DAVIES BOWS OUT IN NORTH CANTON ON ANTI-FRACKING AT LEAST FOR NOW. HAS TO BE A DISAPPOINTMENT TO PLAIN'S CHRIS BORELLO - STARK COUNTY'S PRE-EMINENT BATTLER FOR A CAUSE!

The expression "fight[ing] like a girl" used to be exclusively as an insult.  Men have used it among themselves to describe other men whom the utterer of the phrase wanted put down as being weak.

One of the biggest changes in the American political landscape has been the power demonstrated by American women as they have increasingly taken on leadership in fighting for the causes of political, economic and social justice.

Names of extraordinarily courageous and effective women who dot the ongoing march of women in the annals of American history into a role of powerful leadership include National Women's Hall of Fame inductees Bella Abzug, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jeannette Rankin, Madeleine Albright, Maya Angelou, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Susan Kelly-Dreiss from among 236 of such inductees.

While she may not make it into the National Women's Hall of Fame, Stark County's Christine  "Chris" Borello carries on the fight of contemporary and archival American women for the causes they have and continue to believe in.

Chris's fight is for the health, safety and well-being of Stark Countians.  Moreover, though, her work spills out to benefit people across the nation.

Whether or not one agrees with Borello's position on issues she takes on, a fair minded person absolutely has to admire her grit, guts and determination which translates into "never giving up!"

Because of the work of the 236 women in the National Women's Hall of Fame and countless other anonymous American women who fight, fight, fight for the causes they believe in on a day-in, day-out basis, the SCPR believes the expression of "fight like a girl" has taken on new meaning in modern parlance and is submerging the sexist expression of macho men.

Yours truly has known Chris Borello for about 30 years.  In fact, we have children who attended school together in the Lake school system.

She now lives in Plain Township, but she has been (since the early 1980s) been battling to get a complete cleanup of the Uniontown Industrial Excess Landfill (IEL) located in Lake Township.  IEL is a dump which was - in the main - used by Akron-based rubber companies to dump toxic industrial waste in a former Uniontown quarry.

Of late, she has taken up - in addition to her continuing IEL fight - the cause of anti-fracking.

Horizontal hydrofracking is a means of tapping shale deposits containing natural gas that were previously inaccessible by conventional drilling. Vertical hydrofracking is used to extend the life of an existing well once its productivity starts to run out, sort of a last resort. Horizontal fracking differs in that it uses a mixture of 596 chemicals, many of them proprietary, and millions of gallons of water per frack. This water then becomes contaminated and must be cleaned and disposed of.

In an exchange with local self-described super attorney William G. Williams of Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co., L.P.A. so quintessentially shows the fire of Chris Borello:

One of Borello's chief frustrations has to be dealing with politicians.

There is not one Stark County politician who Borello thinks might help her in her quest to make the Stark County environment safe for all of us who has not been lobbied by her to join her cause.

The closest that she ever got (in the opinion of the SCPR) to getting a politician to go all out in joining her in the fight to clean up IEL was Robert Horowitz (deceased November 14, 2003) who served as Stark County prosecutor from 1985 through 2003.

Bob did a lot of sincere, effective work to help Chris, but in the end he seemed to have yielded to political pressure to back off.

Yours truly has always told Borello that her drive to prove on the "merits of the case" her cause, while admirable, will not get the job done for her.  The Report believes that the solutions come from the political realm.

But there is one major problem with politicians.

They have to get elected and if they think that an issue will cause them a problem getting elected (or, re-elected, as the case may be), they scatter to the four winds and abandon what appeared to be a commitment "in a heartbeat."

A notable Stark County politician who seemingly has embraced whole-heartedly the fight to ban horizontal hydraulic fracking is Demcrat Plain Township Trustee Louis Giavasis.  Another stalwart appears to be Democratic Canton Councilwoman Mary Cirelli.

In December, 2010 Giavasis caused quite a stir among the oil and gas interests in Stark County (most notably Attorney William G. Williams - a Republican), when he proposed a ban of such fracking in Plain Township.

Williams responded with what many believe to be a letter designed (followed up later onwith a second letter) to intimidate Giavasis.  However, as politicians go, Giavasis so far is proving steadfast in his commitment to fight fracking in Plain and has moreover tried to get other Stark County political jurisdictions to follow his lead.  One such entity has been North Canton City Council through Republican Councilman Jeff Davies (Ward 3).

Giavasis has been successful in getting fellow Democratic Plain Township Al Leno to join him on passing resolutions to ask Ohio to place a moratorium on fracking and banning fracking on and under township park lands, and other township owned land as well has under township roadways.  Republican Trustee Scott Haws has refused to support the Giavasis effort.

Chris Borello and a bevy of northeast Ohio environmentalist have been at his side each step of the way.

But, like so many politicians before him, Davies appears to be bailing out - at least until he gets re-elected.  Witness this e-mail between Davies and Giavasis:

A former North Canton politician tells the SCPR that he thinks there is a good chance that Davies will lose his 3rd Ward seat on November 8th.

Other Stark politicians who have shown some interest in joining the anti-fracking fight include Alliance Councilman Steve Okey (Democrat running for mayor of Alliance) and Councilman Tony Townsend of Massillon (a Democrat).  However, lame duck Massillon Mayor Frank Cicchinelli (Democrat) may be the foremost example of a Stark politician who favors fracking.  He is trying to negate the Townsend -led effort by suggesting that a council anti-fracking stance may cost Massillon about 500 new oil and gas industry jobs.

Also a word about Canton City Council President Allen Schulman (a Democrat).  Initially, he seemed to be on board with Giavasis and Cirelli, but his stance seems to have changed.  Wonder what has ben behind that?

Giavasis' most important ally in the judgment of the SCPR is Borello.

Most of her work is done "behind the scenes" as she constantly reminds yours truly that her causes are not about her, BUT ABOUT THE CAUSE.

Undoubtedly, between IEL and the anti-fracking issues, Borello is used to politicians like Davies who very typically "goes a runnin" when the political heat gets applied.

The Report thinks that Giavasis will stick with Borello through "thick and thin," but who knows.

One thing about Chris Borello, she is part and parcel of giving new meaning to "fighting like a girl" and one can be sure that:

'CHRIS BORELLO WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!!"

DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE WHOM CONTACTED WHOM IN THE NORTH CANTON - ACME "ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?" FLAP?

UPDATE: May 14, 2009 at 4:00 P.M.

The SCPR has received a reaction from Mayor Francis Cicchinell, Jr of Massillon. Mayor Cicchinelli takes exception to North Canton Council president Daryl Revoldt's assertion that Massillon could not find an adequate facility for Myers Industries to relocate within Massillon.

Mayor Cicchinellli says that Myers Industries officials told Massillon officials that the facilities Fleming Foods had vacated were large enough, if retrofitted, for Myers' needs.

Cicchinelli says he believes that North Canton (Ohio Department of Development) money trumped the adequacy of facilities question.

UPDATE: May 13, 2009 at 12:30 P.M.

REVOLDT RESPONSE:

Wooster paid a very heavy price for denying Rubbermaid a small abatement.

In the end, as noted, the situation helped sever the emotional relationship and the company declined to work with the community upon exit...  

Wayne County is now recognized as one of the nation's fastest growing microcommunities. Visit the Wayne Economic Council Website for details.

I would submit that one of the reasons for the county's success (Wooster and Orrville) after losing Rubbermaid was the change in its development thought process. The mind set today re development assistance is 180 degrees from 10 years ago.  Ask yourself, why is Wooster more successful than Stark County in business growth? What differentiates the two? It's not like they are in two different time zones.

If this situation occurred in Wooster or Orrville, there would be little debate.  Why? Because both took the Rubbermaid lesson to heart.

Just last week, Wooster placed $100,000 into a city business development account. In effect, it did what NC did recently (and which Chuck attempted to strip away). Why? Because the account can be a useful lending instrument.

There's no point in beating a dead horse. But if one wants to be successful in business, one needs to think like a business person. And that means a strategy to attract AND RETAIN business.  As in many relationships, the little things matter. There is a psychology to these relationships. Communities ignore it at their own peril. The city discounted the cost of the Acme project. 

North Canton does have a plan:  it added an economic development director. It has multiple incentives, including a long standing and large community reinvestment area. It has a well funded CIC. It has established a good working relationship with its primary industrial partner, IRG.  It has attempted to hold down taxes. It has applied for and received state and federal grants for economic development related infrastructure and industrial sites.

One final note, relocations within stark county are inevitable. Sites, like shoes, no longer fit companies when they grow. When the state helped Hoover research move 200 jobs from the city  to TTI's Cleveland facility, the city didn't whine. The move made business sense. 

When Brown Mackey outgrew its W Maple location in N Canton, the city HELPED it find space in Jackson township.  No one read about Jackson poaching from NC or moaning about lost imcome etc. It was a good situation for all of us... Brown Mackey was GROWING. Great!

Myers could have relocated to PA. The company worked with Massillon for nearly two years (and I called Bob Sanderson and directly asked if Massillon had any viable site.... it did not). So, the jobs came to NC.

With regard to Schorer, it had outgrown its Whipple site. It literally had become the Old Woman and the Shoe. People were jammed into every corner. DeHoff had ample opportunity to relocate the company to another facility. None worked. Jackson Twp in fact knew the company was looking and could not
provide an alternative

Would we have preferred the Schorer Headquarters go to Akron? Or do we wish it stayed in Stark County?  We know the answer here.

Right now, IRG is working on a $900M Goodyear project (headquarters, general office, retail)  in Akron. It has a JRS grant, state loans and city and port authority funding. The project is deemed vital to the revitalization of the East Akron area.  It keeps Goodyear in Akron.... both the jobs and the PRESTIGE (here we go with an intangible) were deemed important.

Do you actually believe that every tenant in the general office will be NEW to OHIO? If we insist that be the case because public money isinvolved, the project will fail and with it hopes for the revitalization of East Akron.

Keep this in mind:  most economic development is the expansion of an existing business. Rare are the new starts or the new to Ohio projects. So, if we acknowledge that expansions can occur in one of two ways, at the existing site or at a new site, we can cut the debate. As a stark county [sic] strategy, we should encourage expansion at the existing site, but when circumstances don't allow it, help it happen at the new stark county site. 

ORIGINAL STORY BELOW
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North Canton citizen and one time North Canton councilman Chuck Osborne generated a controversy in North Canton Council over a $6,600 property tax abatement that North Canton has granted Acme (actually the F.W. Albrecht Grocery Company - Acme's official name) for some improvements that are going to made ($1.2 million worth) at the company's North Canton store.

North Canton Council approved the abatement this past Monday.

The apparent issue was whether or not North Canton went running to Acme with the abatement dole out without Acme having ever asked for it.

As the SCPR is wont to do, yours truly created a "tongue-in-check" graphic to poke a little fun at North Canton officials. Obviously, North Canton does not have a vehicular unit, as pictured, designed to go out a spread the "good news of tax abatement" for North Canton connected businesses in hopes of inspiring thoughts of job creating expansion.

But the reaction by some members of Council to Osborne begs the question: why so sensitive?

Is there a grain of truth or more to Osborne's allegation that North Canton's economic development team is working hard to give away taxpayer money for nothing in exchange?

Hum?

Councilmen DeOrio and Davies (whom abstained in the Acme vote for conflict reasons) for two seem not to favor creating an "anticipatory business environment friendly" economic development tool that Council president Daryl Revoldt (a former Ohio Department of Development official and mayor of North Canton) promotes. DeOrio and Davies favor a BUT FOR approach, that is to say: Company X will not come North Canton unless the company gets a subsidy."

Revoldt, if asked, will go into great detail as to why the annexation agreement recently worked out between Canton and Jackson Township on a specific Jackson-located strip of land is not a sustainable economic development model.

The SCPR agrees with Revoldt on his Canton/Jackson Township analysis which is based on calculable plus and minus tax revenue factors.

But not on his "anticipatory business environment friendly" model.

It is hard to believe Revoldt jettisons his numerical approach so easily in promoting this latter model. For him to do so, is utterly un-Revoldt like. The "anticipatory business environment friendly" model is more like a hope and a prayer approach that, at best, can only serve as an augmentation to a "real" economic development plan.

Even at that, shelling out taxpayer dollars and getting "no value added" in return? Tax revenues are in short, short supply in North Canton, aren't they?

To get a more complete picture of Revoldt's concept, Council's reaction, Osborne's input, Economic Development Director Eric Bowles take and Acme's response, CLICK HERE to see the minutes of the April 27, 2009 North Canton Council meeting.

Interestingly enough, Canton economic development director Robert Torres says he is a BUT FOR administrator.

Now back to the original question.

Does it make any difference whom contacted whom first in the North Canton/Acme scenario.

Clearly, it doesn't.

Let's assume Osborne is incorrect: North Canton did not run the SCPR fictional mobile unit up to F.W. Abrecht Company located at 2700 Gilchrist Road in Akron and rain showers of financial blessing on the company at North Canton's initiative.

Does anyone believe that Revoldt (whom the SCPR believes controls North Canton Council and perhaps is even the de facto mayor of the Dogwood City), given his anticipatory economic development philosophy, wouldn't have shepherded through an abatement request once Acme officials realized subsidies are to be had for the asking and invoked the formality?

The larger issue is not whom asked whom. Such is like the doomed passengers arguing about rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titantic.

The main issue is this: what entity in Stark County is going to develop a "real" economic development plan with long term infrastructure creation and improvement that in time reinvents the entity's economic viability?

The SCPR believes that there is no township, village or city in all of Stark County that has a viable (sustainable) economic development plan. Nor does Stark County itself.

North Canton is out getting business from Massillon and Jackson Township (using Ohio tax dollars via Job Ready Site money) to relocate a few miles into the city and rewarding its businesses for being a "good corporate citizens" with tax breaks.

Canton (with Annexation Director Sam Sliman, who self describes as the "Darth Vader to the townships," is targeting the unwilling in his quest to solve Canton's severe economic woes through militant annexation.

Jackson Township is consorting with Canton in a vain attempt to preserve its identity for the next 100 years.

Massillon is mimicking Canton's Sliman.

Only one of Stark County's three commissioners has the slightest clue about economic development.

What a mess!