Happy holidays to all and I wish you all a safe, happy, and prosperous New Year.

The year 2008 has certainly been an interesting one. My family moved back to Bedford in April 2007 after buying a home and spending a few months remodeling it. After roughly a year of getting settled in (there’s much more to do still) I found myself getting involved in MonroeTalks.com and from there began writing a blog for blogsmonroe.com titled Out of the Shadows of Woody and Bo (which I longer write). About the same time I began commenting on news and events happening right here in our township on the Chatter section of the Bedford Now. The chatter section is a place where I have likely made friends and for lack of a better term enemies. Then in the summer of 2008 I was asked by then Editor of the Bedford Now, Dan Shaw, to write a blog concerning all things Bedford which if you are reading this you have figured out I accepted.

It has been my involvement on the Chatter forum and through writing this blog that has made 2008 an interesting year.  It has developed a certain levelof name recognition int he township as from day one I have not hidden behind the anonymity shield of the internet. It has brought with it a level of responsibility as when I write I certain wish to not only share my opinion on certain matters but when writing I only hope to share fact. It has also brought with it a sort of burden that was unexpected … phone calls, anger, spite. The phone calls have rarely bothered me as they have largely come from respected and respectful individuals whom I have already known or wished to know. This past election certainly provided that opportunity as I got to speak with Aaron Wiens who ran for Trustee in the primary, Dennis Steinman during the primary race, and George Welling while he was campaigning against Bob Schockman in the Clerk’s race. I’ve got to speak to other concerned citizens through this blog, through the Chatter forum, and some have actually called the house. It has been a rewarding and unique situation. What hasn’t been rewarding and unique is those who wish me nothing but ill will. Someday I am certain that even those people will grow an appreciation for the fact that I only do all of this out of my immense pride in this community. A pride I think we all share while opinions we may not.

So it is my wish that 2009 become a more cooperative and civil year here in the township. We have some issues facing us that may cause spirited debate, however, without working together to solve these issues we will only fail to move forward. So Happy New Year to all and I wish us all the best 2009 possible.

My family moved to Bedford in November of 1987 so obviously my memories are limited in scope; I was only 8 years old at the time and was not too thrilled about starting at a new school and getting reacquainted to the new surroundings.

Now obviously I have great personal memories from my youth growing up here - most of which revolve around 3B baseball and my father. Many afternoons and evenings were spent at White Park playing baseball, practicing baseball, watching baseball, eventually even umpiring baseball. I was fortunate enough to play on many championship teams in the 3B league and on some of the summer travel teams associated with the league. My dad was always involved in coaching the teams and that makes the memories that much more special. His involvement in coaching the teams lead me to take over the Senior Knothole team for a year .. mostly because I wanted to coach against my good friend Ryan Robinson and his Wizards team.

But thinking of great community involvement projects where one has a great sense of community pride I think of the Heart of Hope Telethons for Matt Stacy and Chris Comstock or I think of how the community came together to help build the new Community Stadium.

So what are some of your favorite Bedford memories that maybe have some sense of community pride? Or what are just some of your favorite memories growing up here? We have a great community that we live in so let us share some good stories with one another during this season of cheer.

Breakfast: American Table or Bedford Coney Island.
Lunch: I’ve got kids it’s McDonald’s! If it’s my wife and I we like to go up to Tres Amigos when it is less crowded and noisy.
Dinner: I like Quimby’s but the wife isn’t a big fan. The wife likes Doolittles but I’m not as big a fan.

Of course we hit up other places like Sideline’s for dinner or Maggie’s for breakfast but the aforementioned are where we generally wind up.

I think ET’s has become my new favorite watering hole. It is quaint, the jukebox is awesome, the staff is attentive, and the prices are just about right … cheap! Sometimes the wife and I will make our way up to MT Loonie’s; she really enjoys it there and we still see many friends there when we go. The only issue I find with ET’s and MT Loonie’s is avoiding smoke. One way Quimby’s might be a leg up on ET’s and MT’s is you can avoid smokers if you so desire.

So those are my thoughts what are yours? Where’s your favorite place to dine out in town or stop and have a drink with friends?

After meeting with our legal team, we have been informed that the only way to stop a rezoning that a township board approves is with a referendum. On December 2, 2008, the majority of the Bedford Township Board members approved 5 of the 6 Whitman Ford parcels up for rezoning.

I have spoken with the township and ascertained that a special election/referendum will cost the township an additional $8-9,000 and that Bedford Watch has been given all the information on how to appropriately seek the referendum. Should a special election be necessary the township will place the referendum vote in with another election such as a school election to keep added costs down.

One township official I spoke to is pleased at the possibility of referendum as it puts the vote in the hands of the community and would essentially (in my own words) seal the deal.

One question I did not ask and I wish I would have but it just came to me right now is if there is a referendum vote will the voters of the community be asked to affirm or overturn each parcel or the property as a whole? It’d be interesting to see if the same five parcels were affirmed and the decision on parcel six be overturned and therefore rezoned C-2. My assumption is that the referendum vote would simply ask to affirm or deny the decision made by the board.

And slightly unrelated to this I wanted to clear up something that Mr. Jim Goebel made reference to during the meeting in regards to low income senior housing. I think the words low income are intended to frighten people or just have that negative stigma attached to it. For a perfectly great example of low income senior housing already in our township take a look at Ivor Lindsay on Lewis Ave in Temperance. The facility is kept up nicely, the grounds are taken care of, and the residents are genuinely nice people from what I am told. Low income senior housing should it be placed on the rezoned land at Sterns and Lewis should be of no concern to anyone in this community as we’ve seen little to no issue from existing low income senior housing already established here.

The vote on the rezoning went as I had thought it would with the approval of five of the six parcels; the one parcel, parcel number six, that was denied rezoning was the same parcel that was not recommended by our township planning commission for rezoning. This is the parcel that sat nearly dead center of the piece of land in question and was about 8 acres in size. Whitman was requesting the zoning be changed from R2-A single-family residential to C-2 commerical. The concern of the board was that completely rezoning this parcel would not allow for a sufficient buffer for the homes adjacent to the west side of the property from the potential commercial land use to the east side of this property.

I’m not entirely sold on that particular theory in that a lot of the ‘pollutions’ of commercial zoning can be hashed out in site plan approvals. A simple look at the approval process for Bedford’s largest commercial development at this time, Kroger, shows that the developers and representatives of Kroger were more than accomodating with the type of lighting installed, delivery times, where docking stations would be located, and the even moved where a dumpster was proposed to be placed to eliminate the threat of disturbing neighbors with early morning trash pickup. Living close to the Kroger development I have spent some time monitoring the lighting issues, the truck issues, the roads issues, etc. I don’t see the issue with this particular commercial neighbor.

Yes, I understand had the rezoning of that eight acres gone through one would be looking at a considerably larger commercial development. However, I am not convinced that size and scope automatically equate to bad commercial neighbor.

Honestly, in this man’s opinion, the biggest issue with the vote and the reason I feel that those eight acres were honestly turned down was due to the possible sale of the land to one Wal Mart. The big bad ,local business destroying, will leave empty boxes allover our township Wal Mart. Again, a notion I do not completely agree with.

Bedford Watch, a local ‘community activist’ group was adamant against this rezoning and their focal point was that if the land is rezoned then it will be sold with absolute certainty to Wal Mart. Don’t believe me? Check out their website where the group is seemingly obsessed with Wal Mart and it’s hell bent nature of destroying small towns. Wal Mart would destroy our roads, put a further pinch on our police and fire protection, would put 100 local businesses out of work, and would quash commercial development throughout the township.

Remember those old T-shirts that said Fear This? I was fully expecting to see a mock shirt of these old T-shirts from Bedford Watch - Wal Mart: Fear It! I’m not trying to be crass as that is an honest opinion. The Bedford Watch group it seemed purposely tried to play on people’s fears and to their heart strings; they were selling people on the fact that because Jon Whitman had a deal with Wal Mart before that he did now.

Bedford Watch said our roads would deteriorate and that an additional 76,000 cars per day would drive on Sterns and Lewis. How did they arrive at this figure? Is it because it’s a national average and we’ll assume that national averages equate to the consumers in this area? I do not know the answer but 76,000 additional vehicles is an awful lot of vehicles and a figure I find to be highly unlikely.

I agree with Bedford Watch that our roads would deteriorate; there is not a sane person with any level of understand on this that would disagree. However, I don’t believe that this reason alone should preclude commercial development. First, I am certain prior to development an impact study would be performed on what type of impact the development would have on the infrastructure in that immediate area. This impact study would then allow for our Site Plan committee to instruct the developer that they will be responsible for the upgrades in that area as a part of their development. This is a common practice, not only in Bedford Township, but everywhere. For example in Monroe when the Wal Mart was built the local government required Wal Mart to pay to repave the road (expand?) and put in traffic control systems in that area.

Bedford Watch said that a Wal Mart would put a further pinch on our police and fire. They used scary figures like 714 calls to the ‘closest’ Wal Mart in Toledo on Central Ave in the past two years. They failed to qualify a couple of things. First, this particular Wal Mart is located on the corner of two very busy streets that allow for simple ingress and egress from the store location and that it is located less than 1 mile from a major expressway cutting through the area. Two, they failed to mention that this particular Wal Mart is located within walking distance of some low income areas of the City of Toledo.

Bedford Watch failed to consider a lot of things in their Wal Mart and crime argument. One of the biggest I found was that the particular Wal Mart they used as their example isn’t the closest to our township. I used the Lewis and Sterns as the epicenter of this argument of mine and found that the Wal Mart in Oregon, OH is actually a full 3 miles closer than the one used in their examples.

I found this to be intriguing for a couple of reasons. The location of the Oregon, OH Wal Mart is much more synonymous with the type of development that would occur in our own township. The size of the community the store resides in is similar to Bedford as is the median income. The Oregon, OH store is approximate in location to low income and crime areas to what a development at Sterns and Lewis would be. Why do I mention all of this? Because according to an anti-Wal Mart website that Oregon, OH store has only had 53 police complaints from 2002-2005.

Finally, Bedford Watch wanted you to believe that Wal Mart would put all of our local businesses out of business. I thought Mr. Gene Stock made a wonderful presentation and point at the township meeting about the first ‘big box’ that ever came to Bedford and the actual economic boom that came with it. One could point not only to the Oregon, OH Wal Mart as an example but also to the Wal Mart located on Glendale in the city of Toledo. Commercial development sprang to life on Glendale Ave. in an area that previously was a big empty open field that previously had shown no signs of life.

I do not wish for this entire argument to revolve around Wal Mart as it never should have to begin with. The point I am trying to make is that Wal Mart is not necessarily some scray Godzilla like monster that could come into our township and kill it’s make up and charm.

For the record I am not pro-Wal Mart whatsoever but that has more to do with their support of Chinese and foreign products than it does anything else.

Back to the point - this whole mess never should have involved, revolved around, and had anything to do with Wal Mart. As Supervisor Walt Wilburn said the rezoning votes are based solely on land use and the speculative nature of what that land use could become. I’ve previously tried to say that but did do poorly on the Bedford Now Chatter. I think once everyone has a firm understanding of that then this issue will go away peacefully.

Now some other random thoughts from the vote night:

- I can appreciate Ms. Sherri Meyer’s no votes on the parcels with the exception of the parcels due north and south of the dealership. These parcels would have little to no effect on the day-to-day lives of the residents of Indian Acres of they were rezoned (which they were). It creates the thought in my mind that all of these no votes were simply no votes for political posturing. If memory serves me right Mr. Jim Goebel voted no on all of the parcels with the exception of the two due north and south of the dealership. Please correct me if I am wrong.

- Where were all the people who supported rezoning all six parcels? Was it really only Mr. Stock?!?

- If I heard the words Northtowne Mall one more time I think I was going to throw up. Yes, there were crime problems over there as that area is notorious for issues with crime because its located in a hot bed for it! Sure, our township is only a short drive from there but don’t you think if all the miscreants were going to come here and cause trouble they already have?

- The very public excoriation of Mr. Paul Francis by Bedford Watch leader Doug (unknown last name) and Mr. Dennis Steinman were uncalled for. Mr. Francis has no legal conflict of interest in this case and there was no need to recuse himself from the vote or abstain. He stands to receive no financial gain from the rezoning or eventual sale of this land. Nor does he have any fiduciary ties.

I am certain this is not the last of this issue. Bedford Watch will move their fight to another arena, Jon Whitman could likely take the township to court again over the denial of parcel number six, recall efforts, who knows?!?!

All I hope for is that Bedford Watch becomes who they say they are .. a group of citizens who are concerned for their own investment and their own property. There is nothing wrong with that … nothing at all. I can respect that just don’t represent yourself as a community watch dog when you’re only watching out for yourselves. Also, drop the fear mongering and deliver a proper, consistent, and legal message don’t play on speculative fears give me a real reason for concern.
Reports from those physically present at the meeting (I viewed on TV) was that Mr. Steinman showed up more than halfway through the meeting, paced around until public commentary time, made his statement and then left. Mr. Steinman had to be reminded to speak towards the Supervisor repeatedly and was waving his finger around and making a mockery of the system he was a part of for 28 years. He knows better than to act like that at a public meeting.

Reports also say that when Mr. Francis made his apology to Doug from Bedford Watch that Doug was seen rolling his eyes.

I suppose I should bump my blog on civility back to the top of this page?

Supervisor: Walt Wilburn
Treasurer: Sherri Meyer
Clerk: Bob Schockman
Trustees: Gail Hauser-Hurley, Larry O’Dell, James Goebel, and Paul Francis

I hope that in this time of economic turmoil that we face nationally, in the state, and within our own township that each and every one of our elected officials will cast aside any differences in the name of unity and togetherness; this is precisely what we require from our officials as we face daunting financial decisions in an uncertain economy.

To our seven elected office holders please note that we will all be watching you very closely to see how you guide our township and we will be proactive. We will raise our voices at concerns and rejoice together in triumph. All of us, including yourselves, only hope for the best in this township. Please keep that in mind when making your decisions and casting your votes.

Thanks and congratulations.

Obviously there were no surprises in the race for Supervisor and Treasurer as those seats were uncontested. Walt Wilburn (Supervisor) and Sherri Meyer (Treasurer) will serve another four years for our township.

In what I won’t call an upset but perhaps a surprise Clerk Bob Schockman held onto his post for another four years. Mr. Schockman held off George Welling who ran a tough and spirited campaign for the Clerk’s office. Mr. Schockman won 9 of 14 precints but the clear advantage came in absentee ballots (I am guessing that is what the AV stands for on the pdf sheet) where Schockman picked up 525 votes over Welling; considering the total margin was 818 this was huge. Write in candidate Dennis Steinman reportedly garnered 15 votes.

In the race for Trustee I would say there were some surprises, serious surprises. Former County Commissioner Gail Hauser-Hurley ran away with the vote total and will serve her first term on the board as will former Bedford Public Schools Superintendent James Goebel (the big shocker). Both Larry O’Dell and Paul Francis will be holdovers from the previous board.

The surprise in the trustee race, to me, is the elimination of Rick Steiner from the board, and the selection of Goebel and not Tom Covrett who is the chairman of the Planning Commission. I do think that Mr. Covrett perhaps lost some votes over his handling of the PC meeting on the Whitman property rezoning. I had assumed that Mr. Goebel would struggle due to the notion that he did not effectively lead our schools. Maybe I am the only one surprised, maybe not.

Finally, for the first time in 28 years of township board will not feature a familiar face in Dennis Steinman. I hope that, regardless of how you may feel, that we will all take the opportunity when we have it to thank Mr. Steinman for the years and countless hours he has given to this community. Not only has Mr. Steinman given back to this community he has raised his family to do the same; Tim has given generously of his time and I know was recently involved in landscaping at the Pocket Part and Doug is a volunteer fireman at the Lambertville station. Allow me to be the first to publicly thank Mr. Steinman and his family for all they have done and I am sure will continue to do for our township, thank you.

What does everyone else think? Surprised, disappointed? Share your thoughts, thanks!

It was my earlier contention that there were similarities between 2008 Indian Acres residents and 2000 New Colonial Gardens residents. 2008 Indian Acres residents are battling the potential rezoning of land immediately east of their neighborhood on Sterns while in 2000 New Colonial Gardens residents were up in arms about the potential Kroger Plaza being built immediately east of their neighborhood off of Sterns. HOWEVER, the land Kroger was to be built on was also zoned C-2 Shopping Center; therefore, no rezoning needed to take place for the plaza to be built.

BUT

I did find out some history where my contention was off approximately 21 years. Follow along.

The land at Secor and Sterns had been zoned C-2 Shopping Center dating way back into the 60s. In December of 1978 Bedford Land Improvement, Inc. came to the township asking that all but 25 acres be rezoned. The rezoning asked that 9.92 acres on the far west side of the parcel be changed from C-2 to RM-2 (multiple family) and an additional 6.55 acres adjoining the other parcel from C-2 to R-2B (multiple family and single family).

At that time residents of New Colonial Gardens (the subdivision immediately west of present day Kroger) were against the rezoning. Unfortunately the minutes do not indicate why. The motion to approve and reject never passed the Planning Commission  on December 20, 1978 mostly do to an absent member; the votes for each went 3-3. At this time the Township Board would have the final say.

There was something that caught my eye in the minutes which leads me to believe why the residents were against the rezoning. Richard Mueller, a PC member at the time, stated that there had been no commerical growth at the intersection of Secor and Sterns for the past ten years. This would date back to 1968. It is my contention and belief that the reason they were against rezoning the land was because they wished for that area to remain void of any structures - residential or commerical!

Unfortunately for the residents on February 6, 1979 (the night before I was born!) the township board by a vote of 4-3 voted to approve the rezoning. Needless to say the residents weren’t happy and the predecessor to BedfordWatch.com was born. The residents petitioned and gained a referendum forcing a special election to overturn the rezoning that was approved …. and won! At this time the entirety of the property returned to C-2 Shopping Center zoning.

So I was wrong in my contention about a similarity between Indian Acres residents of today and residents of Colonial Gardens in 2000. However, I was somewhat correct … just off a few years!

I’ve tried to find articles indicating displeasure regarding Kroger building there and creating a plaza and haven’t come up with much - mostly because internet archives for the BN and MEN don’t date back past 2005 it appears. I found one quote from the recent Whitman meeting, made by Gail Keane, that mentioned the anxiety of residents living near Secor and Sterns circa 2000 regarding the Kroger build but that she believed it turned out ok.  I would tend to agree and it appears that during the site plan approval meetings in 2000 that Kroger made it of great importance to listen to the nearby residents and address their concerns. The type of lighting was discussed, an agreement to move a dumpster, ensure that there would be no loading docks behind the strip plaza, and that deliveries would only occur during normal waking hours, and that trucks would enter and exit off of Secor Rd.

It seems to me a lot can get done at the site plan approval meetings. This could be of great benefit to the Indian Acres residents.

I still support the rezoning. If it is of great issue to the Indian Acres residents should the rezoning pass they should follow suit of the New Colonial Gardens residents of 1979. Otherwise work through the proper channels to ensure that any potential disturbances are discussed and handled via site planning approvals. It seems to me that Kroger has been a great corporate neighbor (I live nearby myself). The lights aren’t intrusive (it’s quite dark behind the plaza at night), the area is well maintained, they sponsor the car show, etc. Who is to say that a similar great corporate neighbor couldn’t be a part of that property at Sterns and Lewis?

Dr. Moyer was our former Superintendent of Bedford Public Schools, serving from 1984-1996, and hands down one of the most genuine and outstanding individuals you would ever meet. His passion for education and his students was unrivaled - even to this day. Undoubtedly Dr. Moyer will go down as the most influential and greatest leader of our school district.

Dr. Moyer was responsible for intiating the PTA within Bedford Public Schools; an act that I must continue to thank him for as it allows me great access to my child’s education and gives me increased ability to help and be of assistance.

If memory serves me correct Dr. Moyer was also responsible for establishing the ‘Guaranteed Graduate’ for those students who graduated from Bedford High School.

Few people have ever impressed me more than Dr. Moyer. I can remember, the exact year escapes me but I know it was while at the Jr. High, I had been kicked out of the classroom and was sitting in the hall doing my work. Dr. Moyer happened to be in the building and stopped to talk to me in the hallway where I sat. He asked me what I had done and made me promise I would no longer get into trouble so that I could be in the classroom learning. I wasn’t an unruly child to begin with (my folks may disagree) but what kid didn’t find themselves in the wrong from time to time? I was impressed that Dr. Moyer cared greatly for each individual student; he didn’t need to stop and check on me but he cared enough to. A great leader.

It is situations such as Dr. Moyer’s passing that makes me realize (or remember) that we should all cherish the passion he shared … for whatever we’re passionate about. Dr. Moyer was a champion for all things Bedford and wanted what was best, in his eyes, for the schools and this community. Imagine how much more great this community could be if we all shared that passion!

To Dr. Moyer’s family I send you my best wishes and condolences. God bless you all.

I’m certainly aware that I am not always the most civil person in the world but it is something that I am certainly working on and strive towards being a more well rounded, positive, respectful person. I never mean ill will towards anyone but I have certainly not done the best job in decision making and word choices in the past.

But the issue doesn’t reside solely in me. I see this lack of civility everywhere I go. At work, at home, in the community, on the Bedford Chatter.

At work a few weeks ago I had a woman screaming at me that she was going to smoke in the rental, make sure her dog shed it’s hair all over the place, and not replace the fuel in the vehicle. All this because her car had broke down which is clearly NOT something I had anything to do with. Now granted she had every right to be frustrated because she has had mechanical issues with her vehicle but did this give her the right to act towards me this way? I didn’t build her car nor have I ever worked on it. Finally, I was able to get her into a vehicle (which she complained about the type of vehicle she was given) and she squawked the tires as she drove away. This is one example of many that have happened recently. I suppose what made this particular story great to me was that later that day I found out her car stalled and broke down because it was out of gas!!

At home I see things happen too. We’re a young family and we don’t see much of each other. My wife and I generally work opposite schedules so that one of us is always with the kids. Sometimes cooler heads don’t prevail. And having kids … well if they’re not behaving we all know our blood can boil a wee bit quicker. Every family goes through this and ultimately it makes you stronger. I love my wife and my children more than anything in this world and I wish and hope the best for them.

In the community .. this is something that bothers me more so than the others. My father was telling me that he had an opportunity to speak with George Welling, the republican running for Township Clerk. My dad informed him that we (as a family) were longtime friends of Bob Schockman, the democrat running for the same position, but my dad allowed Mr. Welling his opportunity to speak. One of the things that George shared with him was the countless horrible things he has been called on the campaign trail - words including m’effer and more. How disappointing and terrible. While I won’t be voting for Mr. Welling he deserves to be commended for his time and efforts and desires to be a part of our township government.

And finally I mentioned the Bedford Chatter. Perhaps its the anonymity of the internet which makes people ’stronger’. I don’t really know what it is. I have been repeatedly assailed on the forum itself. The newest member has a moniker of NOMOREKEITH. I have had my college degree compared to a worthless piece of paper, been told that because of the amount of time I spend on the forum I must not have a family. I even had someone, before I came out and announced who I am, figure out who I am and where I live and mail me township memos to my home; something I didn’t ask for.

I have seen people say unsavory things about public officials, other poster, folks in the news, etc. For what? Why? I don’t know and I don’t have an answer for it. I do know though that if I hadn’t grown up here its this type of behavior that may make me wish to move to a different community if I were looking for somewhere to live in this area. I love Bedford and that is a large reason as to why we moved back here. I know it to be a safe community, great schools for my kids, and it is a place I want to live and be an active participant within the community.   

To my community I want to let you know that I am trying to change my ways and lend my positive voice. I hope you’re noticing a changed tone when it comes to me. I will continue to challenge those that wish to challenge me and I welcome the opportunity at sprited and respectful debate. I hope that all of you will find it within yourselves to join me in leading the charge back to civility. We may not always agree and we may not always see eye-to-eye but I hope that we can at least chose to do so respectfully.