Saturday, December 08, 2007

Eye On Toledo interview with Rob Ludeman

Friday I did an interview with Councilman Rob Ludeman about the convenience store licensing law scheduled to be voted on by Toledo City Council on Tuesday, December 11th. I've posted some thoughts about the interview on my Eye on Toledo blog, and I'd appreciate your comments here.

If you've not heard about this issue, you can listen to the pod cast of the show by clicking the link on the left. For background on the issue, you can read my previous posts here, here and here. And you can read my column on the issue in the Toledo Free Press.

5 comments:

Roo said...

Maggie - I heard your chat with Rob and the one thing that kept coming to mind is this --

If a convenience store owner has to police (Yep POLICE) his grounds AND the surrounding ground for a 100 feet for debris, then other businesses (i.e. Burger King, Wendy's, Meijer, etc) should do the same. I routinely see trash from the fast food restaurants along Benore and up Hagman.

In keeping with the mindset of council this would justify requiring the offending business to acquire a special license and to have to send someone out there to pick up all this trash.

I don't like litter at all. But in a perfect world people don't toss things aside without regard for others. This is not a perfect world.

This legislation is the result of some of the CDCs that have to justify their existence in the community. Many of them claim that their primary purpose is to promote the neighborhood, promote responsible homeownership (duh - that includes picking up the trash in your yard!), and bringing in local businesses that can sustain an area.

Now what part of this doesn't make sense?

Roo said...

PS - We are NOT Minneapolis. We ARE Toledo, Ohio. But then again it may be too big a task to really look at what is wrong with OUR area and fix it. Instead we use excuses that other areas have fixed a problem and it worked for them.

**sigh**

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

The WSPD podcast seems to have been delayed...

-Sepp said...

I caught part of the show while at work. I'm surprised that you were able to talk to him since he won't talk to people from his own district who contact him.

The store owners I know DO police their property and all the law allows them to do is call the real police and then wait until their low priority response is answered.
At least we know now that Toledo's anti-business attitude isn't just a democratic party monopoly.

Timothy W Higgins said...

One has to wonder why this type of business is being singled out for special enforcement (not that I am for government interfering with any business except to protect citizens from harm).It appears that local law enforcement gets a pass for illegal activity going on in certain types of locations.

If the police know illegal activity is going on they should do something. If there is underage alcohol or tobacco sales, this too can be enforced. We don't need new law or licensing.

Maggie you were right on the show to point out that we are creating additional bureaucracy that is probably unneeded. This additional government to be funded by my tax dollars, which are already stretched past the breaking point.

The bottom line here is that government has not been able to solve a problem, and their only answer is to make more government.

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