Future Funding for the Clean Ohio Fund Confirmed

Greater Ohio was heartened to learn on Tuesday, January 23, 2012, that the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund will continue to be funded, even as the Department of Development is reorganized into JobsOhio and the Development Services Agency.  The Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund is an extremely important state program that helps cities and neighborhoods reclaim properties that have become unusable due to heavy contaminants and other dangerous chemicals associated with old manufacturing plants, old gas stations, and other hazardous building materials like asbestos.  To date, the Clean Ohio Fund has leveraged $10.00 of investment per grant dollar and has helped remediate sites that have gone onto be new warehouses, apartment buildings, and light industrial sites.  Check out this interactive map to find projects near you and summary of successful projects.

The Clean Ohio Fund is among the first in the nation and has been held up as an ideal model for other states.

We applaud the continuation of this indispensable program which has helped Ohio safely build upon its past and prepare itself for a prosperous future.

Transit in Ohio: A look at ODOT

By Gene Krebs Greater Ohio Policy Center has been pointing out that Ohio Department of Transportation has a profound budget imbalance since October of 2005, with concern as to how it will impact the ability of Ohio to keep and attract jobs.  We commend Director Wray for his admission that ODOT has a profound funding problem.  Admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving the problem.  The current funding structure is simply not sustainable, and we need to have a discussion about how to move people and goods in the most cost effective and safe manner, and that might not always mean highways, sometimes it might mean transit, multimodal, rail, bike paths or even sidewalks.  Cars and trucks are not always the answer to every transportation question.  There could be lower cost answers in each unique situation.

Greater Ohio suggests that ODOT and the General Assembly form a task force, similar to the one we suggested in the 2011 ODOT budget, to examine the fiscal future of ODOT and all transportation in Ohio, and to make a recommendation by December 1, 2012.  This report, along with the pending performance audit report of ODOT that Greater Ohio proposed, could form the foundation of a new future for transportation in Ohio, and one that could form the basis of job creation and true GDP growth for decades.

Across the Spectrum Video Now Available

By popular demand, we have made available video excerpts on the Greater Ohio YouTube Channel of the Across the Spectrum Conference from December 8, 2011.  If you were unable to join us (or want to relive the Conference!) head over to the Across the Spectrum “playlist” where you will find parts of the panels moderated by Greater Ohio: “21^st Century Government: Consolidation and Smart Growth” and “State & Local Taxes & Ohio’s Future Prosperity.” More excerpts to come in the following weeks!

Greater Ohio 2011 Year in Review

2011 was a busy year for the state of Ohio with a newly seated Governor and General Assembly, the kick-off of HUD Sustainable Communities Grants in Northeast Ohio, Cincinnati and Columbus, and a range of local responses to a changing budgetary climate.  Greater Ohio remained in the thick of it all, as our “best of” list from the past 12 months shows.  In 2012, make sure to follow us on our blog, Facebook or Twitter as we roll out new original research on “shrinking cities,” weigh-in on regional economic development legislation, give presentations to local communities, debate current events on local political shows, and undertake a range of other activities.

Modeling Collaboration.  2011 has been a divisive year for Ohio and the nation with partisanship increasingly dictating the political landscape.  Among Greater Ohio’s greatest achievements in 2011 was collaborating with the Buckeye Institute and the Center for Community Solutions on two major policy initiatives. 

• One was “Across the Spectrum: The Future of Ohio and the Path to Prosperity,” a highly successful and extremely unique conference that promoted bi-partisan dialogue and debate on a range of critical issues for our state.  This daylong event challenged individuals and organizations to think out of their intellectual and ideological silos and work collaboratively to jumpstart a new economy in Ohio.

• Second was a jointly issued letter that called for a commission that would evaluate current tax expenditures or “loopholes” in Ohio.  Our tripartite think tank partnership for tax reform attracted extensive state and even national attention and we continue to regularly testify with our partners on the need for tax reform.

Influencing State Policy.  The collaborative spirit that we fostered with the Buckeye Institute and Center for Community Solutions also carried us through contentious battles at the Statehouse. We held over two dozen meetings with administrative and agency officials, and testified over 20 times this year to the General Assembly on a range of bills, including the 2012-13 Budget, agricultural zoning, the estate tax, and more. 

• Based on our testimony, the General Assembly designated ODOT to be among the first four agencies to receive a Performance Audit (HB2/SB4).  Such an audit is imperative because ODOT is facing fiscal collapse (see page 36).  This audit will provide critical information that can help the agency run more efficiently and will give a better assessment of its funding and how that funding is being used.  GO will leverage this audit to urge for funding for multi-modal transit options. 
• We have long advocated for the reform of local governance structures.  In addition to our testimonies and meetings, the Columbus Dispatch quoted our comments on the need for mechanics that will help manage Ohio’s high number of governments.  We also published a Letter to the Editor in the Dispatch that applauded recent shared servicing underway in Franklin County and Columbus.

• The state established the Local Government Innovation Fund, a $45 million Fund that will award loans and grants to local communities for efficiency, collaboration, merger, and shared services projects.  This program is a modification of one of our policy recommendations and derives from language we have been advocating for for several years.  Additionally, GO’s Senior Director of Government Affairs was named to the Local Government Innovation Council, which is overseeing this program.  The LGIC will be an important force in shaping how local governments adjust to funding reductions from the state.

Researching for Sustainable Growth.  Greater Ohio is greatly respected for the data-driven research that undergirds our policy recommendations. 

• After the 2012-13 State Budget was released, we disseminated our State Budget Response and Local Government Restructuring Toolkit in which we approved of the first steps established by the Budget but raised concerns that it didn’t go far enough in supporting cities as they transitioned to a more modern governance structure. 

• We updated and released our Sales Tax Study, a research project first that analyzes rates of sales tax capture per county.  The research indicates that we now shop, work and live regionally, but that our tax structure continues to operate as though it is the 19th century, by county.  We have outlined these findings in legislative testimony and in public education presentations. 

Advancing the Dialogue in Ohio and Beyond on Urban Core Revitalization.  Much of Greater Ohio’s work is focused on educating stakeholders within the state, nation, and world of Ohio’s strengths and challenges.  We do this through a number of collaborative relationships and by giving presentations around the state once a week, on average

• We convened a summit, “Building Prosperity in Akron,” with co-hosts the Greater Akron Chamber, the City of Akron, Summit County, and the University of Akron.  The day’s multiple presentations framed for the 200 attendees new approaches that will help prepare the city and county for the next economy and ensure a strong Akron future.
•  We served as a panelist and organizer for the American Assembly meeting in Detroit on “Defining a Future for America’s Cities Experiencing Severe Population Loss,” sponsored by Columbia University.  Because Ohio has a number of “legacy cities,” we were able to learn much from and greatly contribute to the production of policy approaches that will assist cities in stabilizing, “right sizing,” and finding new ways to rebuild their economies and engage local stakeholders.
• We began our second year of partnership with the German Marshall Fund, participating in workshops in Cleveland and Youngstown on targeted neighborhood investment and economic development in legacy cities.  We also co-led a 9-day study tour to Germany’s Ruhr region and Barcelona, Spain to understand regional economic development strategies.
• Greater Ohio partnered with the DC-based think tank, Center for Community Progress, on our “Building American Cities” project, which is researching and collecting best practices and policies for “cities in transition” Already, we have hosted two workshops in conjunction with this project and have several more planned for 2012. 

• A graduate student architecture studio from OSU utilized our Restoring Prosperity findings to “visualize” what Ohio’s next economy might look like. 

By the Numbers

Over 20 meetings with administrative and agency officials, and 20+ legislative testimonies.

12 appearances as a pundit on current events television shows around the state.

2 radio show appearances.

50+ panels and presentations we’ve participated on or led.

1 letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch on shared service agreements in Franklin County.

143 newspaper articles and blogs quoting Greater Ohio or covering our work, and additional 20+ articles covering our tax expenditure work and conference with the Buckeye Institute and the Center for Community Solutions.

1 high school intern, 1 undergraduate intern, 1 legal assistant intern.

1,016 Twitter followers. 

266 Facebook “likes”.

4 different ways Greater Ohio staffers regularly commuted to the office:  walking, biking, busing, and driving.

Local Government Innovation Fund

By Gene Krebs While Ohio's tax obligation as a percentage of income is ranked 33^rd highest of the 50 states, we are ranked a stunning 6^th highest for local tax obligation.  This could be blamed on many things by many people, but there is another fact that also stands out.  Nationally, there are 27.9 local governments per county.  Ohio has 41.3 local governments per county.  This is driven not just by cost, but also a fractured governmental structure, leading to a cacophony of voices raised in economic development efforts. 

It is not that we have too little economic development in Ohio; we have too much economic development bureaucracy. Not only does this lead to churning and poaching of one business from a community to one just down the road (leading to no or little economic benefit to the community as a whole), the myriad rules and local regulations inhibit businesses from locating in those small box counties.

One of the solutions to this lack of coordinated economic development is something that Greater Ohio has been pushing for several years- a fund to encourage collaboration, sharing services and consolidation of back office operations. 

The Local Government Innovation Fund (LGIF) was created in the last budget to foster that change.  Many of our earlier language suggestions were adopted directly by the General Assembly, and for that we are grateful. The LGIF was established to provide financial assistance to Ohio political subdivisions for planning and implementing projects that are designed to create more efficient and effective service delivery within a specific discipline of government services for one or more entities. Projects are also expected to facilitate improved business environments and promote community attraction.

The LGIF program will award up to $100,000 in grant funds per feasibility study, up to $100,000 in loan assistance per entity for demonstration projects, and up to $500,000 in loan assistance for multi-entity projects to be used for demonstration projects. 

There are five scheduled five LGIF information sessions to explain the upcoming Innovation Grant & Loan Application and Program.  Please click here for additional information about the program and regional informational sessions; click here for more information on the application.   

The LGIF is managed by the Local Government Innovation Council; Governor Kasich graciously appointed me to serve on the council in the position as an advocate for the citizens of Ohio (I serve without pay, in case you were wondering).  I am looking forward to working with the rest of the council and the able staff of the Ohio Department of Development.

Fix It First Policy by Kasich Administration

By Gene Krebs Fix-it-first is a goal many advocates of smart growth or "smart spending" have sought. Fix-it-first is a policy where governments concentrate scarce resources for maintaining and fixing infrastructure in which we have already invested taxpayer dollars. 

In a very quiet manner, and without much fanfare, the Kasich Administration committed to such a policy.  Recently, Office of Budget and Management Director Tim Keen reaffirmed that requests for new road and building construction will have to achieve “an extremely high standard” to gain approval. 

Greater Ohio commends the Kasich Administration for staying true to their earlier policy of fix-it-first, and urge them to continue.  Not only does this strategy limit the number of new roads, it is vital strategy for the economic health of Ohio, as a recent study of Ohio’s transportation infrastructure by Smart Growth America suggests.  “Thirty eight percent of Ohio's roads have fallen out of good condition, and it would take approximately $1,133,665,917 per year over the next twenty years to bring all of the state's roads into good repair and keep them that way. Between 2004 and 2008, Ohio spent 24% of its highway capital funds on road expansion - $451,772,850 - and 36% on road repair and maintenance - $684,820,545.”  With price tags like these (not to mention declining gasoline tax revenues and tight bonding capacity) fix-it-first makes good fiscal sense.

Media Respond Positively to Greater Ohio, Buckeye Institute, Center for Community Solutions Conference

A recent collaboration between Greater Ohio and two other high-profile research organizations, the Buckeye Institute and Center for Community Solutions, partnered again to host an influential conference, “Across the Spectrum: The Future of Ohio and the Path to Prosperity.”  Building on previous collaborative work around tax expenditure reform, the three think tanks brought together over 20 experts and 300 attendees for a day long discussion that explored differences and common ground on key substantive policy issues central to the future prosperity of Ohioans.  The groups successfully raised the level of public discourse by facilitating thoughtful discussions that avoided partisan platitudes and instead explored the range of policy solutions available to the state and nation. Coverage of the event has included a segment on Colleen Marshall’s The Spectrum, a weekly political and current events television show, a news story on Ohio Public Radio, and articles in the Cincinnati Enquirer about the “smart government, smart growth” panel and lunchtime debate between Dr. Alice Rivlin and Dr. Arthur Laffer.  The Columbus Government Enquirer also covered the lunch panel.  The subscription-based Statehouse reporting services, Hannah News Service and Gongwer News Service, also carried stories on the lunchtime panel, the health care panel, the public pension panel.

Across the Spectrum: A Rousing Success

On December 8^th, 2011, Greater Ohio Policy Center, The Buckeye Institute and The Center for Community Solutions co-hosted a powerful conference that successfully raised the level of public discourse beyond the current partisan posturing that is so prevalent in our nation and state. “Across the Spectrum: The Future of Ohio and the Path to Prosperity” brought together 20 state and national experts to propose and debate a variety of solutions to some of the most urgent policy challenges facing Ohio and the nation: government consolidation, health care, government pensions, federal, state, and local taxes, the modernization of Ohio’s constitution and the culture shift underway in American society.

Lively and collegial discussion between panelists, and between panelists and over 300 audience members, demonstrated to all attendees that there is much common ground from which we can develop new policies and programs that aren’t “right-wing” or “left-wing” but an innovative “third way.”

Perhaps best modeling the ability to forge agreement on lightening-rod issues was the lunchtime discussion between Dr. Arthur Laffer, Founder and Chairman of Laffer Associates and The Laffer Center for Supply-Side Economics and Dr. Alice Rivlin, member of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and former director of the Congressional Budget Office.  During their friendly debate on “National Debt, Deficits and the Future of Fiscal Federalism” they agreed that the country’s national debt had to be addressed immediately and that “flexibility”—though perhaps not compromise—by both parties would be one important way out of the morass.

At dinner, Professor Walter Russell Mead, Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College and Editor-at-Large of The American Interest, gave the dinner keynote address, “Where is America headed?” and offered a vision of America’s future where community—defined by place, as well as by interests and/or workplace training—will remain the bedrock of American society.  Identifying the democratization of information through the internet and higher levels of education attained by Americans, Mead argued that the future will hold a range of opportunities (and options for getting there) that is markedly more varied that our 19^th and 20^th century past and that this complexity will be our greatest competitive advantage.

Throughout the day, numerous audience and panelist members commented that as a result of the sincere conversations prompted by the panels, they felt extremely hopeful for Ohio’s future and the political discussions that will get us there.

We anticipate “Across the Spectrum” will have long-lasting impacts on the political dialogue in Ohio—please leave your thoughts on the conference in the comments section below to let us know what you think and to keep this important conversation going.

Investing in Over-The-Rhine: Highlights from 3CDC

Greater Ohio's partners continue to create innovative programs and models that are building prosperity across Ohio. This month we spotlight the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) as an innovative private-public partnership that is providing catalytic leadership in revitalizing Cincinnati’s urban core.  This month’s guest blog post comes from Anastasia Mileham, Vice President of Communications at 3CDC.

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The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) is a non -profit, full-service, real estate development company formed in 2004 by Cincinnati’s corporate and civic leaders. Its mission is to strengthen the core assets of downtown by revitalizing the Central Business District (CBD) and Over-The-Rhine (OTR).

Over-the-Rhine is one of the most economically distressed areas in the country with a poverty rate of 58%, unem­ployment rate of over 25%, and median household income of $9,895. Geographically situated just north of the center city, the troubles in OTR have contributed to a destabilization of the CBD. This unstable environment has prevented growth and investment in the city’s core, which has in turn impacted the health of the entire region. In the absence of a major turnaround, the region was in danger of losing some of its largest employers, further exacer­bating the persistent distress in Cincinnati’s center city.

 3CDC's efforts to revitalize low-income communities are funded by five separate revolving loan funds, totally over $195 million.  3CDC has also been awarded three New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) allocations to date, totaling $103 million. (The NMTC Program provides a credit against federal income taxes to privately managed institutions investing in distressed areas.)  Since its formation 3CDC and its partners have invested more than $324 million in the CBD and OTR by making below market-rate loans to commercial, residential and community real estate projects. Without access to the funds’ low-cost capital, such efforts would not be financially feasible.

 3CDC’s redevelopment efforts in OTR have resulted in 186 condominiums, 68 rental units, and more than 91,000 SF of commercial space, mostly created in historic, vacant and vandalized buildings. More than 85% of the condominiums are sold, the rental units are 100% filled, and a vibrant shopping and dining district has replaced empty storefronts with over 80% of the completed commercial space now leased. Since 2004, crime has dropped more than 51% and continues to decrease.

3cdcphoto2

 The first NMTC allocation of $50 million is used as a revolv­ing loan fund, which has enabled 3CDC to invest $69.6 million in real estate projects throughout Cincinnati’s urban core. The second allocation of $35 million is invested into three critical developments: (1) Washington Park, an 8-acre public park with a 450-space underground parking garage, (2) 21c Cincinnati, a 160-room boutique hotel with public art museum, and (3) Saengerhalle, a 32,000 SF mixed-use office and retail complex. The third allocation of $18 million is invested into a vacant building (Maisonette) being renovated into a restaurant/entertainment complex in the CBD, and an historic building in OTR (Paint Building) being developed into 10,000 SF of commercial space.

 3CDC has set high standards with its investments using proceeds from the previ­ous $103 million NMTC allocation. Its successful track record would not have been possible without the Federal New Market Tax Credit program. All of these projects, endorsed by the community, were catalytic in nature and resulted in significant commu­nity and economic impact felt throughout the region.

Last Chance to Register in Advance for Across the Spectrum

Register now for our December 8^th conference, "Across the Spectrum: The Future of Ohio and the Path to Prosperity" taking place at the Columbus Renaissance Hotel. To register, please go to http://www.futureohio.org/register.php. Greater Ohio, along with the Buckeye Institute and the Center for Community Solutions, are jointly sponsoring this unique conference to promote bi-partisan dialogue and debate about a range of critical issues for our state, including:

• Transforming 21^st Century Government for sustainable growth—governance reform for our urban and metro regions
• Reforming Health Care—how can we improve coverage and outcomes while restraining costs
• Reexamining Government Pensions— balancing the public and employee interests
• Restructuring State & Local Taxes & Ohio’s Future Prosperity—reduce the tax burden, while ensuring essential service delivery
• Ohio’s Constitutional Review—are there fundamental changes we need to make in the state Constitution that underlie many of these proposed structural changes?

Dr. Arthur Laffer, Founder of The Laffer Center for Supply-Side Economics, and Dr. Alice Rivlin, former Director of Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton, will keynote a lunchtime discussion on the national debt and deficits.  During dinner, Professor Walter Russell Mead, Editor-at-Large of The American Interest will give a keynote address on the country’s future course.

The panels comprise a variety of ideological viewpoints and will engage in a healthy exchange of ideas. This conference challenges individuals and organizations to think out of their intellectual and ideological silos and work collaboratively to jumpstart a new economy in Ohio.

For more information about the event, please see our September 26, 2011 Press Release.

We look forward to seeing you on December 8^thand to your participation in this dialogue.   Warm Regards, Lavea Brachman Executive Director, Greater Ohio Policy Center