Building a Stronger Future: Greater Ohio Speaks to the Columbus Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

On Tuesday evening Greater Ohio attended the monthly Columbus chapter meeting of the American Institute of Architects.  We spoke to over sixty architects—including private and public sector architects, landscape designers, and planners—about the Restoring Prosperity Initiative and how lessons learned from Europe can help Ohio and its metros compete in the next economy.  We shared with the AIA some grim statistics, including declining population numbers in our urban cores, large numbers of vacant and abandoned properties throughout the state, and numerous layers of local government. But we concluded our presentation with firm evidence that Ohio can compete in the next economy.  Ohio has incredible assets, such as “eds and meds” anchor institutions, and has policies, like Land Bank legislation which assists local communities in controlling and repurposing vacant and abandoned property. Ann Pendleton-Jullian of Ohio State University’s Knowlton School of Architecture followed Greater Ohio’s presentation and discussed—using studio projects from graduate seminars—the strengths inherent to Ohio’s physical and cultural landscape.  Pendleton-Jullian suggested Ohio’s location “in the middle” of the country and in the middle of the Midwest ideally positions Ohio to be central in next economy, which she sees as creative and innovative.  Pendleton-Jullian also pointed to Ohio’s incredible number of colleges and universities and the roles they will play in educating for the creative economy.  In further developing the mission of the state’s land-grant institutions as serving the state, Ohio is well positioned to develop an “educational ecosystem” which would greatly complement many of the policies for which Greater Ohio is advocating.

Greater Ohio looks forward to public forums like these because it gives us an opportunity to educate Ohioans about our mission and receive feedback on our research and policy recommendations.  We especially enjoy speaking events where dialogues develop between our work and other exciting programs which are also striving to grow Ohio’s economy and improve Ohioans’ quality of life.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like us to come speak to your organization.

Transit in Ohio: A Missed Opportunity

In a recent post, we praised the national attention that cities are getting for the disproportionate role they play in spurring innovation, generating GDP, and several other factors.  In Ohio, we should be paying close attention to this discussion because Ohio is rich in cities and metro areas (broad regions that encompass what we traditionally think of as “cities” but also include economically interconnected suburbs and rural areas).  While this national conversation is heartening, on the local front, we have been disappointed to read several articles chronicling the minimization of public transportation as a priority in Ohio.  Transit, and its ability to support the development of walkable places, is an important element in fostering dynamic, sustainable cities capable of generating outsized returns.

• The Ohio Department of Transportation recently announced that the state will cut $70 million from the $150 million pledged to state transit agencies under the former Governor.

• A recent Columbus Dispatch article has an exaggerated title, but nevertheless chronicles the de-emphasis of Columbus’ long-studied plans for a streetcar and light rail.   This follows the news that Columbus’ proposed “Health-Education” line will not proceed due to the state’s reallocation of funds, mentioned above.  Although Columbus is economically prosperous compared with other Ohio cities, it cannot afford to be complacent and fail to provide the amenities that the talented, un-tethered workforce and empty-nesters are calling for: namely, high-quality transit and the vibrant, walkable neighborhoods it helps foster.  If this sounds quixotic, these actually are the findings of a Columbus Chamber of Commerce study on attracting and retaining talent in Columbus.  The report specifically called out the need for Columbus to improve pedestrian areas, public transit and revitalize downtown, proving that there is widespread support for transit in Ohio.

Photo from UrbanCincy.com

• The Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce has also put their weight behind the Cincinnati streetcar (and future transit projects) by coming out against a burgeoning effort to oppose the streetcar, and saying the movement would “significantly hamper positive growth in Cincinnati.”  We are cheered by the support of the Cincinnati Chamber and the community for the streetcar, which has the potential to be the first of its kind in Ohio and has already demonstrated its merit by winning federal funding and defeating a similar initiative in 2009 (Issue 9) aimed at thwarting it.

• While Cincinnati fights for their streetcar plan, they will not escape the previously mentioned state cuts to transit funding.  Urban Cincy reports that the funding was slated to be used for express bus service connecting the University of Cincinnati to Glenway Crossing, Butler County, and Uptown.

Nationally there is growing recognition that strong cities and their regions support lots of good things, like idea transfer, economic development, good health, and more.  If a city means opportunity, then in Ohio we’ve got opportunity in spades.  But we need to make strategic investments in our cities and metro regions to make them the kinds of places that people want to live and work.  Public transit is a key lever in this change because while it’s good for moving people around, it’s also good at coalescing quality places.  In Ohio, we must make an intentional effort to leverage our existing resources to their fullest potential and developing robust transit is one important way to do that.  If we do this right, the return on our investment will be significant.

The Buzz about Cities

Edward Glaeser's new book, Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier, has been generating a lot of buzz.

• Last week New York Times Op-Ed Columnist David Brooks wrote an interesting article about The Splendor of Cities where he discusses the role that cities play in disseminating new ideas.  His argument stems from ideas brought forth in Glaeser’s new book.  Cities prosper due to their ability to offer face to face communication, which surprisingly comes to matter even more in the age of the internet.  The article explains that “Cities magnify people’s strengths […] because ideas spread more easily in dense environments. If you want to compete in a global marketplace it really helps to be near a downtown.”

• On Monday Glaeser himself wrote a guest entry on the Freakonomics blog on the New York Times website.  His article, entitled To Get America Growing Again, It’s Time to Unleash Our Cities, offers the message that the key to economic development can be found in cities.  Glaeser claims that the secret to China’s success is its rapid urbanization, but luckily America is just as capable of investing in its cities too.

Glaeser's Book

• Glaeser was also recently interviewed by NPR to discuss the ways in which cities are actually greener and healthier than the rest of the country.  In the interview he describes what cities need to do in order to successfully adapt and evolve in order to remain competitive.

• Glaeser even discussed the need to support cities by curtailing many of our country’s anti-urban policies while appearing as Monday’s guest on The Daily Show.

Greater Ohio is pleased to see this conversation spreading across the country.  As stated in our report, Restoring Prosperity: Transforming Ohio’s Communities for the Next Economy, Greater Ohio recognizes that Ohio’s multiple metropolitan areas – fully encompassing urban, suburban and rural places – house the resources and drivers of prosperity necessary to lead the state of Ohio into the next economy.  But these resources and prosperity drivers need to be leveraged.

If you want to support Greater Ohio’s work to leverage Ohio’s metropolitan assets with improved state policies, please sign up to become a Greater Ohio Supporter, and learn what you can do to help.

Ohio Township Association Conference

By Gene Krebs. On Saturday morning I spoke to the Ohio Township Association at their annual conference.  There were about 200 trustees and fiscal officers in attendance.  During my speech I explained that Ohio needs to make major changes in the way we govern ourselves in order to stay competitive in a global economy.  We need to adapt.  Ohio’s current governance structure, with 88 counties, 938 municipalities, 1,308 townships, 668 school districts, and 700 special districts is vast and fractured.  Only six states have more governments per square mile than we do.  This structure of governance was laid out when we were a predominantly horse and buggy economy; county lines were drawn so one could travel to and from the county seat on their horse in one day.  This is clearly no longer the case.  Instead, we are hemmed in by old governance structures. To illustrate how rapidly times are changing, and how urgently we need to adjust in order to keep up, I used this frame:

How many of you in the audience age 50 and over, and willing to admit it, were raised in a household where your family car had air conditioning?   Let me give you a broad brush statement, you probably drove to today’s meeting a car that gives you a higher standard of living than the house in which you were raised.  Leather seats.  Heated leather seats.  GM has cars with cooled leather seats.  A better stereo system than we ever enjoyed in our youth, a TV the same size as the one we enjoyed growing up, but this one comes in color, and the telephone party line many of us were raised on, versus the ever present cell/phone PDA.  In short, how we live now bears no resemblance of how we lived a few short years ago.  And just so the younger people in the room can be also relate to these changes, realize that today's elementary schools are full of children who have never seen a phone attached to a wall.  See how quickly things have and are changing?

The main takeaway message is that even though we have adapted to change in other areas of our life, we haven’t made the same adjustments when it comes to our governance structures.  This matters because it costs us money by doubling some costs and forfeiting economies of scale.  But it also costs us in opportunity.  Instead of cooperating and competing for jobs and economic prosperity around the world, we compete with ourselves locally.  We need to function as regions to capture the opportunities of the global economy.  As regions, Ohio can’t be beat and we can compete with anyone.  Greater Ohio Policy Center is a resource available to assist with this transition.  But the key is that we need to acknowledge that the status quo from our past will no longer work in the future.  Ohio needs to make some major changes in order to stay competitive, and the time to act is now.

House Committee Accepts Greater Ohio Recommendation

The Ohio House Government Elections Committee has accepted Greater Ohio Policy Center's recommendation to designate the Ohio Department of Transportation as one of the top-tier government agencies for a performance audit in House Bill 2. Greater Ohio, an advocate for performance audits for state agencies since late 2005, is pleased to have ODOT included with Jobs and Family Services and Education departments in the bill.

Our mission promotes economic and land use redevelopment strategies and policies to position Ohio for long-term, sustainable economic growth. Included in that mission is a need for a balanced transportation portfolio, including funding for highways, ports, rail and transit, which can ultimately help attract economic development and assist in sustainable growth.

Gene Krebs, our senior director of government affairs and policy, presented Greater Ohio’s message to the committee earlier this week, saying: “A performance audit [of ODOT] will provide both the Administration and the General Assembly critical information to help the agency run more efficiently and gave a better assessment of its funding.”

The inclusion of ODOT in HB2 is directly related to one of the recommendations from our report, Restoring Prosperity: Transforming Ohio’s Communities for the Next Economy, which was released in conjunction with the Brookings Institution last year. The report is a “blueprint” for structural changes and state policy reforms intended to bring economic vitality to the state.

One of the report’s recommendations calls for analysis and tracking of ODOT investment decisions on the basis of greatest returns on investment.

Below are some of the reasons we believe ODOT’s HB2 inclusion was imperative:

• ODOT’s role in economic development is second only to the Ohio Department of Development.

• A performance audit can take a fresh look at ODOT’s portfolio, and, with the findings, recommendations can be made where deficiencies are noted.

• A large amount of funding, whether it is gas tax revenues or federal funds, flows through ODOT that must be contracted out making it susceptible to misuse and misappropriation by a variety of personnel.

• ODOT is facing fiscal collapse.  According to its 2010-2011 Business Plan, the organization faces a $1.5 billion deficit by 2017 – a figure that could be closer to $3.9 billion.

Wednesday HB2 moved to the House Finance Committee for further review. A hearing before the full House is expected next week.  If passed, the bill would then move to the Senate.

If you feel as strongly about this issue as we do, we encourage you to contact your representatives to share your views before next week.

To see Krebs’ testimony, click here.

Spreading the Restoring Prosperity Message

In recent weeks, Greater Ohio Policy Center's Executive Director Lavea Brachman has been a panelist or participant at various economic development-related conferences throughout Ohio. At “Sustainable Hamilton County: Reinventing Our Communities,” Brachman focused on governance reform as an economic growth tool. Hamilton County has 88 local governments compared with the Ohio average of 41.3 and the national average of 27.9, but the region is at the forefront of innovation.  Brachman cited the Government Cooperation and Efficiency project in 2007, which helped cities, villages and townships save $1.5 million the first year, and Green County Schools’ shared-services program.

Panelists at “Regional Prosperity for Northeast Ohio: Growing Together,” a public forum at Cleveland State University, discussed how the communities of Northeastern Ohio can come together to create an environment for economic prosperity and the connections between job growth, economic development and government collaboration.

Brachman shared highlights of Greater Ohio’s report, Restoring Prosperity: Transforming Ohio’s Communities for the Next Economy, and their applications for leveraging brownfields and other assets to grow sustainably at the “2011 Ohio Brownfield Conference” sponsored by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Finally, on Jan. 26, Brachman participated in “The City in 2050: Creating Blueprints for Change in Columbus,” sponsored by the Urban Land Institute Columbus, in partnership with the City of Columbus, Franklin County, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and The Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture. The kick-off event is the first of a series exploring how residents will live, work and play in Columbus in 2050.

For more information about Greater Ohio’s activities, click here to view additional media clips.

The Urgency of Reform

Last week, the Urbanophile blog posted an excellent entry entitled The Urgency of Reform.  In his post he took a thoughtful look at some of the creative solutions being proposed by different states to tackle their challenging financial situations and budget shortfalls.  He aptly notes that crisis breeds innovation.  And innovation with respect to governance reform is something Ohio, like many other states, desperately needs. In his post he mentions Greater Ohio Policy Center’s Restoring Prosperity to Ohio Report, specifically pointing out our numerous recommendations for consolidation.  We hope these ideas catch on and gain traction across the state.  We must take advantage of this unique opportunity for sweeping reforms to do what is best for Ohio with a keen eye towards the long term affects of our actions.  If Ohio can implement these necessary changes, we will be very well positioned to compete in the next economy.

Greater Ohio on the Radio: Regionalism and Townships

Last week Greater Ohio appeared on "All Sides with Ann Fisher," a daily public affairs talk show broadcasted throughout central Ohio.  On January 19th's show, Lavea Brachman and Matt DeTemple—the executive director of the Ohio Township Association—discussed regionalism and what regionalism means from the perspective of townships.

We welcomed the chance to talk about opportunities for partnering with townships because we have identified regionalism and governmental cooperation as a key component of a broader strategy for increasing prosperity in Ohio and improving our overall economic competitiveness nationally and globally.

As the most basic governmental entity in Ohio, townships are well positioned to collaborate with their neighbors and coordinate services—regionalizing processes that, DeTemple pointed out, are already voluntarily occurring throughout the state.  On the show, we praised such activities and suggested that they be encouraged by local and state lawmakers for their cost savings and quality of services potential.  For example, a recent study from the Greater Cincinnati area found that in the first year of Hamilton County’s Government Cooperation and Efficiency Project, townships, villages, and cities saved over $1.5 million dollars.

As Ohio’s new General Assembly works to balance the budget we will continue to urge lawmakers to encourage and incentivize collaboration.

Policy Implications from the Building Prosperity in Greater Akron Forum

On Tuesday January 18, 2011, Greater Ohio Policy Center co-hosted the Building Prosperity to Greater Akron Forum.  Over two hundred people attended this event and helped frame new approaches to ensure a strong future for the Akron Metro Region by preparing for the next economy.  The Akron Beacon Journal article from the event quoted Greater Ohio Policy Center’s executive director Lavea Brachman saying, ''We want to draw attention to great attributes and challenges of our cities and metropolitan areas […] What better place to do that than in Akron.''

Keynote speaker Paul Grogan, President and CEO of The Boston Foundation, discussed the innovative use of metrics to guide policy decisions and invest in city issues.  Other speakers included Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder, Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor, Congresswoman Betty Sutton, Carol Coletta of CEOs for Cities, Dr. Frank Douglas of the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, Ross DeVol of the Milken Institute and Ned Hill of Cleveland State University.  For a complete list of speakers, please see the agenda.

Some of the key issues that were arose include the central importance of education and workforce development, the need for product development and jobs to attract residents to the Akron metro region, continued investment in Akron’s assets and areas of expertise (such as corrosion prevention), increased regional partnerships, the key role of Quality of Place as a business proposition, and better cooperation between the state and the Greater Akron area.

Some radical proposals were debated, such as: reduce the number of counties in the state by setting a minimum population of 750,000; review the cost of the judicial system; and return the oversight of welfare programs to the state instead of counties.

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But we want to hear what you think!  In your opinion, what is the most important issue?  What are key policies that need to be added or changed in order to help build prosperity in Akron?  What best practices need replication and support?  What state policy barriers do you face that need to be resolved?   As our work progresses, we want to include your thoughts and perspectives.  Thank you for sharing your ideas and working together to build prosperity.

Building Prosperity in Greater Akron Forum

Neither rain, nor sleet nor snow will keep Greater Ohio Policy Center from Akron on Tuesday, January 18^th.  We along with The University of Akron, the Greater Akron Chamber, Summit County and the city of Akron are partnering to present an economic forum at the John S. Knight Center to build upon Akron’s recent accomplishments and major initiatives, and develop new strategies to pave the way for continued growth. The Building Prosperity in Greater Akron Forum is one of a series of forums and meetings planned by Greater Ohio throughout the state in connection with our Restoring Prosperity: Transforming Ohio’s Communities for the Next Economy report, which was released in conjunction with the Brookings Institution last year. The report is a “blueprint” for structural changes and state policy reforms intended to bring economic vitality to the state.

Forum session topics will be:

• The “Akron Model:” Establishing a Baseline for Progress

• Clusters of Innovation (Regional and Global)

• Talent and Workforce Development

• Quality of Place and Product

• Identifying Solutions to State Policy Barriers

The keynote speaker will be Paul S. Grogan, president and chief executive officer of The Boston Foundation, who will discuss the importance of using clusters and how metric research can help guide future policy decisions. Ohio Lt. Governor Mary Taylor and Congresswoman Betty Sutton will provide remarks during the forum, while Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder will lead a plenary session on the General Assembly’s priorities for 2011.

For those of you that are attending we encourage you to tweet (don’t forget to use #AkronForum in your tweets!) during the presentation and offer your comments in our blog following the forum.  We need to hear your feedback to ensure that we are advocating for the right state policies to build on all the great initiatives and programs are already ongoing in the Greater Akron region.