DREAMS -vs- REALITY

The editorial entitled `Get it together in merger dispute' in the Daily News this past Sunday, 25-AUG-96, correctly summarizes the local scene. However, it mixes a dream with stark reality.
The dream of a unified Northmont community is NOT new. Randolph Trustees met with the Englewood Mayor and other officials about a merger in the Spring of 1994 and received a "we'll annex the land, you keep the citizens" response. Combining governmental entities requires mutual cooperation. Interested parties must have the will and desire to sit down and resolve their differences.
I have attended Randolph Township Trustee meetings, Merger Commission meetings, and Englewood City Council meetings. I can honestly say the vote to merge Clayton and Randolph would NEVER have been necessary had the Englewood administration been willing to treat their neighbors as equals. The record speaks for itself: Englewood prefers to dictate and litigate rather than negotiate.
The reality is that Union wants to be an independent community and one can respect that. The reality is that Englewood is more intent on expanding their own prosperity, than in worrying about the Northmont Community as a whole, and that is their prerogative.
The quest is for tax base. If left unchecked, Randolph Township, with its rural flavor and neighborly identity, will be devoured by annexation into Trotwood and Englewood. The Village of Clayton will become an enclave, with failing economic resources, surrounded by large economic growth and receiving NONE of the benefit. A merger ensures residents of Clayton and Randolph their fair share of that prosperity by giving greater local control over future development. That's why the Merger of the Village of Clayton and Randolph Township makes sense. It clearly protects the interests of both communities.
n my opinion, the merger is the first step towards equality and unity in the entire Northmont area. If this first step is not taken, I am certain the dream of an eventual unification of the Northmont community will never occur.

Phil Sussman
25-AUG-96

Phil Sussman - Randolph Township Resident
P.O. Box 31
Clayton, Ohio 45315
854-2929