Blog — Greater Ohio Policy Center

Collaboration in Marion County

Last Friday, January 29, the Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration met at the Worthington Board of Education to hold their monthly meeting. Greater Ohio asked Pam Hall from Marion to testify.  Pam Hall’s excellent testimony detailed her experience working to consolidate the County and City Health Departments of Marion County. Mrs. Hall, President of the Marion Area Chamber of Commerce, outlined the challenges and barriers that supporters of the merger faced despite the demonstrated political will and cost saving data ($254,000) that supported the reform measure.   The status quo was in full force against her. Pam helped lead a strong grassroots effort that was able to create local buy in and overcome these challenges. The merger of the City and County Health Department was placed on the ballot and passed in November, 2008 with the hope that the reform would save tax dollars and provide a better customer experience.

Pam’s story is a good reminder of both the difficulties associated with challenging the status quo and the transformative nature that political will and determination can have even in the face of adversity.

$400 Million for 3C Rail in Ohio!

Greater Ohio Policy Center was pleased to attend yesterday's press conference where it was announced that Ohio would receive $400 million in federal stimulus funds to be used to fund the 3C Corridor “Quick Start” passenger rail system between Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.  Greater Ohio applauds the state for taking the steps necessary to capitalize on this unique opportunity offered by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to jump-start development of convenient and affordable rail service between core cities within our great state. This announcement marks real progress and marks a milestone in the effort to bring our state’s transportation system up to a world-class level.

Twitter Picks

Planetizen is reference that Greater Ohio uses to keep abreast of the latest developments in urban planning, design, and development from across the globe.  Recently Planetizen listed their picks for the Top Twitter Feeds on Urban Planning.  For those of you interested in urban planning and involved in the twitosphere, check out their recommendations. And if you want to stay up to date with all of Greater Ohio’s latest developments, follow Greater Ohio’s twitter feed @GreaterOhio.  You can also stay in the loop by following Associate Director Dawn Larzelere’s twitter feed @GO_DawnL.  And the newest addition to Greater Ohio's twitterers includes Co-Director Gene Krebs @GO_GeneK.  Check them out!

And if you’re on facebook, become a fan of Greater Ohio Policy Center’s facebook page too!

The Core Vitality Imperative

The Core Vitality Imperative Post by The Urbanophile

“You can’t be a suburb of nowhere.” – Bill Hudnut

What does a healthy urban core mean to a region? Maybe the difference between success and failure. On the jump, a look at urban core and regional job growth for selected cities*, ranked by percentage job growth in the core county from 2001 to 2009.

Notice a pattern? Clearly, for these cities at least, core county performance is an excellent proxy for overall regional performance. I’m not making a statistical claim here, but the data for these cities is suggestive. I think it also foots with our common sense view. How many thriving metro areas have a core city/county that is going down the tubes? I can’t name one.

The Dynamics of Growth and Decline

It might be easy to dismiss cities like Cleveland and Detroit by simply calling them dysfunctional. But that misses the point. Of course they’re dysfunctional. All struggling cities and organizations are dysfunctional, or they probably wouldn’t be in that state. What’s more, rather than just dysfunction causing failure, which is sometimes true, it’s also true that failure causes dysfunction. As a city (or company or other organization) starts into decline, it fails to attract customers, top talent leaves, and operational and financial issues creep up. In this regard the civic dysfunction noted in places like California is as much as product of decline as its cause.

Continue …

Brighter Future for Mass Transit

Greater Ohio Policy Center was pleased with the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation that as part of its new proposed guidelines for funding mass transit projects, the DOT will place a higher priority on livability issues, such as how mass transit can promote economic development and make a community a better place to live.  In the past, the main criteria has focused mainly on the project’s overall cost and commute time saved. This announcement fits into the federal Sustainable Communities initiative, which has worked to better coordinate federal transportation and housing investments and identify strategies to give American families more choices for affordable housing near employment opportunities and more transportation options, to lower transportation costs, shorten travel times, and improve the environment.

Greater Ohio is pleased by this new direction at the federal level and is optimistic that it is a start to looking at funding decisions in a more holistic matter.

Read the Compact with Cities Recommendations

If you're interested in reading the recommendations from from the Compact with Ohio Cities Task Force Report, click here. The Ohio Cities Task Force, a 29-member group representing Ohio leaders from a variety of sectors, announced a blueprint for redevelopment and smart growth in Ohio yesterday. Included in the task force’s recommendations were a number of policy and legislative initiatives that focus on strengthening Ohio’s urban centers. Specific recommendations were split among the following categories: land use; development; transportation; workforce and quality of life; and regionalism.  Led by State Rep. Mike Foley and vice chair State Rep. Sandra Williams, the committee also included Lavea Brachman, co-director of Greater Ohio and a non-resident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution.

The Recommendations for Redevelopment and Smart Growth in Ohio have been posted online, for those of you interested in the details.  Please share you opinions and comments here on our blog.

Greater Ohio Participates in Ohio Cities Task Force

Redevelopment and smart growth recommendations made

COLUMBUS – The Ohio Cities Task Force, a 29-member group representing Ohio leaders from a variety of sectors, today announced a blueprint for redevelopment and smart growth in Ohio. Included in the task force’s recommendations were a number of policy and legislative initiatives that focus on strengthening Ohio’s urban centers. Specific recommendations were split among the following categories: land use; development; transportation; workforce and quality of life; and regionalism.

Led by State Rep. Mike Foley and vice chair State Rep. Sandra Williams, the committee also included Lavea Brachman, co-director of Greater Ohio and a non-resident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution. “Greater Ohio was excited to be part of the task force, because its mission is consistent with our organization’s goal of finding innovative ways to restore prosperity in Ohio through smart growth. We strongly endorse the task force’s foremost conclusion about the importance of regionalism to achieving a ‘new economy’ in Ohio.” Brachman said.

Ohio Speaker of the House Armond Budish called for creation of the task force last spring. Entrusted with 10 specific responsibilities, including providing innovative strategies to address housing, mass transportation, infrastructure, environmental, and labor force challenges facing Ohio’s cities; and identifying and classifying incentives and disincentives to urban economic development, the committee developed 20 specific recommendations. Those include passage of House Bill 313, which would allow for the creation of 28 additional county land banks in the state; House Bill 3, the Ohio Foreclosure Prevention Act; and House Bill 323, legislation to address toxic titles and nuisance properties and to empower local land banks.

The report also calls for public hearings regarding a Greater Ohio proposal that recognizes the importance of anchor institutions in the health of Ohio’s urban cores and metropolitan regions. Anchor institutions are place-based entities, such as universities and hospitals, which are permanently rooted in specific locations. These community anchors generate jobs, create local business opportunities, and contribute in significant ways to the development of human, social and cultural capital.

Greater Ohio is enthusiastic about the potential the recommendations represent for Ohio in the future. “These recommendations symbolize the thoughtful and innovative outcomes that can be achieved when a broad cross-section of individuals come together,” Brachman stated.

Greater Ohio (www.greaterohio.org) is the state’s “smart growth” organization. We promote – through research, public education and grassroots advocacy – public policy to grow Ohio’s economy and improve the state’s quality of life through intelligent land use. Toward this end, Greater Ohio works to advance policies and programs that revitalize urban and metropolitan areas, strengthen regional cooperation, and protect Ohio’s open space, natural resources and farmland. We are non-partisan, non-profit, and foundation–funded. Greater Ohio’s office is located in Columbus, Ohio.

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Greater Ohio Policy Center Re-Launches ReBuild Ohio

ReBuild Ohio was formed several years ago to address vacant property redevelopment issues.  For the last year and a half, Greater Ohio Policy Center has advanced much of the ReBuild Ohio agenda, through our efforts with the Restoring Prosperity to Ohio Initiative.  However, as Ohio continues to respond to the fallout of the economic recession and foreclosure crisis, we have decided to once again formalize our efforts with ReBuild Ohio.   Over the coming months, Greater Ohio will work to refocus ReBuild Ohio’s efforts to address Ohio’s growing vacant and abandoned property problem through state-level reforms by reconnecting with our existing partners, working to build relationships with new constituencies, developing directions for a new policy and practice manual, and considering how land reuse policies relate to urban and metropolitan sustainability strategies in Ohio. Specifically ReBuild Ohio, as a major project of Greater Ohio, will:

  • Promote revitalization and reuse of vacant and abandoned properties to enhance the quality of life for all Ohioans through research, advocacy and education
  • Advance new policies and tools designed to prevent and reverse the cycle of deterioration, and to reclaim and reinvest in all types of properties, including residential, commercial and industrial
  • Seek to improve existing code enforcement, land use, data information and other preventative tools, and to help develop new state laws and local policies for vacant and abandoned properties

If you are interested in being a part of these efforts please join the ReBuild Ohio Network (http://rbovpforum.lefora.com/).  Currently network members have posted and commented on dozens of articles and white papers on topics ranging from foreclosure, housing and neighborhood stabilization to vacant property reclamation and greening.  The forum also provides an opportunity to view upcoming events dealing with these issues.

Related to our ReBuild Ohio efforts, we are actively working on the National Vacant Property Conference which is coming to Cleveland October 13 - 15, 2010.  The National Vacant Property Campaign is now accepting Request for Session Proposals through January 22nd.  If you are interested in submitting a panel suggestion or looking for further information please visit http://www.vacantproperties.org/.

We are looking forward to continuing to keep you updated on these vacant property redevelopment efforts.  If you have any questions please contact our ReBuild Ohio Coordinator, Millie Davis at MDavis@greaterohio.org or call 330.324.7460.

Interested in learning more?