A Look into the Crystal Ball

"The Mayor thinks council members can't think for themselves," he said. "I want to honor someone who contributed to the ward. And I feel really bad for the mayor because every time someone comes up with something and is an independent thinker he thinks there has to be a conspiracy. The guy's got a serious case of paranoia."
- Fourth Ward Councilman Tony Townsend,
The Independent, November 20, 2010

It appears the mayor may have broken his pledge;

"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).

We believe that our Mayor for Life had no intention of helping Tony Townsend honor the late T. Roy Roberson. The Mayor's Loyal enforcer, Glenn Gamber, and his sidekick, the boy wonder, Councilman Larry Slagle worked vigorously to shift the proposal to rename Shriver Park to the "independent" parks and recreation board, which is dominated by the mayor for life's appointees.

Even with Cicchinelli's "pledge," his rubber stamps on the park board, Michelle Del-Rio Keller, and Timothy Muzi voted against the name change.

As everyone assumed they would.

This is yet one more example of the buck stopping any where and every where else in Massillon, except at the mayor's desk. It appears that our Mayor for Life doesn't want the park name changed.

Maybe he plans on selling the park, and wouldn't be able to after it was just renamed to honor the late T. Roy Roberson.

Maybe is opposed to the name change because it wasn't his idea.

Or maybe he really is as paranoid as people believe, and opposes the name change because he sees it as part of some grand conspiracy to end his lifetime tenure as Massillon's mayor.
(In a democracy, we call those elections)

No matter. He told the residents of Ward 4 he would help honor T. Roy Roberson, while his minions do the dirty work, and prevent the name change.

The end result is that the buck stops somewhere else. Again.

Council has the final say over whether to rename the park, or not.

Yes, this soon to be eight month long circus will finally come to a conclusion on December 6, when city council will make a final vote.

This is all part of Larry Slagle's critical and timely "park renaming policy." We need to thank Councilman Slagle for setting aside the minor issues of city government like budgets, insurance, and dams which are about to burst, and focusing like a laser on park names. Thank you Larry, your visionary leadership has been a saving grace to the community.

And here is how this ends.

On December 6th, five to six of the following members of city council (Paul Manson, David Hersher, David McCune, Donnie Peters, Larry Slagle, and Ron Mang) will vote against the name change.

They will spew some pablum about how while they wanted to honor T. Roy Roberson, they believe the park board should have final say on park names, and will defer to the judgment of the "independent" park board.

The "independent" park board voted no. Coincidentally, it was the two members appointed by the mayor who voted no.

Frank can still tell the residents of Ward 4 he was for the name change.

Frank can blame city council.

Council can blame the park board.

The mayor appoints three out of the five park board members.

The mayor's appointees voted no.

And the buck stops somewhere else, as it always, and we mean ALWAYS, does.

And Tony Townsend's proposal loses. As we always knew it would.

Not because it was a bad idea, but because it was his idea.

Because our Mayor for Life needed to flex his muscles, and show rogue council members like Townsend, who don't rubber stamp like they should, who runs the city.

And this is one more example why Frank Cicchinelli is indeed Massillon's Mayor for Life.

He is just better at playing the game of politics.