CORRECTION: The point at which Canton loses a city council seat is 70,000 and since the population is in excess of 70,000, Canton DOES NOT go from 9 council seats to 8. (3/15/2011)
ORIGINAL POST
In this fourth of the Stark County Political Report's series on the mayoralty contest underway in Canton, the focus is on Republican candidate A.R. "Chip" Conde's take on what needs to be done to revitalize Canton's neighborhoods.
On Wednesday of this week, the U.S. Census Bureau released data showing that Canton went from a population of 80,806 to 73,007 resulting in a loss of 7,799 residents.
In the political/governmental realm, the loss means that Canton City Council will be pared down from nine wards to eight wards. According to state law - so says Canton Law Director Joseph Martuccio - Canton must redistrict not later than March 31, 2012.
While there will clearly be a lot of political infighting over the next year among the nine councilpersons as to whom "the odd man out" will be, redistricting is not the most important issue facing Cantonians
Revitalizing Canton's neighborhoods is the "key" issue. There are 55 active neighborhood associations in the city. They, according to Republican mayoralty candidate "Chip" Conde, are critically important to the resurrection of Canton.
William J. Healy, II has been mayor of Canton since January 1, 2007. On February 15, 2011 he decides to for the "Mayor's Neighborhood Commission. Hmm? Politically inspired? So says Candidate Conde.
In the following video, Candidate Conde discusses Canton's neighborhood as being a vital ingredient in Canton's recovery and laces Healy for politicizing and cherry-picking representatives from the neighborhood associations in the context of forming the Mayor's Commission on Neighborhoods.
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