Justin Greer

Today I walked into Kave in Downtown Barberton and finally had a change to sit down and star into the charcoal art that measures 5ft x 16ft. This piece of art instantly took my by surprise because I considered myself an art lover but this was the first time I just stood there for 5 minutes just staring. Ron White the artist reasonable for this art piece titled “The weight/wait” is a high school art teacher here in Barberton, Ohio. The entire art piece is black and white and done in charcoal and is absolutely mind bending.

I wanted to write about this piece to explain it but then I remember that art is in the eye of the beholder. This makes it extremely difficult to explain as it means something else to anyone that examines it. With this is mind, I decided to simply just write about some of the things that sticks out to me.

Shaming and Pointing Fingers

The focal point of the piece is in the middle where there is a man standing in the corner of two types of brick walls being shamed/disciplined. The walls morph into a book that I assume represents the law. There is a man holding the book pointing down on the person in the corner as to say “You” or “It’s your fault”. The book edges morph yet once again into rope throughout the entire piece. The most notable part of this rope is there is a couple of pair of hands that our bound together to represent “My hands are tied”. The ribbon intertwines through every subject in this art piece representing the law has a hand in everything. Even a small figure of a runner (which I assume is Jeep Davis) is bound by the ankle with the rope.

Puppet Masters

One of my favorite parts of this drawing is the puppet masters. There is a small figure holder a piece of paper that says “Building Code, Zoning Code” with a long reach over a larger business man. There are strings attached to the small figures fingers representing the overreach and power an individuals holds over business and economics. There is another figure hidden in the background with a long reach under the small individual holding the zoning paper. This large hidden figure is holding a match under the planning director indicating the corruption by larger business in government. In the focus there is also a man in a business suit holding a face.

The Next Generation

On the left side of art piece there is two egg shells with what looks to be nude bodies indicating the new generation. One of the young figures are curled in a small ball as to be innocent doing nothing. Near this figure is yet another egg that is cracked and there is an arm reaching out. The arm is reaching up to part of the rope (representing the law) with a pair os scissors as to be cutting the rope.

No See, No Hear, Forget

On the right side of the piece is a man in the background wearing robe of sorts. The figure resembles frank Einstein. The figure has its eye closed tight and you can see the hands plugging the ears of this figure. This figure makes me think of the primitive foundation  of everything is knowing blind to the things going on. All the corruption is known to exist but everyone looks the other way and chooses to hear, see and say nothing. Below this figure stretching under the entire art piece is what looks to be a black man holding up everything as if it suggests the system was built on African-Americans shoulders.

Final Thoughts

This piece as a ton to offer. I have been staring at it for about an hour while I write this blog post. Ron White (Mr. White) has successfully created a piece of art that I think is as moving as anything thing I have seen in recent past. So much so that I think I would offer a large amount of cash to have this piece hang above me at home or my office to create a talking point and express my feelings for our current administration.

If you have not seen this art piece, please check it out at Kave in Downtown Barberton.

This past weekend I was invited by some friends to crew for the DreamShip hot air balloon at the Football Hall of Fame Balloon Classic. The DreamShip is a very special balloon and has roughly a 1/3rd if the balloons panels are designed by children of fallen and wounded Veterans. It is sponsored by RiteAid’s KidCents program and flown by two person crew. They travel the States and attend events to show off the artwork and spark conversations about the reality of the sacrifices made by our Military and their family.

When I was asked to help crew I was unsure what to expect since I  have only helped setup a balloon 1 time. A good friend on mine has been crewing for balloons for a while and thought it would be great if we would get some Veterans to help crew the DreamShip while they were in town.

Crewing for a hot air balloon consist of helping unpacking the balloon, inflating and ensuring that the balloon is set to go for its flight. The crew also is tasks with chasing the balloon down where ever it goes. Other than having the honor of crewing for the DreamShip, this was the best part for me. Balloons travel with the wind and this make the landing location unknown. Chasing the balloon can was exciting. It reminded me of chasing storm or something along those lines.

All-in-all the experience is something that I wont forget. The DreamShip is an awesome balloon that has an amazing story behind it.

There is a great article written about how to deal with public criticism properly titled “The Difficult Art of Responding to Public Criticism“. I found this article when it was first published about 2 years ago. I was led to it originally due to the way a chamber handled favoritism and became extremely defensive when confronted by other store owners. Being confronted with criticism publicly by an individual or a group is normal. Becoming defensive after being criticized shows the lack of experience, professionalism, and self-control.

Barberton has a long history that I am extremely proud of. Along with the good we have to accept the bad and this is where I am seeing mixed emotion from both political figures and certain individuals of the public. No one likes to be told the someone is not happy about an action taken. I understand this since at some level it is a personal decision that led to that said action. It is natural to become upset when being questioned as an adult. With this said, there is a huge difference when you are a public figure or the local government.

I have experienced it first hand

When I first started this blog post I wanted to simply state a point and leave it along. I started to think and this post would then hold only criticism and non structural complaints if it was short. I have seen elected and appointed officials become defensive just as soon as something was said. I have experienced this first hand. As the header suggests, I have asked questions and received smirking answers that sometimes carries with it an over statement typical when someone is trying to prove your criticism or question is not correct or threatening. I take mental notes of what is said and how it was perceived. This tends to come in handy later on down the road to drive home a point.

I watched as a Citizen stood up at City Council and questioned how things were happening throughout the city and he was met with chests being puffed out by some officials. This is uncalled for and sadly when I start digging into history and talking to more people the stories sound all too familiar. When did questioning our local leaders and Government put you in a bucket of “Cry Babies”, “Naysayers” and other slandering names? The simple act of criticizing our local government for anything now labels people “Complainers” and unfortunately put some people in the crosshairs for what some would call unethical abuse of power and knowledge.

It is not all bad

I would like anyone reading this to know that not everything is bad. I think the people in power truly do care for the City of Barberton. Sometimes it is biased but none the less they care. I have no issues with the Mayor personally. This goes for 98% of the officials in the City of Barberton as well. The City of Barberton is a lot different from it was when I was a kid and I will say that most of the difference is for the better.

if you look at the picture as a whole too much you will fall victim to complacency. This is because as a whole, Barberton is an awesome town but I would remind people it is not the officials but rather the citizens that make it so. The people in this town are truly amazing and are the exact reason I love it.

My Criticism

No one is perfect but collectively we can be more right than wrong. I will be the first to admit I am not perfect and I am defiantly not always right. I will admit when I am wrong and I will admit when there is issues. Some call me a blessing and some call me a Jack a#@. Either way, I will always do what I believe is the right thing for all. I am careful to not be so stubborn that my own ego gets in the way of decisions. When I am wrong, I will admit it and correct it humbly. Enough of my faults. What about my Criticism?

• Members that have voting roles on certain boards have direct connection that clearly are a conflict of interest yet they still vote.
• Almost all of the businesses that I have talked to about their experience in Barberton have stated that the City is a pain to work with.
• Our city does not have an Engineer like we are required to have. We pay more for consulting than what an in-house engineer would cost.
• Our city is monopolized by a few family names and those families still sit in seats throughout the city dealings.
• Asking questions and questioning decisions become personal.
• Whether they admit it or not, if you befriend certain people you can slide through cracks for certain things.
• Information privy to officials somehow gets leaked persuading opinions and one-sided narratives.

So why get defensive when criticized?

Being questioned creates a feeling of being challenged or threatened by those that do not know how to handle opinions other than their own. The natural stance when being threatened is to fight back. This is where I see a large issue and one of my biggest gripes about some people in power.

That fact that a relationship with certain powers plays any role in decision making is crazy. Not to be too petty about the issue but when the city stops sharing certain information based on if they feel threatened by it or the person/business is childish and does not benefit no one but themselves. Of course no one that controls these things will admit this, but I can tell you it happens more than you might think. I guess the fact that most of the positions are paid and any person that is perceived as able to take that away is an enemy. Sadly, this is how I feel our city is ran and managed in some aspects. If you don’t praise them, you get no help from them.

“You can not fix something that you do not know is broken. No matter how much your circle tells you something, does not mean they are right.”

If you talk to anyone in Barberton, Ohio about what can be improved or what they thought the current administration could be doing better, you will find 2 issues over and over again.

• The Roads
• The Flooding

Some that are reading this may disagree but I personally asked residents and came to these conclusions. There was some other issues like drugs and animals but the issues that plague Barberton, Ohio are Roads and Flooding. Drugs are more of an emergency that requires a lot more attention. Just know that our drug problem is my personal number 1 issue. For this post, I am going to speak on the road issue here in Barberton.

Issue 8

Roads are always at the top of anyones list because they are the most use public property. This public property has the ability to personally affect us and our wallets by being in poor condition. If you recall and currently still notice, the citizens voted for “Issue 8” back in 2013. This increased our taxes .25% and was for the roads. Due to lack of funding from the State and Federal Government, funds had all but disappeared. Mayor Judge said that the city was operating on a $200k budget when it could be $1 million. The money was just not there and we needed to provide more to keep up with our roads.

To date the city has collected $5,449,485 dollars and spent $8,434,175 dollars on road repairs. You may be thinking that the numbers can not be right. How did we only collect $5 Mil but spent $8 Mil. The City of Barberton basically spent more up front (mainly for the 9th St project) and have a financial plan to pay using the Issue 8 money as they can. Just last year in 2017, the City had paid $700k toward that note.

Where’s our money?

If you know me, I follow everyone’s questions really closely on Twitter and Facebook. People tend to ask why our roads are in the shape they are even with our Issue 8 taxes. This is a great question and until recently, I did not have an answer.

It all starts with the note for 9th street and flows into the recent grant that Barberton has been awarded. The 9th St project put us in the negative to start but there is a financial plan in place to pay that back. All Federal Grants require a 20% match from the grantees. This means that the city has to pay 20% of the total grant to get the grant. Currently the city is operating in a deficit so they are using the issue 8 taxes to meet the 20% needed. Ultimately, this is why the citizens  are asking the question; “Where is our money? Why are the streets not being fixed”

Conclusion

Mike Vinay; the service director said, the cities idea is to pay down the debt in order to issue new debt and build a fund balance that will carry Barberton through the other grant funded projects. Personally, the way this works makes sense to me but I will say that it was not clearly conveyed to the citizens. This whole thing is like a slinky effect where we incur debt by projects but must pay debt before new projects can start.

If you think about the funds being directly used as they come in, then you may think that you are not seeing anything happening. Unfortunately, street repair costs a lot of money and requires building a fund. This can take time and creates the illusion that nothing is going on. I am not saying that I am completely happy with the streets but now I understand where our money is going and how it is being spent.

I am always open for questions. If I can not answer them specifically, I will find out for you. You can find me on Twitter @barbertondrone and Facebook. Follow and connect with me and stay updated.

Being part of a community is more than juts living there. What makes a community better is the people! The people are the very foundation of every town. It is our job as citizens of Barberton, Ohio to make our home safer. By being active in the community our town will only get better.

Where to start?

The biggest way for the community to step up here in Barberton, Ohio is to be active. I know the saying “See Something, Say Something” is used all the time but it holds true. Many times I see people want to complain about something but then do nothing to change it. I am here to tell you that no matter what it is, we the people and as individuals have the ability to make change.

Report Drug Activity / Dealers Anonymously

I see and hear it all the time. Someone will say that there is a drug house or activity. The issue is that most of the time is just talk. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. We have a huge drug problem in Ohio and we need to help those that need help and rid the people who enable it. Visit the link below to report illegal activity without outing yourself.

https://local.nixle.com/tip/city-of-barberton/

Be the Change You Want

Often times, government wants to say the header but alienates individuals when doing so. I am fed up with the drug issue and I am not scared whose feelings I hurt. There needs to be something done about it. Addicts are not bad and need help. The people who need to be put away are the dealers, suppliers, and the enablers. Stand up and report drug problems.

Helping others that are in a time of need is rewarding. I get the same “high” helping someone as I did on the battle field in Iraq. Being generous and doing the right thing one-act at a time will make Barberton better. We will grow and be known for good. Remember, the people are what Barberton great.

I am compiling a packet of information in the coming weeks to help you help others. Stay Tuned!