To the editor: Maumee council slips on details

3/4/2018

As a citizen of Maumee, I always assumed our city council would look out for the best interests of the citizenry. The recent vote in favor of the sale of city property to Monnette’s Market to build on Conant Street proves otherwise.

The agreement granted Monnette’s a 100 percent tax abatement, which means that they will only be required to pay about $300 a year in taxes for the next 15 years. Without the tax abatement, Monnette’s would have been paying about $7,500 a year.

City council should never have granted Monnette’s this tax abatement. A new and dangerous precedent was set. How do we tell other potential retail businesses that they will not get the same abatement?

In addition, there was no effort by our city council to get a current and accurate appraisal of the land’s value. I know that Monnette’s has offered more than the city’s asking price. However, without a current appraisal of the property, we have no idea what the property is really worth.

Maumee’s best interest is not being served when city council has no plans to address concerns about traffic congestion, offers unprecedented tax abatements, and sells valuable property without proper appraisals.

BRIAN TOMKO
Maumee

Click here to submit a letter to the editor | View the Behind The Readers’ Forum series

TSO show full of passion and joy

I cannot sit quietly and allow the curmudgeon in the room to have the last word on the Toledo Symphony Orchestra’s extraordinary performance of the “Seven Deadly Sins” in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle on the weekend of Feb. 23 and 24.

The review in The Blade was mean-spirited and narrow-minded (Feb. 23, “Symphony concert exploring lust sinned with lack of subtlety, cohesion”). Emcee Nick Adamski was amusing and engaging throughout the first half of the performance, far from the “drunken, stoned emcee” the reviewer panned. Mr. Adamski’s recitation of Pablo Neruda’s “Ode To Wine” and his own poem “The Jungle” moved the audience to spontaneous applause, and his droll comments elicited lots of laughter.

Far from lacking control of the orchestra, as the review averred, guest conductor Anja Bihlmaier exuded confidence and joy, her youthful energy seeming to infect all the musicians on the stage, as well as the audience.

The TSO has never sounded better. Clearly a great deal of care, creativity, and reflection has gone into all of their programs and performances. One would expect your reviewer to apply the same care to each of his reviews. It is apparent that didn’t happen this time.

TOM HARMS
Whitehouse

Follow @BladeOpinion on Twitter.