Mentor, Ohio
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Mentor is a city located in Lake County, Ohio. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 50,278.
In 1876 James A. Garfield purchased a home in Mentor, from which he conducted the first successful front porch campaign for the presidency. That home is now maintained as the James A Garfield National Historic Site.
Mentor is a diverse community with industry, commerce and residential components. For a city of 50,000, some say that there is a lack of green space with only 4 relativly small parks in the city, although the official Mentor website claims 11 city parks comprise 930 acres of parkland. Although some small efforts have been made to make the city bicycle friendly, it is essentially an automobile based community. Traffic patterns are poorly engineered and it is frustratingly difficult to get around the city. US 20 cuts thought the center of the city and as Mentor Avenue it is the main street. Mentor Avenue is lined almost completely with strip shopping, car dealerships and big box stores for the five miles it runs from Willoughby to Painesville Township, the largest shopping area being centered around Great Lakes Mall in the southwest portion of the city. Mentor currently has no pronounced downtown area, though in the past both the Mentor Avenue/Center Street (State Route 615) and Mentor Avenue/Jackson Street/Little Mountain Road intersection vicinities have been perceived as the settlement center. Additional shopping can be found along most major roads.
Mentor Schools are large. The system is based on the factory model with 3 junior high schools feeding into a single high school, which is one of the largest high schools in the state of Ohio. In 2004-2005 the school system suffered a financial crisis prompting the resignation of the entire school board and requiring the passage of a large emergency levy to keep the system solvent.
City government is based on a city manager exeuctive appointed by city council. Government has been dominated by forces friendly to development of every available parcel of land. The city is generous with tax abatement which has resulted in numerous plant closings once the abatement has run out. As a result lots of empty industrial space is available in Mentor, while new tax abated industrial parks continue to be built.
The city slogan is "It's better in Mentor" which rhymes because locals pronounce the city's name "men-ner". In the media, "men-ter" is prominent.
Geography
Mentor is located at 41°41'28" North, 81°20'31" West (41.691245, -81.341955)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 72.7 km² (28.1 mi²). 69.3 km² (26.8 mi²) of it is land and 3.4 km² (1.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 4.67% water.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 50,278 people, 18,797 households, and 14,229 families residing in the city. The population density was 725.2/km² (1,878.2/mi²). There were 19,301 housing units at an average density of 278.4/km² (721.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.30% White, 0.64% African American, 0.05% Native American, 1.19% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. 0.72% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 18,797 households out of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.6% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.3% were non-families. 20.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.9% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $57,230, and the median income for a family was $65,322. Males had a median income of $44,021 versus $31,025 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,592. 2.7% of the population and 1.8% of families were below the poverty line. 2.8% of those under the age of 18 and 4.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
