State of the City address
Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic
Wednesday, January 10, 2001

I'm not going to do that, but for all of you who like lots of data, we've placed on your tables, information sheets highlighting some of the city's accomplishments of the past year.

For me personally, it was a great year -- not one single surgical procedure. Only one short hospital stay. Being profiled - - favorably even - - in the Beacon Journal Sunday Magazine. And even showing up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

More importantly for Akron, I was elected to the Board of Trustees of the United States Conference of Mayors.

At a time when the national government is making a dramatic exit from local issues, leaving the management of everything from the environment to transportation to state and local governments, my involvement nationally will benefit Akron many times over.

I was honored to be asked to participate in a program paid for by the State Department to assist cities in Hungary and Serbia emerge from communist dictatorships and enter the world of democratic nations.

Any one of those could have been the highlight of my year, but in June at nearly 51, the best moment of 2000 was the home run I hit at Jacobs Field!!

I've got video here for the very few that I haven't forced to watch the replay!

After 14 years as Mayor of Akron, I realize I have been most fortunate in having talented and dedicated people in my cabinet: the best group of people anyone could want.

The members of my cabinet and staff have made me look good – and that can be a tough job some days.

Please indulge me for a few moments. I want to ask my cabinet and staff to stand so that you can help me thank them.

We have a dedicated workforce and it's especially important for me to recognize the presidents of two unions: AFSME Local 1360 is headed by Leo Armstrong and the Civil Service Personnel Association is led by Dale Sroka. Gentlemen would you stand?

I need to tell you that these leaders represent their members well. But at the same time, the leadership they provide never compromises our united objective: to first serve the people of Akron!

They have worked closely with Service Director Joe Kidder to create teams that have made tremendous strides to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our workforce especially in the Public Utilities Bureau, and I'm grateful for the responsible way they do their difficult jobs.

Nothing we do in Akron is possible without the countless hours spent by members of City Council who are truly on the front lines of government. Let me recognize those members who are here.

And of course, my family has been most supportive and I sincerely thank them. (Don't worry, I'm not going to even mention my granddaughter this year, because I wouldn't get to anything else.)

But Abigail is very much on my mind when I look at Akron's future. Today, I will try to fulfill a commitment I began three years ago when from this same podium, I pointed out that it had been 25 years since Goals for Greater Akron completed its roadmap to the future.

I felt it was time to take another look forward, and we launched the Imagine.Akron:2025 program that brought together over 400 active volunteers and which solicited comments from more than a thousand residents of Akron.

Last September, here at Tangier, we received their work in the final report of Imagine.Akron. All 200 pages of it. Since that time, those of us in city government have been digesting what our 2-year conversation with the community produced.

I was impressed that the people connected to Imagine.Akron were so positive about Akron's future.

Just a decade ago wherever I went, people would ask me when downtown was going to get a department store, and what I was doing to get back our "rubber jobs."

Imagine.Akron workgroups focused on Akron's real future: creating a downtown entertainment center that will attract young workers and young families, building strong neighborhoods, and creating an environment where Akron companies can be successful and new technology companies can find a home.

I was struck by the openness to change in the 23 separate goals in the Imagine.Akron report. And I welcomed the suggestions that our citizens need to be more involved in the processes of government.

I agreed with the two principal conclusions in the report: that if we are to make progress as a city, we need improved communications and we need to continue innovative collaborations.

I was also struck by the willingness of so many dedicated volunteers to continue to be involved beyond the goal setting stage.

As a first step in implementing the recommendations, I am going to ask that the Imagine.Akron Board of Advisers continue to serve to monitor and give advice during the next phase of implementation.

There are also many other workgroup participants whom I want to encourage staying with us. We need greater participation and collaboration of groups outside City Hall. I will ask City Council to approve money to support this effort.

I would also like to help support the initiative recently announced by this year's Leadership Akron class. They have raised 20-thousand dollars in funds to see 7 specific goals of the Imagine.Akron report become reality. I am asking City Council to match their $20,000, so we can have an even greater impact on the community.

The second step deals with the recommendations regarding city government. The best way I know to assure change is to assign the responsibility to good, experienced people and give them the authority to cut across departmental lines.

Today I am announcing that Diane Miller-Dawson, Akron's Deputy Finance Director, will lead a group of top city officials to focus attention on the implementation of the many recommendations of the Imagine.Akron report.

Her team will include: Paul Barnett, Public Works; Andre Blaylock, Public Service; Jerry Egan and John Moore of the Planning Department; Sherrill Bryson, Economic Development; Captain Dan Zampelli and Lt. Sylvia Trundle of the Police Department; Greg Ervin and Judy Cazzolli of the Health Department; Dale Sroka of CSPA, and perhaps others.

Their job will be to evaluate, plan, and lead the effort to implement changes to make our city even better.

As part of our follow-up to the Imagine.Akron report, we need to take a survey of our citizens to get more specific information regarding city services. That will provide our team with the details it will need to take action exactly where it is needed first.

I am committed to spend the time and effort necessary to begin to achieve the goals established by Imagine.Akron.

I need to take a moment to thank Dave Lieberth for his leadership and I want to thank all of the volunteers who gave of their time to make this project a success. I also need to thank Dave and the Historical Society and everyone who was involved in the celebration of our centeseptequinary. (I hope that's the last time I have to say that.) We had a great series of celebrations and we all learned something about Akron's history.

I want to thank the Beacon Journal and Russ Mussarra for publishing the Akron Snapshots series. Through these tidbits about Akron history, we learned a little bit each day about what Akron was, and what Akron might have been, because what the series also did for me is to remind me of Akron's missed opportunities.

There's a quote on the wall in the National Inventors Hall of Fame that is a favorite of Jim Hillier, the inventor of the electron microscope. And that is, "Chance favors the prepared mind." Put another way, we must work every day to prepare for a future that we have not yet seen and cannot predict.

Over the last year we've made progress consistent with our goal to prepare the city for future opportunities. In between our celebrations, we accomplished a lot:

• the public utilities bureau continued to improve through the teamwork of the competitive action plan
• we completed construction on another leg of the Canal Towpath
• we signed a first class operator to run air services at the Akron-Fulton airport
• we opened our 28th neighborhood development area and helped construct new homes in the city
• we assisted in the rehabilitation of 340 homes
• we finished the rebuilding of the Mustill Store and house along the Ohio Canal Corridor
• we hired additional police (and a new chief) and began a process to improve policing methods
• we opened more job opportunities for our citizens by beginning the expansion of Ascot Industrial Park, and seeing the first company, Quality Mold, move to the Massillon Road Industrial Park
• Gardner Pies and the Electrical Workers Office and Training Center were the first two developments in the new North Turkeyfoot Development Complex, where we will soon see another manifestation of our ability to work with our neighbors: ball fields will be constructed for use by Akron and Coventry kids alike
• we welcomed Go-Jo Industries into its new offices downtown
• we welcomed the M.B.Kitt Company to their new building on Triplett Boulevard. This is significant because it is one of three German-owned companies that have moved here. These companies could have gone anywhere in the United States, but thanks to the cooperative work of A.R.D.B. they are here employing about 80 Akronites. We need to continue to work closely with A.R.D.B to compete for job opportunities in this global marketplace

There are many projects we will undertake this year including starting construction of two parking decks, to attract, more private sector job opportunities downtown.

• we’re happy to see the commitment of Summa Health System to Akron, pleased that the new First Energy will continue to be headquartered in Akron and hopeful that their merger will result in additional jobs
• to assist our small business sector, we’re going to assign individuals in economic development to specific neighborhood business districts to work to improve these important elements of each neighborhood’s economy
• we will continue to landbank property for future development and will work to build more new homes
• in the near future, we will propose to follow the Urban Land Institute’s recommendations by buying and raising the remaining dilapidated buildings between the O’Neil’s building and the civic theatre, thus opening another development site in downtown
• and, we’re going to try something different to provide even more security downtown. We’re planning on installing cameras to monitor activity on Main Street to cut down on aggressive panhandling and other illegal activities. You probably don’t know it, but we’ve had a camera installed on one block for over two years
• and, we might even have a visit by Keanu Reeves and a crew using a camera for a different reason, in Akron this year

At the University of Akron, Luis Proenza and I have struggled with tough problems.

But in spite of a few bumps in the road, it's clear to each of us that the future of the city and the future of the university are linked. In the year 2001, we hope to open new initiatives that will demonstrate an effective collaboration that could help Akron's high technology sector, and help maintain the university's pre-eminent standing as a research center.

In some areas, they have been successful with the creation of research parks that house companies who can parlay the technology developed in university laboratories into new products and new jobs, and place the technology in the stream of global commerce.

I support Dr. Proenza's efforts to encourage the state of Ohio to recognize the economic benefits that flow from resources spent on research. I look forward to working with Dr. Proenza and the University of Akron as we go forward together, preparing our community for the future.

We have accomplished much together as City workers and union leaders; the business community and our non-profit community.

But for all our effort, Akron will fail as a city and as a community if we do not tackle our most serious problem. The Imagine.Akron report identified it - - the Akron Public Schools.

I guess we already knew this.

In my State of the City Address in 1997, I pledged my support to improve the schools, noting that if we did not invest now, we would pay a higher price later.

In 1998 I warned that our failure to place the highest value on schools and teachers would doom the future of our community.

In 1999, I told you that without quality schools that people would flee the city.

Last year I said that we couldn’t be a world-class city without world-class schools. I asked for leadership from the private sector to make the dramatic difference.

As I sat here last September and heard Dave Lieberth deliver the Imagine.Akron report, I wondered if he had not exaggerated the point when he said "revolutionary" change was required in the schools - - not merely evolutionary change.

Over the last few months, I have talked to teachers and principals. Parents and students. Business leaders and public officials. And I have concluded that Dave was wrong. He didn’t go far enough.

I am outraged that there are teachers unable to get into a school building before 7:00am — on their own time — because of work rules enabling custodians to exert a disproportionate amount of power over how our schools can function effectively.

And I am outraged that we are mired in ancient work rules that prohibit the effective use of public buildings for public purposes. In 1974, at my very first meeting at City Hall as a freshman councilman I attended a meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee to see how the city might use school property to enhance neighborhood recreation.

I am ashamed that 27 years later we have made very little progress. We do have recreation programs in some schools - - the city provides recreation leaders for these programs. We use about 9,000 hours right now.

But some school board members have been critical of us. I don't know what the critics think we're doing there, but 91% of that time is to manage recreation programs for kids aged 4 to 12, the same group that our schools are supposed to serve.

We are prohibited from serving neighborhoods where outdated union rules make it almost impossible to use the school buildings for public use after school hours. Archaic work rules, written when janitors shoveled coal into boilers require us to pay custodians to be present while we are using the school.

Imagine what we could do if the school changed those archaic rules and partnered with us to provide tutoring, mentoring, or other enrichment activities that we could require as a condition of participating in the recreation programs. Now this hardly is a groundbreaking program to try in Akron. Hundreds of progressive cities all over the U-S have such programs. I think they even have them in Hungary and Serbia.

I know we have many outstanding teachers and we have dedicated school principals and administrators. I know that they are as frustrated as I am with the slow pace of change. Here’s one example. Recently, I was told that there are some classrooms with computers that are never turned-on, because the teacher chooses not to learn how to use them! This, in a decade when our students will be judged by their computer literacy!

Contrast this with the two teachers at Portage Path Technology School who have received national acclaim. Karen Grindall and John Bennett have found imaginative ways to integrate computers into their elementary school curriculum, and their students benefit. Every student deserves to have all of the resources this community has to offer.

So for the fifth consecutive time now… in the first year of the new century... let me make sure that my accelerating concern over this issue is clear:

If the leaders of Akron’s schools are unable or unwilling to stand up and do what’s right for our children -- to do what’s necessary for Akron families -- to do what is essential for the future of the city of Akron -- then today, I invite the leaders of Akron’s Public Schools to get out of the way and let somebody else do it.

Today, I publicly pledge that I will do anything within my power to assist the Akron Public Schools to succeed. It’s an offer I have made to the schools privately many times.

Today, I pledge that any enemy of Akron’s school children has a new enemy to do battle with… the mayor of the city of Akron. And by this, I specifically include any leader of any labor union representing teachers, custodians, administrators, or school workers who does not place the common-sense interest of students, taxpayers, and hard-working teachers first.

We are at the threshold of opportunity. As the present board seeks to hire a new superintendent of schools, Akron has a chance to employ someone with the leadership skills that befit a great city.

We must rally around a new leader willing to stand up to the old way of doing things, and be bold enough to enforce change that will make Akron schools the best in northeast Ohio. We can not afford to let our children miss the opportunities of the future.

Managing the Akron Public Schools is an awesome responsibility. Brian Williams was the right person to bring peace to an embattled system, but he has announced his retirement and I am very concerned, given the propensity of some board members to push personal agendas rather than do what is right for the system as a whole.

The next superintendent will need to be someone special. He or she will be required to unite the parents and the schools, the students and the teachers, and the schools and the community. The next superintendent will have many obstacles. New state laws, unresolved issues of school financing, new union contracts with school employees, a fragmented constituency, and the need to pass another levy so that we can adequately support the changes required.

Akron is hardly alone. Around the country, these same difficult problems have perplexed education professionals. But in some cities, they have found solutions by working together and embracing change. And the Summit Education Initiative has tried to highlight these successes.

But, in Chicago and more recently in Cleveland the schools have been so bad they have come under the management of the mayor and the city. There are those who ask me when I will step in and ask the state to look at Akron’s declining enrollment, our declining performance scores, and the good teachers and principals fleeing the city they once loved.

As part of my job, I sometimes have to make tough decisions and do difficult things that I’d rather not do. And I want to make it clear -- I have no personal desire to see our city schools come under the control of the Municipal Government of Akron. But I want the leaders of our schools and the leaders of our school unions to hear me well today. There is literally nothing I would NOT do, to save Akron Public Schools if I felt there were no reasonable alternative. I will not sit back and continue to watch Akron Public Schools disintegrate before my eyes.

The reason is simple. Each one of these children is the city of Akron’s future. Sometimes it’s hard to see the future. But this fall, I got a glimpse of what it is like.

On a Sunday afternoon last September I kept a date that was sort of put on my calendar 50 years ago. I was only a year old in 1950, and I hadn’t given a speech yet. But on July 29, 1950, Mayor Charles Slusser sat down and wrote a letter to the person who would be mayor in the year 2000.

Mayor Slusser wrote that in 1950, Akron had a higher concentration of automobiles than any city in the United States except Los Angeles. The solution was the investment to the tune of 60-million dollars in an expressway system that was just beginning.

Mayor Slusser noted that they were re-building the Botzum Disposal Plant and enlarging the water works. There were 11 fire stations, and they were building 4 more. The uniformed services were severely understaffed, partly because the city was still paying off bonds from the Depression years, and was struggling.

This was a mayor serving in the city going through a tremendous transition from World War II to a peacetime economy, still struggling to meet the financial burdens for bonds from decades before. Yet, he was building. Committing to undertake major construction projects. Why? Because he had hope.

Hope for the future. He was investing for the future. He was preparing future generations for opportunities. Here’s what he said:

"We are a city of 70% home owners, with a great and strong civic pride, and particularly so in neighborhood communities. Akron ... has a very bright future, and it is our hope that as we reach the year 2000, each generation participating in the growth of our city can count with pride the efforts of the past generations."

Our grandfathers and our grandmothers, our fathers and mothers took pride in preparing Akron for its future, even through difficulties.

The question is: What will our grandchildren say about us?

Thank you.