In response to "These trustees have to go' Akron Beacon Journal Letter to the Editor April 26, 2008
It should read "The OLD trustee had to go' as that's what the residents of the Township voted for in November 2007 and were rewarded accordingly!
The Township had a LEGAL right to exercise the option to not renew the lease. Why is this so hard for folks to grasp?!? LEGALLY, the Township HAD THE RIGHT to NOT RENEW the LEASE. If the Port Authority had done it's due diligence and not allegedly taken advantage of the former trustees lack of business insight, monetary management skills, and some would say plain old common sense then the Port Authority wouldn't be in the mess they are in right now. Had the Port Authority exercised some forethought and realized that elections continue and elected officials are replaced based on the will of the people, not select politicians, then they should have been more mindful of the consequences of the foolish decision to enter into such a shady deal and fleecing of the citizens of the Township, especially considering the FACT that the Township had the option EVERY YEAR to CANCEL the LEASE. The Port Authority is in the situation they are in because THEY chose not to do what they have been called upon by the residents of the county to do which is to act responsibly on their behalf when making decisions regarding finances and not blindly throw money at a deal without thoroughly investigating the merits of it first!
So if you all want to place blame on someone for contributing to Ohio's economic woes then look first at YOUR elected officials who exercised the right to enter into such a ridiculous deal and ask yourselves the question "Why didn't I do as the citizens of Twinsburg Township who exercised their right to judge and hold politicians responsible for their actions through their vote" - which for those who don't know was almost 2 to 1 in favor of the new board. One major reason for the shake up in Township government was the waste the citizens' saw and rightly attributed to the former leadership in Township government. WE had had enough! However, our fight isn't over as there is one Shifty politician left that I believe will not be reelected in 2 years!
Stop blaming a small community for Summit County's mess and Ohio's larger economic woes. We are a Township of 2500 residents and we are being blamed for protecting ourselves from wasting millions of dollars over the next 18 years on a building we don't need nor ever wanted. Better to cut our losses now with one million dollars versus tens of millions in the long run. That is how a business is run. You cut your losses and move on when you know your current course is not headed in the right direction. You don't spend money just because you can afford to. That's stupid! You spend/invest wisely for the future and save in the present because the future is unpredictable, especially in today's hard economic times. What business person in their right mind would agree to such a ridiculous setup based on word of mouth that it could eventually use the rest of the building, but purchase it now without a concrete plan? That business would cease to exist because it would have filed bankruptcy. Citizens, get the facts so that you can make informed comments instead of relying on ABJ's sensationalized journalism and misrepresentation of the facts - some would call negligent. Perhaps their J moniker/acronym should stand for Junk journalism!
There was a reason as a resident of Summit County I never subscribed to the Akron Beacon Journal (ABJ), but instead have subscribed to the Plain Dealer going on 5 years. This shady journalism proves my point that ABJ is a joke of a newspaper and black mark on journalism as a profession, which is supposed to be objective in its viewpoint and report THE FACTS!