A Mayor or a City Manager?

"Toledoans blamed the city's mayors for much of the difficulty with relief during the first years of the Depression. Voters rejected four versions of city manager government in 1928 and 1931, but in 1931 they also rejected the incumbent mayor, William T. Jackson, in favor of Addison Q. Thatcher. Both men were Republicans, but neither obeyed the dictates of the party organization. During Thatcher's two years in office the banks failed, unemployment soared, and the city bankrupted itself trying to feed the hungry. Citizens blamed corruption in the city government for the inadequacy of relief for the unemployed."

"In 1933 Socialist (editor's note: things must have been really bad) Solon T. Klotz challenged Thatcher for the office of mayor, and won by fewer than three thousand votes. The city soon complained that Klotz was not capable of leadership (editor's note: sounds like present day). The conflict within the city government, the worsening financial crisis, and the continuing maneuvering of the Republican party 'machine' convinced some of the former Independents that the City Charter should be changed to ensure nonpartisan government."

"The Citizens' Charter Commission drafted an amendment providing for a city manager and a nine-member city council (editor's note: population in 1930 was 290,718 and in 1940 it was 282,349) elected at large by proportional representation. On November 6, 1934, the amendment passed with 54.5 percent of the vote. The Citizens' Charter Commission became the City Manager League, a permanent organization, in January 1935. In May 1935, and again in September 1937, the League helped defeat attempts to repeal the city manager charter amendment. On Christmas Day 1935 local newspapers announced that John N. Edy would be Toledo's first city manager." (A Toledo Profile; A Susquicentennial History, p.87,89)

So maybe we've come full-circle. I would like to research old copies of the Toledo Blade to see if I can find out why there is this perpetual dissatisfaction (or perhaps this is just the "fringe" that is always dissatisfied with the way things "are") with whatever form of city government we have. And I have to wonder if those business men who had the foresight to get new "industries" to come to Toledo also spent their time worrying about whether the mayor planted flowers in the byways.