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Ex-councilwoman launches campaign to keep tech center
By David Giffels
Beacon Journal columnist
Published on Wednesday, Apr 09, 2008
Her mailing address says Massillon, but her home is actually in Jackson Township. A lot of people still think she lives in Georgia. And really, with two small children and a third on the way, it would be easy to assume she was done with this sort of thing.
But when word spread of a possible Bridgestone Firestone pullout, Mary Ellen McAvoy's heart went right back where it belongs — home, to Firestone Park.
A week ago, the former Akron City Council member launched a letter-writing campaign, and by next week, she dreams of dumping a Miracle on 34th Street sack of letters on the parent company's Nashville doorstep.
''I want hundreds of letters,'' she said over hamburgers last week at the Ido Bar & Grill. ''There's no reason there shouldn't be that many. It should be thousands.''
The worry is out there. She's been hearing it, and so have I — worry about the costs of losing the company's technical center and its 600 jobs.
But for some reason, there hasn't been a loud voice rising from the grass roots, urging the South Akron neighborhood's cornerstone to stay. McAvoy's planning to change that.
The 39-year-old knows firsthand the upheaval that would face the tire company's workers if the company decides to relocate its tech center to Nashville — a decision very much on the table, as officials consider offers from Akron and Tennessee to build a new facility.
McAvoy, you'll recall, had to leave her council seat in 2004 so her husband, Craig Sivak, could follow his career south — a difficult adjustment, and one that served as an unfortunate case study for Ohio's economy.
The whole time they were there, McAvoy was hoping eventually to find a way back home. And when they saw an opportunity to get close, Sivak accepted a job as vice president of sales and engineering at T&W Stamping and T&W Forge in Alliance. They returned to Ohio a year ago, McAvoy as a civilian rather than an elected official, but obviously no less committed to the neighborhood she calls home.
Her mother's a Firestone Park native and her parents have lived there all their married life. McAvoy was born on Reed Avenue, grew up on Ido Avenue, and she and her husband bought their first home on Wayne Avenue.
Even now, living in Jackson Township to be closer to her husband's job, ''I come out of my allotment and I turn north every day.''
Both her sons go to school in Firestone Park. Her oldest is open-enrolled in kindergarten at Voris Elementary School, and her younger son goes to preschool nearby.
It goes without saying how important Bridgestone Firestone is to the Park, for reasons ranging from history and civic identity to financial support for the neighborhood's Fourth of July celebration to the tips paid to waitresses at the Ido.
And maybe that's the problem — it goes without saying.
Maybe that's the community outcry that has been missing.
After she heard about the possibility of a departure, and the subsequent offer Akron, Summit County and Ohio officials made to keep the company here — a $68 million pitch that includes a state-of-the-art facility — McAvoy realized something should be done from the street level.
Like the Seussian mayor of Whoville, she concocted a plan to channel all the individual voices into one that, if all goes well, will be hard to ignore.
Last week, she sent a mass e-mail asking people to write letters to Mark Emkes, Bridgestone Firestone's chairman and CEO, urging him to keep the technical center at its current South Main Street location.
''The loss of Bridgestone Firestone to this community would have a devastating effect on both the surrounding neighborhoods as well as local businesses,'' she wrote. ''I believe it is important for Bridgestone Firestone to hear about the value it brings to Firestone Park and the Greater Akron area from citizens throughout the community.''
As these things go, the e-mail grew virtual legs, being forwarded and forwarded again. By early this week, she had about 50 letters — ''not nearly enough,'' she said — but a decent start.
One came from Glenn Custer, president of the Firestone Park Prime Timers seniors club, and his wife, Shirley.
''The (Technical) Center is located in a beautiful place with easy access to airports, expressways, schools and nice homes for its employees,'' they wrote. ''We in the Park take a great deal of pride in the community and honor the businesses here. We urge you to continue your historical support by staying in Firestone Park.''
Steve Baker, who, along with his wife Marcy, owns the Ido Bar & Grill and the nearby Kevin O'Bryan's Irish Pub, said he plans to write a letter, and will put information about the mail campaign on the 2,000 paper placemats he has printed each week.
He already lost a customer base when the new, Wisconsin-based owner of Jeter Systems eliminated about 100 jobs last month from the company's Firestone Parkway manufacturing plant.
''With them and Firestone, that'd be 15 to 20 percent of our business some days,'' he said. ''Those are high-paying jobs; we don't have a lot of those around here right now.''
McAvoy is asking people to send letters to her, but addressed to Mark Emkes, chairman and CEO of Bridgestone Firestone. She will then deliver them in one (hopefully very large) bundle to the Nashville headquarters.
Letters can be e-mailed to memcavoy@sssnet.com or mailed to:
Mary Ellen McAvoy
4982 Red Fox Dr. N.W.
Massillon, OH 44646
David Giffels is a Beacon Journal columnist. He can be reached at 330-996-3572 or at dgiffels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Her mailing address says Massillon, but her home is actually in Jackson Township. A lot of people still think she lives in Georgia. And really, with two small children and a third on the way, it would be easy to assume she was done with this sort of thing.
Get the full article here.
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