----------------------------------------------------------------------------DAYTON2 CANDIDATES SEEK CITY COMMISSION SEATS* Lloyd Lewis says he is committed to improving basic services forresidents.Published: Thursday, October 16, 1997Page: 1-Z7By: By Derek Ali Dayton Daily NewsNEIGHBORS----------------------------------------------------------------------------Lloyd Lewis doesn't oppose bringing minor league baseball to Dayton. Infact, he says he's an avid fan of the sport.However, he believes home run projects should not, and will not, overshadowthe delivery of basic services if he's elected to the Dayton City CommissionNov. 4.Lewis, a Democratic state representative, is one of four candidates vyingfor two seats in the nonpartisan race for a commission seat."I'm a strong candidate for all basic services," said Lewis, a former Daytonassistant city manager and retired Dayton Power and Light Co. employee.Better basic services are what people tell him they are most interested inas he canvasses neighborhoods on the campaign trail, he said."Fix the streets, fix the potholes, collect the garbage, make sure the wateris always clean and available to us. The things that the cities are supposedto do," he said.Lewis said delivery of basic services is slipping, but he points an accusingfinger at elected officials, not city staff. The city commission's policydirectives take the focus away from the basics, he added."There are other things that are more glamorous, sexy, to spend the moneyon," Lewis said.Lewis said remnants of trees felled during a severe summer thunderstormstill rest on lawns and he's seen inoperable traffic lights as he drivesthrough the city.Good people have served on the commission, he said, "but they're just notgood enough."Lewis also said he's a strong advocate of a five-year financial plan. "It'sgoing to take some real financial planning and belt tightening. ... Thereare some creative ways you can still balance the budget and still maintainbasic services." Measures must also be taken to offset the negative impactof urban sprawl, Lewis said."Every time I look, somebody's moving out of the city and moving to the farmareas. The land's cheaper when you go out into the farm area, but we're atthe point we're running out of farmland."There should be some coalition between Dayton and suburban communities likeKettering, Moraine and Miamisburg and communities with shrinking farmland."We've got the infrastructure here; you got to build road, waterelectricity, gas," Lewis said. "Kettering, Moraine, Miamisburg - arebeginning to experience what Dayton has experienced all along, we're goingto hang together or hang separately."The city also needs to attract a small airline hub to win back localpassengers who have fled to Columbus and Cincinnati chasing lower fares,Lewis said."The thing that made us really grow was not attracting the big airlines. Wegot Piedmont - the hub. Maybe there's another airline like Piedmont."Piedmont Airlines established a hub at Dayton International Airport in 1982.Five years later, USAir (now U.S. Airways) acquired Piedmont. By 1991, USAirshut down its Dayton hub."From a freight standpoint, we're doing fine. We got Emery (Air Freight).Emery is doing fine," Lewis said.Lewis said with the likes of GM, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, andReynolds and Reynolds frequently flying employees in and out of the region,Dayton needs another airline hub."Now what everybody is doing is going to Columbus and Cincinnati. We need apassenger hub. We're not going to attract TWA. We need a Piedmont in here, aregional airline that wants to expand. I'm not the expert. I don't pretendto be. What you have to do is get the other guys to go along with you."That shouldn't be a problem, Lewis said, because he's always viewed himselfas a consensus builder "whether it's in the city commission, the county, theregion."----------------------------------------------------------------------------PHOTO: Lloyd Lewis----------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright , Dayton Daily News. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.----------------------------------------------------------------------------Dayton Daily News archives are stored on a SAVE (tm) newspaper librarysystem from MediaStream, Inc., a Knight-Ridder Inc. company.