Tim Riordan is a man without a future. He’s already receiving his pension- and drawing a nice salary for his City Manager position. He’s holding down the fort, in a defensive position praying for an economic turnaround that’s going to save his, or his successor’s behind.

As a good faith measure, he’s taking a tiny pay cut:

Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan is volunteering to take a pay cut worth three days of his salary — $1,700 — in addition to the three-day unpaid furlough he and other management employees took earlier this year.The Dayton City Commission approved the pay cut at its meeting Wednesday, July 21.“We are asking people to make sacrifices,” Riordan said. “Before I do that, I want to use myself as an example.”

via Dayton City Manager volunteers to take pay cut.

Of course, he’s preparing to ask the city staff who got their “step increase” last year- without approval from the commission- to give it back.

Fighting a rear-guard war is never how you win a war.

The problem is, Dayton hasn’t identified and capitalized on what can make it a winner. We’ve been doing the Hail Mary “economic development” incentive initiative for over 15 years and seen a huge FAIL as employment has shrunk and companies have left town. We never seemed to have enough chips in our stack to play with the big boys. NCR went to Georgia for over $100 m, and the executive suite went to NYC because the Schuster Center isn’t Broadway, and the Dragons aren’t the Yankees.

Suppose we announced to the world that our days of diverting tax dollars to corporate welfare are over. We guarantee not to tax you anymore than we need to pay our infrastructure and public safety bills. We’d also set some goals for public lifestyle improvements- a plan of what we hope to achieve in the next 5 years in terms of parks, recreation, schools, neighborhoods. We’d have set goals, with set price tags and set completion points. We’d get out of the development by reaction to private whim ( a local company wants a handout to build wind turbines) and get into the proactive planned strategy mode.

Plus, it’s time to use our loss leader.

Dayton actually hiked its water costs a few years back, not listening to its biggest customers that the new prices were out of reach. The first reaction by Cargill- “we’ll just drill our own wells” which they did. Delphi ended up leaving town. We’re now running at less than 50% capacity- we also pushed everyone’s water bill up (mine tripled over the last 10 years- did yours?). This was how we gave the people “no new taxes” as politician-speak loves to go- but, unfortunately, it also took away taxes as businesses left due to the killing off of our one really competitive weapon: cheap, great water.

Suppose we started giving away our water so cheaply that the county couldn’t compete? We’d gain more water customers of course, but in exchange for it- we ask for some things like an end to incentives there as well. No more financing Teradata moving a half-mile on the taxpayers, or more money into building new subdivisions when we already have a glut of homes. Would we start to have a fighting chance? How about a single regional income tax rate- a uniform 1.5% that’s shared based on a formula calculated on population density. All of a sudden, we’re sounding like a fighter, instead of a punching bag.

Tim Riordan is probably the best person for his job- only because he knows how to play the game here and knows the players. The problem is the game we’ve been playing has been Russian Roulette with more than one bullet.

It’s time to change the game. But, we need a man with a plan.

While it’s almost impossible to figure out why the Dayton Development Coalition gets to hand over no-bid contracts to  Congressman Turner’s wife, and pays its President almost more than the City Manager of Dayton and the County Administrator COMBINED, it’s even more interesting to think about what could be done with the money instead?

Regional government could cut the overhead of every taxpayer in the County- but, instead, it seems we just keep hiring people. For an area with a decreasing population, we sure seem to be able to hire more and more people to “grow the region.” The only thing that’s been growing is the number of overpaid bureaucrats, with very fat paychecks.

Several unconnected sources have informed me that the Dayton Development Coalition has a new hire. Of course, going to their website won’t tell you that- and according to this person’s former employer- she’s still working there:

Sharon Howard

Sharon D. Howard currently serves as Executive Director of Community and Public Relations for WDTN-TV, Dayton NBC affiliate. Included in her many duties she is the host of “Dayton and Beyond,” a weekly public affairs program. Over the years, she has interviewed such notables as Johnnie Cochran, Kenny G, Jerry Springer, Gloria Steinem and many more. She coordinates all station community projects, including Channel 2’s COATS FOR KIDS and FOOD FOR FRIENDS. She also is responsible for administering station community and public relations.

Howard is affiliated with numerous civic and volunteer organizations including the Sinclair Community College Foundation Board of Directors, the Board of Directors of Culture Works, Board and Founding Member of the Dayton Area Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the Salvation Army Board of Trustees and the Kettering Medical Center Foundation Board of Directors. She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Tau Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and The Dayton Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. In December of 2005, she was appointed by Ohio’s Governor to serve on the Ohio Arts Council Board where she chairs the Education Committee and serves on the Executive Committee. Howard holds a BA degree from the University of Dayton.

via WDTN Website: Sharon D.Howard.

However, on Jan 8, 2010, the DDN reported Howard had been part of a WDTN downsizing. Now, I’m the first to say- I think Sharon is a wonderful person- and extremely talented, but her quiet hiring by the Dayton Development Coalition, an organization that is quasi-governmental and accepts public money, leaves me wondering exactly what job she is filling and how many people were interviewed? Sources have said that Howard is being paid via funds provided by DP&L- a place well known as a landing ground for political types either being put out to pasture or being cared for and fed until they may be useful. The list of DP&L alumni is long- however, I don’t have time to confirm the names that come to mind- but Tom Studevent and Kevin DeWine (while he was a State Rep) are two absolutes. (If you have more- please add in comments).

Howard’s salary at the Dayton Development Coalition is reputed to be over $110k/yr. Nice place to land, if you know the right people. It’s even better than what State Senator Jon Husted gets paid by the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce for a job he never has to show up for.

If the region wants to get serious about “economic development” we’re going to have to get serious about creating a single development group, preferably non-governmental (like, duh, the Chamber of Commerce) and stop hiring “friends and family” to do pretend work while the tax base shrinks and the population goes broke supporting all the family members of elected officials and political party favorites.

The problems that this “circle of friends” who’ve been running the region for way too long, from Corporate Chieftains to Political Party Potentates, is that the people (taxpayers) who ultimately get stuck with the bill for fountains with laser shows, Corporate Headquarters that are tossed aside after two and a half years and expensive ad campaigns proclaiming “get midwest” can’t afford it.

The taxpayers have lost trust in the people who run the region behind closed doors, yet, once again- we’re seeing the chess pieces moved around by an invisible hand- that’s beyond reproach.

Had enough? Wait till the upcoming exposé by Dayton Daily News business reporter- John Nolan, who could possibly write a Pulitzer=worthy piece on the Monarchy (or Mafia) of Montgomery County. We’ll see what the Dayton Daily decides to print. It only took them a year to catch up with the Qbase debacle- cleanly leaving out the huge donations to politicians in exchange for multiple handouts.

But, in case the DDN doesn’t run anything, you still have esrati.com. I’m just wondering when I can get a job like Ms. Howard.

In the UK where me Mum is from, they have a word they like to use for layoffs and for downsizing: redundant. It even has specific legal meaning.

In Ohio we’ve never met a jurisdiction, legislator, or representative that didn’t think the world couldn’t live without them or what they do. It’s contributed to government getting bigger- and having the net result of driving costs up- and jobs and people away from the State. It’s why Republicans talk about smaller government all the time (but do squat to make it happen- Ohio continued to hire people under Bob Taft and a Republican Statehouse).

Now- the DDN reports:

Montgomery County has more tax levies on the ballot next week than any other county in the state, Ohio Secretary of State records show.

The county has 17 property tax levies on the May 4 ballot, one more than Cuyahoga County, the largest county in the state. Of those, eight are school levies and the rest are township issues replacing, renewing or adding to existing levies.

Of course, growth in government has been as unchecked as our sprawl, where the amount of developed land has increased at 3x the number of people.

Montgomery County’s 92 taxing districts have 277 levies on the books today, 18 more than a decade ago, according to county Auditor Karl Keith’s office. The total effective millage, or net tax rate, for homeowners and agricultural land owners has grown 25 percent over that time.

Some say the number of levy requests next week — 431 statewide — reflects a fractured system of local government and education, one that’s inefficient, costly and confusing to voters.

“Because there are so many of these jurisdictions, (voters) really don’t know what the priorities are, especially now in this environment — people are a little bit cranky, they’re tightening their belts and they’re wondering if they can afford another tax increase,” said Mark Partridge, an Ohio State University economics professor who studies rural and urban issues.

Partridge advocates a regional approach to government, where there’s greater collaboration and less competition among neighboring communities for jobs and development, tax dollars and services. Such a system could lead to more accountability, too, he said.

“When there’s too much local government, no one’s really accountable; no one knows who to blame when things go wrong or who to credit when things go right,” he said.

Of course the “Think Tanks” can tell us the obvious:

Partridge’s views are shared by researchers from the Brookings Institution and the Greater Ohio Policy Center, two pro-urban think tanks that issued a report in February entitled, Restoring Prosperity: Transforming Ohio’s Communities for the Next Economy.

The report found Ohio has some 3,800 local government units, including 250 cities, 695 villages and 1,308 townships. The state has a total local government payroll 10 percent above the national average and it has the ninth-highest local tax burden in the country, compared with the 34th highest for state taxes.

All of which is “undercutting our ability to be economically competitive,” said Lavea Brachman, Greater Ohio’s co-director.

“We have a preference for local service delivery and that’s understandable, but it’s not sustainable these days,” Brachman said Monday, April 26.

It’s been going on with the School systems as well- but the consultants can’t even get to the obvious- that 88 counties is too many- and that Countywide School systems like North Carolina and Georgia are what is needed at minimum- and since State standards are what is really being governed- there may not be any need for much of the County level administration either – imagine if we dumped responsibility down straight to the Principals of each school? Aren’t they the ones ultimately tracked now for delivery of test scores?

On the school side, Greater Ohio and Brookings say the state needs to cut the number of school districts it has by a third to around 400. “We’re 47th in the nation in terms of spending that goes to instruction and ninth (for spending) that goes to administration,” Brachman said. “That really raises questions about where is this additional funding going, is it contributing to quality in the classroom.”

all above indented material via Montgomery has highest number of tax levies on ballot.

Instead of voting on Constitutional Amendments on what piece of Real Estate a Casino should be on (Issue 2)- why don’t we start mandating for government reductions through consolidation and the elimination of unnecessary services (like “Economic development” which just seems to be an excuse to hire friends of politicians to pay them big bucks- to give our money away to Corporations that then donate to the politicians in an never ending cycle).

A ten year plan to cut numbers of jurisdictions by half and then half again in an additional 10 years would do more for “economic development” in Ohio than anything else. We can’t afford to continue to “buy” jobs from other States- and stay in business:

A lot of pieces, financial and otherwise, came together in the past year to convince law firm WilmerHale to locate its new business services center at Miami Valley Research Park.

Jay Westcott, the firm’s assistant managing partner and a Springfield native, said moving support operations from Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., would allow the company to save money and improve performance by consolidating to a single site.

There was also a list of financial incentives, most significantly a $1.46 million job creation tax credit approved Monday, April 26, by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority.

The Montgomery County Commission approved a $250,000 economic development grant April 20, and the city of Kettering and Miami Valley Research Foundation each pledged $500,000 in support.

via 187 new research, technology jobs coming to area.

Until we’re on a level playing field with all the other states, in not handing tax dollars and tax breaks to companies, the tax burdens on the rest of the State will continue to drive business and people out.

Any local government not discussing merging, reduction in taxes, consolidation and “redundancy” should be getting the message at the ballot box as the overtaxed citizens say enough is enough and start voting levy’s down.

At the State level- we should be implementing new laws to allow regional government, eliminating the “township” status for anything other than pure agricultural land (no more auto plants in cornfields- or the taxes on farmers and food go way up to support the infrastructure of automotive plants for example).

When have you heard a politician talking about this issue with a real, concrete plan? Why not?

Students of advertising know that when one of the greatest ad agencies of all time got going, the question was posed “how big can we get before we get bad?” It was the early days of Chiat/Day- the ones who brought you the Energizer Bunny, the Absolut bottle campaign, the best Apple ads and the sock puppet for pets.com and the Taco Bell Chihuahua (Babe Ruth struck out a lot too).

In America, we’ve always been fans of “Bigger must be Better.” In fact, everything about this country, including our people comes in XXL- except our thinking about the consequences of being supersized.

Remember David and Goliath? The bigger they are, the harder they fall? We keep growing, building and expanding for the sake of it. Just because we can we do. We came over to America to get away from an empire- and are now making a new one- and it’s falling apart at the seams.

Greg Hunter and I attended a planning meeting for the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission last night. We did the sticky dots on a map and the ideas on the white paper thing that are the required activities for all groupthink™ exercises- leaving the session knowing that it was pointless.

If you know much about complex systems, chaos theory and entropy- you know that as things get bigger they eventually fall apart. Dayton is a small city trying to fill a pair of XXL dungarees and it’s not working.

Low and behold, David Brooks of the New York Times writes an OpEd piece today talking about this very problem. There aren’t that many times I find his Faux News perspective worthy of the electrons used to transmit it, but today, his words (or rather the ideas that he’s pushing from British think tank head Phillip Blond):

The free-market revolution didn’t create the pluralistic decentralized economy. It created a centralized financial monoculture, which requires a gigantic government to audit its activities. The effort to liberate individuals from repressive social constraints didn’t produce a flowering of freedom; it weakened families, increased out-of-wedlock births and turned neighbors into strangers…

Economically, Blond lays out three big areas of reform: remoralize the market, relocalize the economy and recapitalize the poor. This would mean passing zoning legislation to give small shopkeepers a shot against the retail giants, reducing barriers to entry for new businesses, revitalizing local banks, encouraging employee share ownership, setting up local capital funds so community associations could invest in local enterprises, rewarding savings, cutting regulations that socialize risk and privatize profit, and reducing the subsidies that flow from big government and big business.

To create a civil state, Blond would reduce the power of senior government officials and widen the discretion of front-line civil servants, the people actually working in neighborhoods. He would decentralize power, giving more budget authority to the smallest units of government. He would funnel more services through charities. He would increase investments in infrastructure, so that more places could be vibrant economic hubs. He would rebuild the “village college” so that universities would be more intertwined with the towns around them.

Essentially, Blond would take a political culture that has been oriented around individual choice and replace it with one oriented around relationships and associations.

via Op-Ed Columnist – The Broken Society – NYTimes.com.

I’m not sure how “out-of-wedlock births” enter into this (sex is still fun kids, just don’t do it) but- the ideas of limiting large to keep small viable and cut the risks of the fall of the giants from taking everyone with them may have some traction after what the Wall Street Casino managed to pull off.

Brooks nails it when he says: “This confluence of crises has produced a surge in vehement libertarianism. People are disgusted with Washington. The Tea Party movement rallies against big government, big business and the ruling class in general. Even beyond their ranks, there is a corrosive cynicism about public action.”

And herein lies the struggle: at a point where we need true leadership most, our leaders are less likely to be trusted. If you are looking for a similar point in time- look to pre-WWII Germany and Italy- where the financial collapse set the stage for the rise of the dictators.

The writing is all over the walls- on a global, national and even the local, MVRPC level. We’ve gotten too big, it’s bad- and we need to look to move to smaller systems that won’t destroy us when they implode.

Here’s the video:

A Teradata employee confirmed my rumor tweet last night: “Yes, apparently so!  We just heard this week.  The plan is to move by the end of the year but I don’t believe they have started the building yet!”

What the county promised wouldn’t happen- the cannibalization of existing business to the new “mecca” at Austin Road is now confirmed. Teradata’s facility isn’t even 10 years old- (maybe 5) and it’s time to move to a property owned by developers RG Properties. One has to wonder why there wasn’t a bid to try to move them back to the NCR HQ building- even along with UDRI- the building has to work for them- and it would help the region by:

1. Returning high paying jobs to the central city
2. not increasing the amount of commercial space (we’re overbuilt already)
3. and of course, snubbing NCR who took GA money and ran.

Until we cut down the amount of vacant commercial space, there should be a moratorium on new- or require at least square foot foot for square foot demolition of old for permits to build new.

When there is a lack of leadership- we look to building consensus. Nothing wrong with collective hand-holding- as long as it’s in church, but when it comes to politics and policy- generally, what you get when you get a crowd together is mediocrity.

In church- you have an ultimate leader. One who clearly states what’s wrong and what’s right. In urban planning- not only do we lack a clear leader, we’ve put an impotent committee together- Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission- who then wants to hold a popularity contest- to set our course.

I’ve resisted writing about this- because, I generally like the people who work at MVRPC now. They are bright, they know what’s wrong, but, in general are powerless to really make anyone do anything.

They even reached out to bloggers like me – asking to promote their community group think.

I am contacting you to ask for your assistance in publicizing a community-based workshop for Phase II of Going Places – An Integrated Land Use Vision for the Miami Valley Region (please visit www.mvrpc.org/rlu for more information). We are hoping for support and publicity from bloggers like you.

Since I’ve delayed talking about it- there are only 3 left- including one at Kettering Fairmount HS tonight (you can stay after and see Thurgood Marshall kick butt in basketball at 8pm).

a brief overview, the second phase of the Going Places Initiative will explore the future landscape options of the Region. More specifically, Phase II will build future land use scenarios and will evaluate land use scenario impacts. In order to identify and build collective regional land use scenarios, MVRPC will host 17 community-based workshops throughout the region to engage the general public in the future land use themes and scenarios development process. The workshop is designed to last approximately 90 minutes.

• Thursday, March 18, 2010 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Fairmont High School, commons area 3301 Shroyer Road Kettering OH 45429
• Wednesday, March 31, 2010 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Center for Regional Cooperation 1100 West 3rd Street Dayton OH 45407
• Wednesday, April 7, 2010 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Friendship Village, Convocation Room 5790 Denlinger Road Trotwood OH 45426-1898

A few posts ago, we covered Martin Kim of MVRPC analysis of the land use in the region. And it’s funny- we mentioned him in the post on committee forming as well (first link in this post).

After that- I got a follow up note from someone at MVRPC “Um, Thanks, I think. ”

I’m going to keep the contents of most of that note private- since if they wanted it public- they could have commented on the post itself. But here is the reason I’m pumping the last three meetings:

We’re hoping to go to each of the 78 jurisdictions at the conclusion and tell them, “X number of people — voters — attended these workshops.  Maybe you should listen to what your constituents say.”  If developers show up, then our results will reflect that.  If environmentalists show up, our results will reflect that.  All we can do as an agency is to beg folks to come and voice their opinion.

Heaven help us if the “developers” show up- we’re already over developed. The key thing to note- why the hell do we have 78 jurisdictions? Can we please move into the modern day- instead of sticking with a structure devised with the Northwest Ordinance of 1784 and the Land Ordinance of 1785.

And, oh, yeah- how about a leader? One whom we can hold accountable?

MVRPC has its “regional land use planning initiative” in full planning force. However it’s kinda like fixing the fence after the cows left the pasture.

The Kettering Oakwood Times has a really long (by DDN standards) article by Paul Collins about the changes the region has gone through and how we ended up in this mess. The numbers make it really clear: slight rise in population, spread over 1.5x the space, with a huge shift to commercial real estate and an infrastructure cost that’s skyrocketed. A lot of his info is from the director of planning at MVRPC, Martin H. Kim.

Take a look at the numbers:

…in 1970, Dayton’s urban population was 606,549 and the total amount of urbanized area was 185.9 square miles.

The total population density in that urbanized area was 3,263 population per square mile. In 2000, Dayton’s urban population was 723,955 and the total amount of urbanized area was 327.6 square miles.

The total population density in that urbanized area was 2,209 population per square mile, which represented a 1,054 decline from the year 1970. Kim explained that this decline has led to a disproportion between the region’s population and land usage.

“We are using more and more land per capita,” Kim said. “The population grew, but the rate of growth was lower than the physical expansion of the urban area. In other words, the land consumption per capita increased between 1970 and 2000.”

Kim stated that, if these urbanization trends hold sway, Dayton’s population density in 2030 will only amount to 1,291 population per square mile. Simultaneously, urbanized area will have grown to 531.1 square miles. According to Kim, commercial development will probably constitute a sizable portion of this larger urban area, as is evidenced by the 150 percent increase in commercial land use between 1970 and 2000. Thus, projected land use, particularly commercial development, will exceed the needs of the population.

According to Kim, Dayton’s demographic decline means a thinner tax base for larger areas. In turn, this thinner tax base will affect the quality of life and economic prosperity of the Dayton region. The effects include: Higher infrastructure and service delivery costs. Longer commutes. Less open space and farmland. Longer police, EMT, and fire runs. Spending more money on gas….

Land development has not been tied to population changes. Between 1970 and 2000, population in the region remained relatively stable while total developed land in the region increased by 44.6 percent.

“Geographically, development has been uneven and development has been shifting among land use types,” Kim said.

Indeed, land use has shifted within the region considerably between 1975 and 2000. Residential land use increased 36.3 percent. Industrial land use increased 22 percent. And, of course, commercial land use increased 148.1 percent. Meanwhile, agricultural/open space land use declined 9.3 percent.

via Population decline predicted in region.

If you think about it- we’re spending millions to eliminate interchanges downtown, where we have a 33%+ commercial vacancy rate, and spending millions more to build an interchange to what were cornfields at Austin Pike. The problem cited by businesses is that they don’t want to pay for parking for employees in those empty towers- so instead, they build asphalt fields around low, new, boring buildings and pat themselves on the back.

Thankfully, Mayor Leitzell seems to be the only one thinking about this – suggesting we provide free bus service in Montgomery County. It would be a competitive advantage- considering Greene and Warren County have no real public transit- and, it would decrease the cost of living in Dayton further. Owning a car is your second highest household expense after housing. Had we done this 25 year ago- maybe Downtown wouldn’t be on life support now. After all- aren’t we paying for RTA already with the .5% sales tax? Shouldn’t we get something for our money?

This is today’s topic for the Dayton Grassroots Daily Show- watch and enjoy:

Regular readers will know this subject is nothing new- we’ve got too many chiefs for a shrinking number of Indians. Not only that, but the Indians aren’t getting enough work since paying for all those chiefs costs business a bit more than it does in other states. But, it’s not just a matter of too many chiefs, it’s a question of are any of them any good?

If they want to keep trying to work with the system we have, the answer is simple: Nope, none of them are worth even the time it would take to think about recalling them (another issue in Ohio is it is almost impossible to depose anyone- no matter how incompetent). Of course, no one listens to local logic- nope, we have to wait for some out of town consulting firm or thinktank to tell us the obvious (in this case it’s the Brookings Institute):

School districts are not the only thing Ohio has in spades. It also has some 3,800 local government units, including 250 cities, 695 villages and 1,308 townships. The result is that “total local government payroll in Ohio is 10 percent above the national average and 17.5 percent above the peer state average,” according to Brookings.

None of this government is free, which leads to another finding: Ohio residents have the ninth-highest local tax burden in the country, compared with the 34th highest for state taxes. To know that fact is to understand that concentrating all the political fights about taxes in Columbus — as if state taxes alone define our competitiveness — is missing a big cost of doing business and living in Ohio.

via Editorial: Ohio’s rebound depends on cities | A Matter of Opinion.

But then again, even with reducing the numbers of fiefdoms, we’d still have to have someone to run the show. In Montgomery County, that job falls to Deborah “Teflon” Feldman, our County Administrator. She’s the “CEO” of the County- one that’s been hemorrhaging jobs and property value over the last 15 years. Of course, no one wants to blame Deborah, because she’s so good at what she does- mainly, keep the County Government out of the limelight and letting the city of Dayton sink or swim on its own. Not her problem- and not one she wants to take on. Of course, the problems she faces seem to get to be someone else’s fault every time- the buck never stops with her. Read what the DDN editorial written by her friend Ellen Belcher says:

Lesser embarrassments have cost people their jobs. But no one in high places is pointing a finger at Deborah Feldman, Montgomery County administrator. In fact, quite the opposite, they defend her fiercely and say they’re heartsick that she’s had to do most of the explaining publicly for the SCLC debacle.

The support for her stems from history, relationships and capital built up over almost 30 years.

via Ellen Belcher: County’s Feldman will weather SCLC storm | A Matter of Opinion.

Of late, even though we seem to have a bi-monthly scandal, no one wants to look at the top. The SCLC getting handed Federal funds without follow up, the Sheriff and his sister, the 911 dispatch system, the attempt to sneak in a vote to raise the hotel/motel tax to pay for a hockey arena at Austin Road, the big donation to the Dayton Development Coalition so that it could hire Congressman Turner’s wife on a no-bid contract- nothing seems to stick to her or her very slick aide de camp, County Economic Development Director Joe Tuss. No one is asking the hard questions about how this brilliant ED/GE fund is working at turning our community around. Nope, none of it is her fault, although she’s the second highest paid public employee in the County (after Dr. Stephen Johnson at Sinclair).

I’d still like to see an investigation into how the City of Dayton bought the old Sears building downtown from an investment group including Feldman’s husband and father in law at an enormous premium to put up the Riverscape fountains (and btw- how did that work out for us?).

The Dayton Grassroots Daily Show discusses both of these editorials and hopes that after reading and watching this- you have questions of your own.

Enjoy:

We had no problem crying foul when the State of Georgia “stole” NCR world HQ from Dayton. Those dirty rotten bastards used $100,000,000 in tax incentives to buy our jobs out from under us. Bad, evil people in Georgia.

So, what’s the difference when Montgomery County decides to give tax dollars to local company Motoman to move their business from West Carrollton and Troy to Austin Road interchange- not a damn thing.

If you were Troy or West Carrollton- you should be pissed off.  West Carrollton is losing one of its largest employers – about 6% of its annual revenue. What did they do to deserve that screwing?

And, the people of Montgomery County? What do they get? Other than the bill? Montgomery County doesn’t collect income taxes- just property taxes. Sure they steal a few jobs from Miami County- but, the damage they are doing to West Carrollton? Then the poor taxpayers in Montgomery County are forced  to help move these “entrepreneuring” corporate banditos- who are robbing from the poor to “keep their business here.”

It seems to me, we lose both ways if we play this way.

Here’s the story from the Dayton Business Journal, which hasn’t met a tax break it did not like:

Robot maker Motoman Inc. plans to stay in the Dayton region, but will leave its West Carrollton headquarters and two other sites in Troy.

Tom Schockman, vice president of finance and chief financial officer for Motoman, said Tuesday the company had whittled potential new locations down to a site in southern Montgomery County or northern Warren County. Both locations are near the pending Austin Road interchange off Interstate 75. Financing and incentives need to be finalized before a decision is announced.

“We’re hopeful that within a month or so we’ll have all that done,” Schockman said.

A new Motoman facility is expected to be about 300,000 square feet and cost $17 million to $18 million. It will consolidate as many as 275 workers into the new site, including about 75 in Troy and 200 in West Carrollton.

Schockman declined to name the builder.

The move will be a blow to West Carrollton since Motoman is one of the city’s largest employers.

Bill Covell, director of economic development for West Carrollton, said the city will lose about six percent of its revenue, or about $300,000 annually. The reality is that it may take as much as two years before the company vacates the West Carrollton site, Covell said, making it tough to fill right now.

He said the city has been working with one company to lure new jobs, and is a finalist, but wouldn’t disclose any more detail.

More than a year ago, Motoman said it was evaluating its three local facilities — the West Carrollton headquarters and two facilities in Troy — because the leases expire in 2010.

via Motoman to move headquarters – Dayton Business Journal:.

My question is what kind of performance bond is the company going to put up to guarantee the jobs, payroll and investment? What will the County do to make West Carrollton whole? And, where is the cost/benefit analysis for the county that demonstrates that this is a net gain for the taxpayers and the county- not just the developers, land owners and Motoman.

We should also see full disclosure on who the property owners are, the construction companies and investors before the tax breaks get approved to make sure there aren’t conflicts of interest.

It’s really time to place a ban on this kind of “investment” by taxpayers nationwide- but, our legislators are too used to getting huge campaign contributions from the beneficiaries of these kinds of deals.

What happened to value for the taxpayer?

Here’s today’s Dayton Grassroots Daily Show on the subject:

I’ve learned something new every time I’ve run for office- mostly about my flaws. Mind you, it’s not been from the other candidates in the race, but from either the “Political party” faithful or the Dayton Daily News editorial board.

I’ve also learned a lot about voters- the gullible folks who accept the lines of BS that pass for political discourse in America today.

Former Dayton City Commissioner Dick Zimmer, used to start off his 3 minute presentation with “I was born and raised in Dayton, and have 9 kids and 13 grandkids”- he would mention he was retired from Ohio Bell, and that he was an endorsed Dem and an incumbent- that was it. I used to wonder if being able to procreate was a required qualification for office- and that your parents had and raised you here is something you can claim as personal achievement.

I also learned that people don’t vote for critics- or people they perceive as negative. In fact, the less of a character you are the better. We want the equivalent of Wonder Bread in elected office. Thinking for yourself is almost instant disqualification.

Debate as practiced in days of old is totally gone. A candidate shall NEVER ask another candidate a question directly. Confrontation is a no-no.

Literature should be brief, with a picture of candidate with family, short bio, and a tagline. Usually “endorsed by….”

But, before you even think about running- think about these things: without a political party machine you will not have access to voter databases, emails, phone numbers, group mailings, poll pogues who hand out “slate cards” and volunteers galore from organizations like unions or special interest groups.

You’ll be ridiculed for having the naivete to try to buck the well established system. Anything negative about you will be in the paper. You’ll give up countless unpaid hours going to candidates nights and campaigning, your business becomes everyone’s business.

So the editorial in the Dayton Daily News, suggesting that we have too many offices and not enough candidates this weekend was almost too funny. Did they get a sense of humor suddenly?

Meanwhile, people who are not satisfied with the kinds of people who are offering their services might consider offering themselves. If you’ve sometimes thought about doing that, but you’ve wondered how your qualifications might compare with other candidates, the best approach is not to assume anything. One can get in the fray and see how things turn out.

via Editorial: Suburb councils not looking great | A Matter of Opinion.

Let’s see- “get in the fray”- there is no fray. How things turn out? What, put yourself on the chopping block and hand the cleaver over to Martin Gottlieb for the quintessential hatchet job?

I’m sorry, but the irony of this is like the cat putting out cheese for mice. They are desperate for fodder to attack, since it’s easier to hit the gullible than the guilty. They propose regionalism, right after we’ve been assaulted with article after article about the Counties ineptitude when it comes to managing poverty money handed over to a man who has previously been convicted for welfare fraud. This was just following the Sheriff paying his sister to do foreclosure appraisals- at a higher than authorized rate (no investigation into culpability for that faux pas). Sure, everyone wants to risk their day job to run for office to work with corrupt people who were promoted for election by a secret cabal.

Besides the independently wealthy, only those who’ve got their day jobs covered by their friends: Dean Lovelace with his UD job, Bootsie Neal with Central State, Clay Dixon had the Dayton Public Schools, Nan Whaley had Karl Keith, Dan Foley had his Daddy and Tony Hall etc. etc. Yep, the talent pool comes from the same petri dish.

And if you need further proof that running for office requires people capable of checking off boxes- take a look at the kind of questionnaires candidates get- this one from National Right to Life for Congressional candidates: National Right To life Questionnaire for Congressional candidates Feb 2010 PDF

Please tell me how voters can have any real knowledge of candidates true positions any more? Even after week after week of balanced articles in the Sunday DDN- and running for office multiple times, there were still a lot of voters that had no clue who I was. Please tell the DDN that it’s come down to yard signs, name recognition and slate cards- not the caliber of the candidate.

The Dayton Grassroots Daily Show has a conversation about the DDN editorial, regional government and running for office- enjoy:

And if you want to know how I believe we should change the process- see this post: The Dayton Process

For today’s Dayton Grassroots Daily Show we discussed the Olympics- and our feelings about the possibility of not having N.H.L. players in the international games. It seems that Gary Bettman, NHL commish, thinks that the Olympics aren’t good for the NHL- even though viewership of the Canada/USA game on Sunday had better ratings than game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup (note, I would have been watching if it were available on broadcast).

Here’s just a bit out of the New York Times today:

Bettman, the N.H.L. commissioner, has suggested that shutting down for 15 days may be more costly to the league than the benefits it derives from having its stars showcased internationally. The league gets no revenue from Olympic telecasts, but the high viewership numbers suggest that the N.H.L. is getting more exposure from the Olympics than Bettman or anyone else expected.

via Inside the Rings – N.H.L.’s Doubts About 2014 Games Are Challenged – NYTimes.com.

Bettman thinks of the players in the league as slaves- which is what happens when you have a virtual monopoly. Look at the NCAA- same thing.

Without the fans, you have nothing – and the fans and the players still think there is something cool about national bragging rights on a global scale.

Which brings me to sports, right here in Dayton. I believe we have some core sports competencies that aren’t being exploited. This area has a history of creating some serious talent- football, basketball, track and field- while not doing as well in baseball, soccer or hockey. It’s one of the core strengths in the community- and one that is underappreciated and overlooked.

Imagine if we had regional, coordinated training programs, allowing the best players to play for the region on a much larger competitive circuit. When Commissioner Dan Foley started his sports authority process- I was hoping we’d see program coordination- instead, all we got was a pitch for convention and sports tourism business.

One of the things healthy communities do is create opportunities for all to get involved in sports as participants. Kettering has done an outstanding job of providing facilities for residents and should be considered the benchmark community. It’s time all of the region raised the bar.

Here’s our ramble for the day- enjoy:

Wright Patterson Air Force Base is now the largest single site employer in the entire state of Ohio.

In a battle for bragging rights, the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association is now trying to say they have a greater economic impact than the base:

The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association in a new report says its member hospitals had a greater economic impact on the region in 2008 than that of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The hospital association put the sector’s overall local economic impact — the amount of dollars flowing through the community annually due to hospitals — at $6.77 billion, compared to $4.44 billion at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

via Area hospitals have greater impact than Air Force base, group says.

While jokes about the $600 toilet seat and the $2000 hammer in military procurement is great fodder for the waste busters in Congress (who all are now millionaires)- the reality of the hospitals charging over $1400 for 3 stitches seems to get overlooked.

Considering the hospitals depended on the Cadillac health plans from GM, NCR, Iams etc- to keep them afloat, this isn’t exactly a business model that can be sustained. Just jacking prices up will eventually put your services out of reach for the people remaining in Dayton- trying to make a living.

Today’s Dayton Grassroots Daily Show video has Greg going off on wild tangents with an extra helping of hyperbole. Watch at your own risk.

How do we make sure our region goes belly-up? Keep raising taxes to cover the mistakes of our leaders.

We have too many municipalities, too many different taxation districts, too many different rules and WAY too many Chiefs for an area that is shrinking.

Why did Reynolds & Reynolds move from Dayton to Kettering? Maybe the instant .5% raise for those not living in Dayton or Oakwood. There is no excuse for the hodge-podge system of taxation we have in Montgomery County.

And now, Miamisburg, is asking to boost their rate to match Dayton’s:

Miamisburg City Council is placing a 0.5 percent income tax increase on the May 4 ballot.

The council voted Tuesday to approve the tax increase.

The city’s current 1.75 percent income tax has been in effect since 1977 and is the largest source of revenue for the city.

“Our revenue sources are simply not keeping up with the cost of providing services, and the current economic downturn has only magnified the problem,” said Mayor Dick Church Jr. “With no reasonable expectation that the economy will rebound soon, the city has two choices — initiate deep cuts in public services, or pursue a revenue increase that will maintain police, fire/EMS and other essential services.”

Income taxes are paid to Miamisburg by people who earn wages within city limits.

City Manager Keith Johnson estimates that about 70 percent of residents will not be affected by the proposed rate change.

via Miamisburg places income tax increase on May 4 ballot.

Their logic is the same as Dayton’s – the tax will mostly be collected from people who can’t vote it down- the ones who live outside Miamisburg but work in it. Dayton used that same logic- and you’ve seen the massive move out of the city. Look at the vacancy rates downtown- and compare them to The Greene. Start to see the difference?

Why is Miamisburg in this jam? The answer may be found on page 52 of the 2008 financial report (Note 18):

NOTE 18 – SUBSEQUENT EVENTS:

On January 22, 2009 the City issued $5,610,000 in bond anticipation notes at an interest rate of 2.87%. The proceeds will be used to help fund the City’s share of the Austin Road Interchange project. The notes mature on November 4, 2009. It is anticipated to be repaid with general obligation bonds in the future.

The $5.5 million dollar share of the Austin Road interchange could be the straw that broke the budget’s back. While the city has to pay hard money for its share of the project, the people have to wait for the developers to build the “paradise” that will bring “new jobs” and “economic development” to… well, more than just Miamisburg.

If you were trying to choose where to put your business at the Austin Pike exchange- you could go West and North to Miamisburg and suffer a 2.25% income tax rate- or go East and North and be in Washington Township- where there is no income tax at all. Considering the property tax abatements, and the deals where the property taxes get put back into your development for the next 15 years (long enough for the developer to cash out)- the whole deal ends up only benefiting the developers who build more excess retail, excess office and excess industrial space in the pursuit of the holy grail- “economic development.”

However, if we had UniGov- Regional Government- with only one tax rate, and a lot less elected n00bs in charge, we might even start to look at the big picture- which is, we can’t raise taxes and entice business at the same time.

But that would be common sense now. Sorry Miamisburg, you will pay for the sins of your leaders- who’ve once again helped the developers dig into your wallets. You can’t have police and fire and good schools- without helping make the rich richer and you poor.

Next time they ask you to vote for a tax increase- ask why you can’t just let the county govern you- and save the overhead of a bloated municipal government.

Here is what the Dayton Grassroots Daily Show had to say:

And if you wonder why people are flying planes into IRS buildings- don’t worry- it won’t be long before everyone has had enough of this steal from the poor and give to the rich form of leadership.

I first wrote about this back on Jan 22nd- patting the Greene County Commission on the back, for taking a stand for their taxpayers.

On Jan 28, 2010- the Dayton Daily News called them on the carpet:

Greene County’s commissioners are either being petty or they’re lost in the financial weeds.

Last week Commissioners Marilyn Reid and Alan Anderson approved a $44.7 million operating budget, in which they cut funding to the Dayton Development Coalition to $25,000.

The coalition is an economic development organization that is funded with contributions from local governments and area businesses.

Commissioner Rick Perales voted no, in part, because he wanted to guarantee that the coalition will receive $50,000. A Greene County development agency may yet decide to kick in another $25,000.

You’re reading all of this right. Greene County has an almost $45 million budget, and elected officials are haggling over peanut shells — not even the peanuts. But there’s more.

Last year, Greene County contributed $50,000 to the coalition, while in 2008, the commissioners allotted $195,000.

The commissioners paint the reductions as a statement about cost-cutting. But that’s not serious.

via Editorial: Greene County snubs its best advocate | A Matter of Opinion.

Why do our politicians feel incapable of lobbying directly? Isn’t that what the layers of government are supposed to do? Move things up the food chain?

Greg and I have a little discussion for you on this- questioning how this group of lobbyists gets a virtual free pass from the Dayton Daily News- and we wonder why?

It’s about time our politicians started doing the lobbying for us directly. Otherwise, why bother electing them at all- we can just cut the checks directly to the DDC and cut out the middle men.

As long as we have a patchwork taxation system, we’ll have companies moving around for the best possible situation. Tax evasion/aversion shouldn’t be part of any business model, but, in these days of short term goals over long term plans- we see many such shortsighted moves (NCR to NYC and Atlanta?)

American Greetings Corp., the nation’s largest publicly held greeting card manufacturer, is exploring moving its global headquarters from Brooklyn to another community – maybe even out of state – with lower taxes.

In an internal memo sent to employees on Wednesday, the company said: “we are launching a study to consider whether or not we should move the company’s world headquarters to another location” because the City of Brooklyn last spring voted to raise the city’s payroll tax 25 percent, to 2.5 percent from 2.0 percent.

via American Greetings may pull its world headquarters out of Brooklyn, Ohio | Business – cleveland.com – - cleveland.com.

We saw Reynolds and Reynolds move to Kettering and win an instant .5% pay raise for non-Dayton residents employed at the firm long ago. It might not make much difference to you making $50K a year, but when you are earning $7mill like NCR CEO’s that’s big bucks.

It’s time to at least level the playing field locally- and have one local income tax county wide- with one collection agency. It would make business easier- and simpler. As to companies moving- let’s also stop tax-payer funded “incentives” and get back to sound business decisions- like how close to my workforce can I locate? A walk to work tax credit- would make a huge impact on stopping sprawl which costs our communities higher operating overhead due to the larger infrastructure footprint.

This argument about income tax has stopped the merger of Centerville and Washington TWP for years. They share schools- but, force the Sheriff to patrol the TWP- and cut income tax revenue from the Dayton Mall. It’s one more way we all get manipulated by a system that has sold out to the highest bidders.

We’re not alone in our battle to be competitive on the global stage. Every other metropolitan area in the county is thinking about regionalization- and rethinking the last 50 years.

This article on Cleveland.com tells me one thing- we’re behind on the move toward functional organization- all from one indicator: they’ve actually put a price-tag on their current cost of local government, something we’ve not done yet. And from my QBA days (Quantitative Business Analysis)- I know that you can’t improve things that you can’t measure:

“The bottom line is the U.S. just got the biggest wake-up call it received in the past 50 years,” Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution said of the recession.

We have been growing in the wrong way, he said, and must change to survive. “The American economy is about to rebalance and restructure in a dramatic way,” Katz said…

Many believe the cost of local government — about $17 billion annually — is stifling growth because 4.1 million Northeast Ohioans pay more for their government than almost anyone else in the country.

via Welcome to the decade of the Super Region: Cleveland’s future entwined with Youngstown’s | Metro – cleveland.com – cleveland.com.

With all our talk of regionalization- we haven’t put the price tag for having all our fiefdoms and their lessor chiefs. Nor have we advanced any leaders willing to take the helm and demand reform.

Of course in Cleveland they were helped by the FBI, who went in and cleaned up some of the corruption and proved that the old ways, and the old-boy network weren’t good for anyone.

Don’t expect the FBI to do the job here, or the news media. I’ve been publishing the tips on where to look for almost five years now, and not one indictment, or investigation or exposé from the media. We’ve been handing out tax dollars like candy to private interests without any follow through accountability, we’ve watched people donate huge sums to politicians- without questioning why, and we’ve watched political parties manipulate elections and gerrymand voting districts without question.

We’ve had the best leadership money can buy for years- and look where it’s got us.

Let’s start taking a hard look at what we’re willing to pay for in the new year. Let’s see hard numbers on how much all the mayors, managers and chiefs are costing us. Let’s look at how much money we’ve spent on “economic development” that hasn’t worked, and let’s start having a real debate about a vision- and a visionary to lead us. We could start by doing a survey of registered voters- asking them to name their local city leaders, their county leaders, their state rep and senator and start seeing how many they know. If they only get 25% right- we should look to reduce elected officials by 75% to match for a starting goal.

At least if we’re going to be serious about being a contender.

There is a great article on Good.is about “Identity theft for Cities” that I’ve been waiting to talk about (after my last debacle post about race and regionalism. Maybe this time- we can keep the comments on subject.)

If you look on a map of the globe- we’ll be lucky to see Dayton with a dot if we don’t get our act together as a region soon. As it is, no matter how much people in Kettering think their independent 911 system was a good idea, they won’t be on any map- if Dayton continues its slide.

The reality is, as the United States begins to realize that we can’t depend on the internal combustion engine as a key part of our economy, and as oil prices climb back up as they will- the ability to live close to work will increase in value. As will the ability to bring things to your community via cost-effective transportation (rail, ship). It’s no different than life before the car- cities popped up by rivers and later by railroads because of the efficiencies involved.

With global populations climbing, people will gravitate to the areas that are most dense. In fact, Stewart Brand (of the “Whole Earth Catalog” fame) has now started to believe that not only are cities the fundamentally the smartest thing we’ve done as a civilization- but, he sees a future in squatter cities (which may make even more sense than tearing down homes in Dayton).

We have to grow, but grow compactly, in order to be competitive. Regionalism is just one part of this equation:

Regionalism makes complete sense conceptually. Our economies, our natural systems, and our transportation systems are, indeed, regional and require a regional approach.

Regionalism can be relatively easy to impose in regions with big, dominant core cities, such as New York and Chicago. In those regions, everyone knows what’s powering the economic engine, and no one can risk killing it off. The dominant city is favored, as it should be, in regional decisions because it’s in everyone’s clear interest to do so.

(Of course, I’ve made it sound easier than it is. Inevitably, there are petty conflicts and a protection of narrow interests in most such negotiations.)

But in those regions with cities of equal size or with a weak central city, the conflicts are writ large. The conflicts are even sharper in regions with a history of racial and economic segregation. That’s challenge enough. The real problem comes when, in the name of regionalism, decision makers become place agnostic. In other words, they can’t favor any one place in the region for fear of offending every other place in the region. That translates into development anywhere in the region being labeled as good development. If a road is built in one part of the region, it must be equalized with a road in another part of the region. If a cultural facility is awarded to one place, the next sports facility should surely be built elsewhere.

via Identity Theft for Cities | GOOD.

If you’ve noticed something about everything we’ve done in the name of regionalism- how we seem to have to focus on equality. Somehow, we’ve gotten the mistaken idea that things have to balance- suburban vs. urban, rich vs. poor- when the real equation is the region vs. the world.

We’re not going to get to regionalism until someone has the balls to stand up to all the economic development types- all the small-thinking mayors, all the “regional development” people and say- the only thing that counts is “Dayton” – big picture- the dot on the globe, not the city of. And for that to happen, we’re going to have to start eliminating fiefdoms and work for a kingdom.

It’s not about being fair- it’s about being relevant. We’ll have to put away our pettiness for this to happen.

I had a long conversation with a friend today. Someone inside the system, someone who wins elections. One on one, he stands up for me. In public, he keeps a safe distance. He wants me to change my style- I want him to stand up and take things head on. Somewhere, there is a middle ground- but, in Dayton it’s a no man’s land we don’t want to talk about, we avoid, we ignore and we pretend that it’s not the fundamental flaw- the root of all evil, what’s holding us back.

It’s as simple as this: Dayton is going to stay screwed until we integrate- and I’m not talking just Dayton, city of- I’m talking Dayton- regional.

This article that I quote below- from NewGeography.com is the most prescient article I’ve read that sums up what’s holding us back. And it’s not the fault of the black people- it’s a fault of all of us. From Oakwood with its handful of black students- to Wright Patterson Air Force Base which does a crappy job of reaching out into the local community to support small and minority business.

It’s our political parties that play games with elections, and our poor excuse for a Federal Judge Walter Rice- who can’t realize that the “desegregation” process imposed on Dayton Public Schools in the seventies- did nothing to integrate the suburbs – foisting white flight, sprawl and a permanent screwing of the core city.

We now have a group of people who are convinced we can become a “progressive” hip mecca- without realizing that until we find ways to employ our minorities, we’re going to continue to have a class struggle- and a mess on our hands. No amount of “bicycle friendliness” or “complete streets” compares with good schools with opportunity or jobs that pay more than just a hardscrabble wage.

I highly recommend you read the whole thing- not just this excerpt- to find out why the dreams of the “Dayton Development Coalition” and their “Regional Rally” aren’t going to get us there- until we address the fundamental problems:

As the college educated flock to these progressive El Dorados, many factors are cited as reasons: transit systems, density, bike lanes, walkable communities, robust art and cultural scenes. But another way to look at it is simply as White Flight writ large. Why move to the suburbs of your stodgy Midwest city to escape African Americans and get criticized for it when you can move to Portland and actually be praised as progressive, urban and hip? Many of the policies of Portland are not that dissimilar from those of upscale suburbs in their effects. Urban growth boundaries and other mechanisms raise land prices and render housing less affordable exactly the same as large lot zoning and building codes that mandate brick and other expensive materials do. They both contribute to reducing housing affordability for historically disadvantaged communities. Just like the most exclusive suburbs….

Lack of diversity in culture makes it far easier to implement “progressive” policies that cater to populations with similar values; much the same can be seen in such celebrated urban model cultures in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Their relative wealth also leads to a natural adoption of the default strategy of the upscale suburb: the nicest stuff for the people with the most money. It is much more difficult when you have more racially and economically diverse populations with different needs, interests, and desires to reconcile.In contrast, the starker part of racial history in America has been one of the defining elements of the history of the cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and South. Slavery and Jim Crow led to the Great Migration to the industrial North, which broke the old ethnic machine urban consensus there. Civil rights struggles, fair housing, affirmative action, school integration and busing, riots, red lining, block busting, public housing, the emergence of black political leaders – especially mayors – prompted white flight and the associated disinvestment, leading to the decline of urban schools and neighborhoods.

via The White City | Newgeography.com.

The only way we are going to fix ourselves- and to balance things out, is going to take a gigantic community gut check- a deep swallow of humility, and a strong communal spine- one that stands up for what is right – really right. It’s going to take a Dr. King or Gandhi-like leaders- to march us down the path to what we have to do to compete- and survive: regionalize and integrate, whole hog, everything.

One government, one school system, one income tax, one zoning code, one region under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

And not just Montgomery County- we’d include Beavercreek, Fairborn, Springboro- even Xenia, Tipp and Troy if they were smart. Springfield too if they’d like. We’d become big, and we’d learn to share. We’d find the best of the best to lead us- and pay them well. We’d stop thinking small- and think like an Army taking on a battle of international proportions. We’d make sure that we thought about the big picture first- and stopped sweating the small stuff.

Of course, I’m crazy for thinking this- or saying it. In Dayton, we don’t do anything without a collective hug, and the blessing of the poobahs. But, as long as we stay divided, we’ll continue to fail.

The moment our numbers start being looked at as a region, and we start acting as one, we can start addressing the real inequities in Dayton, the ones that are holding us back. We can stop “protecting our turf” and start actually harvesting it and selling it to the world.

I’m not suggesting I can lead the charge, but at least I can call for it. I don’t have to protect myself, my position, or my power base. Call me an antagonist, call me a jerk, but- then look inside and after reading the article quoted above- tell me if there is another way to go. I want to know.

The Dayton Development Coalition held a “Dayton Region Rally” today- and everybody who is somebody and still wears a suit to a job paying six figures or more was there. Not exactly the people who make up the “Dayton Region” where unemployment is still around 12% (unless you are a minority where it’s way higher).

I’m not going to report the guest list, but, I was barely through the door when I had seen more of the “powers that be” than I saw during my election campaign. Yep, they were all ready to hear what the messiahs of good fortune (at least for their friendly congressman’s wife with her no-bid contract) had to say. The “political leadership” wasn’t on stage- this was the business community beating the drum, with a good dose of the base and higher ed thrown in. Noticeably absent were the hospitals from the standard of Feds, Meds and Eds routine that has become the rally cry.

The 1,000 or so people in attendance were treated to one scripted speech after another. Delivered like lectures to schoolchildren. Not sure where DDC head Jim Leftwich got the idea he should be MC- but, I kept looking at his deadpan delivery and thinking Jack Parr had risen from the grave (and that was from before my time).

It was an expensive production. Just the AV alone had to run $15 to $20K with three big screens and at least three cameras- plus the channel 7 interviews from the concourse (why?) thrown in. Figure the t-shirts and all the staging and coordination- handled by Real Art (of Get Midwest fame) and you have another $15 to $20K thrown in. All this for an event that was done during regular business hours so only those who can make their own schedules could attend.

There were exactly three people who made presentations that moved the cause forward: Bruce Langos, COO of Teradata, who got the biggest rise out of the audience when he talked about their successful divorce from NCR and their enviable cash position and market strength. We need to hear more from both Bruce and Terradata to put this city back on track. And, in my mind, the real icing on the split from NCR would be for Terradata to move back to Dayton- into NCR HQ and show Bill Nuti how it’s done.

Charlie Shoemaker, executive director of Five Rivers Metroparks, brought a whole parade of people in “outdoor attire” to reinforce his position as the outdoor recreation chief of the region. The only thing I wonder about is giving away $5 coupons to use at the 2nd Street Market to people who don’t need $5 coupons- is that really why you just asked the taxpayers for a levy? To give away some of that money to people who can afford to take a few hours off to listen to the cheerleaders?

The final speaker, was Kellen Winslow Sr. – the Athletic Director for Central State- who did a great job of representing Central State and was using the new “Change is Central” slogan. He didn’t need a script to know that people were stiff (and bored) and got everybody who was still in attendance up- and out of their seats, at least to make sure no one was asleep. If I were looking for someone to coordinate a regional sports program, I’d be sitting in his office asap.

The finale of celebrity painter Michael Israel, was too little too late. People were even trying to head guests off at the top of the concourse, trying to keep people in. I’m not going to guess how much it was to bring him in, but the real question was what was he adding to our message of Dayton? That we have to import talent?

The real question was what was the point? What was the call to action? Could you do something with $7oK+(low ball estimate of how much this cost) that would actually have an impact? The back of the program wants you to go take a two question survey.

The questions:

1. What declaration of possibility can you make that has the power to transform the community and inspire you?
2. What are you prepared to do to make this possibility a reality?

I don’t make declarations of possibilities- whatever that means. You want to inspire people to transform the community- there is an answer- and it doesn’t involve committees, group think, rallies or surveys- it involves leadership.

Give a leader a mission, hold them accountable, measure progress and evaluate their progress- and guess what?- we may actually have some.

If the people in the room would only learn to march together, instead of to the beat of a hundred drummers, we may actually get the choir to sing together. The first step is to get serious about regionalism- and start referring to us as Dayton- without the word “region.”

Yep, I said it. Time to own your heart Dayton, and it may start beating again.

The Dayton Development Coalition- doers of evil no-bid contracts to congressman’s wives, are trying to clean up their image- and holding a feel good hoo-hah at UD arena.

A partial list of speakers:

• Kellen Winslow, Athletic Director at Central State University and NFL Hall of Famer
• Joe Sciabica, SES, Executive Director, Air Force Research Laboratory
• Stacia Edwards, Director, Regional Workforce Transformation Consortium
• Sean Creighton, Executive Director, SOCHE and DaytonCREATE
• Dr. Tom Lasley, Dean, UD School of Education, Edvention
• Dr Mike Ervin, Oregon District – Downtown Dayton Plan

They want you to go to this site and sign up:

We’re all in charge of our future, so let’s make it a positive one.

Join others in our community and become a part of this exciting event that highlights our regional strategy for growing jobs and celebrates all the opportunities available in our area. Hear how others are achieving success in the Dayton Region, and learn how you can get involved and do the same

via Dayton Region Rally.

I’ll be there. You should too.