Kent’s Phoenix Taking Flight...

Posted by dave in Taking Care of Business on July 30, 2008 | No Comments

I stopped by to check in on the progress of Ron Burbick’s Phoenix Project on Main Street and I’m pleased to report that he’s got things rolling. Scaffolding is up, hammers are hammering and construction dumpsters are being filled. Ron always said that once he makes up his mind to do something he doesn’t mess around, he just goes out and gets it done. He’s proving his point once again with this $6 million renovation. Every time I see him he tells me that he just landed another new tenant, and sure enough he added another one to the list on Friday. Part of Ron’s motivation in this project was to show that if you make quality space available at the right price point retailers will come knocking and with phases 1 & 2 just about fully leased within the first month of renovation I’d have to say he’s punctuated his point with an exclamation mark. Go Ron Go!

I know Ron’s had a few health issues to deal with this year but you’d never know it these days, this project has put the spring back in his step. He’s wheeling and dealing to do his part in downtown Kent and his excitement for what he’s doing is contagious. He’s passionate about downtown Kent but rather than talk about it he’s putting his money to work to show it.

Anyone that knows Ron expected no less. He’s been a success in everything he’s done. He’s a straight talker who never settles for less. That spirit has allowed he and his wife to make the Burbick Foundation into Kent’s most philanthropic organization. Ron and his wife’s fingerprints are on almost all of our most cherished Kent projects and if you search Ron’s name in the Record Publisher archives you’ll see that he’s been honored with everything from the Chamber’s Public Service Award to Robinson Memorial’s Distinguished Service Award and everything in between.

Ron’s a practitioner of tough love with his projects and he doesn’t suffer bureaucracy easily. He’s more of a damn the torpedos full speed ahead sort of guy. That means there are times when he lets me know how we could do things better as a city in no uncertain terms. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And neither would Mayor Fender who wrote the following letter to the editor that sums up the City’s appreciation for everything Ron and his wife have done in our community.

Thank you, Ron Burbick and the Burbick Foundation, for being a major force in the renovation of our historic downtown district. The $6 million Burbick Phoenix Project not only will greatly enhance the image of Kent, it also will be a catalyst for additional investors.

As some of you may know, Mr. Burbick, a retired Schneller Inc. executive, is very active in supporting numerous local organizations that improve our community’s quality of life. These include Main Street Kent, Leadership Portage County, the Rotary Club of Kent, Family & Community Services, Coleman Professional and the Children’s Advocacy Group, just to name a few.

Mr. Burbick, I, along with many others, appreciate your commitment to our city as we forge ahead with many future projects. I’m reminded of a quote by John F. Kennedy: “There are risks and costs to programs of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” Your actions and investment in our community will yield tremendous returns in years to come.

On behalf of a grateful community, I offer our thanks for your ongoing contributions and leadership that will continue to transform our town and greatly enhance the vibrancy of the heart of our community, our historic downtown.

Mayor John Fender
Kent

The Traffic Signal Dilemma...

Posted by dave in Safe City, Services News on July 29, 2008 | No Comments

We took the whole reinventing government movement to heart and as a result we have tried to adopt a more customer centered approach to running the business of City services. That means responding to concerns more quickly and professionally. It means really listening to people and anticipating their needs in our service delivery. When you pride yourself on being a City government that works hard to listen to its customers, receiving citizen requests to put in new traffic signals can be downright painful. The customer service side of me wants to say — one new traffic signal coming right up — but thanks to that modern marvel of traffic signals I’ve come to see that there’s a difference between being responsive and being responsible. And when it comes to public safety that distinction can save lives.

I completely appreciate our customers’ desire for new traffic signals — I’m a driver too and as I wait for a gap from a side street I find myself wishing I had a signal to take advantage of. It’s inconvenient to wait and it feels less safe to have to shoot the gaps in traffic. Most of us certainly look at traffic signals as something that will make things safer for drivers but at the risk of oversimplification let me try to offer a little more of the traffic engineering thought process when it comes to new signal installations.

I know this may seem counter-intuitive — but traffic safety research shows very clearly that traffic signals will cause accidents, particularly rear-end accidents, as well as put driver’s at risk for other dangerous accidents — like red light running. Unfortunately, despite our hopes and best intentions in putting in new signals, the new signals will bring more accidents whether we like it or not.

I’m sure you’ve found yourself getting ready to pull out because you have the green only to have a car come screaming through in the other direction. It shouldn’t happen but it does and it happens frequently enough that the traffic engineers can actually predict with remarkable accuracy how often it will happen based on traffic volumes. I know we all think we have a unique intersection but when you study traffic accident data, driver behavior is fairly predictable and it shows that drivers hit more drivers at signalized intersections than anywhere else.

So before putting in a new signal the engineers have to be sure that the increase in the new accidents will be offset by the decrease in frequency or severity of accidents that are already happening at the intersection without a signal in place. There’s a highly refined statistical process that they use and in the end they use that data to determine if a new signal will make things safer or worse.

You might be surprised to learn that we run those traffic analyses and no matter how many ways we look at the data, it often comes back saying that a signal will result in more accidents at an intersection than are occurring today which is why we will often have to say no to our customers.

Saying no is no way to treat your customer if you’re trying to delight them but if you’re trying to keep them alive it is exactly what we have to say sometimes. That doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to say but with the stakes so high we definitely don’t want to put them in greater harm. Honestly, if we didn’t care about the safety of our customers it would be easier on all of us to not take the unpopular position of saying no to a new signal but we just can not sacrifice safety in the interest of expediency or convenience.

With the invention of traffic signals some 90 years ago in our own backyard in Cleveland, I guess we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves. There are days when I wish Mr. William Phelps Eno had been right in 1928 when he observed that “…students of traffic are beginning to realize the false economy of mechanically controlled traffic, and hand work by trained officers will again prevail.”

From the City of Scottsdale Arizona Transportation Department
Traffic signals always decrease congestion and delay for some vehicles, and always increase delay and congestion for other vehicles. By definition, a green light for some traffic is a red light for other traffic. Signals typically reduce certain types of accidents and increase other types of accidents. Prior to the installation of a traffic signal in Scottsdale, a thorough study is completed that analyzes the anticipated advantages and disadvantages of the proposed signal.

The procedure utilized was developed by the Federal Highway Administration. It consists of eight separate, but related warrants (sets of criteria). The primary consideration is the traffic volumes on each of the approaches to the intersection. An equally important factor is the accident history at the intersection. The proximity of other traffic signals is also considered. The presence of pedestrians, schools, hospitals, and other similar considerations are also analyzed.

From Indiana DOT
One should do what one reasonably can, but refrain from making conditions worse by doing something for the sake of appearing to “do something” (physician’s “primum non nocere” principle), and one should consider all practical solutions at one’s disposal.

Unfortunately, heavy reliance on single-access design for suburban residential subdivisions has limited residents’ escape options and reinforced the misconception that the only proper way to access destinations to a driver’s left at an unsignalized intersection is just to suck it up and execute a left turn onto the arterial roadway, at whatever risk to life, limb, and carriage.

Making a series of right turns is apt to be less conflict-prone than executing
a left turn at an unsignalized intersection, but on a one-mile superblock could
require three miles of additional travel (one way). Simply providing access
connections out the back and sides of a subdivision may greatly reduce the
inconvenience of alternative routes.

For costs less than or comparable to those of installing a signal, it may also
be feasible to make geometric adjustments at the intersection of concern so
that left turns can be made with less anxiety.

What “feels good” or “feels like” is not a reliable indicator of safety
performance of a proposed traffic signal, and making an exception to warrants (if no warrant is satisfied) is to embark on a slippery slope.

A signal works primarily by stopping traffic. Anytime a car stops on a highway, the possibility exists that a following motorist will not notice the stopped vehicle until it is too late to avoid a crash.

We have seen that a traffic signal is not a cure-all. It may solve some problems at an intersection, but it may contribute to others. A signal at the wrong location can cause crashes or congestion, or both. For this reason, your safety requires that INDOT investigate each signal request carefully.

From Utah DOT
Traffic signals are often perceived to be a “cure-all” for all traffic related problems at intersections. Unfortunately this is not the case as unjustified traffic signals can adversely affect the safety and efficiency of vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic.

It turns out that Mr. Eno was wrong and everywhere I’ve worked new signal installation requests have been full of stress for everyone involved so I have to admit that they are one of the least favorite aspects of my job. But it’s not just a Kent-thing, here’s a sampling of signal stuff from other cities:

Frequently Asked Financial Questions...

Posted by dave in City Dollars and Sense, Services News on July 28, 2008 | No Comments

Before I left for vacation I offered a city financial update and now that I’m back I thought it was worth following up with a few answers to the questions that we are getting about Council’s interest in adopting the Blue Ribbon Panel recommendation to reduce the income tax credit to 75% rather than the current 100%. These are tough issues so I figure if I can at least try to help clarify points of confusion the discussion might stand a better chance if it can occur based on facts rather than misconceptions.

Finance Q&A

What is the income tax credit?
The City’s current tax structure grants people that live in Kent but work outside of Kent a 100% credit on their income tax. That means if you work in a city that has a 2% income tax or higher you pay no income tax to Kent. Or if the City where you work has a 1% income tax you pay 1% to them and 1% to the City (for a total of 2%). Twenty years ago few neighboring cities had a 2% income tax but today many do which means the City has lost about $500,000 a year that used to come in to Kent but is now going to those other cities. Losing this funding is particularly hard since residents typically consume services where they live (in Kent) not where they work yet they are paying less than .10 cents on the dollar of what it costs to provide those services in Kent.

Why is City Council looking at changing the income tax credit?
Back in 2006 the City Council asked a Panel of 6 local investment managers, bankers and accountants for their advice on how to solve the City’s worsening financial condition. At that time the City had just ended 2005 $1.5 million in the red with revenues failing to keep pace with expenses for the third straight year. If something didn’t change the City would run out of money in 2-3 years. After 8 months of study the Panel members recommended a list of changes to City Council including a reduction in the income tax credit. The Council took the Panel’s recommendations out to the community in a series of neighborhood meetings in 2006 and 2007 to get public input. Then in 2007 Council adopted the first item, a $5 change in the vehicle license fee. Now in 2008 Council is considering adopting a second item, a 25% reduction in the income tax credit.

Why can’t the City just cut expenses?
We can and we have. Over the last five years the City has cut jobs and reduced the work force by about 8% saving over $1 million a year. The City has also cut contracts, supplies and materials saving another $1 million. But that wasn’t enough so the City put a 3-year (2005, 06, 07) hiring freeze into effect which has added a total of $2.6 million to the City’s savings. These cuts and freezes made it possible to build up our reserves again – which is important — but the cuts have not spurred an economic recovery so the most we can say we’ve accomplished by cutting has been to delay when we run out of money.

Why can’t we just make all the cuts permanent?
The cuts are permanent and the frozen positions could be made permanent but that gets to a bigger question of what kind of community we want to live in. We’ve worked hard to stretch resources the best we could but the more cuts we make the lower the levels of service we can provide. If we want to try to cut our way out of this problem we’ll have to be accept the fact that further cuts will mean fewer employees and less City services. Less service will mean longer delays, fewer potholes patched, and fewer sidewalks repaired. It will mean fewer people available to wait on customers, return calls, and answer questions. It will mean less time to study, plan and anticipate future needs. We can cut services but surveys of residents and City Council consistently indicate that they want more services not less.

How about cutting back on City projects?
We did that in 2007, delaying almost all of our major capital projects, but that didn’t fix the problem either, it just helped buy us some time. To cut our way out of this we need to cut City services, e.g., streets, police, fire, planning, etc., that are funded in the operating budget. The money used for projects is one-time money that comes from the City’s capital budget which is a separate pot of money altogether. So deferring capital projects may provide a little extra cash for one year but once you spend that capital cash it’s gone; meanwhile the operating deficit will be right back the next year. And remember, you can only defer projects so long before things start to really break down which in the end drives the cost of repair higher than it would have been if you took care of it when it first needed attention.

So why change the income tax credit?
The Panel was very sensitive to the issue of spreading any new tax burden fairly across all segments of the community so they presented Council with 6 different steps to do that. Reducing the income tax credit was one step that the Panel thought should be taken in order to get a fair share of taxes from residents that live in Kent but work outside of Kent. It turns out that those residents enjoy the benefit of City services but because they get full credit for the income taxes they pay in the city where they work they contribute less than .10 cents on the dollar for the services they get in Kent. The Panel noted that it seemed unfair to the residents that live and work in Kent to subsidize the services for those residents at a rate of .90 cents on the dollar so they recommended reducing the credit from 100% to 75%. Of the steps proposed by the Panel the change in the income tax credit is something that Council can put into effect immediately so they are starting there but discussions are underway about the remaining items as well so that any new tax costs are shared as fairly as possible.

But I hear we’ve got money in reserves we could spend?
After 3 years of running in the red (2003, 04, 05) the writing was on the wall – if the City didn’t take drastic measures the reserve fund was in jeopardy of being depleted in 2-3 years which would mean the City ran the risk of going bankrupt. That’s why the City put into effect all of the cuts and freezes that we could starting in 2006. And it has worked. We reversed the trend in 2006 and 2007 bringing the reserve balance back up to where it was in 2004-05. That was critically important because the reserves are the City’s safety net to use during hard times and it is also a source of investment funds that we can use to try to be a catalyst for an economic recovery. The trouble is the reserve funds are one-time dollars that are gone once you spend them so they buy you temporary relief but they don’t fix the problem. The City could go back to relying on these savings to balance the budget for a couple of years but then we’d be right back where we were in 2005 and we would have no funds to invest in stimulating an economic recovery which is the best solution.

I feel like I’m being punished for working outside of the City.
Certainly this change in the tax credit impacts the amount of money that people that work elsewhere pay to the City. For example, if you make $50,000 working in another city that has a 2% income tax rate, you’re paying that other city $1,000 a year and $0 dollars to the City of Kent in income tax. If the credit was reduced to 75%, you would still pay the other city $1,000 but you would then pay the City of Kent $250 a year or roughly $20 a month to support the Kent City services that you receive.

Understandably if you’re a person working outside of Kent its frustrating to be asked to pay more. But this issue is fundamentally a fairness question: is it fair to ask people that use services where they live to pay their fair share? Is it fair for people that live and work in Kent to subsidize their neighbors who choose to work outside of Kent at a 90:10 split? Even if this income tax reduction is put into effect the people that work outside of Kent would still only be paying for roughly 35% of the cost of the services that they receive.

In states that use sales taxes to support government services they advocate the importance of buying goods and services in their community so that tax dollars stay where they are used. Likewise, in states like Ohio that rely on income tax we have to advocate working in the City where you live to keep tax dollars here. I’m not judging whether that’s right or wrong, it is just a product of the state tax structure. Reducing the tax credit begins to align the City’s financial policies with the reality of the state tax system, creating an incentive to work where you live and contribute taxes where you use the services those taxes pay for.

Financial Update...

Posted by dave in City Dollars and Sense, Services News on July 16, 2008 | No Comments

City Council has been revisiting the Blue Ribbon Panel report which has caused a bit of a stir among people who don’t want to see the City implement the tax increases that the Panel recommended. Heck nobody likes taxes, and even the Blue Ribbon Panel members said it pains them to make such a recommendation but they want to see Kent move forward and after 8 months of study they saw no other way to do that without money to invest in City services and projects that the community is wanting to see happen. It’s been 2 years since the Panel released their report so the Council asked me to give them an update on what’s been happening financially since then and I thought I’d share that update here as well.

Council Activity Update For First 6 Months of 2008...

Posted by dave in Services News on July 15, 2008 | No Comments

In the spirit of being the best we can be, the staff and I have been tracking the items we bring to City Council to make sure we’re keeping Council focused on the top comunity priorities. To do that we’ve created a Council Activity Report that lists what Council has been doing and how much time they’ve been spending on various items to be sure that we’re making the best use of their time and staff time. Here’s a look at the half year Council Activity Report.

When you look at the report you should be looking for the alignment of our activity with the community’s top priorities. We’ve tried to help check that alignment by listing the community priorities in the columns on the left side of the page and the activities for each month in the adjacent columns to the right. With that in mind, here’s my thoughts on why alignment is so important.

alignment
Alignment is strategic; it’s not “lets go out and do good things.” It’s choosing what to do and what not to do – based on your mission. Alignment describes what happens when organizations get that right.

Alignment is a process of narrowing the focus around the vital few things that the organization absolutely has to do right to fulfill its purpose. It’s focusing resources to maximize impact; it’s working smarter on the right things; it’s being more mission driven and less need driven; it’s learning to say no to trivia and admitting we might be wrong but we’re not confused.

When results matter, alignment is critical.

Click Here to View the 2008 Half Year Report

Here’s a few highlights:

January thru March

April thru June

January thru June (cumulative)

On An Economic Roll...

Posted by dave in Taking Care of Business on July 14, 2008 | No Comments

We’ve had some good news business stories lately and I thought I’d keep the ball rolling. Last week I mentioned that Kent’s Alpha Micron received the largest single award from the state of Ohio in the latest round of Third Frontier Grants (try $5 million on for size) which speaks volumes for the growth potential of this company that is creating a whole new industry for its liquid crystal technology in our backyard. Go team go! Not to be outdone however is another grant award winner, Pathogen Systems Inc., which won $3 million from Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy to research and commercialize an instrument that uses liquid crystal technology to detect pathogens in water. Did I mention that they’ll be opening up shop at Kent’s Centennial Research Park — go team go!

NEOUCOM Researchers Move Forward with Leading-Edge Technology to Battle Bioterrorism
Mark Bosko, 330-325-6675
2008-06-26

ROOTSTOWN, Ohio – Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOM) and Kent State University were awarded $6.7 million for the continued development and commercialization of a real-time pathogen detection instrument. This award represents a $3 million Wright Project grant from the Ohio Department of Development which will be matched by $3.7 million from other sources.

The pathogen detection instrument can quickly detect harmful microbes, such as anthrax or plague. The uses for this technology are numerous and include homeland security, environmental safety and rapid medical diagnoses. The pathogen detection technology is the result of a well-established collaboration among NEOUCOM and Kent State University (KSU) researchers. The researchers combined their expertise in biomedical sciences and liquid crystals to invent and develop this important new technology. Commercialization of the device will create new jobs and economic development in northeast Ohio.

“The real-time pathogen detection instrument is the result of a significant, long-term collaboration among NEOUCOM and Kent State scientists,” says Walter E. Horton Jr., Ph.D., NEOUCOM vice president for research. “The Wright Project grant will allow our investigators to further develop this technology for commercial use through the establishment of an applied research laboratory at NEOUCOM and the creation of a manufacturing facility in Kent State’s Centennial Research Park.”

“By working across institutions and disciplines, our research team was able to create a totally new technology capable of rapidly identifying specific disease-causing agents of all kinds within minutes,” says Gary D. Niehaus, Ph.D., NEOUCOM, Principal Investigator. “The biosensor works when antibodies cause microbes (bacteria or viruses that cause disease) to form clumps in a liquid crystal matrix.”

Members of the real-time pathogen detection system research team include Gary D. Niehaus, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology, NEOUCOM; Christopher J. Woolverton, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences, KSU; Oleg D. Lavrentovich, Ph.D., director of KSU’s Liquid Crystal Institute; Kathleen Doane, Ph.D., associate professor of anatomy, NEOUCOM; Steven Schmidt, Director of Surgical Research, Summa Health Systems, and Steven Signs, formerly of NEOUCOM. The team produced a portfolio of patents and, ultimately, a licensing agreement for commercialization.

NEOUCOM and Kent State licensed the pathogen detection technology to Pathogen Systems Inc. (PSI) of Boulder, Colo., for further development. PSI will establish its manufacturing, sales and marketing operations in northeast Ohio within the next eighteen months.

“This is a prime example of technology-based economic development that benefits Northeast Ohio. It has been a successful partnership between researchers and a technology company and now includes the state through this Third Frontier vote of confidence,” said Greg Wilson, Associate Vice President for Economic Development and Strategic Partnerships and Principal Investigator, KSU. “We are pleased to have PSI as a key tenant in our Centennial Research Park and business accelerator. PSI possesses innovative technology and is poised for great things scientifically and commercially. Kent State looks forward to the acceleration of their success!”

“This award represents an important economic investment by the State of Ohio in the more than seven-year relationship between PSI and the two academic institutions,” said Dr. Horton. “This investment enables us to bring a university-based technology out of the laboratory to the market place, where it will address important public health concerns and build jobs in Ohio.”

“We are pleased to be part of the NEOUCOM led proposal. I’m thrilled that Kent State’s share of this grant will be dedicated to PSI’s facilities in our Centennial Research Park. This successful partnership is an effective example of two institutions working together on research that addresses an important need, and will bring home funding and produce economic development to benefit our region. I look forward to a bright future for this exceptional joint effort,” said Dr. John L. West, Vice President of Research and Dean of Graduate Studies.

“There is a critical need for a faster and more accurate device for pathogen detection. Our Wright Project grant will facilitate and accelerate the transition of this path breaking technology from the laboratory to an array of commercial products that will enhance the health, safety and economic vitality of Ohio and beyond,” says Lois Margaret Nora, M.D., J.D., NEOUCOM president and dean for the College of Medicine.

The Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy are community-based, public institutions focused on the interprofessional training of health professionals, offering both a doctor of medicine (M.D.) and a doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. The colleges’ educational consortium includes the Rootstown, Ohio, campus, teaching hospitals, community pharmacies, two boards of health and four northeast Ohio public universities. Through these and other collaborative arrangements, the colleges participate in the Consortium of Eastern Ohio Master of Public Health program and offers graduate-level coursework and research opportunities leading to master’s and doctoral degrees in biomedical sciences and biomedical engineering.

An Economic Win For Kent...

Posted by dave in Taking Care of Business on July 11, 2008 | No Comments

Certainly these are trying days for some parts of the economy but don’t let the headlines fool you — there’s plenty of successful business ventures going on all around us. Quietly some of Kent’s biggest businesses have been posting record setting sales and production numbers and now we’re gaining a new business whose growth has has been so fast they need to expand in a hurry and they picked Kent as the best place to do for that to happen. Welcome to Kent DipTechSystems Incorporated!

Our Economic Development Director has been busy and I’m pleased to report he’s producing results. First as the new guy on staff he was responsible for arranging the weather for the Heritage Festival and he pulled that off with flying colors but more importantly after a visit to Dip Tech Inc. down in the Tallmadge area he suggested to the company President, Tom Doland, that Kent was the best place for him to expand his business.

Apparently Dan was pretty convincing because Dip Tech has announced that it has now acquired property in Kent and was preparing to expand the building to accommodate 12 to 20 corporate staff and engineering jobs that it was moving to the new building.

Dan reports that the property is at 184 Currie Hall and they are slated to begin the renovation work immediately. You can read more about this 75 year old company that is currently experiencing significant growth from their web site: http://www.diptechsystems.com/

I thought you’d want to hear the good news. Great work Dan.

ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, GO to the Portage County Du...

Posted by dave in City Living on July 10, 2008 | No Comments

Its that time of year when all of us Olympic dreamers lace up the shoes (or in my case clip in the bike pedals) and line up to test our mettle and training regimens against our friends and neighbors in local races. One of the great things about living in northeast Ohio is that rarely a summer week passes without some local race so if racing is your thing, our region is for you. And this year is no exception. Kent had three running races in town last weekend and I just got notice of a Duathalon scheduled by Portage County for Sunday, July 27th at 8 am. As a fan of the race I offered to post the details and spread the word.

Did I mention that local races mean dollars for local cash registers. The multiplier effect for the economic contributions of race events can run from $1.50 to $3.00 for every dollar spent to at the event. So racing is good for more than just cardio, it’s good for our pockets as well.

A Few Spots Left for Kayak Trip Down the Cuyahoga ...

Posted by dave in City Living, City University Stuff, Go Green on July 9, 2008 | No Comments

At the risk of stating the obvious, one of the great benefits of being in a university city is the amount of educational resources that are available in your hometown. What may not be so obvious is that these resources aren’t limited to just the traditional areas of the curriculum — they include lifelong learning opportunities in crazy things like bouldering, wilderness orienteering, camping, backpacking, and kayaking. The university isn’t just for young adults, it’s for the young at heart of all ages who want to try new things and learn new skills. I heard this morning that there’s still 5 spots open for this weekend’s kayak trip down the Cuyahoga so if you’ve always wanted to strap yourself in and ride the waves now is your chance.

Dr. Lefton is right — Kent State is full of best kept secrets — and the recreational services available through the Wellness Facility are some of the best examples. With all of the recent interest in kayaking through downtown Kent we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of technical support available through the Wellness Center and perhaps even more importantly they rent out equipment at great rates to both members and non-members.

And I’ve seen the stuff, it’s all first rate gear so you get a chance to learn and play with fairly expensive stuff at great bargain rates. How can you beat that?

The Wellness Center also plans adventure trips to first rate locations. I was really tempted to sign up for their kayak/mountain biking trip to North Carolina but my schedule just wouldn’t permit it. A little closer to home the Wellness Center folks have set up a kayak trip for this Saturday but you need to sign up today and take a short pre-trip class that is tonight. Here’s more from the Outdoor Adventure Center Director:

Thanks for your interest in paddling on the Cuyahoga River. We are offering a “Kayak the Cuyahoga” trip this Saturday, July 12th from 10am to 3pm. All equipment, instruction, food, and transportation is provided. Some previous paddling experience is required. Attendance at our Quickstart Your Kayak clinic on Wednesday evening from 6-9pm at our Student Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium is also required. We still have 5 spots remaining for our trip. If you have additional questions or would like to register, please feel free to contact me.

We hope to see you on the water!

Sincerely,
David J. Herpy

Outdoor Adventure and Camp Coordinator
Kent State University
Department of Recreational Services
Student Recreation and Wellness Center
(330) 672-2803 (office)
(330) 672-4272 (fax)
dherpy@kent.edu
www.recservices.kent.edu

Join us as we paddle through downtown Kent along the Cuyahoga River. We will put in at Tannery Park and paddle several miles downstream to our take out at Munroe Falls Park. Learn about the natural history of the area from a naturalist along the way. Price includes equipment, instruction, transportation, and lunch. This is a collaborative program between the Adventure Center and the City of Kent Parks and Recreation Department. Participation in the Quickstart Your Kayak Clinic on Wednesday, July 9th is mandatory for this trip!

Fee: Stud $30, Mem $30, Non $40
Dates: July 12
Departure Time: 10 a.m.

The Outdoor Rental Center offers a wide array of outdoor equipment for rent at reasonable rates. The center is open to SRWC members and non-members 18 years of age and older. SRWC members receive discounted rental rates.

Reservations can be made at the Outdoor Rental Center and must include full payment of the rental and, if applicable, a deposit. Reservations can be made up to one month in advance and are provided on a first-come/first-serve basis. Cancellations must be made 48 hours in advance of the equipment pick-up for a full refund. No rain checks will be issued. Any extra deposit that was required on equipment will be refunded.

Equipment can be rented by the day, weekend or week. Rates are assessed according to full day use and do not include the day of the equipment pick-up. Late fees begin the day after the agreed rental period and are assessed at twice the daily rate for each day the equipment is late. Weekend rentals begin after 4 p.m. on Thursday and extend until 10 p.m. on Monday.

Camping and Hiking Equipment	1 Day	Weekend	Week
Packcover	$1/$3	$2/$4	$3/$7
Backpack (External Frame)	$4/$6	$8/$10	$12/$16
Backpack (Internal Frame)	$4/$6	$8/$10	$12/$16
Sleeping Bag	$3/$5	$6/$8	$9/$13
Sleeping Pad with Stuff Sack	$1/$3	$2/$4	$3/$7
2-Person Tent with Ground Covers	$5/$7	$10/$12	$15/$19
4-Person Tent with Ground Covers	$7/$9	$14/$16	$21/$25
Lantern (Dual Fuel)	$2/$4	$4/$6	$6/$10
Compass	$1/$3	$2/$4	$3/$7
5-piece Cookware	$4/$6	$8/$10	$12/$16
4-piece Cookware	$3/$5	$6/$8	$9/$13
4-piece Durable Plasticware	$1/$3	$2/$4	$3/$7
First Aid Kit	$3/$5	$6/$8	$9/$13
Burner Stove Package with Fuel Case	$3/$5	$6/$8	$9/$13
Water Filter with Water Bags	$2/$4	$4/$6	$6/$10
Boating Equipment	1 Day	Weekend	Week
Canoe Package with 2 PFDs and 2 Paddles	$10/$12	$20/$22	$30/$34
Whitewater Kayak with PFD, Paddle and Spray Skirt	$12/$14	$24/$26	$36/$40
Leisure/Touring Kayak with PFD, Paddle and Spray Skirt	$12/$14	$24/$26	$36/$40
Spray Jackets	$3/$5	$6/$8	$9/$13
Wetsuit	$4/$6	$8/$10	$12/$16
Life Jackets (PFDs)	$2/$4	$4/$6	$6/$10
Helmets	$1/$3	$2/$4	$3/$7
Dry Bags	$1/$3	$2/$4	$3/$7
Throw Bags	$1/$3	$2/$4	$3/$7
Bilge Bags	$2/$4	$4/$6	$6/$10
Strobe Lights	$3/$5	$6/$8	$9/$13
Car Top Foam Pads with Straps	$3/$5	$6/$8	$9/$13

Putting Town in the Supply Chain of the Gown...

Posted by dave in City University Stuff on July 8, 2008 | No Comments

Anecdotally I’d say that there’s a lot of Kent Roosevelt High School graduates that end up going on to Kent State. I haven’t seen the data but I’m guessing many of the Kent kids choose that path because of financial reasons. It may be because their parents work at Kent State or it’s a short commute so they can save money and live at home. Any way you look at it, it makes sense, which is why I’ve been so impressed with other cities that have taken that common sense approach to a higher level and have started offering townie kids scholarships to attend their hometown university. It’s a pretty savvy way to take advantage of the local supply of kids and at the same time offer a great reason for living in the town that hosts the university. In a way it takes the town/gown friction and turns it on it’s head making the town a supplier for the gown.

I first ran across this idea in my last City, Kingsport Tennesee. They saw the enormous economic advantages that were afforded to university cities and they wanted a piece of the action. To their credit, they got really creative and came up with an innovative plan to partner with the regional community college to offer 2 years of community college to Kingsport High graduates for free and they put a new campus in downtown Kingsport. Does it cost something, you bet, but it’s paid it back many times over in the economic stimulus it’s provided and as near as I can tell it’s been a huge success from every perspective.

Imagine the power of being able to market your community to new families or businesses by offering free college education. Now that’s putting your money where your mouth is — if you want to attract families to live in the community this would do it — which is why some of the distressed college towns have adopted this program with great success.

One of the more celebrated programs has been in Kalamazoo Michigan and after reading their story I have to say this idea definitely deserves some thoughtful discussion in Kent.

By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY

A scholarship program that offers free college tuition as a reward for attending public schools in a Michigan city is catching on in other communities seeking to revitalize their urban centers.

Since November 2005, when anonymous donors in Kalamazoo, Mich., launched the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship, about a dozen cities, such as Pittsburgh, Denver and El Dorado, Ark., have started similar programs.

Many more are considering doing so. Officials from 82 cities, including La Crosse, Wis.; San Francisco; and Portland, Ore., met recently in Kalamazoo to discuss how to adapt the concept.

“The spread of this movement nationally is something nobody really expected,” says Michelle Miller-Adams, visiting scholar at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo.

Details vary by city, but most programs basically follow Kalamazoo’s model: It pays most or all tuition and fees to public universities or community colleges in the state for students who graduate from the public school system, as long as they start attending there by ninth grade. Those who start in kindergarten get full tuition; those who start in ninth grade, 65%.

The scholarships, designed both to keep and draw families into the district, come as college costs climb and the tight economy squeezes family budgets.

“It keeps the American dream alive,” says Phyllis Furdell of the non-profit National League of Cities, who manages a project that works to reduce poverty.

Kalamazoo’s school district, where enrollments declined for decades, rose by more than 1,200 students after the program began. Thousands of jobs are being created, according to Southwest Michigan First, an economic development firm.

Financing is a challenge for cities interested in setting up free-tuition plans. Many rely partly on private funding. Few “can get an anonymous donor like Kalamazoo,” where the scholarship is funded into perpetuity, says Jeff Edmondson of Strive, a Cincinnati-area coalition drafting its own version. But “it has inspired us all to dream a little bigger.”

‘Promise’ energizes hurting Michigan community

By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The night the Kalamazoo Promise was unveiled was pure magic.

People cheered, hugged and wept at the November 2005 school board meeting when the superintendent announced a group of anonymous donors — hoping to energize an economically depressed city — had promised free college tuition to students who graduate from the local school district.

Almaria Miller, a mother of four teenagers who watched from home on TV, did a little dance and sang “Hallelujah.”

The excitement hasn’t let up in this city, which had been reeling from a declining population as major employers like General Motors and the Upjohn Company, once a pharmaceutical giant, closed or moved out of town.

Within months of the Promise announcement, the community saw signs of a resurgence. It passed an $85 million bond issue to construct two schools, the first in decades. Over the next year, volunteering for schools shot up 134%, according to Kalamazoo Communities in Schools, a non-profit that coordinates such services. Mentors for Big Brothers Big Sisters nearly doubled.

Some local companies have returned to the downtown, including CSM Group, a construction management firm. More than 400 families from 32 states and a handful of foreign countries have moved into the area, boosting school enrollments by 1,200. It also spurred a wave of home buying and building inside the district boundaries even as home sales across the region decline.

“There’s a new breed of cheerleader in Kalamazoo as a direct result of the Promise,” says Patti Owens, managing director of Catalyst Development Co., which develops commercial properties in southwest Michigan. “It has heightened a sense of hope.”

Changing a community

Community leaders say their next task is to maximize the potential of the Promise.

Since the scholarship program began, a higher percentage of Kalamazoo students are applying to college, and high school graduation rates may be up slightly, says Bob Jorth, who administers the program. To date, 745 graduates have used the scholarship, and 71% have stayed in the community, attending either Western Michigan University or Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Miller’s son Derek, 19, was a high school junior when the Promise was announced and saw a change in his teachers’ attitudes immediately. “It felt like they expected a little more from us,” says Derek Miller, a Promise recipient who studies advertising at Western Michigan.

So far, though, there’s only modest evidence that student academic performance has improved as a result of the Promise. The big challenge, Jorth and others say, is how to help children from all Kalamazoo families see a college education in their future.

Like many proponents of the program, Jorth says its power is its simplicity. It pays all or most tuition and fees to any Michigan public university or community college for students who graduate from one of two local public high schools. Students who spend more time in the district get more money: A graduate who began in kindergarten gets 100% of tuition covered; a graduate who started in ninth grade gets 65%.

Students who start after ninth grade are ineligible.

Even so, parents, teachers and community leaders fear some students won’t pursue the scholarship, particularly low-income children who represent about 65% of the district’s enrollment, says Western Michigan University education professor Gary Miron, who is studying the Promise. “There are pockets of families, especially those in poverty, that don’t see this as something they’re going to benefit from,” he says.

Community organizers are developing strategies to change that.

In August, the school district will send every family a guide outlining what’s expected of children, parents and educators as children progress from birth to 12th grade. For example, it says parents of kindergarteners should get and use a library card. Educators should provide families of kindergarteners with a school schedule.

The Promise “has tremendous potential, but it’s not as simple as add water and stir,” says Superintendent Michael Rice.

It ‘kept me in Kalamazoo’

Almaria Miller and her husband, Johnny, say there’s more to the Promise than money.

The family had considered moving to Florida, where Johnny and Almaria grew up, because his job was not secure. He worked at a pharmaceutical company — until his job was eliminated a few months after the scholarship was announced.

The Promise “kept me in Kalamazoo,” says Johnny Miller, 56, who chose to retire rather than relocate.

In return for the scholarship, he tells his kids they have an obligation. “Someone has (taken) an interest in them being successful,” he says. “As a group of people to have that kind of faith in our youth, I tell them, their job now is to not let them down.”

Free College Programs Multiply

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