In This Issue
News From Around Ohio
Weekly News and Opinion from Ohio's
Newspapers
July 7 - 13, 2009
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Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs,
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The Ohio Urban University Program
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Welcome to the latest issue of Economic News from
Ohio's Regions, a new weekly newsletter from the
Ohio Urban University Program and the Maxine
Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland
State University. We'll search Ohio's papers to bring
you economic news and key happenings that impact
Ohio's regions.
News From Around Ohio
Hope, gardens nourish town DHL left (Columbus
Dispatch, July 12, 2009) In a town where the loss of
thousands of jobs this year threatens despair, hope is
growing in unlikely places - 20 garden plots that
Wilmington College has built and persuaded 20 novice
gardeners and their families to nourish. It's sprouting in
the Buying Local First effort, a push to keep Wilmington
businesses healthy. And it's germinating, slowly, in a
plan to make the area a center for "green" business
and workers.
Editorial: Investment Options (Akron Beacon Journal,
July 8, 2009) Cities and regions that hope to be
successful in a global economy increasingly must look
far and wide to attract investors who have sufficient
capacity to be productive partners. Now, Akron and
Summit County are working on a joint effort to draw
foreign investors who can help finance the $900 million
Goodyear development project in East Akron.
Some Licking County offices to furlough workers
(Newark Advocate, July 10, 2009) As Licking County
offices prepare to pare their budgets to accommodate
revenue shortfalls, some offices are expected to begin
furloughs and huge cuts to nonessential services.
Editorial: Urban Advantage (Akron Beacon Journal,
July 10, 2009) The ''greenfield'' option, sometimes
referred to as the ''cornfield'' alternative, the lure of
open land, fuels new development in affluent suburbs.
Among the forces contributing to costly suburban
sprawl are state tax incentives, inducements originally
intended to spur redevelopment in distressed urban
areas. Refocusing and simplifying the state incentives
are now the important goals of a new Ohio Cities Task
Force.
Editorial: Ohio is sinking. Where are you Gov.
Strickland (Cleveland Leader, July 9, 2009) No wonder
President Barack Obama's and Gov. Ted Strickland's
popularity in Ohio is sinking like a lead weigh in water.
New job figures for the start of July stink. Again.
George Zeller, research analyst, reports today on the
economic outlook and he's quite blunt. Alarmingly bad.
Local governments face hard choices as revenues
dwindle (Dayton Daily News, July 11, 2009) As the
economy continues to struggle and unemployment
levels rise, cities are forced to make some of the same
tough choices being contemplated in the Ohio
Statehouse.
Local business eyes future minus GM (Mansfield
News Journal, July 12, 2009) Businesses throughout
north central Ohio have long enjoyed the benefits of
having a corporate neighbor in GM's Mansfield/Ontario
Metal Center. But if General Motors Corp. follows
through with its plan to shutter the plant, the area's
business community will suffer.
Metro Toledo construction off 50% for first half
2009 (Toledo Blade, July 12, 2009) Home construction
plunged by more than half through June 30 in Lucas
and Wood counties and in Bedford Township from the
year before, according to the builders organization and
municipal building officials
Editorial: Cleveland: the best location bleeding
population (The Plain Dealer, July 12, 2009) Since
1950, the city has lost more than half of its population,
has slid from seventh to 40th in the big-city rankings,
and will plunge again after next year's U.S. census.
LCCC students boost local economy (ChronicleTelegram, July 12, 2009) LCCC is among the top 10
percent of the largest employers in Elyria along with
hospitals, city schools, and county and city
governments. The city collected $609,957 in income tax
in 2007 from LCCC and $643,798 in 2008 from the
college, which employs 342 full-time and 816 part-time
workers.
Sometimes tax is 'appealing' (Ashtabula Star
Beacon, July 12, 2009) A county review of hundreds of
property tax appeals is nearly at an end, and for many
landowners their protests are paying off.
Green energy jobs take baby steps in Ohio
economy (Dayton Daily News, July 11, 2009) While
Ohio wrangles with grim statistics - the 10.4 percent
unemployment rate, the 89 cents left in the state's rainy
day fund - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, took a
break a few weeks back to send out a press release
touting a more positive number: Four.
Glen Echo: Pocket Neighborhood (Columbus
Dispatch, July 13, 2009) Glen Echo Ravine might be
among Columbus' under-appreciated assets, a green
and inviting getaway that winds below a sometimes
loud and belligerent city.
Northeast Ohio's economic output from
professional, scientific and technical services
sector grew 79 percent from 1993 to 2008 (The Plain
Dealer, July 13, 2009) A region known for industrial
brawn cranked out a sizable number of brainy jobs in
the past 15 years, according to Team NEO, the region's
business-attraction group.
Incubator part of vision for the Valley (Warren
Tribune Chronicle, July 13, 2009) About $2.5 million in
federal and state money to launch a ''green'' business
incubator may be exactly the fuel Warren needs to join
what an economic development group says is a
regional growth sector.
More county layoffs 'inevitable' (Cincinnati Enquirer,
July 13, 2009) Hamilton County will likely reveal at the
emergency meeting how much departments will have to
cut their budgets in order to balance the 2009 budget.
Layoffs are likely, as the county grapples with yet
another month of plummeting sales tax revenue.
Edited and compiled by: Molly Schnoke, Center for Civic Education, Maxine Goodman
Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University
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