TOLEDO, Ohio — The city of Toledo's "Forward Toledo" land-use plan took another step toward reality Thursday.
The city held its latest in a series of interactive workshops where members of the community could offer ideas about what they want to see from the city's residential, commercial and industrial spaces over the next 10-20 years.
"This is sort of the culmination of it," Josh Lewandoski, the Toledo-Lucas County Planning Commission's senior planner, said. "We did some public workshops in the fall and this is the last chance for people to weigh in."
Eduardo Adams, a member of the Save Our Community group and a former violence interrupter. wants the city to have a plan that focuses on improving safety and giving kids something to do.
"Just make the city safer," Adams said. "More jobs for the youth and more things for the youths to do recreational-wise."
Attendee Sue Terrill said a big focus should be on fixing empty, blighted properties.
"I'm very concerned about all the vacancies," Terrill said. "Not only the land vacancies between houses but also the housing stock being so deteriorated. It makes the neighborhood not a healthy, happy place to be."
Adams and Terrill ultimately hope the city takes all of their input seriously and incorporates their ideas into the final plan.
"Without the citizen's input, they're going to have to trust that the government made the right decisions for them," Terrill said.
The commission will present a draft to the public later this summer and accept additional feedback before settling on a final draft, which the commission will present to Toledo City Council in November for adoption.