The Mayor Has Got Tony's Back

Massillon Ward 4 Councilman Tony Townsend appeared to hit the wall. Since June, he has been attempting to rename Shriver Park, located in his ward, after the late T. Roy Roberson, a former Ward 4 Councilman. Roberson served for over a decade as councilman, and the name change has much support in the 4th Ward.

"People of the community respect him (Roberson). He's loved by many" (Tony Townsend, The Independent, June 18, 2010).

Initially the name change appeared to have the support of council. Then, all of a sudden, it didn't. Council President Glenn Gamber and Councilman at Large Larry Slagle worked vigorously to prevent a vote on the matter. They argued that this matter belonged to the "Independent" Parks and Recreation Board. The Board is comprised of five members, three of which are appointed by, you guessed it, our Mayor for Life.

Earlier this year, Stark County Judge John Haas ruled that the mayor and city council have ultimate authority over the park system, not the "Independent" Parks and Recreation Board. The rubber stamps on council wanted to bury Townsend's request for a name change in the "Independent" Parks and Recreation Board. The Park Board claimed it had a policy discouraging renaming a park that had already been named after a person. Shriver Park had been named after the original land owner, Herman Shriver. The "Independent" Park Board claimed it had this magical policy discouraging this renaming attempt, but couldn't actually find in their minutes where the Board approved and adopted this policy.

What was perfectly clear was that the rubber stamps wanted to kill Townsend's efforts to honor the late T. Roy Roberson. But why? This seemed like a simple request, and the residents of Ward 4 wanted it. Why would council want to stop these efforts?

As the Massillon Review reported on August 18, there was a list of parks the mayor was considering selling, and Shriver Park was on the list. Of course, this list was never shared with the citizens. It was most definitely leaked from the inside. We are confident our Mayor for Life was none too happy either when this list went public.

On August 19, The Independent printed the list. And Shriver Park was indeed on it.

Our Mayor for Life was busted. What would he do?

He would flip flop. As being Mayor for Life requires a vote of the people every four years, and that the people were not happy with the secret preparations to sell some of our parks, and that the residents of the Fourth Ward were none too happy about the honoring of T. Roy Roberson being bottled up by the mayor's lackeys on council, the mayor hopped on board.

Mayor Cicchinelli hosted one of his Town Hall Meetings in Massillon's Fourth Ward this past Monday night.

"Mayor Cicchinelli told 4th Ward residents there are no plans to sell Shriver Park, or many others, and he pledged to Councilman Tony Townsend that he would help him rename Shriver by urging his Parks and Recreation Board appointees to vote in favor of it" (The Independent, August 31, 2010).

Where was Cicchinelli's help these past months while Townsend was getting his teeth kicked in on council by the Mayor for Life's loyal enforcer, Council President Glenn Gamber, and Larry Slagle? Our Mayor for Life didn't speak up for months. If he was for it, why didn't he just say so?

"No one asked me. Am I opposed to it? Heck no" (The Independent, August 31, 2010).

No one asked you? Is that the best you can do? It didn't have anything to do with your "Parks for Sale" list being leaked, and that Shriver Park was on the list, and you were busted, and people were angry with yet another behind closed doors scheme?

Once more, your lackeys, in this case Council President Glenn Gamber, and Councilman Larry Slagle do your dirty work, and the buck stops somewhere else.

Thud

That thud you just heard was our Mayor for Life throwing Glenn Gamber and Larry Slagle under the bus. They can ask Auditor Jayne Fererro how it feels. She's a regular.