The on Akron鈥檚 east side is suing the city. The move is aimed at keeping the tent village open despite a city-imposed Thanksgiving deadline for shutting it down.
For a year and a half Sage Lewis has been letting 40 or so homeless people live behind a commercial building he owns in the Middlebury neighborhood. Last month Akron City Council voted down a zoning variance for the camp and ordered it closed. Lewis is suing. He says it鈥檚 his private property and if he wants to let people stay there he can.
尝别飞颈蝉鈥檚&苍产蝉辫; believes he鈥檚 right. And he says, the City should rethink the whole issue. 鈥淪age is pioneering an innovative model using private property, private money to shelter people for dollars a day. This is a model that could be replicated across the country. And the city should be working with Sage.鈥�
Rowes says the court action is meant to gain a temporary reprieve from the closing order. He says Lewis still wants to work with the city on long-term solutions.
