I would like to send a heart felt thank you to all vets present and past. I would like to share with you reading this that with the way vets are being treated whether it’s avoidance, neglect or just plain disrespect a story that I watched and it has brought me to a complete understanding that these men and women have put there lives for the betterment of this country and all they got in return was grief. Please, watch this video and get yourself involved to help the many in need.

I would like to start out by saying ‘Thank You’ to Fred and his crew at WSPD for taking the time to go to the ESM (Erie Street Market) and displaying exactly what goes on over there on a typical “business” morning. It didn’t look very crowded at all, heck I didn’t really see much for traffic inside either. Watch the video provided by WSPD and see for yourself the wonders and glories of the market.

Today’s meeting at one government center regarding the “funds” acquired without council approval was quite interesting in and of itself. I learned a few things while at the same time hearing the same ole bs from the council which in this case was nothing. Council had the chance to not support the ESM a few months ago but it went ahead and approved funding for it to continue to operate as an illegal venue. Yes illegal because the city of Toledo is not supposed to be in business. I hope that those that felt it necessary to okay the funds to keep the market open longer will think long and hard the next time the ESM needs more money. City council was completely embarrassed today by both the administration and the tax payers. I will be looking for a better running council for the rest of this year because from what I have seen thus far for the first half of the year I am not impressed at all.

With last week ending the way it did and all of the media sources covering the issue as well as they did I would have to say thank you to all that participated in getting out the details on this embarrassing matter. With all the details in I have a good understanding of what happened Friday afternoon. It looks like the Marines had a scheduled mock urban warfare training exercise in a small part of downtown Toledo where they can better enhance their skills.

Well apparently the Mayor did not like what he saw the last time they were in town and had mentioned to them (The Marines) that they should not reschedule for that type of training in downtown Toledo again. Well now with out of the way I would like to inform the Mayor that this type of training is very helpful for what they encounter in other countries. The mayor was adamant in suggesting two locations that he had no authority to mention as well as the authority to place them there.

Carty’s big emphasis to the Marines being there was that they could have potentially scared business workers coming out of work and making there way home. Well that in and of itself was a great comment and I began to back him on it until he decided to put his foot in his mouth and began to suggest two locations that would not of been any better. His first recommendation was an abandoned Junior High School on Broadway, now unless I’m forgetting something isn’t the school near many residents in residential homes? Yeah let’s have the Marines go out and perform training in an old school and definitely not potentially frighten many more families then it would business works.

Tomorrow will be day one of national coverage especially with the Drudge report putting out there earlier. Can’t wait to hear what Fred and Brian have to say about this snafu.

Today was the first of many meetings for the public to participate and express certain questions as well as thoughts in regards to the city budget at the Birmingham Branch Library. My wife was not feeling well so I volunteered to go and cover the event for her. She is the political guru behind Glass City Jungle, Ohio’s number one political blog. I was able to take a few pictures as well as record the whole meeting with my wife’s recorder/camera. Although the meeting was great, it would of been a bit better if at least a hand full of people would of shown up to show that even though council is still working out the kinks they were there to let them know that citizens matter and they want to know what’s going on. Visit my wife’s site and view the photos as well as listen to the recording from the meeting.