October 4, 20222 yr 53 minutes ago, NEOBuckeye said: I understand the pushback. Yes, Akron still is home to Goodyear, the last of the Big 4 legacy rubber companies to maintain its HQ in the city. Corporate banking is all based elsewhere though. Huntington, based in Columbus, absorbed FirstMerit, Akron's hometown bank in 2016, leaving it without a major banking corporation HQ. PNC is based in Pittsburgh, while US Bank and Chase are based in Minneapolis and NYC, respectively. You neglected to mention KeyBank, which has its HQ in Cleveland. Fair point that not all Akron banking is based in Cleveland, but also none of it is based in Akron anymore. I'll push back on the media piece also. The fact is, Cleveland dominates broadcast media--radio and TV--in NE Ohio. The majority of stations on FM, AM and TV are out of Cleveland or its suburbs. Personally I wish things were more diversified and that a stronger secondary pole existed in NEO between Akron and Canton, but it's not even remotely the case. Akron itself hasn't even had its own major network TV broadcast affiliate (ABC) since PAX stole Channel 23 and relocated its studios to the Cleveland suburbs in 1996. Cable doesn't even remotely address this gap. Diebold and Timken are based in Canton. (Diebold is in North Canton if we really want to get technical about it.) FirstEnergy is in downtown Akron now, although it does have historical roots in Cleveland. Also, FWIW, pre-pandemic, the ratio of commuters into Cuyahoga County from Summit County and surrounding counties was approximately 3:1. Like I said, I would love to see Akron (and Canton by extension) stand more strongly on its own. I'm a homegrown Akronite, so I get the pride thing and all. I'm also a realist. Right now, and for the far foreseeable future, Akron's economy is going to be strongly influenced by what goes on up in Cleveland, and in other places also.
October 4, 20222 yr The last thing i will say on this topic is, the mentioning of Timken and Diebold, and not to even mention Bridgestone, Firestone Racing, and Babcock and Wilcox is to show the connection between Akron/Canton as one Metro that is self-sustaining and not dependent upon Cleveland at all. Furthermore, Akron's radio market is dominated by Akron area radio stations per Nielsen, not Cleveland's. Also, i would add that Cleveland's only bank. Key Bank was not mentioned because it has a number seventh rank market share in the Akron market, not a major player at all. You speak of a 3 to 1 commute percentage between counties surrounding Cleveland but the commuting percentage between the Akron metro and Cleveland is only 19 percent, but the commuting percent between the Akron and Canton metros are 40 percent, per NOACA, and Summit and Stark County officials. So, the facts tell me that Northern-Northeast Ohio is dominated by Cleveland, while Southern-Northeast Ohio which is south of the Ohio Turnpike/CVNP is dominated by Akron/Canton/Youngstown.
October 5, 20222 yr 8 hours ago, vulcana said: The last thing i will say on this topic is, the mentioning of Timken and Diebold, and not to even mention Bridgestone, Firestone Racing, and Babcock and Wilcox is to show the connection between Akron/Canton as one Metro that is self-sustaining and not dependent upon Cleveland at all. Furthermore, Akron's radio market is dominated by Akron area radio stations per Nielsen, not Cleveland's. Also, i would add that Cleveland's only bank. Key Bank was not mentioned because it has a number seventh rank market share in the Akron market, not a major player at all. You speak of a 3 to 1 commute percentage between counties surrounding Cleveland but the commuting percentage between the Akron metro and Cleveland is only 19 percent, but the commuting percent between the Akron and Canton metros are 40 percent, per NOACA, and Summit and Stark County officials. So, the facts tell me that Northern-Northeast Ohio is dominated by Cleveland, while Southern-Northeast Ohio which is south of the Ohio Turnpike/CVNP is dominated by Akron/Canton/Youngstown. Diebold just moved their headquarters to Hudson. They have some back of house operations in North Canton still, however. https://www.hudsonforwardtogether.org/diebold
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