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Dayton Ohio has a lot of economic development organizations and directors of our many small fiefdoms. Often, one battles another in a shell game moving jobs from one jurisdiction to another. The ideas here are ways to transcend the political boundaries and create real economic growth opportunities.
Recently, the taxpayers voted for a library levy that was large, needed and slightly opaque, in that it didn’t clearly define where and what all the money was going for. This opened up the discussion again about turning the Arcade into the Main Library downtown. Pushed hard by my friend J. Todd Anderson and the [...]
Bill Rain used to think that the main library should buy the Dayton Career Academy building at 441 River Corridor Dr., Dayton, OH 45402 for a new downtown library. With a beautiful view of the river, ample space for parking, and a relatively new building, it didn’t seem like a bad idea. As part of [...]
On Wednesday, I went to the city commission meeting to speak against handing over tax dollars to a private corporation. As usual, I was working with somewhat faulty information that I’d received from the “Dayton Daily news” in that the money was being approved by the City Commission, but was actually ED/GE funds which are [...]
David Esrati speaks to Dayton City Commission Mar 20, 2013 about Midmark incentives [ 7:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadThe City of Dayton has a bad habit, it likes to buy real estate with no public use in mind. It’s not just the two buildings in Webster Station- it’s all over the city. And it’s been going on for a long time. Duane Jack was a self-styled real estate developer who lived in South [...]
Sa-Bai was another instance of the City of Dayton trying to play developer. The space, formerly Chins, then Chins and Elbos, then just Elbos, then empty- was leased to an operator out of Cincinnati at a bargain basement rate. They took a real long time opening. Of course, if you were Thai 9 right around [...]
If you need proof that Dayton needs a change, go down to the Oregon District on Fifth St. The business district. Notice it’s only one street, and about 3 blocks long. Even after Dr. Ervin put his own money up to push the use of more of the buildings, it hasn’t changed that much. Then [...]
Dayton got mentioned in National Geographic magazine- more specifically, UA Vision- a company part owned by Mark Herres (the guy the city kneecapped on the UPS/Emery deal). If the FAA relaxes its rules, says Mark Brown, the civilian market for drones—and especially small, low-cost, tactical drones—could soon dwarf military sales, which in 2011 totaled more [...]
Miller Lane didn’t kill the Salem Mall, but it sure cost the taxpayers a ton of money. The Greene didn’t kill the Fairfield Commons Mall, or the Dayton Mall- but it also has cost the taxpayers a ton of money. The question is, which one gave us something worthy of the expense? And, why are [...]
The city charter is very specific- the Dayton City Commission is to meet once a week to conduct the cities business. It’s also specific about missing 5 consecutive meetings and it’s time to replace a commissioner- but as we all know, the only thing that’s sacred in the charter is that you need 500 signatures [...]
Our country was founded on the principle that “all men are created equal.” Yet our local elected leaders seem to think it’s good government to redistribute our tax dollars from the poor to the wealthy while rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. To summarize, Heidelberg Distributing is moving its HQ and at least 270 [...]
