Sewage for Scholarships?
In his State of the City address, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic proposed selling or leasing the city's sewer system for more than $100 million dollars to generate college scholarships for Akron Public School students.
What do you think? Is Akron "flushing" money down the drain or making a sound investment in the future? We want to hear from you.
What do you think? Is Akron "flushing" money down the drain or making a sound investment in the future? We want to hear from you.
posted by lbarr at
6:18 PM
4 Comments:
as a lifelong resident, and active community member of Akron, i smell something fishy. it'll be interesting to see who gets a kick back. at a time when municipal debt is soaring, Plusquelic wants to give money away? i'm all for provided local income strapped families ways paying for college, but at what cost to our fair city? privatizing this public utility may also lead to unexpected price hikes, mismanagement, and environmental laziness. it's time for new blood in Tammany Hall (this all coming from a pretty ardent democrat - with a small d).
The Mayor seems to forget just who paid for the sewers...the Taxpayers of Akron. The elected officeials of the city and the county have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers and voeter that they represent. If the sewers are sold for $250 million, that money needs to be returned to the taxpayers. Not some other program to be squandered
If the city is not attracting new citizens, they need to fix some of the root causes like crime and the lack of Police.
Let's get some creative ideas and basic services back in Akron to make it safer amd better forlall.
The idea the mayor got from Kalamazoo, MI worked there because someone there gave a gift for that purpose. If this goes through, there will be another reason "My City Is Gone" - because someone else owns it! There is only speculation this will draw somewhat wealthy property owners back to living in Akron. Paying investors for what amounts to the city selling Bonds discuised as assets is a new twist. Why not just sell bonds to subsidize Scholarships? When they fix the state school funding issue, I suspect they will also fix the cities residency issues.
-ET
I think its a bunch of bull. HOWEVER would be a great idea if they could make it work and actually benifit the average college student. Im sure they will make it so hard to qualify for it, that it won't even be worth it
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