Editorial - New Census Should Sound Regional Alarm

By Bruce Kettelle

The new census numbers sound an alarm that Ohio continues to experience rapid population decentralization. An effect we commonly call urban sprawl.


Youngstown, Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati, Toledo and Akron all lost over 8% of their urban population while the state as a whole grew.

People migrate for many reasons such as rural lifestyles, better schools, seemingly lower taxes, or to be closer to work. But the long-range pitfalls of unregulated sprawl are catching up with Ohio and left unfettered will be difficult to reverse.

One of the biggest real-time costs is providing the ever-expanding transportation and utility network to support these deltas of settlements around our cities. New roads, bridges, and highway widening projects consume valuable resources, and limited state and local budgets.

Rural development stresses limited water supplies. Growing auto usage consumes precious oil and pollutes our air. Deserted housing and commercial areas create blight and encourage crime.

Meanwhile futurists have warned us for over a century that the world population will grow larger than our planet’s ability to provide food for our billions of people. This year we received a wakeup call with droughts in Russia and a below average crop in the US and Ohio. We will not run out of food this year but the supplies are so tight that corn, for example, has tripled from $2 to over $6 a bushel in a few short years.

Capitalism may already be trying to slow the development of rural areas as the price for farmland is rising. Farms that sold ten years ago for $2,200 an acre are now bringing $5,500 and more. That is still far less than the tens of thousands developers are willing to pay, but it is getting closer. And once land is soiled by development it loses its agriculture productivity.

We have a choice. We can wait until food prices skyrocket putting the value of farmland out of the reach of developers or we can be proactive and develop sensible regional growth strategies now to preserve arable land for our food needs. If we wait there is no guarantee the markets will adjust in time and we will have already invested much more in new infrastructure costs.

Smart policies will create demand for vacant buildings and factory sites. Creative redevelopment of these assets will utilize the existing infrastructure already in place. This practice is already proving to work in places like Portland, Oregon and Louisville, Kentucky. Why shouldn’t we do it here in Dayton and all of Ohio?

Regional cooperation and planning is a sound idea whose time has come and it will save taxpayers money.

Trotwood's Hankins Continues With First Suburbs Consortium

The First Suburbs Consortium of Dayton has announced its leadership team for 2010. The Consortium elected Riverside Deputy Mayor Bill Flaute as Chair, Oakwood Vice Mayor Steve Byington as Vice-Chair, Huber Heights Councilmember Judy Blankenship as Secretary, Kettering Councilmember Bruce Duke as Treasurer and Trotwood Councilmember Rap Hankins as the At Large Member of the Executive Committee.

Last year Hankins served as Vice-Chair.

“We have a great leadership team and I look forward to working together to build upon the progress of the past year” said Flaute. “In 2010 we will continue to focus our efforts on initiatives and projects which add value for our member communities. We will also reach out to other groups and organizations with similar interests through our Associate Membership program.”

The First Suburbs Consortium of Dayton is a Council of Governments formed in 2005 to focus on the challenges and opportunities common to older inner ring suburbs surrounding Dayton. The Consortium presently has thirteen member communities which comprise approximately 50% of the population of Montgomery County. They are: Centerville, Clayton, Harrison Township, Huber Heights, Jefferson Township, Kettering, Miamisburg, Moraine, Oakwood, Riverside, Trotwood, Vandalia and West Carrollton.

In Ohio, the Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus areas have similar First Suburb organizations. For information contact: firstsuburbs@ameritech.net or phone 937-866-1584

Greyhound Opening Anticlimactic

By Bruce Kettelle
About a dozen passengers with baggage were lined up inside the Trotwood GDRTA Northwest Hub Tuesday morning. They were not waiting for an RTA bus. These were some of the first to catch a Greyhound bus from Trotwood, specifically the southbound bus leaving at 9am.

Dayton resident Sirgeo Thompson a local photographer is headed for Atlanta. “I’m doing a shoot there for Boss Magazine,” said Thompson.

Behind him is an elderly Old Order German Baptist in a wide brimmed hat. After overhearing the conversation with the photographer he pulled out a 2005 issue of National Geographic Magazine. “That’s me and my wife,” he said pointing to a picture in the magazine.

He was on his way home to Jackson Mississippi. He didn’t know about the Greyhound terminal moving to Trotwood until he arrived at the former location in downtown Dayton earlier this morning. “We hurried up out here real quick.”

A college student on his way to Cincinnati joined in to look at some of the pictures being passed around. Anything to help pass the time while waiting for the bus.

As the bus pulled out Frank Ecklar, Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority director of planning said, “that’s number three, only 14 more to go today.” Ecklar was on hand to monitor the first day of operations at the relocated Greyhound terminal co-located in the existing RTA facility.

“Speedway is going to make a mint from this,” said Ecklar referring to a fairly steady stream of passengers stocking up on travel goodies at the convenience store next door.

Ecklar was taking notes on how the passengers, cars, and busses interacted to develop a list of improvements needed for the site. Already in place is a new ticket window inside, a dedicated Greyhound lane in front of the building and some new signage.

One of the things at the top of his list is installing a pay phone as three riders had already asked where to find the phone.

Typically there will be 17 Greyhound busses a day in addition to the nearly 300 RTA busses already using the hub. Ecklar said the frequency is close to hourly. During holidays residents may see a few more since Greyhound sends two busses (as needed) on some routes.

The first day of service in Trotwood almost seemed anticlimactic. Fears raised by citizens of homeless people and criminals frequenting the Greyhound station were unsubstantiated. From all appearances the location will be a positive impact for the community.

With the exception of one bus that had to use the Lowes parking lot to turn around after heading the wrong way on Route 49 it was a very smooth opening for RTA and Greyhound.

The Greyhound terminal and Northwest RTA hub serving Dayton and Trotwood is located at 2075 Shiloh Springs Rd.

The posted Greyhound schedule in the Dayton/Trotwood terminal.

Greyhound Moves To Trotwood October 27

By Bruce Kettelle

Greyhound busses will begin running in Trotwood on Tuesday October 27th. Today's announcement is the culmination of a lengthy process to find a replacement terminal for their downtown Dayton location.

Beginning Tuesday all arriving and departing Dayton passengers will load at the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority’s Northwest Hub at 2075 Shiloh Springs Rd in Trotwood. Greyhound officials said there are 15 busses serving their Dayton terminal each day. “This new location provides a wonderful opportunity to better serve the residents of the greater Dayton area,” said Eric Melton, district manager, Greyhound Lines, Inc.

Some Greyhound passengers are expected to take advantage of the GDRTA system to get to and from their final destination.

Earlier this year some Trotwood residents objected to the move. Concerns about crime and the additional traffic included several public protests. Assurances from the Trotwood police department and the GDRTA calmed most of that opposition.

The facility is open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily and provides Greyhound PackageXpress (GPX) shipping. For Greyhound ticket information in Trotwood, call 937-224-1608.

Legacy Businesses Are Not Born Overnight

By Bruce Kettelle

As the Dayton region loses one legacy business after another from Frigidaire, to Delphi and now NCR it makes one wonder what the next Dayton legacy will be.

Legacies like these are not built overnight, they grow so gradually that most would not realize they have become a legacy until they start to downsize.

Fire destroyed Trotwood’s legacy business back in 1981. Thousands of campers and travel trailers were built on North Broadway for delivery all across the country. Trotwood Trailers were respected for their innovative features and high quality construction. Many still survive today but the company does not.

Now almost 30 years later Trotwood still searches for its new legacy business. Right now, somewhere in town, someone might be inventing something in their garage like Ray Kuntz and Warren Wagner did back in the late 1920’s. These schoolteachers occupied their summers in a garage on Grand Av designing a prototype canvas tent on wheels to take camping.

Despite the economic gloom of the Great Depression in 1932 they opened Trotwood Trailers and by 1950 they grew to control 20% of the camper trailer market in Ohio. There were many models to choose from and one of their largest models can still be seen in the mobile home park on E Main St. It was a regular sight to see 12 trailers rolling out of town every day on their way to customers across North America.

Their neighbors tolerated the pair working long hours from their ‘home office’ not realizing the impact their inventions would have on the trailer world from innovative axle systems to the first side entry door trailer. Like the bar owner in Dayton that invented a cash register to keep his employees honest to the brothers experimenting with aerodynamics with a wind tunnel in their bicycle shop, ideas that become legacies can be born just about anywhere.

No one knows what Trotwood’s next legacy will be but the timing is right to see a new idea nurtured amidst the ashes of the current recession. So the next time you see your neighbor burning the midnight oil offer a little encouragement. They just might be defining the direction of Trotwood’s economic future.

This Trotwood Trailer is the last one located in the mobile home park on East Main St in Trotwood, Ohio. It was being renovated when this picture was taken in August 2009.

Dragons, Fireworks Make Perfect Fourth

5th/3rd Field crowd on July 3

Fireworks fans are illuminated near the Patterson St bridge in Dayton

There is nothing like a ball game on the Fourth of July followed by the best fireworks in western Ohio. The Dayton Dragons are in a slump so it was no surprise they couldn't keep up with the big bats from Ft Wayne. But the fans in 5th/3rd field didn't seem to mind in the perfect 70-degree evening with clear skies begging for their annual fireworks paint that was coming at dark. Everyone's a winner on the 4th of July.

We estimated 30,000 people witnessed the fireworks. The best vantage points were from the Patterson St bridge and the banks of the Little Miami River. The fireworks are launched from Deeds Point. More revellers were spotted north of the river as far away as the McDonalds parking lot on N. Dixie.

The lights from the ballpark illuimate the street and nearby buildings.

The best part of the day was seeing downtown Dayton come alive. With the adjacent Cityfolk Festival there was a bigger crowd than usual on the streets outside the stadium watching the game through the fence.

List of Fireworks Displays Around Miami Valley

There will be plenty of options this weekend to see fireworks in Dayton, Englewood, Kettering and in over 40 more communities in western Ohio and we have all the dates time and places on our Totally Trotwood Fireworks Calendar. It is the most popular page on our web site this week.
http://www.totallytrotwood.com/fireworksCalendar2.htm

NCR Is Leaving Dayton

As the news that NCR is moving to Atlanta from its birthplace in Dayton reverberated across our communities this week, memories of this innovative company emerged. Many here in Trotwood also had a connection to the company that invented the cash register.

We encourage Trotwoodians to leave their recollections of NCR in our comments section below.

For additional reading check out the memories and comments from people across our region at
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/3/738250/-My-City-Was-Gone:-A-Google-Maps-Tour-of-Dayton,-Ohio

We will add additional links to NCR stories as we find them.