Tuesday was Councilman Collins' turn, and he did not disappoint.   About 20 people, including some supporters and media, joined Mr. Collins on the bus trip.

Mr. Collins started by thanking the Toledo City Paper for the opportunity to present his vision of Toledo and how he would market the city if elected mayor.

After departing from The Docks, Mr. Collins made the first pitch for a new development for the old Edison Steam Plant next to International Park. Councilman Collins explained that he has embraced an idea given to him by a fellow Toledoan for the Toledo landmark. "I would like to turn that into a fresh water aquarium, similar to what Baltimore did to revitalize their Harbor Town.   

Our greatest natural resource is our water --- Lake Erie.   We are sitting on 20 percent of the world's fresh water supply on our planet.    A national Great Lakes fresh water aquarium would be the first of its kind, and something that our community and visitors could enjoy.   It would complement Fifth-Third Field, the new arena and convention center, and our on-going efforts to revitalize the downtown area."

The bus tour continued to a stop at the Bay View Waste Water Treatment Plant at Manhattan and Summit --- The home of the Water Reclamation and the joint Hoffman Road Landfill Co-Generation Project.

The project takes methane gas from the Hoffman Road Landfill and pipes it to the Bay View Waste Water Treatment Plan where it is used to power a turbine that is capable of producing at least 10 megawatts of power.   That power can then be used as the independent source of power for the waste water treatment plant and neighboring buildings.

"This project got its start when Chris Middlebrough saw a flare shooting out of the Hoffman Road Landfill."   He knew there was a source of energy there and a way that it could be developed to power the waste water treatment plant and save the City of Toledo millions of dollars each year in the cost of electricity.

"This was the first public group of Toledo citizens to ever tour this facility," said Mr. Collins.  "What is not widely-known is that people from all over the world are coming to Toledo to study this state of the art development.  This project shows the quality of people and professionals we have working in Toledo in public service."

After the 30 minute tour of the facility, Councilman Collins took the group to the Airline Junction Intermodal Facility where they received an update on the development.

"The project must become a reality.  It is contingent on Westwood Ave. being closed at the railroad tracks south of Hill Ave," Mr. Collins said.

He also pointed out that nearly 900 jobs - both direct and indirect --- would be created as a result of the intermodal project.    The annual fiscal impact is expected to be $25.6 million.

As the tour moved from place to place, Mr. Collins gave the audience an overview of some of his positions.   They included:

CITY SAFETY

"We do not have enough police officers on the streets.   We need 700 police officers on the force to protect our citizens.    Right now we have the lowest number of officers per capita for a city our size, not only in Ohio but in the United States."

JOB CREATION

"I hear other candidates saying they want to create jobs, jobs and more jobs.   That gives the appearance that government will be the largest employer, and that cannot happen.   It is the private sector and small business entrepreneurs that create jobs. Manufacturers are the key to job growth in Toledo and northwest Ohio.  When businesses thrive, government survives.   When businesses don't thrive, government dies"

CITY BUDGET

"We must get the city budget under control.   Our overtime cost between fire, police and refuse are over $1.4 million higher than expected.   I predicted in December 2008 that our overtime costs for fire and rescue alone would be $4.2 million." 

We are seeing some good signs that will help us.   GM, Powertrain and Chrysler are back to work. This is a very positive sign and perhaps this may be our turning point to an improved financial forecast."

CITY EMPLOYEES

"We have some of the finest public servants in municipal government working for the City of Toledo.   They are some of the best in terms of management, supervision, and rank and file."

The tour ended with a fabulous lunch at Pam's Corner at 116 Tenth Street in Downtown Toledo.  Councilman Collins encourages everyone to visit Pam's Corner, which is open for lunch, Monday through Friday.  Pam's Corner serves breakfast and lunch on Saturday.