- toledoblade.com -

The board of the newly created Downtown Toledo Improvement District named its executive director yesterday, which also was the deadline for the first property tax payments to support the agency.

The board hired Tom Crothers, who was chief of staff and finance director under former Toledo Mayor Jack Ford, to head a two-person office to manage the 38-block district. He will be paid $70,000 a year, according to John Eberly, co-chairman of the district's board.

Mr. Crothers, 58, said his first job will be to negotiate contracts with cleaning companies and a downtown security firm to be on the streets by summer.

"Our goal is to keep this thing as lean as possible," Mr. Crothers said.

Creation of the taxing district was approved by Toledo City Council last year after Downtown Toledo Inc. collected enough signatures from property owners to meet the state's requirement for special improvement districts.

The district assessment, collected by the Lucas County treasurer on property inside district boundaries, is projected at about $550,000 a year for five years. The district is bounded roughly by Adams, 11th, and Monroe streets and the Maumee River.

The plan drew opposition from some business owners who said they couldn't afford the extra fees.

Property owner John Shousher said yesterday the tax will make it more difficult for his tenants at 601 and 613 Huron St. to stay downtown.

"The people renting from me are going to write a letter to the new administration to see if they can roll it back and not have to pay it," he said.

Mr. Crothers said the cleaning contractors would perform services such as litter pickup, weed control, and graffiti removal. He said the security service will be uniformed, but not armed, and will call police to deal with illegal or "unwanted behavior," such as panhandling.

"The downtown neighborhood is one of the safest neighborhoods in the city, but there is a perception that it is not," he said, adding that the long-term goal of the district is to increase investment in downtown.

The new entity will succeed Downtown Toledo Inc.

DTI President Pete Gozza said the membership organization will be "mothballed." He plans to resign at the end of March and start a private consulting business.