Mayoral candidate Carty Finkbeiner convened a last‑minute news conference Wednesday to call on the city to help refurbish the Wayman D. Palmer YMCA in central Toledo — except he apparently scooped the city and the YMCA on plans to announce a related project next week.
Mr. Finkbeiner and his supporters assembled for cameras outside the YMCA complex, which they said has long been neglected as a community center, and asked the city to consider adding amenities like a pool to the facility.
“This needs to be a center for all ages of people,” Mr. Finkbeiner said. “So I’m here today to say let’s put together a coalition, led by the YMCA,” labor unions, business, and the public sector.
But afterward, Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz’s office and the YMCA of Greater Toledo said they’ve been collaborating in private for the past year on plans to revive the Palmer YMCA, and were confused by the sudden timing of Mr. Finkbeiner’s news conference — the implication being that Mr. Finkbeiner somehow learned about the project and tried to get out in front of it.
No one from the YMCA, a private nonprofit that runs 11 local branches, was present for Mr. Finkbeiner’s event.
“The City of Toledo and the YMCA have been working for over a year on a plan for a new Wayman Palmer YMCA. They have been planning a major announcement on this topic for next Wednesday and look forward to sharing these exciting plans with the public,” city spokesman Ignazio Messina said.
Mr. Finkbeiner, who gave notice of his 2:30 p.m. news conference at noon Wednesday, didn’t respond to a request for clarification afterward.
The mayor’s office shared calendar invitations to show that plans had indeed been in the works, and a formal unveiling of a new YMCA is still planned for Sept. 8.
Brad Toft, the YMCA of Greater Toledo’s president and chief executive officer, declined to discuss what to expect next week, but said the community will get to see renderings and hear about how the project can be funded.
He said the plan is based on a community assessment that asked people what they want in a new facility.
“The building, we hope, will respond to that study,” he said. “We have some nice renderings, we’re just putting together the cost, and we’re looking forward to next week.”
The closest Mr. Finkbeiner came to alluding to a project underway was mentioning the city was planning to use federal coronavirus stimulus dollars on a possible YMCA renovation project — which the city has never announced.
The three‑time former mayor demanded to know why city officials have been ignoring the surrounding neighborhood and how much Toledo had spent to bring the Solheim Cup, an international golf tournament that began this week, to northwest Ohio.
He said the Palmer YMCA — surrounded by the Woodruff Village Apartments, Inez Nash Park, and an abandoned strip mall on Bancroft Street — has the potential to be a community anchor in a neighborhood starving for more resources.
“I want ... each city council member to answer how much money was put into the golf tournament, versus how much it would cost us to have a new YMCA ... next to the heart of downtown Toledo,” he said.
Mr. Finkbeiner, Mr. Kapszukiewicz, and Jan Scotland are competing in the Sept. 14 mayoral primary. Early in‑person voting is already under way.
First Published September 1, 2021, 10:46 p.m.