Local city information for Parma, OH

Parma is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States and the largest suburb of Cleveland. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 85,655. The 2003 estimate put the population at 83,861.

Parma is a city southwest of Cleveland. It is bounded by Cleveland and Brooklyn on the north, Brooklyn Heights, and Seven Hills on the east, North Royalton and Broadview Heights on the south, and Brook Park, Middleburg Heights, and Parma Heights on the west. Parma was originally part of Parma Township, created in 1826. The first settlers were the Benaiah Fay family from New York State, who settled along the Cleveland-Columbus Road in 1816. The name was taken from Parma, New York, where it was probably derived from the early-19th century fascination with classical Italy. During the 19th century, Parma remained largely agricultural. In 1912, a portion of the township seceded to form the village of Parma Heights. In 1924, Parma was incorporated as a village, and in 1926 it adopted the mayor-council form of government. In 1931 a proposition to annex it to the city of Cleveland was defeated, and Parma became a city. Parma's tremendous growth came after World War II as young families began moving from Cleveland into the Suburbs. During the Cold War, Parma's Nike Site Park housed Nike missiles located in underground silos. Between 1950 and 1980, Parma's population soared from less than 20,000 to more than 110,000. More recently, the population has declined to well below 90,000.

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Parma was, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the butt of jokes by local movie show hosts Ghoulardi, Hoolihan & Big Chuck, and The Ghoul, due to its Eastern European, most specifically Polish, make-up. Ghoulardi famously made a series of shorts called "Parma Place." The jokes dealt with Parmans' alleged love of white socks, pink flamingos, chrome balls, kielbasa and pierogis and the polka.

Perhaps more seriously, Parma's local, state, and even national image has been marred by four incidents:

1. Such major newspapers as The New York Times covered allegations from the 1970s onwards that Parma's government worked to resist racial integration. Former Parma City Council President Kenneth Kuczma famously said, "I do not want Negroes in the city of Parma," and even federal courts ruled on the matter. In Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, James W. Loewen recounts these problems and thereby labels Parma a "sundown town."

2. In 2003, Parma made national news after a 345-kV transmission line failed in the city due to a tree, which played a significant role in the early stages of the Northeast Blackout of 2003. A major water crisis in Parma and nearby communities also resulted from the blackout.

3. According to the official website of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, since 1998 the city has been engaged in an ongoing (i.e. still active) and costly civil suit pitting seventeen Parma residents as plaintiffs against around a dozen prominent city officials (including the current mayor and council president) as defendants. Most recently, the case titled Michael Perry et al. vs. Parma, City of-et al., held a pre-trial on March 9, 2007, but the "defendant" failed to appear. Thus, the parties were to have contacted the court by telephone on The Ides of March of 2007. A new pretrial is set for July 31, 2007 at 9:45 AM.

4. Parma has recently been plagued by negative press in the local media as a result of a larger conflict between the police and city government, which has some of its origins from an on-and-off investigation into whether or not former Republican Councilman John Stover stole "files from another council member's briefcase" in 2000--allegations that the Stover family disputes. The incident, which has been referred to as "Filegate" by local and regional media sources, has thus far had inconclusive results, but many residents and outside observers have interpreted the escalation in tensions between the police department and city government as one of reprisals and counter-reprisals of which "Filegate" may serve as an early salvo.

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