Hi, welcome to the Macedonia Mayor's Report. I'm Mary Kidd and I'm here with Mayor Nick Molnar
on what should be a warm spring day, but it's Cleveland and it's cold.
Ohio strikes again. It's freezing today.
Alright, well, that kind of leads to the first question. The cold weather does a lot of damage
to the roads and there are potholes, so how can residents make those known?
So the simplest way is to go on our website under the service category and request it online.
That's a viable, good option. But you can also call the service department or email
at serviceadminatmacedonia.oh.us. That's the best way to get ahold of us.
And we had a viewer send in a little question about the road by Kentucky Fried Chicken and
the car wash down at Highland and Route 8. That needs repaved or just fixed?
It needs some attention. That's a privately owned road. So when it comes to that, that's
really nothing to do with us. I can't do anything when it's a privately owned thing
going into a business. If there's issues there, you should probably contact the business
and let them know that it's rough. Now I've driven over to and I've noticed it's kind of
bad and I know that they put some patches in there, so it improved a little bit. But again,
there's not a lot I can do when it's not our responsibility.
Right. Part of Shepherd Road will be closing?
Yes. So Highland Road will be closing at that point, beginning April 8th, which is
today, I believe? Tomorrow?
Oh, tomorrow, yeah.
Tomorrow. And the closure expected to last 21 days. So it's part of the addition
of the turning lanes over there, and that's all part of that project.
Will Highland also be closed?
No, Highland will be open. I apologize. But Shepherd Road at Highland, I should have clarified.
Okay.
Yes.
All right. I watched a council meeting. I tried and watched them. And there was some
hubbub about trees being torn down and residents not being happy.
So first energy comes in and they slaughter trees and they cut them to whatever they need
to do to keep the lines clear. Now, granted, you want your power to work and everything
should be working at all times. We want that too. But the way in which they did the
trees by South Farm was terrible. And I was unfortunately out of town that day,
but my building commissioner called me and I got on the phone and I was speaking with
the people doing the work there and obviously voiced my displeasure because some of the
pictures I saw were terrible. But what they basically do is they're going to trim it down
and they're going to leave it. And that's just what they do and that's what they're
allowed to do. And I don't agree with that at all. So I've been trying everything I can
do to get that rectified. I'm running into some brick walls but I'm not going to quit.
And the people that live over there should be annoyed and should be upset. And I'm
upset with them. But I don't think first energy should have the right to go and
do things like that. And that's the fight I'm having right now to get something
done to say, look, if you're going to trim a tree, at least make it so that it could
still blossom or stay out of the power lines or whatever it may be. But don't
just hack the thing down and it looks terrible. It looks absolutely horrible. So
I'm working on that. I don't know that I'm going to get any resolution, but I'll
be darned if I don't try. Well, yeah, that's very frustrating because it takes
a long time for the tree to grow back. Exactly. Okay. Brush drop off is
happening. Yeah. So we opened it up a little earlier this year. It's open
during normal business hours. General rule, I would say between eight and three
thirty. Give the guys some time to get in and get things moving. You must be a
master on your residence. You require to show a valid ID. We get this every
year. So we'll have contractors coming in. We don't allow for contractors.
This is really for residents that are cleaning up their yard that want to
dump their yard waste there. And it helps them out. That's what this is
about. If you have a contractor doing work, they have to take it wherever they
normally take it for any other job that they're on. And not every community
does this. But again, leaves, small branches, things like that. That's all
what you could put in there. You have to show your ID. You have to be a
resident. So that's just the way it works. And where is this drop off? So
that'll be at 9150 Valley View Road where we've always had it. Now when
the new building is complete, that's going to change because we're going
to have a drop off location here. But for right now, we're going to have
it down where we've always had it for the past as long as I've been in
Macedonia. So yeah. Tell me about Springfest. So Springfest is on April 25th.
It'll be held at Longwood Park in the Recreation Center. It'll feature
vendors, activities, food trucks. And in the event of rain, we'll move it
inside, which again, we just talked about Ohio being Ohio. I mean, I think
we had a swing from 74 degrees down to 28. So you never know, but we'll
work with whatever we got. And it's going to be a fun day. Are the
wooded trails finished at Longwood? Unfortunately not. Weather delayed
a lot of the work. And it's very tedious back there getting material in
and out and getting things done back there. But we ask people to stay
off from the time being because it's a lot of moisture. Again, it's
Ohio. It's the time of year. Things are wet. We've hit a few snags
with what we're doing. So we're delayed. So we're going to get to
it. But right now, we're in a little bit of a lull. Well, I read
the part of this project is a story walk. What is that? So this is
something new. And I was just talking with the park director and
he said it's partnering with the Nardonia branch of Summit County
Library on a story walk for the Wooded Trail, meaning the
visitors will be able to walk the trail and read pages of books
that are posted along the trail. Fun, family friendly activity,
not only to encourage reading, but physical activity. And you
can look for updates on that on our social media pages when
that will be ready to go. Having a wife as a teacher, she'll
tell you the most important thing for kids to do is read. And she
pushed that heavy on our children. And I can say that I think
they have success in school because reading was such a high
emphasis. So putting this into our park and having a little bit
of fun on a trail and if you've been on those trails are
really cool. It's kind of fun back there. It's nice place
for you can walk. It's a little shade. If it's warm in
the summer, it's not as hot because obviously the shade
will help that out. But yeah, I think it's going to be
kind of cool. And I don't know if you know the answer to this,
but will periodically the storybook change to a new one?
From what I understand, yes. Oh, good. So keep them coming
back. Yeah. All right. If you build it, they'll come.
When do your monthly food trucks begin? So food trucks begin
Thursday, April 30th, and will happen on the last Thursday
of the month until July 27th. And trucks will be parked
in the rec center parking lot as it has been years past.
So everyone looks forward to that. And those trucks usually sell
out of food, which was really neat. That's great. Good.
This summer is the big 250th birthday for our country.
Is Macedonia planning anything? We are, and I cannot
divulge it this time. We'll do something in our summer
fest. So it'll be the spirit of Macedonia festival,
and then we'll also have a tribute to the 250th
anniversary. Big things coming. Oh, folded together
It'll be a part of that. We'll have some things contained
therein. And the one thing that I know for sure we're doing
is going to be really cool. And Kat's not out of the bag yet.
So you're going to have to wait on that one. We'll have to
check with you next month. For sure. Tell me about the
senior day trips. So we have April 8th, the Cavs game.
April 16th, the glass asylum. April 23rd, the sound of
music at Playhouse Square. April 24th, Cleveland Pops
Orchestra. And April 30th, spend a day in Oberlin. Oh, that
sounds nice. They all sound nice. I've not, I've yet to hear
of a bus trip that was not fun and not light. Good, good.
And we're going to end our show like we always do now,
just for the past few months. It's a new thing
with our Macedonia business of the month. So the business
of the month is Aries Combat. And you got to watch that one.
I think it was a good one for us. All right. Thank you for
watching and we'll see you next time.
We are here with our March business of the month. This
one's very exciting to me. We're at Aries Combat with
Dave O'Graft. Thanks for having us in today.
Tell us about your business. I've been here for 11 years. I've
been doing mixed martial arts technically for 43 years. My
mom and my dad started me lifelong combat at combat sports.
I started karate and with my father and then I went along. I
got five black belts between wrestling, Muay Thai, my boxing,
my amateur boxing and my full contact story going across the
board. I've got 29 amateur champions ever since I started.
I've worked with eight UFC fighters, a few Bellator fighters,
PFL fighters. I've had a BK, well he fought in a BKFC but he
was a BYB world champ in the Diamond Set belt. I've worked
with him. I've had an LFA world champion from Bedford, Ohio,
Drill Thunder Cajaj. He was actually one of my,
truly my first student, would build up the human weapon if
you guys ever heard of the History Channel called the
Human Weapon. He was a college roommates with Paid Manning.
So I got to meet Paid Manning through my journey and stuff like
that with Bill in the Old Twinsburg Powerhouse. And then
when he transferred over and let that over, I actually,
I was the old pro there and amateur, you know, experience
and all that stuff. So everybody was asking me, hey
coach, because I was a coach and I didn't really even
know that was truly my thing. So I took it over because
it's been a family thing, you know. And ever since then,
you know, I've had a Ohio House Award. This is my second
time you guys blessed me of being business a month. I'm
just grateful, you know, it's been it's been hard, you know,
I mean, believing in a dream, you know, highs and lows,
you know, my mother and my father's been gone. They both
passed. It's been it's been hard, you know what I'm
saying, but I'm grateful for being here. I'm grateful for
helping people and doing what I love. I'm blessed.
Well, we're happy to have you in Macedonia. I'm a big
fan of MMA, mixed martial arts, all that stuff. Tell us a
little bit more about what you actually do here, like what
your training is and what you offer to people so they can
come here if they want to help patronize your business.
Sure, sure, sure. This is a true mixed martial arts
academy. I think I get a little bit misunderstood. What I
do, I do consultations. That's why we have we win
about 81% of all our competitions and I just
make people better. If I physically, because this
has been my life's journey, if I physically could sit down
and talk to you and consult you and figure out what you
need, I could work. Anybody could be here. That's right. I
mean, I've got little ones. I've had up to the highest
to high, the lowest lows at this place is for
everyone truly, but if you really want to be a
champion, this place is an academy. It's not a
gentleman. It's an academy because I I'm totally
focusing on making you the best you physically
could be in life. It doesn't matter. You
don't have to be a champion champion because not
everybody can be a champion but trying to be the
best in life is that's the key, right? You have to
try and that's why I'm the epitome of never giving
up. You know, I failed millions of times but I get
up every day and I'm gonna give it my best. I don't
care what it takes. I'm gonna get it done and
that's that. But to be clear, someone wanted to
come here for let's say training or
consultations. You and I have talked many
times. You have football players you work
with. You have wrestlers you work with. You
have people that are interested in mixed martial
arts. So you're not you're not just a one-stop
shop for mixed martial arts. You're a much more
than one. Talk about like, you know, like the
Akron football team you were talking about. Yeah.
The Akron football team, they're supposed to be
reaching out to me because um, technically, if
you go into judo, that's technically Samba,
right? I I promise you, you can come in here
with 10 in guys. You think X football
players because I worked with Rob Sems before.
He couldn't take me down. Um, you know, I
miss, I miss you're gonna put that out to
that. Yeah, Rob, Rob, if you're out there, you
heard that. You heard it, Rob. All right. But
I'm saying right, but when you used to work
down at the BP down here, you used to go to
the Twinsburg Powerhouse. I love Rob, but but
take me down from here to here. If I could
if I could block you hand fighting, I'm a
keto master in a judo. Judo. I mean, I've
thrown 350 pound people from here to there.
I mean, if I get my hands on you, not,
not, no way. Not even happening.
Um, I'm just saying I'm very confident
saying that like physically because it's
been a lifelong journey. It's a difference
to like say he drops down and he gets
underneath me and gets my hips down, but
good luck. It's not happening. If I see it
coming, it's not happening. You know what I'm
saying? Because I could take guns and
knives out people's hands. I know how
to like break every bone and a body
with 15 pounds of pressure. You know,
this has been my whole life. I know
about human anatomy. I know about
nutrition. I know about rehab. I've
had 16 broken bones in my body. You
see me moving around like I can move
around. I can still run under a five
minute mile. I can run around 11
a second or mile. You know, 100 dash.
I mean, you know, you know, it's just
been my life's journey. So I get. So
let's just say you're a local kid in
this area and they're looking for a
little bit more training for like
football. This would be a place they
can come to. 100%. So you can help
to get them to be a little bit more
better with, let's say, tackling or
blocking. Positioning and that
coordination. What we talked about a
lot in the past is that this is not
just mixed martial arts. This is a
lot. You can put it, you can apply
this to other sports because we're a
very big athletic community. So I
wanted to point that out.
Exactly. I can physically work with
any sports, any team, and I can, I
guarantee you, if we did like a one-on-
one, if you specifically wanted to
work on something, I guarantee you I
can make you faster. I can make you
stronger. I can educate you about your
body. I can help you throw
pointers about physical rehab. I
can make you just straight better. I,
and I will put, I'll bet that
whatever on the house. I could, I know
how to make you better, and that's what
I am. I'm a, I'm like a mindset coach,
but I know how to get you, I could
detail, I can simply point things out
that's going to educate you in some,
which way or form to make you better
in life. Period. I will bet the
house on it. That's great. And if
somebody wanted to look you up,
social media, where would they go for
that? Well, yeah. I have, I have
four Facebooks, you know, Davo
Graph, Aries Combat, Aries Nation,
Davo Graph, Instagram. If you
want to check that out, it's at the
Andill, it's Andill trained. It's the
Andill 20 and 27, then Aries Combat.
I have a couple Snapchats, Aries Nation.
We also have one of our
Our service employees that works with you two a lot. I got a plug Joey here. He's an
animal and we love him and he's a great employee but when he gets in this gym
what's Joey like here? Joey's amazing. Me and Joe have been training together since
I think 2008-2009 with Bill Duff, the human weapon. You know he started there.
He actually trained with you know Devante Smith, Gerro Hodge. We had we
literally in 2011 we were at the gym, the flight gym of the year in Ohio.
And he was part of that back then you know I mean and he came here and he's he
follows through and you know Joe's an amazing guy you know I'm saying I'm
starting I'm trying to work with Junior now you know he's starting to come in
starting to get in here and you know like that and that's what that's really
what you know my mom and my dad wanted me to do you know God bless him you
know is just keep giving back and help people. Yeah I think you do a lot of
that here and we're proud to have you and you know it's something I
talk about a lot is the diversity of different types of businesses you know
our first two businesses a month were more food related just a little bit
different and I wanted to highlight that with you because what you do in here is
great for the kids and I know you work a lot with the kids can you focus in a
little bit more on the kids and what you do with them here? Oh sure because I
believe in the old world so it like I work these kids so hard but I my big
thing with the kids I really want them to actually listen and take things
seriously so they learn to follow through on things and just be able to
be confident enough with all the stuff going on in these schools and just do
the right thing you know I mean it's more importantly it's just do the
right thing. I also want to point out too this is not just you know a violent
thing here this is something that I don't like it's a good workout it's a
good training for for kids for adults it's it's good exercise it's all
the healthy things we want and a lot of times you know if you just go to
the gym and work out this is going to take you to another level and you know
you and I know each other for I don't know four or five years now sure we talk
all the time and I love it I enjoy MMA it's kind of a thing for me but we're
happy to have you we're happy to have you as our business of the month and
we want to present you with the plaque we normally have another one yeah
it's running a little late getting in but we'll start you with this one so
this is your presentation to your plaque for March of 26 appreciate you so
much guys
you