Swept up in a reception for Ohio House speaker Cupp
By David E. Dix
Dr. Gail Pavliga, the energetic and enthusiastic Ohio House representative who serves Portage County, hosted a reception last Monday for House Speaker Robert Cupp and I walked in on it completely unawares.
The reception was held at the Bean and Baker, a coffee and light food establishment in Ravenna’s historic, pre-Civil War Phenix Building, that Coleman Health Services beautifully restored a few years ago.
Planning to join three others to discuss Ravenna’s Downtown District Plan, designed by Ravenna native Jason Kentner, the landscape architect, and his Implement Co. in Columbus, I found our group caught up in a busy, congenial event in which the Ohio House Speaker was the center of attention.
In attendance were Dr. John Langell, president of NEOMED, and Hattie Tracy, the new CEO of Coleman Health Services plus a number of Republican notables that included Portage County Auditor Janet Esposito and Commissioner Sabrina Christian Bennett.
Cupp praised Representative Pavliga for the strong background she brings to the Ohio legislature in mental health. She holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Akron. Both the speaker and representative Pavliga listened to Langell and Tracy describe workforce and staffing issues for mental health and treatment centers.
The small group I had joined included Bill Barber, point man for explaining the Jason Kentner plan in Ravenna, Peggy DiPaola of the Ravenna United Fund, and Dr. Robert Bruegmann, distinguished professor emeritus of Modern and Contemporary Architecture at the University of Illinois, who is over-seeing disposition of some of the trust money that the late Jack Schafer designated for the Ravenna community.
Adjourning to Reed Memorial Library, where Bill Barber is a trustee, our group continued our discussion. Bruegmann gives the Kentner plan for Downtown Ravenna high marks. “It shows how to upgrade and re-invent a downtown for a relatively modest investment,” he said. Kentner’s plan, created after receiving input from the community, received the “2021 Award of Excellence” from the Ohio Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Our group also heard from Amy Young, Reed Memorial Library’s personable new executive director who holds masters in business administration and masters in public administration degrees. She talked about strategies for luring young people back who may have fallen away from the library during the pandemic.
ABC rail line repaired
The ABC rail line that links Akron with Ravenna is back up and running after an engine that pulls the freight cars derailed due to an old railway tie failing to hold one of the rails in place.
The company this past week has been busy inserting new railway ties along the track where the weakness occurred, ABC General Manager Herb Shanklin said last week. The engine derailed near the rail line’s juncture with the Portage Hike and Bike Trail at Towner’s Woods.
With additional companies locating in the Ravenna Commerce Park that Ray Harner has been developing, traffic on the ABC is expected to grow substantially, Shanklin said.
“So, it’s good we were able to do the repair work now,” he said.
LG Chem America, a manufacturer from Korea, is building a compounding plant and a tech center on a 24-acre parcel that will add an estimated 72 jobs to Ravenna. Menard Inc. is going to build a 260,000 sq. ft. manufacturing and distribution center that brings 90 jobs to Ravenna.
These companies will depend on the ABC Rail Line to transport their products to market.
David E. Dix is the former publisher of the Record-Courier.
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