A few days ago Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson justified forcing one person off the plan commission and not reappointing another on the basis that the city needs young blood — new faces, fresh perspective, ideas that have not been floated and dismissed scores of times over many multiples of years.

I was a little skeptical. Both of the commissioners who were being dumped by her were opposed to Kroger building on the Sisters of Notre Dame property at Monroe and Secor, a project abjectly not in the public interest but highly favored by private interests.

And then I heard some potential specifics of the youthful infusion the mayor is contemplating. And I laughed, and wondered if her nose had grown just a little. How about Pete Culp and a labor leader for young blood on the plan commission?

It fits our Orwellian moment (up is down, old is new, and hackneyed is fresh). Ours is an age in which even the leader of the free world chooses facts (or creates them) based on what he wishes them to be.

Pete Culp is young blood?

Alice has found Wonderland.

Mr. Culp is a good, if easily irascible, man. But, as Rob Ludeman said of Carty Finkbeiner’s run for mayor last year: He had his day.

I love it when a politician, or preacher, or athlete can say: “I’ve had my moment in the sun. I have run the race. Let the new players take the field.”

But that’s a rare thing.

Toledo has a generation of leaders who will not get out of the way and let the young blood circulate.

And this matters because the old ideas and ways are killing us.

As one bitter letter writer said recently: “It’s Toledo, there can never be another or a better way.”

As for union representation. It should be prominent on boards and councils in a city like ours, but it should not be predominant. It should not dominate the Port Authority, for example. Or the plan commission.

Now, as Mr. Finkbeiner himself rightly points out, young blood need not be exclusively about age. It has to do with freshness, which is a part of youth. But some people think young at 60, 70, or 80 — especially if they have not been previously involved in politics and government. Imagine a retired Mike Thaman, now CEO of Owens Corning, as mayor.

The thing is, Mayor Hicks-Hudson is right, whether she misapplied her own precept or not. We do desperately need new blood.

And the logical places to begin would be city council, and the school board.

There should also be new blood on the plan commission, of course, but that is never going to happen as long as one party, indeed, one faction of that one party, has a lock on city government.

If we got a new city council — not one or two members but mostly new members, or an unaligned nonpartisan majority — it would constitute a velvet revolution in this city. We could really start to drain the black swamp and have a government that supports and sustains Toledo’s renaissance rather than retarding it.

In the coming weeks and months, I’ll be writing more about these notions of renewal and about draining the swamp that is Toledo politics — self-dealing, protective of those in the inner ring, and always likely to place these considerations over the public good.

And I’ll be naming names. Our mayor, for example, is a wonderful person with a good education and a good heart. But, so far, she seems unable or unwilling to lead, and she has made herself the unblinking servant of the machine.

There is at least one fresh face out there preparing to run for council — Sam Melden. He has made peace with the machine, but he is close to the generation of young leaders who have been shut out. Indeed, he is almost their spokesman. He has brains, imagination, and deep roots in this community. He could make a difference.

I’d like to see others come forth:

● Like the Rev. Cedric Brock, pastor of Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist Church.

● Like someone from the shelter community. Several of the shelters are run by ultra-competent women who are not going to be double-talked or manipulated. How about one of them as a candidate?

● Like boat maker and independent thinker Scott Ramsey, of the Old West End, who served briefly on council, and loves the city, and is not a mindless hack.

● Like someone from the business community. Midsize and small business owners need to form a political action committee and make their voices heard in the city and county.

Yes, we really do need new blood. A new breed, not just generational but also intellectual, needs to assert itself unapologetically.

Those who have had their day need to get out of the way. And in a city like ours, they are not going to do that voluntarily.

Keith C. Burris is editorial page editor of The Blade. Contact him at:kburris@theblade.com or 419-724-6266.

First Published March 19, 2017, 4:00 a.m.