About 50 people filed into Toledo City Council chambers in One Government Center to voice concerns about the current political climate, ask questions about the city, and watch a public meeting unfold during the city’s annual Democracy Day.
“Planning this event is like a tradition,” Dennis Slotnick said. “But it also allows us to be giving to the greatest values we have in this country.”
The event Thursday was organized by Mr. Slotnick and Tony Szilagye, members of Toledo Move to Amend.
Toledo Move to Amend is the local affiliate of the national, nonpartisan organization committed to advocating for a robust democracy without corporate interests or dark money.
“It was this past November when we have now seen 15 years worth of corporate money, individual money, billionaires’ money, going into political campaigns with phenomenal success in the sense that they’ve essentially bought out our legislature, not only by campaign financing, but in the media and in many other ways,” Mr. Slotnick said.
In attendance to listen to constituent concerns were Toledo City Councilmen Sam Melden, Carrie Hartman, Theresa Morris, Theresa Gadus, George Sarantou, and Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz.
While not everyone in attendance spoke in front of council, those who did presented a wide variety of concerns, from the federal level to the local level.
Peggy Daly-Masternak, coordinator for the I-475 Neighborhoods Coalition, asked the council to pass a resolution opposing the expansion of I-475.
She said the widening of the interstate will harm the residential neighborhoods that have large elderly, lower-income, and minority populations.
“We repeat, pass a resolution to oppose the expansion, as has happened in a growing list of cities by unanimous votes of the elected bodies in those cities,” Ms. Daly-Masternak said. “They see the harms, they see the cost, they see it all, and they have passed the resolutions we’ve been asking you for, for almost two years now.”
Sue Terrell spoke about the water quality of Lake Erie.
“I’m still concerned very much about Lake Erie and the mess that’s in our Maumee River that flows through our complete area that is not being addressed, where we feel that the water is not what it should be,” Ms. Terrell said. “That’s definitely related to corporate entities as well.”
Sean Nestor, an Old West End resident, said he’s been at every Democracy Day since it was established in 2017.
“When we talk about democracy, we have to remember that the presence of elections is not enough to say, ‘We have democracy,’” Mr. Nestor said. “Democracy has always been about the quality of your politics and the ability for those who are elected to represent, to actually represent, people.”
Mr. Slotnick, a former educator, said events like Democracy Day allow him to learn about different aspects of the community from Toledo residents.
“I’m an educator in biology and environmental science,” Mr. Slotnick said. “I like to organize events that allow the students, the learners, to participate. And in this case, each one of the people who presented is their own teacher and they’re teaching council. To me, this is education in a grander form.”
First Published March 27, 2025, 1:00 p.m.
