Photo courtesy of Toledo BladeI have been busy the last few weeks and did not have the time to pen a post about the nomination of retired Toledo Police lieutenant Shirley Green to the post of safety director in the new Mike Bell administration. In short, there have been few times in recent history when I was actually excited about any political appointment, and the candidacy of Shirley Green is one of those moments of personal enthusiasm.
I have known Shirley for about seven years, mostly in her role as a graduate student and instructor at both the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University. In that time I found Shirley to be a first-rate scholar and teacher, and her intellectual abilities will match or exceed anyone in city government.
Yet it is Shirley's intangible skills that will best serve her and the city in her new role. She is as sharp of a reader of personalities and situations as anyone I have known, and I enjoyed many thoughtful conversations with her over the years about the police department and city government. Moreover, Shirley will strike a healthy balance between forcefulness and diplomacy, and the other officers I know describe Shirley as as a no-nonsense leader with a ton of common sense.
These, of course, have been quantities in diminished municipal supply the last four years, I am afraid, especially with the likes of Jon Stainbrook purporting to act in the public interest.
It is my measured opinion that Shirley Green was a phenomenal pick as Bell's new safety director, and her selection is even stronger due to Shirley's non-partisan background. I look forward to reading of Shirley's steady leadership in the coming years at the helm of this important post in Toledo city government.
And as someone else said: Shirley's new job means that there is one less competitor in the pathetically oversaturated job market of history professors. :-}
