Community Forum on the Economic Crisis

Concerned about the current economic crisis? If you live in the Akron area, here's a group of people who are hosting an evening of discussions about ways to deal with it in our community. I am especially interested in the barter network they setting up.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Community Forum on the Economic Crisis

Thursday, January 22
6:45 pm –8:45 pm
Meeting Rooms A & B
Akron Main Public Library
60 S. High Street, Akron

This is a follow up to the December 9th Town Hall Meeting on the Economic Crisis

Discussion – Debate – Decisions

on

Federal Economic Stimulus
The Obama Administration is proposing a $825 billion tax and spending package which seeks to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs, and jumpstart the economy. Millions of dollars will be coming to Akron and other Summit Co. communities for construction, energy, housing, education, technology, social services, and other projects. What can we do to pressure our federal elected representatives to pass the stimulus bill and our local elected representatives to make sure it goes to meet the greatest needs?

Bailout of Wall Street Banks
The 2nd half of the $700 billion bailout funds will soon be voted on the House of Representatives. What can we do to make sure that the $350 billion is used to help people who face foreclosure instead of providing banks another blank check to use the funds virtually as they please.

Creation of Local Barter Network
It was agreed at the December 9th meeting to launch a local program where people can exchange goods and services to meet their needs. We’ll spend time discussing details of setting up a local program.


AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE
Northeast Ohio Office
2101 Front St., #111, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
Phone: 330-928-2301 Website: www.afsc.net

-----------

Fragments from the past week

Another senseless murder happened in Akron this week on a corner I pass at least four times a day as I go to and from work. The corner of Manchester and Thornton is a sad gang-infested nucleus in a cell filled with poverty and decay. A used appliance shop and a check cashing business are the only attractions. I've purchased washers and driers from Hairston's and I once went into the check cashing "store" to buy a bag of ice for a class party. Inside were a few shelves scattered with dusty cans and boxes. The main focus of the business was on supplying booze and cash loans to the locals.



















There are some wonderful old homes along that stretch of Manchester, but many are boarded up and the rest have the air of rot about them. Who has the money to fix up a house when you are living on a paycheck that hasn't even arrived. Anything you could put aside for home repairs is going into the interest charged on your payday loan.

Lots of young men hang out on the corners of this intersection, no matter the season or weather. There seems to be no place else to go. Now on the chain link fence bordering Thornton, balloons and a teddy bear mark the spot of another life wasted in one of Akron's grimmest wastelands. The traffic light was recently replaced by four stop signs. I wondered why at first, but now I'm thinking it is probably safer to not be sitting at a red light for any length of time at this unhappy corner.

Speaking of the weather (and who doesn't in NE Ohio?), we've been enduring January-like temps and snow for weeks now. Saturday was one of those days I'd rather not be out driving, but since we had a show, there was nothing to do but bundle up and load the truck and head on out onto slick roads and incessant snow. Heading toward Montrose on 77, I was thrilled to see a red Smart forTwo car zooming past us all in the fast lane! March (my EDD - estimated delivery date) can't get here soon enough for me. This is not the car I saw on the highway -- it may have had winter tires, but not like these:






















Obie, the ever faithful Huskador retriever, has found a new lease on life or at least -- he is enjoying the new living arrangements I made for him to help ease his day to day life as a most senior canine. According to this source, a 15 year old canine is equivalent to a 90 year old human. So in order to help Obie get around, I've put non-skid throw rugs everywhere and moved down to the ground floor so he doesn't feel obligated to go up and down the steep stairs. I also got him a very thick foam cushion for sleeping and he likes to sink his elderly joints into it at night and for long naps. He is also on pain medication for his arthritis and still enjoys his meals and short trips outside.

Obie in his element:

Ask the Mayor

Akron citizens received our copy of the quarterly City publication put out by our local government. In this issue, is a new feature -- a tear out post-card that allows each of us to ask one question of our Mayor. All we have to do is put our name and return address on it and a stamp. Someone, we are promised, from city government will answer our questions. So why not call it "Ask someone in city government?"

Trying to narrow it down to one question is a bit difficult. I'm tempted, after reading the mag through from cover to cover, to ask a follow up question to one of three printed in the current issue. The question is about the proposed sale of our sewer system to create a scholarship program for all Akron Public School students to attend Akron U. The mayor sketches it out by focusing on the scholarships, promising an aggressive campaign to raise the necessary funds from a variety of sources. His words about leasing the sewer plan are still too vague for me. He promises that the city will address "citizens' concerns about future rates, environmental issues and service."

Quite frankly, Mayor Plusquellic, I'll believe your plan when I see all the details in black and white, not just promises. My question is -- when will we see an actual detailed plan?

The other question also arises after reading City mag. Why must every single Rock the Lock on Friday nights feature a cover band? Aren't there enough interesting local bands to at least have every other Friday feature original material? And if we have to have all these cover bands, including tributes to the following: Kiss, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Jimmy Buffett, CArlos Santana, CSN&Y, Tina Turner, Journey, Bon Jovi, Creedence, Led Zeppelin, U2 (!), Aerosmith, Bob Seger, and ZZ Top -- can't we at least have a Kinks Kover band, huh??

I realize those are a lot of frivolous questions, so maybe I'll stick to bugging him about the sewer system. Because we citizens won't get an opportunity to vote on it directly. It will be put to City Council. And we know that City Council is not likely to vote against our mayor, although they showed some spine today by voting to reject a deal to pay off local business man and charter school magnate David Brennan's downtown hotel debts.

There is a local group forming to oppose the sewer move. Get the info here.

Answers to Akron Rocks Quiz

If you didn't take the quiz, go here first.

The sandstone from the Sharon Formation is found in the Old Stone Schoolhouse.

















The grandiorite from just south of Boston is found in the base of the Simon Perkins statue, originally erected in Grace Park and moved to the University of Akron campus next to the College of Business building.







The Berea Sandstone was used to build St. Bernards. Inside the church, can be found the Carrara marble in various statues and other marble furnishings.










Some of the oldest stone material can be found in one of our more modern looking structures-- The Ocasek Building is faced with 1 billion year old Caledonia granite.

The oldest rocks in our city can be found in the paving trim at Cascade Plaza. Rockville Granite is a pink stone quarried in Minnesota. It is 1.7 billion years old -- and still going strong.


The beautiful pink and black limestone flooring can be found in our city's Municipal Building. Sorry, no picture of the exterior -- it was way too fuzzy.



And I didn't think to take a photo of the Key Bank building from outside. It is not particularly artistic and I was too excited by the fossils in the interior limestone clad lobby. Here's a photo of a fossilized coral in the Key Bank lobby.

More limestone containing fossils can be found on the other side of Main Street in the First National Tower lobby.

Akron Rocks

I went on a geological tour of Akron this morning. It was free and began at Lock 3 as part of Homegrown Saturday Farmers Market. It was a pleasant and unique way to look at our city. I took some photos and will present them as a quiz for local residents. Can you guess where these rocks and stones are located around the city? I'll give you an image and a brief description of the rocks in question. All information here was obtained from a free guidebook handed out to us as we got on our trolley to begin the tour. The booklet was written by Joseph T Hannibal of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and is titled "Building Stones and Cultural Geology of Akron: A Short Walking Tour." Our guides for the tour were a paleontologist and geologist from the University of Akron. They had plenty of magnifying devices with them for kids and adults to examine the stones at the granular level.


This is an example of local sandstone from the Sharon Formation, a layer of sandstone and conglomerate underlying the high points of Akron on Broadway and High Streets. The old quarry was located at the site of the current Key Bank Building on Main St.








Here is an example of granodiorite, a rock with a slightly different composition from granite and it was quarried in Quincey, MA. The dark color is due to minerals such as dark gray feldspar and ferromagnesian minerals. It originated as magma and is more than 320 million years old.



This is another sandstone called Berea and it was obtained from Deep Lock Quarry in Peninsula. In it can be seen pebbles and clayey clasts.







The marble used to carve this piece is the same type used by Michelangelo to sculpt his Pieta and David. Called Carrara marble, it was quarried in the Italian Apuan Alps. According to the handy guide booklet, we find that this marble was the "result of metamorphism of a pre-existing limestone during the Jurassic Period, between 200 and 145 million years ago."








The oldest rock on our tour comes from Canada. It has a commercial name of Caledonia granite and is a billion years old. Contemplating it, I immediately felt like an insignificantly temporary collection of cells in comparison.















This beautiful floor pattern was created out of pink limestone from the Holston Formation of eastern Tennessee and the black limestone came from either New York or Vermont, Both stones originated as sea sediment in the Ordovician age and are over 400 million years old.




I really perked up my ears when I heard we would be seeing cephalopods in the next batch of rocks. Thanks to my favorite science blog, Pharyngula, I've become enamored of these beautiful creatures. Look closely and you will find fossils of large conical cephalopod shells in this gorgeous gray and pink limestone.













Come back tomorrow, and I'll post pictures of the actual sites where the above rocks and stones can be found.

Trash Disposal in Akron

While some people are not happy with the city's recent switchover to uniform bins for trash and recyclables, others have simply been confused as to how the system works. Last week was "amnesty" trash week, a time to put the residue from spring cleaning out on the curb. But it turns out, people have been hording their trash because they thought the city would only pick up what would fit in their blue bins. An article about this issue appears in today's ABJ here.

For those who aren't in the know about how trash is collected in Akron, visit the city's recycle page. It is clearly stated that large objects can be placed on the curb on any regular trash day, as long as they are three feet away from the trash bin. What can no longer be placed on the curb are bags of trash. Bags of trash can be ripped open by stray animals. The new bins have helped keep unsightly trash from blowing around our neighborhoods.

What I found most interesting in this story is the huge decrease in injuries and time off from the job on the part of sanitation workers. The automated garbage can lifting trucks have meant fewer strained backs and other serious physical problems from a job that means lifting tons of trash every day.

If I were living in another universe, I would want it to be one that paid the people who do the dirtiest jobs the most money. I'm talking about the most undesirable yet absolutely essential to the community's well-being kinds of jobs like sanitation workers and people who have to repair the sewer system.

Visiting the Dead in Akron

Glendale was the first stop today, Akron's greatest and grandest cemetery. This place was hopping, cars flowing in and out. Lots of grave decorations providing color and solace.

I'm somewhat amazed I have relatives here. Not in these ornate miniature Temples for the Dead, however. My ancestors' plot for four is in the Masonic section. Grandpa was a Mason. None of his descendants belong to this organization, once so hugely popular and widespread. The mystery and secrets of Freemasonry attracted followers for centuries. Now the very idea of it seems so quaint, not to mention absurd.

After bestowing geraniums upon my grandfather, grandmother and two uncles, I drove in a little further and found the site of my great grandfather's grave.

Next stop, East Akron Cemetery, "Plots Available," says the sign at the gate. There are very few people visiting here. One forebear is planted here, a great-grandmother or aunt, perhaps? I am not as fluent with my ancestry as my parents are. I did find her grave and placed my last geranium there:

I decided to drive around Goodyear Heights to see if I could find the place I first called home in Akron. It was an apartment on Pondview Drive. My first real memories come from there. I recall sitting on the curb and playing with maple leaf seed pods. Train tracks ran along the bottom of the back yard. Definitely a neighborhood for young couples and people on the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

There are some pretty awful areas in the Heights -- especially on the western edge of the East Akron Cemetery. Here I found lots of boarded up houses interspersed with other crumbling wrecks that should be boarded up. These are the bits and pieces of Akron that nobody wants to acknowledge. Lots of children out on these shabby and depressing streets.

Finally, I took a spin down Hazel Street, to look for my grandparents old house. Not remembering the street address, I looked for the two distinctive trees in the front yard, but couldn't find the place. Further along, I found the site of a house I once lived in with some friends. We called it our vegetarian commune, with Phil the balladeer, Andy the photographer, Mary the librarian, and several cats. I was the resident performance artist. The whole place went up in flames one Fourth of July. I still have some smoke-stained artifacts from that event.

Memories can't be suppressed on Memorial Day. This is the day we're supposed to honor those who died in various wars. I don't see what is so honorable about dying in combat. Looking back on the wars this country has fought, the only ones that seem somewhat honorable to me are the War of Independence and the World War II. In retrospect, there may have been other less bloody ways to effect change. However, Memorial Day is a day to face up to the carnage of the past.

I grew up watching the ever-increasing body counts displayed on the nightly news. Iraq is deja vu all over again, fast approaching 3500 US soldiers dead and thousands more brutally injured. Over 100 US service people have committed suicide since this current war began, and nobody knows how many more suicide victims from the ranks of the returned veterans. I feel profoundly sorry for all these people -- those cut down before their prime and those who live on, physically and emotionally damaged.

Flags wave over the graves of all who served in the military. Maybe one day there will be flags for all those who served humanity in the ways of peace and negotiation.

There is a play by the brothers Capek, called The Insect Play. It cast a spell over me the first time I read it, and eventually I did create an opportunity to direct it. In the final scene, armies of red and yellow ants do endless battle with one another. There are no good guys or bad guys, just piles of corpses strewn around the ant hills, to be hauled away by the worker ants, while their leaders urge them on to greater glory.

Is war the way humans and other species rid themselves of extraneous young males? Is it driven by territorial instincts? Greed? Is war inevitable or is it something that can eventually be brought to extinction? I'd prefer to think the latter.

Akron, a not so bad place to live

I was thinking just that earlier in the week, when driving through a long swatch of Cleveland neighborhoods. I was considering writing about why I am glad to be an Akronite. Thursday's Akron Beacon Journal reports that Akron is no longer on the 65 weakest cities list. "Weak" is an odd word to choose. I suppose the strong cities have fortified walls and moats filled with alligators to keep the suburbanites out.

Speaking of the suburbs, try to avoid Manchester Rd going south toward Coventry. Road construction going on past Waterloo making the usually congested Manchester Rd one long hot creep along single lanes north and south. The intersection at Manchester and Waterloo is now programmed so that traffic in each direction gets an equal amount of green light time. Looks like the road work will be there all summer and maybe more.

I drove down that way to get some gas. The Acme on Manchester has gas pumps and if you swipe your Acme card, you get a cent or two off your gas. With the discount, it was 3.369 per gallon. First time I've hit $40 to fill the tank. Usually one tank lasts two weeks, unless I have to go places beyond Akron. I plan on doing a lot of staying at home over summer break. Not going places, working on a couple of writing projects and taking active breaks in the garden. I've got just a little more planting to do this weekend. The herb and salad garden looks fantastic! I will take some photos over the weekend to share.

Grandmother's Video to leave downtown Akron

Dave Blewette of Grandmother's Video is packing up his antique televisions and his museum of television memorabilia. His video production services will continue, we are pleased to find out. But the storefront next to the Main library will no longer house him or his amazing collection.

I've known Dave for many years and have spent many late nights in his place hanging out with a lot of interesting folks who found their way there. Grandmother's video was the unofficial after hours gathering place for major events as well as underground happenings downtown. Dave and his camera have recorded hours and hours of local culture. He has an amazing collection of local bands and performance artists appearing at clubs long closed but well remembered. From the Ohio Ballet to Akron First Night to late nights at the Bauhaus, Dave has captured the artistic impulses that have flourished in this city over the last three decades.

The good news is that the Akron Public Library will be receiving a rich trove of his video work for its local archives. Looking for rare footage of Third Plane at the Bauhaus? You will undoubtedly find it in Dave's collection, along with Sockeye, and Theatre of Sorts and much much more.

Dave displayed his collection for the public last year in a non-profit format he called The TV Dinner Club. Some of his NE Ohio television items can be seen at Lock III. Think Captain Penny, Ghoulardi, Dorothy Fuldheim, Woodrow the Woodsman and Barnaby. Dave continues to look for appropriate venues to display and house his amazing

You can still tour Grandmother's studio online here. Dave's creative video work includes the ground-breaking series It Came From Akron, experimental television that appeared on early local Akron cable television.

Dave is clearing the last out of his studio this weekend and is having a huge rummage sale. Contact info is here. There's no telling what interesting things might be up for sale.

Akron to Lose Low-cost Dental Clinic

Sometimes the local news is so disgusting I just want to scream out loud. Yesterday's ABJ reports that Akron Community Health Resources will be closing Akron's only low-cost dental clinic which has served over 2500 citizens. Reason? No funding available. The grants have dried up, the feds won't help, and the poor will be left to turn up at our hospital emergency rooms for treatment. Who will pay that cost? You and I, of course. And what will the poor suffering dental patient get out of it? Pain medication and maybe an antibiotic. No actual dental work.

Our citizens teeth are allowed to rot while the federal government continues to pour billions of dollars into blowing the Iraqi landscape and people into bits. Look at the head of the column to the right here. See that 412 billion and growing has already vanished from our economy. When I began this blog last August the figure was around 360 some billion. The ruination of Iraq and the decline of civilization in this country go hand in hand.

Checking out the comments under the ABJ article, I was somewhat surprised to see many sympathetic voices with only a smattering of "poor people are that way by choice" diatribes. One person suggested that a portion of the proposed tax increase go to funding the clinic permanently and if that were the case, I'd vote for it without hesitation.

To those who could only comment "get a job," I would ask them how people with rotting teeth will fare in job interviews. Will their general health increase or decrease with dental problems?

I was so enraged by this news that I emailed our new senator to ask if he could help. I am embarrassed to be living in a city that cannot find help for its poorest citizens.

Akron Residency Requirement

I've been thinking about this week's ruling that a state law will overturn Akron's charter requirement that its workers live in the city. It's a complex issue. Does any government have the right to tell its workers where to live?
Should the state government interfere with local decisions that ultimately have no effect on the state's interests?

According to the ABJ report, Akron residents have consistently backed the charter mandate for city employees to reside within the city they work. The reasoning is that workers who live in the city will care more about the services they provide. Do we really want people making decisions about our daily business when those people jump into their SUVs and drive off to the suburbs? Looking at the result of this law -- is our city better for insisting that its employees live within its boundaries?

On the other hand, the city workers say they should have the right to live where they choose. Why should they be forced to live the urban life style and have to deal with all of the accompanying problems?

I don't know if there is a "right" ruling on this issue. Certainly I agree that people should live where they want. And yet -- and yet -- I am so disturbed by the suburban life-style and all its accompanying damaging effects upon the environment. The farms have vanished, replaced by hideous polluting agro-farms, and mini-mansions dot the country-side. Four door garages bespeak the enormous amounts of fuel burned by the suburban dwellers. Interspersed among the suburban enclaves are vast shopping meccas and further out, the landfills are the repositories of our extremely wasteful lifestyles.

One day, I'm quite sure, people will have far fewer choices about where they live. The limitations might be caused by lack of fuel for vehicles or to the toxicity of the land and air, not to mention the changing climate conditions.

If we all lived a bike ride away from our jobs maybe we'd be healthier along with our communities. I'd prefer to see that happen without making it a law, but then again -- I've always been an idealistic dreamer.

New Develpment in Downtown Akron

Buildings to the north and south of the Akron Civic Theatre will be renovated and dedicated to mix-use retail/entertainment/business and market-rate apartments according to a report in the Akron Beacon Journal. The old Whitelaw building will be saved and not torn down, which had been in the works if a more grandeous scheme had found the financing it needed. I really like the sound of this:

"The demolition will expose a section of the Ohio & Erie Canal for the first time in more than a century; it will be incorporated into the development.

Main Street Partners proposes using the lower levels of the rehabilitated buildings as walk-out areas at the canal level to serve customers at restaurants and clubs, according to the city. The upper levels will have a mix of uses, including office, retail and 33 market-rate apartments."

How cool to see something that had been hidden for 100 years! I remember as a child going in search of the old canal locks with my family. In those days (the 50s and 60s), the locks were hidden in vast overgrowths of weeds and they cotained the most toxic looking brews of green slime and foaming chemicals.

I wonder sometimes if all the canal restoration that has been going on the past couple of decades might well be prescient thinking. In the post-petroleum era, the canal boats might well be running up and down the state once more.

As I posted in the Comments section of the ABJ article, I'd love to live in one of those apartments overlooking the canal. I can picture taking a morning walk down the towpath with an apartment-sized dog, then stopping for coffee and chat with the local downtown workers. The performance art spaces all in walking distance, and the main library's riches right down the street. The only thing missing would be a year-round farmer's market.