RubberBuzz || Akron Unleashed: December 2005

12.30.2005

Glitch Gives Ohio Victims Big Scare

OMG... my family thanks you for the f'in heart attack, Ohio. Thankfully, it was all a big mix up:

Thousands of Ohio crime victims received calls from a computer notification system on Friday mistakenly telling them inmates had been released, a state prisons spokesman said.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction believes the problem stemmed from a computer glitch that happened during maintenance. The agency was double-checking to ensure that no inmates were accidentally released, spokesman Brian Niceswanger said.

About 3,000 calls were made starting at noon on Friday, he said. The system was shut down when the glitch was discovered about an hour later when concerned crime victims started calling the agency.

This is probrably still just hitting a lot of people via their answering machines, I hope the local news will be kind enough to keep on top of this story.

Victims Told in Error Ohio Inmates Freed

(Mia :: Glitch Gives Ohio Victims Big Scare)

12.29.2005

Happy Highland Square News

Those who've been frustrated with the lack of forward movement in Highland Square devolopment might be a bit more chipper with today's news. The city, Albrecht Inc., the library, & FirstMerit have finally - FINALLY - announced a new design plan for the Square that includes lots of pedestrian friendliness. Yea! No crappy front parking!

They will stroll. They will linger. They will spend time and money.

The design, by architect Bob White, with technical advice from University of Akron associate mathematics professor Laura Gross, who lives in Highland Square, encourages strolling and hanging out.

Outdoor public areas with tables and planters will invite them to congregate. The library will include an outdoor reading garden and will sit on top of where North Highland Avenue currently intersects West Market.

Mathematically-themed features such as a binary clock (blinking lights representing zeros and ones that will take some work to interpret) near the grocery store ties the development to the library thematically and hopefully encourages shoppers to explore the area.

The retail and grocery center at a vacant triangle bounded by Market, Portage Path and Edgerton Road also has parking in the back, but it's located close to the store entrance. The city is leasing that property to Albrecht for 20 years. FirstMerit Bank has agreed to share parking with the grocery store.

Now the plans need final approval from the Akron Planning Commission and the Akron City Council. If all goes well (please, please, please), the projected start dates are Spring 2006 for the grocery & retail spaces and Summer 2006 for the new library.

You can get a visual of the new plan here: Changing Highland Square

New design plan reflects residents' wants :: Akron Beacon Journal

(Mia :: Happy Highland Square News)

12.27.2005

Fear the 'Roo

I hate football, but I love Akron. So yesterday was a major dilemma for me, should I suffer through a football game on TV for Akron? I had to do it; I had to watch the Motor City Bowl. The first few minutes were okay for me. Then there was a commercial break and I flipped to a Discovery Channel special... it was all over for Akron. I did however flip the game back on towards the end. The Zips made a valiant comeback effort in the last few minutes on the game, but unfortunately lost 31 to 38 to the University of Memphis Tigers.

It's totally Akron-y though. Memphis in the fourth quarter prematurely proclaimed themselves the victors and dumped the cooler of Power/Gatorade on their coach. That of course, led to a near Akron comeback. They attempted an onside kick to try and regain possession and tie the game, but it didn't quite work. But Akron put on a good game and had nothing to be ashamed of. Much like the city, the Zips football team is out there doing it's best. We're up against tough competition, but we've got potential for a bright future. There are enough people dedicated to Zips Football and to the city that there's no doubt that nothing but great things and alfresco dining coming our way.

I love me some Akron.

(joe :: Fear the 'Roo)

Happy Story

This could quite possibly be the happiest story of all time.

Akron firefighters spent an hour Monday pulling a 70-pound dog from the icy waters of Summit Lake.

They got the call at 11:25 a.m. -- a German shepherd-collie mix was bobbing in a slushy patch on the east end of the lake. Fifteen minutes later, eight divers fought the wind and cold to get an ice sled 350 feet out to the dog.[...]

The canine rescue was the dive team's third or fourth in the past 10 years, Moore said -- and Akron firefighter Frank Poletta's second.[...]

Without a collar, all dogs are taken by the dog warden to the pound. Poletta hopes an owner or adoptive family will come to the rescue.

Now all poocher needs is a good home away from semi-frozen lakes.

The BJ :: Firefighters save dog after plunge

(joe :: Happy Story)

12.21.2005

Farewell Stinky Water

For all of you suffering from nasty, skanky water, you might have some normal-tasting water by the holidays. It seems the algea problem might be under control.

Akron appears to finally be getting rid of the foul taste and smell in its drinking water.

Michael McGlinchy, head of Akron's Public Utilities Bureau, said there were virtually no odor or taste problems in the water leaving the city's treatment plant on Lake Rockwell in Portage County on Tuesday.

``It's pretty much back to normal,'' McGlinchy said.

The raw water entering the plant also has improved in the last two days, he said, and is close to normal in its taste and smell.

Even so, the city intends to keep adding powdered activated carbon to the water through the weekend to ensure that the algae-created odor and taste problems do not recur, he said.

Not everyone will notice improvement right away. It could take three or four days before the water leaving the plant reaches some home taps, McGlinchy said.

The BJ :: Akron water getting better

(joe :: Farewell Stinky Water)

12.15.2005

Ticket: Update II

So The BJ changed it's color scheme. Some of the text is now a weird yellow-ish grey. It's sorta ugly but I'm sure they payed someone out the wazoo to come up with that it.

Speaking of paying out, it looks like Akron's gonna pay out money from those automated tickets over a long time frame...

Akron intends to refund most of the $106,550 collected so far in speeding fines for automated tickets as soon as possible.

But unless Santa can spare some nimble-fingered elves skilled in accounting and data entry, the refunds may not appear before Christmas.

The Akron City Council reduced the fines on Monday to $35 for all photo tickets, past and present, until its public safety committee reviews the trial program, scheduled to end Feb. 22.

The information for each refund must be entered into the computer a keystroke at a time because the electronic data supplied by Nestor Traffic Systems isn't compatible with the city's accounting software.

And there's another hitch. That accounting system typically is shut down to most transactions in mid-December so the city can close the year's books. That is scheduled to happen Friday, which would mean anyone not processed by Friday probably would have to wait until January for a refund.

The BJ :: Ticket refunds could be a while

(joe :: Ticket: Update II)

One More Event and I'll Stop for the Day

Last one. I promise.

KV2 Gallery @ The Church presents "Christmas is Canceled." A mixed media art show featuring the works of promising young Akron artists, Alan Pocaro, James Kurtz, Kelly Eggert and Ryan Kerns.

Saturday, December 17th, 6:30 P.M. - 10:30 P.M.
KV2 Gallery @ The Church
379 E. South St
Akron, OH

(joe :: One More Event and I'll Stop for the Day)

BYOB

This may be the coolest event submission ever: A party on campus.

Dec. 17th, 2005

Adios (Tribunal Records)
Neversaydie! (Paper Street Records)
Rebecca Have Mercy
Flee The Island

7p / BYOB

528 Carroll St. Akron USA 44304

(joe :: BYOB)

Tuba Christmas!

I heart Tuba Christmas!

Akron's Tuba Christmas is on Sunday, December 18, 2005 at the Akron Civic Theatre located at 182 South Main St. Parking is available in lots and decks near the theatre.

Come listen to holiday songs performed on approximately 500 tubas, baritones, sousaphones and euphoniums, played by performers of all ages.

The two FREE performances are at 4 and 6:30 p.m. If you have a tuba and wish to join in the fun, registration is from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. in the front lobby of the Civic. Registration fee is $5.00 and music costs $10.00. Fees are for musicians only! Players receive refreshments and a pin commemorating the year.

Note that Akron's TubaChristmas is one of the largest and flashiest in the United States.

(joe :: Tuba Christmas!)

12.13.2005

Holidays

The holidays are upon us. I've been trying to deny it, but I can't any longer. I look around my house and wonder what kind of Christmas monster threw up on everything. My credit card statement is getting thicker and thicker. I have paper cuts from wrapping gifts that will inevitably be returned. I've found an excuse to hide from my family. Yup, it's Christmas!

Here are some fun things to look at to get into the holiday spirit:

(joe :: Holidays)

Tickets: Update

City Council's trying to save face for a program they, for the most part, thought would do some good in the school zones. That's right the automated ticketing system that has already passed out over half a million dollars in fines was revamped last night.

Akron City Council attempted to salvage the city's controversial speeding program and a battered public image Monday night by reducing future fines to $35 and refunding all but $35 to those who have already paid fines.[...]

The ordinance passed Monday night -- hastily rewritten and time-stamped 19 minutes after City Council's meeting was supposed to begin at 7 p.m. -- sets the fee not to exceed $35. That covers the $19 Nestor receives for each paid ticket and an administrative fee of up to $16 that the city expects to spend handling it.

The fee would be retroactive for those who have already paid fines, which are $150 or $250 depending on the speed. As of Friday, Nestor had written 3,073 tickets and the city had received $92,000 in fines.

It's $35 for now, but it could go up again after the public safety committee reviews the program once again.

This will continue to be a story of interest until the city's contract with Nester Traffic System, the maker of the cameras in use around city, expires sometime in February. But in the meantime, I'm sure we'll see more tweaks and rules added to the program.

The BJ :: Speeding fines cut

(joe :: Tickets: Update)

12.12.2005

An Idea

The next piece of GOP legislation:

On Tuesday, the Ohio Senate is expected to approve a bill that would require showing photo identification, like a driver's license, to vote. The House is expected to concur and send the proposal to Gov. Bob Taft for his signature by the end of the week.

No photo ID? No problem, say the bill's backers, like state Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls.

Just show a bank statement, a government check, a paycheck or any other government document that indicates your name and current address.

No statement? No problem.

You still can vote by providing the last four digits of your Social Security number.

No Social Security number? No problem.

Just sign a piece of paper and vote with a provisional ballot, which will be set aside, verified later and counted.

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with bill, but if this passes it would be totally sweet if I could just swipe my driver's licence at my fancy electronic voting machine and not have to talk to poll workers. I usually fake being nice to them to make sure they put my ballot in the box.

The BJ :: GOP bill changes how we vote

(joe :: An Idea)

Heads Up In Norton

Just a warning for all of you who have to travel through Norton. The city has some kind of state grant to increase its police force. That said, the city also has to show that the increased staff has led to safer streets. That translates to more tickets. So use some extra caution when driving through the area, especially on Interstate 76.

(joe :: Heads Up In Norton)

12.07.2005

Toys, Toys, Toys

My pal Rocky sent me the coolest thing ever. It's celebrity face recognition software! Just upload a photo of yourself and it'll tell you who you most resemble.

I thought it would be really fun to see if celebrities look like themselves. So I ganked a photo of everyone's favorite crazyman Tom Cruise and here are the results!

Tom Cruise actually looks more like John D. Rockefeller then himself. Rounding out the top five celebrities that look like Tom Cruise are John Grisham, Grace Kelly, Edward Norton and finally Tom Cruise. Kinda creepy, but kinda true...

Tom Cruise is only 54% of the man he used to be. Joey Potter, run while you still can!

Celebrity Face Recognition

(joe :: Toys, Toys, Toys)

Sweet Smell of Rust

Here's a happy little arty story:

Creating beauty from junk is the message of the recycling art project of students at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts.[...]

On Tuesday, the students presented their yellow, orange and pink daisies, sunflowers and exotic flowers to their peers alongside P.R. Miller, artist in residence for the project.

Miller, a downtown Akron resident who has been making art out of debris all his life, suggested a project earlier this year to incorporate light bulbs from the old Akron Beacon Journal clock tower.[...]

A few weeks ago, the classes took a tour of Annaco Inc., an Akron metal recycling plant, where they collected scrap metal for their project. They also explored Miller's massive collection of sculptures -- the first group of young people to do so -- and Miller was pleased with their reactions.

``P.R. Miller's garden, it was just above and beyond,'' said seventh-grader Taylor Williams, ``so when I came back, I just thought: `... Think of something amazing and just above and beyond that no one else would do.' ''

Incorporating art into real world applications. I like it. I like it so much I wish I was back in seventh grade! Oh wait, no I don't. I hated middle school. Damn you puberty!

The BJ :: Flowers bloom from scrap

(joe :: Sweet Smell of Rust)

Tickets

I didn't get caught!

Nestor Traffic Systems photographed more than 2,600 alleged speeders this fall -- snapping as many as seven cars a minute -- in and around Akron school zones.

The take in fines in that 19-day period: nearly half a million dollars.

The tripod-mounted mobile cameras nailed the most drivers in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of Copley Road, near Erie Island Elementary School in West Akron. Nestor nabbed more than 1,000 drivers there and issued $182,000 in fines, nearly 40 percent of the total.

The second-busiest stakeout was in the 400 block of Darrow Road near Betty Jane Elementary School in Goodyear Heights: 301 vehicles were photographed, and $51,250 in fines was generated.

The site that netted the fewest violations -- just one -- was in the 700 block of Lovers Lane, near where a 10-year-old boy going to school was killed by a hit-skip driver in September.

I think it's important to enforce speed limits in school zones, but come on, do we need RoboCop to do it? What about the creepy cop who sits in a random church parking lot out of site at 7:30 in the moring whom I secretly loath, will he be out of a job? Oh the worries, oh the worries...

The BJ :: Cameras accuse 2,600 of speeding

(joe :: Tickets)

12.05.2005

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

This is why Santa has a pack of deer instead.

Santa took a nasty spill on his high-tech mode of transportation Sunday afternoon, but it did not deter him from his appointed rounds at the annual Akron Big Wheels Christmas party for needy children.

``Nope,'' the jolly one said after going down on a new Suzuki motorcycle moments before his arrival. ``Santa just bounced right back up.''

At least his red suit could hide the blood.

The BJ :: Santa rides into town

(joe :: Santa Claus is Coming to Town)

History of the World: Part I

One million dollars: making Akron schools better 90 teachers at a time.

A great history education is worth a million bucks.

That's the size of a federal grant Akron Public Schools won to rethink the way it teaches the lessons of America's past to a generation of future leaders.

Akron -- one of five Ohio school districts to win the competitive Teaching American History grant -- will use the money to directly train 90 history teachers over the next three years.

The BJ :: Teachers get new take on history

(joe :: History of the World: Part I)

12.01.2005

Could We Be Going Wireless?

Finally, my dreams are coming true! I just need a laptop...

For more than a year, Akron's chief technology officer, Rick Leu, talked with companies about installing a citywide wireless network that would allow anybody to plug into the Internet without actually plugging into a wall.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... our what? Chief technology officer? What the hell is that?

Akron has chosen NeoReach, a subsidiary of MobilePro Corp. of Maryland, to install a pilot wireless network near Fulton International Airport. The test area will serve city workers and could become the seed for a citywide network open to residents and businesses.

NeoReach also has initiated a pilot program in Cuyahoga Falls. If both pilots are taken citywide with NeoReach, residents could have access to the Internet from either city with the same account.[...]

Akron will receive free access for city business in exchange for allowing the network's use of its ``vertical assets'' -- tall things such as buildings and light poles where NeoReach can stick on antennas.

It's like a glimmer of hope for my MoBlogging aspirations!

The BJ :: Akron gets Wi-Fi plan off ground

(joe :: Could We Be Going Wireless?)

One Million Cases, Zero Cured

In the time it takes you to read this post, five people will have died because of HIV/AIDS complications. That's right, every minute five people pass away, that's over eight thousand lives a day, almost three million a year.

Back in June, the Centers for Disease Control reported that there are one million people in the United States living with HIV. That's five times the population of Akron and it's growing every minute. On a global scale, at least forty million people have been infected; that's about four times the population of Ohio. Lots of those are people are children.

There are only four ways to get HIV, I'm sure you've heard them all before, but I'm going to say them again.

Unprotected Sex
Sharing Needles
Blood and Organ Transfusion
From Mother to Child in the Womb or from Breast Milk

Two of these reasons you can do something about. Everyone out there needs to be practicing safe sex. It doesn't just protect you from HIV; there a whole gammet of things for you to contract. If you're an intervenus drug user, use a clean needle. There I've said it. Now it's up to you to follow through.

To get involved locally, contact Violet's Cupboard. The volunteers at Violet's Vupboard have been a huge help to so many right here in Akron since 1989; if you can try helping them.