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Local family to appear on HGTV’s ‘House Hunters’

By
Toledo Free Press
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Jordan and Allie Darr’s search for a home will appear on ‘House Hunters.’ Photo courtesy Darr family.

A local family in the market for a new home decided to call on a reality television series for assistance.

Jordan and Allie Darr had been renting a home in Sylvania before deciding it was time to buy. Facing some difficulties in finding the right house, they turned to the Home and Garden Television (HGTV) network’s “House Hunters” to guide them through the process.

“We signed up online to be on the show, then we did a phone interview and a video interview, and then they picked us,” Allie said. “They asked about what we were each looking for in a house.”

Finding a home suitable for all of the couple’s needs was indeed a challenge. The Darrs are parents to three boys, all under the age of 3. Additionally, both Allie and Jordan do a significant amount of their work at home — Jordan is in sales and Allie is a photographer.

Darr Family

“Jordan and I disagreed on the size of the house, and it was very hard to find a house that fit our needs for a home office for Jordan, a photography studio for me and then also room for our three boys to homeschool,” Allie said.

Kathy Willis, a Realtor with the Danberry Company, was hired by the Darrs as a buyer’s agent. Willis was eager to assist them in their effort to be accepted on the show, despite some initial anxiety.

“When Allie first asked me to be on ‘House Hunters,’ I was in shock and so excited,” Willis said. “Then panic set in as we had to do an audition tape.”

Willis realized that appearing on the show with the Darrs would be a valuable experience.

“Being a real estate agent and being asked to be on the No. 1 real estate show is pretty exciting. It was fun to see how they put a show together,” she said.

After the Darrs were accepted, filming began. The entire process of auditioning, house hunting and filming took about two or three months, Allie said.

The couple, originally from Columbus, focused on the Perrysburg area during their search.

“We like the atmosphere there,” Allie, one of the WNWO Moms on the Go, said. “We like how cute the downtown area is.”

During the process, the couple focused on a few houses that would potentially suit their needs.

“Our Realtor worked within our budget to meet our criteria,” Allie said. “I like old and vintage, and my husband likes something more functional. He likes smaller; I like bigger. He likes simple; I am looking for something more unique and unusual.”

Willis added that the filming of the show did not distract them too much from the task at hand.

“The camera wasn’t ever in the way,” she said. “Sometimes we would have to do things over a couple times, just to get the right shot of things as we went through the houses.”

The end result of the Darrs’ search cannot be revealed until after the show’s airing, sometime toward the end of March, but Allie hinted that they may be back for another appearance on HGTV.

“They do a ‘where are they now’ episode. They come back and see where the house hunters are, because sometimes [the show] leaves the viewers hanging. Right now, we’re in the process of getting on that show.”

For more information, visit the Web site www.hgtv.com/house-hunters/show/index.html.

Local cupcake business featured in children’s book

By
Toledo Free Press
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From left, Nick Rokicki, Lori Jacobs, Dana Iliev and Joe Kelley. Toledo Free Press photo by Michelle Zepeda.

A local cupcake shop is once again being thrust into the national spotlight.  In 2011, Lori Jacobs and Dana Iliev, co-owners of Cake in a Cup in Sylvania Township, were featured on “Cupcake Wars” on the Food Network and won their episode. Now the duo and their treats are the subject of a children’s book with a positive message.

“I love it because cupcakes are so happy, so if they can go beyond making someone happy and give them a message of feeling great just the way you are, it’s a bonus,” Jacobs said.

She said a random call to the shop by authors Nick Rokicki and Joseph Kelley has turned into an amazing partnership.

From left, Nick Rokicki, Lori Jacobs, Dana Iliev and Joe Kelley. Toledo Free Press photo by Michelle Zepeda.

“We knew we wanted to team up with a local business because it is a way for businesses to get involved with literacy and get their own name out in schools,” Rokicki said.

Rokicki, a Toledo native, and Kelley, who is from Detroit, knew their next children’s book would be set in a cupcake shop. So they searched bakeries and cupcake shops in their hometowns and landed on Cake in a Cup.

“We researched a lot of cupcake shops and found out that Cake in a Cup do a lot for the community and are heavily involved,” Kelley said. “We knew we wanted to have a cupcake shop in my hometown or his hometown.”

“Casey and Callie Cupcake” — a frosted fable about being fantastic just the way you are —  is completely centered in Cake in a Cup.

“Our flavors, our storefront, the inside of our store and our exact cupcakes are featured. They gave them cute little names,” Jacobs said.

“We are super lucky to be asked  to join up with them.  The book captures the business and us,” Iliev added.

The book, set to be released on Amazon on March 15, sports illustrations of the shop, its logo and even Jacobs and Iliev.

“I asked them to make me thinner and they did, which I love, and Dana asked to be taller,” Jacobs joked.

“Casey and Callie Cupcake” touches on the topic of being the best you can be.

“It’s a story about two cupcakes trying to be better than the other one,” Kelley said. “Kids sometimes do that too much and that does lead to bullying.”

The main characters in the book, Casey and Callie, break down that lesson in a fun way.

“It’s Letting kids know they are fine the way they are and you don’t have to be better than anyone, you just have to be the best you can be,” Kelley said. That is a message Jacobs and Iliev are eager to spread.

“It should be fun going around to the schools and being involved in their reading programs,” Iliev said.

Jacobs added, “I love that we are part of promoting reading.”

For the authors, promoting reading is just as important as writing a children’s book with a message.

“A lot of kids we have noticed are not up to par on reading,” Rokicki said. The pair travels to schools in our area for free, sharing their books and getting kids excited about reading.

Rokicki and Kelley are best known for their first children’s book, “Pete The Popcorn.” They then teamed up on another children’s read, “Clipper Comet,” as well as a book that is part biography, “P.E.T.E — Pursuing Excellence Through Encouragement.” All of their books have a message.

“The easiest way to write is to find your message first and write around it,” Rokicki said.

A book signing will take place from 4-7 p.m. March 28 at Cake in a Cup, 6801 W Central Ave.

“Nick and Joe will be here signing books and we will be selling cupcakes,” Jacobs said.

“And we will be featuring Casey and Callie cupcakes on the book signing day,” Iliev added.

The book will also be available for purchase at Cake in a Cup.

If you are interested in having the authors or the girls from Cake in a Cup stop by your school for a visit and read to your students, visit www.PeteThePopcorn.com to send a request.

Treece: Bailing out Bernanke

By
Dock David Treece
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It pains me to say, but interest rates likely aren’t headed higher for quite a while. This is unfortunate, as they undoubtedly should be. As I’ve written numerous times before, rising interest rates would spur economic growth, mostly by encouraging borrowing.

Right now, people — potential homeowners, small business owners, etc. — have no reason to borrow today; they know that money will still be cheap tomorrow. Rising interest rates would give them an impetus to borrow now, because the cost of borrowing would be more expensive later.

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But, as stated above, rates won’t rise — not if Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve have anything to say about it. The reason why may surprise you: The Fed is trying to save its own skin.

Not many Americans realize that the Fed is not an agency of the federal government.

To borrow a popular phrase, “the Federal Reserve is no more federal than Federal Express.” But, on the other hand, the U.S. central bank isn’t exactly a private company, either.

Technically, after the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the Fed was organized by a group of large banks that owned the shares issued in their new venture. However, every year the Federal Reserve forwards any revenue left after paying its operating expenses to the U.S. Treasury.

Normally, this isn’t such a bad deal for the Treasury (or, by extension, the American taxpayer). The Federal Reserve sets, manages and executes U.S. monetary policy, basically on a pro bono basis. Granted, Americans may not always agree with the decisions made by the Fed or its chairman, but before the central bank came into being the United States averaged a major recession about every seven years. Since its creation, they’ve become significantly less frequent.

The structure of the Fed has also caused problems, some of which are potentially severe and presently percolating just beneath the bank’s limestone façade, ready to boil over.

For instance, due to the Fed forwarding all profits to the U.S. Treasury each year, the Bank of Bernanke has no war chest to fall back on if it starts to lose money because it hasn’t built up reserves over the years. If the Fed loses money, instead of dipping into savings it is forced to borrow from the Treasury to make up for its shortfalls. Obviously, this would not be a very popular move, politically speaking — especially given the current political climate.

The question at this point is why any of this is at all important. Rest assured — it is.

The U.S. Federal Reserve holds a massive bond portfolio, comprised mostly of U.S. Treasury debt. A good portion of this portfolio exists because during the financial calamity of 2008, tremendous amounts of debt were transferred from the private sector to the government. This is how the bailouts of big banks, insurance companies like AIG and automakers were accomplished.

Bond-based investments by the Fed aren’t exactly done by choice — it’s not as though Ben Bernanke can order the Fed to reallocate a portion of its portfolio to Apple stock. No, the Fed owns bonds, currency swaps and other instruments that allow it to help guide monetary policy.

The underlying problem here is that if interest rates begin to rise, and especially if they do so quickly, the Federal Reserve will sustain large losses on its bond portfolio.

Frequent readers will surely recall as a common subject in my columns the threat that bonds currently represent for investors, because as interest rates rise from the all-time lows where they are presently, the value of bonds outstanding will necessarily fall. (This is one of the very few facts of finance that can be reduced to a formula, and is always true.)

To bring this full circle, if interest rates begin to rise quickly and the value of bonds within the Fed’s portfolio begins to fall, the Federal Reserve may sustain losses (as opposed to profits). Because the Fed has been sending its profits to the Treasury, it has no reserves to fall back on to make up any such losses. This, in turn, could leave the Federal Reserve technically insolvent and in need of a bridge loan from the U.S. Treasury, which it would not likely receive in today’s political environment.

Dock David Treece is a partner with Treece Investment Advisory Corp (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and is licensed with FINRA through Treece Financial Services Corp. He provides expert content to numerous media outlets. The above information is the express opinion of Dock David Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.

Baumhower: The Shorties: The search for the next Katie Holmes

By
Jeremy Baumhower
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Most households with children have specific rules and expectations that are unique to that family. For example, some households require a certain amount of reading for the children, balanced with television watching and/or video gaming.  In the Baumhower house, my children are required to provide daily “content.” They can draw, sing, take photographs, create movies, write stories or scripts and of course they can read out loud or silently as long as they give a report of some sort. They are spoiled with technology from iPods to computers but instead of them wasting time playing apps or games, I encourage them to use the devices to their fullest educational capabilities.

 

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Recently I was invited by some members of the Sylvania Community Arts Commission (SCAC) to offer my thoughts on its upcoming Tree City Film Festival. Just imagine me, a 6-foot-5-inch man with zero social filters, wearing one of my trusted hoodies and a full scraggily beard, as I am “Lenting it Grow” once again, walking into one of Sylvania’s nicest restaurants to sit down with some of the cultural elite in our area. It was strange, to say the least. I had never been to a meeting that kept minutes or had a treasurer and  a specific agenda. It was a weird feeling, like I was peeking into a grown-up’s world. After witnessing numerous discussions about the upcoming film festival, the reason for my appearance was revealed. I had an idea I wanted to share: The Shorties.

My pitch began with me holding up my iPhone.

“With the evolution of technology, this device has become our primary camera and has also replaced the dreaded camcorder. This small black rectangular gizmo is often the No. 1 requested item on children’s Christmas lists. Why don’t we encourage kids to use it as more than an Angry Birds player and experience making art in a newer way? Let’s host a 3-5 minute film festival for grades eight and lower and give kids a taste of competition in something other than sports.”

To my surprise, the idea was warmly received, and to my further surprise, I found myself leading the charge. The next day, while playing with my T-Pain microphone, the title “Shorties” was created. And yes, I say it like T-Pain every time: “The Shorties: A Celebration of Film and Technology for Kids.”

If you are looking for an exciting new challenge for your family or think your child is the next Katie Holmes or Adam Sandler, consider submitting a 3- to 5-minute film to The Shorties. The film can be anything from a scripted movie to your child singing in the dining room. The concept of The Shorties is for it to be a family project, like the Cub Scouts’ Pinewood Derby, where the children are supposed to do the majority of the work, but we all know moms and dads tend to help out a lot!

The Shorties will debut April 12, with celebrity judges and a grand prize of an iPod Touch, courtesy of the MacCafé on Talmadge Road. It will be a great gala and a unique opportunity for your child to participate in something other than the norm.  The atmosphere will be festive, entertaining and different and will serve as the kickoff the weekendlong celebration of the Tree City Film Festival.

The Shorties are designed to make your child think outside the box, to create content and then share his or her vision with the world, or at least Northwest Ohio. With Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, many kids already feel they are mini-celebrities, so why not push their creativity in a Hollywood-style competition? They of course can’t do it alone and this hopefully will create lasting memories within your family. Who knows? Maybe we will find the next Katie, Bonnie Turner or Jamie Farr.

The true winner of that night will be the arts, but let’s not go and ruin it by telling the kids.

For more information about The Shorties, email [email protected]. For more information about the Tree City Film Festival, visit www.sylvaniaarts.org.

 

To friend one of Northwest Ohio’s Cultural Elite, search “Jeremy Baumhower” on Facebook and Twitter.

North Toledo housing projects reinvigorate residents

By
John McCartney
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Cranes Landing was dedicated on Feb. 27. Toledo Free Press photo by Sarah Ottney.

Although LoRece Morehead grew up on Franklin Street, near Downtown Toledo, her heart is in the North End. Two years after their September 1966 wedding, Morehead and her husband Robert Ingram, who had just returned from Vietnam, moved to Chase Street to set up their household. It was there that they raised their son and daughter, sending the children to the former Chase School, half a block away from their house.

Today, 45 years later, Morehead’s life has come full circle. Her new home is immediately across the street from her daughter’s house on Adrian Street inside of Cranes Landing, a 40-unit apartment complex for residents 55 and older built on the site of the elementary school her children once attended.

And Morehead is adamant that her two-bedroom, 884-square-foot apartment will be her home for the next 50 years “if God lets me live that long. I told my daughter already, ‘This is it. This is my last move. I’m not moving nowhere else. I’m tired of moving now.’”

Cranes Landing was dedicated on Feb. 27. Toledo Free Press photo                    by Sarah Ottney.

Civic pride
Cranes Landing, 3315 Mayo St., is the most recent housing project of United North, a community development agency that promotes housing and business opportunities in the Olde North End (ONE) Village, more commonly known as North Toledo’s Polish Village. United North is the result of the 2009 merger of two former community development agencies — Lagrange Development and NorthRiver Development corporations.

As United North’s chief executive officer, Terry Glazer leads a 14-member administrative staff in overseeing the programs and services offered to ONE Village’s residents and businesses.

Glazer said the success of Cranes Landing, which was formally dedicated Feb. 27, will soon be followed up with another 55-and-older housing project that will see the renovation of the former St. Hedwig’s Elementary School, 225 Dexter St., off Lagrange St. just east of Cherry Street.

Roman Catholic Bishop Leonard P. Blair closed the school after the 2005 academic year and the parish church on Sept. 1. The school building is architecturally solid, Glazer said, and if the funding proposals are approved and United North is able to purchase the property, it will renovate the former school building into another 55-and-older apartment complex for less than the $7 million it took to build Cranes Landing.

Divine intervention
Twenty percent of the 40-unit Cranes Landing had been leased when United North dedicated the building and held an open house Feb. 27. Two other residents who attended the open house were just as enthusiastic about their new apartments as Morehead.

Jacqueline Pearson, 55, and her mother, Rose Spears, 74, credit providence for their finding Cranes Landing.

“Actually, this place found us,” Pearson said. “By the grace of God, it just dropped in my hands. I had been struggling for almost 10 years after losing my grandmother, my mother’s husband and her sisters. So it’s been nothing but me, my mother and her brother.

“I’ve been the care provider, running between the both of them, and it was like just, a year and a half ago or so, I thought I was having a heart attack. And the doctor put me in the hospital and said, ‘You can’t do any more.’

“And I’m like, ‘I can’t stop. She has no other way.’ She’s my life. That’s my best friend. Whatever she wants, I’m going to do it. I gave up everything for her, everything to make her happy, to see her laugh every single day.”

Before the move to Cranes Landing, Pearson lived with and cared for her disabled mother in her mother’s home on Melody Lane. However, since her stepfather’s death six years ago, Pearson said she and Spears have faced financial hardships that were only getting worse with time.

“Living at home … shoveling the snow … paying somebody to maintain the grass. And we had a pool in the backyard. Tearing down trees … taking care of meds … and then trying to pay the utilities. It was not happening for us. It was not happening at all,” Pearson said. “And to own a house where you can’t pay the taxes on it. I found myself choosing between my mother’s life, meds and living.”

Spears was equally frustrated. Her sole source of income is Social Security, and she didn’t have enough income to pay her property taxes.

“I had problems keeping up with all the bills and things on Melody Lane,” Spears said. “I couldn’t pay the taxes. That’s what got me. I had to pay $1000 every six months. I didn’t have that kind of money.”

An affordable option
Affordability is one of the beauties of Cranes Landing, said Tiffanie McNair, Cranes Landing property/asset manager.

Apartments are leased following HUD (Housing and Urban Development) criteria. Applicants must earn less than 60 percent of the median gross income for all Lucas County residents to be approved as potential residents. For a family of four, that’s approximately $29,000 a year, to qualify McNair said. For a family of one, it’s about $25,000.

Once applicants meet the income eligibility requirements, they can sign the lease. A one-bedroom apartment (approximately 684 square feet) rents for $479. A two-bedroom apartment rents for $583. Prices are 60 percent of HUD’s affordable market rate. These are subsidized by LMHA.

‘A blessing from God’
Like Pearson, Morehead credits divine intervention for her new home.

“I call it a blessing from God,” Morehead, 65, said. “That’s all I can say. I’ve been blessed and I am still being blessed.”

Morehead said she is grateful for the open design of her apartment.

“I like it because it’s not congested and crowded,” Morehead said. “I know there’s other people that live here, but it’s still a lot of room. I like the convenience of there being a library here. I just wish they’d get some books up in there because I’m an avid reader.

“And the space. I like the space.

“I love just sitting here in the middle of the room in this one chair. My daughter wants to take me to get my furniture and other stuff, and I told her, ‘I’m in no hurry. I love this space.’

“I love my bedroom closet. I have a closet that I can walk into and my clothes are not screaming, ‘Get me out of here. I’m crowded.’ I’ve got plenty of room. My clothes are not squashed up. I just love it. And I like the walk-in shower. Just walk in to take a shower and walk out. It would be almost impossible to trip.”

“It’s terrific. I get up in the morning with a smile on my face and I go to bed with a smile on my face.”

‘I’m better off here’
Spears said she enjoys her new home because it has helped her regain some independence.

“I love the way this place is made,” Spears said. “My daughter’s on that end, and I’m on this end. So I feel free.

“And when she comes down here, I ask her, ‘What do you want?’” After a little laughter, Spears said, “And after she gets what she came for, I tell her, ‘OK. You can go home now.’”

The laughter flows more easily than it has in years, Spears admits.

“And she says, ‘Mama, you don’t never want me down here.’

“I say, ‘Not really.’”

And although it took Morehead almost five years to persuade her mother, Spears said giving up her home of 41 years was the right thing to do.

“I thank God that Jackie had me move,” Spears said. “I’m better off than I was in the house on Melody Lane.”

UT students to show their cooking chops

By
Brigitta Burks
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Five teams will spar to see who can create the best meal using a surprise ingredient in the inaugural University of Toledo “Iron Chef” competition on March 20.

“It’s going to be really, really fun,” said Jennifer Rockwood, director of the College of Innovative Learning’s First Year Experience, which is one of the programs sponsoring the event. The competition is based on the reality show “Iron Chef.”

Each UT team is made up of a faculty adviser, a residence hall chef and three students. The students are from UT’s Living Learning Communities, which allow students with the same interests to live in residence halls together. The participating students are slated to go through a training class for safety purposes.

Prizes include a trophy and the winning dish will be included in UT’s regular food services. There will be a people’s choice winner in addition to the judges’ selection.

Jennifer Rockwood

Rockwood said many of UT’s chefs, who will partner with the teams, went to acclaimed culinary schools. She added, “They really are trying to up the ante on the food you get when you’re away from home.”

She also said, “I am definitely a fan of cooking shows and I just thought it would be one more way to interact with the students. It’s another way to get them out of the classroom and into some fun stuff and yet these kids are going to have to get their game face on.”

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful learning opportunity for our students to showcase what skills they have in the kitchen, but also to practice some professional skills such as speaking in public,” said Interim Dean of Students Michele Martinez, also one of the competition’s judges.

Other judges include Chef Rob Campbell from Revolution Grille, Toledo Free Press Food Columnist Amy Campbell, LaScola Chef Moussa Salloukh, UT Student Government President Paulette Bongratz, Chef Labib Hajar from The Beirut, Blade Food Editor Dan Neman, 101.5 The River host Mary Beth Zolik, Toledo Mayor Mike Bell and Maumee Fire Department Captain Jim Dusseau.

Amy Campbell said she’s excited and “star-struck” about meeting the other judges.

“I watch ‘Iron Chef’ and I’ve always liked the play-by-play between the judges so I think that’ll be fun,” she said.

“It’s very interesting how food and cooking have become a spectator sport in this case.”

At the firehouse, Dusseau rotates cooking shifts with fellow firefighters, who he said favor smoked meats. However, he said, “I’m a little scared about this whole ordeal because there are some pro chefs that are going to be in it.

“I’m not a culinary expert by any means. I just like to cook and eat,” he said, adding that as far as the secret ingredient goes, he’d try almost anything so long as it’s not tripe.

The competition starts at 4 p.m. March 20 at the Ottawa East Dining Hall at UT’s main campus. The event is open to the public.

Burnard: Economic chicken

By
Don Burnard
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The game of economic chicken continues unabated in Washington with the latest episode, “The Sequester.” This was a plan so scary, so economically hideous, that only a pack of idiots would let it come to pass. It was dreamed up during our summer economic crisis du jour in 2011, to ensure that the involved parties would have to bargain in good faith lest terrible things that were harmful to the well-being of the economic recovery and the country at large be unleashed.

Never underestimate the ability of the idiots who pass for our legislators to do the wrong thing. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they failed to do the right thing. They pulled off an incredible display of fingerpointing while sitting on their thumbs doing nothing.

The original deal, passed with overwhelming Republican support with some Blue Dog Dems, is now being blamed on President Barack Obama by the GOP. Paul Ryan, the voice of all things economic for the GOP, gave one of his usual blame Obama speeches, completely ignoring statements he’d given crowing about how “we” got this passed into law. John Boehner tried to show how the GOP’s two bills from the last Congress’ session were being completely ignored, so don’t blame them for not trying to address the situation.

You’d think that someone who has been in Congress as long as Boehner has would know that all legislation dies with the end of the session, and if you want to vote on it, it has to be introduced as new legislation in the current session. Either he has no idea how his job as Speaker of the House works, or he’s trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public. Neither choice bodes well for our hopes for effective government.

The only plan, if you can call it that, is the Holy Grail of no new taxes on the rich. Meanwhile, outside the Beltway, things are about to get more difficult for us everyday folks. The consensus is that the sequester will cost at least 700,000 jobs in an already weak job market, and will shave at least half a point off of this year’s economic growth. Oh yeah, and if you get a flat tire tomorrow, it’s Obama’s fault. Wall Street is reaching new heights of profitability and CEO compensation is at an all-time high. If you own a gun shop, you’re doing very well. Other than that, things are about to get sluggish.

During his State of the Union address, Obama said, “The greatest nation on Earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next.” The GOP has made it an art form to totally obstruct anything that Obama has tried to do since Day One of his first term. They met the night of the first election and decided to totally oppose everything Obama, the will of the people be damned. They’ve even gone so far as to filibuster their own bill to block anything Obama tries to do to address any of the problems facing the nation.

Instead of offering plans to address things like mass unemployment, growing inequality, health care, foreclosures and increasing poverty, they’d rather manufacture crisis after crisis. This isn’t governance, it is spite. They come out and tell you what the American people want in their minds, completely ignoring the will of the voters. Instead of trying to woo voters with fresh ideas, they’d rather try to rig the system to get their way.

The facts are there, but they refuse to acknowledge them. Taxes are lower than at any time in the past 60 years. Fact: The deficit under Obama has gone down every year since 2009, more in the last 3 years than at any time since World War II, and is trending downward for future years. Fact: Spending under Obama is the lowest under any president since Eisenhower. Fact: Entitlements like Social Security don’t add a dime to the deficit. In fact, one of the largest creditors of our national debt, larger even than China or Japan, is the Social Security fund, which Congress has “borrowed” from for years. If you paid that back, we’d be solvent until 2060. Fact.

The sequester could be repealed tomorrow. Many of the problems that we face are manufactured for political gains instead of for the good of the entire country, and our nation has enough on its plate without adding to the problems. What we need are statesmen and stateswomen, not politicians. Think what we could do if we tried to work for the common good.

Email Don Burnard at [email protected].

Activist John McAvoy pushes for performance audits

By
Brigitta Burks
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John McAvoy is one of the founding members of the Northwest Ohio Conservative Coalition, which provides support for smaller conservative groups. Photo by Joseph Herr.

If you’ve ever attended a public government meeting in Toledo, there’s a good chance you’ve seen John McAvoy.

Usually wearing a cowboy hat, he’s involved at several government levels — “a little bit of national, quite a lot of state and a whole lot of local,” he said.

“[Local is] where you can make the difference. You could spend $100,000 on a national election and make almost no impact at all. But, boy, if you spend $100,000 locally, you’re going to make some huge, huge impacts. Of course, I don’t have $100,000 to spend,” McAvoy said with a chuckle.

In 2011, McAvoy served as state coordinator of The Ohio Project in support of Issue 3, which opposed President Barack Obama’s health care bill. He is also one of the founding members of the Northwest Ohio Conservative Coalition (NWOCC), which provides support for smaller conservative groups around the region.

Performance audits are a passion of McAvoy’s, who pushed for Toledo Public Schools to undergo one after the district put a levy on the ballot in 2012.

The father of two and grandfather of “a whole bunch” compared performance audits to a parenting dilemma.

“When my kids come through the door and say, ‘Can I have $20, $50?’ I might give it to them, but odds are good I’m gonna say, ‘What did you do with the last $50 I gave you?’ or, ‘What do you need it for this time?’” he said.

The Ohio Auditor of State offers performance audits. These audits look at the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of programs to potentially make improvements and establish savings.

“[NWOCC] decided to push these because they’re an excellent management tool that’s actually not very well known. What we’re really doing is educating the community,” McAvoy said.

“[The idea to push the audits] started about two years ago. We knew that no one or very few people were doing performance audits so we knew people were going to start putting levies on [the ballot], so we just waited until the levies or the rates started being introduced.”

Public utilities

His latest local drive is pushing for a performance audit of the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) after a potential increase in water rates was brought up. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified $300 million worth of upgrades and replacements needed for the city’s water system. About $260 million of that would be for plant upgrades in the next five years, according to Jen Sorgenfrei, the city’s public information officer.

John McAvoy

“We have not finalized a rate model yet, but based on the timeline needed to address the EPA concerns we would need the rates to take effect no later than January 1, 2014 — however, sooner is better because as soon as we have the rates passed by Council we have the ability to borrow,” Sorgenfrei wrote in an email.

McAvoy said the NWOCC would push for the City of Toledo as a whole to be audited as well.

Sorgenfrei said of performance audits, “We’ve actually been doing benchmarking in public utilities and public service to find communities situated similarly to Toledo (population, attractions, services, etc.) that excel at service delivery, examine how they do what they do, and determine how we can successfully benchmark Toledo services against this.  This has included looking at staff alignment, public education about the services we provide and changing how we go about delivering services to incorporate greater efficiency and better citizen access.

“We’re not ever against examining our performance, but there’s a difference between auditing performance and improving performance. … We’re always looking to do the latter.”

First reading

During a Toledo City Council meeting March 5, Councilwoman Lindsay Webb presented a first reading of legislation to put together a 10-person committee to further discuss the potential performance audit.

Council President Paula Hicks-Hudson said she expects legislation for putting the committee together to pass at the next Council meeting. She also said she believes the committee would be a broad representation of ratepayers in the area.

Hicks-Hudson added that it’s important to balance the potential need for a performance audit with the EPA’s recommendations to move forward at a safe speed.

“I don’t think it’s an either/or. The purpose of a performance audit is to see if there’s a way to do things better, more efficiently, and I think that’s a good thing to do,” she said.

When asked if an audit of the City of Toledo was needed, Hicks-Hudson said she wasn’t sure yet.

“It depends. I think you have to target [specific areas]. … We should look at our systems and make sure we are using taxpayer dollars wisely and being good stewards of it. … But the point is audits cost money, so I think we have to be sure we’re spending those dollars wisely,” she said.

McAvoy estimated that an audit of the DPU would cost about $150,000.

Workplace freedom

On a state level, McAvoy’s next move is serving as state coordinator for the potential Ohio’s Workplace Freedom Amendment, similar to Michigan’s right-to-work law.

“The Ohio Workplace Freedom Amendment guarantees Ohioans have a choice in whether or not they join a labor union and pay dues or fees at their place of work as a condition of employment,” according to the group’s website.

McAvoy said, “This is probably one of the most important statewide issues. We don’t seem to be addressing it; we seem to be knocking the can down the road because we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings.”

“[Workplace Freedom] is top of the list for people coming into the state wanting to set up shop,” he said.

Hicks-Hudson said she’d have to see the amendment to say more, but from what she knows, “I’m on the other side of that argument. I believe that people should be able to associate and that unions do have a place in protecting workers and workers’ rights.”

McAvoy said he became involved in politics about 10 years ago. He partially attributed his interest to his parents. His father was an Irish immigrant and his mother is a second-generation citizen.

“The family did a pretty good job of instilling responsibility and leadership. … They pretty much left us a country that we could pretty much do anything we wanted to in. There were a lot of opportunities as long as you were a responsible person and I see that dwindling away,” he said.

When he’s not attending meetings, McAvoy works with computers, performing process control work in factories. McAvoy is also a Wood County resident, something that he has been criticized for, he said.

“I still own property over here in beautiful Toledo. … That’s usually when people start harassing me. They’ll say, ‘Oh, you don’t even live here.’ I’ll say, ‘Well, there’s a problem here. I pay taxes here, but I’m not allowed to vote here.’ Which even aggravates me more,” he said.

Still, McAvoy said he tries not to get in political fights with people.

“I don’t really fight people. I fight for what I think is right and if you’re opposing me in that, I’m sorry, I’m not going to fight you; I’m going to fight for what I think is right,” he said.

Linda Bowyer, who met McAvoy about four years ago through tea party activities, said, “John is a very personable guy. He really is a nice man and he’s very fun to be around and he’s not hostile. He’s not in people’s faces.”

When asked what she saw in the future for her friend, she said, “I think he wants to be a community organizer. I think he wants to get people involved in their government, especially locally.”

McAvoy said he’s been asked to run for office, but doesn’t want to. For now, he plans to keep attending meetings and being active in the community.

“This has been pretty much a fulltime job on a fulltime job on a fulltime job. I kind of, joking, tell people if you need to have something done … you should find a busy person and give it to them and they’ll get it done,” he said.

For more information, visit http://nwohiocc.com/ and www.auditor.state.oh.us/services/performance/

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Pounds: Note to municipalities

By
Tom Pounds
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In October 2011, Gov. John Kasich signed into law Ohio House Bill 153, which broke the monopoly daily publications held on legal notices purchased with public money.

I have covered this ground before, but in light of recent events, it bears repeating. The bill eliminated the limitation that links charging for newspapers with being permitted to publish legal notices. It opened the legal publication business to any newspaper of general circulation that publishes at least once a week and meets other criteria, all of which Toledo Free Press satisfies. The bill also requires a participating newspaper to offer its best classified rate for such publications. Allowing newspapers such as Toledo Free Press to publish these notices is intended to ensure that the best rate offered by any participant in this market will be competitive. The result should be substantial savings for all who are required to publish legal notices.

Toledo Free Press has, predictably, had to fight to get local government to learn and respect the new law. A number of agencies have begun taking advantage of our lower rates to reach Lucas County taxpayers. Late last year, Toledo Free Press began the process with Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez to compete for delinquent property ads. Eventually, Lopez sought an opinion from the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, which, on Oct. 16, ruled, “[Toledo] Free Press would now qualify as a paper of general circulation.”

Shortly after that, Lopez opened bids for the delinquent property ads.

Lopez cited Toledo Free Press’ lower circulation in areas such as Neopolis and Curtice as reasons for awarding the legal ads to The Blade. That perceived shortcoming has been addressed.

But after the Village of Ottawa Hills published legal notices in the Feb. 10 Toledo Free Press, a Blade representative contacted village administrators claiming, “The Toledo Free Press does not qualify as a Newspaper of General Circulation as specified by Ohio Revised Code.”

This is not true, as evidenced by the opinion of the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office. Competition is fine; inaccuracies and distortions are unethical and improper.

Too many Lucas County officials are stuck in old models and counterproductive ways of thinking. There is a new reality, and while many fear and resent the changes, those changes are happening in many counties and will continue to chip away at reckless spending of taxpayer money.

Toledo Free Press will continue to compete for county and municipal legal ads, in what will undoubtedly be a long educational process.

Gov. Kasich amended this law because of the tough economic situation that municipalities face today. He recognized that it was not in the townships’ or residents’ best interest that public notices could only be placed in paid publications.

Your primary reason to choose us for your legal notices is that we more than fulfill the legal requirements and can save your citizens thousands of dollars in the process.



Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at [email protected].

Move to replace county jail gains ‘real sense of momentum’

By
Erin Holden
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The Lucas County Commissioners, in collaboration with the Lucas County Sheriff ’s Office, plan to submit a grant application requesting funds for a feasibility study on replacing the Lucas County Correctional Center.

The Lucas County Correctional Center, which was built in 1977, is “operationally obsolete and does not provide an optimal environment for inmates nor corrections officers,” according to a resolution requesting authorization to submit the grant.

The resolution was unanimously approved by the commissioners at their Feb. 26 meeting.


“The building does not meet today’s efficiency standards, requiring significantly more personnel than facilities of comparable size,” the resolution read. “Additionally, the physical plant has reached its usable life. There are several costly capital projects which will require attention in the short term to maintain the facility. For these reasons, it is essential that the feasibility of replacing the current correctional facility be considered.”

The Ohio Department of Development’s Local Government Innovation Fund offers grants up to $100,000 toward such studies, placing an emphasis on projects that are collaborative and involve shared services, said Megan Vahey Casiere, chief of planning and development at the Board of Lucas County Commissioners. Casiere said the application will request a specific amount, but declined to specify, saying the number is still being finalized. The application is due March 4.

The commissioners are collecting letters and resolutions of support from area partners to include with the grant application. Among the partners are a number of other local agencies and entities, including local municipalities and townships, judges, the courts, mental health agencies, the University of Toledo and others, Casiere said.

An executive committee made of members from the partner organizations has met and members will begin to study the feasibility of building a new facility versus refurbishing or repurposing the existing building, Casiere said.

“No one wants to make a decision in a vacuum, which is why we’re looking for the hard data,” Casiere said.

The group hopes to have the study completed within six months.

“There is a real sense of momentum on this issue,” Casiere said.

The feasibility study will move forward with or without the grant, she said.

“Everyone agrees this is something we need to look at now,” Casiere said. “[Receiving the grant] would be a great addition to our process. Certainly that would make things easier for us. It would be wonderful to take advantage of the available state funds, which is what it’s there for.”

According to Lucas County’s website, the Lucas County Corrections Center is a full-service adult detention facility, with the majority of the inmates being held on serious felony charges. The nine-story building, located in Downtown Toledo, includes six inmate housing floors with a recommended capacity of 346 inmates.

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