Our mayor did not do his State of the City address this year. So I did one for him.
Here is the full transcript if you prefer to read it:
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Hi, everybody.
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My name is Sage Lewis
and I am running for mayor of Akron in the
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primary in May of 2023 and
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our mayor postponed
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his State of the City address this year.
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It was supposed to happen
on August 17th of 2022,
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and he said that he didn’t feel
it was now the appropriate time.
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And then he went on to say,
I believe what our city needs in
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this moment is to embrace the discomfort
we feel and not shy away
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from difficult conversations.
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I felt that that was
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a confusing and ironic statement
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for a mayor who shied away
from a difficult conversation.
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So in light of that,
I wanted to put together my own State
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of the City address and give you
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my take on how I think things are going.
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In a nutshell, I believe this.
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Dan Horrigan, our mayor, does not care
about the people of Akron
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and how he spends the city’s
money proves it.
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So I want to go through
a variety of slides here
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and make this case
that Dan Horrigan does not
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care about the people of Akron.
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Now, what you should know is
we have been given a once
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in a lifetime
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hydrant full
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fire hydrant full of money
from the federal government in the form
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of ARPA money, one of the most amounts
given to any city in America.
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We were like in the top receivers of that
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and so far we’ve gotten $72 million.
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And this is how our mayor
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is allocating that money.
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$72 million. Okay.
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The number one thing he is spending
his money on is parks
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and public spaces, $25 million.
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The next largest
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allocation is city budget stabilization.
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That’s it’s over.
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I don’t even know.
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It’s like 17, $16 million.
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10 million of that is going to the fact
that we did not balance our budget.
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Right.
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And they’re making it up on ARPA money.
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How would we have balanced a $10 million
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mistake in balancing our budget
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if we didn’t get this free money
from the government?
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And then it’s also like weird.
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They’re given money to two
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bonuses
and premiums to people in the city.
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Housing is next.
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Okay.
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There’s a $3 million
within this allocation
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for repairs to homeowners.
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Okay.
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So houses is next.
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Repairing houses.
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All right.
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For people that own houses,
not renters, people that own houses, then
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public utilities, incidentally,
nothing on the Internet.
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Fairlawn is getting
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fiber optics for Internet
and we’re not getting anything like that.
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Then small business growth,
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then access to health care
and social services.
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And then down here, violence prevention.
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Okay, this is the graph of how
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that $72 million
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is being spent.
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Now, in light of that,
I would like to show you this article.
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It came out in August, August 9th, 2022
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violent deaths in Akron
nearing record pace.
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Okay.
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Now, in 2020, we had our
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deadliest year since 1974
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with 48 murders in
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2020, we beat that by two extra murders
with 50 murders.
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This year, we are on record.
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We are on the path
to get to those numbers again.
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We have
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more than 30 deaths on record
through the end of July
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and nearly half a year to go.
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Half a year to go.
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Okay.
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And I just want to come back to this graph
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all time record
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highs in murder and violence.
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And this is how much of the $72
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million free money we’ve been given by
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the feds to spend on violence.
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Parks.
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Parks, followed by
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covering our screw ups
on not balancing our budget.
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Then we care more about houses,
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houses owned by
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homeowners.
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Okay,
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then public utilities, then business,
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and then health care and then violence.
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This right here
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should prove this statement
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that Dan Horrigan does not care
about the people of Akron.
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He cares about how those
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plumbing
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we have.
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We are on track to yet again
have a record high murders
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and we are spending the least
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amount of money on violence.
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This is madness, but it doesn’t.
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And Jayland Walker
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was murdered
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by the Akron police, shot in the back
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or wherever 46 times.
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He was not armed.
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In response to that,
our police chief has now made it
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so that officers don’t have to wear
nametags.
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Chief Mylett defended his move
to allow officers to patrol the streets
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of Akron and control protests crowds
without wearing name tags.
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Additionally, city attorneys have cited
the safety of officers in denying
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the Beacon Journal’s request
for the names of the eight officers
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who shot
Walker and earlier police shootings.
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Where
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in any of this is protecting
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the people
that are being murdered at a record pace
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in Akron, Ohio?
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It doesn’t show up.
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Additionally,
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there is no time
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table for the mayor or the police chief
to meet with protesters
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of a national story here in Akron, Ohio.
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Jayland Walker was the story
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in the United States of America
of police brutality.
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After missing an opportunity
to meet with community activists
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and protest organizers last week,
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the mayor and police chief on Monday said
they had no immediate plans to try again,
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but each expressed a willingness to do
so if the opportunity arises.
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Horrigan said his office continues
to communicate with the U.S.
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Department of Justice officials,
who set a meeting for Thursday.
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“I don’t personally have a timetable
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of when they may
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or may not happen,”
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Dan Horrigan
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has said.
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He does not feel now is appropriate.
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A time to give a state of the city address
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because we can’t shy away
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from difficult conversations.
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How does that even register?
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How does that even make sense?
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In response,
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Black elected officials of Summit County.
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Oops.
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Hold on. Sorry.
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Where to go? Oh, I lost it.
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The Black officials of Summit County
have put out a statement
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saying they are going to.
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They are putting together a
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something to go on the ballot
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for police oversight.
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That is their plan.
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That’s what the Black leaders of Akron,
Ohio, want.
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Okay.
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This is what they want.
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When you ask Black leaders of Akron, Ohio
and Summit County what they want.
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They want police oversight
because they will tell you they are tired
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of getting killed
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by the police
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with no oversight.
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The Black elected
officials of Summit County support
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a ballot initiative to amend Akron’s
Charter to establish an independent
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citizen’s oversight board and guidelines
to improve police and community relations.
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All right.
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They’re encouraging the city council
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and all of the cities of Akron
to support amending the charter.
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So why do Black elected
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officials of Summit County
have to do this,
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have to go over the head of the mayor
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to get an oversight board
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as they’re being gunned down
in the streets of Akron, Ohio.
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But police
that don’t have to wear nametags.
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Meanwhile, the budget came out
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and we are adding 60 more public safety
officers,
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60 more public safety officers.
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I didn’t see anywhere
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where Black elected
officials wanted 60 more cops
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that don’t
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wear name tags.
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It is madness. Now,
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one metric
that Dan Horrigan has always wanted
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since the beginning
was to increase the population of Akron.
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He has said repeatedly
he doesn’t want to manage
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the decline of Akron.
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Here is the population trend
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since 1860.
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Of Akron
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in 1960, we had a peak population
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of 290,000 people.
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Every year, Dan Horrigan has been mayor.
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Our population has declined.
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Our population is in decline.
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And I believe our city is in decline.
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Because we are not addressing
the fundamental issues
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of Akron.
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On my wall
I keep a picture of a man named Rickey.
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This is art.
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Actually, the art behind me
is also from a homeless woman
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that is a wonderful artist named Donnie
Jean.
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This is Rickey. Okay.
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Now I keep Rickey on my wall
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because this is Rickey story.
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I had never met Rickey before,
but Rickey was one of four Black men
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that were denied hotel vouchers
by Community Support Services.
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Okay, so what happened
was the city of Akron goes around and does
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camp sweeps of homeless people.
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They just they’re there
on an extermination process of just
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eradicating the view of homeless people
anywhere in Akron, Ohio.
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And so there was a camp sweep
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where they
they cleaned out the entire camp,
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except for four Black men, everyone else.
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Now, there were Black men
that did get the hotel vouchers,
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but the people that were left were
for Black men, one of which was Rickey.
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And the reason Community Support Services
said they did not give Rickey a voucher
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was because he had no addiction issues
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and therefore
he was not eligible for a hotel.
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They told Rickey
to go to the Haven of Rest,
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which is an extremist religious
Christian organization.
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Rickey said that he doesn’t go
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to the Haven of Rest
for religious differences.
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I don’t know what Rickey
his religious persuasion is,
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but it does not jive with
the only men’s shelter in Akron, Ohio,
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that requires you to pray to a Christian
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God three times a day for food and a bed.
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He also does not
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agree with the group showers
that have no privacy.
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There are no doors on the toilets
and a lack of cleanliness
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and not being able to have his phone
after lights out at 8 p.m.,
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I think it’s actually 8:30,
but he said 8pm. I think
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technically it is 8:30.
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I take you back to this slide.
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The only men’s shelter
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we have in Akron, Ohio, is a privately run
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homeless shelter
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that requires 21
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religious services a week
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if you want food and a bed,
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how can that even be constitutionally
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permissible?
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We’re spending $25 million on parks
that homeless people
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are not allowed to be in.
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There is no homeless allocation of money.
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Budget stabilization.
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Giving $3 million of repair money
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to homeowners.
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And this little thing down
here, violence prevention
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00:15:34,199 –> 00:15:36,432
work.
253
00:15:36,799 –> 00:15:40,432
This is utter and
254
00:15:40,432 –> 00:15:42,599
total madness.
255
00:15:44,599 –> 00:15:47,565
Daniel Horrigan is literally fiddling
256
00:15:47,565 –> 00:15:49,899
while his city burns.
257
00:15:51,265 –> 00:15:55,332
He is literally giving people parks
258
00:15:56,732 –> 00:16:00,532
as they starve and cannot afford housing.
259
00:16:01,832 –> 00:16:05,732
It’s Marie Antoinette all over again.
260
00:16:08,199 –> 00:16:09,565
Dan Horrigan
261
00:16:09,565 –> 00:16:13,465
does not care about the people of Akron
262
00:16:13,532 –> 00:16:17,565
and how he chooses to spend the city’s
money proves it.
263
00:16:19,099 –> 00:16:22,265
I give the state of the city an F.
264
00:16:24,132 –> 00:16:30,165
There is countless times
where we have had missed opportunities
265
00:16:30,465 –> 00:16:32,699
where we could right the ship
266
00:16:33,665 –> 00:16:36,665
and all we are doing is building parks
267
00:16:37,032 –> 00:16:40,732
and covering up budget allocation
mistakes.
268
00:16:42,265 –> 00:16:44,465
Utter and complete madness.
269
00:16:45,032 –> 00:16:49,632
The city of Akron gets an F.