Bocce and bleachers in downtown Canton

The Canton Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to supply two sets of bleachers for the Italian-American Festival at downtown Market Square, known sometimes by its old name, the Kresge Lot. The festival will be June 21-23.

The festival’s decision to build two permanent bocce courts on Market Square persuaded the board to grant the request. City government, and not the Parks and Recreation Commission, gave permission for the construction.

Commission leadership followed a similar line of reasoning — that is to say, help those who help parks and recreation —  when it voted unanimously in March to once again allow the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival to use park bleachers for ticketed seating at the festival’s Grand Parade. The previous parks commission indicated that it would not allow free use of the bleachers in 2018. It had two concerns: liability for injury to patrons while the chamber was selling tickets to use the bleachers, and appropriateness of lending public property for a revenue-generating event.

There is no indication that the Italian-American Festival will charge people to sit in the bleachers at its festival.

The previous commission is no longer in office. Member Sam Sliman resigned. Mayor Tom Bernabei declined to reappoint member Andy Black. Subsequently, member Mike Hanke resigned. The mayor appointed John Rinaldi, Maureen Austin and Joseph Gerzina to new terms earlier this year.

The Canton Repository reported in March that Commission President Rinaldi supported use of the bleachers for the parade because the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce had supported the joint parks and recreation levy in 2016.

Though that may be Rinaldi’s view, and the chamber no doubt is grateful for the commission’s decision, it does not reflect any public discussion leading up to the chamber’s 2016 endorsement and $5,000 donation to that levy campaign. At that time, I worked at the chamber and did staff work on such issues. In my time there, I can say that the chamber’s board of directors never discussed a quid-pro-quo approach to a levy endorsement. It would endorse a tax levy because it thought the request was reasonable and in the best interests of the community.

A couple of postscripts: 

1.) The commission never voted on bleachers for the Italian-American Festival in 2017, and so the festival received none. There were only two members of the commission at the May 2017 meeting prior to the festival, and it probably would have been a 1-1 vote, so no vote was taken. One member said he would have voted to lend the bleachers for free because the festival was not going to charge people to sit on them. 

2.) That same member, if the old commission would have survived into this year, would have considered offering the bleachers to the chamber for a small rental fee, thinking that would be more fair to the taxpayers who owned them.

A guide to attending Canton City Council meetings

Canton City Council’s meeting lasted 13 minutes Monday night. In that time, members paused to remember a prominent attorney who had died, prayed, pledged allegiance, and passed seven ordinances, unanimously, without debate or comment. There is seldom debate or comment.

Public Speaks can lengthen a meeting by 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the number of speakers who sign up to address council. But two people who said they wanted to speak were not in the council chamber Monday night when their names were called.

There are maybe a dozen of us who regularly attend Canton City Council meetings, and we know that you have to go to the committee meetings prior to City Council to understand any issue coming before council, or hear any council member ask a question or express an opinion.

The committee meetings usually begin between 6 and 6:30 p.m., depending on the work that comes before the committees on any given meeting night.

At the committee meetings, all members of council sit at a table in the rear of the council chamber. Various committee leaders call their committees to order, and, more often than not, they call upon a member of Mayor Tom Bernabei’s administration to explain legislation they are considering. That’s because most of the legislation comes from the mayor’s administration.

Here is how to find out when the committees meet. Go to: https://cantonohio.gov/council/?pg=agendas

Click on the date of the next meeting. Go to the last page of that agenda. There you will find the time for the committee meetings to start.

If you go to City Council only in time for the 7 p.m. start of the City Council meeting, you will see and hear little, and miss much.

Airbnb could collect taxes owed to Canton

Ward 7 Councilman John Mariol said Airbnb would be willing to collect the city’s lodging tax at the point of transaction with the Airbnb renter and then write a check to the city.  He learned this when he and another council member had a phone meeting with the government affairs people at Airbnb. Mariol said this would spare the city’s Income Tax department from the task of collecting this lodging  tax.

For this to happen, City Council would have to reject a Planning Commission recommendation to ban Airbnb and other online lodging rentals in neighborhoods with single-family homes. Council has given itself until early June to come up with a decision about Airbnb-type rentals.

Canton residents who open their homes to Airbnb lodgers came to City Council Monday night and told their stories about how Airbnb income has helped them improve their properties, how they have helped temporary lodgers find local restaurants and other places to spend their money in the city, and how they have met interesting people from around the country by opening their homes to travelers.

It also became apparent that the residents of the Market Heights neighborhood, where the move to ban Airbnb originated, are opposed to unoccupied houses being used for Airbnb. There appears to be tolerance for the rental of rooms by resident homeowners, so look for that to be a possible compromise that emerges in June.

As a member of the Planning Commission that first recommended the Airbnb ban to City Council two months ago, I wish we had known more about the positive experiences of owner-occupants who participate in Airbnb. A lesson learned.

Canton Repository critiques NY Times reporting on HOF Village

There is much that could be said about the Canton Repository’s front-page Sunday editorial about Hall of Fame Village. Here are a few points worth making.

The “national media outlet” criticized in the editorial is The New York Times. It published a story last week about the financing problems that until recently stopped construction of the village.

One of the Canton Repository’s criticisms was that the story lacked new information. It probably didn’t lack new information for the readers of The New York Times. Here’s a guess: The readership of The New York Times in Stark County is a tiny percentage of the readership of The Canton Repository.

The Rep also criticized the Times for a story that was “lacking hope.” Not sure what that means. In simplest terms, news reporting is presenting information. In simplest terms, the “hope” part is the province of the editorial page and the opinion writers.

Even as “The official newspaper of the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” The Canton Repository allows its reporters to write about problems at the village. For the most part, it injects the hope and the boosterism in the editorials. As it should be.

The Rep’s third indictment of the Times is that it lacked credibility by excluding key facts. One cannot know what the reporter left in his notebook, but the Rep’s argument seems to be based on what Stark County Commissioners Bill Smith and Richard Regula should have said or wish they had not said. And some of the editorial’s target shifted from The New York Times to an unidentified radio station.

Judge for yourself. Here’s the Rep’s Sunday front-page editorial:

http://www.cantonrep.com/opinion/20180401/editorial-setting-record-media-and-officials-straight-about-hof-village

Here’s the Times story that stirred the Rep’s editorial writer:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/realestate/commercial/pro-football-hall-of-fame-canton-ohio.html

Here’s a New York Times story about the village from August 2017  that did not earn a rebuke from The Rep, even though — like last week’s story — it mostly “lacked new information” for careful readers of The Canton Repository’s reporting:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/realestate/commercial/pro-football-hall-of-fame-canton-ohio.html

Here’s how to subscribe to The New York Times on your computer, phone or tablet:

https://www.nytimes.com/subscription/multiproduct/lp87KH8.html

Warren Buffett on fixing the deficit “in five minutes”

Posting chain email is not something I will do, though I received this from a trusted friend and relative who wanted me to send it to 20 friends. Here is an alternative way to expose these ideas, which are attributed to Warren Buffett. According to snopes.com, Buffett actually proposed the constitutional amendment at the end of this post:

Warren Buffett is asking everyone to forward this email to a minimum of 20 people, and to ask each of those to do likewise.

 

In three days, most people in the United States will have the message. This is an idea that should be passed around.

 

 

The BUFFETT Rule   Let's see if these idiots understand what people pressure is all about.   Salary of retired US Presidents .. . . . .. . . . . .. . $180,000 FOR LIFE.   Salary of House/Senate members .. . . . .. . . . $174,000 FOR LIFE. This is stupid   Salary of Speaker of the House .. . . . .. . . . . $223,500 FOR LIFE. This is really stupid   Salary of Majority / Minority Leaders . . .. . . . . $193,400 FOR LIFE. Stupid   Average Salary of a teacher . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. .$40,065   Average Salary of a deployed Soldier . . .. . . .. $38,000   Here’s where the cuts should be made!    Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:   "I could end the deficit in five minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election".   The 26th Amendment ( granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds ) took only three months and eight days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.   Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure.   Warren Buffett is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.   In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.   Congressional Reform Act of 2017   1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman / woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they're out of office.   2. Congress (past, present, & future) participates in Social Security.   All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.   3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.   4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.   5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.   6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.   7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 3/1/17. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.   Congress made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and go back to work.   If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, then it will only take three days for most people in the U.S. to receive the message. It's time!   THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!   If you agree, pass it on.

Educators ask to be heard by Ohio governor, lawmakers

A friend in local school administration has expressed frustration over HB 512, a bill moving quickly through the Ohio General Assembly. It would give the governor’s office almost complete control over K-12 public education in Ohio and complete control over higher education and workforce development.

This friend believes that educators should regulate education, just as other licensed professionals such as physicians or attorneys regulate their professions. He fears this bill is a partisan power grab by the governor.

He pointed out that a teacher named Kevin Griffin from Dublin, Ohio, has written a letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch that articulates the frustration of some educators. Griffin cites “invalid” standardized tests and “misusing test data” to evaluate teachers as some of the recent efforts by government to regulate education. The letter gives you much to think about. The writer says, in part:

“There is not any industry that ignores professionals the way teachers are ignored. If Ohio is serious about helping children, we should listen to the professionals, the ones who actually interact with students every day.”

Here is a link to that letter, though you may have to sign up for a limited free subscription to the Dispatch in order to read it:

http://www.dispatch.com/article/20180320/OPINION/180329960

The Feb. 21 blog entry here offered the Legislative Service Commission analysis of this bill, which is a plain English description of what this law would do. Here is the link once again:

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

Why is the government constantly tinkering with education and constantly making mistakes, and constantly leaving educators frustrated? Isn’t there a better way?

Gibbs, Trump cite Obama policy in wake of Parkland slaughter

This headline appeared in my NY Times digital subscription last night:

Trump Finds Unlikely Culprit in School Shootings: Obama Discipline Policies

It sounded familiar. My congressman U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio 7th, pointed to the Obama administration when he replied on March 2 to an inquiry I made in late February. It was an inquiry about his views on the subjects of school gun violence and the NRA’s influence on government.

Gibbs, and the president, and, as it turns out, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have cited an Obama administration program that discouraged school districts from sending minority students to police arrest instead of in-school discipline. You can read the NY Times story at the link below. You can form your own opinion about the Obama policy and whether it had a bearing on the most recent slaughter of school children and teachers in Florida.

I asked both Gibbs and his November opponent, Democrat Ken Harbaugh, to comment on school gun violence and the influence of the NRA on politics. Gibbs did not address the NRA inquiry but pointed out that he is a defender of the Second Amendment.

So am I. The Bill of Rights is the foundation of our citizen freedoms. Our freedoms come with appropriate limits, determined by law and the courts. One appropriate limit might be a limit on weapons of rapid human slaughter.

In Harbaugh’s reply to my inquiry, he stated that he will not take NRA money. The NRA has been a political funder of the congressman and the senator and the president.

Here is The NY Times story, which contains links to a similar argument made by U.S. Sen. Marco  Rubio, R-Florida:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/us/politics/trump-school-shootings-obama-discipline-policies.html

Thanks for reading.