TOLEDO, Ohio — The main theme at Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz's 2024 State of the City address was the perception of what people see in Toledo.
The speech took place at the old Jefferson Center building in downtown Toledo. The building was planned to become a technology innovation hub that would have brought more jobs to the city through a partnership between ProMedica and Bitwise, a tech incubator and job-training company.
But Bitwise last year furloughed and later fired its entire workforce. Bitwise's CEOs have since been the subjects of a fraud investigation.
John C. Jones, the president and CEO of education-focused nonprofit Hope Toledo shared his reaction to when he learned the fate of the project.
"'This is going to be big and we're going to develop jobs' and all those different things, and you saw that didn't come to fruition," he said.
There is still a purpose, though.
"We've got to find ways to ensure that children and young people are getting access to all types of education," Jones said.
The building at 1300 Jefferson Avenue is still owned by ProMedica but has no occupants, even with a $40 million renovation.
The mayor said there was a reason for the location State of the City address, and the city is still searching for its next occupant.
"We believe that we're going to see some positive things happening in this space before too long," Kapszukiewicz said.
The old Jefferson Center building was an example of what the mayor called the "perspective-fact game."
"Do we see that is something wrong for Toledo or is a failure for Toledo, or do we see this building as a wonderful opportunity for something even better?" Kapszukiewicz said.
He tied the idea to Toledo's decreasing crime rate over the years, more economic development and roads getting fixed in the city.
He said while it could always be better, he challenged Toledoans to look at these issues as improvements.
"There's a lot of exciting things going on," Kapszukiewicz said. "We need people's perception to align with the facts, and the facts are there are some positive things happening in this city."
WTOL 11 asked Kapszukiewcz about a petition from local business leaders to put an item on the November ballot to change the city charter and allow mayors to run for a third term. Kapszukiewicz said if it were to pass, he would run for another term.
Also at the speech, the mayor bestowed a posthumous award to Sterling "Butch" Rahe, the longtime firefighter and paramedic who died unexpectedly on New Year's Day. The mayor said Butch deserved the Irene Drouillard Award because he was known for doing good things even when no one was watching.
Kapszukiewicz also said Toledo's current flag will be retired on Dec. 31, 2024, and replaced with a new flag design on the city's 188th birthday, Jan. 7, 2025.
According to Kapszukiewicz, public input from Toledo residents will be considered during the design process.
Editor's note: This story has been edited to clarify language regarding public input for the new city flag.
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