Over 20 years ago I was sitting on a dive boat with some people from NYC. I was telling them about my house I bought for $14,500-

“$14,500? That’s what I pay a year for my parking spot” said one.

“Did it come on a trailer” asked another.

I went on to describe my 2-story, 1,700 sq ft, frame Victorian half-cross, with a 2-car garage and a parking pad- and a fenced yard.”

You could almost see the steam rising out of their ears as the gears computed what they were getting in NYC- for a hell of a lot more.

But, it’s Dayton Ohio- was their final verdict- not knowing anything about Dayton- other than maybe they’d done business with NCR, Reynolds and Reynolds, GM, Mead or fed their dog Iams. They might know about WPAFB- but have no clue about our bountiful water supply, our amazing 5 Rivers Metroparks, top notch schools like Oakwood HS or Stivers. Or our orchestra, ballet or DCDC (that sells out in NYC all the time).

So, when they read about Dayton in today’s New York Times- they’ll still think we’re a broken down shanty town, falling apart as we try to save ourselves a $2 million lawn care bill- clearing the empty lots as the last few souls leave town.

Around the nation, cities and towns facing grim budget circumstances are grasping at unlikely — some would say desperate — means to bolster their shrunken tax bases. Like Beatrice, places like Dayton, Ohio, and Grafton, Ill., are giving away land for nominal fees or for nothing in the hope that it will boost the tax rolls and cut the lawn-mowing bills.

via Homesteads and Other Sources of Tax Income – NYTimes.com.

Of course, we’re also still on a tear down kick- taking down homes as fast as possible, to make sure that suburban home builders and demolition companies that back our local politicians keep busy.

Instead- we could be offering homes to homesteaders- with a $5K signing bonus. Move into these homes that we’re seeing as nuisances, start rehabbing them- live in them for 2 years- and they are yours. We’ll even give you a $5k credit at the Deconstruction Depot for building materials.

We have things people want- we’re just doing a horrible job letting people know that Dayton is a place of opportunity- a great place to raise a family- and an affordable place to live.

Thanks to our short-sighted local leadership the wrong message gets into the New York Times. Time to fix it.

And, all of you people in New York- for what you pay for a parking space- you can still buy a home in Dayton- and have money left over for a car to park in it.

It used to be illegal to pass tax dollars off to private enterprise and to compete with private enterprise, so a whole breed of new quasi-governmental slush funds were contrived. These were kept off the public books- even though they were using public money.

Citywide Development was one of the first organizations of this type, but then came the Downtown Dayton Partnership and the Dayton Development Coalition. Each with progressively higher salaries for their “executives” – higher than the people who were supposed to be running the city.

Both Ed Armentrout and Maureen Pero who ran the Downtown Dayton Partnership collected more cash and benny’s than the City Manager- who had a much larger budget, staff and responsibility. No worries though, they were going to “save downtown” jobs. The only ones they saved were their own.

Armentrout later got his commensurate when his snake oil routine ran into real journalists in Memphis. Pero moved on to bigger and better paydays at CareSource- home of the $3 million dollar a year CEO (running the new form of quasi-government, the sole source contractor for distributing Federal money).

Better late than never, the Dayton Daily News finally realized that CityWide, with it’s purse filled annually by the citizens of Dayton via their tax dollars, actually should report back on what they do with our money:

The top executive for a development organization launched by the city of Dayton and that does business on the city’s behalf has disclosed his salary after having declined to do so in March.

Steve Budd, president of CityWide Development, said in a July 9 interview his base salary is $138,424, roughly 10 percent of the $1.4 million budgeted in 2009 for CityWide salaries. Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan’s base salary is $145,537.

CityWide, a nonprofit that describes itself as the city’s development arm,

via CityWide president’s salary similar to city manager’s.

And if they are the “economic development arm” – could someone please tell us what Shelly Dickstein does? Do we really need two economic development departments? Especially when you read the following and follow both the money- and the logic:

The nonprofit has been around since the early 1970s. As president, Budd has participated in the city’s most significant development projects in the last decade: RecPlex, Tech Town, the Genesis Project, and the Phoenix Project. Many businesses in the Oregon District have received small business loans from CityWide.

CityWide has received more than $20 million in city contracts

“They develop their own projects, and the city gets behind those it’s interested in,” said Paul Woodie, a retired city administrator who helped create CityWide in the early 1970s to function as an economic development engine within the city’s limits. “The city doesn’t have the people anymore, the resources or mental capacity to do it on their own, (to) get that major third-party partner.”

Apparently- we do have the money- $20 million would have gone a long way to paying for police and fire contracts- but, apparently we don’t have leaders with brains enough – I’ll repeat Paul Woodie for emphasis “The city doesn’t have the people anymore, the resources or mental capacity to do it on their own, (to) get that major third-party partner.”

Could that be sour grapes, since Woodie left city hall without sitting in the captains chair, or just the analysis of the last smart man who left the city while the going was good. Woodie is a smooth political operator- who almost always gives to all viable candidates running- covering both sides just in case.

When you read the list of projects that CityWide has backed- it’s no wonder that CityWide has a great relationship with Premier Health Partners and UD- since the Phoenix and Genesis projects both helped raise property values in their areas. We also need answers if CityWide has to follow the same bid process and requirements that the city has to follow in awarding contracts.

Since CityWide seems to think that they can operate off book, one also wonders if there is any penalty for failure- or is that just another excuse to reach into the public till?

When I first moved into the city in 1986, CityWide had a reputation for doing hatchet jobs on homes in the neighborhood.There was no worse epitaph than saying “it’s a CityWide house.” They were also involved in the projects in Wright Dunbar- where we spent over a million dollars on four homes that were sold for about half that.

If government spent as much time working on delivering top quality government services as they did playing shell games in the name of “economic development” maybe we’d have built a sustainable economic ecosystem instead of a dysfunctional one that depends on corporate welfare and a whole load of bureaucratic overhead that’s main goal is to divert tax dollars into the hands of the friends of the politicians we elect.

Don’t believe it? Start looking at who the major donors to our elected officials have been- the picture should be very clear. That is if the electorate has the “mental capacity” to connect the dots.

There are two people in Dayton who have my respect right now. Brian Higgins over at the Sidebar in the Oregon District and John Drake of Drake’s Gym. Both have decided to color outside the lines and create their dreams in Dayton- without asking permission first.

John Drake making a white tux look good

Tonight- John Drake closed off the worthless section of Fourth Street between Patterson and St. Clair and threw a boxing match up in the middle of the street- and said “come one, come all, we’re having a party and you’re invited.” I’d say close to 2,000 people showed up and watched the bouts under the lights- and had a good time. No alcohol, no slutty strippers in bikinis- he had ring kids walking the cards, and the people came downtown and joined in his party.Fight Night was a huge success.

The city did provide some police, a firetruck- and a few barricades- but, what we had going on was economic development by a party of one. For one night, people were downtown- buying food from the food cart, t-shirts from the Gym, and later- heading over to the Oregon District. There isn’t any reason this kind of thing can’t be happening all over the city- making it a fun place to live, instead of the “economically developed creative class high tech” mecca they keep aiming for.

Over on Fifth Street you have another former paratrooper, Brian Higgins mixing up exotic drinks along with small plate meals at the Sidebar and attracting the most diverse audience in Dayton- night after night. We sat last on the sidewalk patio last night and I watched the master at work. Calling people by name as they walked by, inviting them in, buying drinks and food for his regulars and sharing his idea of what a nightclub in a big city is supposed to feel like. It’s making the Pacchia grand opening–way back 12 or so years ago–look like a junior high dance, compared to Studio 54 in its prime- and Pacchia was considered the most successful independent restaurant launch in town.

What makes this stuff work? What’s the magic mojo that’s creeping into downtown slowly? I think it’s that both men have a passion about what they are doing- and an attitude of gratitude. They want to share their passion with the people- and they don’t loathe Dayton. Where others are always seeing what we need to fix- they see what we need to do- and are doing it.

Empty houses aren’t a liability- they are an opportunity. Empty produce company turns into low budget boxing gym. Restaurant that’s hit the skids- gets an instant makeover and is now pulling in the stacks of cash. Dayton isn’t dead in either of these men’s eyes- or hearts, and that’s what makes them stand out.

It doesn’t take a master plan, with community input. It doesn’t take a ton of money. It just takes passion and coloring outside the lines that the man keeps telling us are there for our own good.

So, if you want to get in shape, or you want to have a good time- go see John or Brian- and thank them and support them for doing what they’re doing. I will be.

Used to be that taxes were paid by working people to provide them with services from the government. The services included shared infrastructure like roads and sewers, safety services like police, fire and national defense, public education, immunization- the list goes on. Most of what government spent money on was for the good of all.

Somewhere along the line- government got into the “economic development” business (although building all that infrastructure could be called economic development- it was for the use of everyone- not just one company or person). Government started using tax dollars to “invest” in “jobs” following the line of thought that if there are more jobs- people pay more taxes and we’ve spread the responsibility for supporting all this expense to maintain infrastructure among more people.

Sounds grand. Until you realize that by taking the money from all of us, and giving it to a few of us is exactly what George Orwell warned us of in “Animal Farm,” “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

All of a sudden- big companies, that promise lots of jobs, small companies that promise high-tech jobs, companies that threaten to relocate all became more equal than others- and needed your tax dollars to “persuade” them to stay or grow. This is now what is passed off as “economic development.”

Problem is- the companies that get the money, put their competition at a disadvantage. It’s no longer a fair and level playing field in business. Often times the money flows to the companies that spend the most money on lobbyists, or in campaign donations to the feckless people we elect. Accountability for following through with the promises made in the back rooms is nil- as we’ve seen in Montgomery County, Ohio, for quite some time (the list of failures is too long to cite- search the archives of this site).

In most cases, nothing is done to recover the taxpayers’ money when promises weren’t kept (which has been most of the time). Of course, the politicians who love these deals never personally sign on the line to take responsibility for their actions because it’s not their money, and the CEOs who take the money never sign personally either- because they don’t have to.

Everything was grand in this game as long as tax revenue kept expanding, but now that there has been a prolonged sucking sound in the economy, some communities are getting smart and saying: “Where’s our money?” Summit County in northern Ohio seems to be getting smarter:

Summit County says Chrysler owes it $7.9 million because the auto maker is closing its Twinsburg Stamping Plant this month, violating terms of two tax abatement deals.

The county has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to put its claim for tax reimbursement in a first tier of “preferred creditors” in the bankruptcy — those most likely to get a portion or all of what they are owed.

“We gave them enormous tax breaks,” said Councilman Pete Crossland. “The county is arguing it’s a primary obligation to pay your taxes.”

via Summit County wants Chrysler to repay $7.9 million in tax abatements | cleveland.com.

Call it clawback, call it a return on the investment, call it an acknowledgment of accountability, call it honest government- call it anything you want- but, tax dollars aren’t supposed to provide venture capital, that’s what Wall Street was supposed to do.

If you want to call something socialist- which is a severe twisting of the word by morons talk show hosts in this country, this “economic development” spending would qualify perfectly using the “radical right” definition. It takes from all of us, but gives to a few. “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

Kudos to Summit County.

Confession: I’m not good with engines. I can fix all kinds of things around the home, but flunk internal combustion engines.

I also have a “little brother” who has a lawnmower curse. He uses a lawnmower- and it breaks.

Hence- I’ve had a lawnmower graveyard with 4 non-functional lawn mowers in the back yard for a bit. Even the last replacement that little brother bought with his own money has problems.

Enter ad on Craigs list:

I am looking for running or non running lawn mowers, riding mowers, snow blowers, etc…….   also looking for running or non running cars and trucks that people are giving away or selling for very very cheap, if you have any of these items or know some one that does, please keep my number and let me know.

My name is Mark 937-269-3649 Greatly appreciated, thanks for your time.

We also do minor repairs on lawn mowers, snow blowers, etc……..    Thanks.

We had the city manager and the Mayor come to South Park tonight as part of their budget presentation/listening tour. On my way in Dean Lovelace called to me from a car- and asked where the meeting was- I pointed him to our parking lot and helped him walk in.

Tim Riordan is a finance guy- and numbers are his bailiwick. The slides showed the increases in costs- much pegged to “inflation” and the drops in revenue- mostly pegged to the exodus of jobs from the city.

And when he showed Dayton compared to Ohio’s other cities- we were at the bottom of the heap with the biggest gaps between “inflation” and revenue. Columbus and Cincinnati are both still OK- Akron and Cleveland only started having problems in ’08, but Dayton has been in a slide since 1996 with a bigger and bigger gap between expenses and income.

Riordan says he believes that he has to keep investing for tomorrow- which means continued paving, equipment replacement schedules etc. He shows a chart on how many positions the city has abolished, and talks about all the investments that have been made recently- almost all from government with the exception of the Kroc Center.

While  he asks to cut services, investments or raise taxes to balance the budget- it’s almost a forgone conclusion that his only option is to raise taxes or fees. He has slides about what raising property taxes or income taxes would mean – and how big the increases would have to be to solve the budget shortfalls.

Then has asks for ideas – sharing the e-mail budgetideas@cityofdayton.org and opens questions to the floor.

While he tries to respond to every question- sometimes, answers aren’t really answers. The best thing to do is to listen, ask more questions- and thank people for their input. Often times, the answers sounded more like excuses- or thanks, but we already tried that.

The problem is- we’re still trying to play by rules that were set when the game was different: property values didn’t decrease rapidly, we had a middle class, corporate welfare wasn’t required for every single company move or threat to move. At no point were big picture ideas accepted as solutions- even though he agreed fully with the following two issues that were raised:

• Investment by the Federal and State Governments that heavily subsidize developments like Austin Road – where companies can relocate, with subsidies from County government, to an area where income tax isn’t collected hurt our established core cities. A solution of a single income tax rate for the entire region- to be divided up per-capita was an idea he supported, but was answered with it won’t happen until hell freezes over.
• With the only growth in the region being Meds, Eds and Feds- all of which escape paying property taxes- when the suggestion was made that if they can pay people over a million a year- they should be able to pay for property taxes, he liked, but didn’t think it possible. When a suggestion was made to pass a special higher income tax rate on any income earned over a million a year by an entity that pays no property tax- he admitted that it was an interesting idea- and that they hadn’t looked into it either.

The ideas like easing zoning requirements to encourage adaptive reuse by small entrepreneurial businesses was handled with denial- even trying to foist the problem onto the County. There were more than a few people in the audience who suggested he really hadn’t a clue on what the experience with “Inspector Gotcha” is like.

When asked about liquidating real estate owned by the city- he seems to believe they’ve already done that- and most of it is empty lots. He claimed only 72 or so buildings. When asked if the city could provide an inventory with descriptions- the answer was to go do a search of the Treasurer’s records: http://www.mctreas.org/searchparcel_action.cfm?streetnbr=&streetname=&own1=City%20of%20Dayton&parid=&taxyr=2009

Too bad the response on the site says “Query Results are limited to 100 Rows ..Please narrow your search criteria.”

The Mayor spoke briefly about giving neighbors permission to clean up others’ messes and his plan to start identifying the 20 strong neighborhoods out of the 65 and to start to focus on those. How this is going to solve the budget crisis is questionable – unless we’re talking about cutting services to marginal communities.

One suggestion that did get a positive response was the idea of cross training workers to identify problems- like trash collectors and street sweepers calling in probable abandoned cars, or maybe meter readers reporting back on dangerous housing violations. Of course, there may be people who think that this may put some city employees at risk- and others who may just resist doing more, but, the ultimate cross training- that Oakwood has with “public safety officers” being cops, firemen and medics isn’t even on the table in Dayton.

Suggestions like Segways to replace cars for meter readers- much like the Greene- were laughed off, “what would you do in winter” from the Mayor- and “get rid of parking meters” from a n00b in the audience- but this is what happens when we try to do everything by committee, instead of hiring the professional and then demanding performance.

Do I think Riordan could solve the budget crisis- if he really had the kind of power a City Manager is supposed to have? Probably. But, getting all the elected chiefs to realize that they aren’t the smart ones is a problem that is bigger than the financial problems we’re facing.

Riordan’s best move would be to identify and groom his replacement, so that he can do the dirty work- then leave when the fan hits the brown stuff- and then let the replacement come in and take us where we need to be.

Sandbags. Filled a lot of them if you were in the Army, and it never was fun.

However when natural disasters strike, floods, fires and oil spills, there is always a run on them. This is really good if you are Dayton Bag and Burlap in East Dayton, up on the Huffman Hill. War is good for them too- I remember when before the first Iraq war, the order had them working around the clock. They even have a filled sandbags- selling dirt and making money.

Typically, they make a lot of things for the nursery/forestry business. They’ve expanded into things like fiberglass parts for the automotive industry, but there is nothing like getting an order for 3.5 million sandbags to keep the sewing machines humming. The only hold-up on production right now is the burlap, which takes three months to arrive via ship from India. They’ve added employees (Vietnamese immigrants btw) and are working 12 hours a day sewing 350,000 bags a week. They are also delivering liners made of burlap for the booms used to drag the surface for oil. Apparently, burlap, which is all natural, is the best thing to absorb the sludge without causing additional problems.

While this isn’t exactly “creative class” jobs, they are jobs and they are being created right here in the City of Dayton. While the reason they are hiring is kind of depressing, it’s good to know that some business in Dayton is doing extremely well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The video rocked. The presenters- not so much.

I started a round of applause when Gene Krebs of Greater Ohio in his intro said “We don’t have too much economic development. We have too much economic development bureaucracy” – to a room filled with “economic development” types. The room was literally- standing room only- and the spread looked delicious, but for an hour, as local comedian Sherif Hedayet tweeted: “Attn Downtown Dayton Plan could we have someone under 60 talk about change. I have yet to hear anything interesting. Kayaking really…” For a group that’s looking to attract young professionals, the language of the young professional- or the freshness that comes with youth- was missing- except in the video. 19 May update: NOTE: The Plan now has it’s own website: http://www.downtown-dayton.com/plan/

Even the presentation printouts- which were attached to the windows- were type heavy, and missing “action verbs.” The plan is still going to be carried out by yet another “Community council” – because we’re afraid to put someone in charge and hold their feet to the fire. The obvious choice for this is Sandy Gudorf, the head of the Downtown Dayton Partnership- but, since we’ve finally expanded our definition of “Downtown” to include more than what’s North of the railroad tracks and South of the River- her area of responsibility doesn’t cover it all.

The only concrete “we’re doing this” things that I came out with is- five new gateways, and an experiment with “end in parking” by the Cannery. Never mind that every mall would be empty too if everyone had to parallel park.

It was great to hear Dayton City Manager Tim Riordan mention the HUBzone status of Downtown being an incentive for gaining government contracts- but, the utilization of that preferred status (which I’ve talked about forever here) isn’t enough to fill buildings (you have to have 35% of your employees live in the zone- as well as be located in the zone). Riordan also mentioned student housing- which makes me wonder if we may finally see a relaxation on Single Room Occupancy regs (another theme from this site).

The upside of the whole shooting match- is that the discussion is front and center- and we at least have a great video to show, which makes the city look hip.

I’ve been trying to find time to write a post about Urban Nights- so I’ll mention it here- over in Wright Dunbar- which NEVER has any people walking around most days, the closed off street with bands and booze being sold in multiple locations, was jumping. We can bring people downtown- if we’d stop making it so hard to have fun. Permits and codes and parking restrictions are all hassle and no happiness for new businesses to navigate. How much different things could be if we just tossed the old rule books out the windows and went wild west open space.

Riordan did talk about 1 price rents- including parking costs- to try to price competitively with suburban space, but this is just the tip of the problems.

For all the talk about luring the creative young entrepreneurs- there were only a handful of people tweeting- the rest of the people in the room- just don’t seem plugged in. There should always be a back channel going in events like this- and there should always be invitations for questions, but, then again, we still can’t get right down to the main problems that Gene Krebs opened up with: We’re saddling tax payers with paying for way too much bureaucratic overhead in Ohio. We need to jettison a ton of bureaucratic baggage if we want this plan to be able to get off the ground.

Now, please return your tray table and seat back to the full upright and locked position, and prepare for….

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?

Last night I ventured to Cincinnati to see a grade school friend playing at the Blue Wisp jazz club. Before the show we went to what can only be called a hole-in-the-wall restaurant: 31 seats, maybe 6 people working, and a full house of customers.

It’s been open less than 6 months, to rave reviews by Cincinnati foodies- one of whom is an old friend. We’d tried to go there a few months ago- but showing up at 8:30 p.m. they were out of food and not taking any more tables. That’s right- a restaurant that has the goal of running out of food each night- how strange in the days of boil-in-a-bag chains.

The place has 4 tables for 4- and then 3 counters pushed up against the wall. The menu is for 2 days at a time- and only has 6 dishes available on any given night. To get to the bathroom, which isn’t ADA accessible, you walk alongside the kitchen- with some stained MDF board as the divider. The front door may have a sign in the window- but- if it’s there you can’t really see it.

The food was phenomenal. A gastric overture to juxtaposing things that normally don’t go together. The dessert was simple chocolate chip cookies- but, not like anything I’d had before. The whole bill for 2 was under $50- and if you want wine- you bring your own- no corking fee.

People were finding their way to this little place all on their own, with a little help from Twitter, food blogs, and the gregarious nature of the chef. In short- an urban core success story.

It could NEVER happen in Dayton.

While the number of exits to downtown off I-75 are actually getting decreased, and buildings are being mothballed, while the suburban sprawl developers are talking about 30,000 sq. ft. floor plates as “critical to the success” of businesses like CareSource or Teradata ( both of which seem to need government handouts to stay here), here is a place operating with simple china plates creating jobs and a destination in a building “unsuitable” for modern business.

The fact that they were able to open without an ADA accessible bathroom is a clear indication of what makes Cincinnati different from Dayton- and probably a big part of why they still have these crazy little businesses right next to the corporate towers of excess.

A client in Dayton who wanted to open a tiny family-run grocery store in an old gas station/office building was delayed 9 months because he had to have an ADA bathroom- even though his business isn’t required to have a public restroom. No one except his family will ever see the inside of that $10,000 additional cost that was added to his small business because an inspector was following the letter of the law.

Another client was about to open his restaurant after a 9-month buildout. On the day before opening, he was told that he couldn’t open because of an “exposed brick wall” behind his bar had to have NSF materials- even though the wall had been sealed with sealer- and had been on approved plans from the git-go. More cost, more delay, more frustration.

The stories of the obstacle course created by our local government are endless. One would almost wonder if the people in plans, building inspection, the health department and zoning- aren’t on the take, being paid by the big-box “developers” to slowly choke all re-development and force new construction. The lack of a sprinkled basement in my office building hasn’t made the building less safe or more valuable. The requirement for the thumb-key deadbolt did make it easier for the crooks to get out the door. Hallelujah!

If we want to see small businesses have a chance at regaining a toe-hold in our apparently “worthless” vintage buildings downtown- maybe we need to grant some wide variances to developers- only requiring common sense, instead of coded law. Does a three-hour fire separation really make a difference when a business is on the first floor and residential up top? Is an ADA bathroom a must if there is an existing one? Should building standards of the past be useable for the rehab of these dinosaurs- just to give them a chance not to meet extinction?

31 seats and a chef who runs out of food each night says the answer is yes to me.

Where were the guarantees of performance that should have of been in place for the Wayne Avenue Kroger and the “Ballpark Village” “development” debacles?

Before investing our tax dollars the city should have some kind of guarantee in place that the developer actually has to follow through or make the city whole after it does the developer’s bidding. Apparently, Miller-Valentine doesn’t think it’s worth it to put up its money before asking for a handout from taxpayers for its proposal to commercially develop about 150 acres of the 527 acres of land at the city’s Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport:

In a letter last week, the city told Miller-Valentine Partners Ltd. II that the proposal was rejected because it failed to meet Dayton’s requirement that any development proposals be accompanied by a $1.5 million letter of credit as a guarantee of performance for obtaining a land lease with the city for the development.

Under the city’s terms when it requested proposals from development companies, any developer selected ultimately could lose the $1.5 million if the company failed to initially develop at least 20 of the 150 acres to generate land-lease payments to Dayton within three years.

via Rejected? airport? plan need $1.5M credit, says city.

Of course, the cozy relationships developers have had with politicians were a lot easier to pull off when the politicians were fat with cash.

Maybe Miller-Valentine would have had the money to put up if it hadn’t had their former president Michael Grietzer got off-book with his little side deal for himself, using info that he gained as a development partner with the City of Franklin.

It’s time that any private business that asks for tax dollars or special deals start putting up performance bonds so that the taxpayers don’t end up with nothing after “investing” in future jobs, development or pipe dreams and promises not worth the paper they’re written on.

Jason Liff is someone I’ve known for a long time. He’s been in real estate as long as I’ve known him, and has done some decent sized deals. He was the one who introduced me to the owner of the Salem Mall- which I tried to save. He also was one of the investors on the Sears deal downtown that netted the investors quite a bit (one of the investors was County Administrator Deborah Feldman’s father-in-law who is her husband’s partner). [update] Jason also put together the Walgreens deal at Wayne and Wyoming- the one that went in ahead of Rite Aid- even though it got the later start (thanks to historic overlay- the forced move of a worthless house and other delays).

I suggested that Jason open a scooter store over 4 years ago. Last year he did. My firm did his identity and some initial ads. He posted this on the free bus ride editorial on the DDN site- I’m not changing spelling or punctuation.

I voted with my money and opened a scooter store on Wayne Avenue. It took over a year to get through the zoning and permitting process . From experience I can report that, but for a few people, the entire system is riddled with a mentality of no , no, no . -“You cannot do this or that & One cannot change the use of a derelict building on Brown Street . No you cannot put your scooter store in The Oregon “, even though a 5000 sf space exists that no one wants to buy or rent. Why do people avoid Dayton ? Demographics of course. In the main there is a systemic business unfriendly all pervasive atmosphere coupled with a perception of potential violence . We need to encourage small business by discouraging and truncating governments strangle hold on new business ! The city government has rooms full of employees who read chapter and verse from the , THE BOOK OF NO . As an early visitor to the NYC SOHO & Tribeca districts in 1970 ,I can tell you these now model districts did not get started by a pervasive and draconian implementing of every minute policy practice and procedure . Like all such areas in the world they start by a few young , artistic, counterculture oriented people looking for cheaper spaces to work and play with some character. Why don’t we finish up tenanting the Oregon district and loosening the regs that stand in the way ? A few community activist in Oregon that were urban pioneers now block changes to completing 5th Street . How about enforcing the speed limit on Wayne avenue ? How about enforcing anti-littering laws . My sidewalk and lot are littered by 100’s of cigarette butts and candy pop cans . How about an ombudsman process that guarantees answers to all zoning and permitting issues in seven days ? National retail tenants are not coming back so go after the small entrepreneurs, the new Americans that are not afraid of hard work and tough clientele and the arts and crafts communities . The RTA has wasted a lot of money on their edifice complex, even so we do not need free busing of more thugs and scary types. What Dayton does have is cheap rent , cheap buildings ,a vibrant artistic community and historic housing stock that people would cry for in most cities. Artists , and musicians especially can find cheap rent at Front Street —We need more ! Finish something already- Try to fill every building on Wayne and Fifth and Brown and Warren. Oh yes bicycle lanes would be great for scooters mopeds and bicycles and any separation from SUV speeders that crowd others while talking on their phones. Untangle the choke holds of the 3 or 4 structures that throttle all but what they want ! Government is the problem—the entrenched versus the new —Until resolved the buildings will stay boarded up and the retail community will stay away . Call me ! Jason Liff Moto Scooto 1400 Wayne

via Editorial: Free bus rides not the city’s best strategy | A Matter of Opinion.

Jason looked hard and long for a location in the city. Almost everything he found – there was a reason he couldn’t go in. The building he’s in on Wayne Avenue- was on “death row.” There were options from the city to buy it that ended in December- so they could tear it down for a Kroger that wasn’t coming. He had to invest in the building, since the owner wouldn’t- to repair the roof which was leaking. Even his paint job- which some may love and some may hate- is technically in violation of the zoning code. The colors aren’t “historic.” Since the building was condemned the city seemed to look the other way.

The location he really wanted- on 5th Street in the Oregon district- a former pawn shop, between a porn shop and Goodwill- is still sitting empty. It was bigger, had the walking traffic he was interested in reaching- and even has a garage door in back. No deal. Wrong use, too intensive, not enough parking- etc. etc. So it still sits empty.

This isn’t the only business person I’ve heard horror stories from, and it’s not hard to hear them. Another businessman who has successfully rehabbed many downtown buildings over the last 20 years and knows his way around city hall at first ran into a roadblock trying to get a demolition permit on a nasty concrete block garage next to his new project. Apparently it had a $7,000 water bill still attached to it. How anyone can buy a building and NOT find out about a water bill for more than the property sold for is another big FAIL at business friendly.

We also have a bed and breakfast fighting for a permit to sell wine in the Oregon District. It took the 5th Street Wine and Deli almost a year to get their permit. This isn’t new, Pacchia and What You Eat both had to fight to get their permits, too. Some “entertainment” district.

I still believe in Dayton- even though I just had my office broken into. But, I remember back to the hassles I went through over 20 years ago to reclaim a derelict building, including a nine-month delay in an occupancy permit and the realization that my zoning is still considered a “conditional use” even though the building was built as a commercial retail structure. To add insult to injury, the building inspector required that my front door (which has a huge window in it) had to have a single key deadbolt with a thumb key- which gave the thieves the ability to break in and get out easier.

Yep, the city of Dayton needs a new attitude, and quick. Mr. Liff spells it out pretty clearly. The question is can an old dog learn new tricks? Mayor Leitzell is only one vote.

Case Western Reserve University is stepping to the head of the line in research on the effect super-speed internet will have on communities. This project has been in the works long before Google dangled “Google fiber” out there and Dayton responded with the www.averageandawesome.com website (where if you haven’t registered- please do).

From the Cleveland.com site:

Case has been working on its project for years, Gonick said. Plans were finalized early this year, when Case applied for $26 million in stimulus grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The request for federal funds was turned down, but Gonick said the university decided to go ahead with corporate and foundation funding as well as in-kind support from technology companies, such as Cisco Systems and Corning Cable Systems.

The fiber-optic network connections will be offered through OneCommunity, the Cleveland-based non-profit broadband provider that already provides gigabit speed connections to hundreds of government offices, non-profit organizations, and hospitals across the region.

In the federal proposal, Case said it wanted to bring fiber connections to 25,000 people. But without federal support, the project will take things one neighborhood block at a time and secure funding as it goes along, Gonick said. The initiative still aims to reach several thousand in coming months and years, he said.

via Case Western Reserve University kicks off project to bring ultra high-speed Internet access to thousands of nearby homes | cleveland.com.

If local government is really interested in “economic development” and doing it fairly, projects like this that would make a lot more sense than pouring money into the pockets of one company- picking and choosing favorites and giving an unfair advantage to one company over another (like handing over $125K to BGH studios- or a no-bid contract to Real Art for Get Midwest or the Average and Awesome site).

If you need to see how a community that builds infrastructure to attract entrepreneurs you need to look at the tiny city of Bandon Oregon, which has put fiber into every home and business back in 2006.

Instead, we’re building tax subsidized office space (bricks and mortar) in a virtual world, while we’re incredibly overbuilt already (Tech Town). We’re providing subsidies for huge companies like Teradata and Cintas, that pay their executives millions, and limping along with slow internet for the rest of us.

Dayton has a fiber network in place running our traffic signals- it’s time to tap into what we have, to get what we need- for everyone.

The corporate handouts don’t stop. While we can’t afford national health care if you listen to the tea party people, and the city, county and state are cutting programs left and right, we still have tax money to donate to financially strong companies like Cintas for “economic development.”

This is nothing but the rich getting rich by stealing from the poor.

Cintas pays Scott D. Farmer – CEO a Total Compensation: $ 1.01 M according to the daily finance site yet Ohio and Dayton feel the need to give them some of your money:

Ohio is giving Cintas Corp. $30,000 toward an expansion and consolidation project in Dayton.

The state controlling board Monday approved a rapid outreach grant for the company to use toward building and infrastructure improvements for its project on Brandt Street.

In December, city officials announced that Cincinnati-based Cintas (Nasdaq: CTAS) would add 100 jobs in Dayton within three years by opening a financial services office. Plans call for a $500,000 investment at Cintas’ Brandt Street location for the new center including renovations, a parking lot expansion and new equipment.

The financial services office — the Cintas Financial Shared Services — will service Cintas operations in Ohio and surrounding states. Dayton City Commissioners approved a $125,000 development fund grant to support the project. City officials say Dayton competed with several cities in several other states for the office.

via Cintas lands incentives to create 100 jobs in Dayton – Dayton Business Journal:.

Same stupidity as reported by the DDN: 150 Jobs to be added to Dayton Facility

Note- the headlines don’t even agree on “number of jobs”

I’m not sure where you or I signed up to be involved in this “competition” for placing their offices in our community? If we are going to invest in this company, we should do it like everyone else- buy stock.

If this isn’t outrageous to you, it should be. It’s time for a Constitutional Amendment to end this corporate welfare.

And for the record- $125K pays at least two additional police officers for Dayton for one year. They actually try to return things stolen from taxpayers- unlike the corporate robber barons.

While the taxpayers of Montgomery County are being told to expect less in the way of services, are facing price hikes in fees and are watching public infrastructure budgets be cut, we’re still be asked to contribute half a million dollars to Teradata so they can walk out of one lease, leave an empty building that’s less than 3 years old- and build yet another building:

Langos expects the lease deal to be complete by the end of the month. The relocating Teradata staffers in Oakwood work out of the Sugar Camp site off Schantz Avenue.

Miami Township has applied for a $500,000 Montgomery County Economic Development/Government Equity, or ED/GE, funding to help offset some of the project cost.

An advisory board recently recommended approval of the funding, scheduled to go before county commissioners for a final vote at their Dec. 10 meeting.

George Oberer Jr., chief executive officer of Oberer Cos., said once a lease is signed, the planning and approval process could take up to 90 days and then it would be another six to seven months to complete construction.

Under the proposal, Oberer would construct the new building adjacent to the existing facility.

According to the application from the township, the ED/GE funds are essential for the project to compete with vacant office space both inside and outside the region.

“This is very significant because it confirms the long-term presence of Teradata here in the township,” said Miami Township Administrator Greg Hanahan. “It’s my understanding the ED/GE grant was critical to be able to structure a deal that would allow for the expansion to occur here and not go somewhere else.”

The county had said $940,000 was available for this round of ED/GE grants, but it ended up having more than $1.8 million because of past projects that had not been completed. The county will start over with a new pot of $3 million for ED/GE funding in 2010.

via Teradata grows Miami Township headquarters – Dayton Business Journal:.

We’ve already established that the region is already seriously overbuilt with commercial space. I don’t have the ability to see how much we already contributed to the first move to Miami Township for the NCR spinoff right now- but wouldn’t be surprised if taxpayers were also on the hook for that move. Now they want money to move less than a mile to a new building by the Austin Road Interchange on property owned by local developer RG Properties.

A proposal to offer Teradata space in the old NCR HQ now owned by UD was shot down because “Teradata requires a standalone building for security.” I would question a company that is responsible for data security for massive databases- distributed globally- that can’t understand simple access control for secured areas? I can assure you that the Pentagon has secure areas and ultra-secure areas, and doesn’t require separate buildings.

Also, Teradata hasn’t exactly been struggling. To be able to walk out of a ten year lease says they have cash to burn. Not only that- but Teradata was able to pay it’s C-suite execs over $7 million in 2007, and in 2008 cleared over $200 million in profits. This company doesn’t need half a million of our tax dollars, in fact, serious damage was done to Dayton’s tax base when they moved from Dayton’s 2.25% income tax to Miami Townships 0% income tax rate.

The addition of the 40,000 sq ft of brand new, vacant office space in the building they are abandoning hurts all commercial property owners by depressing the values for their space. Look at the shuttering of the Key Bank building downtown, the foreclosure move on the former 5/3rd tower etc. Adding 60,000 more square feet to the inventory should not be supported by tax dollars.

It’s time to end this extortion by the rich (and yes- people paying themselves over a million a year are rich) of the poor- Montgomery County tax payers are currently running a 12% unemployment rate – and still have one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.

And if Teradata threatens to leave- tell them to go ahead, their word on a lease means nothing anyway, and the likelihood of them finding someplace more cost effective to do business would happen one way or the other without our tax dollar contribution- which is more like rounding error to their balance sheet.

It’s time to end this corporate welfare NOW.

December 31, 2009, came and went. We were all so busy wondering what the new mayor would bring, that we just forgot about a couple of million tax dollars that were spent for nothing.

Yep- in the grand design of government as a developer, the City of Dayton made a whole bunch of bad bets to bring a new Kroger to the corner of Wayne and Wyoming- only to see the options expire, with no grocery in sight.

We do now own a twenties-style burned shell of a building and a few additional lots that we spent $800,000 on.

Yeah for the “developers” in City Hall. Prime real estate across from the new Dollar General in the former RiteAid.

Tax dollars shouldn’t be spent on private business. For $2 million, we could have built a dog park, a spray park, or paid a whole bunch of cops to work extra hard at making people feel safer in the city. After driving through Dayton View today- I also wonder if we shouldn’t have been using money to stabilize some of the best housing stock in the city- to preserve it for the day when we have people ready to move back in? (this idea for H1B visas could do the trick).

For $2 million we could have something of value for all of us. Instead, we actually destabilized an entire neighborhood, labeling it “blighted” and forcing disinvestment and uncertainty.

We also played favorites- taking over the project that Midland Atlantic botched in the first place, while snubbing local developer JZ Companies that had put together a very viable plan and parcel off Warren Street utilizing the former Cliburn Manor that now lies fallow.

No city official has taken a hit for this boondoggle, nor has anyone looked into what went wrong to make sure this kind of error won’t be repeated. In fact, it seems to have been forgotten.

There probably should be a class-action lawsuit in the works, from the property owners against the city- for causing the depreciation in their properties thanks to the “blighted” designation- which will end up costing us even more.

In the meantime, the taxpayers are being asked to pony up $5 million for the arcade. When will we learn?

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.

The nerve of the guy. Buy the Arcade, promise great things, then be late on your taxes- and then start asking for a handout.

The owner of Dayton’s historic downtown arcade wants a financial commitment from the community to aid in the $38-million restoration project.“What we are trying to do here is for the people of Dayton,” said Gunther Berg, who bought the arcade in March 2009. “One of our investors wants a $5-million commitment from Dayton, in writing.”

via Arcade owner wants $5 million commitment from Dayton.

Does that work for the average taxpayer? “I paid too much for my house, now, help me fix it up” – not hardly. And, didn’t the taxpayers already put at least $10 Million in about 30 years ago? Then didn’t we let local boy Tom Danis buy it for $36,000. Face it Mr. Berg, you have to pay off a police chief and make big political contributions before you get deals like a local boy.

The reality is- the Arcade tax sale was overpriced- by about $680K or so (what Berg paid for it). The appraised value should have been $36K since that’s what the last owner paid for it- but, the condition should have been that the building had to be maintained to the same standard it was in when bought. Same goes on foreclosures- the banks should be made to maintain property in same condition as when occupied.

If Mr. Berg wants a break- let’s give it to him- for every million he invests- he can have 6 months of property taxes valued at his purchase price (or some kind of equation). That way, the cost is to the County- not to the city, and, the development has a chance. Also, before you ask for any kind of break, show us a viable business plan- or don’t ask us to invest. You have to have one if you’ve already got other investors as you claim.

The arcade is really a tough project- the only sure fire development possibilities are probably a casino, a brothel or a legal dope smokers’ paradise. All have zero chance of happening. It would make a grand banquet center- if only it had better parking and less than 3 open floors in the center, but, it would also require more hotel rooms and a connection to an exhibition hall- like the convention center- and that’s not going to happen at this point.

We talk about this project on the Dayton Grassroots Daily Show:

What would you tell Mr. Berg? What would you do with the arcade and $40 million?

Back on Feb 18th I suggested the Dayton Development Coalition put together a bid for Google Fiber to come to Dayton.

Today they launched another “Real Art” production (from the folks that brought you Qbase, Get Midwest, H2OH! and that “wonderful” Dayton Region Rally) the site, get this, www.averageandawesome.com

From the Dayton Daily:

“We’re really excited you thought about us for your new fiber network,” the site, www.AverageAndAwesome.com, says on its front page. “And, while we haven’t renamed any of our communities or children after you, it doesn’t mean we love you any less. We’ve just been a little busy. Busy getting things done, which is what we like to do around here.”

The site presents Dayton-area demographics, inviting Google to view the city in line with average American demographics and yet cutting-edge, a home to innovations such as radio frequency identification, materials science, advanced sensor technologies and more.

via Dayton trying to woo Google for high-speed, broadband network.

And while it’s great that they are making the bid- if you are going to showcase Dayton by stats to Google- wouldn’t it make sense to use Google’s amazing tools for doing that kind of analysis? Check out the Google Public Data explorer.

Of course, we at the Dayton Grassroots Daily Show are dying for fiber- so we can upload our video at faster than a snail on qualudes pace. With fiber- we could actually broadcast live. Bringing you the things that make you think – even faster.

We do encourage you to go sign up on their site- and they ask for videos- so we uploaded today’s Dayton Grassroots Daily Show- we’ll see if they display it. But, you can watch it now- along with Sergey Brin over at the Googleplex.

Reader Terry Murray sent me this beautiful link. But the final line is everything I’ve been trying to say for the last 4 years on Esrati.com

“What community ever screwed up by providing too much quality of life?” That ought to become the guiding principle of every city.

via CEOs for Cities :: What Makes a City Entrepreneurial?.

Sure, we could add the “cost of doing business” as a factor- for those who complain about tax overhead, but, let’s compare costs in NYC or LA?

Give me a break. People and business go where they want to live.

That’s defined by things that can’t be bought by individuals- but by communities. Pools, parks, rinks, public transit, arts, music, nightlife, safety…

not by handouts to corporations.