UA’s new parking fees absurd, fight EPA sewer mandate | Voice of the People
UA parking fee increase absurd
The University of Akron’s poor financial decisions and misplaced priorities continue to reverberate through the institution. The most recent example of this is the raising of parking fees for university employees, the majority of whom are part-time or adjunct faculty, by 500%. This increase unduly hits the university’s lowest paid employees.
Adjunct faculty make up roughly 57% of all faculty, higher than the national average. The plight of the adjunct instructor has been well documented in the Beacon Journal, with those of us professionals in the field receiving no health insurance, job security or a union voice. Asking instructors, many of whom are only able to teach a single class to pay $300 annually (and the fee is going up over the next “several years”) to park at their job is borderline criminal.
Stories of UA’s financial strategy are of course nothing new. We have seen the former president Luis Proenza, who pushed for the debacle that is the football stadium, leave the job to teach for a reported $341,445 per year. His replacement, Scott Scarborough also taught at the university following his tempestuous stint as president, earning $295,063.
Add to this the money the university pays for its fired coaches. When the university parted ways with Terry Bowden in 2018, it paid $630,000 to buy out his contract. His replacement, Tom Arth was brought in to “turn the program around.” In 2021, they paid him $637,500 to end his contract.
While touting the desire to educate its most underserved population, they do so at the expense of their most vulnerable employees who are tasked with teaching most first-year courses. They are also raising fees on these same underserved, historically marginalized students.
Incoming students who park on campus will pay $430 for a permit, in addition to the $350 transportation fee that all students pay. Taking nearly $800 from students under the guise of parking, coupled with athletics fees each student pays to bail out failing programs and coaches, should leave one to question the university’s commitment to underserved populations.
Wayne McDonald, senior lecturer, Department of English, University of Akron
Support Akron’s sewer fight
Kudos to the city of Akron, Summit County, Lakemore, Peninsula, Springfield Township/Sawyerwood and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for creating a win for our communities.
I support the plan to not build the $209 million dollar Enhanced High Rate Treatment Facility called for in the original Akron stormwater consent decree with the EPA and the federal courts. The decree that has cost ratepayers $1 billion dollars.
The partners have rightly arranged a much more beneficial and cost effective solution wherein Peninsula, Lakemore and Springfield can address runoff from septic systems with sanitary sewers capturing the toxins that are polluting the waterways. Each community will get sanitary sewers and Peninsula will receive drinking water as well. This allows each community to solve a major issue and be able to thrive, in a healthy manner well into the future. That’s collaboration. That’s regionalism.
The work Akron has completed to date will capture 99% of expected wet weather overflows experienced locally and modeling indicates that the EHRT facility would likely only be triggered once every few years, at most.
The ultimate winner in this is the environment we all share. And it can be achieved at one-fourth the cost, roughly $53 million. If we are forced to complete the $209 million project, ratepayers will experience roughly a 20% increase in their rates for something that covers only less than 1% of overflows (0.04%) once every couple of years.
At a time when all of us are experiencing higher food and, gasoline costs, rent increases, mortgage rate increases, it becomes imperative that we support any and all initiatives that will ease the burden.
To share your concerns with EPA Regional Director Michael Regan, visit www.akronwaterwaysrenewed.com. Help these communities, and yourself, by making known your support for this new approach.
Jeff Wilhite, Summit County Council, Akron
Don’t promote LaRose to Congress
Frank LaRose wants to take his extremist culture warrior act to Washington. That’s bad news for all Ohioans.
When he was elected, LaRose promised greater access to voting for all citizens. Instead, he pushed policies that made it harder for certain groups — including students, seniors and veterans — to cast a ballot on Election Day. He’s been driven by fierce partisan motives rather than any desire for fair participation among all eligible voters regardless of political affiliation or economic status.
Frank LaRose has been a failure at his present job. Why does he think he deserves a promotion?
Nancy McDowell, Akron
Let parents decide
Children are traumatized by hearing about school shootings and having to practice active shooter drills. But the Ohio Statehouse GOP has decided that our most important problem is drag shows.
They didn’t have a problem with the issue when we were entertained by Robin Williams in “Mrs. Doubtfire,” Dustin Hoffman in “Tootsie,” Tom Hanks in “Bosom Buddies,” Nathan Lane in “The Birdcage,” John Lithgow in “The World According to Garp,” Tyler Perry in “Madea,” John Travolta in “Hairspray,” Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in “Some Like it Hot,” Harvey Korman on “The Carol Burnett Show” and so many more.
Why is it a problem now?
The GOP claims it wants to protect parents’ rights. Then let parents decide what entertainment is appropriate for their own children.
Angie Charles, Stow
No sympathy for Akron
One has to chuckle at Akron's Democratic mayor on the front pages grumbling about the U.S. EPA. These are his “peeps” turning on him. The EPA is an unregulated, out-of-control Democrat monster staffed by little people backed by armies of lawyers and liberal judges who spend days driving small business out of business and big business out of the country. The EPA is that twilight zone between common sense and reason and the government.
Carl Shay, Stow
Constitution should rarely change
The Ohio constitution is supposed to be the basic rules of governing, and so should not be easy to change. Same for the U.S. Constitution. But if the goal is “majority rule,” why do we even need a Constitution, because it would become nothing but a set of legislative rules if a simple majority can change it? If so, what restrains the majority from running roughshod over any minority any time on any whim? Majority rule is simple democracy, and it doesn’t work well!
Robert Umbarger, Munroe Falls
Hazing a bigger concern than drag shows
After reading the article on Massillon football’s hazing incident, it is obvious that it isn’t drag queens we as a society need to fear but rather young men who think it is OK to grab and strip clothes off their teammates and videotape the proceedings just for fun.
A mother of one of the victims complained in the story that she wished it was 1980 and people didn’t care about this “stupidity.” Sorry to say, it is 2023 and a group stripping and groping others just isn’t OK, normal or legal. If this was happening to female cheerleaders, there would be outrage.
Instead we as a society still have this “boys will be boys” attitude that gets continually perpetuated. Worse is the systemic power structure that turns a blind eye to this behavior throughout various athletic programs throughout the country. Massillon’s program just got caught.
Bruce Folkerth, Akron
Second Amendment matters
The “Ohioans want gun safety measures” article is irrelevant. The cause of all violence, gun related or not, is due to the lack of teaching Christian morals; entitlement behavior; gangs running rampant; and drug dealing on the streets of Akron and Cleveland.
The Second Amendment protects all of the other rights in the Bill of Rights. That is why the amendment states “shall not be infringed.” It is time that the Beacon Journal and the rest of the anti-gun people realize that the constitution is the law of the land. It is what our great nation was formed upon. The solution to the violence issue is not the instrument used, but the lack of moral training; the need to discover and treat mental illness; and the fact that criminals do not value human life.
Dale Cameron, Stow
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: UA’s new parking fees, EPA's sewer mandate for Akron are absurd
