Broadview Heights, November 18, 2006
Four years have passed; the group of supporters has grown. Their commitment, encouragement and dedication to change has strengthened and Joe Price has answered the call.
Candidate for Mayor of The City of Broadview Heights – Joe Price 2007
To My Supporters, The Residents of Broadview Heights and its Employees and to the Business Community of Broadview Heights,
I would like to thank all my neighbors and friends for their continued edification and support. For the last eight years we have all hoped for and dreamed of a better Broadview Heights. We were encouraged when at the completion of the last election for Mayor in November of 2003, when we elected a new Mayor. Change and progress was promised and Hope was restored.
Change did come at first with the appointment of a new law director. This was an encouraging start with an immediate positive impact to law enforcement, legal guidance and lower legal cost to our city. Next was the appointment of a part-time an Economic Development Director and our hope continued to grow. We waited for more, we waited, and we are still waiting. We hired an Economic Development Director anticipating community growth only to witness development decline. Where are the State contacts, where are the Federal contacts we were promised? One new shopping plaza has opened but this was in the planning well before the current administration. Some businesses have closed, some have relocated and little potential for growth is seen in the near future. Our population has grown to 17000 and new housing starts are at a ten-year low. During this same time our neighbor’s to the north, east and west are prospering. Seven Hills is experiencing commercial and residential growth as is Brecksville, North Royalton and Strongsville. While many economic factors can and will trigger highs and lows we have to ask “why them and not us?” The answer is clear, leadership. No planning, no vision, no direction, poor communication, no unity in government.
To the disappointment of all, three years later we now regret our choice. What now? Where do we go from here? I was first asked to run for the office of Mayor of Broadview Heights four years ago. Many of you saw qualities in me that you believed would restore and maintain Integrity to the office of Mayor. You believed in my leadership abilities and my knowledge of community affairs. You humbled me by acknowledging my efforts in caring for the orphan’s in Central America, the homeless and poor, the lost and forgotten thorough the world. Many of you know my wife Denise and our children. You have been eyewitnesses to my love and devotion to God, Family and community. Your many kind thoughts and favors to Denise and I have not been forgotten.
My decision not to run four years ago came after sincere thought, prayer and research and more prayer. The needs of my family, my ministry and my businesses were of great concern. It is fair to say that I and we were not prepared for the challenge that running a campaign and acceptance of office would require. Also, I realized that I needed to study and develop a greater understanding and knowledge of City Government before making such a commitment. There was much to learn and all my prior achievements were not a guarantee of success in political office and City management.
Over the last year we have struggled with impotence of our leadership, we have read multiple negative accounts about our city and our leadership. There is an obvious division between the Mayor and City Council. City Council is an assembly of very qualified members but is divided by conflicts between it’s own leadership. He said she said they said has become as common as let’s agree that we disagree. I have, we have seen enough.
In May of this year I began polling the heart of our community. I have been studying the city’s failures and seeking answers for our needs. I have been developing a better understanding of our finances and questioning our financial short fall. I have been asking our residents and business owners for their view of the state of our community and economy. A time for change has again come in Broadview Heights. To our good residents I say be not Disparaged, CHANGE IS ON THE WAY. To our business community, which has struggled with this bureaucratic state of confusion, I assure you CHANGE IS ON THE WAY. To our good and faithful employees of Broadview Heights who have lost confidence in our leaders I ask for patience while CHANGE IS ON THE WAY. My intentions are not to overturn the “apple cart” but to repair it. I will return “Dignity and Integrity to our Community.” I will work with city council to unify city government and restore creditability to our good city. I will implement a plan that will stimulate commerce and economic growth creating new jobs and additional revenues. We will develop a new “Master Plan” that will remember our history while we modernize our community. We will continue city services without sacrificing community convenience. We will develop a plan for our new Civic Center on our 68-acre site where I see a place for us to gather, a site with an Amphitheater for the Arts, entertainment and multiple community events. I see community place of gathering with a pavilion with picnic accommodations. And a site for multi use recreation development. We are about to build a playground for our children and our children’s children, not by the action of city leaders but by the determination of caring resident who’s committee is getting the playground built. Their action is an inspiration and an example for us to follow. All this is possible because CHANGE IS ON THE WAY.
Planning for our Future
To make my vision a reality I will establish a 4 year Business-Community Plan and Budget for 2008. We will have a reconfigured 7 member city council, one from each ward and 3 at large. The council may have members who we have reelected and hopefully some new members, I will work with the Council President elect and the entire council body to unify for the city’s common good.
Upon entering office my first action will be to work with city council to eliminate the part-time position of Economic Development Director and then authorized the creation of the full-time position of Director of Community Development and Economic Growth. This position will be a key element of the 4-year Business-Community plan. This individual will work from city hall and report to council and myself weekly. This director will be our contact person to Corporate America. He or she will be required to establish and maintain a level of communication within the Business Community of Broadview Heights, Cuyahoga County and the State of Ohio Capital. The director will seek multiple sources of funding, research tax incentives, tax deferments and will develop strategies that will attract multiple business opportunities making Broadview Heights the “Corporate Magnet of Cuyahoga County.” This office will market and promote our I-77 and Royalton Road exit corridor as “The place to locate”. With offices, dinning, entertainment, shopping, many Church’s in which to Worship, Broadview Heights will become the place to live and work, and raise our children with a renown educational system.
I will evaluate every department of the city and how each department functions, how it relates to residents and businesses. Change may be required in some departments while some may need no changes at all. That said I would look to streamline and or improve each department as to how each conducts the daily business of the city without reduction of any services.
City council and I will establish a commission to provide citywide input as to how we the residents will develop our new City Hall and Civic Center on our 68-acre site. Planning will enhance the site and provide the answers we all seek. What will we build? Where will the finances come from? How soon will we start? How long will it take? The site is now a “postage stamp” of buildings built between the 1930’s and late 1960’s of varying design and materials. We have to decide what will stay and what will go while we redevelop the site.
The 68-acre site was purchased in 1996 for $750,000.00. The purchase price was below market value due to the overall condition of the buildings and the property and was sold with deed restrictions that limit use. As a result we are limited as to how the property is used when we redevelop. 10 years latter we have been required to invest well over 3 million dollars as a result of upgrading buildings, new construction and demolition of the old hospital. Some buildings have yet to be renovated or restored and are in a deteriorated condition. We need to research all possibilities including seeking relief, reduction and or elimination of all deed restrictions from the VA. I will work to lobby the VA and or any Federal Agency necessary to eliminate the deed restrictions due to the financial hardship that we have encountered as a result of site clean up. With the deed restriction lifted the site will be open to multiple Residential and Commercial possibilities.
A common complaint from residents, contractors and developers is the multiple delays in construction approvals. The delays are most often not a Building or Engineering Department issues but are issues with one or more of the multiple committees that require prior approval of each project. This is a result of too much communication between committees. Committee A will not give approval until committee B gives approval and committee B will not approve until committee C and so on. This delays and confuses the approval process more often than not and creates delays of 90 to 120 days and some times more. Each committee has it’s own parameters, each should work within it’s own parameters and not be concerned with the function of the other committee’s. This has given our community a reputation of being “difficult” in the matters before Building and Engineering. Guidelines need to be set and enforced. The process needs to be realigned and become more resident and business friendly.
We need to establish new policies in our hiring practices including the practice of “nepotism.” This is a concern to many residents and a source of a negative view of our government and city departments. The awarding of employment to individuals based on “who they know” and or “who they are related to” over the employment of candidates with greater qualifications cannot be tolerated. This is an issue that creates separation and animosity instead of unity between residents, department directors and employees.
These are but a few of the many issues facing our city. Change more often than not is perceived as a negative. It is natural to defy change until change is absolutely needed. We see change as good when we attach change to hope. Hope for improvement, hope for a better way. With that I close with the words of Teddy Roosevelt
The best thing to do is the Right Thing;
the next best thing is to do the wrong thing;
and the worst thing is doing nothing.
CHANGE IS ON THE WAY,
Joe B Price – Candidate for Mayor of Broadview Heights 2007
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