You may wonder why I care about a marijuana bill when my focus is the homeless. It's simple: the war on drugs is an easy way to hurt minorities of all kinds, including the homeless. Issue 3 will stop this.  Please vote YES on Issue 3 and stop letting the law hurt the weakest in […]

I'm a big believer in transparency. So I wanted to upload my completed order from Sam's Club for socks and Ziploc Freezer Bags. It's for a total of $269.62. There have been $325 in donations at our "No Feet Left Behind" campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/akronsocksThey deposited $296.95 into my account.That puts us at positive $27.33. I was […]

  https://www.gofundme.com/akronshoes  Because so much of my work is on email I tend to take an email break over the weekends.  Email can get a little overwhelming.  But this Monday morning, today, could possibly make me LOVE email again.  I woke up to a slew of supportive comments on last Friday's post talking about all […]

When I write these posts I try to come up with a catchy headline. I try to say something that will make you stop a second and consider clicking into read the rest of the story. If 2200 homeless kids in Akron sounds about right, sounds like an understandable number, sounds like something you can […]

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 the Democrat and Republican candidates participate in their debate. I challenge you to tell me one legitimate […]

If you live in Ohio you are probably aware that when you go vote on Tuesday November 3 you will be voting on Issue 3. It's the marijuana initiative. If you are familiar with the initiative you might also connect with it the words "Monopoly" or even "Cartel". In fact, that is how it will […]

There is one prevailing reason most people I know don't like Issue 3 that will be on the ballot on Tuesday, November 3: It creates a monopoly. In fact, here is the text you will read on the ballot: Issue 3Grants a monopoly for the commercial production and sale of marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposesProposed […]

   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 had an alert set to notify me when it came back online.  Sure enough, it came […]

Am I reading that right? Did you guys already, like in one day, meet the goal for the "No Feet Left Behind" campaign? I came in this morning thinking about how I was going to inspire you all to donate to the cause. But it turns out you already did it! You are AWESOME!!!! Thank […]

   I just heard Rocky tell her friend Holly that on the phone.  I've been told by several homeless people that they always need socks.  Homeless people are constantly walking.  Their socks wear out, get wet and get really dirty.  If it's socks they want, it's socks they'll get.  Do you like socks?  Are you […]

   I bet most baseball players feel embarrassed striking out.  "I should've let that ball go. " "I could've focused more." "I would've hit it if I didn't have a headache." Should've. Would've. Could've.  Those words make me cringe.  "If things just had been different." When I was quitting drinking the group I belonged to […]

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 correct address. That was the fatal flaw of my strategy. Most of my time was spent with the homeless. Apparently they have […]

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 General Election ballot. There are 3 possible Independents that potentially could get on the ballot.  Me Bill Melver Stephen Muhammad Both […]

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 operated Velocity Broadband as of Tuesday started offering internet connections up to a gigabit per second 1,000 megabits per second. To give you […]

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 other friends, Bill Wise and Jon Batten (who I met through Conservative News Authority), are friends with […]

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 experiencing something it's very common to feel like it doesn't exist. Women are treated fairly in the workplace.  African Americans are treated equally by […]

   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 communities rarely have interest in running for office.  Why? I don't think it's […]

    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 the day, in my office, talking about many things.  How the owner of the apartment […]

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 finance report before an election and after an election. So there will be another update coming soon. […]

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 and they will tell you one thing: Dan Horrigan is going to […]

   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 Federalist #10: "...instability, injustice, and confusion ...have in truth been the mortal disease under which popular governments everywhere perished..." But they knew one […]

   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 bravely and boldly.  We must become a beacon of light and inspiration for what 21st […]

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 3 marathons to prove to myself that I actually can run marathons. When […]

   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 a heroin addict.  And, like many homeless or near homeless people, he has a […]

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 has given me the rare opportunity in my life to get a small taste of what it's like to be […]

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 show you the top line numbers. How much money each candidate has been given so far in the race. Dan Horrigan: […]

I am in complete support and will advocate for the Fight for $15 cause.  We cannot live in a world where people work full time and can't live. $15 minimum wage is realistic and fair. If you believe the government spend too much money helping people with food and living expenses you should support Fight for […]

   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 how the Akron government machine works.  He's smart.  He's polished and professional.  His weaknesses are not important for this conversation. And you […]

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 this: no one is given this much absolute support without strings being pulled, promises being made, back office deals […]

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 ideas on making our city as great as it can be. But "very detailed" must mean something […]