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Councilman Armbruster believes good times ahead for city

Jim Armbruster

ENLARGE PHOTO

Armbruster wants to see city projects through

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By Ed Richter, Staff Writer Updated 12:55 AM Monday, October 5, 2009

When asked to describe himself in one word, incumbent 1st Ward Councilman Jim Armbruster said it would be “successful.”

Armbruster, 65, of 4824 Longford Drive, said he’s experienced good and difficult times in life and with his business.

And he believes Middletown is going through a lot of difficult times and will experience good times in the future.

“We (council) need to work together as a team and can’t have personal agendas,” Armbruster said. “We have to carry out the plans put into place over the past two years.”

He said that he doesn’t believe the policies that have been implemented have taken effect yet in the community.

Economic development is key

Among the key issues that Armbruster wants to address during the next term, if re-elected, are continuing the development of Renaissance East around the Atrium Medical Center campus, as well as the redevelopment of the Renaissance West area around the Towne Mall.

“The redevelopment of the Interstate 75/Ohio 122 interchange is the city’s new front door,” he said. “We have to be selective (around the Atrium development).”

Armbruster said Renaissance West has different scenarios that the city has proposed to the four major stakeholders who control the Towne Mall site.

“We need a place for people to shop,” he said. “There are so many people (from Middletown) who shop at Tri-County Mall or the Dayton Mall. Renaissance West will have a major impact on future development.”

Armbruster said the city’s study that developed some scenarios was designed to bring the people to the table.

“We need to put a plan together and make it reality,” he said. “Three to five years out, it will happen. We need quality to keep people after they stop. We need to do this right.”

More challenges and issues

Other key issues and challenges are redeveloping downtown, eliminating blight, remaining aggressive on code enforcement and improving the city’s housing stock.

He believes “there’s a great possibility to bring an arts community to downtown.” Armbruster added he can see three to four pubs opening, as well as people living in the upper floors of downtown buildings.

However, he also believes some of downtown’s worst buildings will need to be demolished to add more green space to help eliminate the blight.

“I don’t see a grocery coming to downtown, but what amazes me is the number of people who pass through on Central Avenue,” Armbruster said. “We need to get people to stop.”

He said the city needs to address “the deplorable condition of the housing stock.

Armbruster said there is a lot of housing in “shambles, yet people are living in them.”

“We need to use the stimulus funding to rid ourselves of blight,” he said. “We have to eliminate blight to bring people into the community. We have 70- to 90-year-old houses, some with poor construction or have not been maintained.”

“And we won’t bring jobs and industry until the town gets cleaned up,” he said.

Armbruster said there hasn’t been code enforcement for years in the community.

“People are upset because they are being told they have to do it,” he said.

Section 8 improving

As for the Section 8 issue, Armbruster said the situation is getting under control and issues are being addressed with an outcome favorable to the city.

“Now is not the time to emphasize reductions,” he said. “We need to wait on things to develop over the next two to three years. When we had more jobs in the city, nobody noticed Section 8.”

Armbruster said he believes the program has taken “a bad rap.”

He said there are a lot of properties run down around Middletown that were the result of absentee landlords rather than the Section 8 program or tenants.

Armbruster said people are interested in public safety, and want to make sure police and firefighters are quick to respond when needed.

He also said he’d like to find a way for council and the business community to work closer as well as meeting publicly to discuss community issues and needs, particularly with successful or retired community leaders.

The future

Armbruster said he like to see movement on East End projects, as well as seeing more shopping and improved government services, including the renewal of the public safety levy. In eight years, he said he’d like to see 800 to 1,000 new jobs.

He said he would like to see young people who leave the area to go to college to be able to return and find good paying jobs here. Armbruster would also like to see general labor jobs created that would enable a family to live at a moderate level of income.

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