By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
Roberto Torres, former Toledo Public School board member who also held City of Toledo leadership roles such as director of the Youth Commission, Office of Latino Affairs and economic development manager during the administrations of former mayors Jack Ford and Carty Finkbeiner, held a press conference on Tuesday, March 25 to explain why he is an independent candidate for mayor of Toledo.
The “alarming rate of crime and violence,” the current city’s policies that precent “the building of more affordable housing” and the city’s “barriers to development … that prevent minority contractors and vendors from obtaining contracts” are the key reasons Torres has thrown his hat into the ring, he said.
As an example of the crime prevalent in certain areas, he mentioned that the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union had been vandalized on three recent occasions and “to date, no suspects have been arrested.” Now the Federal Bureau of Investigation has had to step in and take over the case, he added.
Assailing the current city administration for lack of action on these fronts and, in some cases, actively impeding progress, Torres noted that the $185 million in funds available to the City of Toledo through the American Rescue Plan Act were not directed to those in the city who needed such help the most.
“This administration had the opportunity of a lifetime that no previous mayor had,” he said, decrying the lack of effort to improve the city’s affordable housing stock.
Torres was born and raised in northwest Ohio and grew up in a migrant camp as one of 13 siblings, a number of whom joined him for his press conference last week. His father, originally from Mexico, and his mother, from Texas, settled in Ohio after years of working in agricultural states like California, Oregon and Minnesota.
A graduate of Swanton High School, Torres attended Bowling Green State University and served four years in the United State Marine Corps
“Being a Marine is who I am,” he noted last week as he unveiled his campaign sign – a combination of the American flag, the Marine Corps flag and the flag of the City of Toledo. He served in Desert Storm before starting his career at the Catholic Youth and School Services at the Diocese and transitioning to public service with the City of Toledo in 1996, eventually creating opportunities, as he has noted, for minority businesses.
He was elected to the Toledo Board of Education in 2005 and, in 2008, moved to Canton, Ohio to become director of economic development, eventually securing $1.8 billion in international investments. His career then took him to Cleveland; Grand Rapids, Michigan and Detroit, where he led immigrant affairs and economic inclusion initiatives.
He has returned to his hometown with an accumulated wealth of experience in economic development in similar midwestern cities and is taking aim at the current administration for the lack of development.
“This administration hinders development,” he said. “This city needs to eliminate barriers to economic development.”
In addition to the key issues of crime, lack of affordable housing and the dearth of economic development, Torres also took the administration to task for the trend of decreasing population, noting that the past eight years of Kapszukiewicz management has resulted in the population loss of 14,773.
“Can this city afford four more years of Wade?” he asked his supporters at the press conference. He received the anticipated and rousing “No” from those supporters.