City of Ravenna
A Ravenna Business Roundtable featuring state Rep. Gail Pavliga will be held from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, April 13 at Riddle Block 9 Airbnb at 215 S. Chestnut St. There will be discussions and insight. Pavliga wants to hear from you! Light refreshments will be available. To pre-register, email [email protected].
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The city passed a resolution of support for the passage of the 6.9-mill school levy — a property tax levy — for the Ravenna School District.
“That was an important thing to take care of,” Mayor Frank Seman said. “It’s been 20 years since they’ve gotten any money.”
Primary Election Day is Tuesday, May 2.
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The city awarded a contract to J.D. Services, which paints all the lines and markers on the roadways to keep cars where they belong in their lanes.
“This will happen throughout the summer,” Seman said. “They’ll paint over old lines and markers, and if we need new ones in certain locations they’ll adjust and put them in.”
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The city awarded the biannual city cleanup to Conrad Disposal. Wards 1 and 2 will be Saturday, May 6; Ward 3 will be Saturday, May 13; and Ward 4 will be Saturday, May 20. Residents can set things out on their tree lawn, and the garbage trucks will pick them up.
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The annual Community Challenge will happen throughout the month of April.
“We get donated food that we give to the Center of Hope, which feeds the needy,” Seman said. “Kent has its own place that they give their donated food to. We usually have a contest between the mayors and fire and police departments of Ravenna and Kent as to which city can raise the most food. It’s all in fun.”
Food can be dropped off at Ravenna City Hall at 210 S. Park Way or the Center of Hope at 1081 W. Main St. The police department will have a food pickup from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 15 at Marc’s at 1145 E. Main St. Monetary donations can also be made.
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The Portage County Sheriff’s Department will hold a Hunger Challenge Food Drive, sponsored by the Neil Mann family, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29 at Aldi at 1350 E. Main St. Non-perishable food will be collected for the Center of Hope’s pantry.
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The city approved the Community Action Council (CAC), a nonprofit that works in town, to use grant money to feed the children breakfast and lunch at the summer day camp at City Park.
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A community-wide yard sale weekend sponsored by the City of Ravenna will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 28-30. All regularly mandated garage and yard sale permits and fees will be waived. All are welcome to participate and attend. Be sure to visit local businesses to enjoy sales and specials!
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American Legion Ravenna Post 331 is asking groups to march in the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 29. The parade will start at the library parking lot, go out onto Main Street and continue on to downtown. There will be a brief memorial on the courthouse lawn. The parade will end at the cemetery where the twin lakes are.
“Usually, they have a group fire off their rifles,” Seman said.
Anyone interested in marching in the parade can contact the American Legion at 330-296-9521.
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A Ravenna Rocks Concert Series planning meeting will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. today at the West Main Street Winery at 234 W. Main St. You can attend in person or via Zoom. To register, email [email protected].
Ravenna Township
Two new full-time firefighters will be sworn in at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 11 at the Ravenna Township Hall at 6115 N. Spring St.
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The road department is going to start doing brush chipping — grinding up trees’ branches — after the two recent windstorms.
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The township is still accepting applications for the position of a part-time worker with the road department. Anyone interested in filling out an application can stop in at the township office at 6115 N. Spring St., or go to ravennatownship.com.
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The township’s Spring Cleanup will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 22 at the township office. For details, go to ravennatownship.com.
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The township passed a resolution that the $80,000 it received from the American Rescue Plan Act be given to Family and Community Services to install two bathrooms at the King Kennedy Center.
“The job was put out to bid,” township Trustee Vince Coia said. “Hopefully, the work on the bathrooms will start sometime in May.”
Streetsboro
During the recent windstorms that caused much damage to the city, some Streetsboro residents called 911 or the police department to report that their power was out. Actually, FirstEnergy is responsible for getting people’s power back on.
“We, the city, don’t assign any priority as to when people get their power back on,” Mayor Glenn Broska said. “Also, FirstEnergy tries to get to the places that will put the most people’s power on the fastest.”
When it comes to removing fallen trees, the city’s service department will do that only if it believes it can be done safely.
“The service department will not move trees off of electrical lines or trees out in the road where there still may be energized lines entangled in them. We’re not prepared to handle that, and we won’t handle it. They won’t touch it, and I fully support that,” Broska said. “They don’t know if it’s energized or if they’re going to get shocked. If they find a tree that’s down that they can safely remove, they will.”
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A Spring Into Health Screening & Education event will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 26 at the UH Streetsboro Health Center at 9318 State Route 14. There will be a variety of pre-registered and walk-up health screenings that are free, family friendly and offered to the public, including pulmonary function testing and blood pressure. Space is limited. To register, call 330-297-2576 by Monday, April 24.
Aurora
The city modified its parking ordinance to prohibit parking in front yards on grass.
“However, you can obtain permission from the police chief if it’s a special circumstance,” Mayor Ann Womer Benjamin said.
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City council approved a contract for an engineering firm to design a new sidewalk on New Hudson Road.
“The sidewalk will only be on one side of the street, but it may have to cross over to the other side depending on the obstacles we may face,” Womer Benjamin said. “It may go for a ways on one side of the street, and then we might put in a crosswalk for it to continue on the other side of the street.”
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The city is applying for a state grant to construct a hike and bike trail.
“We have an abandoned railroad right-of-way running through the city,” Womer Benjamin said. “FirstEnergy put up transmission poles that the city fought in litigation, and as part of the settlement of that litigation we got a recreational easement along the entire railroad corridor that FirstEnergy now owns. We’re designing the trail on the first section of that railroad right-of-way.”
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City council approved a comparable use for The Goddard School on state Route 306 across from Heinen’s Grocery Store. The Goddard School is for pre-kindergarten through kindergarten children, and before- and after-school care.
“It’s an empty lot right now,” Womer Benjamin said. “They have to build the building, and it would be a 10,500-square-foot structure. They had to have a conditional zoning certificate approved, and that was approved by the planning commission and city council. So it’s moving forward.”
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The city has closed on its purchase of the house next to the Aurora Memorial Library for potential future expansion of the library and also on its purchase of the historic Hanes building on the corner of state Route 306 and state Route 82.
“It’s a very old, historic building that’s at the entrance to the historic district,” Womer Benjamin said. “The city bought it to preserve that very important landmark and maintain the character of that intersection. The city expects to lease the building at some point.”
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The annual Aurora Fill a Bag, Feed a Family food drive will take place in the next couple of weeks.
“A lot of volunteers drop bags off at every residence and then come back a week later to collect the food that’s in those bags. They’re looking for canned and boxed foods,” Womer Benjamin said. “They largely provide the food to the Aurora Food Pantry and several other organizations that help the needy.”
The bags will be passed out to residences on Saturday, April 15 and will be picked up on Saturday, April 22.
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The Aurora Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau will host a “Battle of the Businesses Food Drive” from April 10-19. Businesses are asked to collect food that will be donated to one of the local food banks. Last year, The Campus of Anna Maria of Aurora won bragging rights for collecting the most food. Who will win this year?
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An “Ask the Expert – Launching & Growing Your Business” event will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, April 20 at Silver Creek Church at 252 N. Chillicothe Road. This is a workshop with eight presenters, including the SBA, the Better Business Bureau and the Akron Small Business Development Center, that will be answering any and all questions regarding your business. Attendance is limited to 40 people. The admission fee is $10. To register, visit allaboutaurora.com.
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The city’s first Shred Day of the year will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 15 at the Aurora Service Department at 158 W. Pioneer Trail. Residents can bring their papers for shredding free of charge, with a limit of six boxes per household.
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ThornCreek Winery was sold to the owners of another winery, Sapphire Creek. It has reopened under the name Orchid Place, a restaurant, winery and event center at 155 Treat Road.
“It’s a wonderful hidden gem,” Womer Benjamin said.
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Manny Barenholtz, the creator and builder of Walden, one of the large residential areas in Aurora, passed away recently.
Said Womer Benjamin: “Manny was a very significant person in the community and was very much ahead of his time when he envisioned and then eventually laid out and built Walden.”
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The City of Aurora and the Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau held an Easter Egg Hunt on April 1 at the Aurora High School gymnasium, with some 200 children attending. The event, which was moved from Hartman Park due to the expected storms and high winds, featured the Easter Bunny, face painting, a coloring contest, and games and treats provided by local businesses. The children were separated into different age groups to collect 12 eggs and turn them in for a goodie bag provided by the city. If they found a “special” egg, they received a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of 10 gift baskets donated by the participating businesses.
“Everyone had fun,” Womer Benjamin said.
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There will be Cinco de Mayo Bingo from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 4 at Mario’s International Spa & Hotel at 35 E. Garfield Road. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. The admission prices are $30 per person, $50 per couple and $100 for a table of four. Sponsorships are available for $125.
