Key State Leaders Gather to Develop Strategies to Revitalize Cleveland’s Economic Competitiveness

Contact:

Diane Deane, Greater Ohio

614-258-6200 ext. 22

(cell) 614-633-5773

Key State Leaders Gather to Develop Strategies

to Revitalize Cleveland’s Economic Competitiveness

Cleveland Summit Defines Recommendations for Alignment with State Action Agenda

Cleveland – Greater Ohio convened a summit to examine alignment of the Cleveland urban revitalization agenda with state reforms as part of the Restoring Prosperity to Ohio Initiative. Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish and Mayor Frank Jackson joined over 400 key corporate, civic, political, academic and philanthropic leaders from the Cleveland area here today at the Restoring Prosperity to Cleveland Mini-Summit.

The Restoring Prosperity to Ohio Initiative is a non-partisan research, policy development, and organizing initiative led by Greater Ohio and the Brookings Institution focused on revitalizing the state’s core communities and reinvigorating the state’s economic competitiveness. The summit is building a platform for change to address the multiple crises in Cleveland, and all of Ohio, with state reforms in the drivers of prosperity: infrastructure, workforce, innovation and quality of place.

“Cleveland’s crises mirror deterioration in other Ohio cities, therefore many of the Cleveland fixes can be replicated elsewhere in the state,” said Lavea Brachman, Co-Director, Greater Ohio & Non-Resident Brookings Institution Senior Fellow. “The fixes and replication cannot be done without state reforms – it’s a moment to align state, federal and local policies.”

The Cleveland Mini-Summit builds on the momentum and success of the Brookings/Greater Ohio Restoring Prosperity to Ohio Summit held last fall, which launched the Restoring Prosperity to Ohio Initiative and unveiled a state reform agenda. The Cleveland summit is the first in a local convenings series that Greater Ohio will host throughout Ohio, in conjunction with local partners.

“In this time of economic and fiscal crisis, the state has to commit to targeted, integrated investments in the assets that drive prosperity,” said Bruce Katz, Vice President & Director Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. “These assets are concentrated in core communities like Cleveland.  Ohio’s prosperity depends on the prosperity of its core communities.”

In particular, discussion centered on finding revitalization and stabilization strategies for Cleveland in terms of their job market, their industrial base, their physical footprint, and their ability to build on their existing assets, at a metro-wide, not just city scale. Cleveland, like other Ohio cities with the exception of Columbus, is shrinking in population but its physical size has remained the same, leading to destructive effects on the tax base, the real estate market, and the community fabric. Particularly hard hit by high foreclosures, a specific panel addressed Cleveland’s foreclosure crisis and its aftereffects of abandonment and neighborhood decline, helping to identify a new vision and strategies that will revive its housing stock and revitalize its communities.

Cleveland has been engaged for a few years in several local economic development practices that align with the Restoring Prosperity Initiative “playbook,” helping it regain competitiveness, including leveraging anchor institutions, such as University Circle; building on assets, like the Lake Erie waterfront; and targeting resources with market potential, like the Euclid Corridor.

Participants agreed that there is a critical need to “reimagine” Cleveland and the state and institute governance reform, creating a new political culture of collaboration and consolidation across jurisdictions. Discussants recognized that the state is not taking up this urgent charge yet. The state plays a critical role in how these new strategies ultimately advance the urban revitalization agenda in Cleveland.

The summit was co-hosted by Greater Ohio, a non-profit research and advocacy group based in Columbus and Policy Bridge, a nonprofit policy organization based in Cleveland, in partnership with the Maxine Goodman Levin College Forum Program. Sponsors for the event included: Fund for Our Economic Future, The Cleveland Foundation, RPM International, Inc. and the Cleveland Clinic.

Comments from today’s gathering, along with upcoming convenings in other Ohio communities, will help to shape a final report to be released in late 2009 by Greater Ohio and Brookings. Additional information is available at www.greaterohio.org.

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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.

Another Perspective on Cincinnati: Does it have what it takes to revitalize?

Yesterday I posted comments regarding a blog that described the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati. Today, I offer an alternative and a little more disheartening view on Cincinnati. Although the article, Ground Zero in Urban Decline claims that there is still hope for the cities like Cincinnati to revitalize, they are a lot of barriers in the way: "Yet cities such as Cincinnati make such development more difficult by continuing to focus on white elephants rather than the basic reforms that can help generate a broad economic base. Developers complain that many building inspectors are too narrowly focused on minimizing any risk when they should be letting the market innovate and diversify. Inspectors are focused on the narrowest interpretation of the law, and many rulings are arbitrary. Many developers in Cincinnati think of this as the cost of doing business, but it makes those areas less competitive than their suburban counterparts. Red tape shouldn't be considered simply another cost."

Ohio's economy has take some severe blows recently and it is obvious to most, that in order to recover we will need to change the way we do business in Ohio and think outside of the box. The Cleveland area has already started this process with the upcoming "Restoring Prosperity to Cleveland Mini-Summit" that will be held at the Wolstein Center this Monday, June 8th. The Mini-Summit will focus on addressing Cleveland’s plans for establishing and coalescing around an urban and regional revitalization vision, and the importance of the state’s role and federal resources in achieving that vision. Breakout sessions will engage participants in discussing local actions in five areas – quality of place, housing, infrastructure/transportation, economic engines/innovation and workforce – to help flesh out the state action agenda that was framed in the fall.

For more information or to register click here.

Over-The-Rhine: an indepth look at Cincinnati's neighborhood

A lot of attention is focused on Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood and some even say that it is exemplary of sustainable development efforts. For those of you who do not know about this neighborhood, here is a little background information extracted from Wikipedia.

  • Over-the-Rhine is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, located north of Downtown, south of CUF, south-west of Mount Auburn, west of Pendleton, and east of the West End. Over-the-Rhine is a historic district, treasured for its massive collection of 19th century Italianate structures, By the end of the 20th century, Over-the-Rhine had become one of the most economically distressed areas in the United States. In 1990 the neighborhood had an extremely high poverty and unemployment rate, with the median household income of about $5,000 a year. Since 2006, about $93 million has been invested in the development and creation of the Gateway Quarter, starting with 12th and Vine Streets immediately outside of downtown. The redevelopment project has been largely successful in its attempts to attract empty-nesters and young professionals into the neighborhood.

Kaid Benfield, Director of a Smart Growth Program in Washington D.C. has decided to take the analysis of Over-the-Rhine and step further and is issuing a three part blog, the first of which is  titled, Revitalizing Over-the-Rhine (Part 1: The legacy and the challenge). The three part series will descirbe the historical significance of the area, examing current redevelopment activities, and look at the challenges the neighborhood faces before it can become a beacon of Smart Growth.

Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference Begins...

Second Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference begins today

June 1st, 2009

Today in Louisville, Kentucky, hundreds are taking part in the opening day of the second Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference. The conference is a ray of hope in the midst of our housing and economic crises — and an incubator for the ideas and solutions that can bring prosperity back to the cities, communities and neighborhoods hit hard by abandonment and vacancy.

Read more about it on Smart Growth America's website

Finally, someone is looking at the sidewalks!

How many times have you been walking somewhere when the sidewalk suddenly ends and your only options are walking on a busy road or walking through an unkempt field? Even Google is guilty of providing walking routes to people without taking into account whether sidewalks actually exist on those roads. Well, someone is finally starting to recognize that usable sidewalks matter and can spur economic development. AMATS (Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study) is compiling a comprehensive map of the region's sidewalks.  You can view the most up-to-date list at http://ci.akron.oh.us/AMATS/whatsnew.asp.

An Ohio.news article Sidewalks are strolling to forefront discusses AMATS' project and how sidewalks contribute to sustainable development.

Even relatively short sidewalks can be attractive to people who don't want their kids walking to a neighbor's house in the street. But linking scattered stretches certainly makes sense — assuming the money is there.

''We're not talking millions of dollars,'' Baker says, ''but maybe there are missing links, places where $100,000 could make important connections, especially in those heavily used commercial corridors.''

Livable Communities: Just What the Doctor Ordered

Smart Growth America Release

CONTACT: David Goldberg

Communications Director

(202) 412-7930

Livable Communities: Just What the Doctor Ordered

Smart Growth America Praises American Academy of Pediatrics’ Community Prescription for Child Health

Washington, D.C. — Geoff Anderson, President and CEO of Smart Growth America, today praised the American Academy of Pediatrics for prescribing community design as a crucial part of child health (“POLICY STATEMENT: The Built Environment: Designing Communities to Promote Physical Activity in Children”). The American Academy of Pediatrics today:

  • links community design to overall child health,
  • encourages pediatricians to work with parents to promote more walkable, livable communities, and
  • calls on government to plan for and invest in transportation in ways that best advance the health, safety, and financial well being of American families.

American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statements are “Organizational Principles to Guide and Define the Child Health Care System and/or Improve the Health of All Children”. Today’s policy statement appears in the June issue of Pediatrics®, the flagship journal of the AAP.

Pediatrics has been ranked #1 out of 74 pediatrics journals by the Thomson/ISI Journal Citation Reports for the fourth consecutive year.

Geoff Anderson:

“Healthy communities mean healthy kids. The American Academy of Pediatrics is the most authoritative voice in the United States for healthy kids, and we applaud the Academy for stepping forward to connect smart neighborhood design to the well being of our children. We also applaud the Academy for calling on our government leaders to act on that connection.

“We can have a direct impact on reducing childhood obesity, lowering the pollution that causes asthma, and improving our children’s quality of life. We can—and the American Academy of Pediatrics says we should—build less car-dependent communities, make existing routes to school safer, and ensure that children and their parents have safe, active transportation options like walking or bicycling.

“Looking ahead, we encourage the Obama administration, the U.S. Congress, and our state and local leaders to include childhood health as they make transportation decisions. By spending transportation portions of the economic stimulus and shaping upcoming transportation legislation in ways that prioritize healthier, better living, they can build 21st Century infrastructure that is safer, cleaner, smarter and healthier for the next generation.”

The AAP Policy Statement is available at: http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;123/6/1591

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ABOUT SGA

Smart Growth America is a coalition of national, state and local organizations working to improve the ways we plan and build the towns, cities and metro areas we call home. The coalition includes many of the best-known national organizations advocating on behalf of historic preservation, the environment, farmland and open space preservation, neighborhood revitalization and more. Our state- and regional-level members are community-based organizations working to save treasured landscapes while making our towns and cities ever more livable and lovable.

Greater Ohio speaks at the upcoming "Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference"

On Monday, June 1st from 2:30-5:30, Greater Ohio's Lavea Brachman will join other experts on the Building a State Vacant Properties Campaign training session. The session is part of the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Campaign in Louisville, KY from June 1st-3rd. Although online registration is now closed, on-site registration is available.

With the rising number of foreclosures, blight from vacant properties confronts communities across the country and severely threatens neighborhood stability. Cities of all shapes and sizes are searching for innovative, cost effective strategies to abate these public nuisances and transform vacant properties into catalysts for revitalization. As the new Obama Administration gets under way, what better time to join your vacant property colleagues to share successful initiatives taking place across the country and discuss the new opportunities to change the federal and state policies that affect our cities and towns.

Reclaiming Vacant Properties: Building Leadership to Restore Communities is the only national conference focusing on building the knowledge, leadership, and momentum to reclaim vacant and abandoned properties for thriving neighborhoods.

Civic Capacity: Some cities have it, other do not

The Wall Street recently published an interesting comparative piece of two cities in Michigan: Ann Arbor, a city with promise and Warren, a city in decline. The article, Ann Arbor and Warren: A Tale of Two Economies, not only addresses the need for cities to move beyond the automotive industry as the economic driver, to a more diverse group of innovative industries, it also shows the difference civic capacity makes in fostering growth. During my travels as the Project Coordinator at Greater Ohio, I have witnessed the decline in civic capacity throughout the entire state of Ohio. As big box stores overtake mom and pop businesses, the city loses the people who traditionally fill civic leadership roles. Ann Arbor is fortunate to have the University of Michigan and has wisely invested in this asset to create more jobs and spur innovation. New technology companies crop up and there is a supply of leaders to improve the quality of the city and offer residents a safe and unique culture.

"Over the years, the city [Ann Arbor] developed the types of schools, cultural institutions and amenities that made it an attractive place to live and work. Google, whose co-founder Larry Page attended the University of Michigan, opened an Ann Arbor campus in 2006. About 70,000 people commute to this city, about 40 miles west of Detroit, each day.

Accio Energy got its start in 2007, based on plans two of the founders hatched at Zingerman's Deli, Ann Arbor's renowned gourmet-food destination."

In contrast to Warren which "has the largest concentration of auto workers in the country, job transitions are more difficult to make. Just one in five of Warren's workers between the ages of 25 and 64 holds a bachelor's degree or higher, a relic of the days when a college degree wasn't necessary to find a job that paid well. By comparison, three-quarters of Ann Arbor's work force has at least a college degree."

There are leaders in Ohio's cities, however they can not go it alone and will need to grow in numbers and in strength in order to make an impact.

Interested in learning more?

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