Scout Resting Comfortably On The 22nd Floor

Last time. I promise. After today I will never mention the Mayor's dog again. The story's over. Today the Ohio Building Authority basically said that because the City of Toledo has leased the 22nd floor, the dog can stay. Why? Because, the Mayor is the head of the city and he can do what he wants.

Look, I know this isn't a hard investigation. It was never meant to be. I think the silly music in the original story gave that away. What the first story was meant to do was look into what could be considered an abuse of power. Should the Mayor bring his pet and companion to work? Should other people be walking the dog for him? The follow up story posed the question (though it was never answered),"Is it appropriate for city employees to be fighting Scout's legal battle with the OBA for the mayor? I think all are valid questions and that's why we did the stories.

Now that a decision has been reached, the story's over. I'll leave it with this...

Throughout my time working on this story with Ronnie, we were told repeatedly by Brian Schwartz and later the Mayor (when he finally addressed the issue himself) that we were making ourselves look foolish by doing this story and the people of Toledo were overwhelmingly on his side (as you can hear in the story below). I Googled scout+mayor+carty and found some other people's blogs on the issue. Here are a few.

try this one

or this one

maybe click here

Those who are overwhelmingly on the side of Scout and the Mayor must be a silent majority.

Here's today's story with the Mayor's full response replacing the one that aired in today's 6pm package.



Thanks for watching!
-Billau

Glenn Beck and First Impressions

Glenn Beck broadcasted his national radio show from WSPD's studio earlier this week. During his show he had some unflattering remarks about Toledo and the politicians who run the city. When asked to respond Mr. Beck's remarks, Mayor Finkbeiner said in essence that he doesn't respond to people who talk badly about him or his city. Carty also said that he's not concerned with Mr. Beck's remarks because Beck hasn't spent much time in our city.

I don't think there's anybody who cares more about our city than our Mayor. I'm happy we placed in the Livcom Awards. However, the Mayor is missing the bigger picture here. No, this guy does not live in Toledo like we do. He doesn't know that there are lots of great things to do and see in this city. He may not know about the various awards the city has won in recent years. He does get, though, what we no longer get from this city, a first impression. Glenn Beck's first impression was, "Gee, look at all the empty buildings in downtown Toledo. I've studied poverty in cities and that's one of the telltale signs."

Glenn Beck isn't the only person who got a first impression from Toledo this week. It's happening every day. Are other people getting the same impression?

Flowers are nice. I'm glad we spent money to have flowers around town. Showing and placing in the Livcom awards is nice. How often do we get an international spotlight? Being voted a business friendly city of the future is nice. I'm sure that will get some attention from the businesses around the world when they read that. But, if a business is interested in relocating to or starting up in our city, they will come to see it before they do so. And, what will they get? A first impression.

Here's the interview we did with Glenn Beck outside WSPD's studio.



Thanks for watching!
-Billau