Category
I am not saying I will run for Akron Mayor in 2023. But SOMEONE needs to run and I don’t get a sense of anyone thinking about it at this point. (It’s getting close to the time when a person has to dec
As I attempted to run for Akron mayor, I was given a unique front row seat to the candidates. I also got a lot of interesting off the record insight into these people too. There is a part of me that r
I spent most of the Akron Mayoral debate yesterday just shaking my head. There are three candidates you will see on the ballot for Akron mayor on November 3. But the Akron Press Club chose to only let
You may remember the story of our iMac being stolen from our office by a homeless guy I was helping. The interesting part of that story is that all Apple products have gps tracking on them. So I’ve ha
The verdict was decided today by the Summit County Board of Elections: Not enough of my 1086 signatures were deemed valid. Most of the reasons were either because they: Weren’t registered. Not the cor
Fortunately, the next chapter of this journey is near. This Wednesday, September 23, at 10am the Board of Elections will determine if any of the Independent Candidates will make it onto the November 3
The awesome news that Hudson is now going to officially be a Gigabit city came over yesterday: Hudson starts up high-speed gigabit internet service – Your Business – Ohio Hudsons city owned and operat
I missed a call and text last night about 10:15. When I woke up this morning I was able to put the whole story together through text, Facebook and some Facebook messages. A homeless guy I, and two oth
I think one of the most difficult human abilities to develop is empathy. Being able to put yourself in another person’s shoes is incredibly difficult. Maybe impossible, really. If you aren’t experienc
Do you remember the post (day 32) where I listed a few people who I thought would be cool to run for mayor? As you can imagine, there was no resounding thrill from them to run. The best people in our
That picture pretty much says it all. That’s my newest friend walking out the front door of my office in the middle of the night this past Thursday with the iMac in my office. We had met earlier in th
You can learn so much by looking at a candidate’s campaign finance reports. And what’s cool is they are all public record. As a candidate that gets or spends over a $1000 you have to file a campaign f
On Day 8 of this journey, June 17, I told you Dan Horrigan was going to win: Day 8 – Everybody knows this is Dan Horrigan’s Town – The Road To Mayor – Sage Lewis for Mayor of Akron Talk to an insider
Did you know that the word “democracy” is never mentioned in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution? Democracy was feared by the founding fathers. James Madison expressed this attitude in
I read with great interest the New York Times article on zero waste communities. I am a firm believer that in order for Akron to grow and become a place young people want to live we must move forward
I have a habit of becoming obsessed with things. I can’t just run a few miles a day. I have to run a marathon without ever running another race in my life. I can’t run just one marathon. I need to run
There is a man who has been a great help to me with my campaign so far. He spent over two decades in prison. Though thin, he has diabetes. His liver is failing. His feet hurt him immensely. He’s been
As a middle aged, (used to be) blonde haired, blue eyed, 6’2″ white male I know nothing of what it means to be dismissed, segregated or marginalized. Truly, I am “the man.” But this mayoral campaign h
The Akron mayoral candidates in the primary race needed to submit their financial information last week. I’ll be talking about this in greater detail over the next few days. But today I just wanted to
You probably don’t know me. And therefore you have no reason to trust me. And honestly, I’m not overly enthusiastic about Mike. But he definitely has strengths: He is incredibly knowledgeable about ho
You probably think that title is extreme. “You’re just jealous he’s doing so well.” If I thought he was good for Akron I’d be pleased as punch he’s totally dominating this race. But I’m telling you th
His blog says: “Dan Horrigan has a very detailed, 15-part plan for the City of Akron, starting the day that he takes office as Akron’s new Mayor.” I was excited to dig into that. Truly, I’m all for id
Granted, we aren’t offering up our children to fight to the death to appease the Capitol. But otherwise, there are a lot of similarities in how Panem, the nation in The Hunger Games, and Akron operate
I have a very difficult time getting signatures to get on the ballot to run for mayor. In Ohio, if your intention is to really run for political office, just swear your allegiance to the Democratic or
My heart sunk a little when I heard Eddie Sipplen decided to have Steve Albrecht to be his campaign manager. I really thought Eddie had a campaign manager who was really awesome. If you don’t know, St
I was asked a few weeks ago to participate on a panel about the arts in Akron. I was really excited about that because I have a close relationship with the arts in Akron. I spent all my high school ye
You can’t stand on a street in Akron without meeting a homeless person. As I’ve been doing my signatures I’ve gotten to talk to a lot of homeless people. These conversations are the best part of runni
This trip to the West has shaped me more than anything I can think of recently in my life. I’ve been trying to find the words to describe what I’m feeling. The word I keep coming back to is: Greatness
Frank Comunale has officially left the race. You now have 2 candidates for the Democratic primary. Dan Horrigan – the puppet of the 30 year old Dynasty of greed and corruption that won’t let go of Akr
Life. Liberty (freedom). And the pursuit of happiness. It’s very interesting that those three things are presented in that order. You can’t have one without the one before it. With all my heart, I bel
I wish so much you could see what I’ve seen the last couple weeks. Yellowstone, The Black Hills, The Badlands. These are places that defy explanation. No words or pictures tell the story of actually b
I saw someone on Facebook say they were going to decide who to vote for Akron mayor by looking at things like: Who he is married to. How his kids behave and do in school. Where he grew up. Where he we
As mayor I will definitely continue this daily storytelling of the journey as mayor. I believe very strongly that elected office is a deep privilege that deserves a deep commitment to the whole commun
I can’t remember the last time I didn’t vote for a Democrat. There were many elections I just voted down the party line. But for the Akron mayor election I’m telling you this: Don’t vote for a Democra
I think you would have to be pretty tone deaf to not feel how lucky you are to get to spend time in places like: Yellowstone National Park Disney World The Outer Banks Naples Florida The Bahamas Hawai
I got the opportunity, for the first time in my life, to see Mount Rushmore. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt. It’s definitely worth experiencing. Actually, any national monuments are impress
For 15 years of my adult life I’ve worked in marketing. A good marketer knows things like: Your strengths Your weaknesses (a lot about your weaknesses) Your insecurities Your fears Where you shop Wher
Doesn’t it seem odd to you that politicians can’t work together? Aren’t they the “leaders”? I’m pretty sure I’d get fired from any other job I worked at if I said, “Bob’s idea is completely wrong. In
It is very easy to blame all the country’s problems on our government officials. And in fairness they never take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. And they never ask us to do anything. The
I’m writing this from Sparta Wisconsin. It’s about 600 miles from Akron. Last summer Rocky and I put together a plan to do the biggest vacation of our adult lives. We started putting a plan together t
We had a really great talk on Facebook today about what the focus of the campaign should be. A major focus for me is the ages old infrastructure of the 2 party system. We live in the United States of
I finished up Mark Maron’s interview of Barack Obama today. Obama was talking about the importance of being succinct in politics. He said that it’s not that people can’t understand the complexity of p
I’m listening to a podcast with Barack Obama. He did an interview with Mark Maron. Mark is a comedian who does a podcast in his garage. This is interesting on many levels: Garage Comedian Sitting pres
There are a lot of drugs being used in Akron. People that don’t use illegal drugs often have a disconnect with people that do use illegal drugs. It’s a pretty silly separation if you think about it. H
One out of every four people living in the U.S. dont have Internet at home. One in four. The White House wants to change this through its new ConnectHome initiative. Its mission: Every child should be
I know people don’t like change. It disrupts our lives. It’s uncomfortable. You never know what will happen on the other side. There’s no reason to change for change sake. But I’m here to tell you: We
I just got back from the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. We’re spending the weekend camping at the Shelby / Mansfield KOA. The movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed there. Look at this graph from
I had a great conversation today with a resident of Cuyahoga Falls. She said that their mayor suggested everyone in Cuyahoga Falls go meet their neighbor. What a great idea! She told two stories where
Money and politics. This is the great corruption of America. Money buys political favors: You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Find great political power and I guarantee you will find money hoveri
I just got back from Eddie Sipplen‘s fundraiser event. (For the record, those trying to keep me off the ballot, I didn’t donate to him. So you can’t try to corner me as a Republican in Independent’s c
In the drug world there is something called Suicide Tuesday. It typically happens after a wild Saturday night of partying. Tuesday is the day when it all comes crashing down around you. The strongest
Based on this blog, you might be surprised to know that I actually run several businesses. SageRock is my bread and butter. It’s a digital marketing agency that my wife, Rocky, and I founded in 1999.
When I started this journey my position was to give the people of Akron an alternative to the status quo. To the good-old-boy club of Akron Democrats. But saying, “If you don’t like this then we have
That was my niece’s response when I asked her if they still made juice boxes. “How can you be mayor if you don’t know if they still make juice boxes?” I get that question every so often about various
I’m not sure what I thought other candidates would be like when I got into this race. But I’m pretty sure it’s not what I’m finding. From what I can see, there are 2 types of people that run for mayor
If you’ve been following along you probably know I’ve been spending an increasing amount of time in front of Angel Falls Coffee Shop here in Akron. I spend a couple hours nearly every day standing in
In an effort to connect a bit more I’m going to start doing more videos. Here’s a 52 second video on my qualifications to be mayor of Akron.
I highly recommend the PBS special on Mount Rushmore: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/rushmore/ This is one of those stories of defying all logic, rationalism and “reality.” These sto
I got an unexpected visit from former Akron mayor, Garry Moneypenny, today. Garry was one of the first people in the neighborhood to come visit us when we bought our building at 15 Broad Street. He wa
There is a massive revolt happening in the world right now. And you might not be aware of it. Reddit is on fire. If you aren’t familiar with Reddit I’d tell you to go. But much of it has been shut dow
Simply put: The American Revolution was bad ass. We stood up to the mighty British Empire. And ultimately we won. I highly recommend “1776” by David McCullough My favorite player in the Revolutionary
I got this cool question on my Facebook wall when I woke up this morning: “Are you really an atheist?” The short answer is: No. But the background of that answer is complicated. Let’s start at the ver
Stephanie Warsmith tweeted this: Those are noble pursuits. But then I got to thinking: what does the Clerk of Courts know about creating jobs? I’m sure he oversaw people that had jobs. That’s cool. Bu
When I watched presidential debates I always was amused by how they rarely answered the question they were asked. They answered the question they wished they were asked. Maybe I’ll see someday why a c
I had an amazing day today talking with people on the Akron Subreddit. If you’ve never been to Reddit I’d highly recommend it. It will take a bit to get in the flow of it. But once you do you’ll likel
I love technology. That’s probably why I’m in the technology business. One of the many things I love about it is how it makes you free. With tech you can work (almost) anywhere. Between our family’s l
Near the end of World War I the German Major-General, Ludendorff, had a mental breakdown. He went to see a psychologist. The psychologist told him he needed to take some time for himself. He needed to
Stephanie Warsmith of the Akron Beacon Journal did an amazing piece on my switch from Democratic candidate for mayor to Independent candidate for mayor. This move is highly risky because it gives the
Something that is strangely missing is my opponents’ positions on things. The people have some very specific questions on things like: The EPA-mandated sewer project. Homeless Vacant buildings Schools
My goal is to get 1000 signatures by September 7. 1000 signatures that meet all the many requirements of the Board of Elections. On Tuesday I looked at my calendar and realized my summer was quickly b
I’m a little gun-shy after my denied signature submissions to run as a Democratic candidate for mayor. I feel like the political road is filled with hidden land mines that an uninitiated candidate is
The path I’m on for mayor is unlikely, filled with unforeseable risks and unadvised by pretty much everyone in power and authority. The last one is why I’m pushing forward with everything I’ve got. I’
I’M RUNNING AS AN INDEPENDENT! Today the Summit Count Board of Elections officially announced what petitions they approved and what petitions they didn’t approve. I had 65 out of the 50 needed signatu
Deciding to run for mayor has instantly given me the opportunity to talk with all sorts of people. What I’ve quickly found is that we all, no matter the party, have more in common than not. We don’t w
I had the opportunity to check out Celebration Church on Dan St. here in Akron today. A friend of mine’s kid was having his high school graduation party there. The graduate’s grandfather is a minister
11 days in and my mind is flooded with things I should do to run a successful campaign for the office of Akron mayor. The help I have been given within 11 days is breath taking. Amazing. That’s all I
I felt something today that maybe I never have felt before in my life. Today this whole mayoral journey felt bigger than just me. The outreach of help and encouragement I’ve gotten in these 10 days is
I posted a story yesterday about Dan Horrigan winning the race. The story wasn’t the problem. I found a picture of him and The Don. It was one of those pictures that you see of politicians looking lik
OK. Politics is weird. It’s only taken me eight days to figure that out. By day 16 I should be really tripped out. Talk to an insider and they will tell you one thing: Dan Horrigan is going to win. He
Monday, June 15, 2015 Running for mayor has been some of the most exciting work I’ve had the opportunity to pursue. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I use Mondays to get as much work done as possibl
Sunday, June 14 2015 We had a really great weekend in Hocking Hills. It’s a very cool and fun place. I love checking at all the interesting places in the world. Our friend who has worked on some campa
It’s Saturday. I often use the weekends to think. I avoid the phone and email as much as possible so I can take some time to think. Every small business owner knows this fact: As a small business owne
I was so excited about day 4 (Friday, June 12 2015) that I couldn’t sleep. Indy and I had just went to check out Jurassic World at the HIghland Theater the night before. It was so good I couldn’t stop
It is now 11pm on day 3. I wrote day 1 and 2 just now because Greg gave me this idea today. Day 1 and 2 were so interesting. I wanted to make sure I had them recorded. This site is running on WordPres
Greg and I thought there would be nothing to this part.. I mean, how hard could it be to get 50 signatures? We were wrong. People refused to sign. People didn’t live in Akron. Endless people who don’t
Greg Habermann, my campaign manager, had a brilliant idea.. as he often does. He thought it would be cool to blog my journey of becoming Mayor of Akron. He also thought that other people in our town m