Interesting Part of Crain Avenue Bridge Being Inst...

If SR 43 north of town is part of your daily commute you’re probably all too familiar with the new bridge construction that has been underway now for the last 4 to 5 months.  For the most part traffic has been only moderately impacted but it is such a busy intersection that even moderate impacts can back traffic up in a hurry. 

The good news is that because the intersection and the bridge were such a traffic bottleneck the City was eligible for a lot of state and federal bridge funding which we used to finance this new bridge.  The bad news is that until the new bridge is on-line the tough traffic is going to get a little tougher as motorists will have periodic lane restrictions and contractors digging in the right of way to contend with.   

At this point the building demolition has been completed and the utility companies have been busy relocating their lines.  Most of those plates and street cuts are the markings of where power and phone lines have been re-routed to accomodate the new bridge crossing.  With a little bit of good weather late in 2009 the bridge contractor was also able to get a fair amount of concrete abutments poured and work continues on retaining walls right now. 

On Tuesday, January 26 the contractor will be setting the pieces for the tunnel sections for the Hike and Bike Trail that will run below the new bridge. The tunnel is a fairly prominent piece of the project so I thought it warranted a little mention in the blog.  So in your travels around town you might want to try to drive by to see it.  

For reference purposes I’ve shown a part of the rendering for the new bridge so that you can see how the tunnel fits into the whole project.

Dancing Beta Opens in Acorn Alley...

The wait is over.  If you’re a raw fish person you’ve now got a place in Kent to eat to your heart’s delight or the extent of your stomach’s distension whichever comes first.  A couple of City staffers did their civic duty today and taste tested the suishi.  The report came back in flying colors.  

Any doubts on the popularity of a suishi menu was put to rest long before the new restaurant even opened.  Comments had been appearing on Main Street Kent’s web site with increasing regularity (and near hostility) wanting to know when the suishi restaurant was going to open.  And even today there was a line out the door at various times as devotees of suisha made the pilgrammage to this new Kent mecca. 

I haven’t had a chance to meet the owner yet but the Record Courier had posted some great information about his new business a couple of months back and I thought it was worth re-printing here for those curious about Kent’s newest business.  Enjoy!

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Record Courier Article by David Dix, September 27, 2009

Dancing Beta, a Japanese sushi bar, will soon open in Acorn Alley, the exciting pedestrian thoroughfare that businessman and philanthropist Ron Burbick has created as part of his Phoenix Block development on East Main Street.

At grand opening celebrations Friday evening, Ron, with his wife, Joan, and an assortment of Kent dignitaries looking on, cut the ribbon for Acorn Alley before a crowd of about 600 well-wishers.

If Friday’s results were any indication, that sushi bar is going to be a big draw for Acorn Alley. Paul Geldhof, owner and operator of Dancing Beta, came prepared to serve 700 and was completely out of sushi 30 minutes before the party’s end.

“My first 400 servings were gone within 20 minutes,” Paul said.

All of the foods served up by the food outlets on Acorn Alley at Friday’s grand opening were free. Nevertheless, Paul said he was surprised and pleased to see sushi “going like hot cakes.”

A Portage County native who attended schools in Kent and Rootstown, graduating from Rootstown High School, Paul Geldhof is a graduate of the Culinary Arts School of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He and his wife, Katie, who’s a professional graphic artist, will be hands-on at Dancing Beta, he said. Now in his mid-20s, Paul describes himself as having been in the restaurant industry since he was 15, when he started helping his parents manage the kitchen of the Stowaway Pub at the intersection of Graham and Fishcreek roads in Stow.

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A Japanese specialty, sushi is vinegar rice served with various toppings, the best known of which is raw fish. It’s become fashionable among the well traveled set. More importantly for Dancing Beta, sushi is “in” with the college crowd, whose trade downtown Kent wants to attract.

Paul said his restaurant will have limited seating for up to about 24 people. That’s because sushi bars mostly cater to the carryout business. Kinds of sushi on the menu will be crab rolls, avocado rolls, California rolls and more. In addition to fish, nutritious vegetables are mixed into the rolls.

Paul said he decided on sushi because it was a food in which he excelled at the Culinary Arts School. “My father introduced me to sushi when I was about 7,” he said.

For now, he’ll serve soft drinks, soda and bottled water. He has applied for a beer and wine license. When it comes through, he’ll sell sake, which is a Japanese rice wine, and assorted beers and wines.

Paul said the addition of sushi will add to the cultural diversity of food in Kent, and I agree. Friday evening, his grandfather, Alex Geldhof and his wife, Liz, were on hand for the grand opening. Paul said he was pleased to see his grandfather and friends sampling the sushi.

“I knew it would go over with the younger crowd and was really pleased to see older people enjoying it, too,” he said.

Kent Music Scene...

One of the great things about music, besides its ability to get even the most unlikely of people shaking their tail feathers, is its ability to connect us.  Music is impartial to race, creed, political persuasion, gender or any other socio-economic-demographic boundaries that we try to draw around each other.  If a beat moves you or a lyric touches you, tag you’re in.  No other pre-conditions or entry fee is required. 

Music tastes vary, and there certainly appears to be generational gaps to musical preferences, but music is a body of work that seems to be built on the shoulders of the giants of each generation.  Sometimes musical evolution is gentle with new rifs or emphasis sprinkled in here and there reminiscent of Darwin’s theories but other times it’s more in line with Thomas Kuhn’s dissertation on the structure of revolutions with one movement (or generation in the case of music) rejecting convention and jumping ship to take a diametrically opposed position in a non-linear paradigm shift. 

By way of musical example I am reminded of the 1970s disco genre which ushered in the emergence of hard rock (which actually seems a bit soft by today’s rock standards) at the infamous disco demolition night at Comiskey Park in Chicago.  The scene turned a bit primeval with fans tearing up the field and burning records in what started out as a ballpark promotion but seemed to tap into a new generation’s distaste for the popular music scene that created an unruly melee.  I suspect the alcohol sales at the ball game contributed to the death of disco that night but it’s also a great example of Thomas Kuhn’s philosphy at work. 

Kent has a long history of a rich music scene and whether you choose to enjoy it or revolt against it, it is up to you thanks to places like Water Street Tavern who has announced another year of live music.   
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Here’s a note from Water Street Tavern Owner Mike Beder:

Business Savvy...

Not for profits are often not very business like in their management – which on the one hand is understandable given the unprofitability of their missions yet on the other it’s unfortunate because when times are tough people need them more than ever yet during those times their lack of financial savvy can make them their own worst enemy.  That being said there are a couple of outstanding examples of business minded non-profits in our area that think and strategize like a business but serve unmet community needs like a non profit. 

These guys are the best I’ve seen when it comes to blending the best of the business sector with the best of the public/non profit service sector:  Coleman Professional Services and Family and Community Services.   Under the leadership of Nelson Burns and Mark Frisone these agencies have defied conventional non profit thought and redefined how not for profits serve their customers.   

I admire not just what these agencies do but how they do it.  They are a credit to the public sector and they’re living examples of why you should never underestimate the power of a non profit engine fueled by market based tactics.  As a public manager myself I have spent much of my career studying how progressive cities have learned from folks like Nelson and Mark, to reinvent themselves by applying business principles to manage communities. 

Here in Kent we have taken steps to improve our market position, think strategically, strengthen our brand, and cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit.  We have established cost and performance metrics to calculate rate of return and optimize return on investment through sound valuation and capitalization strategies.  Employees are expected to demonstrate critical thinking to manage cash flow, expand operating margins, drive productivity and inspire innovation.

As our resources have been stretched, we’ve adopted on-demand, just-in-time production concepts to service delivery.  We have improved R&D capabilities – learning how to push and scale good ideas through the pipeline – overcoming barriers to entry and sustaining a competitive advantage. 

The business model has taught Kent how to think and act like a business – but business has but one mission:  to make a profit.  The City’s mission is a bit more complicated.  Businesses choose which markets to compete in and which customers to keep – while cities serve all equally.

The business doctrine proclaims the market king and reduces performance to a bottom line – but communities are more than profit and loss statements.  Business methods are great for evaluating means to ends but offer little for determining what ends – and communities are ends, not means.  We risk knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing when we live solely by the numbers. 

Community building is not an exercise in mathematics; it’s the story of people.  Kent may have a new business attitude but it will always act with the heart of a city.  The market is great at distribution of private goods but where does that leave the public good?  In the good hands of Kent city employees.

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Here’s a good example of tracking progress towards strategic goals that the National Main Street organization requires of each of it’s affiliates, including Main Street Kent, to submit quarterly summaries of business activities. 

Main Street Kent 4th Quarter Report

Update on 5 Guys Restaurant in Kent...

In a sign of the tough times even one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the country, 5 Guys Hamburger Restaurant, has had to delay the grand opening of their Kent store due to the challenges of securing the business loans necessary to transform the old Susans Coffee and Tea House into a new 5 Guys on SR 59 in Kent.  It turns out that even when you’ve got a solid well-proven business plan it’s still tough in today’s tight lending market to find the funds you need to get started.  

Originally the owners of the new 5 Guys in Kent planned be flipping burgers and serving fries in the Fall of 2009, then they pushed the date to January 2010, and now I’m hearing March 2010.  I’m guessing that March is still an ambituous goal but hopefully the City helped speed things up last week by approving a new business loan from our revolving loan fund. 

The City’s revolving loan fund is one of a number of tools we have available to fill gaps when good businesses need a little help.  As businesses pay the low interest loan back we are able to recycle the funds into new loans, like the one for 5 Guys.  

The exterior of the 5 Guys restaurant looks great, now I’m hoping they’ll have the cash they need to get the inside ready for business by early Spring.  5 Guys has an almost cult like following among hamburger connoisseurs and as soon as word spread of their intention to open in Kent I was getting a lot of excited testimonials so I’m sure the news of the financing will be as well-received as a one of their specialty burgers and a plate full of fries.

Shoveling Sidewalks Update...

Now that we are firmly entrenched in winter’s grasp, I thought it might be a good time to take a pulse on what’s happening on our sidewalks.  My anecdotal  non-scientific windshield survey seemed to indicate that sidewalk shoveling compliance is better this year than it’s been in recent years — hopefully that’s a result of all the public outreach efforts and newspaper coverage of City Council’s lengthy deliberations this summer about how to make our sidewalks safer for pedestrians — especially our pedestrians with special needs that rely on sidewalks for most of their transportation.

I wish I had a camera because there’s been some great images of shovelers, including 5 year old kids using beach shovels to help mom shovel the front sidewalk on a section of Crain Avenue.   And I’d have to say that those 5 year olds made a difference because their front walk has been cleared all winter long.  It seems that the neighborhood sidewalks where we live are better this year but the sidewalks on the main drags in front of commercial establishments are still not so good. 

I guess the lack of sidewalk attention in front of commercial establishments is a testament to the fact that we are a car based drive-thru economy because the owners/managers have certainly not made it easy for any foot bound traveler to visit their establishment.   I suppose you could argue that in the spirit of a free market economy they can choose not to clear sidewalks until a savvy competitor starts to dent their market share but the troubling part is that in the meantime I see folks trying to walk past their business to get their destination struggling to stay safe. 

As evident by the 6 hours of time spent in City Council deliberating sidewalk shoveling, this is a many faceted issue which I am not trying to solve here but I did want to provide an update on a couple of the changes that Council approved this year.  The City’s Public Service Director, Gene Roberts, has been driving the streets during the course of this winter to monitor not only street conditions but also sidewalk conditions, with a particular emphasis on intersections and the snow that the City plows may have pushed into the pedestrian right of way.

As a result of the Council discussions held this summer related to snow removal from sidewalks, Gene has worked with the City snow plow crews to change their plowing tactics that previously left piles of snow pushed from the street in the intersections and crosswalks. That change in practice does seem to be working as the problem appears less prevalent this year despite some relatively significant snow fall over the last couple of weeks.

However, short of physically scooping and off-loading the snow to other locations we will likely always have some areas where the snow plows have contributed to creating pedestrian challenges and it’s in those areas that Council authorized the use of a contractor to come in behind the City crews and clean the intersections for safe pedestrian access.

To that end, Gene has developed a log that he uses to list areas that he feels require contractor attention, which he then forwards to the contractor to execute. Gene generates the list based on three primary factors:

1 – quantity of snow based on City roadway snow removal efforts
2 – proximity to Kent City Schools
3 – State Routes where the presence of pedestrians is most likely

City crews take care of the some sidewalks but here’s a snapshot of the list that Gene sent the contractor this week:

City Council Approves Neighborhood Liaison Experim...

In Council’s Committee session last week they voted to approve an experiment with a new Neighborhood Liaison position that will be jointly funded as a City-University neighborhood partnership.  This item will now go for a final vote in the Regular Council meeting next week (Jan 20th).  If you’d like to see the details of the job description, position expectations, salary, etc., click here.

The idea of Neighborhood Liaison was a part of a series of initiatives that the City staff researched and reported back to City Council on that were intended to make sure Kent’s neighborhoods remained strong as they are considered an extremely important part of the community.  We titled these efforts the Neighborhood Enrichment Program and you can read more about the program components in an earlier blog post (dated March 2, 2007) or check out the staff proposal on Neighborhood Enrichment.  

Here’s also a short list of other blog posts that provided updates on the various elements of the Neighborhood Enrichment program:

April 9, 2009
April 8, 2009
July 24, 2007
June 12, 2007
June 2, 2007

Protecting and restoring the quality of life in Kent neighborhoods is a theme that has emerged year after year on citizen surveys and on the list of City Council’s strategic goals.   Generally speaking here’s what the goals of strong neighborhoods aims to achieve:

Objectives: 

·   Strengthen and build effective partnerships with the City’s diverse community; celebrate and capitalize on Kent’s diversity.

·   Provide services and programs for a multi-cultural audience.

·   Increase awareness, participation and compliance with neighborhood code issues.

·   Promote rehabilitation and sustainable infill development.

·   Develop programs that encourage neighborhood based initiatives and planning. 

·   Partner with Kent State University to revitalize campus border neighborhoods.

·   Seek programs that instill a sense of neighborhood pride and enhance neighborhood identity.

·   Strive to improve the rate of home ownership in Kent.

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And here’s how these objectives translated into real program efforts in the last two years:

• Upgraded Code Officer to full time position
• New Exterior Maintenance Code
• New City Tool Loan Program
• Code Compliance Annual Report
• New Citywide Trash Management Service
• New Civil Citation System for Code Violations
• 9 Public Meetings to Update the Zoning Code
• New Neighborhood Liason Position
• New Community Policing Initiative and Grant

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Neighborhoods are more than wooden buildings lined up in row along the public right of way; they are that unique public space that is created from the mix of people that call a neighborhood home.  Great neighborhoods are what make life in a small town university City such an attractive place for people of all ages and interests; they really are one of our best assets.   The challenge is to make sure we look after our neighborhoods and give them the TLC that is required to keep them meaningful and relevant for each generation that chooses to call Kent home.   That, in a nutshell, is what the Neighborhood Liaison position is all about.

No Parking Ban Lifted...

The Public Service Department announced this morning (Thursday, Jan 7) that the no parking ban that had been in effect to allow the snow plows full access to the streets has been lifted.  That’s good news on two fronts:  1) if you’re a street parker you can park on the street again; and 2)it means city crews have restored streets to safe driving conditions.  The bad news is another front is coming our way and the forecast is calling for more accumulation so sharpen your shovel and keep your galoshes ready for another round.

Here’s todays official notice from the Public Service Director:

NEWS RELEASE
SNOW EMERGENCY PARKING BAN LIFTED                                                    
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 January 7, 2010

THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE FOR THE CITY OF KENT HAS  ANNOUNCED THAT THE SNOW EMERGENCY PARKING BAN PUT INTO EFFECT THE MORNING OF JANUARY 5^TH 2010 HAS BEEN LIFTED AS OF 8:00AM, TODAY JANUARY 7^TH, 2010.

 RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES ARE REMINDED TO CONTINUE TO CLEAR PUBLIC SIDEWALKS OF SNOW AND ICE ABUTTING THEIR PROPERTIES.

City of Kent, Ohio
Eugene K. Roberts
Director of Public Service

Updated Snow Shoveling & Snow Plowing List...

The City has continued to get more names of local contractors that would like to be considered for your shoveling/plowing business so I thought it was a good idea to publish the updated list.  Again, the City doesn’t endorse or direct business to any contractor — this list was just compiled to give residents a quick source to find winter service providers. 

Here’s the list:  Updated Jan 4 2010 Contractor List

Mother Nature Strikes Again — City Parking B...

This morning (Tuesday, January 5) the City’s Public Service Director announced that a parking ban was officially in effect — which means if you live or work in Kent and you usually park on the street, you’ll need to make arrangements to park somewhere else until the parking ban is lifted.  We realize how inconvenient the parking ban can be, which is why it’s a measure of last resort in the battle of the big snow pile, but at this point Mother Nature has left us no choice.  If we can’t get cars off the street, we can’t plow effectively, and if we can’t plow, we can’t keep the streets safe.  The City Code is pretty clear on the issue and safe streets trumps inconvenient parking everytime so please comply (so that you don’t find your car towed) and we’ll do our best to keep up with the snowfall so that once it stops we can lift the parking restriction as soon as possible.  Thanks for your cooperation.

Here’s the Public Service Director’s Official Press Release:

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2010

THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SERVICE FOR THE CITY OF KENT HAS  ANNOUNCED A SNOW EMERGENCY PARKING BAN BEGINNING 9:00AM TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2010.   

THE PARKING BAN IS BEING PUT INTO AFFECT TO ALLOW CITY CREWS TO CLEAR SNOW AND ICE FROM CITY STREETS DURING THE CURRENT STORM EVENT.  THIS PARKING BAN WILL REMAIN IN AFFECT FOLLOWING THE STORM TO ALLOW CITY CREWS TO CONTINUE SNOW REMOVAL EFFORTS. AN UPDATED NEWS RELEASE WILL BE ISSUED TO INFORM THE PUBLIC AS TO THE STATUS OF THIS PARKING BAN AND WHEN IT WILL BE LIFTED.

DURING A SNOW EMERGENCY, PARKING ON ALL CITY STREETS IS BANNED TO PROVIDE FOR SNOW AND ICE REMOVAL.  A SNOW EMERGENCY EXISTS DURING ANY 24‑HOUR PERIOD WHEN TWO OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATES.

THIS WINTER SEASON, RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES ARE REMINDED TO CLEAR PUBLIC SIDEWALKS OF SNOW AND ICE ABUTTING THEIR PROPERTIES. 

City of Kent, Ohio
Eugene K. Roberts
Director of Public Service