close to it.”

Collins would often remark that Drabik was more intelligent and politically savvy than he was, Zaleski said.

Drabik demurred modestly when asked about personal characteristics that would make her a good mayor.

“It’s harder to speak about yourself,” she said. “But I will tell you what a friend of mine said about me yesterday. She said, ‘I admire how you can get people to change their mind and they’re not even mad at you.’”

Both she and Collins were known as hard workers.

“I guess we appreciated that in each other,” Drabik said.

The couple met when she was serving as legal counsel and director of administrative services at UT and he was teaching there. He made an appointment with her to discuss funding reports he had to file with the federal government for the university’s Ohio Police Corps program. They hit it off and later made plans to go golfing. They married in 2005.

Drabik said the past month has been the most painful of her life, but she’s starting to feel a little more like herself again each day.

“All of the events surrounding Mike’s death were the hardest part of my life,” Drabik said. “But his daughters, our family, together we got each other through it. Eventually after a while you can start concentrating more on happy memories. It’s still a jolt every day when you wake up without him. But we had 14 years together, 10 years of marriage. Because we met each other later in life we didn’t really take anything for granted. We always said stuff. I don’t have any unsaid stuff to him. And he didn’t to me.

“Each day I am able to concentrate more on the beautiful things that he did for me and his family and the beautiful memories. Each day is hard and I know it will never go away, but I’m back to feeling more like myself for a portion of every day, not all day, and it’s because of faith and family and love. It’s very hard, but even a couple of weeks ago I don’t even think I could have answered your questions.”

Collins’ dog Chloe, a nearly blind and deaf 14-year-old golden retriever, still circles the house looking for Collins, Drabik said. He got her as a puppy shortly before the two started dating.

Now, they lean on each other as each learns to navigate unfamiliar territory.

“I sincerely made a commitment to myself to explore this in the near future. And I know that those words seem to slide together for some people, but I haven’t explored it. I made a commitment that I will,” Drabik said. “It’s just that I realized my timetable was maybe too generous to me and the city might need to know these things earlier for stability in city government.”

The morning after he was appointed to Toledo City Council, Scott Ramsey was out of the limelight and his seldom-worn suit and back to a more familiar milieu — wearing a well-worn hoodie and beanie, surrounded by boats and half-finished projects in the UpTown restoration shop he owns with his two younger brothers.

Ramsey, 39, of Ramsey Brothers Restorations, is excited for the opportunities his new role brings, but is clearly not yet completely comfortable with the attention. Hearing his name on a local talk radio program playing at the shop, he seemed embarrassed and quickly turned it down.

The political independent was appointed March 3 to fill the District 4 Toledo City Council seat vacated by Democrat Paula Hicks-Hudson, who became mayor Feb. 6 upon the death of Mayor D. Michael Collins.

Ramsey garnered the six-vote majority on Council’s first vote, with support from Democrats Steve Steel, Matt Cherry and Mike Craig, Republicans Rob Ludeman and Tom Waniewski and independent Sandy Spang.

“I’ve never been involved with either party,” Ramsey said. “I’ve generally voted for whomever I thought would do the job well.”

Ramsey will hold the seat until at least May 5, when a special election will fill the seat for the reminder of the year. There will be a primary in September and general election in November for new four-year terms for all six district seats.

Also at the meeting, Steel was voted in as Council president. Afterward he announced he would step down as chairman of the Lucas County Democratic Party in order to avoid the “appearance of partisanship.”

“I’m confident I can separate the political from the public side but I want to make sure that doesn’t become the story,” he said later. “Council shouldn’t be a story; the work that we do and the accomplishments we have should be the story.

“This is a time we need someone experienced in leadership. We have to have still waters right now.”

For District 4, independent Theresa Gabriel voted for University of Toledo professor emeritus Stephen Goldman, Tyrone Riley and Lindsay Webb voted for business owner and part-time UT professor David Johnson, Jack Ford voted for Jewell Lightner, formerly of ProMedica, and Larry Sykes voted for former Toledo Municipal Court baliff Yvonne Harper, even though Harper has withdrawn herself from nomination.

Also vying for the vacant seat were Alfonso Narvaez, who ran for the District 4 seat in 2011 and an at-large Council seat in 2013; 1370 WSPD host Scott Sands; Khali Maddox-Abdegeo; and small-business owner Terry Shankland.

Ramsey will face a fight for the seat if he chooses to run. Harper, a Democrat, and Narvaez, a Republican, were endorsed for the open seat by their respective parties and both said they plan to run in May. During her remarks to Council before the vote, Harper asked for her name to be withdrawn, saying she would get on Council “the old-fashioned way.”

“It will be a very steep uphill battle even to be able to retain this seat in May,” Craig said. “But in the meantime, I think he will be a stabilizing force on Council.”

Rather than deter him, Ramsey said challenges motivate him.

“When people say, ‘You can’t make that part,’ it makes me want to,” he said. “When people say something can’t be done, that’s very often not the case. When someone says, “Well, that’s how it’s always been done,’ that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.”

Ramsey grew up in Springfield Township and graduated from Springfield High School. He started as an engineering major at the University of Toledo before switching to a specialty degree called entrepreneurship, family and small business. However, UT eliminated the degree before he graduated, so he ended up in business management.

Ramsey and his wife Melissa have lived in the Historic Old West End since 2001. They have two children, Elliott, 13, and Jenna, 10.

Their home on Collingwood Avenue was built in 1912 by William Jackson, later known as Toledo’s “builder mayor,” responsible for many Toledo projects, including the Anthony Wayne Bridge aka the High-Level Bridge.

Ramsey’s love of boats started in fifth grade, when his dad received a 1960 Lyman Islander from his brother.

“We tore it apart and put it together and tore it apart and put it together,” he said. “My wife and I used that boat to boat out to an island to get engaged.”

The family business, at 329 20th St., started in 2005 and offers restoration, storage and maintenance of classic boats. Shortly after, the brothers acquired Dart Boat Company, a Toledo manufacturer of mahogany speedboats and components. The hand-built boats, comprised mainly of locally built parts, take an average of two to three months to build.

“It’s a historic Toledo company we have kind of reinvigorated with modern technology,” Ramsey said.

Their father, Jim Ramsey, is retired and also works at the shop.

The family also organizes the annual Toledo Antique & Classic Boat Show.

Ramsey is soft-spoken but passionate, prone to reading up on subjects that interest him, his father said.

“He’s not afraid. He doesn’t play politics,” Jim said. “What you see is what you get and he tells it like it is. He’s not going to offend people, but he’s going to be very diplomatic, very tactful. He does a lot of reading. If he wanted to learn something when he was growing up, and he still does, he gets a book out and reads. His grandfather and his great-grandfather did the same thing.”

Family and faith is important to Ramsey. He attends CedarCreek Church, but said he also supports a number of other local ministries operated by friends, including Western Avenue Ministries and Toledo Restoration Church.

Ramsey is passionate about neighborhoods, said Judy Stone, a real estate agent with The Danberry Co. who sold Ramsey his home as well as a couple other near-Old West End homes he’s fixing up to sell and serves with him on the Old West End Preservation Committee.

“He’s very humble about his accomplishments,” Stone said. “His restoration work is just incredible. He takes on that type of perfection in anything he does, and that’s really the way he will approach things. He will really look at the total picture, dissect it and put it back together. That’s his personality. It’s that meticulous detail to restoration where nothing is missed and that’s how I think he will approach being on Council.”

District 4 includes Downtown, the Warehouse District, UpTown, the Old West End and parts of north and central Toledo. Edna Brown, Michael Ashford and Hicks-Hudson were among the most recent Council members to hold the District 4 seat. All are Democrats and African-American.

“It’s a very diverse district,” Ramsey said. “But what people forget is it’s not just a district of residential properties, it’s a business district.

“Regardless of what my race is, my involvement with residential, the waterfront and the business side has given me a working knowledge of how different areas of the district work. I think that’s really what this district needs, regardless of any race. It needs someone who can advocate broad-spectrum across the district.

“I don’t proclaim I have all the answers but I really would like to focus on both business, neighborhoods and waterfront in our district.”

Spang said she thinks Ramsey will be a good fit.

“When District 4 was first mapped, there was virtually no one living in UpTown or the Warehouse District, so the district has really changed and the needs are very diverse,” Spang said.

“Scott is one of the young people who have made the choice to move into Toledo and he’s brought his business to District 4. He’s very involved in our waterfront, hosting the boat show, and he’s chosen to raise his family and renovate one of our historic homes in the Old West End, so I thought in Scott we had a candidate who could really serve the full district.”

Craig, who represents District 3, which encompasses East and South Toledo, has worked with Ramsey on the boat show. What really made a lasting impression on him though was Ramsey’s involvement with a garden project through Western Avenue Ministries years ago.

“That was pretty impressive,” Craig said. “Scott and his brother, even though they live in the Old West End, came to me in the Old South End about seven years ago. They had taken down a couple of vacant houses and made a community garden, because they thought the community needed that. They just took the initiative.

“They are involved in their community kind of in a quiet way. I think he’ll bring a good perspective to Council.”

Ramsey is also a landlord for several properties, all in District 4, which he said has made him aware of neighborhood safety issues.

“We have several properties on one block that have all witnessed break-ins within a short period of time, including many of our neighboring properties, so I think there is a crime issue that is deterring investment in the neighborhood,” he said. “And I think that’s what the [Lucas County] Land Bank is running into, why they end up accumulating more properties than they can get rid of in many instances. We have a lot of core city issues we need to deal with.”

Ramsey is interested in waterfront development, mixed-use urban development, revitalization of existing commercial properties and “general efficiency analysis coupled with strategic steps to improve city services on a department-by-department basis with the end goal being reduced costs and improved quality of life within our city,” he wrote in his letter of interest to the city for the position.

Like many others, he said he is encouraged by recent Downtown development, particularly ProMedica’s move Downtown.

“ProMedica is huge and I’m excited about that because they are on our waterfront,” he said. “[Promenade Park] is not a park that’s well-maintained right now, so I’m thrilled they are willing to take some ownership of that space. You can enjoy the waterfront and still have businesses right on the water.

“It’s something growing up that we’ve always heard about: revitalizing Downtown, revitalizing Downtown. I was never alive for a vital Downtown, to my knowledge, based on my age.”

He’s hoping small businesses get a boost from the ProMedica excitement.

“I think there is a momentum. The real question is how can we create more opportunities for small businesses in our Downtown area?

“One of the things I have noticed in our Downtown area is we have removed a lot of small storefront space and built big businesses that have then left Toledo or vacated to the suburbs. So you are left with large commercial structures with no small retail space or commercial space for smaller businesses. I don’t want to say I’m opposed to ever tearing down buildings, but I really think it’s important to maintain small commercial space that’s affordable for small businesses.”

He said he’s inspired by Chicago’s use of mixed-use space, where people often don’t realize they are walking past parking garages or apartment buildings because the street level contains retail shops.

“It’s important to maintain a walkable streetscape with things to go to and UpTown is starting to be that way,” Ramsey said.

He’s also impressed by Port Clinton’s use of its waterfront, such as condos with docks.

“We built a casino on the river and there’s no dock there,” Ramsey said. “I don’t like to gamble, but I would dock there and go wander around and eat.”

Anna Kolin, development director for the National Museum of the Great Lakes, works with Ramsey on the Antique & Classic Boat Show, held near the museum. Ramsey’s business has also done work at the museum, including exhibit installation and repair work, she said.

“I couldn’t say better things about him,” Kolin said. “He’s got his eye set on the community and work and bettering the community. I think he’s going to be a huge asset to Council.”