The answer’s easy when it’s free
Monday, July 14th, 2008 By James Nesbitt
The Seneca County Courthouse is important. So important, it’s worth the investment required to preserve it. That’s what the Toledo Blade editorial staff said on Sunday. The county voters disagree; they voted down a measure devoting funds to preserve the building. Private entrepreneurs disagree; obviously they haven’t found a profitable use for it, or they would have purchased it. The editorial board seems to know something all these others don’t, as it continues to speak to the building’s merits. Or does it? It hasn’t put up the money to preserve the money. Instead, it called on Governor Strickland to keep “rogue” commissioners, who are simply responding to the message voters sent, from tearing down the old Seneca County Courthouse. In other words, it’s demanding that someone else (Ohio taxpayers) finance its cause. If it really is a cause worthy of investment, why doesn’t the Blade spare us its emotional plea and buy the building with its own money?
Tags: rent seeking, seneca county
