Thoughts From a Defeated Candidate

Vol. III, No. 165 - A candid view from a third-ward candidate in Piqua

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Throughout November, this publication is giving our readers an opportunity where our readers can support local food pantries. Every dollar received from our “Buy Me a Coffee” Page will be given to New Path Food Pantries.

We started November with a modest goal to raise $750. After the 11th day of our campaign, our community has raised $2,360! Thank you Richard for your generous donation yesterday! Our new goal for November is to raise $2,500. Do you want to be part of this effort, along with 57 other donors to help support our efforts? You can by making a donation here:

Today, our newsletter welcomes the voice of Damon Wilson. Mr. Wilson recently unsuccessfully ran for the Third Ward seat on the Piqua City Commission. In this piece, Mr. Wilson offers a bit of a postmortem on his campaign and where the City of Piqua goes from here.

Here are his thoughts:

First and foremost, I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me in the recent Piqua City Commission election. Even though I came up short, it was heartwarming to get the support of so many genuine caring people. You have touched my heart; I am sad I won’t be able to serve you in the capacity of Commissioner.

The ballots have been cast, and the voters have spoken. Rest your weary minds, the Status Quo has been preserved.

My defeat at the ballot box will have little effect on me. The thought of what might have been, but will not, saddens me greatly. I will “shake the dust off my feet” and put my mental energy elsewhere.

The election was really not the main event in that 36-hour period last week. As a coup d’etat was taking place in City Hall, less than 24 hours later would be one of the lowest voter turnouts in the history of Piqua, really solidifying the phrase “Voting Matters”. In Piqua, no it does not. On Monday, Nov. 3^rd, there was an “Emergency” meeting of the City Commission. The meeting which would usually take place on Tuesday was moved up one day and one hour in time to hopefully reduce the amount of citizen input about an Ordinance to “greenlight” the building of Data Centers in Piqua, on land that was recently annexed into the Southwest part of town. This had been one and a half years in the making. I must preface this by saying I went to school in Piqua so there is a good chance I’m wrong, but I thought something that took one and a half years to do, is not an Emergency. An Emergency is a life-or-death matter where you must stop the bleeding.

Commissioner Paul Simmons, who announced prior to leaving the meeting due to a family emergency (right after the Executive Session), said and I’m paraphrasing, The fix is in, (Addressing the 67 residents present to give comments to the commissioners) they have decided, and it does not matter what you say, it is done.

It was true. It was a night to behold, my fellow citizens one after another presenting their comments in an informed manner. Sixty-six against and one for. Many of those against the Ordinance were in fact neutral on the Data Center question but were against the “Emergency” designation for the Ordinance and the suspending of the three-reading rule. The citizens lost. No amount of reason or logic could penetrate the small brains of the commissioners. The citizens had no representation on the commission that day. The coup d’etat was complete. The following day 14% of registered voters in Piqua turned out at the polls. It is Finished. The demonically possessed city of Piqua is finished.

“Stick a fork in their ass, and turn them over, they’re done.” —Lou Reed

I really don’t see a way back from this example of total betrayal of trust. If there is one it won’t be led by the 2026 city commission, or the backstabbing city employees. It will need a massive citizen movement to change things.

Fat chance.

Most people are too busy trying to survive to get involved in a movement to clean up city government, while city employees are paid a full-time wage to antagonize the citizenry. Monday’s meeting was Piqua’s version of “Night of the Long Knives.”

Future. What future?

It is delusional thinking that a Data Center, a very poorly executed downtown park, a Beer Joint, a grossly expensively rehabbed old hotel, and 50 new Data Center jobs can turn around the fortunes of Piqua. The Spirit of Piqua rose from the ashes many moons ago. Monday night was the spiritual death of Piqua, never to rise from the “ash heap” of its history again. With the current lack of leadership and transparency it is impossible.

“…all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

The Founding Fathers knew the hearts of men well. They certainly must have been divinely touched to be able to describe Piqua all those years before it was even founded.

I am hard-pressed to think of any company which would choose to locate in Piqua after watching the Rubes that we elect and hire to run our town Circus. We are a modern-day laughingstock. Perhaps the only ones interested are the ones promised large sums of money from the city treasury. Isn’t that like trying to buy friends? That kind of thing never works out.

Piqua is Dead; long live Piqua v. 2.0. Perhaps an even newer “Brand Slogan”:

“ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE”

—Dante

Thank You

Damon Wilson

Participate in our November Community Survey!

Back when this project was kicked off over two years ago, this newsletter was imagined as a helpful tool to not only help have our residents understand their community, but also to receive feedback and get ideas on how residents perceived where our hometowns was headed.

In order to achieve that goal, the decision was made to release a small survey that would ask residents their thoughts and feelings every two months. Every month seemed excessive, yet, once a quarter didn’t seem quite frequent enough. The idea was to help create a picture of the sentiment in the community and measure that sentiment over time.

So, throughout November, you can participate in our survey to give your thoughts and feelings on the direction of your hometown!

You can access the survey here:

Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!

A New Handbook to grow Civic Capacity!

Recently, we created a new digital handbook, “The Citizen’s Guide to Public Records”. This handbook is designed to help residents have a better understanding of public meetings and meeting records. It’s filled with templates, ideas and other information that will open a new world of public affairs.

Also, if you have ideas for future handbooks, please let us know at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.

Want to Learn More About Troy’s Businesses?

Our publication has recently released our September 2025 Economic Abstract, the most comprehensive and up-to-date report on the businesses and industries in the City of Troy. For those that want to understand our community’s business and industries, this is a must-have report.

Thank you to our New Media Partners!

Recently, many of our stories has been showing up on the local news website, www.mymiamicounty.com. We are grateful for the good folks for sharing our work with their audience and we would encourage our readers to check them out at their website!

Our publication would also like to recognize the good work being done at www.piquanewsnow.com. Piqua News Now is a new web-based news and information site for the Miami County area, with a specific focus on Piqua!

In addition, the good folks at Piqua News Now have started a new, 24-hour streaming YouTube channel. This channel is awesome with continuous weather updates and more importanly, it provides a 24-hour audio feed from county wide dispatch. Check it out here!

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