West Side News & Notes
By Stephanie Kandel
Do you want to help design
Highland Square?
HIGHLAND SQUARE — Albrecht Inc. invites right-brains and left-brains to come together to make a lasting impression on a new and improved Highland Square.
The Akron-based retail and industrial
real estate firm is offering $5,900 in prizes to the
teams that create the best mathematically themed design
elements to incorporate into the buildings and common
areas in the redevelopment of West Akron’s Highland
Square neighborhood.
The competition is open to anyone
with an interest in the arts, mathematics and/or sciences.
Participants will be asked to collaborate on designs
for building facades, a binary clock and a courtyard
sculpture.
All designs must combine elements
of art and math. The deadline for proposal submissions
is July 15.
Joe Albrecht, manager of retail
properties with Albrecht Inc., said his firm’s
direct involvement in this competition reflects its
commitment to building and preserving quality neighborhoods
in Akron.
A message board within Albrecht
Inc.’s Web site, www.albrechtinc.com,
will be established to allow contestants to link up,
share ideas and build teams.
“Highland Square has earned
the reputation as one of Akron’s more diverse
and eclectic communities, and we want to build on that
‘cool factor’ by enlisting the input of
some of the area’s talents for this project, which
will have lasting historic implications,” said
Akron City Councilman Daniel Horrigan (D-Ward 1), whose
ward includes much of Highland Square. “The participants
in this competition will actually be a real part of
the city’s history.”
Local letter carriers help
Stamp Out Hunger
GREATER AKRON — The Akron-Canton
Regional Foodbank and the National Association of Letter
Carriers are on a mission to “Stamp Out Hunger.”
On May 13, postal workers in
10,000 cities across the United States, including Akron,
will pick up nonperishable food items along their routes
in the 14th Annual National Association of Letter Carriers
Food Drive.
“This food drive is a simple
way to help combat hunger right in our own neighborhoods,
local schools and businesses,” said Chuck Victor,
board member of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
In 2005, postal workers in the
Akron area collected more than 1,700 pounds of food.
For details, contact Erin Deegan
at (330) 535-6900, ext. 232, or erin@akroncantonfood
bank.org;
Postmaster Secretary LuAnn Daigneault at (330) 996-9942;
or visit www.stamp
outhunger2006.com.
The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank
provides food and other products to more than 300 partner
agencies in Summit, Stark, Portage, Wayne, Medina, Carroll,
Tuscarawas and Holmes counties.
Regionalism in Ohio topic
of public forum
WOOSTER — Citizens can hear
how regionalism can benefit Ohio’s people, economy,
environment and more as The Ohio State University (OSU)
Extension Center sponsors the next in a series of Regional
Sustainability Forums May 25.
Featuring four speakers and a
“community conversation,” the program will
look at ways to plan on a region-wide, coordinated basis,
instead of all the parts of a region making separate
plans on their own.
Registration is $10 per person
for the morning program, with the post-lunch discussion
free. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. in Fisher Auditorium
on the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center’s
(OARDC) Wooster campus, located at 1680 Madison Ave.
Sessions will run from 9:30 a.m.
to 1 p.m., with an optional boxed lunch (for an additional
$12; available only with advance registration) served
at 11:30 a.m.
Advance registrations will be
accepted through May 18. Call (330) 263-3799 for more
information.
Scheduled sessions include:
• “The Imperative
of Regionalism for Ohio’s Survival: A View from
Southwestern Ohio,” by Mike Robinette, executive
director of the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission;
• “An Economic Perspective,”
by Robert Layton, principal economic planner of Northeast
Areawide Coordinating Agency;
• “A Watershed Perspective,”
by Dana Oleskiewicz, extension educator, watershed management,
OSU Extension Center at Wooster;
“A Planning Perspective,”
by Patrice Theken, director of the Medina County Department
of Planning Services; and
• a post-lunch “Voices
and Choices” session to talk about challenges
and solutions.
Tour available for veterans
to visit memorials
GREATER AKRON — Veteran
Tour Services Ltd., an organization that helps elderly,
disabled veterans visit memorials in Washington, D.C.,
will sponsor a day trip July 5.
Cleveland Hopkins International
Airport will be the departure point for a flight and
bus tour of the World War II Memorial in Washington,
D.C. The Korean, Vietnam and Iwo Jima memorials also
will be visited. The flight departs at about 6:30 a.m.
and will arrive back at about 10 p.m. The cost is $349.
The group is searching for surviving
World War II veterans and any D-Day participant who
was present in Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. The D-Day
survivor will receive an
all-expenses-paid trip to the World War II Memorial,
which includes round-trip airfare, meals, deluxe bus
service, escort, T-shirt and tote bag.
The group also is looking for
any other World War II veteran who fought his way across
Europe or the Pacific to receive a $50 discount on their
tour price. Family members and friends can accompany
the veteran. Disabled veterans in wheelchairs and walkers
will be accommodated.
For details, call (937) 864-7260
or visit www.vetstour.com.
Fairlawn City Council approves
rezoning
for new office building
FAIRLAWN — Fairlawn City
Council had a special meeting May 8 to approve the rezoning
of 4.3 acres on Cleveland-Massillon Road.
The property was rezoned from
B-1 (Limited Business) to B-4A (Limited Office Park/Research).
According to city officials,
developer Scott Parker plans to build a 50,000-square-foot,
four-story office building on the property, which will
be located on Cleveland-Massillon Road at Kumho Drive.
Parker also plans to build a second, four-story, 45,000-square-foot
building on the site in the future.
During the May 1 Fairlawn City
Council meeting, council members were prepared to pass
the rezoning legislation but could not when it was discovered
that the bearings and distances differ on the legal
description from the site plans.
The next regular Fairlawn City
Council meeting will take place May 15 at 6:30 p.m.
at the Fairlawn Municipal Complex, 3487 S. Smith Road.
— By Kathleen Collins
Highland Pride Award
nominations sought
GRANGER/SHARON — Once again,
it is time to nominate a community member and a school
employee for the Highland Pride Award, which is presented
annually to an individual in each category who has given
unselfishly of himself or herself to the Highland Local
Schools District.
Community members are invited
to submit letters of nomination, which should include:
The name, address and telephone number of the nominee,
who must be at least 18 years old; the type and number
of years of service to the district; academic involvement,
extracurricular involvement and any other contributions,
accomplishments, etc.
To be considered, letters must
be signed and submitted by May 17 to Ann Johnson, director
of curriculum and instruction, Highland Local Schools,
3880 Ridge Road, Medina, OH 44256 or e-mailed to
Johnson at ajohn
son@highlandschools.org.
The awards will be presented
at the 2006 Highland High School commencement ceremony,
scheduled for June 4 at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts
Hall in downtown Akron.
— By
Rita Jean Wagar
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