Saturday, February 9, 2008

Even a broken clock...


Certainly no close ally of ours, Carty Finkbeiner nonetheless performed a valuable service for the city of Toledo yesterday. 

The mayor, who preemptively closed Wilson Park in August of 2007 to prevent a community rally we helped to organize addressing concerns over the city's financial commitment to providing security for a planned neo-Nazi gathering, Friday told 200 US marines they were not welcome to perform their training on the streets of downtown Toledo.

His motives are unclear at this point, and though this particular action might be a positive thing for our city, it arguably raises new and troubling questions about the limits of mayoral power, and Finkbeiner's perverse and often baffling view of his own authority has been highlighted once again.

While many Toledoans are proud of this particular stand against the US war machine, it bears considering that, historically, the quirks of our mayor's erratic behavior seem just as likely to fall on the side of injustice.

Or maybe Carty's just found his conscience. 

At any rate, we can all be glad to not have to deal with the inconvenience associated with downtown being turned into a glorified paint-ball arena.

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