Commissioner Whaley needs lessons in PR

It’s bad enough the Dayton Daily News chooses to sensationalize the region’s population shifts as if there were a mass exodus going on and the last person leaving Dayton should turn out the lights- but, when our youngest commissioner opens her mouth and says “we have to accept it”- we may as well just start putting things in mothballs.

We don’t have to accept this, Commissioner Whaley- we have to have a vision to turn things around. That is your primary job- and if you aren’t capable of doing it, step down.

Residents leaving Dayton in droves
Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Flint, Mich., lost more population than Dayton.

Dayton City Commissioner Nan Whaley said the continued decline has forced some tough choices on the city, including the elimination of 500 positions since 2001.

“The first thing is you have to accept it,” Whaley said of the city’s shrinkage. “I think the city is trying to adjust and provide the best services for its citizens. And making sure its citizens feel comfortable in the city.

“Eventually I think it will turn and level out,” she said.

The proper response is that unless we start working to stop turning cornfields into housing plats, center cities will continue to have problems with population drops until the region starts to grow. When builders are building homes faster than our population is growing- there will be shifts- and, btw, did you notice that Oakwood lost more population than Dayton?

Too bad we elect people to the Commission who are too busy working on their Master’s degree and wedding plans to put the energy into turning around out city. Maybe it’s time for Ms. Whaley to go back to her patronage job in the County, where she can’t say stupid things like “we have to accept it.”

Sorry, Nan- we need better representation than that.

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