I wish so much you could see what I've seen the last couple weeks.  Yellowstone, The Black Hills, The Badlands. These are places that defy explanation.  No words or pictures tell the story of actually being here.  We are just leaving the Little Bighorn Battlefield area.  This is where Custer's Last Stand occurred.  You […]

I saw someone on Facebook say they were going to decide who to vote for Akron mayor by looking at things like: Who he is married to. How his kids behave and do in school. Where he grew up. Where he went to school. Where he goes to church. I get it. These things can be […]

   As mayor I will definitely continue this daily storytelling of the journey as mayor.  I believe very strongly that elected office is a deep privilege that deserves a deep commitment to the whole community.  To that end I believe the mayor's office has a responsibility of shining a light on all the great things […]

   I can't remember the last time I didn't vote for a Democrat.  There were many elections I just voted down the party line.  But for the Akron mayor election I'm telling you this: Don't vote for a Democrat! About two weeks ago I made up my mind that I was going to endorse a […]

   I think you would have to be pretty tone deaf to not feel how lucky you are to get to spend time in places like: Yellowstone National Park Disney World  The Outer Banks Naples Florida The Bahamas Hawaii  Maybe you have had the opportunity to go to one or more of those places or […]

   I got the opportunity, for the first time in my life, to see Mount Rushmore.  Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt.  It's definitely worth experiencing.  Actually, any national monuments are impressive.  We've recently been over to Washington DC. We took the Capital tour.  American monuments almost universally have one theme: Freedom.  It is the core ingredient […]

   For 15 years of my adult life I've worked in marketing.  A good marketer knows things like: Your strengths Your weaknesses (a lot about your weaknesses) Your insecurities  Your fears Where you shop  Where you went to school  Where you work What TV shows you watch What websites you visit The food you eat […]

   Doesn't it seem odd to you that politicians can't work together? Aren't they the "leaders"? I'm pretty sure I'd get fired from any other job I worked at if I said, "Bob's idea is completely wrong. In fact. I think Bob is trying to intentionally ruin our company." The boss would probably say, "Stop […]

   It is very easy to blame all the country's problems on our government officials.  And in fairness they never take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. And they never ask us to do anything.  The last thing I recall being asked to do was when George Bush told me to go shopping.  We can't […]

I'm writing this from Sparta Wisconsin. It's about 600 miles from Akron.  Last summer Rocky and I put together a plan to do the biggest vacation of our adult lives. We started putting a plan together to go to Yellowstone National Park.  We should be in South Dakota tomorrow.  We'll be checking out the Badlands […]

   We had a really great talk on Facebook today about what the focus of the campaign should be.  A major focus for me is the ages old infrastructure of the 2 party system.  We live in the United States of the 2 Party System.  They hold all the keys. They make all the rules.  […]

   I finished up Mark Maron's interview of Barack Obama today.  Obama was talking about the importance of being succinct in politics.  He said that it's not that people can't understand the complexity of political situations. It's that they don't have time to analyze all the ins and outs of things.  He then referenced the […]

   I'm listening to a podcast with Barack Obama.  He did an interview with Mark Maron.  Mark is a comedian who does a podcast in his garage.  This is interesting on many levels: Garage Comedian  Sitting president  Podcast  Even 6 years ago, when Obama started his presidency, those 4 things coming together would have never […]

There are a lot of drugs being used in Akron. People that don't use illegal drugs often have a disconnect with people that do use illegal drugs. It's a pretty silly separation if you think about it. Heroin is often met with shock and a touch of disgust in certain circles in our community. But […]

One out of every four people living in the U.S. dont have Internet at home. One in four. The White House wants to change this through its new ConnectHome initiative. Its mission: Every child should be given the same opportunity to build a brighter future and to achieve their dreams. This was the very first […]

   I know people don't like change.  It disrupts our lives. It's uncomfortable. You never know what will happen on the other side.  There's no reason to change for change sake.  But I'm here to tell you: We live in a world full of change. One thing is primarily responsible for this: the Internet.  Today […]

   I just got back from the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield.  We're spending the weekend camping at the Shelby / Mansfield KOA.  The movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed there.  Look at this graph from CNN on how much money we spend per inmate versus per student.     From here: For FY 2012, the average […]

 I had a great conversation today with a resident of Cuyahoga Falls.  She said that their mayor suggested everyone in Cuyahoga Falls go meet their neighbor.  What a great idea! She told two stories where by doing that she and her neighbors were able to counteract two potential criminal scenarios.  Working together with your neighbors […]

  Money and politics.  This is the great corruption of America.  Money buys political favors: You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.  Find great political power and I guarantee you will find money hovering around it like bees to honey.  Politicians need the money so they can flood the market with endless advertisements so they […]

   I just got back from Eddie Sipplen's fundraiser event.  (For the record, those trying to keep me off the ballot, I didn't donate to him. So you can't try to corner me as a Republican in Independent's clothing. I'm definitely not a Republican.) I've gotten to spend a bit of time with Eddie. I […]

   In the drug world there is something called Suicide Tuesday.  It typically happens after a wild Saturday night of partying.  Tuesday is the day when it all comes crashing down around you.  The strongest drug I've taken since 2003 is Diet Coke and hot tea (not at the same time, that's crazy). The drug […]

   Based on this blog, you might be surprised to know that I actually run several businesses.  SageRock is my bread and butter. It's a digital marketing agency that my wife, Rocky, and I founded in 1999. We moved SageRock from Medina to Akron about 11 years ago. We ran it out of our house, […]

   When I started this journey my position was to give the people of Akron an alternative to the status quo. To the good-old-boy club of Akron Democrats.  But saying, "If you don't like this then we have something else," isn't great. Just because it's different doesn't make it better.  But today I feel much […]

   That was my niece's response when I asked her if they still made juice boxes.  "How can you be mayor if you don't know if they still make juice boxes?" I get that question every so often about various things.  It's usually in a statement that feels like I'm not smart enough to be […]

I'm not sure what I thought other candidates would be like when I got into this race. But I'm pretty sure it's not what I'm finding. From what I can see, there are 2 types of people that run for mayor: Ego-maniacal, self-righteous narcissists.  Lifers. People that made a career out of politics. I guess […]

   If you've been following along you probably know I've been spending an increasing amount of time in front of Angel Falls Coffee Shop here in Akron.  I spend a couple hours nearly every day standing in front of my truck talking to people. Sometimes I go 2 or 3 times a day.  I've got […]

In an effort to connect a bit more I'm going to start doing more videos. Here's a 52 second video on my qualifications to be mayor of Akron.  

I highly recommend the PBS special on Mount Rushmore: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/rushmore/ This is one of those stories of defying all logic, rationalism and "reality." These stories are everywhere if you look for them.  Very likely someone in your family at some point did something amazing and unbelievable.  These kinds of stories are so common that you […]

   I got an unexpected visit from former Akron mayor, Garry Moneypenny, today.  Garry was one of the first people in the neighborhood to come visit us when we bought our building at 15 Broad Street.  He was our council person in the 10th Ward. He visited several times over the years and was very […]

      There is a massive revolt happening in the world right now. And you might not be aware of it.  Reddit is on fire.  If you aren't familiar with Reddit I'd tell you to go. But much of it has been shut down. By the people.  Over 265 "Subreddits" have been turned private by […]