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The show of hands for
support of the proposed regional water plan currently
consists of a mere two city council members who can actually
be considered as rock solid. Meanwhile, Toledoans are
looking to council members for guidance prior to the issue
going on the November 2018 general election ballot.
Councilwoman Sandy Spang
is one of the two proponents of the plan that proposes to
shift governance and operation of Toledo’s wholly-owned
water plant to a shared regional authority with
representation from other municipalities from Wood, Monroe
and Lucas County.
I caught up with Spang at
Plate One, her chic, newly opened downtown coffee shop to
discus her policy views on regional water and other
contentious issues taking place simultaneously with her
campaign for Lucas County Commissioner. This is part one of
our two-part conversation.
Spang:
If council says regional water is a good deal, then voters
will believe that it’s a good deal, so I am deeply concerned
about where we are on the issue. Recently, in Sylvania City
Council, they formally requested that a second MOU be
developed, that includes all of the players except Toledo.
They’re not playing chicken. And here’s the thing, many
people moved out of our city and thought it was a good
thing. I hear people on the radio say oh yeah, I gave up on
Toledo and I moved out. However, they need to care about
what happens in this city because we’re all in this together
and this is powerfully important beyond even water.
Perryman:
Well, my concern is what happens to the income-challenged, a
class of people which has continued to increase. We have
been losing the black middleclass and black working class
with churches, from my perspective, being the proverbial
canary in the coalmine. Many churches, formerly supported
wholly or in part, by middleclass and working class African
Americans, are closing or going into foreclosure in record
numbers. So, I’m concerned about the impact that
regionalization might have on every day black and brown
people and distressed over the possible unintended
consequences upon those who navigate the “real world” of
racial and income inequality.
Spang:
Well I think the fundamental question is do we close in or
do we open up? That is really the question. We have the
children of those people who fled to the suburbs for the
schools and the big houses and who had the ability to
separate themselves from the city, and what are their
children now doing? They’re moving back into the city. They
want to live downtown. They want to live in the city. In
the case of water, we want as many people as possible paying
for the product to bring the cost down and then that one
percent set aside for low-income customers.
Perryman:
Also important is whether the people’s voices will be heard
to ensure that the TAWA [Toledo Area Water Authority] is
held accountable and if the people will have a voice in
helping to shape some of TAWA’s policies and practices. By
“people,” I mean those from urban areas, which tend to have
larger proportions of minority residents than the suburban
districts.
Spang:
I think those who have the community’s interests at heart
will look at this thing and say Toledo, on their own, is
never going to be able to replace its lead lines in our
lifetimes. However, participants, like Monroe County don’t
have a single lead line because their system is too new. But
if the MOU is honored, they’re going to participate in the
replacement of our lead lines. That’s a big deal.
Now the wording on the
lead says that TAWA is required to annually put in two
percent of the cost of the lead replacement, which would
allow us to move forward on a steady basis with the lead
replacement. It also says that lead mitigation could be as
little as doing what Toledo already does, which is to coat
the interiors of the lines, which is necessary to do until
replacement can happen. But the idea that we could replace
our lead lines and never be a Flint, that hope is in the
agreement and there’s no hope if we stay by ourselves and
lose our customers. It cannot happen under the go-alone
scenario because there won’t be the resources and the one
percent set aside for the low-income person. Those are the
pieces that mean something to low-income people. The third
piece would be the idea that the more customers you have,
the better your pricing will be. And the truth is, the
citizens of Toledo are going to pay more for their water,
that’s a fact, but…
Perryman:
Won’t costs go up under either scenario?
Spang:
Either way, so why not at least be hopeful that we can live
with those. So I will be excited to see what (an
independent expert) comes up with, because I think that
their findings could be a huge piece in the public vote.
Also, if there are going to be changes in the MOU framework,
it would need to not come from council members saying I’m
not going to negotiate with a gun to my head. It would,
rather, have to come from a respected community partner that
is based in fact. We need to know from real data, whether
this is good or bad for low-income citizens, similar to the
process that was done in Detroit.
On the other hand, we need
to determine if TAWA stabilizes rates long term. If we leave
water uncertainty, we’re going to have an economic
development nightmare. Businesses want long-term water
stability. There have been some studies done that have
shown it is not how low the rates are, it’s how stable the
system is that often influences economic development. They
want it to be plentiful water for a long time and that’s a
big piece of it, so I’m concerned. I don’t like the
direction things are currently heading and I don’t like the
tone that council is adopting at this point.
Perryman:
Ok, let’s jump to another subject. How do you feel about
the jail site?
Spang:
What are your thoughts?
Perryman:
After all is said and done, these type issues always seem to
unfairly end up in black or brown neighborhoods because no
one else wants them in their neighborhoods. I think that
there should be more political equity in neighborhoods of
color vis á vis that which exists in more privileged areas.
Spang:
The levy for the jail will be a large one. If you own a
quarter million dollar home in Sylvania Township, you’ll be
paying $10 a month for the jail, so that is likely to not
happen. But the county is trying to get operating costs in,
and they’re trying to recoup what they lost from the City of
Toledo and I get that. That was a big hit. It was a $12
million hit and it’s not likely coming back to them. The
opposition to the Detroit/Alexis Road site is nothing like
the opposition at the Angola site. But I just saw now that
Michigan’s getting into the game. This is ridiculous
because it will have a negative impact on a big investment
into the community.
Perryman:
But part of the investment goes towards mental health, a
piece which desperately needs to be incorporated into
criminal justice reform.
Spang:
Well, Lucas County has already made good strides in that
regard. Their criminal justice reform has already brought
down the rate of recidivism and they’ve brought down the
number of those being incarcerated. I just think the levy is
going to be a pretty heavy lift.
Perryman:
So speaking of the Lucas County Commissioners, how are you
going to coexist with a majority Democratic board should
your campaign be successful?
Spang:
Well, I coexisted with a majority Democratic city council
and I’ve done okay. And with fewer people to work with on
the board of commissioners, I think the conversation will be
different than it has been.
Perryman:
Talk about the conversation.
Spang:
Well, Pete [Gerken] already calls me about things and I feel
that I can speak my mind. I’m a very persuasive person and
my theory about Pete is that he’s a true idealist. He wants
to fix things. I don’t always agree with Pete’s methodology
and that’s probably where I think I’ll be able to sometimes
temper the message.
The main thing is that
Gerken cares. But just because you care doesn’t mean that
you get the conversation right and that you know the right
way to put it. I think people who know me well know that I
care deeply about all kinds of issues that our city is
facing. Do I always phrase it correctly? That can be tough,
and I think that sometimes, maybe because the commissioners
tend to always agree and get a lot of things done behind the
curtain, that their skills are not as well-honed in taking
something to the people. So I think I’m going to be able to
be helpful there. I think I bring fresh ideas.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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