My first grandchild, Scarlett Jane Balch, was born March 2.
I’ve had a lot of titles in my life, but this week I got to add a new one: grandfather.
.
Scarlett Jane Balch was born at 4:49 p.m. March 2, weighing in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches long.
Exactly 27 years ago today (March 8) her mother and my baby girl Katy was born. It was as glorious a day as I can remember.
Scarlett was born in Galveston, Texas, because Katy wanted a Texas baby. Katy was born in Texas, as was her brother Austin. Harper, my third child, was born here in the Toledo area and is now an aunt at the ripe old age of 4.
Katy was the first grandchild for my mother and now Scarlett becomes her first great-grandchild.
You never think of this day when your baby is so little. But most of my friends are now grandparents, and that is a surreal feeling. The fact that Scarlett and Katy are both healthy is the most important thing I prayed for.
Now I pray she does not come up with some goofy name for me. My grandfather was called Bada, because my oldest brother Don could not say grandpa when he was young and that name stuck. My friend Ed Beczynski, who owns The Blarney Irish Pub, told me Polish grandfathers are called Dziadzia (Jah-jah), but that won’t be me. Since this baby was born in Texas, I am sure there will be some attempt to come up with a Texan-styled grandpa name.
Time will tell. The bottom line is we have a new baby coming back to the area in a couple weeks. I will make sure she is a Mud Hens fan. Just don’t call me Dziadzia Muddy!
My first grandchild, Scarlett Jane Balch, was born March 2.
Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at [email protected].
Phil Myers and James Jackson of Toledo Aerial Media will captain the Northwest Ohio team for international drone day on March 14. Photo Courtesy Toledo Aerial Media
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.
Phil Myers and James Jackson of Toledo Aerial Media will captain the Northwest Ohio team for international drone day on March 14. Photo Courtesy Toledo Aerial Media
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.
Please do this city and me a favor and give no attention to the so-called Nazis.
The National Socialist Movement has scheduled an April 18 visit to Toledo. This appearance is to “celebrate” the 10-year anniversary of the last time they visited.
If you can remember, in the weeks leading up to their last visit in 2005, media acted as a promotional vehicle, with stories about the group getting the permit, where and when the rally would take place, etc. All that attention, which hate groups like these crave, made their march an event.
The worst part about this year’s planned visit is the timing. The group is coming on April 18, the same weekend as our newest, unofficial citywide holiday, 419 Day.
419 Day is April 19, or 4-19, and is a 24-hour period where residents are asked to show their love for Northwest Ohio, including on social media. This special day, bolstered in recent years by Instagramers, has caught on to the point where bars and local businesses are now planning events to help celebrate Toledo and all those living in the 419.
419 Day was created to show love and pride for our city. The last thing we need are front-page headlines of a repeat riot, inspired by a group of people who only hate.
Many organizations and groups hold rallies and protests daily in our city; rarely do they ever get extensive media coverage. So why would we give any attention to this group, whose only message is to hurt others?
We in the media choose whether to make hate groups coming to Toledo a news story. Last time that choice was made, look at what happened. This city was baited into events that led to neighborhood riots, injuries and destruction of police and news vehicles. As Jim and Lou’s was burnt to the ground, we wound up as a top story on the national news.
The Nazis won that day; the city of Toledo lost.
Here’s a twist on a famous riddle: If a small group of hatemongers marches in a city that ignores them, do they make a sound?
No.
This time, let’s not be trolled by the lowest pieces of s*** this country has ever known.
Let’s ignore stupidity and put the focus on love. Let’s choose to not give them any airtime or ink. Let’s not make it worth their time to ever step foot in this city again.
It’s been 10 years, and we are a different city. This time, let’s ignore them.
Jeremy Baumhower can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @jeremytheproduc.
Sandy Drabik, widow of Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins, with dog Chloe, said she has Made “a commitment to myself to explore” a run for mayor to finish her husband’s term. She would likely run as an independent, she said.
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.
Sandy Drabik, widow of Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins, with dog Chloe, said she has Made “a commitment to myself to explore” a run for mayor to finish her husband’s term. She would likely run as an independent, she said.
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.”
In celebration of its eighth anniversary, EPIC Toledo will host “EPIC’s Emerald Birthday Bash” from 7-11 p.m. March 13 at The Blarney Event Center and a tent set up outside that venue on Huron Street.
The EPIC event will feature networking, entertainment and fun as the organization celebrates another year of engaging people and inspiring change, as its name suggests. Attendees can sip on a signature drink, the Irish Mule, dance to sounds of local band Last Call Heroes and enjoy food from local restaurants. A cash bar will be available.
Sara Swisher, EPIC Toledo director, said the event is a celebration of the organization’s relevance for the area’s young business community.
“It says that we are an organization that is continuously evolving in order to meet the needs of today’s young professionals and tomorrow’s community and business leaders,” she said.
Tickets are $10 and include a complimentary beverage. Cash payment will be taken at the door or attendees may register at www.epictoledo.com. EPIC’s Emerald Birthday Bash is open to members, young professionals, the business community and anyone 21 years of age or older who believes in EPIC’s mission of connecting emerging leaders to each other and the community.
EPIC Toledo was started by the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce to develop future business and community leaders, to provide emerging leaders with a voice regarding the future of the region, and to attract and retain diverse young talent to our region. EPIC Toledo has more than 1,500 individual members and 64 corporate members.
Other upcoming EPIC Toledo events include the Leadership Golf Outing on May 29 and the T-Town Dash on June 18.
Holey Toledough owner Chris Ritter is preparing to start selling his gourmet doughnuts in coffee shops and other spots throughout the area. Toledo Free Press star photo by Christie Materni
Chris Ritter knows dough.
Holey Toledough owner Chris Ritter is preparing to start selling his gourmet doughnuts in coffee shops and other spots throughout the area. Toledo Free Press star photo by Christie Materni
The longtime cook behind the new doughnut shop with perhaps the perfect name for a Toledo doughnut business — Holey Toledough — is preparing to distribute his fried flour products to the masses. That effort begins 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 7-8 during the Point Place Business Association Trade Show, which takes place at Lighthouse Landing Art, Antique & Craft Hall, 4441 N. Summit St.
There, Holey Toledough will give out free samples of its doughnuts as well as sell them for the first time.
Point Place’s DK Eats and Treats, also at 4441 N. Summit St., is the first confirmed retail location to sell Holey Toledough products.
After working in the kitchens of chef Rob Campbell at Mancy’s Bluewater Grille, Revolution Grille and his current job at Stella’s Restaurant and Bar in Perrysburg, Ritter decided to branch out on his own.
He chose doughnuts because he believes there’s a need in the Toledo market for gourmet, homemade doughnuts — and because, well, they’re doughnuts.
“I wanted to start off my own business thing, since starting a restaurant is way too expensive,” Ritter said March 3 while making his first batch of doughnuts in his newly rented kitchen space at The Savory Suite, a private dining hall in Perrysburg. Ritter purchased some used doughnut-making equipment and spent some time this winter working part-time at Haas Bakery in Oregon to get a crash course in pastries.
Early offerings (and approximate prices) are: vanilla bean glazed doughnut ($1.50), maple bacon ($2.50), apple cider-whiskey glazed fritter ($3) and a doughssant, Holey Toledough’s version of a cronut ($3-$4, depending on filling).
“I still get to apply my same creativity that I like about culinary and cooking to the doughnuts,” Ritter said. “But I wanted to branch out and do my own thing, make more money so I can have the ownership, something I can start marketing that I can have the creative freedom with. I’m taking everything I’ve learned from [Campbell] as far as using what’s fresh, what’s local, what’s seasonal. … I can do that but with doughnuts.”
Ritter is starting the business with his girlfriend, Michelle Fisher, and their 1-year-old daughter, Olivia. It turns out Olivia has been invaluable as a taster of the goods.
“She really likes doughnuts,” Ritter said. “I’m hoping for it to be a family business, something we can all do together and have more time together.”
While many sweet-based businesses make a variety of cakes, pies and other confectionaries, Ritter’s vision is more singular.
“I just want to specialize in this,” he said, looking at a rack of apple fritters about to go into the fryer. “I just want to make these as awesome as I can. … Doughnuts are in right now. But it’s not like doughnuts are a fad — doughnuts have always been around. I just want to make the doughnut better.”
Don’t expect any of the “just add water” to mixes from Ritter, either.
“I want to be the first one here to make my own recipes, use real apples — not out of a bucket,” he said.
It seems Ritter may be filling a hole in the local baking scene.
He started a Facebook page Feb. 5 with the goal of garnering 300 likes in a month’s time. Five hours later, Holey Toledough had amassed 400 likes. By March 5, that number had grown to nearly 1,700.
Toledo Free Press Photo by Christie Materni
Holey Toledough will use Facebook to provide updates on locations and new batches of doughnuts. Gluten-free and vegan options will often be available, Ritter said.
Freshness will be of utmost importance to the company, said Ritter, who will essentially work third-shift hours to make and deliver his doughnuts to shops before they open their doors each morning — the key word being “each.”
“Wherever I’m selling, they’ll be dropped off fresh that day,” Ritter said. “It’s in the sales agreements that I don’t want anybody selling day-old ones half-off.”
Ritter is in talks with coffee shops in Toledo and Perrysburg about carrying his doughnuts, as well as the Toledo Farmers’ Market.
He’s also discussing the possibility of doing a doughnut-beer pairing event at Maumee Bay Brewing Co. during American Craft Beer Week on May 11-17.
While Ritter plans to continue working at Stella’s for now, he has dreams of making Holey Toledough his full-time and only gig within a year, a goal he admits is aggressive.
“The goal is to start small, doing the little wholesale outlets and the farmers markets,” he said. “Then I want to do a Kickstarter, apply that toward a small business loan and then get a storefront.”
For more information, visit Holey Toledough’s page on Facebook and Instagram.
Scott Ramsey at Ramsey Brothers Restoration and Dart Boat Company, the business he owns with his brothers in UpTown. Ramsey was appointed March 3 to fill the District 4 Toledo City Council seat vacated by Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson. Toledo Free Press photo by Christie Materni
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.”
Scott Ramsey at Ramsey Brothers Restoration and Dart Boat Company, the business he owns with his brothers in UpTown. Ramsey was appointed March 3 to fill the District 4 Toledo City Council seat vacated by Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson. Toledo Free Press photo by Christie Materni
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.”
Scott Ramsey, who lives in the Old West End, was appointed March 3 to fill the District 4 Toledo City Council seat vacated by Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson. Toledo Free Press Photo by Sarah Ottney
“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.”
Kasten said in a Facebook post March 3 that she plans to keep the 3-month-old shop going, but she’s asking for the community’s support.
A post on the Simply Stated and Painted Facebook page reads:
“Friday, March 6th will mark the 3 month anniversary of Simply Stated and Painted, which was but a mere dream in the late fall of 2014. If it wasn’t for my husband saying “you can’t,” we wouldn’t have.
“My son, Chip, did the painting, built the shelves, the displays for the front windows, the paint center, and hung anything we asked him to. My daughter, Dayna, stocked the kitchen, bought the cash register, took care of the utilities, the credit cards, arranged furniture, unpacked bisque and helped price all of the merchandise. We did it! We opened on December 6th.
“Dayna was going to handle the day-to-day operations and I would work the evenings and weekends until I could retire. But, as most of you know, Dayna passed away just eight days later on December 14th. To say our family was devastated would be an understatement! Dayna left behind her daughter, Regan Faith, age 14, two stepsons, three brothers, nieces, a nephew, uncles, aunts and cousins, and a very large hole in her parents’ heart. She also left shoes to be filled at the store.
Charles “Chip” Kasten
“Chip tried filling in during the day, but that only worked for a week or two. What most of you do not know, Chip passed away on February 15th, two months after his older sister. Chip left behind his fiancé, Heather, a daughter, Emma, age 8, and a son, CJ, age 4, and a grieving family.
“Simply Stated and Painted is the legacy they have left to me! This store means a great deal to me and the family they have left behind. The store has been featured on a local news channel as a new business, and Matt Liasse wrote a great article in the January 25, 2015 Toledo Free Press about the store. We have hosted a Sweet 16 Party, a birthday party that wasn’t a party, a party and a girl scout troop. I have had the pleasure of meeting and helping several customers – those who said they couldn’t paint have been amazed when they see the finished product. I don’t think I’ve seen a bad finished piece since we opened! But, I need your help — and I’m not good at asking for help. …
“I need your business. I need the store filled with you and your friends! I need you to sit in the chairs and paint something. While you’re doing that, I bet you’ll have fun, and so will I. Please stop in and look around. We are open Wednesdays and Thursdays 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Fridays 12 to 8, Saturdays 10 to 6, Sundays 12 to 5. We are closed Mondays and Tuesday, I have to pour greenware sometime!”
The shop is located at 3322 Glanzman Road. For more information, visit facebook.com/SimplyStatedandPainted.
“A moment lasts all of a second, but the memory lives on forever.”
This framed saying hangs on the wall of Simply Stated & Painted, a ceramics shop at 3322 Glanzman Road. It’s something that could be found on a magnet in a department store or in pretty typography on Pinterest. But for Dayna Kasten-Briggs, the words resonated.
Toledo Free Press photo by Matt Liasse
In 2000, Kasten-Briggs suffered an arteriovenous malformation rupture while four months pregnant. She had to undergo a 10-hour brain surgery. Although she survived, the doctors didn’t think she would walk, talk or feed herself again. They were wrong.
“Everything was a miracle,” her mother Sandy Kasten said. “Once she cleared rehab, she could do anything.”
Her biggest symptom was her spotty memory; she would often tell the same story multiple times or forget where she put things.
Kasten-Briggs and Kasten opened Simply Stated & Painted on Dec. 6. The shop provides molded ceramics for people to paint, ranging from glass sock monkeys and coasters to candy dishes and more.
On Dec. 14, eight days after the shop opened, Kasten-Briggs died at home with no clear cause. She was 37. On that same day, her daughter turned 14 years old.
Family affair
When Kasten-Briggs’ marriage ended, her daughter decided to stay with her father. Kasten-Briggs became depressed and Kasten took it upon herself to cheer her daughter up.
Having “played” with ceramics for 20 years, Kasten decided to introduce the art form to her daughter. After only a few classes, Kasten said it became all she could talk about.
“She could relax,” Kasten said. “She would sit there and not have to smoke a cigarette.”
The two became a team and started looking for places to open their shop, while trying to create a business plan.
The shop opened after five weeks of preparation. Kasten-Briggs was excited about the venture.
“She was such a vital part of the shop,” Kasten said.
Kasten-Briggs maintained a lot of the shop. She was so busy it took her five weeks to finish a Spider-Man mug, one of the last things she made.
After her daughter died, Kasten had to quickly master the cash register and acquire passwords for all of their accounts. Every time the paper towel roll is empty in the restrooms, Kasten cringes because Kasten-Briggs always took care of that as well.
What she left
The shop has retained much of Kasten-Briggs’ essence. Her desk is still where she kept it. The music that plays (including Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” and Rihanna’s “Rude Boy”) was hers. An angel Kasten bought for her daughter and a coffee cup Kasten-Briggs made are displayed on a shelf.
Toledo Free Press Photo by Matt Liasse
The shop was opened with children in mind, as a place to host birthday parties. Kasten-Briggs loved kids and saw the shop as a place for them to be exposed to the art world, Kasten said.
“Kids mean a lot to us,” she said. “We want kids in here painting and doing clay because a lot of schools don’t have that now. A lot of the kids are missing out.”
For the price of the piece, ranging from $13.95-$59.95 depending on the size, customers can take as much time as they want to paint their purchases Kasten helps along the way.
She now works at the shop on evenings and weekends in addition to her full-time job at a law firm.
“If I wasn’t here, I’d be down in the basement painting or pouring,” she said. “The laundry gets backed up a little bit, I noticed today, but [having something for Kasten-Briggs] was more important.”
Simply stated
Behind the cash register, two glass plates that Kasten-Briggs made hang under another saying: “Life is measured by the moments that take your breath away.” Kasten added those words herself.
The shop closed when Kasten-Briggs died but reopened Dec. 21. Kasten said she wants the shop to stay open.
“[Kasten-Briggs] worked for it [and] it’s something I worked for and I think that’s what she’d want,” she said.
She said she finds peace in the shop. Her husband doesn’t spend time there because it reminds him too much of his late daughter, but that is what Kasten likes about it.
“We worried what would happen to her when something happened to us,” Kasten said. “This was our way of giving her something that she could do once we passed away, not vice versa.”
Toledo Crush will “suspend operations” in Toledo for 2015 with the team expected to return in another Ohio market by 2017, according to a post on the Legends Football League (LFL) website.
The women’s 7-on-7 tackle football league, which started in 2009, was formerly known as the Lingerie Football League. The league was rebranded as Legends Football League in 2013. Players wear helmets, shoulder pads and cleats — but little else.
Three other LFL teams also suspended operations this year, according to a post titled “State of the Franchise”:
Baltimore Charm – Will return to play in April 2016 with a move to Washington DC / Northern Virginia.
Jacksonville Breeze – Will shutdown operations and relaunch in another Florida market within the next three years.
Green Bay Chill – Will suspend operations, as the franchise expects a full overhaul prior to its return.
A representative from LFL was unable to be reached for comment. Al Purdie, marketing manager at the Huntington Center, said no one from the league has been in touch with him.
The Toledo franchise, formerly called Cleveland Crush, announced in December 2013 it was moving from Cleveland to Toledo. It played two home games at the Huntington Center during the 2014 season.
In 2013, league founder and chairman Mitchell Mortaza said he was enthusiastic about the move to Toledo. Open tryouts were held in early 2014 and a team put together.
“Cleveland is an incredible sports town and the Q Arena is one of the finest arenas in the country. While it was an incredible combination for us, it simply did not fit within our business model moving forward,” Mortaza said in a 2013 news release. “Toledo and specifically the Huntington Center is an incredible setting for LFL Football and it also provides proximity to draw athletes, coaches and fans not only from Toledo but Cleveland and Detroit as well.”
The LFL also has leagues in Canada and Australia with plans to launch a league in Europe this year.
What tools can you use to grow your money? If you think about your money and retirement, where can you put it to help you reach your retirement goal? We ask folks this question as they come to us to form a retirement plan, and we get a variety of answers: stocks, mutual funds, bonds, annuities, gold, real estate, CDs, savings accounts, money market accounts, oil and gas, currency, etc.
.
Let’s talk about some of these for a moment, and the possible results.
With stocks, you have the potential for the stock to increase in value. You have a piece of ownership in the company and if the company does well, your share values may increase. How much? Who knows? It depends on a lot of factors. If you are fortunate enough to invest at the right time, you may experience huge increases in values over a short period of time. If your timing is bad, you could experience huge losses.
If you don’t like risk, you may have much of your money in the bank. With the backing of the federal government on your deposits, you may feel safe from the possibility of losing your money. What are bank accounts currently paying? Five to 6 percent, right? Maybe back in the good old days, but you would be lucky to get anything like that in today’s interest rate environment. It seems like banks act like they are doing you a favor by holding your money for you and not really paying you much in return, all the while charging account fees. However, in many cases bank accounts are liquid. You can drive down to your local bank branch and draw it out.
Bonds are viewed by many as safer than stocks. But are they, really? When interest rates go up, the values of bonds go down. With interest rates very low, ask yourself, “Where will the rates go in the future?” and “What will it do to the value of bonds?” One result we can get from a bond is potential tax benefits. If we buy municipal bonds, we can get some tax advantages that other investments do not offer.
How about annuities? Our view is there are good ones and bad ones. Annuities offer tax deferrals and the opportunity for income for life if you exercise certain options. This means if you start taking a fixed income stream for life from an annuity, even if your money runs out, the insurance company still has to continue paying you that income for the rest of your life.
So far we have talked about tools to use with our money, and the results we may experience. What matters most to you in life? When we ask this question, we get answers like health, family, kids, grandkids, faith, pets, etc. If the tools you use make you a lot of money but you lose your health, will the amount in your bank account help you?
When The Retirement Guys help formulate a retirement plan (we call it The Retirement Game Plan), we think it is vitally important to come up with a comprehensive plan that ultimately helps you enjoy and focus on what is important. Think about what that is for you.
Do you have a written income plan? If not, why not? Without income, there is no future (retirement). It’s all about income. If the answer is no, you’d better get with someone that can sort it out quick. I (Mark) sure don’t want to be stressed out worrying about if I will outlive my money in retirement, and I bet you don’t, either.
For more information about The Retirement Guys, tune in every Saturday at 1 p.m. on 1370 WSPD or visit www.retirementguysradio.com. Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC. NEXT Financial Group, Inc. does not provide tax or legal advice. The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group. The office is at 1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, OH 43537. (419) 842-0550
