[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:16] Hi, welcome to the Macedonia Mayor's Report. I'm Mary Kidd and I'm here with Mayor Nick Molnar
[0:20] on what should be a warm spring day, but it's Cleveland and it's cold. Ohio strikes again.
[0:27] It's freezing today. All right, well, that kind of leads to the first question. The cold weather
[0:34] does a lot of damage to the roads and there are potholes, so how can residents make those known?
[0:41] So the simplest way is to go on our website under the service category and request it online.
[0:45] That's that's a viable good option, but you can also call the service department or email at service admin at macedonia.oh.us
[0:52] That's that's ways to get ahold of us. Okay, and we had a viewer
[0:58] Make a little send in a little question about the road by Kentucky Fried Chicken and the car wash down at Highland and Route 8
[1:07] That needs repaved or just fixed it needs some attention
[1:12] that's a privately owned road so you know when it comes to that that's really
[1:16] nothing to do with us I mean I I can't do anything when it's a privately owned
[1:20] thing going into a business like you know if there's issues there you should
[1:24] probably contact the business let them know that it's rough now I've driven
[1:27] over to and I've noticed it's it's it's kind of bad and I know that they put
[1:31] some patches in there so it improved a little bit but again there's not a
[1:35] lot I can do when it's not our responsibility part of shepherd road
[1:39] will be closing? Yes, so Highland Road will be closing at that point beginning April 8th,
[1:45] which is today, I believe, tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow? Tomorrow. And the closure expected to last 21 days,
[1:50] so it's part of the addition of the turning lanes over there, and that's all part of that project.
[1:56] Will Highland also be closed? No, Highland will be open, I apologize.
[2:00] But Shepherd Road at Highland, I should have clarified. Okay. Yes. All right.
[2:05] I watched a council meeting, I tried and watched them, and there was some hubbub about trees
[2:14] being torn down and residents not being happy.
[2:17] So first energy comes in and they slaughter trees and they cut them to whatever they
[2:22] need to do to keep the lines clear, not granted, you want your power to work and everything
[2:26] should be working at all times, we want that too.
[2:30] but the way in which they did the trees by South Farm was terrible and I was
[2:37] unfortunately out of town that day but my building commissioner caught it and
[2:40] called me and I got on the phone and I was speaking with the people doing the
[2:43] work there and obviously voiced my displeasure because some of the pictures
[2:47] I saw were terrible but what they basically do is they're gonna trim it
[2:51] down and they're gonna leave it and that's just what they do and that's
[2:53] what they're allowed to do and I don't agree with that at all so I've
[2:56] been trying everything I can do to get that rectified.
[2:59] I'm running into some brick walls, but I'm not going to quit.
[3:02] And the people that live over there should be annoyed and
[3:04] should be upset, and I'm upset with them.
[3:07] But I don't think first energy should have the right to go
[3:09] and do things like that.
[3:10] And that's the fight I'm having right now to get
[3:13] something done to say, look, if you're going to trim a
[3:16] tree, at least make it so that it could still blossom or
[3:19] stay out of the power lines or whatever it may be.
[3:22] But they'll just hack the thing down.
[3:23] And it looks terrible.
[3:24] It looks absolutely horrible.
[3:26] So I'm working on that.
[3:28] I don't know that I'm going to get any resolution,
[3:30] but I'll be darned if I don't try.
[3:31] Well, yeah, that's very frustrating
[3:33] because it takes a long time for the tree to grow back.
[3:37] OK.
[3:39] A brush drop-off is happening?
[3:41] Yeah, so we opened it up a little earlier this year.
[3:44] It's open during normal business hours.
[3:46] General rule, I would say, between 8 and 3.30.
[3:49] Give the guys some time to get in and get things moving.
[3:52] You must be a master in any residence.
[3:54] You're required to show a valid ID.
[3:56] We get this every year, so we'll have contractors coming in there.
[3:59] We don't allow for contractors.
[4:00] This is really for residents that are cleaning up their yard that want to dump their yard waste there,
[4:05] and it helps them out.
[4:06] That's what this is about.
[4:08] If you have a contractor doing work, they have to take it wherever they normally take it
[4:11] for any other job that they're on, and not every community does this.
[4:14] But again, leaves, small branches, things like that, that's all what you could put in there.
[4:20] You have to show your ID.
[4:21] You have to be a resident.
[4:22] So that's just the way it works.
[4:24] 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
[4:31] That's going to change because we're going to have a drop-off location here, but
[4:35] 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
[4:40] So yeah, tell me about spring fest. So spring fest is on April 25th
[4:45] It'll be how that Longwood Park in the Recreation Center
[4:48] It'll feature vendors activities food trucks and in the event of rain will move it inside which
[4:54] Again, we just talked about Ohio being Ohio.
[4:56] I mean, I think we had a swing from 74 degrees down to 28.
[4:59] So you never know, but we'll work with whatever we got.
[5:02] And it's going to be a fun day.
[5:04] Are the wooded trails finished at Longwood?
[5:07] Unfortunately not.
[5:08] Weather delayed a lot of the work.
[5:09] And it's very tedious back there getting material in and out
[5:12] and getting things done back there.
[5:14] But we asked people to stay off from the time being
[5:17] because it's a lot of moisture.
[5:19] Again, it's Ohio.
[5:20] It's the time of year.
[5:21] Things are wet.
[5:21] We've had a few snags with what we're doing, so we're delayed.
[5:25] So we're going to get to it, but right now we're in a little bit of a lull.
[5:29] Well, I read that part of this project is a story walk.
[5:33] What is that?
[5:34] So this is something new, and I was just talking with the park director, and he said it's
[5:39] partnering with the Nardonia branch of Summit County Library on a story walk for the
[5:42] Wooded Trail, meaning the visitors will be able to walk the trail and read pages
[5:45] of books that are posted along the trail.
[5:48] Fun, family-friendly activity, not only to encourage reading but physical activity
[5:53] and you can look for updates on that on our social media pages when that'll be
[5:57] ready to go. Having a wife as a teacher she'll tell you the most important
[6:01] thing for kids to do is read and she pushed that heavy on our children and
[6:05] I can say that I think they have success in school because reading was
[6:08] such a high emphasis. So putting this into our park and having a little
[6:12] bit of fun on a trail and if you've been on those trails are
[6:14] really cool it's kind of fun back there it's it's nice place for you can walk it's
[6:18] a little shade if it's warm in the summer it's not as hot because obviously
[6:22] the shade will help that out but yeah I think it's gonna be kind of cool and I
[6:26] don't know if you know the answer to this but will periodically the storybook
[6:30] change to a new one from what I understand yes oh good to keep them
[6:35] coming back if you build it now when do your monthly food trucks begin so food
[6:43] trucks begin Thursday, April 30th and will happen on the last Thursday of the month until
[6:48] July 27th and trucks will be parked in the wrecks in our parking lot as it has been years
[6:53] past.
[6:53] So everyone looks forward to that and those trucks usually sell out of food which was
[6:57] really neat.
[6:57] That's great.
[6:58] Good.
[6:59] This summer is the big 250th birthday for our country.
[7:04] Is Macedonia planning anything?
[7:07] We are and I cannot divulge it this time.
[7:11] We'll do something at our summer fest, so it'll be the spirit of Macedonia Festival
[7:15] and then we'll also have a tribute to the 250th anniversary.
[7:20] Big things coming.
[7:21] Oh, folded together.
[7:22] It'll be a part of that.
[7:24] We'll have some things contained therein and the one thing that I know for sure we're
[7:28] doing is going to be really cool and the cat's not out of the bag yet, so you're
[7:32] going to have to wait on that one.
[7:33] We'll have to check with you next month.
[7:34] For sure.
[7:35] Tell me about the senior day trips.
[7:37] So, we have April 8th, the Cavs game, April 16th, the Glass Asylum, April 23rd, the Sound
[7:47] of Music at Playhouse Square,
[7:51] April 24th, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and April 30th, Spend
[7:57] a Day in Oberlin.
[7:59] Oh, that sounds nice.
[8:01] They all sound nice.
[8:02] I've not, I've yet to hear of a bus trip that was not fun and not light, so.
[8:07] Good, good.
[8:08] And we're gonna end our show like we always do now just for the past few months
[8:12] It's a new thing with our Macedonia business of the month. So the business of the month is Aries combat and
[8:19] You got to watch that one. I think it was a good one for us
[8:21] All right. Thank you for watching and we'll see you next time
[8:36] We are here with our March business of the month. This one's very exciting to me. We're at Aries combat with Dave will graph
[8:43] Thanks for having a sense today. Thank you. Tell us a bunch of business
[8:47] I've been here for 11 years, I've been doing mixed martial arts technically for 43 years.
[8:52] My mom and my dad started me lifelong combat sports.
[8:56] I started karate with my father and then I went along, I got five black belts between
[9:03] wrestling, Muay Thai, my boxing, my amateur boxing and my full contact story going across
[9:11] the board.
[9:11] I just I've got 29 amateur champions ever since I started I've worked with eight UFC fighters a few Bellator fighters
[9:19] PFL fighters
[9:20] I've had a be cat. Well, he fought in a BKFC, but he was a B by B world champ in the dime except belt
[9:28] I've worked with him. I've had LFA world champion from Bedford, Ohio drill clinic at Hodge
[9:34] 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
[9:39] called the Human Weapon. He was a college roommate with paid manning. So I got to meet
[9:44] paid manning through my journey and stuff like that with Bill in the Old
[9:47] Twinsburg Powerhouse. And then when he transferred over and let that over, I
[9:52] actually, I was the old pro there and amateur, you know, experienced and all that
[9:56] stuff. So everybody was asking me, hey coach, because I was a coach and I
[9:59] didn't really even know that was truly my thing. So I took it over
[10:04] because it's been a family thing, you know. And ever since then, you know,
[10:07] You know, I've had a Ohio House Award.
[10:10] This is my second time you guys blessed me
[10:11] of being business a month.
[10:14] I'm just grateful, you know?
[10:15] It's been hard, you know what I mean?
[10:18] Believing in a dream, you know, highs and lows.
[10:21] You know, my mother and my father's been gone.
[10:23] They both passed.
[10:24] It's been hard, you know what I'm saying?
[10:26] But I'm grateful for being here.
[10:27] I'm grateful for helping people
[10:28] and doing what I love.
[10:29] I'm blessed.
[10:30] Well, we're happy to have you in Macedonia.
[10:32] Thank you.
[10:32] I'm a big fan of MMA, mixed martial arts,
[10:36] all that stuff.
[10:36] 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
[10:42] Come here if they want to help patronize your business sure sure sure. This is a true mixed martial arts Academy
[10:48] I think I get a little bit misunderstood
[10:52] 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
[10:59] If I physically because I this has been my life's journey if I physically could sit down and talk to you and consult you
[11:06] and figure out what you need, I could work, anybody could be here, that's right.
[11:10] I mean, I've got little ones, I've had up to the highest, the highest, the lowest, the lowest.
[11:14] This place is for everyone truly, but if you really want to be a champion, this place is an academy.
[11:19] It's not a gym, it's an academy, because I totally focussely, I'm making you the best you physically could be in life.
[11:25] It doesn't matter, you don't have to be a champion champion, because not everybody can be a champion,
[11:30] but trying to be the best in life is, that's the key, right?
[11:34] You have to try and that's why I'm that enemy of never giving up, you know
[11:38] I failed millions of times, but I get up every day and I'm gonna give it my best
[11:42] I don't care what it takes. I'm gonna get it done and that's that but to be clear
[11:46] Someone wanted to come here for what's to say training or consultations
[11:51] You and I have talked many times you have
[11:53] You have football players you work with you have wrestlers you work with you have people that are interested in mixed martial arts
[11:59] So you're not you're not just a one-stop shop for mixed martial arts
[12:02] You're much more talk about like, you know, like the Akron football team you were talking about the Akron football team
[12:08] They're supposed to be reaching out to me because I'm technically if you go into judo, that's technically samba, right?
[12:14] I I promise you you can come in here with ten in guys
[12:17] You think X football players because I worked with Rob Sems before he couldn't take me down
[12:22] You know, I miss I miss you're gonna put that out there. That's all right, Rob
[12:26] You heard that you heard it Rob. All right, but I'm saying right
[12:30] But when he used to work down at the BP down here
[12:31] He used to go to the Twinsburg Powerhouse by Loverrod,
[12:34] but taking me down from here to here,
[12:36] if I could block you hand fighting,
[12:39] I'm a keto master in a judo.
[12:41] Judo, I mean, I've thrown 350 pound people
[12:43] from here to there.
[12:45] I mean, if I get my hands on you, no way.
[12:47] Not even happening.
[12:49] I'm just saying, I'm very confident in saying that,
[12:51] like physically, because it's been a lifelong journey.
[12:54] It's a difference to like say he drops down
[12:56] and he gets underneath me and gets my hips down,
[12:58] but good luck.
[13:00] It's not happening.
[13:00] And if I see it coming, it's not happening.
[13:02] You know what I'm saying?
[13:03] Because I could take guns and knives out of people's hands.
[13:05] I know how to break every bone in a body
[13:07] with 15 pounds of pressure.
[13:09] This has been my whole life.
[13:10] I know about human anatomy.
[13:12] I know about nutrition.
[13:13] I know about rehab.
[13:15] I've had 16 broken bones in my body.
[13:17] You see me moving around.
[13:18] I can move around.
[13:20] I can still run under a five minute mile.
[13:22] I can run around 11, 200 mile, 100 hour dash.
[13:25] I mean, it's just been my life's journey.
[13:29] So I get it.
[13:29] So let's just say you're a local kid in this area and they're looking for a
[13:35] little bit more training for like football. Does this be a place they can
[13:37] come to? A hundred percent. So you can help to get them to be a little bit more
[13:41] better with let's say tackling or blocking. Possessioning and coordination.
[13:45] What we talked about a lot in the past is that this is not just mixed
[13:49] martial arts. This is a lot you can put it you can apply this to other
[13:51] sports because we're a big athletic community so I wanted to point that
[13:55] exactly I can physically work with any any sports any team and I can I guarantee
[14:02] you if we did like a one-on-one if you civically wanted to work on something I
[14:07] guarantee you I can make you faster I can make you stronger I can educate you
[14:11] about your body I can I could help you throw pointers about physical rehab I
[14:16] can make you just straight better I and I will put I'll bet that whatever on
[14:19] the house I could I know how to make you better and that's what I am I'm
[14:23] I'm like a mindset coach, but I know how to get you,
[14:27] I could detail, I could sickly point things out
[14:29] that's going to educate you in some,
[14:31] which way or form to make you better in life, period.
[14:34] I will bet the house on that.
[14:36] That's great.
[14:37] And if somebody wanted to look you up,
[14:39] social media, where would they go for that?
[14:40] Well, yeah, I have four Facebooks,
[14:43] Dave O'Graft, Aries Combat, Aries Nation,
[14:46] David Graff, Instagram, if you wanna check that out,
[14:50] it's at the Andil, it's Andil Train,
[14:52] It's the Andal 2027, then Aries Combat.
[14:56] I have a couple Snapchats, Aries Nation.
[14:58] We also have one of our...
[15:00] Our service employees that works with you two a lot. I got a plug Joey here. He's an
[15:04] animal and we love him and he's a great employee but when he gets in this gym
[15:08] what's Joey like here? Joey's amazing. Me and Joe have been training together since
[15:13] I think 2008-2009 with Bill Duff, the human weapon. You know he started there.
[15:19] He actually trained with you know Devante Smith, Gerro Hodge. We had we
[15:23] literally in 2011 we were at the gym, the flight gym of the year in Ohio.
[15:29] 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
[15:35] Joe's an amazing guy, you know, I'm saying I'm starting to I'm trying to work with junior now
[15:38] You know, he's starting to come in and starting to get in here and you know like that
[15:41] And that's what that's really what you know, my mom and my dad wanted me to do, you know
[15:45] God bless him, you know is just keep giving back and help people
[15:49] Yeah, I think you do a lot of that here and we're proud to have you and you know
[15:53] It's something I talk about a lot as the diversity of different types of businesses
[15:56] This is our first two businesses a month
[15:58] where we're more food related.
[16:00] This is a little bit different,
[16:01] and I wanted to highlight that with you
[16:03] because what you do in here is great for the kids,
[16:05] and I know you work a lot with the kids.
[16:07] Can you focus in a little bit more on the kids
[16:08] and what you do with them here?
[16:09] Oh, sure, because I believe in the old world,
[16:13] so I work these kids so hard,
[16:16] but my big thing with the kids,
[16:18] I really want them to actually listen
[16:22] and take things seriously,
[16:23] so they learn to follow through on things,
[16:26] And just be able to be confident enough with all the stuff going on in these schools and
[16:32] just do the right thing.
[16:34] You know what I mean?
[16:34] It's more importantly, just do the right thing.
[16:37] I also want to point out too, this is not just a violent thing here.
[16:41] This is something that, it's a good workout, it's a good training for kids, for adults,
[16:47] it's good exercise, it's all the healthy things we want.
[16:50] And a lot of times if you just go to the gym and workout, this is going to take
[16:53] you to another level.
[16:54] and you know you and I have known each other for I don't know four or five years now sure we talk all
[16:58] the time and I love it I enjoy MMA it's it's kind of a thing for me but we're happy to have you
[17:03] we're happy to have you as our business of the month and we want to present you with the plaque
[17:07] we normally have another one yeah it's running a little late getting in but we'll start you
[17:11] with this one so this is your presentation of your plaque for March of 26 appreciate you so much