Snow, By The Numbers...

As much as I prefer grass to snow, I recognize that we live in one of the nation’s more productive snow belts so we better be prepared to handle it. 

The news agencies are saying that we are on a record setting pace for snowfall in December, and I’m guessing that the chiropractic business is booming from all the back bending shoveling that’s been going on.  What’s true for resident’s and their driveways is equally true for City crews and City streets.

The City’s snow operations have had to put the pedal to the metal to keep up with everything that mom nature threw at us over the last couple of weeks.  The good news is we have a snow operations plan, we worked the plan, and the plan worked.  That’s not to say everything we did was perfect — we can always do better – but at the end of the day I look back on what we accomplished and I’m proud of how we managed the operations given all the snow we got.

Snow removal doesn’t just happen, it actually takes a lot of careful planning, preparation and performance to pull it off.  We have experienced supervisors and operators who know the drill and that has really helped us do a better job of anticipating problem spots and staying out in front of trouble.  Snow removal isn’t something you want to fall behind because catching up is usually twice as expensive and unbelievably labor intensive. 

The strategy is to hit the streets hard as early as possible and don’t let up until mother nature blinks and takes a break.  I’ve lived through snow operations that fell behind and there’s nothing more painful than watching City crews use jack hammers and ice picks to try to break up the ice jams that formed at intersections.  At that point your best bet is to move south. 

I realize that snow operations seems fairly simple — start truck, lower plow blade, drive truck, and engage the salt spreader — but there’s actually a lot more than meets the eye to running an effective snow operation.  Every decision the operator makes in the course of his/her shift has direct consequences, both for public safety and for costs.  A good operator knows the nuances of how each truck handles, how to gauge effective blade height, when to throw salt and how to angle the plow blade for maximum effect (for both clearing the street and minimizing barricading intersections and driveways as much as possible).  

To give you a sense of the management of the snow operations, I thought I’d share the most recent snow operations statistical report produced by the snow operations managers; it gives a flavor of the types of variables that are involved in managing a response to potentially dangerous weather events.  As you can see below, it turns out this year our costs are averaging about $3,000 per inch of snow — at that rate you can imagine how quickly costs can add up if we don’t manage the operations right.

Entrepreneur In Residence...

Dan Smith, the City’s Economic Development Director, has been circulating the job announcement found below to solicit interest from proven entrepreneurs that would like to be hired as Kent’s first Entrepreneur-In-Residence. 

Recognizing the importance of entrepreneurship and small business development in our local economy, the City and Kent State University have joined forces to share in the costs of hiring an experienced entrepreneur to jump start all those emerging business men and woman who could benefit from some professional advice. 

Making the leap into a new business venture can be intimidating so the City and KSU are trying to take some of the uncertainty and risk out of the equation by providing a personal business advisor who’s been on the front lines of business development.   

City of Kent Seeks Entrepreneur-In-Residence in Partnership with Kent State University
The City of Kent is currently seeking applicants to serve as an entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) in partnership with Kent State University.  The program is a collaborative effort between the City of Kent and Kent State University to provide consulting and advisory services to the business community.  The City of Kent has appropriated $5,000 initiate the program and KSU will contribute a matching $5,000 in support of entrepreneurial endeavors. The broader vision is to spark economic activity for the region through encouraging entrepreneurship and related activity. There are currently several successful programs up and running in Aurora, Orville and Twinsburg is just getting started.

The entrepreneur-in-residence will work to engage in entrepreneurial development within the City of Kent as well as work with KSU’s entrepreneurially-oriented students.  The effort is designed to enhance student initiated or operated businesses like Bookends Café at the Kent Free Library, the Acorn Alley student entrepreneur space and The Tannery (integrated marking communications), just to name a few. The person will connect local entrepreneurs to resources at Kent State University.  He or she will provide consulting and advisory services to individuals and firms as well as work with high school students to encourage young entrepreneurs.

The person to be hired must have experience as a successful entrepreneur, be able to set aside time to serve between September through May and have a personality conducive to working with students.  He or she must be a resident of Kent and an advocate of entrepreneurship curriculum and education. 

Selection of the EIR will be made jointly by the City of Kent and Kent State University.  The EIR will be required to be on campus one day per week to exchange ideas with other EIR’s, be a director for operating KSU student businesses, be a class presenter to curriculum majors in entrepreneurship and serve as judge/panelists for business plan conferences for regional high school competitions at KSU.  It is also expected an average of eight hours a week in the Kent community. The City and KSU will jointly evaluate the effectiveness of the EIR on a regular basis.

Persons having an interest in the position should contact Dan Smith, Economic Development Director of the City of Kent, by December 27, via e-mail at smithd@kent-ohio.org.

 Best Regards,
Daniel D. Smith, Economic Development Director

Fairchild Avenue Bridge Project Update...

I met with the City Engineer this morning and received an update on the re-opening of the Fairchild Avenue intersection.

There’s basically just one section of the intersection that needs to have the concrete poured (and some brick pavers inlaid for the crosswalk) which means we’re really close to being done with that phase.  If you drive by you can see the section all formed up ready for the concrete, but the weather has wreaked havoc on getting that concrete poured.

The good news is that with concrete pavement the contractor can continue working, but at a slower rate. With the amount of snowfall that we have received it is impossible to predict how fast the contractor can work or how much they can accomplish.

White Christmas, No Doubt...

Forget dreaming about a white Christmas, just look outside your window – it doesn’t get much whiter than the 2 feet of snow that santa delivered early.  Saint Nick may be a jolly old soul but he’s also a shameless promoter who romanticizes snow but leaves the rest of us to deal with it.  Snow, bah humbug. 

I’ve never seen a plow on his sleigh and he only goes out one night a year while we ask our City crews to leave their families in the middle of the night to make sure that everyone else’s families stay safe everytime we get a couple of inches and cold temperatures.  Not everyone is resting peacefully with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads when it snows. 

To Be Or Not To Be...

That is the question.  Not just for Hamlet but for Kent too.

What exactly is it that we’re trying to be?  Many things is probably the right answer, but one of the bigger umbrellas that seems to cover a lot of that ground is being a vibrant university city. 

From economic development to cultural amenities, universities have proven to be the engines that could when it came to getting communities up and over those hills of the recession.  University cities have been one of the few shining stars on the city landscape and we’re working hard to get Kent’s star to shine brighter. 

We spend a lot of time talking about the dollars and cents to be generated from the City’s and KSU’s strategic collaboration in re-connecting the Kent State campus to the central business district but university city living is more than shopping or dining out  — it’s also got to have those life-affirming moments that enrich our time spent here on terra cotta. 

That kind of fulfillment tends to come from the social and cultural amenities that are part and parcel of university cities.  And to that end, I was pleased to hear that Hal DuBois, of DuBois bookstore fame, has waded into the cultural waters by creating a new town-gown initiative called Our Hamlet.  

Our Hamlet evades easy definition because it’s an organic community university reading, dialoging and experiencing of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays and characters.  It will be whatever it turns out to be — it’s the process that’s cool. 

I can’t do it justice so here’s a description from the creator himself, Hal:

INGENSIA AND “OUR HAMLET”

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Ingensia is a collaborative community program envisioned to promote and facilitate lifelong learning of the highest order.

“Our Hamlet” is the “pilot project” for the Ingensia program.

“Our Hamlet” is being planned and developed in cooperation with the Kent State University School of Theatre and Dance, whose primary interest is the development of an informed, prepared and engaged audience for their presentation of Hamlet in mid-April 2011.  However, that link is expanding rapidly to other facets of the University, with interest and involvement capable and likely of expansion into an inter-disciplinary juggernaut!

The primary events in the “Our Hamlet” campaign are being designed in accordance with several core values at the heart of the Ingensia concept:

       -That our academic understanding of the many individual, contextual, and pedagogical variables involved in the adult education process and current theories about that process require a continuing professional, well-documented investigation and study.

      -That an understanding of and engagement in the process of lifelong learning is vital to individual well-being and to the health of economic, political, social and environment systems dependent on world and community-wide learning, knowledge, communication, understanding, and cooperation.

      -That every effort should be made to provide individuals with the opportunity to reflect on excellent literature and other subjects that touch on the fundamental questions of philosophy through a flexible, sophisticated, evolving approach to the ideals of Ingensia and their application, utilizing a diverse combination of methods, technologies, perspectives, circumstances, and cultures.

     -Adults engaged in lifelong learning provide a meaningful, motivating exemplar to others, especially traditional students who, more than ever, will need to stay on a constant learning path that develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are fundamental tools in their pursuit of happiness.

Kent, Ohio, the Tree City, is a perfect place to plant the seeds of Ingensia.  It is a community dedicated to the education of its citizens and people from around the world, and to becoming engaged in the use and development its vast resources with vision, care, and a palpable spirit of cooperation and goodwill.

The reach of communications technology is being employed by Ingensia, and has the potential to reach beyond our GPS coordinates and residential population.

The “Our Hamlet” Calendar includes:

-Discover “Our Hamlet” on either Weds. Dec. 1^st at KSU Music and Speech Room D207 or Thurs., December 2^nd at The Tannery in downtown Kent.  Both of these casual information sessions will start at 7:00 p.m.  Learn more about Ingensia and “Our Hamlet” and meet some of the wonderful people already leading the effort.

-Wednesday, January 12^th at 7:00 p.m.  Road trip to the Cedar Lee cinema to see the National Theatre’s HD digital broadcast from the United Kingdom of their incredible production of Hamlet.  Discounted tickets to view this NT Live event available on a first come basis by contacting Hal DuBois (methods below).

-Wednesday, February 2^nd at 7:00 p.m.  The first (and perhaps last) performance of the newly formed Riverside Reader’s Theatre, a collection of rank amateurs drawn from all the undesirable corners of the community to read the play aloud, as it was more-or-less intended to be.  (Or not to be?)  A casual, comfortable venue (with plenty of exits) will be determined based on projected attendance.

-Wednesday, February 9^th at 7:00 p.m.  The first meeting of participants in an “Our Hamlet” Study Group facilitated by Cathy Cikra and Hal DuBois.  The group will meet once a week every week on Wednesday evenings through mid-April for a one-hour, in-depth discussion of the play’s many features and themes.  Participation on a first committed, first served basis, but no prior experience with Shakespeare’s plays is required!  Space is limited, although additional Study Groups will be formed if there is sufficient interest.  There is little to no monetary cost involved.

-February-April 2011:  Community Reading Groups.  A flexible alternative to a Study Group, Reading Groups are already springing up around Kent.  Many existing groups, including public institutions, businesses, service clubs, associations and churches are ideal bases for forming a group.  The time is now to contact us so we can find the perfect opportunity for you!  Attend the Reader’s Theatre event, and plan an hour or two to get together and share your ideas.  When the time comes to participate in events surrounding the KSU production in mid-April, you’ll be ready, willing and able to get the most out the experience!

-Wednesday, April 13 at 7:00 p.m.  “Café Elsinore” All of our Reading and Study Groups will meet and actively engage students currently reading the play in local high schools and at KSU.  This will be an event!   Mark your calendar now!

-April 15-23, 2011:  Hamlet, directed by Mark Monday, at Kent State University!

Get engaged!   Tell us you’re interested, intrigued or uncontrollably excited by calling 330-673-4730, or e-mailing duboishalb@aol.com.  Spread the word, join a Reading or Study Group, become a “Spark” or attend a special event or two.  “Our Hamlet” is a limited engagement and a unique opportunity to advance yourself and your community!

Information Rules...

We’re living in the age of instaneousness where real time information rules the roost.  

I won’t say it’s necessarily instant gratification because I’m not sure drinking water from a firehouse of information is all that gratifying but I susppose you could argue that we’re so busy trying to stay current that we don’t have time for the kind of contemplative thinking that would cause us to realize what the information apocalypse has done to our lives.  It turns out that ignorance and information overload is bliss. 

The experts tell us that we have access to more information in our lives than in the history of human evolution, yet we seem to be a fairly miserable lot, with people reporting more dissatisfaction with their lives than ever before.  Coincidence?  I’m not here to judge, just to inform, so let me get down to business.

I’m delighted that people want to be plugged in and we’re doing our part as a City to enable that habit.  This blog gets about 350 different visitors every day, not because I’m some brilliant writer, but because I offer a reliable and steady fix of information for the affairs of their community.     

Over the last couple of months we expanded our information arsenal to include a Kent Twitter site and an emergency notification system called Nixle.  These sites offer quick hits which seem to appeal to the ADD among us. 

Now, Dan Smith, the City’s Economic Development Director is pleased to announce his Kent Economic Development Facebook  page.  On the site Dan posts updates to citywide economic development efforts.  Want to know what’s happening with Acorn Alley phase II?  Check out Dan’s Facebook page. 

We’ve always known that Dan is an abundant source of information, it’s good to see him apply his powers for good. 

Haymaker Parkway Face Lift...

With all the snowfall it may be a little hard to see at the moment, but in between the flakes you should spot some new street light poles and fencing that have been installed along SR 59, particularly over the Haymaker Parkway bridge.   

When the Engineering Division discovered that the old street light pole mounts were rusted beyond repair they saw an opportunity to not only improve public safety but to give Haymaker a much needed face lift; changing out the tired galvanized grey poles with a more modern, freshly-finished black pole.  Same with the old penitentiary stlye fencing.  It’s the City’s version of nip and tuck.   

For obvious reasons public infrastructure is built to last — which is good since we trust it with our lives every day – but we’re out to prove that there’s no reason it can’t look good too.  We thought Haymaker Parkway was a great place to start since it’s a gateway into downtown Kent and we hope it will create the kind of positive first impression that Kent deserves.  

Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think we’re off to a good start.

 But we’re not stopping with street light poles and fencing; we’ve hired a contractor to go through the Haymaker corridor and at each intersection, from Middlebury Road to Horning Road, replace the span wire traffic signal mounts with new black mast arms, new pedestrian signals and new traffic control boxes.  

These upgrades will not only look great but they’re also a significant technology jump forward so we should be able to do a better job of platooning traffic safely and efficiently through this busy section of the City. 

You should see signs of the signal project being underway with contractors using a horizontal drilling/boring machine to install new conduit and pull the new fibers that will carry the communications to and from the traffic control boxes. 

The signal contractor is just getting started so there’s no new signal installed yet but if you want an idea of what it will look like you can head out to the intersection of West Main Street and Stonewater Drive to see the prototype signal installation.

This $2.4 million signal project is scheduled to be complete by September 2011.  I can’t wait. 

Fill-A-Cruiser...

Hopefully it’s not often that you get asked to fill a police cruiser but I can guarantee that this time it’s for a very worthy cause. 

The Kent Police and Citizens Association is sponsoring a holiday collection event at Walgreens (320 S. Water Street) on Saturday, December 11, 2010 from 11 am to 4 pm.  The goal is to fill a police cruiser (or if turnout is really good maybe even the police van) full of items that they will pass along to Kent families in need for the holiday season. 

The Police are looking for toys, games, non-perishable food items and even monetary donations.      

If you can’t make it to Walgreens on Saturday, just call Sgt. Treharn at 330 676-7527 to make arrangements to give another way.   Times are tough all around and even a little bit will go a long way towards making someone’s holiday special this year. 

Indoor Holiday Market...

The malls can have their Black Friday, Kent prefers to celebrate Green Saturday — compliments of the Haymaker Farmer’s Market which is all set to host year 3 of their Indoor Holiday Market. 

As in years past, the market will be open for business over the next two Saturdays (December 11, December 18) from 9 am to 2 pm in the large indoor space adjacent to the law offices of Attorneys Williams, Welser, Kratcoski and Can LLC. 

The Market organizers report that they will have 36 vendors selling locally grown, winter hardy produce and fruit, baked goods, canned jams and jellies, coffees, teas, locally crafted gift ideas and decorative items along with ready to eat foods. The market (with assistance from a Celebrate Kent! grant award) will be providing live music by local musicians.  Proceeds from this annual event will benefit the market and Kent Social Services.    
 
EVENT DETAILS

What: Kent- Haymaker Indoor Holiday Market

When: Saturdays, December 11 and 18, 2010. 9:00 am until 2:00 pm

Where: in the large heated garage at 11 South River Street in downtown Kent. This is located adjacent to the law offices of the event sponsors, Williams, Welser, Kratcoski and Can LLC and is across from the Kent Free Library.

Parking: the lot behind the building.

Contact: Fritz Seefeldt, market manager 330-678-5748, kentmarket@neo.rr.com

MUSIC

11 December
9:00  Halim el Dabh
11:00 Brian Henke
12:30 Celtic Clan

18 December
9:00 Peggy Coyle and Brad Bolton
11:00 Adreanne Zeleny and Dale Galgozy
12:30 Jon Mosey 

New Sheetz and Fairchild Avenue...

If you driven through the Fairchild Bridge construction zone at all recently you probably noticed that the new Sheetz store looks ready to open — and you’d be right. 

Our Building Department staff told me that they’ve completed their inspections and they’ve issued Sheetz a certificate of occupancy which means Sheetz can open their doors as soon as they’re ready.  Anecdotally I’ve heard that the Sheetz folks are busy stocking shelves, hiring and training the new staff to work the store.  The date that I am hearing for their Grand Opening is December 9th. 

With all the bridge construction going on right now, I’m sure you’re wondering how customers will get in an out of the store – and that’s a good question.  It turns out that the City Engineer has been working with the Sheetz manager, the ODOT Construction Project manager, and the bridge project contractors to ensure that the Sheetz has some limited driveway access on both SR 43 and Fairchild Avenue.  And everyone agrees that they can accomplish that. 

In about a month (January 19th, 2011) the access issue will be moot as Fairchild Avenue will be fully re-opened and the contractor’s work will shift away from the street adjacent to the new Sheetz store but until then Sheetz will be provided limited driveway access off of SR 43 (north end of the property) and on Fairchild Avenue (westernmost end of the property).

Sheetz knew that the Fairchild Avenue bridge was going to be constructed when they planned their new store so none of this comes as a surprise.  And next year, when the weather warms up Sheetz will also have some final landscaping to perform to complete their construction requirements.