City council meeting Feb. 18

Hannah Reed February 27, 2015June 17, 2015 0 Comments Beverly Warren, City Development, kent city council

By Mark Gockowski and Hannah Reed

President Beverly Warren made an appearance at the Kent City Council meeting on Feb. 18, where she discussed Kent State University’s relationship with the city.

Warren touched base on the status of her Presidential Listening Tour and her journey to find the “heart of Kent State.”

She began the meeting with Kent State University Independent Films’ video “This is Kent” that let viewers take a look around all of the university’s new developments. Warren then thanked the members of Kent City Council for being so welcoming to Kent State students.

“There are true highs and lows of being a college town, right?” Warren said to the council. “I’d like to think there are more highs. The students bring in energy, they bring in vitality, they bring in creativity to the community.”

But Warren wasn’t only concerned with the relationship between the city and the university, she said that she wants to focus on making Kent State recognized on a national level.

“So what is it that we could also add as a destination environment that would draw people to our fine city?” Warren asked.

She suggested to capitalize on the economic development of Kent.

“What is it that gets the next start-ups going so that our city thrives?” Warren said. “Businesses like Kent Displays start and stay in Kent. Our economy will be lifted by that kind of entrepreneurship that we should promote together.”

Warren said one of the things she enjoyed most about her Listening Tour was when she asked participants to describe Kent State in one word. She followed up by asking the council the same question.

“Future,” Council-at-Large Melissa M. Long responded.

“Dynamic,” said Jack Amrhein, Ward 2 councilor.

Warren said these words, among others like “innovative,” “challenging” and “invigorating” were used to describe the university. However, she said there was one word that was used more than the rest.
“Home,” Warren said. “The word used most often to describe Kent State was ‘home.’”