Public officials, Private meeting. Our Dayton – discussed behind closed doors
I’m wondering why private meetings are so important to people who think they are in charge of Dayton? It’s our city- and I thought we were supposed to vote for the people who would lead us.
If we voted for you- and you are meeting in private with the people we didn’t elect, maybe you should go work for them? Or maybe you’ve been working for them all along- after all, these are the people who can afford to contribute the $1000 checks to your campaigns.
A group of community stakeholders plan to have their second meeting Wednesday, Aug. 12, at Sinclair. The meeting won’t be open to the public, said Chris Kershner, vice president of public policy for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.
The group’s mission: Try to minimize loss of talent from the Dayton area tied to NCR’s decision — announced in early June — to move its corporate headquarters to Duluth, Ga….
The group includes representatives from Dayton Defense (formerly Dayton Area Defense Contractors), the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, Technology First, city, county and state governments and more.
Of course, since we don’t have a real investigative paper- I have to believe this article is related to the one in the Dayton Business Journal- which names some other players:
Several powerful voices in the Dayton region said they will lend support and called for a new economic development model.
Among them: Clay Mathile, area philanthropist and self-made billionaire; Raj Soin, one of the most recognizable and wealthy members of the community and founder of Soin International LLC; John Landess, executive director of the John Turner Foundation (sic) and board chair of the Dayton Development Coalition; Mark Thompson, president of LJB Inc. and board chair of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce; Bryan Bucklew, president and CEO of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association; Michael Greitzer, president of the Miller-Valentine Group and co-chair of the Downtown Dayton Partnership; J.P. Nauseef, chief architect of the region’s Base Realignment and Closure strategy; and U.S. Rep. Michael Turner, R-Centerville.
Landess said the board leadership of the Dayton chamber, the Dayton Development Coalition and the Dayton Business Committee — a low-key group that includes local banking leaders — have been meeting on a quarterly basis to discuss better ways to do economic development, which could include merged government functions or merged development efforts.
“Everything is on the table,” Landess said.
A spokesperson for the Dayton Business Committee said the reality is the region has limited resources, both financial and in key leadership, and “we as a business community and broader community must address how to best use those limited resources.”
via Key leaders lining up for regionalism – Dayton Business Journal:.
I don’t recall electing Clay, Raj, John, Mark, Bryan, Michael, J.P, to lead anything, do you? What do they have to say in private to our leaders that we shouldn’t be privy to? Which leader would report back to the public on their site- or tweet- what’s going on in the meeting at Sinclair? Hmmm.
It’s interesting- we just had the 10 Living Cities Symposium here in Dayton. None of it was done behind closed doors. Did they have good ideas? Did they share? Why the secrecy? And, which politicians think that this is the way we do things (still) in Dayton?
If we look at our track record, it should be pretty clear that catering to special interests in the back room hasn’t done the region right.
Personally, I’m glad the private sector is stepping up to the plate. I think it has been silent for far too long. The issues this community face are going to require full participation by all affected parties – businesses, government, citizens, and not just Dayton/MontCty but regionally.
I might also need a lessson in public meetings because I thought open meetings and sunshine laws only related to meetings where decision making relevant to government business takes place. A meeting that happens to be attended by public officials doesn’t make it a public meeting.
Not every single meeting a public official has needs to be in public. Most sane people don’t want that spotlight.
Now, how to make that reality work & stop undue influence…
Are you mad bc you were not invited?
DE, you obviously have never been around “important” people. And not every meeting is open to the public. Let’s face it, the “public” consists of a lot dumb people. These “important” people get together and organize their thoughts to present solutions to problems. They are just not that good at it – why? – bc you have too many politicians involved.
Who cares? This ship has been sinking for so many years…….. we just patch the holes up, we will stay afloat, but our ship will never reach its destination bc we have too much water on the ship. We “bucket” it out, another hole. We fix that hole, oh no, another hole. Same old shit, different year. Same sorry ass loser politicians. People in Dayton are better off moving to the suburbs if they want to stick around the area or moving out of Ohio altogether. But where ever they move they will encounter the same bs problems. There is no fixing it. This is what you get when you elect a stupid president (GWB), or elect people on skin color (Barry, Rhin) or on lies (everyone else)
We almost deserve it for electing losers and not changing this obviously flawed system.
Since nothing positive comes out of ‘public’ meetings then maybe something will in ‘private’ – of course then you might see these ‘officials’ pockets lined a little bit more walking out of Sinclair.
It’s all about who scratch’s whom’s back – the days of actually doing what’s best for the city is long gone.
I agree with Matt, it’s about time some of the local private-sector movers and shakers start taking a leadership position. Change in the Dayton region is glacial, but maybe the lightbulb has finally switched on that things are going nowhere if its just left to the local politicians.
As for that Sinclair confab, specifically, what I got was white collar executive/business types finding local jobs for other white collar executive/business types. Making a special effort to keep the NCR executive/corporate staff in Dayton when they get laid off. No such tender mercies extended to those thousands upon thousands laid off from local manufacturing, particluarly Delphi and Moraine Assembly.
Yea, it’s probably a horrible idea that the private sector be involved…
Because our elected officials are doing SUCH a great job…
Give me a break.
You just want something to bitch about.
Maybe the private folks can get things done that the public folks can’t.
Does it ALWAYS have to be some great conspiracy???????
I normally enjoy reading your posts. But that was just a waste of 30 seconds of my life.
What is the private sector going to suggest? More corporate welfare? Since it’s now OK to contract with the AFL-CIO, maybe the next suggestion is to pay Manpower to find temp jobs for the NCR people?
Get serious- the only way we’re going to market Dayton is to focus on delivering the services that we don’t seem to be able to- and to make this a business friendly environment. We’ve had enough meetings. We need leadership.
Leadership shouldn’t be afraid of public scrutiny or input.
What do we they have to hide?
Get serious- the only way we’re going to market Dayton is to focus on delivering the services that we don’t seem to be able to- and to make this a business friendly environment.
You are talking about the city of Dayton. This business effort that is forming up is about the metropolitan area economy (maybe).
Jeff- I always talk about Dayton in a Metro view.
I don’t recall electing Clay, Raj, John, Mark, Bryan, Michael, J.P, to lead anything, do you? (Dave Esrati)
You’re absolutely right El Davido. In the electoral department, Clay, Raj, John et al. scored goose eggs across the board. But in 1913, when the flood waters got over butt-crack high, Colonel Patterson suspended cash register production and commenced to making life boats despite the fact nobody elected him to be savior of Dayton. Great men don’t wait until for the approval of the elected or selected to roll up their sleeves and address a crisis, they grab a shovel or a stick and commence to putting out fires or killing snakes. The Old Bandito will argue that since so many debacles and imbroglios are created by government, holding elected office only shackles potential problem solvers with the handcuffs of bureaucracy, regulation and official indifference. My first act in office after being elected El Presidente, Generalissimo and Supreme Commander for Life (after the mass execution of divorce attornies and the melting down of aluminum baseball bats) would be to form a committee to convince the Clays, Rajs, Johns and other Captains of Miami Valley industry to stay here. That other large employers in Greater Dayton are itching to leave the area is the world’s worst kept secret, and we are better off withem’ than withoutem’………….