Akron Changes

Some recent changes in and around Akron:

We can now purchase yogurt and cottage cheese without becoming overwhelmed with guilt when confronting the empty container, as Akron's recycling program has been upgraded to collect and recycle all plastics labeled 1 through 7. I no longer have to bug The Mustard Seed about their number 5 plastic take-away containers. While I'm glad the city is boosting its recycling program, I still think we need to be more mindful of the amounts of plastic we consume and toss away on a daily basis. Look at all the plastic in your life that doesn't come with a convenient recycling number,such as plastic potato chip bags, plastic bubbles around electronic products, plastic windows in junk mail envelopes, plastic notebooks, lunchboxes, brushes and combs, your toothbrush and so on.

Along with the recycle upgrade, Akron officially launched its much anticipated Green Print (you can download it in its entirety here). The ABJ's Bob Downing summarizes the goals:

Suggestions include promoting green buildings; cutting the use of electricity; boosting water conservation; expanding the urban forest; increasing green jobs; encouraging neighborhood revitalization; better managing the city's fleet of vehicles; increasing parks and walkable areas; turning more sewage sludge into electricity; boosting recycling and bicycling; adding grass-covered roofs; limiting pollution in storm-water runoff; building rain barrels and boosting new urbanism and regional smart growth.

All of those proposed changes sound good to me. Too bad we aren't focused on making those changes realities. Instead, we must put up with a small band of opportunists who want to "Change Akron Now." They aren't talking about making positive substantial changes in Akron's environment. No, these are the folks who want us to kick out the mayor -- for reasons that range from petty to vindictive, as they can't seem to find anything illegal.

We all got to vote for the mayor less than two years ago at which time we could discuss and debate the mayor's policies and abrasive personality all we wanted. He had competition in the primary, won that race and then faced no opposition in the general election. Nothing I've read from the Change Akron Now folks has convinced me that I made a mistake in voting for Don Plusquellic in 2007.

The only good thing that can come out of this is that the political careers of the opportunists instigating the re-call drive come crashing to a halt when they fail to drive out Mayor Plusquellic. If anything, this recall election should wake up the electorate enough to consider who our future political leaders might be.

Blogging notes

I'm sorry, I can't get into writing about the current middle east conflict. It's like writing about the gingham dog and the calico cat. Jill at Writes Like She Talks has a lot of links for those wish to follow it. My only hope in this ongoing bloody mess is that eventually the two sides will get over it and get along. We don't hear much about the Irish bombing each other these days, so if they can get over it, maybe these folks can. One day. I know, I'm dreaming.

As for political stuff, please read Digby. She writes about politics in ways I most always wish I had been able to say. Take this one today about the proposed tax cuts.

As for me, I plan on doing more posting on my often neglected Critical Links Theatre Journal this week. It's a blog for ongoing theatre education research in the classroom. Read it if such things interest you.

Obama's campaign rep is busy in Akron

At a political meeting earlier this week, Obama's Summit County field rep was in attendance and spoke briefly. His name is Sol and he is the lead guy, but says that more will be arriving in the next few weeks. He already has a list of 3,000 local people to contact and get involved in the campaign. At the moment, Sol can be located via the local Democratic Party headquarters.

But if you are looking for tee shirts and bumper stickers, the only place to find them at this point is online and it takes about 3 weeks. MoveOn.org was offering free Obama stickers, but they also say MoveOn.org on the bottom -- which may be a problem for some folks.

So what is Sol doing while waiting for more people to join him? He's working on making contacts and goes down town every day to register voters. He says the Cascade Plaza bus stop has yielded over 5o registrations so far.

Apparently, the vaunted Obama grass roots effort is for real. Hope to see a lot of you out on the campaign trails this summer and fall.

Akron City Council gets rational

Great news today for the city of Akron! Our elected officials decided to represent all of us equally by no longer reciting "the Lord's Prayer" at the beginning of each council meeting. Even though they didn't do this of their own initiation, I'll cheer their decision and give them a great big A (See side bar) for their efforts. Be sure to check out the comments after the news report in the Akron Beacon Journal. There are far more rational folks in the area than I thought. Yeah sure, the deluded are still well represented but it sure is nice to see a lot of support for the Constitution in this day and age of patriarchal government.

Next we need to get rid of "In God We Trust" on the currency. Sorry, not all of us do -- trust in a god or goddess. "With God all things are possible" is another one of those tacked-on meaningless phrases that are used to assert moral authority over those of us who are, after all is said and done, condemned to boil in oil for all eternity.

Finally, "The Pledge of Allegiance" must be put to rest in the trunk marked "USA 1950s anti Communist propaganda." Whenever I hear the phrase "under god" during recitation of said mindless oath, I think of a Rolling Stones song -- "Under My Thumb."

The Candidate and the Editor

You may remember that last month, I visited the Summit County Progressive Democrats monthly meeting, which is free and open to the public. This time I paid my dues and signed up to join in the fun. However, the comments to follow do not speak for the organization, only for me.

Two very interesting speakers tonight at the monthly meeting. Joe Finely, running in the Democratic primary for mayor of Akron, needs to brush up on his microphone technique. Aside from that, I'd like to see him speaking in front of other groups to see how much or little his campaign rhetoric changes depending upon the audience.

Tonight he proclaimed himself 90% "progressive," after listening to about 15 minutes of the SCPD's membership discuss some issues. I don't know about anybody else, but I was very curious about that other ten percent of Finely that is not progressive. For an indication of what that ten percent is all about, check out his web site where you'll find this:

"100% Pro-Life - Member of Summit County Right to Life" -- yeah, not so progressive after all.

Finley didn't speak about that issue, naturally. He was all about the current administration's expenditures and he may have some some points on all the deals for development that go on. The Bass Pro Shop venture in the former Goodyear property sounds plenty risky. (I didn't think there was enough wild game and fish left around these parts to make such a store a worthwhile venture.)

He tried to fault Mayor Plusquellic on downtown's progress, claiming you could shoot a cannon down Main Street at 5 pm and not hit anybody. Must be something stuck in Finley's eye, because I noticed quite a few folks out on the street at 6:30 and a lot more seated at various eateries along the Main strip -- and there was no ball game in the park tonight.

No, we're not even close to Greenwich Village foot traffic downtown, but as a former downtown Akron resident in the late 80s and early 90s, I can tell you that downtown is a lot more attractive and alive now. (See picture below of some genuine walking breathing living art in downtown Akron.) I give the current mayor a lot of credit for all the downtown improvements.

The impression I received tonight from Mr. Finley was one of an opportunist, who is trying to ride the wave of voter unrest with rising costs and taxes. I agree that Plusquellic's tax proposal on the May ballot was ill-conceived and not at all compelling as something essential for the common good. However, that's not enough to make me turn to someone who says he can change things but doesn't tell me how other than firing some cabinet members he calls excessive.

The other speaker was Michael Douglas, editor of the Akron Beacon Journal's editorial page. He was dressed very elegantly and on his way to see the Cavs vs the Spurs. But he graciously answered many questions before galloping off to the game. I imagine he had quite good seats.

Douglas had lots to say about the restructuring of the paper under the new ownership. It has been a brutal year for the Beacon with lots of staff cuts and migrating advertising dollars moving on to line other pockets. You might think that this would lead to some empathy for those who have also lost jobs due to bad trade agreements. Unfortunately, free trade seems to be something the editorial board is all for, which is why they didn't endorse Sherrod Brown. Gotta keep opening new markets for more unnecessary goods that will eventually end up in toxic landfills.

I was greatly disappointed that neither speaker today addressed environmental issues in and around Akron. That is one area the current mayor has done more for than either of the two men at the microphone tonight -- I grant him that -- with the stipulation that he needs to step it up even more if he wants this city to grow greener and more attractive to new eco-business as well as its citizens.