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Ohio
Legislative Task Force Revives State Focus to Improve Transportation in Ohio
Created by House Speaker Armond Budish and 20 other Democratic co-sponsors in March 2009, the bipartisan Compact with Ohio Cities Task Force has released its 20-point urban redevelopment and smart growth report. The report urges extra incentives to help cities regain residents and businesses and seeks a dedicated funding source for transit.
''We are saying that we need to start offering incentives that give preferential treatment to development that reuses our existing infrastructure, not building new greenfield development out in rural areas,'' said Task Force Chairman, Cleveland Representative Michael Foley. Cities, he pointed out, have long been at a disadvantage, with 87 of the state’s 88 counties offering tax breaks and other financial incentives for new development.
Westlake Republican Representative Nan Baker agreed with her Democratic colleague. ''Urban centers do need to succeed in order for the areas that surround them to succeed, so I do support that thought process,'' she said. ''We do need to make sure that it’s truly a genuine partnership between the cities and the suburbs and that everyone has a place at the table.''
The task force, note Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Aaron Marshall and Toledo Blade Columbus Bureau Chief Jim Provance, also stressed the need to advance related measures already in the pipeline. They include a six-month moratorium on home foreclosures and creation of county land banks, such as only Cuyahoga County has, to purchase vacant and foreclosed properties for redevelopment. Both bills are delayed in the Republican-controlled Senate. In addition, the task force called for renewal and expansion of the Third Frontier investment in high-tech and biomedical research and job creation, and recommended legislation to allow formation of multi-jurisdictional, public-private ''transportation innovation authorities'' (TIAs), which would raise revenue for key road, bridge, rail and other transportation projects.
Promising to make TIAs a priority in his caucus this year, House Speaker Budish emphasized that to discourage sprawl, they should be focused on areas with existing infrastructure, including roads, rail, water and sewer lines, utilities and other services. ''The preference is for jobs to come back to the urban communities,'' he reiterated. ''Getting people to their places of work and around the cities is really important.'' 1/12/2010
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