h1. Toledo politics - May 2015

I created a version of this as a comment to toledotalk.com

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bq. _"It is 100% the majority voters' fault."_

Does the blame belong to voters or to the non-voters who have other interests? Although it's hard to blame those who don't care.

q.
Voter "turnout":http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2015/05/06/Harper-wins-vote-for-city-s-District-4-seat.html was extremely low — *4.4 percent.*

Council district 4 includes central Toledo, downtown, Old West End, and North Toledo.

All six of council’s district seats are up for a primary election in September and a general election in November.
q..

May 5, 2015 District 4 council race:

* Harper had 592 votes
* Ashford 390
* Ramsey 318
* Narvaez 121
** total votes = 1421

Voter turnout for the September primary will be around 15 percent.  Voter turnout for the November general election could be higher than the expected 25 percent because of statewide issues.

Politics is the most overrated subject in media. It doesn't make financial sense to devote resources to the topic, unless a small, devout group of political wonks are willing to *pay* for longform, deep, analytical content that's clearly not be targeted toward a general audience.


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another proposed comment but not posted

bq. _"It is 100% the majority voters' fault."_

It seems that the best way to counter the majority vote is for the majority of the public to vote. 

q.
Voter "turnout":http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2015/05/06/Harper-wins-vote-for-city-s-District-4-seat.html was extremely low — *4.4 percent.*

Council district 4 includes central Toledo, downtown, Old West End, and North Toledo.

All six of council’s district seats are up for a primary election in September and a general election in November.
q..

May 5, 2015 District 4 council race:

* Harper had 592 votes
* Ashford 390
* Ramsey 318
* Narvaez 121
** total votes = 1421

Voter turnout for the September primary will be around 15 percent.  Voter turnout for the November general election will be approximately 25 percent, although statewide issues may increase turnout a little.

I assume that most people don't vote because they have other interests. And the non-voters learned long ago that paying attention to politics accomplishes nothing.

Look at this District 4 special election, for example.

q.
All four candidates said neighborhood issues such as crime and blight were their main concerns.
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Crime and blight are old concerns. Past elected officials have not made improvements, therefore why would electing one more person have an impact? The vote is useless. The non-voters are more intellectually evolved.

Blight? 

May 6, 2015 Blade "story":http://www.toledoblade.com/Real-Estate/2015/05/06/Housing-database-is-online.html

q.
Totally ridding Toledo of the blighted 4,000 properties could cost up to *$32 million,* the report said.

With $7 million from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the land bank has demolished *862 blighted abandoned homes in the city since August, 2012.*

An additional $9.2 million in grants from the Ohio Housing Financing Agency will allow the land bank to demolish another *950 homes by October, 2016.*

The land bank said demolition costs are averaging about $8,000 for each structure.
q..

And over the next several years, it's probable that new blighted properties get added to the list.




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