The Independent Collegian, Special Downtown Toledo Supplement, 2010

ICAn Special Section

Everything from dining in downtown Toledo to living in the center city

Independent CollegianTheMonday, August 30, 20102

Downtown ads

Table of ContentsDebunking the myths of living downtown .......... 3

Painting the scene. . . . . 4

Walleye return hockey to Toledo. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Thinking Big. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Photo illustrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

‘Outlaw diner’ and ‘Pizza Popular’.................. 9

The value of a downtown internship........... 10

Downtown Toledo bar crawl.............................. 11

Toledo Museum of Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Valentine Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Park Lane Luxury Apartments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Swan Park Apartments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Bronze Boar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Ahava Spa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Ole Taco and Tequila . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Attic on Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Cover art illustration by Nick Kneer / IC

It is with great pleasure and pride that we at the IC present our downtown Toledo supple-ment issue. This special issue is dedicated to the proud and historic city of Toledo, its rich heritage, and all those who have lived and worked in this city we call home.

Many UT students seem to struggle with insecurities or preconceptions of the down-town Toledo area, or simply do not know of anything fun or interesting to do there. There also seems to be general pes-simism about the condition of downtown and a lack of faith in Toledo’s ability to provide jobs, good living spaces or en-tertainment. In this issue, we discuss several topics regard-ing life in downtown Toledo to stimulate the UT community’s involvement and interest in this area.

Downtown Toledo has much to offer that is often overlooked by UT students and area resi-dents. This supplemental issue is just one step toward increas-ing awareness and promoting

involvement in the development of downtown Toledo, something the UT community has a respon-sibility to take part in.

There is a strong bond be-tween UT and the downtown area, and it is critical that we maintain and strengthen this. The city provides jobs, transpor-tation, residences, food and en-tertainment for members of the UT community. In turn, the uni-versity brings jobs and opportu-nities into the area, adds culture and diversity and increases the respect and prestige of the city. Both communities strengthen and enrich each other; without mutual support, each would be in lesser condition.

It is more important than ever for the UT community to main-tain and strengthen its connec-tion with downtown, because, as the core of the city, downtown needs students to appreciate the value it has to the region. A thriv-ing downtown extends its suc-cess to the rest of the region, and the presence of ambitious col-lege students and graduates is an essential part to that success.

We urge our readers to take to heart the stories we offer and the message we present: Toledo is an active, living city with much to offer for people of all ages.

The students of UT have great influence over the fate of the city of Toledo, especially the downtown area. Never un-derestimate the power of the dollar; for each dollar spent at a locally-owned business, more than two-thirds will be re-circu-lated in the local economy, meaning large benefits for the community. Of each dollar spent at a business not owned by a local resident, less than half remains in the local econo-my. So broaden your horizons, take advantage of all that Tole-do has to offer, and make deci-sions that help empower the city we live in and the univer-sity we are all a part of.

It is our sincerest hope that this supplement leaves our readers well-informed about the downtown community and that it instills a new sense of belong-ing for all who live, work and study in the Glass City.

Staff letter

Independent CollegianTheMonday, August 30, 2010 3

By Vincent D. ScebbiFeatures Editor

Despite the common misper-ceptions of living downtown, Dan Evans chose to live in the Uptown district of downtown Toledo for his junior and senior years at UT.

Evans, a 2009 UT graduate, said within a year of living in the area, he saw a large increase in terms of restaurants and bars, thanks to the opening of the Huntington Center, a multi-purpose sports arena.

Evans is one example of a UT student who lived in the down-town region despite the common stereotype that the area is crime-ridden and impoverished.

“I lived in a loft above the Glass City Café at the corner of Jackson and 11th [street],” he said. “In a year, it seemed about 12 bars and restaurants opened up. I never dealt with poverty.”

Safety in familiarityPhil Dew, the owner of the 85

year-old Park Lane Apartments lo-cated on 23rd Street, said there seems to be a stigma that sur-rounds the downtown section of Toledo which ultimately makes the area unattractive for some po-tential residents.

“I’ve had too many people come in to look and decided not to move in because they thought the area was bad,” Dew said.

The stigma also played a role when first year graduate student

Leanne Hysell had to decide whether to live downtown or at Campus Village Apartments close to Rocket Hall on Main Campus. After long deliberations, Hysell de-cided to live closer to campus, mostly because she felt the area was safer than downtown.

“When I weighed out the pros and cons, I thought about how I’m comfortable here, so it’s more of a familiarity thing, especially being a girl in Toledo and living by myself,” she said. “Also being around more students makes you feel more comfortable.”

The safety found in the familiar-ity of the UT area, Hysell said, is one of the benefits of living closer to campus. Other benefits include living only a short walk away from UT and being close to some restau-rants.

Although she’s never been downtown, sophomore Brianna Choltko said she has heard from friends and family that downtown, “is not the best of areas” and that is part of the reason why she moved into University Hills on Friday.

Well, I’ve heard that it’s ghetto and it’s not the safest place to be around,” the chemical engineering major said. “I’ve heard news sto-ries about people being shot and gangs or just very shady people.”

Evans said he thinks some rea-sons why few students live in the downtown area is because UT is about ten minutes away from downtown as well as a lack of ad-

vertising from downtown apart-ment complexes.

“I think [students] think their student loans cover everything up front,” Evans said. “I don’t think, when they come to Toledo, the university is far from downtown. You’re still going to go through an area that’s not really pleasing. I don’t think there’s much advertise-ment on campus; I think they take advantage of students.”

Another look at crimeDespite the common belief that

downtown is overrun with crime, Evans said most crime is isolated in certain parts of Toledo and he never had any violent personal en-counters while living downtown.

“Safety is not really an issue: police officers are around,” Evans said. “They definitely have a huge presence downtown. You don’t see much [crime]. All the crime is re-ally isolated. I felt incredibly safe.”

Dew said he disagrees with those who believe living close to campus is safer. Since Dew took ownership of Park Lane in May 2006, he hasn’t had any problems with crime in his building. He has only dealt with people breaking into cars in the parking lot, which he remedies by advising his ten-ants to avoid keeping valuable items in their cars.

“I’d say you’re safer than you are

Debunking the myths ofstudent living downtown

— Living, Page 10

Kevin Galambos/ IC

By Tegan WilkinsonIC Staff Writer

The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo is promoting the local art scene in downtown Toledo this summer for the third-straight year with its Thursday Art Walks.

“[There’s] no reason people shouldn’t come downtown de-spite stigma that they shouldn’t. It’s exciting from a student’s point,” said Michelle Carlson, Programs Coordinator for AC-GT. “It’s a good idea for stu-dents who go to a more urban university to get involved to become a more rounded stu-dent. Students shouldn’t only stay within academic build-ings.”

At the Art Walk, visitors can expect more than typical pieces of art; there will be a walking gallery from the Urban Forest Project. This project features banners created by graphic de-signers that will be hung from light poles around the venues.

The banners can be enjoyed by sitting on one of the many newly installed art benches around the area. The benches were painted by the Young Art-ists at Work participants. YAAW offers a chance for at-risk youth to be employed for the summer with a concentrated look into the arts.

In the Warehouse District and the Old West End District, visi-tors can check out work from

several locally-based artists in-cluding Crystal Anderson and Chelsea Younkman. Anderson is a studio tech with UT’s Ce-ramics Department. Younkman, a UT alumna, creates large-scale monochromatic portrai-tures, which are portraits done in one color.

The Art Walks are not limited to only the visual arts. ACGT pays for licenses from the City of Toledo for street performers at each Art Walk.

This month’s featured street performers are poets John Dorsey, Michael Grover and Na-than Elias, folk singer Rachael Richardson and belly dancer Brooke Fasnaugh, according to


Painting the scene:The local art organizations that are

growing the downtown arts By Joe MehlingIC Staff Writer

Following a one-year hiatus from hockey in Toledo, the sport returned in 2009 as the Toledo Walleye debuted in the newly-constructed Huntington Center last season. The team was pre-viously known as the Toledo Storm (1991-2007) until the Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball team bought a controlling interest in the squad.

The Walleye play in the East Coast Hockey League and are the minor league affiliates of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings. Chicago is the defending Stan-ley Cup Champions while the Red Wings have won four championships in the last 13 years.

Toledo finished their inaugural sea-son at 35-30-7, finished third in the North division and qualified for the ECHL playoffs. The Walleye topped the Charlotte Checkers in the first game of the opening series 7-2, but they were eliminated after losing the next three games.

“It was a really successful season because we achieved our number 1 goal of making the playoffs,” said To-ledo coach Nick Vitucci after his team was eliminated. “This organization is first class and the support we got from

Kevin Sohnly/ IC

The Toledo Museum of Art, located on Monroe Street near the Old West End neighborhood is part of the greater downtown arts community.— Arts, Page 12


By Joe MehlingIC Staff Writer

Following a one-year hiatus from hockey in Toledo, the sport returned in 2009 as the Toledo Walleye debuted in the newly-constructed Huntington Center last season. The team was pre-viously known as the Toledo Storm (1991-2007) until the Toledo Mud Hens minor league baseball team bought a controlling interest in the squad.

The Walleye play in the East Coast Hockey League and are the minor league affiliates of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings. Chicago is the defending Stan-ley Cup Champions while the Red Wings have won four championships in the last 13 years.

Toledo finished their inaugural sea-son at 35-30-7, finished third in the North division and qualified for the ECHL playoffs. The Walleye topped the Charlotte Checkers in the first game of the opening series 7-2, but they were eliminated after losing the next three games.

“It was a really successful season because we achieved our number 1 goal of making the playoffs,” said To-ledo coach Nick Vitucci after his team was eliminated. “This organization is first class and the support we got from

the fans was unbelievable.”Vitucci was chosen to lead the Wall-

eye for his experience within the ECHL, being involved with the league since its inception. He has five league championships on his resume, four as a player and one as an assistant coach. As a player, Vitucci was named post-season MVP twice and holds nearly every goaltending record in league his-tory including games (479), minutes (27,291), wins (265), 20-win seasons (7), consecutive 20-win seasons (4) and consecutive 30-win seasons (2).

On Jan. 23, 2008, Vitucci was in-ducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame, in the league’s first ever class of induct-ees.

Vitucci has been involved in the To-ledo community since 2003 when he took over for the Toledo Storm and led the team until their disbandment in 2007. Vitucci was named coach of the year in 2004-05 and holds an overall record of 175-134-25 as a head coach.

The Walleye were led offensively by 5-11 center Maxime Tanguay, who poured in 25 goals and 44 assists en route to a 69-point season. Tanguay earned a spot on the Eastern Confer-ence All-Star team and the ECHL All-

Walleye return hockey to ToledoTeam finished third in division for debut season, reaching goal of first playoff birth

Kevin Sohnly / IC

The Huntington Center, 500 Jefferson Avenue in downtown Toledo, is home to the To-ledo Walleye, a team in the East Coast Hockey League. The $105 million arena has an 8,000 seat capacity and is one of the first LEED certified professional arenas, meaning it meets many environmental standards, including recycling rainwater.

2010 File Photo by Nick Kneer/ IC

The Toledo Walleye goalie Alec Richards defends the goal in the Walleye’s 2010 inaugural game on Oct. 16, 2009 in the Huntington Center in down-town Toledo. The Walleye replaced the Toledo Storm as Toledo’s profes-sional hockey team.

— Walleye, Page 10


Thinking BIG: How downtown and UT can develop together

By Hasan DudarEditor in Chief

Once home to a thriving econ-omy based largely on manufac-turing in the automotive and glass industries, the city of To-ledo has found itself struggling to retain jobs and people.

According to the United States Census Bureau and the Bureau for Labor Statistics, To-ledo is faced with a steadily de-clining population and an 11.7 percent unemployment rate. In addition, the Census Bureau re-ports that nearly one-fourth of Toledo’s population lives below the poverty line, making it the eighth most impoverished city in the nation.

At the center of the city’s struggle to reinvent itself are two communities: The Univer-sity of Toledo and downtown Toledo. The former has been growing its enrollment by the semester and expanding its re-gional partnerships, as evident with UT’s decision in June to team up with Promedica Health System. The latter, a shell of its former self, stands as a symbol of Toledo’s economic decline. A 2000 study by UT’s Urban Af-fairs Center cites that by the mid 1990s, 81 downtown firms -- totaling 7,600 downtown workers — closed shop and re-located to Arrowhead Park, a

488 acre suburban business community in Maumee, Ohio.

According to Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop, To-ledo’s future no longer lies in its ability to manufacture goods but is based more on its capaci-ty to attract educated young adults.

“I want nothing more than the University of Toledo to succeed — that’s the most important thing we’ve got going,” Konop said. “I think the government and the university are all pulling for the same thing. It’s just a matter of coordination between the two. And obviously the nex-us of coordination would be downtown.”

Bill Thomas, president of the Downtown Toledo Improve-ment District, a non-profit that promotes downtown develop-ment through a network of area businesses, said he would like to see more regional partner-ships similar to the UT-Promed-ica initiative.

“As we continue to build up the region, it’s good for down-town,” Thomas said. “As we continue to build up downtown, it’s good for the region, because the downtown is the center…All great cities have a great downtown. And if you’re a sub-urb, it’s difficult to be a suburb of nothing.”.

Despite downtown’s struggle

to develop and a lending slow-down in the banking sector, Thomas thinks that there has been progress made in what he calls “catalytic investments,” such as the new Huntington Center and Fifth Third Field.

“For pure development —speculative development — it’s kind of at a standstill down-town. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have things going on,” Thomas said.

Diane Keil-Roe, President of the Toledo Warehouse District Association, said the arena and Fifth Third Field projects have encouraged the growth of small businesses in the downtown area.

“It’s individual business own-ers who see opportunity down here and take over an old build-ing and work to renovate it and form a business here. And it’s because they think this is a good place to be. And so col-lectively, we have more and more growth happening, then you get a critical mass,” Keil-Roe said.

Downtown law schoolOne catalytic investment Ko-

nop would like to see develop in the downtown area is the cre-ation of a downtown law school for the University of Toledo. Konop, whose 2006 campaign platform included a downtown

law school, believes that the plan would provide the down-town community with a crucial missing element: students.

“I think UT moving its law school downtown would have a greater long-term impact on downtown Toledo than the are-na would,” Konop said. “I think because you’re going to get hun-dreds of students coming down everyday, and every year you’re going to get a new couple hun-dred students, so over a 10 or 20-year time period, you’re go-ing to get tens of thousands of students who have experienced going to school in downtown.”

Konop said the school could be financed through underwrit-ten bonds from the county’s In-vestment Advisory Committee of which he is a member. The IAC is a government entity that reinvests tax dollars into the region and has $250 million in lending capacity, according to Konop.

Thomas said he would like to see a tangible presence from UT in the downtown area, but he doesn’t think now is the time for the university to expand down-town.

“If you look at other towns, the universities eventually have come into the downtown and had some different schools actu-ally in the downtown area,” Thomas said. “Probably at some


point in time, it would be a great thing. Right now is certainly not a great time for any school sys-tem to be thinking about expand-ing.”

UT Vice President of External Affairs Larry Burns said a down-town law school would be un-likely and that the university would consider establishing a downtown distance-learning cen-ter for professional students be-fore it would pursue a downtown law school. Burns said UT is al-ready in discussion with leaders in Southgate, Mich. to establish an office for distance learning.

“Most schools that have law schools or medical schools not connected to their main campus-es have done that because they don’t have any land or they don’t have any buildings. We’re fortu-nate that we have a very modern, nice law center,” Burns said.

According to Konop, who is also a faculty member at the UT law school, the law school build-ing is not in good shape to attract students, and a newer downtown facility would be a better recruit-ing tool for UT.

“The law school is rapidly be-coming outdated. It’s not a draw for students. It doesn’t make stu-dents’ lives easier in any way or improve their academic experi-ence,” Konop said. “You wouldn’t be sacrificing anything to move them downtown, and you’d get a

huge upside, I think, in terms of what it means for the communi-ty.”

Professional partnershipsBurns said one option he

thinks will give downtown a larger student presence is the development of a more formal connection between UT and downtown-area businesses so students have more options for internships.

“We don’t think of having our students employed as students in companies downtown, and I think we can make great prog-ress in that,” Burns said. “I just don’t think we’ve reached out enough.”

Burns said he would like to see students challenge the UT ad-ministration to be more proac-tive in landing them internships downtown, citing that the pro-cess would benefit students edu-cationally and broaden their em-ployment options.

Keil-Roe said she wants to see more partnerships between the colleges at UT and the private and public sector in downtown.

“The university — any univer-sity — provides you one level of education, and that’s academic. The other level of academics that you need is real world life experience, and that’s where I think the university can partner

with the [downtown] community in a meaningful way,” Keil-Roe said.

She also thinks that more stu-dent traffic downtown in the form of internships would con-vince those students that down-town’s unique urban setting is a perfect place for young adult professionals.

“[It’s] certainly a good strategy for this area is to begin to expose the college students to the life that is down here, because they might consider it after gradua-tion and want to move down here.”

Vince Wiggins, Strategic Ac-count Director for Aquent, a marketing services company, said that one initiative in the de-velopmental stage is a program that will help link students and post-graduate professionals to internship opportunities in the northwest Ohio Region.

The program aims to link stu-dents from UT, Bowling Green State University and Owens Community College with mar-keting and entertainment com-panies in the region.

“Sometime ago, an idea came to mind about the Toledo down-town district and that we are a burgeoning entertainment dis-trict,” Wiggins said. “You have students who go to school for marketing, merchandising, mu-sic business, finance and busi-

ness in general, who like to have opportunities to either intern or work in these particular posi-tions, but yet we don’t have a lot of options for them.”

The program will combine crash course supplemental class-es in specific professional areas with an unpaid internship expe-rience at zero cost to the stu-dents.

According to the Ohio Depart-ment of Job and Family Services report on the 2016 Job Outlook for the Toledo Metropolitan Sta-tistical area, the field of market-ing and entertainment in the To-ledo region is expected to grow by 18.4 percent — nearly 900 jobs.

Wiggins said his plan is an at-tempt to help the region prepare for the expected growth in the marketing, entertainment and media industries.

Light rail, heavy impactThomas said the construction

of a light-rail line from the Dorr Street Corridor on UT’s Main Campus to downtown is one step that could be taken to better connect downtown and the uni-versity community and facilitate economic growth between the

— UT-Downtown, Page 10

Photo Illustration by Joseph Herr/ IC


The Center for the Visual Arts

To the left is a photo illus-tration by Independent Col-legian Assistant Director of Photography Kevin Sohnly.

The image consists of two merged photos: One of the University of Toledo Center for the Visual Arts in 2010 (right side of photo) and one of the CVA’s construc-tion in the early 1990s.

The CVA, connected to the Toledo Museum of Art, was designed by world-re-nowned architect Frank Gehry, and construction was finished in 1993.

The photographer esti-mated the lens’ focal length that was used in the con-struction photograph, and emulated that with modern-day photo equipment. The photos were blended togeth-er using Adobe Photoshop.

The photograph of the CVA’s construction is prop-erty of the Toledo-Lucas County Library Archives.

The Toledo BladeTo the right is a photo il-

lustration by Independent Collegian Assistant Photo Director Kevin Sohnly.

The image consists of two merged photos: One of the Toledo Blade circa 1950 (right side of photo) and one of the Toledo Blade in 2010.

The Toledo Blade has served the Toledo region with news for 175 years. It was first published on De-cember 19, 1835. According to the the Blade’s website, it is the oldest continously op-erated business in Toledo.

The Blade’s namesake is from the steel-bladed swords produced in Toledo, Spain, Toledo’s sister city.

The photographer esti-mated the lens’ focal length that was used in the original photograph, and emulated the same picture with mod-ern-day photo equipment.

The circa 1950 photograph of the Toledo Blade is prop-erty of the Toledo-Lucas County Library Archives.


‘Outlaw diner’ and ‘Pizza Popular’

Christopher Reed/ IC

Pam’s Place is a downtown diner that opened two years ago next to the Anthony Wayne ‘High Level’ Brigde on Summit Street.

By Christopher ReedFor the IC

Pam’s Place is a 24/7 diner nestled in at 222 S. Summit St., on the right hand side just past the Anthony Wayne bridge.

Upon first appearance Pam’s Place is reminiscent of the average greasy spoon that can be found all over America. There were Ameri-can muscle cars and a half dozen or so motorcycles lined up in the back parking lot that were rode in on by Pam’s mid-morning loyal cus-tomers and friends. They are now sitting outside, at tables with umbrellas, sipping cof-fee.

Inside the walls are deco-rated with framed pictures of hot rods, Harley’s and post-ers of retro movie stars. The only thing missing was some rock-n-roll on the radio.

The menu has the usual fare, consisting of breakfast served anytime. Although they have several breakfast options, some the best sellers are the omelettes, eggs with toast combinations, and sau-sage gravy & biscuits. Pam’s Place also serves Salads, hot dogs, burgers, hot roast beef, turkey and meatloaf sand-wiches with mashed pota-toes. For desert they have pie, shakes and sundaes.

In many aspects, Pam’s also differs from most greasy

spoons. The food wasn’t greasy. In fact, it was real close to home cooked. The sausage gravy & biscuits is a huge portion, but very good. A half order can easily fill up the average person. They serve a breakfast sandwich with choice of meat that is also very tasty, and the home fries were crispy and well cooked without being oily.

It’s easy to see why Pam’s Place has such a loyal cus-tomer base. The food is good, the price is fair and the staff is friendly. This is an every-day working class joint for folks that want good, hot food. Pam’s Place has been proud to be there for them for almost two years now. Stop in and see for yourself.

Pizza Papalis is a very pop-ular Chicago style pizzeria and tavern located downtown right next to the Mud Hens Stadium on the corner of Monroe and Huron Streets. They first opened in Detroit in 1986. They claim to have done ex-tensive research and testing of a variety of ingredients which first took them to Kansas to find the perfect crust. Also in search of a traditional authen-tic sauce PP founders say they traveled to the Agro Nocerine Sarnese region of Italy and taste tested tomatoes and claim to have access to two skin tomatoes that are not on-ly delicious but “good for you because they are packed full of vitamins.” While in Italy the Pizza Papalis owners found a recipe they use that dates back

to the 1830’s. Next they jour-ney to Wisconsin to find, well you guessed it, cheese. They have a very extensive website that tells the story of how they found these ingredients and how it makes their pizza unique. They now have eight locations. Seven in Michigan and one right here in Toledo.

The place is usually packed and seems to be a popular place to hang out and have some beers while you power through some thick slices of gooey piz-za. After reading all about their global exploits to find the per-fect ingredients I was excited to try some pizza. I ordered a Chi-cago deep dish pizza, a thin crust pizza and a greek salad. I also asked for a side of the piz-za sauce, because I had to sam-ple this 170 year old recipe. The

first thing I did was dip one of the bread sticks that came with the salad into the sauce and I was immediately disappoint-ed. It was actually quite bland with no bite. The salad was warm, and came with shriv-eled canned black olives. Can you say Kalamata? I don’t think they can. Now for the pizza. The deep dish was de-cent except for the sauce. The thin crust was pretty good, the cheese is very good quality and the amount of toppings are perfect. It’s not over or under loaded. Their thin crust is similar to Myles Pizza in Bowling Green, Ohio. Pizza Papalis does have great service, and if you’re in the area for a ball game it’s not a bad place to stop, have a cold one and a slice.

Christopher Reed/ IC

Pizza Papalis is a Detroit, Mich. pizza franchise that operates adja-cent to Fifth Third Field on the corner of Monroe and Huron Streets.

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By Sura KhuderIC Staff Writer

In today’s uncertain job climate, students need more than a high grade point average and excellent recommendation letters to stand out to potential employers.

Experiences gained through in-ternships have proved to be in-valuable to college graduates who have been successful in their hunt through the job market.

“Internships are priceless to students because they give them access to possible employers of the future and sharpen the skills they learned at college by giving them experience in the work-place,” Jacqueline Layng, profes-sor of broadcast journalism at the University of Toledo, said.

Some student interns in down-town Toledo have not only earned a valuable experience through their internships, but have also gained a better appreciation for the city, making them more likely to stay in Toledo if the opportuni-ty for a job arised.

Roger Dindyal, a UT graduate

working on his masters in urban planning and design, interned durng the summer at the Toledo Design Center, a non-profit orga-nization in downtown Toledo that specializes in urban design, this summer.

Although he has lived in Toledo for six years, Dindyal said he has just now gained a full apprecia-tion for the city.

“It took [this internship] to open my eyes to what Toledo has to of-fer and the potential in Toledo,” Dindyal said. “I see it now as a place that I could possibly have a future in.”

Bob Seyfang, president of TDC, said this is the first year the orga-nization has had interns, but will continue to make student intern-ships available due to its success.

“Interns bring freshness,” Sey-fang said, “It’s been way beyond our expectations what the interns would be doing this summer; they’ve helped us immeasurably.”

Although the internship was unpaid, Dindyal is confident this internship is one of the most valu-able experiences he has to offer

potential employers. Lisette Gomes, a second year

law student, interned with Com-missioner Ben Konop during the summer.

Before her exposure to down-town Toledo, Gomes didn’t see Toledo as a place where she would want to establish her ca-reer after graduating, but now she sees working in Toledo as an op-tion.

“I love [downtown Toledo] be-cause everything is right next to you, you have the government center and all of the courts. You get to meet a lot of legal people,” Gomes said.

Lindsay Williams, a 2005 com-munications graduate from UT, held an internship her sophomore year with Mobile Meals down-town.

The internship had such a large impact on her that she has re-mained in the area and is cur-rently an assistant to the Director of the Toledo School for the Arts.

“Interning in downtown Toledo

The value of a downtown internshipStudents and community members share their thoughts about professional experiences downtown

around campus. I’d say campus area attracts people who prey on college students,” he said. “We have a number of young girls going to college. The only problems are with the parking lot and a few streets not around but near the building.”

Evans said the belief that parking is difficult is a myth and that there are plenty of places to park on the street. For most of the week, the parking is free.

“[The idea that there’s no parking] is not true. They have meters, but you have to pay the meters between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., then the on-ly time you have to pay is be-tween 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., off times and weekends are free,” he said. “There’s plenty of street parking. If you’re will-ing to walk, you’ll be fine.”

Evans said he believes the area is starting to turn around and more students are start-ing to venture downtown to enjoy themselves and have a good time.

“To be honest, there’s a lot more people going down-town now than when I moved into it,” he said.

Some pros of city lifeOne major advantage to living

in downtown Toledo is all of the cultural entertainment that the area has to offer to its residents and those visiting the area.

“[Downtown residents are] closer to the events such as ball games, hockey games, festivals down by the river,” Dew said. “Plus you can walk to downtown and into the ar-ea. And the art museum is close.”

According to Evans, be-cause of the lack of develop-ment near UT’s campus, liv-ing downtown is a better op-tion, especially considering that rent tends to be cheaper in the downtown apartments than those closer to campus.

“It offers an alternative to campus life. Right around cam-pus should be more developed, but I don’t have a reason why,” he said. “The apartments are really cheap. I split my apart-ment with 2 other people, and the rent total is $550. I only paid $180 a month. It’s a lot more af-fordable that way.”

The only disadvantage ei-ther Evans or Dew could think of was the lack of a gro-cery store in the area. Evans said if he didn’t have to drive for groceries, he wouldn’t have to leave the downtown area at all.

Rookie team last season.“I [was] very excited to win

this award,” Tanguay said fol-lowing the announcement. “I [felt] the same way I did when I was selected for the All-Star game this year. It is a tremen-dous honor for me and the entire team.”

Right winger Evan Rankin led the team in goals with 32 and recorded 25 assists. The net in the Huntington Center was guarded by committee with Alec Richards leading the way with a record of 17-12 and a .897 save percentage. Mitch O’Keefe led Toledo goalten-ders in games played with 42 and managed a record of 18-13 with an .896 save percentage.

With the Walleye bringing hockey back to Toledo, they also built a $105 million-dollar arena downtown to replace the Toledo Sports Arena, which had held five different hockey franchises since it was built in 1947. The new establishment has 8,000 seats, 20 private suites and 750 prestige club

seats as well as a club-level lounge, a banquet facility and a team merchandise store. The multi-purpose complex has held multiple concerts in-cluding Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood and Elton John. The arena will also host an NBA exhibition game on Oct. 19 between the Detroit Pis-tons and Washington Wizards.

Not only was the public im-pressed, but many of the play-ers were as well including 22-year-old center Malcom MacMillian, as he expressed his excitement to the Toledo Blade.

“This is probably the best rink in minor pro hockey,” MacMillan said. “I’ve seen a lot of rinks over the years, and this is the best one by far. Even the seats are padded. In some of the new facilities, the seats are still the old, hard plastic. The jumbotron is unbelievable. It looks like it’s high-def. The whole setup is nice.”

The Walleye open the season on Oct. 15 on the road and host the Wheeling Nailers in the home opener on Oct. 16.

— Intern, Page 12

WalleyeFrom Page 5

LivingFrom Page 3

two.“That would be an excellent

linkage between the university and downtown area, and Dorr is a great corridor for that. I think that’s an ideal place. You have the space to be able to bring it in. It comes right into the downtown. It’s right on the south edge of campus. It’s the most likely candidate for some-thing like that,” Thomas said.

Konop is also in favor of building a light rail transit line between the two communi-ties, but he foresees a plan similar to former UT Presi-dent Dan Johnson’s idea to run the connector from Ban-croft Street, at the campus’ north side, down Monroe Street. The estimated $150 million rail line would be be-tween eight to 10 miles long and would include stops at the Toledo Museum of Art and Toledo Zoo.

“That’s the type of big pic-ture thinking that I think has been lacking in Toledo for many years, and it’s probably why we’re in the economic sit-uation that we’re in,” Konop said.

According to Mike Young, a board member of the Toledo Design Center, a non-profit or-ganization that develops cre-ative architectural designs for development projects, a light rail loop isn’t the city’s only so-lution to bridging downtown and UT: shuttle buses could work just as well.

“It doesn’t have to be light rail. I think it gets into the big-ger thing of having a better public transportation system. That could involve a number of things. Everybody gets hung up on light rail… A lot can be done with rubber tires,” Young said.

According to Robert Seyfang, president of TDC, one advan-tage of a more efficient public transit system based on rubber tire is that, unlike light rail, it is easier to change a rubber tires route than it is a light rail line.

Thomas said that, because a light rail system is essentially permanent, it would need over-whelming public support, but it would spur private investment, known as transportation ori-ented development, around the stations — growth that would be good for Toledo’s economy.

Burns said that UT is begin-

ning to cooperate with the Black and White Cab Compa-ny in Toledo in order to make transportation to and from downtown easier for UT stu-dents. The program would in-volve special vouchers that UT students could purchase for the company’s service and a text messaging service that allows students to text Black and White their weight and number of drinks consumed during their night out so the company can calculate if they are in the capacity to drive themselves home.

“If you see it as a pain to get there because you don’t have a car, you’re not going. One of the reasons students love to go to school in Chicago is be-cause they have the ‘L’ and cabs everywhere. Most of them don’t have a car, but they can get to A to B to C very easily,” Burns said.

Thomas said taxi cabs would be a quick way to begin linking the students to down-town, but people in Toledo don’t realize the convenience, affordability and availability of the city’s taxi cab service.

“People don’t think about it in Toledo, because Toledo is so accessible — most every-body has a car.”

UT-DowntownFrom Page A1


Downtown oledo

crawlA night on the town with the IC staff

Fricker’s19 N. St. Clair Street

A wonderful dinner at Pizza Papalis and a torrential downpour led us to the closest bar, which was much less crowded. Unfortunately, the circumstantial choice set the bar low for the night — no pun intend-ed. This particular Fricker’s was like all the others, but worse. Service was extremely slow, even with the relative lack of customers, one of the beers we or-dered was skunked, and the seating was awkward because it lacked proper foot rests for the bar stools.

Offers: full restaurant menu.Cover: none.

Ottawa Tavern1817 Adams Street

Next, we visited a dive-y bar on Adams Street. In contrast with the first two stops, this bar contained a younger, as well as a noticeably hipster, crowd. The feel was a modern version of the 90’s punk rock scene. Dim and colored light-ing distinguished the atmosphere from other bars in the ar-ea. A semi-covered area out front hosted a group of small patio furniture protected by a rod-iron fence for smokers.

Offers: small patio area; live music; pool tables; and bar food. Cover: none.

The Bronze Boar20 S. Huron Street

The second bar we visited was a vast improvement from the first excursion. An outdoor patio not only allowed us to es-cape the crowd packed inside, but also permitted smoking without splitting up the group. The only aspect that could be construed as negative would be the abundance of older people. If you’re looking for an all col-lege bar, this is not where you would want to venture. Howev-er, if you are looking for a cozy atmosphere with a wide variety of people, look no further.

Offers: drink specials all night on Sunday’s; outdoor covered patio; cornhole; pool tables, darts and couches in a lounge on the second floor; live music, karaoke and open mic nights; free WiFi; and bar food. Cover: $2 per person after 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday only.

Wesley’s Bar & Grill1201 Adams Street

Next we traveled to Wesley’s, a bar that we decided was the overwhelming favorite of all the bars we visited. There was great service to complement the wide variety of drinks includ-ing Woodchuck hard cider, which is a personal favorite of mine and difficult to find around here, and Magic Hat #9, a crazy-looking dark beer. The crowd was younger at this bar — a nice change from the first. Their patio, which we decided to make our base of operations, was large and predominantly tree covered with ample furniture and a sizable stage for live music. The band El Blanco Diablo, a local ska group, played a later show on the outdoor stage during our visit. This concluded night two of our bar crawl downtown.

Offers: live music; large patio with stage; wide vari-ety of spirits and beer; and bocci ball. Cover: none.

The Blarney Irish Pub601 Monroe Street

Round two began at the Blarney where we ordered dinner from their full menu. Everyone’s food was spectacular. I ordered deep-fried porta-bella mushrooms that were wonderful and a chicken Caesar salad. Ser-vice was prompt, with our food as well as our drinks, even though we sat on the patio. One unique aspect of the pub is a free Irish Car Bomb for those who choose to visit on their birthday. Unfortunately, while it was a very nice bar, when we went, at least, there was an older crowd and the food and the drinks were anything but cheap.

Offers: full restaurant menu; covered patio; live music on the weekends; Thursday night is ladies night; free Irish Car Bomb on your birthday; free WiFi; and happy hour Monday through Friday 4-7 p.m. Cover: $2 after 9 p.m.

The Attic on Adams1701 Adams Street

A younger, diverse mixture of people was found at The Attic. Warm, light and airy, yet comfortable, the atmosphere was a wel-comed change after being rain-soaked all night. As one of the col-lective favorites, we welcomed the difference. A covered balcony provided a smokers’ haven as well as patio furniture one could lounge on and enjoy the movie that was being projected on the adjacent building. ‘The Big Lebowski’ was the movie of choice this particular night, with a corresponding drink special — white Rus-sians for $3. An ample amount of bartenders mandated quick ser-

vice, and many of my companions took the opportunity to order food while some of us opted to munch on the delicious, and free, popcorn. This concluded round one of our downtown bar crawl.

Offers: happy hour specials Monday through Friday 4-7 p.m. as well as other drink specials all week long; late night snack menu with a full pub menu coming soon; balcony; free popcorn; movie every Friday with corresponding drink special; two floors; lounge area with couches and a flat-screen TV. Cover: none.

Whether you’re a college student, blue or white collar worker, an as-piring rock star or just your average Joe, downtown Toledo bars have something to offer everyone. Try a variety of them or even go on a bar crawl of your own with a group of friends to find your favorite.

By LaShae NaszradiArts and Life Editor


a press release from ACGT. “If you look at any vibrant

downtown, there is a vibrant art scene,” Garrow said. “Cre-ative people investing in the downtown area make it vibrant and make people want to come downtown. Art brings that to the table.”

When the Art Walks first started, it had only nine venues. That number has grown to 20 venues that participate regular-ly.

“It’s a solid testament to peo-ple who want to open up galler-ies,” Carlson said. “Our organi-zation prides ourselves in being able to coordinate these activi-ties. There are awesome things going on downtown.”

Although the Toledo Museum of Art is located just outside of downtown on Monroe Street, it still considers itself part of downtown.

“We have the UT art program and the symphony is here. We are a hub for the arts scene,” said Kelly Fritz Garrow, Direc-

tor of Communications at the TMA.

“There are a lot of up and coming galleries throughout the city and downtown area. Many exciting exhibitions are coming to downtown.”

Garrow said the TMA will be hosting a film festival in Decem-ber in accordance with the Mu-seum’s Winter Ball and encour-ages visual artists to attend. Entries will be accepted from October 11 until November 12. More information can be found on the museum’s website.

In addition to the film festival, the museum will be hosting a Glass Art Society conference in 2012. This event will feature in-ternational as well as local art-ists.

The Toledo School for the Arts has also been involved with various activities downtown in-cluding the Art Walks. Students have been able to show their artwork as well as perform at the venues.

Although TSA will not be par-ticipating in today’s Art Walk, they have participated in others held earlier in the year.

“There’s definitely an increase in arts activity in the downtown area, and the school’s been sup-portive and has participated in that actively,” said David Say-gers, TSA Artistic Director.

TSA has been involved with the Arts Gone Wild event held at TMA.

Both TSA’s Glass City Steel band and Jazz Collective have performed at Smoke on the Water, the city of Toledo’s annual rib-off held on the Maumee River in downtown Toledo.

The Jazz Collective performs every Tuesday at Manhattan’s, a restaurant on Adams Street in downtown’s Upton neigh-borhood.

“There have been several new galleries open in our Up-town neighborhood this year, and we’re very happy to see that growth. We’re a part of the Uptown Association, which supports development along the Adams Street corri-dor from downtown to the Museum, and our students are pretty active in the area,” Saygers said.

gives you a greater sense of the city,” Williams said.

Williams’ internship allowed her to be aware of the struggle Toledo has had with keeping students in the city after gradua-tion..

“Toledo tends to suffer from a brain drain,” Wil-liams said, “[My internship] let me see how im-portant it is to have good talent around.”

Hussein Awa-da, a 2010 UT graduate with a degree in fi-nance, interned at Owens Corning in downtown Toledo last summer, supporting the information technology de-partment for the Fortune 500 company.

“Interning in downtown Toledo is a great opportunity to see that Toledo is a bigger city,” Awada said. “You see all the different

things it has to offer.”Awada now holds a position as

a financial analyst at Columbia Gas in Columbus, Ohio.

Although his internship opened his eyes to the possibili-ty of working in Toledo, Awada said ultimately it was the lack of job opportunities in the city that

led him to his job in Colum-bus..

“I had to go farther from To-ledo to get what I wanted,” he said.

For college g r a d u a t e s whose career fields make To-ledo an option for employ-ment, people

like Seyfang are fighting to keep them here.

“We lose too many of our stu-dents when they go away to col-lege and get jobs in other com-munities,” he said. “We’re just trying to let them know that there is a future for them here.”

InternFrom Page A10

It took [this in-ternship] to open

my eyes to what Toledo has to offer and the po-

tential in Toledo.

Roger DindyalGraduate student,Urban Planning and Design ”

“

ArtsFrom Page 4

The Independent Collegian, Special Downtown Toledo Supplement, 2010

Documents

Transcript of The Independent Collegian, Special Downtown Toledo Supplement, 2010