Don Plusquellic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Donald Plusquellic**

Office:	Mayor, Akron, Ohio
Political party:	Democrat
Term of office:	1987–Present
Preceded by:	Thomas C. Sawyer
Succeeded by:	Incumbent
Date of birth:	July 3, 1949
Profession:	Management

Donald L. Plusquellic (born July 3, 1949) is the current mayor of Akron, Ohio. First elected in 1987, he became the 59th Mayor of Akron after previously serving 13 years on Akron City Council. Plusquellic is currently serving his fifth term, making him the longest-serving mayor of the city. He was the President of the United States Conference of Mayors during 2004. Plusquellic currently serves as vice president of the International Mayors for Peace organization. He is well known as an architect of the Joint Economic Development District (JEDD) program in Ohio, and he is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition,^[1] a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston, Massachusetts Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He is widely praised and criticized by both sides of the aisle—and some affiliated with neither party. In 2006, an independent watchdog group announced that the city was 1.1 billion USD in debt, more per capita then any other city of its size in Ohio.^[2] Also in 2006, an impasse was declared with the police and fire fighter unions and has yet to be resolved.^{[citation needed]} At the same time crime has increased.^[3] The public school system has suffered due to a very strong tax abatement structure Plusquellic employed to bring new development to downtown Akron.^[4] Some complain that the City does not run like a municipal body but a business, complete with press releases and news conferences.^[who?] Plusquellic has also been accused of abusing his power; in July of 2005, he argued with a downtown Akron parking attendant, and threatened to revoke the business license of the attendant's employer if the attendant was not fired (the company complied).^[5]^[6]^[7]