Beatrice Gracie has called the city before about the dilapidated vacant houses in her South Toledo neighborhood.
She’d like them torn down or cleaned up, but has been told the city doesn’t have the money to address it. But with $180.9 million in American Rescue Plan funding now coming to Toledo, she hopes that will change.
“I hate looking out of my back window and looking at these abandoned houses with trees coming out of them,” she said.
Ms. Gracie was one of at least 75 people who attended the city’s first community meeting to gather input on how to spend the federal aid dollars. Doni Miller, chief executive officer of Neighborhood Health Association, moderated the discussion Thursday evening at Rogers High School.
Residents were invited to share their wish-lists within five categories: youth, recreation and parks; safe and livable neighborhoods; job creation and economic development; green and healthy housing; and avoiding cuts to city services.
The city received half its federal allocation in May, and the other half will be received in May, 2022. The Kapszukiewicz administration intends to collect community input through August and draw up a spending plan in the fall to present to Toledo City Council for approval.
All of the American Rescue Plan funds must be allocated by Dec. 31, 2024, and spent by Dec. 31, 2026.
Henry Pauly, chairman of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, said he wants to see money used to bolster park programming for next summer and summers beyond.
He said he recognizes the administration and city council put together recreational opportunities at the parks this year, but he doesn’t believe they’ve been well attended. Anyone over age 50 raised in Toledo can name the park they grew up playing in, he said, but that’s no longer the case for today’s youth.
Several in the audience said city officials should talk to kids and find out what kind of opportunities they want, with a focus on listening to at-risk youth.
North Toledo resident Monique Ward spoke as a mother concerned about the violence in the city. She said parents don’t have a lot of options of places in their neighborhoods to take their children for fun or enrichment.
She said she wants the pools to be free, she wants more community centers with more free programs, and she wants to see Toledo invest in organizations and businesses that benefit families and are more connected with neighborhoods.
“The African American community, we are not getting the monies that we need,” she said. “We need more. And we cannot have it just be in one sector of the community.”
Ka’Trice Perry brought a funding proposal to Thursday’s meeting specifically to present to Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz. She runs Gateway Youth Development, a nonprofit that addresses youth homelessness, provides health and wellness programing, and offers career services — all topics that fit with the administration’s priorities.
Ms. Perry said she wants to see some American Rescue Plan dollars funneled to organizations such as hers that do meaningful work in the community but could do more if they had more funding. Others in the audience said they believe there are too many hoops to jump through when it comes to nonprofits obtaining public dollars.
One attendee said he wants to see funding directed toward training Toledo police officers to better relate to the people in higher-crime neighborhoods as a way to improve community-police relations.
Mr. Kapszukiewicz and mayoral challenger Jan Scotland attended the session, and candidate Carty Finkbeiner was talking with attendees as they walked into the high school beforehand. Several Toledo city council candidates also were in present, as well as a handful of current councilmen and city staff.
For residents who attended the meeting but did not want to speak publicly, the city provided copies of a survey about the rescue funds for attendees to fill out.
The next community meeting is set for Aug. 4 at noon. It is the series’ only virtual meeting and can be accessed at toledo-oh-gov.zoom.us/j/87095154054.
First Published July 23, 2021, 1:21 a.m.
