In My Own Words

This section is a space for me to share my thoughts beyond policy points; reflections on our community, responses to current issues, and stories that shape my vision for the future. These writings offer a more personal look at who I am, what I value, and why I believe in the work ahead.

Maumee Rolling The Dice On Our Future

To the Editor:
The Toledo Blade published an editorial on April 25 discussing the traffic headaches that are news to no one.
The reasons for the current Conant Street debacle are well-documented: the widening of I-475/U.S. 23, continued work on the Anthony Wayne Trail, etc. Over the last couple of years, most everyone in and around Maumee has become certified experts in traffic management and each has their own opinion of what should be done.
However, the editorial touched on something that I have been feeling for a while – that we are not being good neighbors right now. I feel this has been the reason for the frustration, jokes and memes that Maumee has been a target of during these past couple of years.
Nobody can object to Maumee improving itself. Conant Street looks much better after the sidewalk replacement, paving, painting of the light posts, etc. The Trail also looks tremendously improved, again with the new pavement, new lighting being installed, continued tree additions, so on and so on.
However, the “road diet” taking Conant from four lanes down to two is a slap in the face to our neighbors who rely on Conant Street and the Maumee-Perrysburg Bridge for their daily commute. For people living/working in South Toledo who need to get to Perrysburg and vice versa, this is currently the only way to get to these areas without having to take major detours that will take just as long, if not longer.
Monclova is also joining in the party, since the 475/23 South project is not slated to finish until fall 2024, and we all know how often those projects get done on time. However, after this project wraps up, ODOT is going to start planning and executing the final widening of 475/23 from the Trail to I-75, which will continue to drive people to the Maumee-Perrysburg Bridge. It is going to be a good 10 years before everything is done and we will have what will be the “normal” traffic patterns for the long term.
Unfortunately, even before the 475/23 interchange was shut down, it was still incredibly difficult to cross the bridge or even get across Conant Street during the morning rush hour and the after-school/evening rush hour. I know this because I live west of Conant Street uptown. These last couple of years have not been fun living in the epicenter of this project; and unfortunately, it’s not going to get better any time soon.
Maumee officials absolutely have a blueprint they are following: The Strong Towns concept. People and the city were of course thrilled that Maumee won the “Strongest Town” award from the group led by Charles Marohn Jr., the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity. Mr. Marohn came to speak in Maumee last year, and I had the opportunity to attend and am currently reading his book. The philosophies and ideas can be endlessly debated at Dale’s or The Village Idiot, but the one thing for certain is that city leadership is full speed ahead on this idea.
The one thing that I personally feel throws a monkey wrench into this philosophy is the fact that we have two major U.S. highways going through Maumee: U.S. 24 (Anthony Wayne Trail) and U.S. 20 (Conant Street). U.S. 20 was designed to take significant traffic volume across the Maumee River, and unfortunately there is no escaping that fact. The Trail is also a major truck route from U.S. 24 in Defiance into Toledo, as well as a route for commuters from Waterville, Whitehouse and Maumee to get into downtown Toledo. Unfortunately, Maumee is not Pompeii, and the routes that have developed in Northwest Ohio are not changing any time soon.
During Mr. Marohn’s presentation, the impression I received was that the Conant Street improvements, including our $600,000 arches, are Phase I of rebuilding a failing town. Making Maumee more walkable and pedestrian-friendly would of course be fantastic, and nobody can argue with that.
When Maumee shuts down Conant for Acoustics for Autism and the Summer Fair, it’s fantastic, and people from all over stream into uptown for a fantastic party. However, tell that to the thousands of people who cross the bridge daily to simply live their lives. “Streets are for People” is a great slogan, but it’s a tall order for Maumee when it comes to these major U.S. highways.
The second phase, according to Mr. Marohn, would be filling in higher-density housing around the newly improved uptown/downtown area. My question is how exactly are we supposed to do that with two historic neighborhoods on either side of Conant Street? I can’t change the color of my house without approval from the city, but we’re supposed to tear down houses between Allen/Cass Street and Gibbs/Elizabeth Street to put in upscale row houses or townhouses?
Even if we do that, how does this make Maumee more walkable for the other residential sections of town? It would take 49 minutes, according to Google Maps, to walk from Parkway Drive to the Maumee Indoor Theater. Could you bike that faster? Of course, but you still have to deal with traffic and safety crossing the Trail, which is a significant deterrent to driving uptown to participate in the improvements for people living in the northwest part of our city.
As I listen to the serenade of car horns on Conant at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday from my home, I am resigned to the fact that this is how our city is going to be for some time. We have been promised many things, from decreased overall traffic and improved traffic flow to AI-controlled traffic signals to increased economic benefits to our uptown businesses. However, whatever happens with the revitalization of Maumee, good or bad, is going to be felt by us, the citizens, for decades after our current leadership is long gone from their public and private positions.
All I have to say is: This. Better. Work.
Dave Poeppelmeier
Maumee

It’s Back To The Drawing Board

To the Editor:
Finally, Election Day is almost here. Locally, we have a choice to make on Issue 2 that extends beyond rental properties here in Maumee.
At the end of the day, I feel that this ordinance is a key component to the city’s plan on discouraging rental properties in Maumee. Is this why the city is fighting it tooth and nail, including using our tax dollars to advertise and promote its position? Do people not in a moderate- to high-income tax bracket not deserve to live in Maumee? Do my friends and my kids’ friends not deserve to go to Maumee City Schools because they are renters?
The bigger issue I see going on is the direction Maumee is headed. When my family moved here in 2013, it was because we wanted a nice town with great schools that didn’t break our bank account. We also wanted a relaxed community, without the pretentiousness that comes with living in a higher-priced suburb. What I see happening is Maumee being forcibly turned into the next “hip” suburb with what has been presented so far with the questionnaires we have been asked to fill out from Yard and Company.
I’m not opposed to improving or progressing, as the uptown looks much better and the state did a great job with the AW Trail. Of course we need to attract new people to our community, but we have to keep a sense of who we are and not force changing our identity for the sake of change.
The key issue I have with the non-owner-occupied ordinance is that it is government overreach at its finest. It is being pushed as “preserving property values.” That’s great, but if we are concerned about blight in Maumee, shouldn’t we be talking about all houses? According to the Census Bureau, there are 6,178 housing units (including apartments) in Maumee. Twenty-five percent of those units are rentals, so 1,154 units are rentals. Of those units, only 383 are single-family houses. Therefore, 6.2 percent of Maumee’s housing stock are single-family rentals. Let’s say that 15 percent of those owners are “slumlords” (which is being very pessimistic). That equates to 57 potential problem properties.
Also, how is this ordinance going to be interpreted and enforced? Ordinance 20-2024 for the sewers looked pretty innocent on paper until people started getting quotes for the repairs. (Source: https://data.census.gov/table/ACSCP5Y2022.CP04?q=apartment&t=Housing%20Units&g=160XX00US39 48342.)
So, we’re going to go after all rentals, because there could be a problem with approximately 57 houses? What about the eyesores that are owner-occupied that neighbors will happily tell you about? If we are serious about preserving property values, we should be going after all homeowners to keep up their properties. We can’t do that for many obvious reasons: Seniors on fixed income, sandwich-generation parents, etc. So, let’s go after the rentals! Well, here’s the other problem: Most housing providers aren’t swimming in cash. These are long-term investments that they have typically poured a lot of money into to give someone a decent place to live. If we tack on extra costs to all housing providers, rents are going to have to go up for people to stay in business.
Yes, the evil word, “business.” They need to be regulated! Well, they already are. It’s called the Lucas County Health Department and the Fair Housing Center, as well as all current city, county and state ordinances regarding the upkeep of rental properties. If any resident has an issue that their rental unit (house or apartment) is not being kept up properly, they can reach out to either or both of those organizations, and the process begins that can end up in rent being held in escrow. The safeguards for renters are already in place.
This is a very slippery slope, in that if the city can force inspections of rental properties (though they have never published what specifically they will be inspecting), the next logical step is point-of-sale inspections on all properties in Maumee. Whether it was intentional or not, the city essentially tried this in the scrapped Ordinance 19-2024 that was never brought to council to vote on.
With all of that being said, I am voting no on Issue 2. Just like with the failed Ordinance 20-2024, let’s send this one back to the drawing board, and work with housing providers in finding a solution that addresses the city’s concern about blight in a more sensible way.
Dave Poeppelmeier
Maumee

Let’s Give The People Their Voice

To the Editor:

Most people in Maumee are now aware of the ongoing recall effort. A lot of people are already for or against it, but what is undeniable is that the Citizens of Maumee have the right to pursue this action. Section 705.92 of the Ohio Revised Code lays this out plainly.

But how did we get here? The quick answer is the breach of trust.

Since 2020, things have changed relatively quickly here in Maumee. What was a quiet town quickly became noisy due to the discovery of the sewer issues, as well as the overhaul of uptown Maumee, during a global pandemic. One can endlessly argue whether the changes have been good or bad, or somewhere in the middle, but what can be said for certain is that the city has massively blundered severely in a few key areas, with the biggest issues being communication with its citizens and government overreach. And one man stands in the middle of it all: Dr. Patrick Burtch.

The origin of the recall effort likely started with the reconfiguration of traffic in uptown. While the updating of infrastructure was badly needed, many feel that the changes went too far. I remember that there was an informational meeting at the Maumee Indoor Theater sometime in early 2021, but like most people, I thought, “Oh, they’re going to spruce up uptown. Cool,” and I didn’t go. Not many people realized the overhaul that was going to happen. Eyebrows were raised when the temporary lane restrictions went up and traffic started backing up in both directions. However, the collective voice of the people didn’t rise up and the changes became permanent. Who was at the forefront? Dr. Burtch. Trust started to be questioned.

Next, local businesses noticed the mandates from the city regarding forced improvements. Whether it was forcing a business to replace and add curbs to an entire parking lot instead of just fixing what was broken, or forcing cosmetic improvements because someone simply bought a commercial space, trust was being broken. Who was the one leading the charge? Dr. Burtch.

The first big breach of trust then came with the now-infamous rental ordinance. This dead horse has been thoroughly beaten, but who was sitting next to former Mayor Richard Carr as he essentially told concerned members of the real estate industry, “This is what we’re going to do and there’s nothing you can do about it”? Dr. Burtch.

Then, there was the likely tens of thousands of dollars that were spent fighting the citizen-led referendum against this ordinance. After Maumee officials refused to turn their signatures into the Board of Elections, the citizens had to turn to the Ohio Supreme Court, which ruled, “Turn in the signatures.” Maumee still refused to do so, and the referendum was not allowed on the 2023 ballot. Had they done that, the referendum would have likely failed easily in the 2023 climate of Maumee. But they continued to fight it with the Board of Elections and even appealed to the Court of Common Pleas and the 6th District Court of Appeals, all of which said, “Put it on the ballot.” This breach of trust falls on everyone: Mayors Carr and MacDonald, city council and Dr. Burtch.

Finally, the biggest breach of trust was the short-lived Sewer Ordinance 20-2024. City council passed this ordinance that appeared innocuous enough: no downspouts or sump pumps to drain into the sewer system. However, Dr. Burtch’s interpretation was draconian, in that “clay equals fail,” which is what was used in any house in Maumee built before the mid-1980s. Council members I spoke with said that they were not aware that this was going to be the interpretation of the ordinance. This put the burden of fixing the sewer issue 100 percent on the backs of residents, with most not even knowing they had an issue until they went to sell their homes in this short time period. Dr. Burtch and city council came after the common person of Maumee finally, and the people had had enough.

The uprising was astounding, with “Trapped in Maumee” signs everywhere. Referendum petitions were signed at light speed, and the city smartly repealed the ordinance. But the damage was done, and trust was shattered. Everyone was again responsible, not just Dr Burtch.

Recall is not a flippant thing to pursue, nor should it be taken lightly. If Issue 2 regarding the rental ordinance was defeated 3-to-1, it shows there is an overwhelming sentiment of distrust in our elected and unelected officials. We have seen the city’s resistance to letting its residents speak at the polls, so it’s no surprise to see Dr. Burtch appeal against the recall effort in both The Mirror and The Blade as a last-ditch effort to sway people into thinking it’s just a bunch of rich real estate people conning gullible residents. Again, he and our elected officials just can’t seem to read the room.

So, if the citizens leading this charge for recall do everything correctly, we should be given this option to recall our elected officials. Give. The People. Their Voice.

Dave Poeppelmeier

Maumee