Dear Bridgestone Firestone, Akron wants you to stay

Nuthin' wrong with folks wantin' Firestone to stay in Akron.

The wrongness starts when city services are depleted and fees are raised to pay for such a company to stay.

Mebbe McAvoy will move back to Akron, so she can help bear the full cost of keepin' Firestone here.

you're both know nothings, need to keep business here. Incentives are the only way to compete with growing metros in warmer clims. wake up.

How about some incentives to keep the people in akron. I purchased my home in goodyear heights about 10 years ago and cant waite to get out. In the last 10 years somebody has tried to break in my house 3 times. The neighborhood has went to crap, I wont let my wife go to chapel hill mall anymore unless I go with her, I can talk about this all day. Put the money into the APD so the people will feel safe. Portage county is in my future.

McAvoy does not live in Akron anymore. She should involve herself in the affairs of Jaskson, where she lives.

Now.

Old Man Grump wrote:

Let 'em go. Their blackmail request for taxpayer money should not be honored. If they don't like it here, go somewhere else. I have no respect for Firestone since they left for Chicago many years ago.

Yes, it would be nice if Firestone stayed in Akron. I would like to know many Firestone's employees actually live in Akron? HMMM

say what wrote:

McAvoy does not live in Akron anymore. She should involve herself in the affairs of Jaskson, where she lives.

That's what I say. Another thing, I thought Open Enrollment is for schools within your county. How can she live in Jackson Twp., which is Stark, but her kids open enrolled in Firestone Park schools?

let them go, even if they did decide to stay how long would it be for? Once it's on the table that a company wants to leave it will always be on the table and they will keep using it to get more money from you. Tell them to go and not let the door hit them in the A$$.

So, our legal right to have opinions and get involved in what we choose is now being taken away?

get real

And, by the way, what part of her husband having to move to keep his career did you miss?

I work at Bridgestone Firestone and there is at least 11 people in my department (out of 16) that live in Akron.

Is keeping them here going to keep Akron from falling further into the toilet?? If so, the city should try to keep them. Otherwise, let them go.

BTW, if keeping 600 jobs is worth 68 million dollars...how much would the city pay to keep National City??? How many people will lose their jobs if National City is sold to a U.S. bank?!?!?!

Beat it, get out and don,t never look back. When I grew up and had to eat balogna sandwiches sometimes three times a day because my dad was layed off more than he worked, there was no letter writing campaign gonna turn these money grubbing theives hearts around. All they think about is abusing the spines of southern folks who will work for half the wage. It will not be long till they move from the south to Mexico anyways, they work for half of what the southern folks work for and will not complain or miss work because of sickness or death in the family. So I say get out, you were never worth the sweat and deaths you have caused us in Akron anyway. By the way, clean your lampblack ridden factories out of Akron also.

Disillusioned wrote:

<quoted text>
That's what I say. Another thing, I thought Open Enrollment is for schools within your county. How can she live in Jackson Twp., which is Stark, but her kids open enrolled in Firestone Park schools?

i agree and a good question...

If I moved from Akron to Georgia, I'd stay there and I'd never look back at Akron. Not to mention the Jackson schools are much better than the APS. To reply to the person who said, "Portage county is in my future," Stark county (Uniontown/Lake) is in ours...

I'm not sure why my name says "Canton, OH" Hmmm...I live in Firestone Park. Oh well.

Park resident wrote:

I'm not sure why my name says "Canton, OH" Hmmm...I live in Firestone Park. Oh well.

The "location" is simply where your ISP (Internet provider) is located.

Kudos to Mary McAvoy for organizing this.

I doubt a deluge of letters will have a huge effect on Bridgestone's decision, but you never know what might tip the scales in Akron's favor.

By the way, there's a lot of anger in these posts, and I'm not going to say everyone's personal issue isn't important. BUT I don't see why we can't all agree that keeping the tech center in Akron is important to our community.

Let's not let anger cloud our reasoning.

bob wrote:

let them go, even if they did decide to stay how long would it be for? Once it's on the table that a company wants to leave it will always be on the table and they will keep using it to get more money from you. Tell them to go and not let the door hit them in the A$$.

Boy that last sentence is one of the dumbest things I've read in a long time. Akron can't afford to lose any more large corporations. If Firestone leaves it's another nail in Akron's rapidly closing coffin. Wake up!

People with the attitude of "who cares, let them go" are part of the problem in this city. You're acting like a spoiled child. Mary Ellen is trying to get people to stop and think about the effect closing the tech center would have on the community. Her heart has always been in Firestone Park, so I'm not surprised. I just hope more people will join her in her efforts. As for why she is is bothering to get involved with this when she doesn't live in the neighborhood anymore, well, she obviously saw the need. Nobody else in the Park was saying much about it. And again, she sees the bigger picture, which is that any company shutting its doors is a bad thing for not only the neighborhood and the city, but surrounding areas as well.

Russ wrote:

Beat it, get out and don,t never look back. When I grew up and had to eat balogna sandwiches sometimes three times a day because my dad was layed off more than he worked, there was no letter writing campaign gonna turn these money grubbing theives hearts around. All they think about is abusing the spines of southern folks who will work for half the wage. It will not be long till they move from the south to Mexico anyways, they work for half of what the southern folks work for and will not complain or miss work because of sickness or death in the family. So I say get out, you were never worth the sweat and deaths you have caused us in Akron anyway. By the way, clean your lampblack ridden factories out of Akron also.

You and Old Man Grump need to have your head's examined, do you know anything regarding business in Akron or Bridgestone/Firestone? It is this type of stupidity that has allowed alot of the higher paying jobs to move out of Akron and North East Ohio in the first place.
First off, the move to Chicago was the result of one CEO that was trying to restructure a money making "COMPANY/BUSINESS". When Bridgestone/Firestone realized that this guy was really not on the same page as everyone else, they came back to Akron and that individual was out of a job.
Then when Bridgestone/Firestone received an offer from the state of Tennessee, what did the mayor of Akron, city council, or even the governor of Ohio do? Absolutely nothing! The Bridgestone/Firestone buildings in the surrounding Akron area have been standing since the early 1900's and Tennessee offered to help in the construction of NEW state of the art buildings with tax incentives if the company moved there. Once again, what did the mayor of Akron, city council, or even the governor of Ohio do? Absolutely nothing!
Tennessee was able to entice a Global company to their area--which created a huge number of new jobs and a major tax base for the Nashville TN area and if you have ever been there you would see that Nashville TN is exploding with business and housing while Akron is looking more like the arm pit of Ohio.
In terms of dollars and cents, why is this so hard to understand? If our local and state officials cannot pull their heads out of their backsides and try to either retain or entice large companies into this area--who is going to want to live here anyway. People do not understand that companies/businesses do what they do because their bottom line is to make a profit. Sorry if this doesn't give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside and this bursts your bubble but Bridgestone/Firestone is NOT a "not for profit organization", nor are the other major companies of this area. The mayor of Akron, city council, and the governor of Ohio realized way too late that they did nothing and that is why when Goodyear stated that they might move--our local officials went into panic mode, but they should have done that years earlier. What about B F Goodrich, old Seiberling tires in Barberton, Mohawk tires, etc. If the mayor of Akron, city council, or even the governor of Ohio knew how to retain and nurture business so well, why are none of the companies still around?
So Russ and Old Man Grump--keep pissing and moaning and maybe the only companies that will be left in this area will be temporary services and McDonalds types of jobs that pay minimum wage and your grandchildren's jobs will include asking "do you want fries with that?"