Thoughts on the Findlay Mayoral Forum

I posted on 10/24 about the recent Findlay Mayoral Forum that was held at University of Findlay on 10/22. It was broadcast on WFIN, WLFC, and UF-TV 20. At the time of my post I had not had a chance to see or hear the event and said I would get back to you. Well, I’m back.

General thoughts: I did find more to the event than what was printed about it the Courier. Both candidates, Democrat Tom Knopf and Republican Pete Sehnert did a good job of presenting their ideas in front of the glare of television lights and cameras. Although it wasn’t a debate, I thought Knopf did a better job. When he answered the questions he gave specific examples to back up is overall idea.

I also need to correct my initial thought that I posted earlier:

I was a bit disappointed – based on the The Courier write up of the event – to read that Knopf wasn’t sure if more low cost housing was needed in the city.

Tom sent me a comment telling me to see the forum so I could see he hadn’t changed his position. He was right. He was the only one who had specific idea for the issue of low cost housing.

Knopf said he would like to see:

…more true actual low cost housing that will benefit those who aren’t able to pay 4, 5 , or $600 for a small 2 bedroom apartment.

Sehnert was the one who really didn’t seem to know if low cost housing was an issue or not. He explained that there was a lot of housing available and a lot of apartment stock. He didn’t address the issue of affordability directly.

I also liked Knopf directly saying that the Findlay Town Center project shouldn’t go forward unless and until the flooding issue is resolved first. He also wanted to see the empty store fronts downtown filled in and other non-flood plain areas considered for development before committing $90 million dollars on more retail space.

Flag City Politico has video segments posted of the entire forum. WFIN has audio of the forum available as well.

Pete Sehnert’s website

Tom Knopf’s website

Don’t forget to vote on November 6th

Courier finally uses some ink on Democrat in Mayor’s race

Sorry I am tardy on this post but I kind of overlooked the recent article on the campaign of Thomas Knopf, who is running for the now open Mayor’s office in Findlay, Ohio, against Republican Pete Sehnert in November. Sehnert beat current Mayor Tony Iriti in the recent primary.

Staff writer John Graber used about 800 words on the front page of the July 20th edition to talk about Knopf and point out that unlike Sehnert, Knopf has some actual ideas about what he wants to do in office when he is elected.

That is more ink for Knopf than I have read since the election season began. Most articles before now usually added him at the end with a kind of “oh, by the way Thomas Knopf is running too” in an article focused on Republicans.

Graber makes an interesting point:

A quick glance at the numbers do suggest that Knopf’s got a chance. Of the 26,424 registered voters in Findlay, 10,027 are registered Republicans. The Democrats have just 1,663 voters filling out their roster, but 14,734 registered voters in Findlay have no party affiliation.

Can Dems win city mayor’s office? Little-known GOP candidate giving them high hopes July 20, 2007

Local Democrats plan on a big push for Knopf after the Hancock County Fair at the end of August. I do hope Knopf doesn’t ignore the biggest event in the county. I remember as a lad that you weren’t a serious candidate unless you had a booth at the fair or at least grab hands with your presence there.

For more info:

Thomas Knopf for Mayor

Findlay Mayor Race Open?

The usual way things go in politics in Findlay is if you are an incumbent you pretty much can phone in your reelection. Findlay doesn’t change very fast if at all and as long as you don’t get in trouble you don’t have to worry about elections – especially if you are an incumbent Republican.

Mayor Tony Iriti found out that some Republicans didn’t like how he was doing his job and they decided to nominate political novice Pete Sehnert as the GOP candidate for mayor in November.

Sehnert’s campaign consisted of doing a lot of footwork to visit voters and pledging to get “Back to basics”. That was it.

While Iriti had some big ideas and changed a lot of the way Findlay government operated the GOP voters threw him out.

The local paper, The Courier, speculated that the negative vote was due to low turn out (only 4,391 Republicans voted out of a city population of 39,000), changes he made (eliminating and combining city jobs), and some PR blunders that made it look like he was throwing bones to his business supporters (like having the city buy a burned out building whose owner was a friend).

There are some conservative voters in Findlay – who vote – who HATE spending any tax money for any thing except basic city services (police, fire, water etc…).

Democrat Tom Knopf had no challenger in his primary so he will face Sehnert in the November election.

Knopf now has a campaign website which has more information on him than has ever been written in The Courier.

Knopf also has taken Iriti to task for some of the same issues that led to his defeat – spending money on projects like decorative light poles on Main St or on the environmental impact study of the Brandeman tire dump site. He also proposes to create more channels of communication with “all” members of the Findlay community.

One real issue addressed by Knopf is his proposal to use the land of Brandeman tire dump site to build low income housing – something Findlay has always lacked enough of. My sister was on a waiting list for 3 years and still wasn’t able to get into one of the few apartment complexes that allowed low income residents.

When I was a boy I lived in a trailer park on Trenton Ave. just outside the city limits. The county health department cited the owners because our well water was not drinkable – it was contaminated with sulfur – and the park’s sewer service was substandard. Being so close to Findlay, the owner petitioned to be annexed into the city so we could get city water and sewer service. The city rejected the request. Why? The official reason was the city didn’t see a good reason to approve it – after all we all had lower incomes and lived in trailers that violated city regulations on house trailers. Did you know the city of Findlay basically will not allow a trailer park to be built in the city?

Eventually my family moved into the city and today you can visit the old trailer park when you go to the new Wal-Mart. The land was sold and developed into retail space and then annexed into the city.

Even though Tom Knopf doesn’t have to worry about battling an incumbent for the office of Mayor, he will still have a big challenge against Pete Sehnert simply because Sehnert will have “Republican” next to his name on the ballot.

I think it is sad that in a city that advertises itself as highly patriotic and flies the flag almost as a bodily function would be less than advertised when it comes to the democratic process. The local media doesn’t help the matter by its lack of detailed coverage of the candidates or the issues.

Thomas Knopf for Mayor