East Toledo precinct holds on, worries about crime
Home » News» Politics Loading… Published: 1/16/2012 – Updated: 21 hours ago PRECINCT 19E BY TOM TROYBLADE POLITICS WRITER
Leading up to the 2012 presidential election, the Blade will profile some of the precinct voting districts in our region in an occasional series.
Occupying what some refer to, tongue in cheek, as “midtown” East Toledo, Precinct 19E is made up of modest homes that sit close together, with a history of families who have lived there for generations.
A neighborhood commercial district sits at Starr Avenue and Main Street, struggling to hold on with its assortment of small businesses.
The prevailing opinion is that this part of East Toledo has declined in recent years because of a perceived uptick in crime.
POLITICS BLOG: Blade Slices by Tom Troy
“I’ve been here almost four years and I think all the businesses were open over here when I started,” said Christina Miller, 29, who runs the River East Starr Attractions beauty salon in the commercial strip on Starr.
Now, she said, drug addicts, drug dealers, panhandlers, and hookers scare away customers and have driven away some of the vendors in the Starr commercial strip.
“We’re doing all right. It’s slowing down. People don’t want to come here as often as they used to. It’s the neighborhood,” Ms. Miller said as she carefully trimmed the blonde hair of a customer. “You sit here for 10 minutes and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”
This precinct — an area of voters established by the Lucas County Board of Elections — is a series of blocks leading south from Starr. among its landmarks is the new Raymer School.
There’s no ambiguity about which political party commands the loyalty of Precinct 19E. the votes in the last presidential election went 82 percent to Democrat Barack Obama, but fewer than half the registered voters went to the polls.
Despite the Democratic history, county Republican Chairman Jon Stainbrook said the party has had success signing up precinct committee captains. He said Republican candidates for Toledo Municipal Court who walked the neighborhoods were rewarded with winning the east side wards.
“There are Republicans over there. You have to knock on their doors and talk to them,” Mr. Stainbrook said.
Peter Ujvagi, veteran Democratic East Toledo politician and now Lucas County administrator, said that part of Toledo that lies east of the Maumee River has a sense of community that persists even through the bad times.
“We’re always making a comeback. You look at all the efforts that constantly continue to happen. If you look at our economic demographics, people stick there, they’re loyal. They’re willing to try and they’re trying again and again and again,” Mr. Ujvagi said.
Precinct 19E sits at the “downtown” of East Toledo, said Don Mauter, president of the East Toledo Historical Society.
He said the neighborhood around Starr and Main developed beginning around the 1880s. One of East Toledo’s historic buildings is a brick commercial structure at the corner of Starr and Platt Street with an imposing cupola.
“In the ’60s just about anybody could leave a house unlocked and not worry about it,” Mr. Mauter said. He said a traditional characteristic of East Toledo — that people live there for generations — is still true at least for part of Precinct 19E.
The current economy is providing a test of how resilient East Toledo really is.
Several people living or working in the precinct fretted about crime, more than lost jobs or declining property values, as the scourge of Precinct 19E.
Richard Amerson, 67, has lived in his house in the 400 block of Raymer Boulevard since 1993 and has lived in East Toledo in the past, as well as in North Toledo and Northwood, and he’s seen an upsurge of petty lawbreaking.
“It’s getting worse, and everything depreciates around here because of it. We’ve had about seven or eight break-ins in the past year — across the street, down the street,” said Mr. Amerson, a retired factory worker and building contractor.
“As long as I got my security alarm system I don’t worry. I’ve been paying for that for six years. It’s expensive, but that’s what you got to do,” he said.
An off-putting “No Trespassing” sign warns away the uninvited from Mr. Amerson’s house. but the sign is at odds with the personality of Mr. Amerson, who often can be found leaning over the front porch railing he built himself and chatting with neighbors, members of his family, and others who walk up and down the street between their homes and the neighborhood commercial district at Starr.
“I’ve been a Democrat a long time, and I’m trying to stay that way,” Mr. Amerson said, but “some of these Republicans are just as good.” He said he voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 but hasn’t made up his mind whom to support in November.
“I may have voted for him the first time, but I don’t think I’m going to vote for him again,” Mr. Amerson said.
A couple of blocks away at the corner of Valleywood Drive and Greenwood Avenue is the home of Jeremy Wood, 35, whose family members live down the block. He works at Subway to pay the bills while experimenting with ways of surviving and helping his neighborhood through tough times. Mr. Wood maintains chickens and ducks in his yard. the hens — no noisy roosters — produce eggs for food and manure for his various gardens. In his house, Mr. Wood burns wood in a homemade furnace built with caked-on mud, an idea he said he got from George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
“You burn wood to heat the mud. I’m not using Columbia Gas. I don’t need to turn on my furnace,” said Mr. Wood.
Among Mr. Wood’s projects, since last March, is a nonprofit group he started with his brother-in-law Brad Fields, called Field of Dreams. together they mowed, planted, and even irrigated three vacant city lots — one owned by the brother-in-law, one adjacent to the property that Mr. Wood rents, and one belonging to the city.
“We got sick of seeing all the lots and started cleaning them up. we would like to see the neighborhood get cleaned up and the crime rate drop,” he said.
Inside the Irish Buffalo tavern on East Broadway, John Methena, 64, plays pinochle several days a week with longtime friends. He and his friends, native East Toledoans all, say the tavern is nice and quiet during the daytime. Though he grew up on the east side, he lives in Perrysburg. He said people are scared because of crime, especially at night.
“Stickups, people come up to you on the street and rob you,” said Mr. Methena, a former TARTA bus driver, though he hasn’t personally been robbed. “We need more patrolling,” he said.
Contact Tom Troy at or 419-724-6058.
STORY:201201160021 Precinct 19E worries about crime toledoblade.com/Politics/2012/01/16/Area-holds-on-worries-about-crime.html -1 Loading…
