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OUR VIEW: Time to join forces: City, township should buy Ravenna High building and share it

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October 30, 2009

According to the Ravenna Board of Education, the high school building it is set to vacate next year is for sale.

Why don't the city of Ravenna and Ravenna Township join forces and buy it?

It would make a very good location to house offices for both governmental entities. It would preserve one of the most distinguished buildings in the city's architectural profile. It would give impetus to continuing to nurture East Main Street into an architecturally beautiful boulevard with the high school building, Reed Memorial Library, Riddle Block No. 1, the Phenix Block (Odd Fellows building) and the wonderful Portage County Courthouse Square as highlights, not to mention some of the beautiful homes further east.

The nine acres on which the high school building or, really, series of buildings is located would offer ample parking for city and township employees and the public. As commercial buildings have been added east of Prospect Street, the tie-in of the high school building to the downtown has become more obvious.

It would not destroy the all important Portage County Courthouse Square because the city's police and fire departments presumably would remain where they are. (County government, if Ravenna plays its cards right, will continue to occupy more space on the Square, keeping it a vital center of activity.)

It would immediately give the city and township a very fine recreational facility, the James Coll Annex. The future of Whittaker Hall, an architecturally undistinguished element of the high school that hides the Main Street facade of the 1920s structure but a building that has served the district well, would be a question mark. If it were to fall to the wrecking ball, the former superintendent it honors could be recognized by naming a wing of the new high school building for him.

Close proximity might foster a stronger team spirit between the township and city officials whose paths would cross daily as they work together to solve problems and make the community better.

Combined, the city of Ravenna and Ravenna Township contain more than 22,000 people, which makes it the second largest community in Portage County. For decades, we have endorsed the idea of merger, but we recognize that it is not acceptable for many, particularly in the township.

If not a merger, why not try working together out of the same building to jointly build a better Ravenna in a high school building where the young people of the city and township for nearly 50 years have obtained their high school education and diplomas?

Think about it, please!




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    Posted by thinblueline October 30, 2009
The RC is on drugs. Get real. You people have all the answers using someone else's money. Climb out from behind your desks, Roger & Dave, and peek outside in the real world.

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