I recognize this is a wee bit late however conisdering our blog site has been down for an extended period as our server was updated amongst other things and the general running around the holiday brings I am just getting around to it.

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.

This past Tuesday’s vote was very likely one of the most watched votes in the history of our fair township. It seems everyone has an opinion on the rezoning of the land owned by the Whitman family at the intersection of Sterns and Lewis. Not surprising to anyone is the fact that I have many opinions to share; opinions not just over the rezoning but also of some individuals.

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?

Well, I finally had the opportunity to reach out to school administrators and business leaders via e mail today; next up is our township leaders (I just need to decide in what fashion I would like them to help contribute as I am not looking to make this blog overly political in nature).

The first individual to respond to me was my old junior high principal, Mrs. Mary Zaums. She was always an excellent administrator and I am glad to see that she is still over there leading a great group of young people as well as an excellent staff. Hopefully she is still there when Meghan, my oldest, finds her way there in 4 more years.

I found out that enrollment is indeed down at the junior high - 840 students - and less are expected next year. We, as a community, must find a means in which enrollment stops declining. I’m not sure if it is a lack of affordable housing for young families, the struggling economy, or a combination of the two. Regardless of the problem we need to fix declining enrollment as it is one aspect that could help our declining school budget.

Mrs. Zaums shared with me two great stories both of which I found to be very exciting and important lessons.

The first story came from an American History class (which I believe we took in the 8th grade) where a teacher was playing the Auction Game. The premise of the game is the teacher acts as the Treasury and controls the value of the play money with which he auctioned off desirable goods. When the teacher would decrease the value of the money the demand for the goods would then increase. Eventually the supply of the goods decreased because the teacher began gradually removing money from circulation.  The point of the lesson was to bring the current economic struggles of America into focus for these 13-year-old students. Mrs. Zaums stated that it worked very well because the teacher was a master as knowing students and being able to bring everyday practice to their level.

What a neat lesson. A focus on improving the economic struggles facing this nation is real and effects all of us; including these 13-year-old children. Imagine what a great opportunity these children have to go home and share this new experience with their families. Furthermore, imagine the opportunity to learn more at home and maybe even the parents could learn something from their child’s experience.

The second exciting story Mrs. Zaums shared was that she was taking four students to the Government Center to meet and talk to Bob Schockman, our Township Clerk, and to ask him to come over and register students to vote in a mock election this November at the school. Only those who registered would be able to vote in the mock election.

Again, what a great lesson in civics. I don’t recall being presented with this type of opportunity at that age. I do recall during the 1996 election, my senior year of high school, having some elected officials, or those running for office, come and speak to the Government classes. Bev Hammerstrom was there and I think Bob Schockman came to speak as well. Mr. Med Barr, a former township official, was our government teacher and I am sure this played a role in things.

Considering that the young people, my generation included, of this nation seem to not take their voting rights seriously I think any exposure at any age is important. I applaud Mrs. Zaums and those at the junior high who took this step to teach such an important lesson.

Hopefully this is the first of many posts that will focus on positive and exciting things going on at all of our wonderful schools. We truly have top notch facilities with top notch individuals leading our school system. I look forward to communicating with all of the administrators and others throughout the community to share stories like this with all of you.

Thanks to Mrs. Zaums for taking the time to communicate with me today and a thanks to all of you who have taken the time to read. You all make this worthwhile.

I like to think I know a lot about everything when in all actuality (and I do truly realize this) I only know a little bit about a lot of things. I’m not always right and contrary to some people’s beliefs I am not always wrong either.

So here is something I don’t understand ….infinitely. Why can the parks levy in Bedford Township not pass? There has been some great commentary on this on the Bedford Now Chatter and I can appreciate a lot of the comments on both sides of the argument.

Such as the commentary made by those opposed to the levy:

• It only seems to be Ohio residents at the parks (Carr Park’s parking lot was used as an example)
• While it isn’t a lot of money many of us don’t have the added expendable income.

And some of the commentary for the levy:

• On a house with a taxable value of $100,000 the levy only increases taxes $17.50/year. How can you not come up with a little more than a dollar a month?
• We live in a great community that deserve better parks.

This past levy was specifically for the upkeep and maintenance of our parks. I think there is still significant backlash occurring in the township due to the purchase of the land where Lewis Anstead Park will(may) stand.  I lived outside the township’s limits at that time and admittedly don’t understand the backlash. I also think, but don’t know, that the township used to have money set aside in the General Fund for the parks however due to the economic struggles that money has been diverted.

The issue that bothers me, outside of wanting my children to be able to enjoy the parks in Bedford, is that increasing the number of parks and maintaining them properly is probably the least expensive cost to us as taxpayers to increase our property values. Studies have been conducted to show that parks, green lines, golf courses, et cetera can all have a positive effect on our property values.

Another issue is far different and it’s that of a stigma - that stigma is to be the best. I am proud to live in Bedford Township but we lack in so many things. Parks, for one, are laughable when compared to some of the other suburbs such as Sylvania, Maumee, and Perrysburg. I once envisioned a Pacesetter Park type setting where they’re building the Summerlyn development at Secor and Smith roads. There would be other economic benefits to this type of development in the township including bringing softball and baseball tournaments to the area. The fact that we have no lighted baseball/softball facility in the township is depressing as well. Off the top of my head I know for a fact that Toledo, Bowling Green, Sylvania, and Maumee have these facilities.

Another huge issue facing this township is the lack of things to do. Outside of ForestView Lanes and the volleyball courts there what is there for young adults and teenagers to do in this township? This is not largely different from my youth.  About the only difference is the construction of the Francis Family YMCA (and thank God for that).

Recently some young residents of our township, who have allegedly not been in trouble before, were arrested for vandalizing property and making Molotov Cocktails. Now, I am not trying to excuse the poor judgment that was exercised here by these individuals but I am almost willing to bet that these poor choices and lack of judgment partially result from an infinite sense of boredom.

We, as a township, must develop ways to encourage and promote businesses that cater to the youth of this township to invest here. Our dollars are clearly being spent elsewhere! In places where those dollars could easily be spent here. These are places like Maxwell’s (a coffee house), various concert venues like Headliner’s and Club Bijou, movie theatres, etc. Bringing these types of businesses to the township increases jobs, increases the money flow in the township, and presents a more desirable image. We’ve done a wonderful job bringing in businesses that cater to the adults of this community; it is now time to step up for the teenagers and young adults.

And yes, I think parks are a piece of that puzzle. It may seem silly and considering our current parks it may be. However, we have to think on a larger scale - something like a Pacesetter. Perhaps a place where people can ride and race dirt bikes (like in Delta, OH) or any other number of things that people enjoy. I know this could be an economic benefit not only to the township but to all of us.