Shopping Carts II: Canton council mellows

This follows up on a Feb. 5 entry. It was comment on a Canton proposal to cut down on shopping cart thefts by punishing the victims, namely stores in the city.

The proposal by Councilmen Jason Scaglione and Robert Fisher has been revised through the intervention of Mayor Tom Bernabei. It is likely to be made into law next week.

Unlike the original proposal, which would have required all sorts of expensive steps to discourage or prevent shopping cart theft, the new proposal only requires these steps if the city determines that the store is not cooperating in helping to rid the neighborhoods of its abandoned carts.

The revised ordinance also recognizes that the taking of a shopping cart off store property is theft. The original did not. 

Councilmen Scaglione and Fisher ought to be recognized for trying to eliminate a nuisance and a safety hazard from their wards. Without mentioning names, Scaglione said on Monday that they have seen an increase in voluntary cooperation from stores.

The entire reason for criticism of the original proposal was its business-unfriendly solution: punish the victims. At the same time, members of City Council were bemoaning the Fishers Foods decision to close two city grocery stores. The closing was unrelated to the cart proposal, but council is not strong when it comes to thinking about the business ramifications of what it says and does. 

Businesses don’t vote. They just employ voters and taxpayers.

Should Ohio governor have more power in education?

On Monday, The Repository brought HB 512 to readers’ attention. This proposed law before the Ohio Legislature would give to the governor most authority over K-12 education, and all authority over higher education and workforce development.

The Rep reported that the Ohio House of Representatives is eager to pass this bill, and the paper advised the Ohio House to slow down and receive input from all interested parties. That is always good advice.

This bill was introduced only last week. It will have to have hearings where proponents, opponents and interested parties should have a chance to testify. If you want to know what this significant change to education policy is all about, here is the Legislative Service Commission analysis of the bill:

https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/download?key=8763&format=pdf

The LSC creates an analysis like this for all legislation. It is the plain-English version of what the Legislature is considering. It is available through legislature.ohio.gov. Search for the bill by number. Select the bill. Select the documents tab. Finally, select the analysis.

Citizens might want to ask their local public school superintendent whether he or she thinks that taking power away from the state school superintendent and the Board of Education and giving it to the governor would improve K-12 public education. For that matter, the dean or president of your local state college or university probably has an opinion on sections of the bill that would affect higher education.

When you form an opinion, contact your state legislator and tell him or her what you think.

Canton may severely restrict Airbnb rentals

If you offer rooms in your Canton home for rent through Airbnb, the city wants to restrict and regulate such activity.

On the recommendation of Mayor Thomas Bernabei’s administration, the Canton Planning Commission voted unanimously last week to approve a change in the zoning code that would limit Airbnb rentals.

You should know that I am a member of the Planning Commission and voted to approve the zoning proposal, along with every other member who was present on Feb. 13.

Airbnb and similar rentals would be limited to a conditional use in the R-4 residential zoning district. R-4 is a high-density (up to 58 dwelling units per acre), multifamily district that is designed to be a buffer between non-residential areas and neighborhoods of single- and two-family homes. 

An out-of-control New Year’s Eve party at a Seven Hills, Ohio, Airbnb rental is the sort of problem Canton is hoping to avoid:

http://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/airbnb-homeowner-suffers-thousands-of-dollars-in-damage-after-tenant-party/95-504635996

The proposal is not law until City Council votes to make it law. Before the proposal comes up for a vote, there would be a public hearing. Such an ordinance would protect single-family homeowners, in my view, but if you are inclined to do business through Airbnb or similar services, you should know that it is coming your way.

Visiting the CMA gallery at the beginning of Lent

If you are beginning to observe Lent, you might consider visiting the Elijah Pierce exhibit at the Canton Museum of Art. His wood carvings reveal a man who was confident about his faith in Christ and able to express that faith through art. Studying his work can bring a sense of peace, and of admiration for the certainty that Pierce must have had. Certainty is rare.

Elijah Pierce, the son of a former slave, was born in Mississippi in 1892. He began carving wood as a child. Not wanting to follow his father into farming, he became a barber. By 1923 he had migrated north to settle in Columbus, Ohio, where he created the works on display.

The artist could take a panel of wood and turn it into an episode from the New Testament: Christ meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, Judas betraying Jesus, Peter denying Christ as the cock crowed. Much of his religious work is in a massive creation called the Book of Wood. You have to see it to appreciate it.

He created secular works, too, and they also are on display in the second part of the main gallery. You can see Pierce’s vision of plantation slavery, his interpretation of the Joe Louis-James Braddock heavyweight championship boxing match from 1937, or his fantasy of President Nixon “being driven from the White House” in 1974. And much more.

But it is the spiritual work that is the headline of the exhibit. “Every piece of work I got carved is a message, a sermon,” he is quoted as saying.

And there is this thought from him about life: “Your life is a book and every day is a page, and one day that book will be read to you and you can’t deny it because you’ve written it.”

Attorney Judith Barnes Lancaster and the “Still I Rise” Book Club are the major sponsors of the exhibit. Thanks to them for helping the museum bring this work to Canton.

Packaging manufacturer wants to move to Canton

From Monday, Feb. 12, meeting of Canton City Council:

City Council will consider tax abatement for JIT Packaging of Cincinnati, which has asked the city for assistance in moving a Massillon operation to Canton. Council gave second reading to an ordinance that would provide JIT with 10 years of 75 percent property tax abatement if it purchases 180,000 square feet of industrial space at 1212 Seventh St. SW.

JIT manufactures industrial shipping containers for automotive parts, heavy manufacturing and other applications. It would move 14 jobs from Massillon, where it says it outgrew its facilities, and it could add six new jobs by 2021, according to Deputy Mayor Fonda Williams. 

He took pains to assure council members that Canton had not poached the business from Massillon. JIT found the building on its own and approached the city for assistance.

City Council was nearly unable to act Monday due to illnesses and other absences. It needed eight members to approve any suspension of rules during the course of the meeting. Councilman Edmond Mack arrived just as the meeting was about to begin, joining Members Chris Smith, James Babcock, Corey Minor Smith, Greg Hawk, Nate Chester, Robert Fisher and Kevin Hall. There are 12 members in all.

Note: An earlier version of this posting incorrectly reported that 16 jobs were coming from Massillon.

Canton considers cracking down on theft victims

Ward 7 Councilman John Mariol asked a great question at the Jan. 29 Canton, Ohio, City Council committees meeting.

“Do we have any other situations where we punish the person who had property stolen?”

He was questioning an ordinance that would crack down on shopping cart theft by imposing what could be tens of thousands of dollars of expense on supermarket operators and other business people who are the victims of shopping cart theft.

If you asked, Canton Law Director Joe Martuccio might tell you that there is much work yet to be done on this ordinance. This isn’t his idea. In my view, he’s only trying to do the bidding of council without doing harm. If you think the city should encourage businesses to stay here and keep employing city income taxpayers, rather than punish them, you can hope for the best.

Actually, the best might be to not have such an ordinance.

There are a some wards in the city where shopping cart thieves leave carts abandoned in the neighborhoods. What council member wouldn’t want to eliminate this nuisance? Residents who don’t steal store property are probably calling the council members and complaining.

Still, the ordinance as it stood last week would require — among other things — that store owners label all of their carts, post notices that stealing carts is a crime, and adopt some physical measures to deter theft, such as electronic wheel locks on the carts that would render them useless if they are taken off the property, or a security guard who would be employed to prevent theft, or a system of collecting security deposits from shoppers for the privilege of using a cart.

Really.

Maybe City Council could conduct and publish an analysis of how widespread this problem is. If it requires action, maybe there are other solutions to this problem that don't depend on penalizing the victims.