IS CANTON OVER THE LONGER TERM TO BE RENAMED THE "HALL OF FAME CITY?

UPDATED FINAL:  12:35 PM

VIDEOS

MAYOR HEALY'S PERSPECTIVE

Beginnings of the HOF Village Project

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MAYOR HEALY PRESENTS 
$5 MILLION CHECK

TO

HOF CEO C. DAVID BAKER

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BAKER'S PERSPECTIVE 

ON UNFOLDING OF

HALL OF FAME VILLAGE CONCEPT

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MAYOR HEALY

"Can you Imagine" 
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 POST-EVENT INTERVIEW
HOF CEO C. DAVID BAKER
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HALL OF FAME AFL-CIO PRESIDENT

DANIEL SCUIRY 
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REACTION TO STATE OF CITY
Councilman Thomas West
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REACTION TO STATE OF CITY
Councilman Richard Hart
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REACTION TO STATE OF CITY
Councilman Edmond Mack
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REACTION TO STATE OF CITY
Councilman Frank Morris
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REACTION TO STATE OF CITY
Councilman John Mariol
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REACTION TO STATE OF CITY
Deputy Mayor Fonda Williams

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POST-EVENT INTERVIEW
MAYOR WILLIAM J. HEALY, II

Back on March 1, 2012, Canton mayor William J. Healy, II delivered his 5th Annual State of the City address.

In that address Healy dubbed Canton as being "The Utica Capital."

Here is how the SCPR in a March 2, 2012 blog described the unveiling:

At the time, Healy and a number of Canton councilpersons and representatives of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce and others were exuding euphoria at the prospect that Canton was on the cusp of a huge financial/economic turnaround from the doldrums to bliss without seeming end.

Canton to this day maintains the trademark of being The Utica Capital.

However, the projected financial/economic boom has not materialized.

There is no doubt that the horizontal fracking of shale for oil and gas products has had financial and economic benefits for Canton and Stark County, but not on the scale that the March 1, 2012 euphoria projected.

Ironically, the company which had located in Canton (Chesapeake Energy), a mere four months later purchased 291 acres of land in nearby Louisville, Ohio and moved its local office out of Canton to "The Constitution City" in July, 2014.

At last night's 8th Annual State of the City address, euphoria was once again the order of the evening as Healy put on a fireworks display at the end featuring C. David Baker who became executive director of Pro Football Hall of Fame on January 2, 2014.

Mayor Healy's address went on for about 45 minutes before a crowd of a few hundred at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Complex that straddles Interstate 77 near the Fulton Road NW exit.

Much of it was a rehash of the history of William J. Healy's administration of the government of Canton.

The "really big thing" (a la Ed Sullivan of the 1950's TV variety show) which deserves the most media attention is the appearance of Baker with a "promo-esque" video clip touting the potential of what has been dubbed The Hall of Fame Village Project (HOF-V-P).

Yours truly recalls Canton Councilman Greg Hawk (Finance Committee chair, who was not present last night) at a Canton City Council work session boldly predicting that hundreds of millions of dollars in Hall of Fame Village development expenditures would enormously benefit Canton as a reason why Canton City Council should allocate $5 million in city financial resources to the initial phase of the multi-dimensional the HOF-V-P).

For those readers who are unfamiliar with the unveiling of the project and who is contributing what (so far) to the project, here is a SCPR LINK to a prior blog (December 14, 2014) which provides more details.

Last night in a grandiose style that shows a quintessential "think big" William J. Healy, II, the mayor (surrounded by Councilpersons Tom West [Ward 2], Chris Smith [Ward 4], Kevin Fisher [Ward 5], David Dougherty [Ward 6], John Mariol [Ward 7], Edmond Mack [Ward 8] and Frank Morris [Ward 9], Richard Hart [At-Large] and Jimmy Babock [At-Large] presented Baker with a gigantic (for show) 5 million dollar check.

What Healy did not do last night was to change the name of Canton to Hall of Fame City.

It could be because he missed his cue as shown in the graphic that was part of the video mentioned above.

Now that the SCPR has brought this representative to the attention of the mayor, will his wheels be turning to come up with a way to convince Canton City Council and Canton's citizens to buy into a name change?

The Utical Capital thing seems to suggest that the thought of changing Canton, Ohio to Hall of Fame City is roaming around in the mayor's mind.

But how could he sell a renaming?

Answer:  He probably can't but the question is this:  Is the SCPR onto something here?  Renaming a centuries old city certainly would be a big PR coup, no?

When the SCPR covers an event like last night's, The Report generally posts the entire video.

But in this instance the SCPR narrows the video coverage to the Hall of Fame segment of the address.

In a nutshell, the rest of the address:

• got into the particulars of Canton's financially distressed history pretty much from the time Healy became mayor and how his leadership is slowly but surely pulling the city out of its financial stress, and
• focused on his four pillars (Link to prior SCPR blog) upon which to revitalize Canton on a stable and sustainable pathway to recovering some semblance of Canton's former glory,  to wit: (i.e. the four pillars)
• SCPR Note: many of the slides used last night by Mayor Healy were merely updates of those used in prior State of City addresses and which are contained in the above-linked blog of April, 2014.

In today's blog, yours truly picks up with Healy turning to the HOF-V-P at the very end of his presentation.

VIDEO 1

Mayor Healy

How the HOF Village Project Got Started



VIDEO 2

Mayor Healy Presents $5 Million Check to HOF CEO C. David Baker



VIDEO 3

HOF CEO C. David Baker's Perception of the Development of HOF Village Concept



VIDEO 4

Mayor Healy:  Can You Imagine?

As far as the SCPR is concerned this part of the mayor's presentation was the most inspiring.

And the mayor, being the accomplished politician he is, hammed it up big-time (i.e. the crescendoing music).

Yours truly is not much into politicians and their typical political hype.

But one thing that the SCPR thinks is lacking in Stark County government and political leadership is the lack of the ability to motivate the citizenry to action.

Of course, this can be overdone to point that one gets suspicious of whether a leader's use of emotion is sheer hype or a desire to get "boots on the ground" to achieve "the seemingly impossible."

The Report for now will take Healy's finale as being a case of the latter rather than the former.

Authentic inspiring, motivating leadership is sorely lacking among Stark's leadership.

Hopefully, Healy over time will prove to be "the real deal."

And if he delivers, then the SCPR's admonition to the rest of Stark County's leadership is to go and do likewise!

Here is the Healy "Can You Imagine" video.



VIDEO 5

HOF CEO David Baker

Impressions of Canton



VIDEO 6

AFL-CIO President Dan Scuiry

Regarding "Organized Labor's" State in HOF Village



VIDEO 7

Ward 2 Councilman Thomas West

Likes HOF Village Project

Likes What He Heard on Ward 2 Projects



VIDEO 8

Councilman-at-Large Richard Hart

Canton Has Many Unresolved Problems

Likes HOF Project



VIDEO 9

Ward 8 Councilman Edmond Mack

Likes Mayor/Council Partnership Talk



VIDEO 10

WARD 9 COUNCILMAN FRANK MORRIS

A Wait and See Attitude



VIDEO 11

Ward 7 Councilman John Mariol

Likes Talk of Market Square and HOF Village



VIDEO 12

DEPUTY MAYOR & CHIEF OF STAFF FONDA WILLIAMS

Likes Working With "Team Healy"



VIDEO 13

Mayor William J. Healy, II

On Feedback from Audience Members after Speech



Ward 5 Councilman Kevin Fisher got away last night before the SCPR could get around to interview him.

But he did provide The Report with the following comments regarding the mayor's presentation.

I think the Mayor did an excellent job of laying out where the city was a few years ago and where it is today, as well as where he wants to take it.  

He also did a particularly good job of showing the size and scope of the Kasich Tax on local governments. I don't feel many in the public know the correlation between the state budget and local services.

I was also very happy that we got to hear from David Baker on the Hall of Fame Village. 
The more people get to see the impact that the Village will have on Canton, the more excited and optimistic they will become about Canton's future. 

As Charita Goshay [a Repository columnist] pointed out her latest column, there is a tendency to be pessimistic among some in Canton...and after the decades of neglect communities like ours have suffered at the hands of the state and federal government,  I can't blame them.  

I wish everyone had the opportunity to hear David Baker speak, because he really makes you want to strap on the chinstrap and get on the field (please note my football themed metaphor, for extra credit).

While I was happy to hear the Mayor talk about increases in safety forces, I would have liked to hear about the needs we have in other departments as well.

The Streets Department has  been understaffed to handle the fallout from two horrible winters...
Code Enforcement does not have nearly enough manpower to handle the workload our residents expect from us....and the same holds true throughout nearly every department. 

While I applaud the commitment both Council and the Mayor have had in recent years to getting safety forces back to near full strength,  we must recognize that important work needs done in many other areas, and that will require collaboration from both Council and the Administration to accomplish. 

All and all, I think the evening went very well. I compliment the Mayor and his staff for putting together a great presentation... 

Kevin