Debbie Palmer, Patch Staff

Debbie Palmer has been a community journalist since earning a communication degree at Cleveland State University. She was an award-winning writer at the Sun Newspapers, where she worked as a reporter and assistant editor, overseeing the Sun Star and writing news and feature stories in Strongsville, including the Police Blotter.

Debbie grew up in Brook Park and is a lifelong west-sider. She worked at the former Brookgate Movies during high school and college, selling popcorn and tickets. After landing a job at the Sun Newspapers, she developed a strong commitment to community journalism and went on to win numerous writing awards from Suburban Newspapers of America, Ohio Society of Professional Journalists and the Cleveland Press Club.  

Debbie is married to Strongsville High School grad Ken Wood. They have a son, Brandon and two cats. Debbie walks every day for exercise (and stress-relief) and enjoys reading, word puzzles and her iPod Touch.

debbie.palmer@patch.com

(216) 280-2200

Your Beliefs

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Politics 

How would you describe your political beliefs? 

I'm middle-of-the-road, with liberal leanings.

Religion

How religious would you consider yourself?

I guess I'd say spiritual rather than religious.

Local Hot-Button Issues

What do you think are the most important issues facing the community?

Like every city, Strongsville is facing budget woes and needs to keep providing services without new tax dollars. The school district is also at a crossroads, trying to convince voters to approve levies under Ohio's broken-down funding system and with criticism about cutbacks officials have made.  I'd also say the lack of an no-kill animal shelter is an issue here.

Where do you stand on each of these issues?

The animal shelter is easy to answer -- city officials can find money for projects when they try. Someone on City Council or in the administration needs to step up and champion a no-kill shelter and organize a group of volunteers to run it as a non-profit facility. Berea, Parma and other cities have done it very successfully.

The city budget and school funding are tougher issues. I think the city is to be congratulated for finding a way to expand and renovate the police station but new tax dollars, but it took several failed ballot attempts for officials to get the message. School officials need to understand that plenty of residents haven't gotten raises in the last few years and are not sympathetic to school employees who are in the same boat. It's easy to say "do more with less," but both the city and schools need to keep looking outside Strongsville borders for ideas on how other communities are handling similar problems. There are some pretty creative ideas out there for the copying.