Trotwood-Madison vs. Winton Woods
.jpg)
2009-10 UD men's basketball
Pyramid Hill lights up
Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > November > 08 > Entry
Martin Gottlieb: DId McLin loss reflect shrinking population in west?
A couple of post-election notes:
• Among election watchers, much attention has focused on the fact that fewer voters turned out Tuesday in some west-Dayton wards than in previous mayoral elections.
Specifically, turnout was down from 2005 by twice as much in the heavily Democratic, heavily black wards, where Mayor Rhine McLin was strongest, as in the eastern, largely white wards, where challenger Gary Leitzell was strong.
The turnout pattern seems to have helped Leitzell. At least, that’s true if you assume that you know how the people who didn’t turn out would have voted if they had voted.
So why was McLin’s turnout down?
Some have pointed to economy and the trajectory of Dayton. Some have noted that a group of black ministers got a lot of attention for not endorsing in the race. (They also they didn’t endorse in 2005).
Another point worth considering: Former City Hall official — and political junkie — Paul Woodie suggests much of the explanation might simply be that people aren’t there anymore.
Look, after all, at all the empty houses, resulting from the country’s foreclosure crisis. Sure, that crisis has hit eastern wards, too (as well as suburbs). But the damage has been greatest in western and northwestern parts of the city, notes Woodie. The naked eye confirms that, showing vast stretches of emptiness.
You might recall, in fact, that one neighborhood between Salem Avenue and Main Street was listed earlier this year as one of the 10 emptiest in the country.
(Hard population numbers aren’t available on a ward-by-ward basis. They will come in next year’s national census.)
One reason that a lot of political junkies thought Leitzell would have a particularly difficult time in the election was the widespread assumption that Dayton is becoming less white all the time.
But nobody really knows where the evicted people have been going.
Of course, even if they remain somewhere in the city, they are probably not deeply motivated — given how things have been going for them — to get out and vote for the incumbents in any contest.
Nor, presumably, are a lot of people who live near the devastated areas.
• Neat little irony in Franklin County, which gets a casino, even though it voted against casinos.
In the past, people who have tried to get the state electorate to approve casinos have thought that the way to win votes was to include a local option. In one statewide election, the deal was that any section of the state would get a casino if, in a future election, the local voters approved one.
That allowed advocates of the statewide issue to say it wasn’t really about whether to have casinos. It was about whether to allow specific communities to decide whether to have casinos.
But that sales pitch didn’t work. The statewide issue was defeated.
So now a statewide issue passes. And Columbus gets one of the four casinos, ready or not.
The other metropolitan areas that were slated to get casinos as a result of Issue 3 supported Issue 3.
The Columbus exception raises a good question:
What’s the logic of letting places outside Columbus tell Columbus it will have a casino?
This is not the first time the local option principle has been ignored in Ohio politics. But how often does it get balanced so perfectly on its head?
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Columns, Elections, Martin Gottlieb, Miami Valley Politics
Comments
By Fred Doppleganger
November 8, 2009 10:04 AM | Link to this
Has anyone of the so-called experts stopped to think what a de-motivating character that Rhine McLin was? Rhine McLin couldn’t motivate a group of starving people to show up at a soup-kitchen. This election proved what the citizens of Dayton figured out what Socrates taught to us during his defense before the Athenian Court. The experts are not really experts. They never have been. It’s all just game playing by actors playing a game. Those who realize how little they know, are the true experts among us.
By J. Garfield
November 8, 2009 10:48 AM | Link to this
A question for these post 2000 years. Who did a worst job; Rhine McLin as Mayor or George W. Bush as President?
By woody
November 8, 2009 12:21 PM | Link to this
cant wait till gary starts walking around with his dolls..”for sale”…he evens talks to them
By Jamal
November 8, 2009 3:58 PM | Link to this
This commentary is garbage. This the best you can do Martin? Rhine lost because she lost support all over Dayton because she was an embarrassment to Dayton. Gary simply had more support than she did. People want change. Get a clue gottlieb.
By Mary
November 8, 2009 5:33 PM | Link to this
The only people to post to these are really mean spirited. I suspect they say things here they would never say in public and I suspect they have never had to be accountable in a public way for their comments.
By tony jackson
November 8, 2009 6:06 PM | Link to this
we have seen what Mclin has done for this city,over the years, some good and some bad however when people in the community fails to stand up and help things will continue to go by the way side.well Mr.Gary put on your seat belt because it is going to be a long and hard road,good luck.
By tony jackson
November 8, 2009 6:07 PM | Link to this
we have seen what Mclin has done for this city,over the years, some good and some bad however when people in the community fails to stand up and help things will continue to go by the way side.well Mr.Gary put on your seat belt because it is going to be a long and hard road,good luck.
By Skeptic
November 9, 2009 3:04 AM | Link to this
The good news is that west Dayton is ripe for new development. When the old houses disappear, we are left with an opportunity to rebuild. The west side of Dayton was once as wealthy as Oakwood. Could it someday become that way again? Only time and gas prices will tell.
By Kurt
November 9, 2009 6:47 AM | Link to this
Under President Bush, the country had 4.8% unemployment, the stock market reached 13,200, we were only one trillion in debt, and our enemies, had a man who they knew, could not be messed with, not like the man-child we have now, We all miss the glorius, George W. Bush.
By Modern Esquire
November 9, 2009 1:34 PM | Link to this
Kurt- You know that the stock market crashed during W.’s term, we had two recessions, unemployment skyrockted almost as quick as the federal deficit, and, oh yeah, Osama Bin Laden is still alive?
By dclay
November 9, 2009 1:51 PM | Link to this
Perhaps the reason McLin lost is that there was no accomplishment with which she could be associated. She liked to wear hats and eccentric eyeglasses, and she appeared at public ceremonies and took trips overseas. But what did she do for Dayton? Hopefully, the Dayton Daily News and the Dayton city commissioners will not conspire to undermine Gary Leitzell, in order that a Democrat can win the mayoral race next time. Dayton is dying a slow death, and if Mr. Leitzell can bring in new ideas and a fresh approach to governing, he would be worth supporting.
By Facts Hurt
November 10, 2009 8:40 AM | Link to this
The fact is that Dayton is doing so poorly that people decided to hope for something better by making a change. Sound familiar?
By davidss2
November 12, 2009 3:28 PM | Link to this
Esquire knows that the national debt was on the order of 800 billion with Bush and now is nearing 2.2 trillion with Osama. He has nearly tripled the total amount of money we owe!!! People can play blame games but you can’t hide the spending along with the democrats passing all the little bills they have wanted for their liberal agendas since the Clintons, like a national law against discriminating against gays. Do some reading on the net about the bills they’ve slipped past that the Republicans can’t block and haven’t had time because of the big bills he’s trying to pass to ruiin the country and turn us socialist like his homeland Kenya.