Denouement

By admin | Published: November 4, 2009

Hello Toledo (and others!),

By this time, you’ve no doubt heard about the outcome of the City Council race. I finished in eighth place, with more than 18,000 votes, but not quite enough to make top six and get a seat on council.

Though I would have been quite content to win, I am still very happy with the campaign. With your help, we overcame tremendous odds and carried a message of new leadership to Toledoans. When this campaign started last January, nobodyexpected us to clear the primary, win so many endorsements, and go on to a strong eighth place finish.

I believe in my heart Toledo’s best days are still ahead of us and I am absolutely honored to have had your support. We all learned a lot to improve on the next time–and you can be sure there’ll be a next time.

Until then, please accept my deepest gratitude, and I hope our paths cross soon.

-TB

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Primary is Tuesday!

By admin | Published: September 10, 2009

Hello Toledo,

It’s hard to believe, but the City Council primary is this Tuesday, September 15. Make sure you know your polling location: if you don’t, call the Lucas County Board of Elections at 419.213.4001.

Just as a final wrap-up:

  • I am running to put new blood and new leadership in Toledo city government.
  • I will focus on entrepreneurship and turning Toledo into a university town.
  • I am for Issue 1, and against Issue 2.

See you at the polls.

-TB

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Campaign calendar for this weekend

By admin | Published: July 6, 2009

Hello, Toledo.

There are several campaign events this weekend and it would be fantastic if you could help out with one or more of them.

The Polish Festival is this weekend. I’ll be going to it Saturday evening at least. If you’d like to stop out, let me know and we can get a t-shirt brigade together. Or rather, brigade-ski.

The African-American Festival is also this weekend, and it opens with a parade Saturday morning at 10 o’clock (pre-parade line-up at 9:30). T-shirts, signs, stickers for kids, candy–just normal parade stuff–and the more people the better.

For either event, please let me know if you’re interested in stopping out and we’ll get coordinated about it. You can reach me through bielforcouncil@gmail.com.

Finally, there’s a house party/fundraiser Sunday in the Old West End hosted by Chet Chambers. It’s at 2524 Parkwood, from 2 to 5 p.m. and if you’re able to stop out, please do so!

-TB

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Week in Review

By admin | Published: July 3, 2009

Hello, Toledo.

Interesting week. Monday began with a protest hearing on the council restructuring initiative. In the end, the Board of Elections declined to take any action, saying that confusing language was not something they had authority to act on.

Tuesday featured Melissa Bradley-Burns of Green for All at the Main Library downtown. Green for All is a combination green industry/social justice organizing/advocacy/funding organization. They have a ton of resources on their website, and if I receive an e-mail with Melissa’s presentation and other info I’ll repost it here. Also notable because I attempted to live Twitter the presentation (harder than it looks).

Tuesday evening: great turnout at Councilman Joe McNamara’s fundraiser at Wesley’s downtown. Also, Joe apparently got engaged in May and I was too thick to hear about it until just then. Congratulations to Joe and fiance Valerie!

Wednesday: filed petitions at the Board of Elections (which you know already if you’re following me on Twitter). We already went through and struck any signatures that were unclear or had incorrect addresses, leaving about 475 signatures we feel really good about. Only need 250 valid signatures to be placed on the ballot, so I should get a phone call or letter shortly letting me know they’ve been certified.

Incidentally, George Sarantou came into the BoE while I was waiting on them to generate a receipt for the petitions. He requested additional petitions, and they asked for what race. He said, “Mayor of Toledo,” and got a good chuckle (fyi: George is running for re-election to City Council).

Also started the organizing for next week’s canvass (by text message while waiting at the BoE). If you’re available next week Monday or Wednesday evening, or Saturday late morning/early afternoon, I would love to have your help knocking on doors and talking with voters about Toledo’s need for new leadership. Send me an e-mail (terry.biel@gmail.com), hit me up on Facebook, or give me a call to get the 411.

Tonight: Going to a cookout with some friends, then the Mudhens game at night! If you’re headed to the Henhouse for tonight’s game, let me know and I’ll bring you a totally awesome Terry Biel for City Council t-shirt to wear.

AND LEST WE FORGET: I have large signs now. If you or anyone you know has a good location for a big sign, let me know and we’ll get you taken care of!

-TB

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FAIR Taking Flight

By admin | Published: June 25, 2009

Hello, Toledo.

Last week I filed paperwork with the Lucas County Board of Elections to start the Fair And Inclusive Representation (FAIR) Committee, a political action committee opposed to the Council restructuring initiative. You can read the original news release announcing FAIR.

I am opposed to the Council restructuring on a few different levels. First off, it is a wholesale disenfranchisement of Toledo voters. The intent of the restructuring is to eliminate the city-wide “At-Large” councilmen and replace them with half as many “Super District” councilmen. The proposal reduces the number of councilmen from seven per citizen (one district plus six at-large) to two per citizen (one district plus one super district). It is a wholesale disenfranchisement of Toledo voters under the guise of “downsizing” government.

Second, the measure is shoddily written. It first states plainly that the council will be made of “nine (9) members elected at the 2009 regular City election and thereafter” while the proposers say their intent is to elect three (3). Gerald Dendinger, Clerk of Toledo City Council, sounded these concerns in a letter just a week ago. See the wording for yourself in a scan of the petition.

FAIR is already getting some attention from the media. First it appeared on Glass City Jungle (complete with rebuttals and other comments). This morning, Dave Schulz (a Nine is Fine organizer) and I discussed the initiative on Fred LeFevbre’s morning show on WSPD–they have an audio recording posted online. Bill Hormann of 13ABC also examined the language in a segment on the evening news.

-TB

Do you have thoughts on FAIR or the proposed changes? Log in with your Facebook account to post comments.

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On Campaigning

By admin | Published: June 21, 2009

Hello, Toledo.

Up to this point, this website and blog have been used primarily as places to publish (somewhat) polished information. The ideal, ostensibly, would be to present a cogent, tightly-integrated destination with persuasive bits about my stances on issues and my qualifications for office. Barack Obama’s campaign set the bar, with its omni-branded combination of typesetting, colors, and the Big O with stars and stripes. And, don’t forget, miles of finely word-smithed position statements and multimedia.

Beyond that, Obama’s site also had a powerful interactive component. It was powered by a system–known as MyBO–developed in part by one of the early programmers for Facebook. MyBO provided a digital platform and meeting place for supporters to connect with another and organize campaign events and outreach.

My campaign doesn’t have the time or wherewithal to develop such a comprehensive system, though we use Facebook for event notices and occassional updates. Instead, this site has been a one-way communication device for replicating “formal” campaign communications only. With this post, I hope to kick off a habit of informal campaign updates.

It seems that if I were able to generate conversation and connectivity, or even just keep supporters better apprised of campaign events and opportunities to help, that I would be accomplishing the same things that a MyBO (MyBiel?) system would accomplish. At the very least, it sort of cramps my style to be so ultra-formal, even online.

There really isn’t a perfect model for doing this sort of thing. After all, the internet is still in its infancy compared to door-knocking, mail, telephone, television, and all the other ways a campaign usually interacts with voters. So, there are bound to be growing pains, and I may be taking a little bit of a risk, but I hope this will be a bit more in the spirit of communication and less about archiving news releases.

Since this is already getting pretty TLDR, I’ll post an alluded-to update in the next day or so.

-TB

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Community Updates!

By admin | Published: March 31, 2009

Hello!

The campaign’s web presence is getting more sophisticated! Here are a few changes:

  • Facebook login for comments
    Comments have previously been closed on all articles. They are open from now on provided users log in with a Facebook account. We are aiming for a good balance between respectful participation and internet freedom. Be sure to share your thoughts on this system, perhaps in the comments section of this post.
  • Follow the campaign on Twitter
    Twitter is all the rage these days, so we’re giving it a whirl (Though I am not yet convinced my daily goings-on are of real interest to most people -TB). You can follow Terry on Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed using the aggregator of your choice.
  • Facebook Group
    Our Facebook group is the largest out of any mayoral or city council candidate so far, and it’s a great way to stay up to date on campaign events, volunteer opportunities, and new initiative announcements. If you haven’t joined, head over to Facebook and do so!

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Terry Biel calls for Innovation Revolution

By admin | Published: March 24, 2009

Had an announcement today. The text from the media release is below, and you can read about some of the innovation initiatives right here.

Terry Biel calls for Innovation Revolution

Council candidate says Toledo needs radical innovation, smarter use of technology

Toledo, OH – Democrat Terry Biel, candidate for Toledo City Council, believes the City of Toledo needs an Innovation Revolution, with smarter use of technology to cut costs and improve services.

“In these difficult times, our citizens are forced to do more with less and less everyday,” says Biel. “The City of Toledo should do the same, and embrace its challenges as an opportunity to innovate.”

Biel will outline proposals to transform city services by creatively using existing technologies at a meeting of The University of Toledo Student Senate Tuesday, March 24, at 8:15 p.m. in Student Union Room 2582 on the UT Main Campus.

“The quality of city services is non-negotiable,” says Biel. “We can’t live without police, fire, trash, collection, water, and roads, so we need to focus on innovative ways to deliver those services despite a reduced budget. We need to get creative with technology and find ways to deliver the services our taxpayers rely on.”

“When the budget is shrinking, anybody can come up with the idea of cutting services,” Biel adds. “You don’t need a dozen city councilmen to figure that out. What we need instead is creative leaders who understand technology, and who will step up to the challenge of delivering services even with a shrinking budget.”

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Don’t single out taxpayers who have jobs outside the city

By admin | Published: February 20, 2009

Here is the text from today’s statement:

“In an effort to shore up a multi-million dollar deficit in the city budget, the mayor recently proposed eliminating a partial tax credit for Toledo residents who work outside of the city. I respectfully disagree with the mayor’s proposal and encourage him to reconsider it.

This is a tax increase on existing Toledo taxpayers who live in the city, but happen to have jobs outside of the city. Creating a special tax on suburban employment will only give these employed taxpayers a reason to leave Toledo.

A special tax on suburban employment punishes resident Toledoans who work at places like First Solar, in Perrysburg. To escape the tax, they will have two choices: move out of Toledo, or quit their jobs. Which is a more likely outcome?

In the very short term, we might gain a small boost to city revenue, but in the months that follow we will only gain increases in vacant, blighted property and an increase in our unemployment rate.

Now is not the time to encourage hard-working, tax-paying Toledoans to leave. The city faces extraordinary fiscal challenges, but we must meet those challenges with equally extraordinary care or we will only make a bad situation worse.

Again, I urge Mayor Finkbeiner to reconsider this special tax on suburban employment.”

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Twelve million dollars, zero explanation

By admin | Published: February 2, 2009

In a recent Toledo Blade article, Councilman Betty Shultz was reported to have spent nearly $1,600 to support meetings of a “group of citizens called the mayor’s advisory committee, who come together on IT issues.” In that same article, Shultz was lauded for spearheading a $10 million project to overhaul the City of Toledo’s financial systems.

That project involved selecting a company to implement a new ERP system, which would track the finances of the city. Public records reveal some questionable gaps in that process.

"The committee unanimously recommended LSI Consulting for the contract"Friday, June 20, 2008: LSI was unanimously recommended for the contract
An independent review committee with representation from the departments of Fire, Police, Utilities, and Information & Communication Technology ranked the proposals from four firms. LSI Consulting finished first, with SAP Public Services second. On Friday, June 20th, the committee unanimously recommended LSI Consulting for the contract. →Download the Sherburne memo: 11,377KB pdf

Betty Shultz promised to hold up fundingThursday, July 10: Councilman Betty Shultz blocks the contract decision
A Department of Public Utilities memo from David Leffler, Director of Public Utilities, reads “The committee unanimously recommended LSI primarily because they do only public sector work and had by far the strongest municipal finance expertise. At first, Betty Shultz agreed with the recommendation. However, she later decided that LSI was not an appropriate choice and insisted that SAP America be awarded the implementation contract… Betty has promised to hold up funding of the project until SAP America is chosen.” →Download the Leffler memo: 2,620 KB pdf

The total cost is more than $12MWednesday, July 30: The total project cost is more than $12 million
An e-mail from an Administrative Analyst in Utilities Administration includes updated prices for software and other services that bring the total cost of the project up to $12,093,177. →Download the July 30 cost update: 2,779KB pdf

Why was the unanimous recommendation for LSI Consulting blocked?

In e-mails on January 12, 15, and 20 I raised my concerns with Councilman Betty Shultz. She never replied to the e-mails, but eventually called me on Thursday, January 20. Shultz declined to address my concerns, and asked instead where I got copies of these public records. I responded, “I’m not sure that’s important,” to which she said, “Then I’m not sure it is important I talk to you.”

Shultz then referred me to City of Toledo attorney John Madigan, who offered to help fulfill any public records requests I had. Madigan stated, however, that public officials are not required to answer questions or generate new records to respond to an inquiry under Ohio Open Records Law.

That is true enough, but the fact is that $12 million in public money has been spent very secretively. I am going to the Information Services committee tomorrow morning to try again for an explanation.

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