Another Akron nutball ranking right up there with the ones on the Highland Square neighborhood Association. Theire motto is: "If is exists, we are against it."

As a City, we've lost 30,000 residents over the past 15 years. We are $760 million in debt. (That is almost $4000 per person). The police force is about 40 officers understaffed. The city broke its promises to hundreds of retired police and fire employees regarding health care. Failed projects, subsidized for millions of dollars by the taxpayers, like the Recycle Energy Plant, the Hickory Street Development, and Inventure Place are all around us. Projects like Northside Lofts and Spicertown appear to be failing. It is easy to look good when you are living on credit, but it is destabilizing to our city and has destroyed our ability to respond to economic crisis.

Unlike the Mayor, who has lived off the taxpayer since the 1970s, I grew up working in my family's small businesses and I have started and run small businesses for myself most of my adult life.

Unlike the Mayor, I know what it takes to work hard to create jobs for myself and others.

Warner M:

Look for my e-mail message, etc. I am thinking about helping.

Dear WARNER!,

What part of your comment makes Akron unique? OHIO has big issues as well as many other states.

But, Im sure you want to pin it ALL on one person, the Mayor! The President!

Thank you for your ONE MAN SUPPORT of knowing what it takes to work hard to create jobs.

Is that in AKRON?

And if so, THANK THE MAYOR! After all, he is the root of all that is good (oops, I mean bad) in this economy.

Same for Mendenahll. Does he make money or have investments in Akron? Yes? Thank the Mayor!

No? Quit complaining, and invest!

I have to add that you are making it harder on yourself by "requiring" 200 volunteers who will also contribute financially. You are setting yourself up for failure if you make those restrictions. If your goal is gettting Plusquellic out, then don't cloud it.

@Terry - Where do you see that 200 volunteers are "required". I read the following: "He wants to enlist about 200 people to gather...".

- Uncle Ed

There are a lot of things not to like about Plusquellic. However, one things you can't argue with is the positive changes he has been able to make in Akron while other peer cities in the region have faultered. Sure, not all of his ideas have panned out, but at least he has ideas. I wasn't a fan of his sewer issue, but at least he is exploring creative solutions to complex problems. Go look at Youngstown, Toledo or some other Rust Belt cities of similar size and then come back and tell me that Plusquellic has ruined Akron.

@Ed:

Go to the website. The implication is that he will not proceed without that number.

Police, Fire, and Parking Attendants unite! We are with you Warner.

I hope Mayor Don is recalled. He deserves it very much for what he has not done for the city.

Who is the city hall hero kiddin' All city services, especially police and fire, have been understaffered for years. And continue to be so today.

I see a couple of the poopypants liberal cheeleaders are out early as well. Must be awkward wearin' them kneepads all day long like that.

This is an opportunity for the taxpayers of Akron, to oust the city hall hero. This initiative should be expanded to get rid of the cronies on council as well.

Oh, and Mr. city hall hero!! People almost made the choice durin' the last election. Mebbe y'alls peanut memory won't allow y'all to yecall that.

I wish that DP's cabnet would quit whining. If you don't have anything to worry about, don't say anything. The more you say something the more it's going to get people's attention.

Bad schools, corruption in promotions and hiring employees.

Corruption in control of the police department. Welfare retirement job for the police auditor.

Sales of land and who makes the profits?

Self serving councilmen that go unchecked by the mayor

A community that becomes more and more a welfare city.

Yep Akron has been ready for a change as soon as this rampaging degrading mayor made office. I see Akron falling to it's knees with this mayors leadership.

Warner,

Is this about you or about Plusquellic? Your first post seems to confirm the suspicions of the more cynical among us that this is about you.

Stop dishonoring the will of people as spelled out ONE YEAR ago. Maybe you should run next time, but until then, stop trying to change a democratic outcome.

Wendall,
I would like to see some comparible stats from other cities. Because on the surface Akron isn't looking so bad. New Goodyear headquarters, revived downtown, dozens of schools being rebuilt, parks on every corner, rapidly expanding University and in an otherwise debunked economy remaining afloat.
I was not a fan on the sale of the sewer system (I liked what he was doing, just not how he was doing it), and therefore voted against it. If you want to make a change then follow the same democratic process that the rest of us do: vote him out, or run against him. Quick screaming from your soap box.

I love how people want to discredit the vote of the people. The decision was made to re-elect him at the polls. He has done nothing illegal would cause this action. It is a waste of the people's money when we already spoke up at the polls.

@Jason:

If you were correct, then the provision for recall would not be in place.

Leaders lose their way.

AND, (sorry I forgot a point I wanted to make) you talk about all of these failed project subsidized by taxpayer money. Does effort count for anything? The effort to make downtown more green, the effort to make more housing downtown, the effort to make downtown an attraction, do those EFFORTS count for anything? Or are those more "deceptions" by the mayor?

@Beta:

Didn't the voters of Akron have an opportunity to oust the "city hall hero" just last year, but instead chose to re-elect him to another term? Sorry, but this recall is nothing more than an attempted end-around of the democratic political process. Recall is a last step effort that should be reserved for removing people who have abused the public trust in egregious ways, and despite all of his faults, Plusquellic has done nothing close to that. Mendenhall should know better than to use a recall to pursue his personal vendetta against the mayor.

Mendenhall is nothing more than an opportunist. He saw that citizens voted against leasing the sewers as a big win for him, and now feels that he can capitalize on this opportunity so that he can play king-maker. Last year, Mendenhall ran his preferred candidate, Joe Finley, against Plusquellic. Finley did better than expected in the primaries, probably encouraging this nonsense, but let's not forget that he didn't win. Also, don't forget that even if Mendenhall does manage to get Plusquellic recalled, then Max Rothal becomes the mayor until another election can be held.

Dirty Don has brought this on largely by himself. You and I can at least give him credit for that, cheerleaders.

Instead of leasing the infrastructure, lease the ballpark, Inventure Place, or other city-run ventures. Louis Proenza has a better knack for raising capital than the Sponge. Mebbe we should put Louie in charge of the city, too.

ANYTHING to get His Higness Mayor Minusquellic out of his perveived lifetime throne is great for the city! Go Warner, Go...

Warner, so you have a vendetta against the Mayor. Fine. But nothing you've ever done tells us how Akron could be better.

If you had any real guts, you'd stop hiding behind other people (Finley, et. al.) and stunts like this, and run against Plusquellic yourself. He's up for re-election in 2011. That's about 3 years to come out of the shadows and tell the people of Akron what YOUR vision of the future is. Let's hear it.

i'll sign the partition, or donate

Anyone who listened to the outrageous ranting and raving name-calling and threats by this mayor after the last defeat of Plusquellic's pet sewer project sale can clearly see that this mayor is out of touch, out of control, and cares LESS WHAT the wishes of the people of our city are.

It is only reasonable and rational that any city assets paid for by the people, in existence for people, any sale of such assets should be reinvested IN THE people and in the city! Try to make the mayor understand this concept and you're only reward will be to be called a name or be told there will be a special hell reserved for you.

Being a member of this community for over 20 years, I for one, am tired of witnessing declining opportunities, in jobs and economic growth, abuse of Akron's citizens, ever-increasing city debt by deception at the hands of both the mayor and city council.

The city has a lot of good to offer, foremost being the people that live and work here, they're giving, their heart. This is the potential and most of all, the future of this town. They deserve respect above all things! Not being called names, deceived or intentionally misled by the leaders they elect and put good faith in.

So Mr. Mendenhall I say GOOD for YOU! And thank you for even TRYING to make a change, a POSITIVE difference for Akron, for it's people! I wish you ALL the success!

Isn't a recall vote democratic? I think the voters deserve a chance to consider Plusquellic on his own merits. My personal view is that I think Plusquellic could sink our city if given another 3 years in office. There are lots of very qualified people with good ideas will run for council and mayor this year if he is gone. Plusquellic's insults, threats, and intimidation have kept this City down for too long.

Who wants to take the mayorship away from King James?

Terry & Warner

The provision is set up so that a small, vocal minority of voters can trigger the provision. If it is turned down, what's next? Like I, and others, have said; if you (Warner) want change, then run in the next election.

@Warner:

"I think the voters deserve a chance to consider Plusquellic on his own merits."

They already did when they re-elected him last November.

"There are lots of very qualified people with good ideas will run for council and mayor this year if he is gone."

Really? Where were they all last year? Shouldn't they have run for council then?

This could be interesting. Finley got 47% of the vote and the Republicans could vote in this recall
and cause Plusquellic problems. Obviously, Warner did the math. Plusquellic and his cronies have controlled the "numbers" for so long, they hate when anybody beats them at their own game. Warner saw what happened to the sewer issue, and I bet that got the wheels rolling.

Plusquellic operates his fiefdom with 14 Deputy Mayors and Cabinet members. Plusquellic has a Chief of Staff and Spokesperson for a city of 200,000. Plusquellic and Marco go on trade missions, all over the world and never have anything to show for it. And don't forget the great fish story, Bass Pro is coming to Akron!
And I have an instant weight loss pill I want to sell you!

The sewer/scholarship program was bogus from the get go. Plusquellic set up his own Scholarship fund a few years back that local contractors were going to donate to, but it was all smoke and mirrors.

And now, Firestone Park needs retail, oh, come now. Retail stores are closing everywhere, big developers like Bob Stark and Developers Diversified are scaling back and Plusquellic wants retail. Don, it is not build it and they will come, too many of your projects were built and they did't come. RETIRE now and save a RECALL.

"They" were probably threatened and decided against running

This is a serious case of vanity. If you think Mayor Don is vain (and he is), what kind of vanity seeks to recall a guy who has been reelected to office 21 years running? This is only going to distract Plusquellic from the business of running the city, and guess what, he's not going anywhere.

jeez, the paper must be SOS also since you deleted my post. SOS is pure bogus mess and I can't believe I wasn't allow to write what I did, but others are allo to degrade the mayor in mine. Come on SOS go to Jonestown and get it over with already.

I see a lot of people citing style over substance. Is a recall attempt really warranted because people were called names or their feelings hurt? Is this not the path of 13 year-olds?

Um, the sewer thing went up for a vote, and lost. Done.

Meanwhile, I think Akron has improved tremendously since I've moved here in 1985. Plusquellic helped keep Goodyear and Bridgestone's tech center here in Akron. That's more than you can say for the invisible mayor in Cleveland.

I recently took a friend of mine on a little drive tour of downtown Akron who is from Columbus. He was very impressed! The ballpark, the nice appearance of the downtown streets, and the great appearance of UA and what it's going to do to help improve Akron and downtown. He said of any other city in Ohio, next to Columbus, he could live here.

Tru, will I do not think the plan was reasonable with the forced payback of "scholarships", I do not see how the plan does not stipulate "any sale of such assets should be reinvested IN THE people and in the city". That is exactly where the money was going to the people of the city wanting to further their education after high school.

change is good!

And yes there is tons of waste in akron.

Clean up akron, Don has been there too long.

Bob you are a complete MORON! if you think the city has improved since 1985! than you are either mentally challenged, or you are one of the long list of idiots on the Mayors payroll, either way you are still an idiot!

Newsflash to The Don and his back-pocket paper: Honda just announced a new plant for Greensburg, Indiana for the production of natural gas Civics, creating more than 900 jobs. While our mayor was busy at a bar condemning our remaining populace to hell.

Can't bring this type of green global-friendly middle-class friendly industry to Akron? Time to find somebody who will.

Warner....give me a ring... I will pass around a petition!

There is a special place in HE#@ for this lawyer.

Nothing Warner says gives any indication of what he would do that would be different or positive. He is good only at pointing out the negative and avoiding putting forth any new ideas.

Warner, it sounds like you have too much time on your hands. There are some lovely places in the city who could use volunteers like you who have nothing else better to do with their time.

Eric needs to understand that "The Don" has ideas for his friends and his friends only. Sell the sewers for $200 million and hand it over to the University of Akron. Don should have sold the sewer system and paid for more safety forces, or tried to bail out foreclosed homes owners, or paid down some of the City debt. But he's not about that. How about "giving" all the money to Marco so he can clean up HIS intercity school district that is the majority of the gang and drug problem on the beloved Akron. The Don needs to go but the citizens are blinded. When the Republicans get ambushed and run out of town, who is left to reign? THE DON! You don't see him helping his own childhood neighborhood.

This is only a ploy by Mendenthal given that his son is planning on running for Mayor in 2011.

Tim,

Mendenhall's son is nine years old. You need to get the right information or we will have
McDonald Plusquellic ban you to H for misleading the voters of Akron.

Then it is Mendenhall himself. Even worse - just a gimmick to get name recognition.

Warner, You are an obvious demogogue. people who work as public employees do not live "off" the taxpayers. They earn their pay just as you and anyone else. I'm sick of poeple like you who twist thefacts and act like government employees don't deserve a paycheck. being a tax payer does not bestow some automatic sainthood on people and being a public employee does not demonize people. You are a very dishones man and a bit of a mental case I might add. If you want to recall the mayor then at least be honest about it.

Robert, There are two adult mendenhalls. They are father and son. Tim is not talking about a 9 year old. get a clue

I see all the Mendenhall liars are on this site misrepresenting the leasing of the sewers as a sale of the sewers. This is just the begining of their lies.

The recall will cost $160K and we just voted for mayor last year. Big waste of time and money. I supported SOS and am deeply disappointed that this lawyer thinks he can use the people who voted against the sewer lease plan to force his agenda upon the city. I'm no big fan of the mayor, but I do think that recalls should only be used when a politician has done something illegal or dreadfully unethical. If you are going to recall every politician whose policy and/or personality you disagree with, you'll be recalling them all the time. No governing will ever get done.

I would imagine that Mendenhall could get lots of volunteers from the ranks of city employees who are forced to live in the city. If you can't get rid of residency, get rid of the mayor.

Greetings all.

I have remained silent for several months now, in direct respone to this newspaper's blatant and spineless attempt to discourage free speech, as well as constructive criticism of the City Administration on this website, by requiring "registration" in order to comment here.

After allowing the results of this year's election to sink in, and taking into account the Mayor's post election commentary about those who disagree with his policies and successfully utilize the democratic process to impose the public will upon the elected leadership in the City, I will say this:

WOOF

Nuts do not fall far from the tree. The whole mendenhall family is crazy and deperate for attention. And his populist bs is just just - he has raked in millions practicing law.

Warner:
Really, even if you don't agree with everything (or in your case anything)that the Mayor has done during his tenure, a recall election is not the answer. First and foremost a recall of an office holder should only be used for extreme circumstances (such as if a crime has been committed). To recall a person or attempt to do so out of mere dislike of the individual is selfish. You are going to cost the taxpayers of Akron an excessive amount of money to hold the special election that your recall attempt will need. Secondly, your comment regarding that a municipality should not be in debt is ludicrus. Please, o' wise one, give me and the rest of the ohio.com readers an example of a municipality that is not in debt? You will have a hard time trying to discover one that is not because a municipality is not in the "profit making" business. I would think that someone who has been through 7 years of school would be just a bit smarter than you portray yourself to be. Tell me, since you believe that you should be able to recall the Mayor because you dislike him, can someone attempt to have you disbarred for being misinformed and misleading the citizens of Akron?

Warner,

If you are so worried about the city's debt, then shouldn't you be recalling the members of Akron City Council as well? Seems to me that they are ultimately the ones with the control of the purse strings. Your claim that the mayor is the one to blame for the city's debt rings a bit hollow to me.

James,

Your point is irrelevant as Honda would never source a plant here because the UAW would be infesting the place trying to unionize the shop. So, if you are so concerned about landing new auto plants, take it up with the UAW leadership.

bring one of those petitions by me. I am low on toilet paper right now.

Brett,

Mendenhall's don't have "millions" of dollars. Not all lawyers are rich. And what is reported in newspapers is rarely what is given in the end. You clearly have something against this guy (or lawyers in general) and very little evidence.

Either way, someone being in power so long has its pros and cons. Perhaps it's time for a change in Akron. Recalls aren't always bad, look at CA's gubernatorial run off. Ahhhnold has done surprisingly well there. If the people speak and vote him in again, so be it.

But Don should know the way to keep the brain trust here isn't to snag them by paying for their education....it's creating secure jobs that have nothing to do with manufacturing. Bringing more jobs requiring higher education works to create better neighborhoods, better salaries, less crime, etc. It's a cycle.

Warner Mendenhall has every lawful right, to exercise his right to recall the mayor. As any citizen of this town also has. At least give him credit for acting on his beliefs where so many others choose only to sit and complain, doing nothing. Apathy and LACK of action, confrontation, is what our current mayor, in my opinion, relies on to stay in office, certainly not leadership.

If it is the will of the people that this mayor should stay, then that will be the outcome!

Mayor Plusquellic, in my opinion, has nothing positive for this town and its people over 8 years. This also includes HIS rubber stamping city council!

The dismal record of Mayor Plusquellic AND City Council are both are self-evident to anyone who wishes to be informed and knowledgeable and seeks the PUBLIC RECORD FACTS that space here, precludes me from including.

The over $700 million dollar skyrocketing debt this city has incurred, for it's small size, at the hands of both parties, the mayor and council, is almost unimaginable and certainly grossly irresponsible.

As long as the idiots of Akron keep voting him in, nothing will change.

I can't believe a truthful comment was purged from this site. Simply stated take all of this energy and lets find away to help our student. Readers check out the schools that are in academic watch, or needs improvement, cont. improvement. Put the school board on the watch list as well

recall Don!!!!!!!!

Warner - Why don't you move to Norton? They have their recall nut there also and birds of a feather flock together.
Joe Finley (this is your behind the scenes guy) is who you are stomping for - he realizes the votes he got was not for him but against Mayor Plusquellic sooo - let's get people riled up and not thinking straight and maybe we (Joe and Warner) will stand a chance. Nada