Chris Thompson · Be Bold, Northeast Ohio

July 16th, 2008

The Akron Beacon Journal editorial page this morning has an idea about what should come next regarding the Cost of Government in Northeast Ohio, and it’s all about increasing services to citizens, not eliminating them.

Are we ready to look at what benefits could be achieved by consolidating school districts?

What about an Advance Northeast Ohio commission on government consolidation and collaboration? 

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Category: BFD
4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Be Bold, Northeast Ohio”

  1. Tyler S Clark Says:
    July 16th, 2008 at 9:46 pm

    Consolidating school districts is the most important place to start!

  2. Mike Gesing Says:
    July 17th, 2008 at 11:45 am

    Yes, it definitely is time for a “governance group” to begin to frame the whole issue of what kind of a structure can best govern the region. And it probably should be a group that represents a number of sectors, organizations and individuals including Advance Northeast Ohio.

    Actually, the group recently formed to look at Cuyahoga County reform seems very short-sighted with a rather narrow view. Shouldn’t the focus be on looking at the very notion of counties to begin with an apply it to all? Mahoning & Trumbull have many of the same thoughts. This is the true foundational issue we will have to deal with at some point. Why wait?

    In fact is the quaint 1803 notion of needing 88 counties even relevant in this day? – everybody should live within a 1/2 day’s travel of the seat of govt. I think not.

  3. kyle julien Says:
    July 17th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    I question whether the new schools/community learning centers being built in Akron (which this forum was discussing and praising recently) would have been built with a countywide school district.

    kj

  4. TimFerris Says:
    July 25th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    I think the dialogue begins with who’s elected and who’s appointed. A staffing or organizational chart is a prerequisite, based on elected or appointed, removable or entrenched.

    Then we can put dollar signs by each part of the chart.

    After we get an overview, then we can talk numbers of districts, governments, redundancies, and so forth.

    Hitting the headlines first with large numbers versus small numbers is bypassing this critical initial survey and is inflammatory and opportunistic.