Can new mayor make Canton great again? Focusing on neighborhoods is a terrific start

This is not the city of my childhood.

The Canton of then was bigger. There was a chippy pride in being nicknamed "Little Chicago," albeit a dubious nod to past, ahem, activities.

It was a town occupied by blue-collar families who manufactured steel, roller bearings and automobiles.

It had four high schools, and filled every one.

"Immigrant" back then meant the Greeks, Hungarians, Portuguese and Romanians who came here to work in the plants, and the Italians, who specialized in stonework and other construction. Comprising 25% of the city's population by the early 1900s, they followed the Germans, who arrived first, in the 1800s.

It was a city with public amenities, including a lakeside amusement park, a zoo, roller-skating rinks, a thriving downtown retail center, four public pools, a plethora of neighborhood mom-and-pops, and locally owned and national chain grocery stores.

The Canton of then wasn't perfect — redlining was applied early and often. Urban renewal destroyed and dismantled entire neighborhoods, leaving brownfields and broken promises in its wake.

Concentrated minority neighborhoods did not — and have not — resulted in political power.

The story of this city is the same narrative which has been repeated across America: A white-flight to the suburbs, a brain drain of the college-educated, a dwindling manufacturing base shrinking the windows of opportunity for those who remain, rising poverty, an overall lack of vision, and out-of-state corporate landlords gobbling up houses like Pac-Man.

The kind of instability so analogous to modern poverty has resulted in a school district that has not been able to compete academically with its suburban counterparts.

City services have become lopsided, with less attention and investment in neighborhoods which need it the most.

You need only to drive along Tuscarawas Street E to know this is true.

All these things and more are why Mayor William V. Sherer II's plan to revitalize neighborhoods "street by street" warrants our attention.

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He has promised to be more aggressive in demolishing structures, and is asking for more funding to do so.

If the self-described "blue-collar kid from Canton" can pull it off, it will become one of the most impactful initiatives in years.

Though Canton likely will never again be a manufacturing powerhouse, Sherer has the chance of reimagine the city beyond its current state, something which has already begun with Centennial Plaza, and the redevelopment of housing in the Newton neighborhood and in southeast Canton by Canton For All People and Habitat for Humanity.

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Homeowners — people who have skin in the game — need assurances that their decision to stay wasn't a mistake. It will require leadership, imagination and risk-taking.

We must be able to offer more than the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Hall of Fame Village, primarily a magnet for tourists. The city itself needs to become a magnet for those families looking for affordable housing and, yes, safety.

We need more people who work for the city, living in the city. Now, the courts have ruled that city workers have a right to live wherever they wish, but no one ever said a city couldn't offer its employees — especially first responders — incentives for doing so.

We need to become a city known as the go-to place for vocational training and for fledgling small businesses.

We need to be a place of welcome for the latest generation of immigrants.

Even the greatest cities of the world have their struggles. People who run down Canton don't hesitate to visit New York, Paris or Las Vegas, all of which have issues because there are people in them.

Canton is a good city with the room and potential to become a great one. It's filled with solid people who work hard to maintain their homes and their neighborhoods.

We can use more — people, that is. That won't happen unless we give them reasons to plant their flag here.

Good neighborhoods are at the top of the list.

They can't thrive or even exist without the city's support.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Charita Goshay writes about Canton neighborhoods needing attention