Dog Poo Downtown Topic at Council

City may consider signs, receptacles for picking up dog waste

With downtown's surging redevelopment there's likely one topic that hasn't been atop many people's minds as part of the work: dog poo. But K9 waste has made it to Kent City Council, where it will get a full review. Councilman John Kuhar asked council to consider adding dog waste receptacles, similar to those found at some parks and dog parks, to encourage people to pick up after their animals while walking them downtown. "There's nothing worse," Kuhar said. "If there’s some way that we could notify the public better, in at least the downtown area, of what to do with their doggy poop... I’ve been in a couple cities where they’ve had actually doggy poop bags." The more than $100 million in ongoing redevelopment projects has drawn large …

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A Rainy Night in Kent

Blogger and photographer Brad Bolton shares photos of his favorite world: a city on a warm night after a rain.

Kent Artist to Create Memorial at Transit Center

George Danhires' proposal for a veterans memorial at the Kent Central Gateway will be built and installed at the site this year

A Kent artist whose work already has a prominent place downtown has been chosen to create a veterans memorial at PARTA's Kent Central Gateway transit center, which opened this month on Erie Street. Danhires, who created the Bicentennial Sculpture that stands on Franklin Avenue near the gazebo, was selected from three finalists to create a bronze sculpture on a site at the eastern end of the transit center property. His creation for the Bicentennial Sculpture, dedicated in September 2011, was developed via a lost-wax procedure that will be used again to create the veterans memorial. PARTA's selection committee chose Danhires' proposal in December. His contract stipulates the sculpture will be delivered in time for Veterans Day on Nov. 11. …

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Parking and Social Media in Kent — #DTownBuzzKill?

"In the spirit of early intervention I thought it might make sense to share some thoughts on the topic of paid parking in Kent," the city manager said in his most recent blog about parking downtown.

Parking. It's been a hot topic in Kent for awhile now.  Many are happy with some improvements, and the fact that the new garage is free this month, but many are griping about the cost to park on social media, according to Kent City Manager Dave Ruller in his most recent blog.  Patch asked its readers on Facebook about their thoughts on parking downtown. Here's what they had to say.  With the news that parking at the PARTA deck is free until April, Ruller said he's noticed "the social networks have started to light up with questions of paying for parking in downtown Kent. In particular we’re hearing some rumbling about the prospect of metered parking stations planned for later this year on certain downtown streets." So here's the answer: …

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PARTA Deck Opens for Parking Downtown

Drivers will be able to park free through May

With little public fanfare, the 365 public parking spaces in PARTA's Kent Central Gateway transit center opened downtown Tuesday. The bus transfer and commercial spaces in the deck have yet to open, but many Kent residents and business owners cheered the opening of the parking spaces virtually with "likes" and positive feedback spreading like wildfire on social media. Frank Hairston, director of marketing for PARTA, said drivers who pulled into the deck when it opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday flashed the thumbs up to transit authority administrators gathered for the early opening. "If you go online, everybody’s saying that ‘Hey I get a parking space downtown!'" Hairston said. "And they’re all happy right now. There’s still work going on the …

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Beautiful Day to Beautify Kent

Blogger Heather Malarcik recaps Saturday's clean-up day in Kent and has a special note for those who helped.

Photos: A Welcomed Spring in Downtown Kent

Blogger Brad Bolton welcomes spring by sharing gorgeous photos of blooms in downtown Kent.

Kent State's Lefton Commended for Strengthening City, Campus Relations

Students respond negatively on social media to president's retirement

The Kent and Kent State University community responded with mixed reaction to the news that President Lester Lefton will be retiring when his contract ends in July 2014. Community and campus leaders praised Kent State's 11th president for his leadership in strengthening town-gown relations, yet students and others used the announcement to sharply criticize the 66-year-old Boston native on social media. Town-Gown Renewal "Lester’s got to be commended on what he brought to the table to help the city of Kent and the university as a whole get what we had to get done dowtown with our redevelopment," Kent Mayor Jerry Fiala said. "Lester had the personality to help Kent get done what we needed to get done." Lefton came to Kent in 2006, at about …

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Mars

2:17 pm on Sunday, April 21, 2013

Best point yet. No one ever talks about how the university ploy really works. Good ol' boys club if there ever was one.   more ›

Dumpy Downtown Alley Gets Much Needed Makeover

You know which alley we're talking about. Blogger Heather Malarcik made it her mission to see that it got cleaned up.