Residents brainstorm to improve region

AKRON (AP) -- More cooperation among local municipalities in Northeast Ohio would help improve the area's economy, residents said at a brainstorming meeting.
About 900 people from 15 counties in the region attended a forum Saturday sponsored by Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaborative effort involving more than 70 philanthropic organizations. The fund, founded last year, promotes regional economic development, according to its Web site.
Area residents were invited to Saturday's meeting to help identify regional problems and success stories, and to make suggestions for the future.
Organizers compiled their comments and plan to share some of them with area leaders and other residents. The meeting was part of the fund's Voices & amp; Choices project, which is designed to create a public plan to revitalize the region's economy.
"The politicians report to the people. They have to react to us," said David Sacco, of Westlake.
"A lot of jobs are going someplace else," said another Westlake resident, Tim Lilkovich, who works as an advocate for people with disabilities.
Participants were particularly concerned with education. Some said the system for funding public schools needs to be fixed, and suggestions included regional school districts and an area education tax.
"Working together to revitalize the economy" was ranked as important or very important by 79 percent of the participants, according to a vote at the meeting.