West Side News & Notes
By Pam Lifke
Masters resigns from Copley-Fairlawn
school board
Theresa Masters, vice president of the Copley-Fairlawn City Schools Board of Education, resigned during the board’s Sept. 19 monthly meeting.
Masters, a resident of Fairlawn, had been a board member since 1998 and was re-elected to a four-year term in 2005.
Masters left the meeting following
adjournment for an executive session to discuss adding
a teacher representative to
the search committee for a new superintendent. Superintendent
Edward Myracle will retire from his position in January.
Masters apparently faxed her
letter of resignation to the board office before the
board reconvened. She was not present when board member
Kenneth Calderone read her letter and the board accepted
her resignation. Masters’ letter said she could
no longer serve on the board because of a strong disagreement
with a majority of the board on how to resolve current
issues in the district.
Earlier in the meeting, Masters
expressed strong displeasure with Myracle, saying he
failed to inform the board that a parent questioning
the board’s commitment to its policy on profanity
would appear at the August meeting. She said the board
was caught by surprise by the issue and she regretted
they were unprepared to respond. Myracle defended himself,
saying he also did not know the parent would appear
and that he asked the high school principal to attend
the meeting to address other issues. Masters alleged
Myracle had the principal attend to speak about the
profanity complaint.
Masters later was chastised by
audience members for her critical remarks about Myracle.
Editor’s note: The
full meeting report will appear in next week’s
edition.
Citizens set priorities
at Regional Town Meeting
DOWNTOWN AKRON — Approximately
900 Northeast Ohio residents set public priorities for
regional competitiveness that touched on areas including
education, business development, work-force training,
government collaboration and regional land use during
Voices & Choices’ Regional Town Meeting Sept.
16 at The University of
Akron.
The group of residents, which
was demographically representative of the 16-county
region, according to organizers, spent all day at James
A. Rhodes Arena deliberating about solutions to challenges
facing Northeast Ohio’s economy and building consensus
around where they think leaders should focus resources
to help the region better compete in the world economy.
Top-ranking solutions that citizens
said they believed would have the most impact on the
region included:
• advocating for Ohio to
shift how it funds public schools and increase funding
for higher education;
• investing in internship
and mentoring programs to provide students with work
experience focused on the needs of businesses;
• establishing a region-wide
association of planning agencies to coordinate regional
planning and land use;
• advocating for Ohio to
provide health-care coverage for all to reduce the burden
on businesses; and
• expanding and creating
small-business incubators.
The meeting culminated the 20-month
Voices & Choices grass-roots initiative to engage
citizens and leaders in an effort to revitalize the
regional economy.
Organizers divided citizens into
tables of 10, with one laptop computer stationed at
each table. A citizen at each table fed his or her group’s
opinions into the computer, with that input delivered
instantly to a central “theme team.”
The theme team continually monitored
the incoming data and captured the common ideas coming
from all participants.
At points throughout the day,
citizens voted on top priorities using touch-pad polling
devices. Participants were able to walk
away with a full report of outcomes at the end of the
day. (To download this report, visit www.voiceschoices.org.)
By year’s end, the Fund
for Our Economic Future, which originally initiated
Voices & Choices, will produce a regional economic
competitiveness agenda that will outline steps that
both citizens and leaders may commit to taking to address
the region’s challenges and move the economy forward.
Later this year, Voices &
Choices will launch an online dialogue to give citizens
an opportunity to provide input on the agenda.
— By
Stephanie Kist
Residents host fund-raiser
for fence
HIGHLAND SQUARE — Residents
of an area of Highland Square will host a fund-raising
“Neighborhood Bash” Sept. 23 from 3 to 8
p.m. in the adjoining back yards of 54 Belvidere Way
and 53 Beck St.
The purpose of the fund-raiser
is to raise $1,800 to build a 6-foot-high fence that
would run 260 feet along the back of several homes.
According to residents who are
organizing the event, the fence is intended to stop
undesirable foot traffic that is short-cutting from
Payne Avenue and Beck Street to Rhodes Avenue. According
to the residents, neighbors have seen drug use and solicitation
and prostitution occurring in the area, and the fence
is meant to break up the illegal activities taking place
during the day and night.
Akron City Council members Marco
Sommerville (D-Ward 3) and Reneé Greene (D-Ward
3) are expected to attend, according to event organizers.
The cost to attend the event
is $15 per person and includes food, beer and nonalcoholic
beverages. Checks should
be made payable to the Akron Near Westsiders Organization.
For details, call Steve Arrington
at (330) 431-0677.
— By
Stephanie Kist
Recycling center closing
for season
STOW — The Summit/ Akron
Solid Waste Management Authority (SASWMA) will close
its Household Hazardous Waste Recycling Center, located
at 1201 Graham Road, for the 2006 season Sept. 27.
Summit County residents only
can bring their old paints, motor oil, household cleaners,
batteries and computers to the recycling center free
of charge on Tuesday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m. and
Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
No waste from businesses, churches
or schools is accepted.
Residents also can recycle old
tires for a cash-only fee of $1 per tire with a limit
of 10 tires per vehicle. Tires can be passenger or light
truck only and on or off the rim.
Televisions are recycled for
a cash-only fee. Televisions with 36-inch screens and
larger, including all console televisions, are recycled
for $10 each, and those smaller than 36 inches are $5
each with a limit of three per vehicle.
Opening day for 2007
will be April 3.
For more information, contact
SASWMA at (330) 374-0383 or visit www.saswma.org.
— By
Stephanie Kist
CLPA to host public meeting
AKRON — The Cascade Locks
Park Association (CLPA) will have a public meeting Sept.
28 at 7 p.m. at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School to
present the current plans
for the Schumacher Cascade Mills Historic Site within
the Cascade Locks Park.
Cascade Locks Park is located
along locks 10-16 of the Ohio & Erie Canal and is
being developed through partnerships among CLPA, the
city of Akron and Metro Parks, Serving Summit County.
The committee overseeing the planning process also includes
representatives of The University of Akron Community
Archaeology Program, FirstEnergy, the Ohio & Erie
Canalway Association and community volunteers.
The committee is working with
the GPD Group, an Akron-based consulting firm, to develop
the plan for the Schumacher Cascade Mills Historic Site.
The plan includes an outline
of the footprint of the historic building, public art
representing the water wheel that once powered the mill,
a gateway structure at the corner of Howard and North
streets, pedestrian trails through the site that also
connect to the Towpath Trail and to Howard Street, an
area for gatherings and events as well as other interpretive
elements that will help tell the story of the site and
its importance to the economic and industrial growth
of Akron.
The mill site is designed to
be the largest piece of open space within the Cascade
Locks Park and for the growing neighborhood surrounding
the park.
Funding for the plan was provided
by the Ohio & Erie Canalway Association, Akron Community
Foundation, FirstEnergy Foundation, Dominion Foundation
and an individual donation by Walter Sheppe.
For details, call the CLPA office
at (330) 374-5625 or visit www.cascadelocks
.org.
— By
Stephanie Kist
CVNP seeks public input
on deer management plan
CVNP — The National Park
Service is requesting the public’s input in developing
a white-tailed deer management plan and environmental
impact statement for Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP).
The purpose of the plan will
be to address the long-term management of white-tailed
deer in the park.
The full notice of intent to
publish the plan can be found at www.nps.gov/cuva.
“We have been working for
many years toward the initiation of this environmental
impact statement,” said CVNP Superintendent John
Debo Jr. “A number of scientific studies have
been conducted and monitoring programs put in place.
We anticipate considerable public input, as we recognize
there are many widely divergent views on this subject.”
All interested people, organizations
and agencies are encouraged to provide comments related
to a white-tailed deer management plan/environmental
impact statement for the CVNP between now and Nov. 7.
Comments may be submitted electronically
through the Planning, Environment and Public Comment
Web site located at parkplanning.nps.gov/cuva
or in writing to Science and Resource Management, CVNP,
15610 Vaughn Road, Brecksville, OH 44141.
Open-house meetings will take
place Oct. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. and Oct. 12 from 2 to
4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Happy Days Visitor Center,
500 W. Streetsboro Road (state Route 303). —
By
Stephanie Kist
Sharon birthday a hit
SHARON — More than 2,000
visitors attended Sharon Township’s 175th anniversary
celebration Sept. 17.
From the opening ceremony honoring
the nation’s veterans to children’s games
to historic tours and vintage displays, all went smoothly,
according to organizers.
Party guests were given several
choices of transportation from the parking area to the
party areas and back — a horse-drawn carriage,
a horse-drawn wagon, a tractor-pulled wagon or a bus,
all of which ran continuously throughout the day. —
By Rita Jean Wagar
Part of the large crowd is shown
at the opening ceremony of Sharon Township’s 175th
birthday celebration. Photo:
Don Wagar
Organizations support
bringing CVSR to Cleveland
CLEVELAND — A ceremony
took place Sept. 18 at the Tower City Concourse to celebrate
a memorandum of understanding agreed to by 16 government,
business and civic organizations to bring the Cuyahoga
Valley Scenic Railroad (CVSR) to downtown Cleveland
from Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP).
The ceremonial signing took place
in conjunction with the triennial “Canal Adventure”
showcasing the growth of the Ohio & Erie Canalway
National Heritage Area.
The Tower City site is the proposed
location for CVSR trains to arrive and depart downtown
Cleveland, linking downtown to the CVNP 8 miles south
in Independence.
The 16 organizations are: Ohio
Rail Development Commission, Northeast Ohio Areawide
Coordinating Agency, Mittal Steel, Forest City Enterprises,
Cuyahoga County Port Authority, Greater Cleveland Convention
& Visitors Bureau, Downtown Cleveland Alliance,
Ohio Canal Corridor, Steelyard Commons LLC, Ohio Department
of Transportation District 12, Cuyahoga County Board
of Commissioners, Cuyahoga County
Planning, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority,
Trust for Public Land and the CVSR and CVNP.
— By
Stephanie Kist
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