Findlay, Ohio Growth (Columbus, Toledo, Dublin: apartment complexes, middle schools, maintenance)

[czb2004]

Findlay, Ohio is one of the only areas in Northwest Ohio that is growing and has been growing consistently. Are there any new economic developments for the area? Does anyone know of any population projections? It would be interesting if the population of Toledo continues to decline while Findlay becomes the main city in the area.

[motorman]

^ Most certainly a provocative posting that begs for further comment. Although I'm not qualified to provide that, let's hope that NW Ohio posters "in the know" follow up on this one.

[Art1979]

I'm not sure what to say; I'm a little mystified myself. There aren't any major projects in the works, unless you want to count the two replacement middle schools being built. Man, those things look like prisons without guard towers. As I remember public school, it felt like being imprisoned. Maybe that's fitting?

Cooper Tire & Rubber has been belly-aching about profits and threatening several times to leave. Marathon only expanded their positions by 400, and that was a little over a year ago. The downtown buildings are catching fire or rotting away. The mayor likes to contract services out of town (i.e. Dublin), instead of putting her faith in local businesses. It floods frequently, and there's a lot of Sturm und Drang about fixing it. There are still plenty of empty storefronts, either downtown or in strip malls on the east side and we lost one of the few restaurants worth keeping.

The roads need essential maintenance and widening, as the usage has noticeably picked up. Like all fiscally conservative towns, nobody wants to chip in tax money to get them up to par. Public transportation falls flat on its face here, and will continue to do so until people cooperate. I see too many out-of-state plates, which means people are riding on their old licenses. I'd wager to say they're still on the fence about being here. I really don't know why they wouldn't though. Tags here are fairly cheap in Hancock.

Aside from these legitimate obstacles, the planning commission has added on more housing developments, apartment complexes and dollar stores... and for what? It's not an essential city to anything, as Cooper is fond of pointing out. It's a suburb with no large city to attach itself to, and a community with little sense of what that means. It's terribly granular with a healthy dollop of apathy. Maybe people are using it to wait out the economy and go somewhere else, when it picks up?

I can't even get a decent flight out of the municipal airport, for crying out loud! I would have to drive to Columbus or take a puddle jumper from Toledo to Detroit.