Glass City Jungle

The following was received via e-mail from District 5 Toledo City Councilman Tom Waniewski, it is his regular newsletter, the text portion and links are shared in full:

Free Refuse Drop Off
Ever since Toledo went to automated refuse pick up, I’ve received numerous calls about extra garbage. Right now, you have to give the refuse department 48 hours notice and they will come and pick up your extra refuse. Did you know they make 500 to 600 extra pick-ups a day?!

So…in order to try to help my constituents, I’ve worked out an arrangment to have two, very large dumpsters take your extra trash. The dumpsters will be available Saturday, May 15th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. only. They will be located at Trilby Park (3125 Shawnee if you Mapquest it) and in the parking lot by the West Toledo YMCA off Tremainsville. We will NOT accept:

- Paint cans
- Tires
- Pesticides

Bring your yard waste, appliances, old furniture and anything else you can’t recycle.

I want to thank Dave Welch, Mike Bombrys, and James Rowan. This is the first time something like this is being done since automation went into affect. I will continue to work to service constituents to address needs proactively. Other plans are in the works including some help for seniors. Those plans, however, are not finalized.

Road Repaving
District 5 will see more than $890,000 worth of residential road repairs this summer. I am proud to say District 5 received the most “lane miles” of resurfacing in the city. This is on top of the repaving of Secor Rd. Here are the streets that will be repaved:
– Elmhurst (between Sylvania and Gracewood)
– Grantwood (Belleview and Douglas)
– Imperial (Talmadge and Londonberry)
– Meadowwood (Kenwood and Central)
– Pelham (Middlesex and Secor)
– Stannard (Sylvania and Corydan)
I drive throughout the district neighborhoods almost nightly with my Golden Retriever. If I miss your street and you feel it could use a repaving, please send me a separate email (do not reply to this email), and I will put it on my list for next year.

Douglas Details
Two items for folks living and driving along Douglas Road. First, we will be replacing aged sanitary sewer pipes along Douglas and Oak Grove Place. Council made an emergency appropriation last week because of recent cave-ins. Bids are going out now and the project will take about two months to complete.

Second, a notice of violation went out to Fitness 19 which had turned a construction trailer into a sales office for memberships. You’ll notice the trailer is gone now freeing up needed parking spaces for the businesses at DeVeaux Village Shopping Center. We’re working on the piles of stone and orange fence. Thanks to David Golis with our Division of Builidng Inspection for his help on this.

CSX Tracks
It’s taken a bit to get the CSX tracks on Sylvania west of Upton fixed (slightly). The news, however, is that the tracks that extend across Tremainsville are being removed. Over time the Metroparks will develop the line. Steve Crosby of CSX tells me, “While the forces doing the work have agreed to get to this crossing as soon as practical they will be accessing the line from this street with heavy equipment and therefore won’t be able to remove the crossing and replace with asphalt until the equipment no longer requires access.” Removal started April 13th and will last six months.

School News
Congratulations to Start, Whitmer, St. Francis, and St. Ursula students who were part of a dozen schools in northwest Ohio to compete in the 60th AIA Design Competition put on by local architects. Start took first place honors in five of 8 categories including the Senior Competition where Joseph Chester won more than $2,500 in scholarship money.

For two years now, I’ve gone to speak to Mrs. Kessler’s 3rd grade class at McGregor Elementary. A belated thank you for the great questions from the students this past winter. Parents and teachers at McGregor have a lot to be proud of.

Also for a second time, I hosted members of the Boys & Girls Clubs from Sherman Elementary School. About a dozen students got the chance to sit in a City Council chair and see what goes on behind the scenes at One Government Center. Thanks to Kelly Duling for working with some great kids.

Columbia Gas Pipeline Work
Columbia Gas is replacing gas pipelines on West Alexis, Georgedale, Chippewa, Tremainsville, and Saint Clements Court. Residents shold have received a letter from the utility. If you have questions after reading the letter, call 800-344-4077. Remember, Columbia Gas reps will have identification. Do not let anyone in your house who identifies themselves as working with a utility company unless they have the proper identification. To take an old journalism saying I learned in college, “When in doubt, keep them out.”

Seeing Red…Yellow and Green
The city is undertaking a half-million dollar traffic light replacement. The new lights will be energy efficient LED lights. More than 11,000 lights will be replaced. For all you trivia buffs, the city will be replacing:
290 Reds
2849 Yellows
2758 Greens
146 Yellow arrows
146 Green arrows
2499 each Hand/Man (Walk/Don’t Walk).

Waterways Initiative
Toledo continues its multi-million dollar Waterways Initiative to separate our “storm” system (rainwater that flows down street storm grates) and the “sewer” system (water that flows from your toilet, shower, and sinks). Ultimately it will mean less discharge into the rivers and, hopefully, less flooded basements. I think you’ll find a fascinating read about this project here.

50+ Sports Classic
St. Francis de Sales High School is hosting the 50+ Sports Classic on Saturday, June 12th. Save the date! If you’d like to know more, email me, and I’ll get the contact info to you.

Happy Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day to mothers young and older. I especially want to offer congratulations to Councilwoman Lindsay Webb who recently gave birth to Frank. Congrats to her husband Rob, too. You’ll find some of my favorite, famous quotes about mom here.

How Can I Help You
My office is always ready to assist you as best we can or to provide you with assistance in answering your questions about city services. You can email me at tom.waniewski@toledo.oh.gov or call my office at 419-245-1050. It always has been my goal to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.