buildingcincinnati

From the 12/29/06 Northwest Press: Colerain approves town square project BY JENNIE KEY | COMMUNITY PRESS EDITOR A deal to buy a half-acre parcel at Colerain Avenue and Springdale Road for a town square project was revived last week, when Northgate Mall officials agreed to pay the $800,000 cost for the property and give it to Colerain Township. Township officials wanted to acquire the former BP ProCare property, now closed and boarded up, to insure its development would enhance the commercial area of the township. They said the corner was a critical and central location and it was important to insure the parcel would be an asset to the area... [email protected] 923-3111, extension 233 http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061229/NEWS01/612290371/1071/Local

From the 2/13/07 Lima News: LCI group to hire lobbyist Bart Mills - 02.13.2007 LIMA — The fate of the Lima Correctional Institution may rest in upcoming decisions by the state’s new governor. Members of the LCI Task Force have planned for a long-haul strategy to get the state to reopen the prison. But two of the biggest factors in that decision could be announced very soon, namely what Gov. Ted Strickland’s budget recommendations will look like and what is going to happen to the Department of of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Terry Collins. “Part of the issue is, we don’t know what the governor’s doing. We don’t know what’s going to be in that budget and we don’t know what’s happening with Terry Collins,” said state Rep. Matt Huffman, a member of the committee. more: http://www.limanews.com/story.php?IDnum=35201

From the 1/27/07 Lima News: Strickland: Re-opening LCI a logical choice Heather Rutz - 01.27.2007 OTTAWA — With Ohio’s prison population on the rise, opening Lima Correctional Institution would be a “logical” choice if the state chooses to increase inmate housing, Gov. Ted Strickland said Friday. However, the new Democratic governor is just beginning to study the state’s overall “bleak” budget situation, including prison expense, and doesn’t yet know how the spending will shake out. Strickland will present his first budget in mid-March, he said, and prison spending will be a large part of that. “We will look at prison population, the overcrowding situation and we’ll look at the options,” Strickland said. “The state put millions of dollars into that not long before they closed it. Certainly that means if there’s going to be an expansion of housing for prisons, that would be the logical place to look.” State prison population January 2005: 44,000 January 2006: 45,000 January 2007: 48,500 Source: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction more ; http://www.limanews.com/story.php?IDnum=34606

From the 1/10/07 Lima News: Task force explores LCI options Bart Mills - 01.10.2007 LIMA — A group of local leaders is hoping the formula that helped keep the tank plant in business will work for the former Lima Correctional Institution. The LCI Task Force held its first meeting Tuesday. The group of union, business and political leaders was pulled together by the Lima Allen County Chamber of Commerce with the hopes of renewing interest in the reopening of the former prison. A similar task force was formed to help keep the Joint System Manufacturing Center off the Department of Defense’s Base Closure and Realignment recommendations list. That group was successful because they worked together for the good of the whole community. It could serve as a model for the LCI Task Force, Metzger said. http://www.limanews.com/story.php?IDnum=34016

From the 1/3/07 Lima News: Group forming to lobby for LCI Bart Mills - 01.03.2007 LIMA — Local officials are hoping a new administration in Columbus could mean a new life for LCI. With less than two weeks remaining of Gov. Bob Taft’s administration, local leaders are positioning themselves to approach the incoming administration about the possibility of reopening Lima Correctional Institution. On Tuesday, Lima Allen County Chamber of Commerce Director Jed Metzger sent a letter to some local business and government leaders inviting them to join a task force to help create a plan for getting the facility reopened. Metzger said he hopes to get the group together soon. "He [Gov.-elect Ted Strickland] has indicated he was going to research and evaluate the system. We want to position ourselves to try to establish talks with him and his staff about opening some parts of LCI," Metzger said. MORE: http://www.limanews.com/story.php?IDnum=33769

From the 1/3/07 Blade: Land acquired for Woodville Mall access road By JON CHAVEZ BLADE BUSINESS WRITER Change appears to be coming soon to the Woodville Mall in Northwood, even though it is approaching so slowly as to be almost imperceptible. Over a year after mall representatives announced plans to redevelop the 37-year-old property, they have acquired key land for a private road stretching north to provide easier access for Oregon and East Toledo residents. "They closed on the property from the Catholic Diocese within the last 60 days," said Pat Bacon, Northwood administrator. The land allows the mall to extend an access road to Curtice Road. Read More...

From the 1/31/07 Enquirer: Senior housing met with hostility 'There's too many damn give-away programs,' Warren County commissioner says BY JESSICA BROWN | [email protected] LEBANON - A plan to build low-rent apartments for the elderly here using state housing-tax credits will move forward, despite strong criticism Monday by a Warren County commissioner. The idea was met with resistance by Commissioners Dave Young and Pat South, and downright disgust by Commissioner Mike Kilburn. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070131/NEWS01/701310362/1056/COL02 From Community Press Mason-Deerfield, 1/29/07: Deerfield Twp. trustees may ask voters for more fire funds BY ERIC BRADLEY | COMMUNITY PRESS STAFF WRITER DEERFIELD TWP. - Township residents may soon see an increase in their property tax bill for fire services. Trustees are considering whether they will replace and possibly increase a fire levy passed by Deerfield Township voters almost six years ago. http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070129/NEWS01/701290321/1085/Local From the 1/28/07 Enquirer: First phase of Villages subdivision under way SOUTH LEBANON - Work is 40 percent complete on phase one of the Villages at Rivers Bend, a new subdivision that will eventually include 300 homes. The development near the Little Miami River along Zoar Road about 2 miles east of Ohio 48 will include 77 homes in the first phase. Maureen McDermott, president at Oak Leaf Homes in West Chester, said 30 homes have been built and sold. Phase one will be done by January 2008. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070128/BIZ01/701280302/1001/BIZ

From the 2/15/07 Cincinnati Business Courier: Lloyd Library unveils renovation Cincinnati Business Courier - February 15, 2007 The Lloyd Library and Museum downtown is showing off its first renovation since it was built 38 years ago. The recently completed first-floor renovation includes new carpeting, updated lighting and wiring, new exhibition cases and work stations, and a small art gallery-- all with a botanical theme. The conference room was also redesigned to allow flexibility for meetings, lectures and children's programming. The work was completed by Terry-DeRees Associates, Hunt Builders Corp., OstermanCron and several local furniture restorers, the library said in a news release. Lloyd Library, founded in the 19th century as a reference source for a pharmaceutical company, is now a research center for the scientific community. Its collections focus on pharmacy, botany, horticulture, herbal and alternative medicine and pharmacognosy, which studies medicinal drugs obtained from plants or other natural sources. The library, at 917 Plum St., is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/02/12/daily37.html?from_rss=1 From the 2/13/07 Western Hills Press: Green Twp. trustees support land use change for Hillview BY KURT BACKSCHEIDER | COMMUNITY PRESS STAFF WRITER GREEN TWP. - Towne Properties cleared another hurdle in its proposal to develop a master planned residential community on the Hillview Golf Course property. The Green Township Board of Trustees voted Monday, Feb. 12, to recommend approval of the Mt. Adams-based company's request to change the land use of the golf course on Wesselman Road from public, semi-public institutional to mixed residential. Brad Austin, of Towne Properties, said the development would offer a mix of single-family homes, attached single-family dwellings and condominiums. Austin said the development would have single-family homes ranging in price from about $250,000 to $400,000; attached single-family residences selling for $200,000 to $300,000; and condominiums ranging in price from $150,000 to $200,000. MORE: http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070213/NEWS01/702130330/1067/Local

City loan approval thaws plan to renovate Ice House building Cincinnati Business Courier - February 16, 2007 by Laura Baverman Staff Reporter Seven years after Al Haehnle purchased Covington's historic Ice House building, it's finally getting new life as an office building. Last week, the city of Covington approved a $390,000 loan for Haehnle to renovate the 143-year-old Scott Street building to 12,000 square feet of high-tech office space and an interior parking garage. The project has been mired in problems since Haenhle obtained the deed in 2000. Called the Covington Fruit House when built in 1864, it was one of the nation's first commercially refrigerated buildings, storing fruits and syrups, and in the 1890s, butter and eggs. More recently, Columbia Sussex stored files in the building. Read full article here: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/02/19/story13.html

From ThisWeek New Albany, 2/8/07: Columbus clears way for NACo project Office-retail complex OK'd on Central College, just outside New Albany Thursday, February 8, 2007 By GALE CADY WILLIAMS ThisWeek Staff Writer Columbus City Council approved a rezoning request Jan. 29 that will allow The New Albany Co. to build another office-retail complex just outside the village corporate limits. NACo is both owner and developer of a 12.47-acre site at 6037 Central College Road. The site is on the south side of Central College Road and about 300 feet west of New Albany Road West. A slightly larger 6-plus-acre section of the site will be for retail use, and a slightly smaller 6-plus-acre plot will be for offices. Read more at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?story=sites/thisweeknews/020807/NewAlbany/News/020807-News-303453.html

From the 12/22/06 Cincinnati Business Courier: Visitors get welcome mat Out-of-towners are priority for new leader of tourism network Cincinnati Business Courier - December 22, 2006 by Lucy May Senior Staff Reporter When Sean Rugless talks about the Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network, he doesn't dwell on funding or politics or the challenges of building a new organization. It's all about the visitor. Those who helped create the RTN say that focus will be critical for Rugless as he prepares to become its president. "He puts the visitor first," said Scott Usitalo, the founding president who will leave the RTN in late January for a senior-level job with a local branding agency. "How will they think?" he said. "How will they get here? And when they get here, how will we put our best foot forward to make sure that visitor wants to come back?" That's the mission of the RTN, an organization formed in late 2005 by the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky convention and visitors bureaus to bring more visitors to the Tri-State. Full article at http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2006/12/25/story4.html

From the 2/20/07 Dispatch: Schools’ administrative costs high, governor says Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Gov. Ted Strickland has attracted significant attention during last year’s campaign and since taking office Jan. 8 for his comments about fixing the state’s school-funding program. But the governor also has talked frequently about reforms he’d like to see in public education, including possibly a longer school year. Last week, Strickland threw another idea on the table: consolidating administrative costs and purchasing among districts to save money. Strickland was asked at a conference of newspaper editors whether he favored consolidating the state’s 614 school districts. He didn’t say there are too many districts but said he thinks Ohio spends too much on administration compared with other states. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/20/20070220-D7-07.html From same: OEA to vote on contributing to school-funding campaign Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Joe Hallett Roughly 1,300 delegates to the Ohio Education Association’s convention April 20 in Columbus will vote on a onetime $25 increase in membership dues to help pay for the campaign to pass a schoolfunding constitutional amendment proposed for the November statewide ballot. The board of directors of the state’s largest teachers union has recommended the increase to raise about $2.5 million for the school-funding proposal, which is opposed by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Republican legislative leaders. The Campaign for Ohio’s Future, a political umbrella for 12 organizations supporting the amendment, hopes to raise between $7 million and $10 million for the campaign, according to Gary Allen, president of the 130,000-member OEA. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/20/20070220-D7-09.html From the 2/20/07 PD: School voucher program draws fire, praise Students can leave low-performing schools Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Angela Townsend Plain Dealer Reporter Halfway through its first school year, Ohio EdChoice is drawing praise and criticism for its effect on the state's education landscape. The program provides tuition vouchers -- up to $4,250 a year for elementary students and up to $5,000 a year for high schoolers -- so that children in low-performing public schools can switch to private schools. The state legislature set aside enough money for 14,000 vouchers, but only 2,914 students took advantage of them this year. In the Cleveland area, 30 private schools, most of them religious, are honoring the nearly 200 EdChoice vouchers given to local students. MORE: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1171965589286780.xml&coll=2 From the 2/20/07 Youngstown Vindicator: Capri: Development would solve school funding problem By DAVID SKOLNICK VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER YOUNGSTOWN — One of the Democratic Senate Caucus' top legislative priorities is to resolve Ohio's unconstitutional way of funding primary and secondary education, state Sen. Capri Cafaro says. Money also must be found to properly fund higher education, Cafaro of Liberty told The Vindicator on Monday. Some of the money for education will come from slowing down the amount the state pays for Medicaid, she said. "It's one way to free up money to put toward education," said Cafaro, D-32nd. "We're going to have to find other sources for funding. Just making cuts to other problems won't be enough." Asked for specifics, Cafaro said she was "not comfortable as to what that's going to be. But we need to see what long-term solutions" exist. "I'm not in favor of raising taxes," she said. "The best way to increase money is economic development." The state needs to offer more business incentives for companies to open and relocate here, Cafaro said. That would increase tax revenue, and could help the school funding issue, she said. MORE: http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/306555745251459.php

From the 2/19/07 Middletown Journal: Schools aren't betting on lottery funds By Megan Gildow and Christopher Magan Staff Writers Monday, February 19, 2007 Local school officials aren't buying the odds that additional lottery proceeds allocated to education would help their funding situations. An advisory panel for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland recommended last month that the lottery scale back the 59 percent it returned in prizes to contribute more money to education. Ohio Lottery officials say cutting the prizes to boost profits instead would decrease sales and its education contribution. Lottery sales are up almost 16 percent over the last five years, but the amount earmarked to schools increased less than two percent. Currently, only 6 percent of the money the state lottery earns goes to schools, said Ohio Department of Education spokesman J.C. Benton. MORE: http://www.middletownjournal.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/02/18/mj021907lotto.html

From the 2/18/07 Blade: Questions surround school-funding plan Proposal would give state board more control over education purse strings By JIM PROVANCE BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU COLUMBUS - State taxpayers would be paying $1.3 billion more a year for schools today if Ohio lawmakers had supported funding requests from the state panel that would set future price tags for "high-quality" education under a proposed constitutional amendment. The 19-member State Board of Education had requested $8.2 billion in general revenue fund dollars for K-12 schools for the current fiscal year excluding property tax rollback reimbursements and lottery proceeds, according to figures supplied by the Ohio Department of Education. State lawmakers have decided to spend $6.8 billion on primary and secondary education. The board's recommendations for the next two-year budget that must be passed by June 30 call for increases of about 7.5 percent in both 2008 and 2009. MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070218/NEWS04/702180310/-1/RSS

From the 2/15/07 Dispatch: GOP: School funding is fixed Governor disagrees with House speaker’s assessment Thursday, February 15, 2007 Joe Hallett and Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Gov. Ted Strickland and House Speaker Jon A. Husted disagreed yesterday on whether Ohio’s school-funding system is now constitutional, raising doubts about the prospects for a legislative solution to the governor’s top priority. Although Husted said he would not prejudge how the Ohio Supreme Court might rule on any new school-funding challenge, he said he believes Republicans controlling the General Assembly over the past 10 years have provided the funding and reforms needed to make the system constitutional. Four times between 1997 and 2003, the Supreme Court ruled the schoolfunding system unconstitutional. While Strickland credited Republicans for improving the system, he said that few Ohioans would agree with Husted. The fundamental disagreement between Strickland and Husted on the question of constitutionality would appear to lessen the chances of a legislative solution to the problem of fund- ing schools. Strickland said that if Husted won’t cooperate "in efforts to solve what the courts have said is an unfair system … then I will know that I’ve exhausted my efforts to try to work with him." MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/15/20070215-D1-02.html

From the 2/14/07 Dispatch: GOP leaders peeve Strickland Designating school-funding bills: kind gesture or jab? Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Jim Siegel and Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH To some, Republican legislative leaders are making a genuine offer to Gov. Ted Strickland, giving him a prime opportunity to address his major campaign promise of creating an improved school-funding system. To others, including Strickland, Republicans are playing political games, trying to box in the governor during a bad budget cycle on an issue they don’t view as needing to be fixed. House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1, traditionally the spots held for the legislature’s top priorities, this year will go to Strickland’s not-yet-created schoolfunding plan, House Speaker Jon A. Husted and Senate President Bill M. Harris announced yesterday. The bills essentially will be empty placeholders, giving Strickland until the end of 2008 to fill in the details. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/14/20070214-B1-01.html From the 2/14/07 ABJ: Akron school board studies Ohio measure Proposal would amend constitution to require state to fund education By Stephanie Warsmith Beacon Journal staff writer Akron school board members are divided on a proposed state constitutional amendment on school funding that could be placed on the November ballot. The amendment would make education a fundamental right in Ohio, task the state school board with identifying and pricing the components of a "high-quality public education,'' and require the state legislature to decide how to pay for it. The board heard a lengthy presentation on the funding initiative at its meeting Monday. Supporters say the amendment would fix the state's unconstitutional method for funding schools, while critics say the issue fails to pinpoint a cost and could lead to a billion-dollar tax increase. MORE: http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/living/education/16694859.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_news

From the 2/13/07 Dispatch: Education fix carries poisonous price tag Amendment-plan critics get new ammunition Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Jim Siegel and Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Armed with a new analysis showing it would cost the state more than $600 million the first year and $1 billion annually down the road, House Speaker Jon A. Husted is ready to unload on a proposed constitutional amendment to fund education. "It really is a frightening price tag," the Kettering Republican said of a report he requested from the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission. And that sticker price does not include the unknown costs of the plan — the new funding levels that would be set by the state Board of Education to give every Ohio student a "high quality education." Education advocates are working to collect enough signatures to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would make education a "fundamental right." The goal is to force elected officials to base funding on what is needed in the classroom, not what is available in the state budget. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/13/20070213-A1-02.html

From the 2/20/07 Defiance Crescent-News: Some SMOKERS Are FREEZING By BECKY MARTINEZ [email protected] A fairly new law has a group of individuals -- Ohio smokers -- are heading outside regardless of the below-zero temperatures. "I've been smoking for 40 years, to have to stand out in the cold in order to smoke is crazy," said one Defiance County employee who wished to remain anonymous. He stated he knows it is his individual choice to smoke, but feels like a freedom has been taken away. "I don't drink. My cigarette is just as relaxing to me as a beer is to someone who drinks. When I have stress, I want a cigarette." Read more: http://www.crescent-news.com/news/article/1621031

From the 2/17/07 Lima News: Health officials hoping for smoking ban cooperation BY BART MILLS - Feb. 17, 2007 LIMA — It may be another two months or more before rules are in place to deal with Ohio’s new smoking ban, but area health officials are preparing to play their part. Ohio voters approved a state-wide ban on smoking in public places in November. The law was meant to go into effect a month later, but a delay in drafting the actual rules for enforcing the new restrictions prompted many smokers and businesses to ignore the restrictions. Read more: http://www.limanews.com/story.php?IDnum=35352

From the 2/13/07 Chillicothe Gazette: OU-C offers aid for those laid off at Kenworth By JONA ISON Gazette Staff Writer Cheri Hoffman tried to reassure more than 20 laid-off Kenworth employees Monday that they are on the verge of a good transition in their lives. "You're going to have emotions you're not going to expect. I'm not going to tell you not to feel bad ... but look at the opportunities you do have," she said... http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070213/NEWS01/702130303/1002/rss01

From the 1/3/07 Chillicothe Gazette: Kenworth to lay off workers Company hopes staff reduction will be temporary, for long-term good RENTON, Wash. - A longtime rumor became reality Tuesday for workers at Chillicothe's Kenworth plant. Officials from Paccar Inc., the truck maker's parent company, confirmed the layoff of an unspecified number of employees... http://www.chillicothegazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070103/NEWS01/701030311/1002/rss01

From the 2/8/07 Port Clinton News Herald: Committee discussing park project possibilities By KRISTINA SMITH Staff writer PORT CLINTON -- An amphitheater, boat launch and outdoor cafe are some of the possibilities city officials could negotiate into the planned indoor water park development at Water Works Park. The city Planning Committee discussed those and other options to improve the park Wednesday during its meeting at Ida Rupp Public Library. http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/NEWS01/702080303/1002/rss01

Both from the 2/1/07 Port Clinton News Herald: Group pushing for ballot issue By KRISTINA SMITH Staff writer PORT CLINTON -- A group of city residents and a former councilman joined Wednesday to stop a planned indoor water park at Water Works Park. The group of 21 decided after meeting Wednesday night at Ida Rupp Public Library to circulate petitions in order to put a referendum, an election issue where residents can reject or uphold a decision their public officials made, on the November ballot. E-mail Kristina Smith at [email protected]. http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070201/NEWS01/702010302/1002/rss01

From the 1/24/07 Port Clinton News Herald: Council accepts Puller plan By KRISTINA SMITH Staff writer After weeks of discussion and debate, City Council chose an indoor water park, hotel and conference center Tuesday instead of condominiums and retail space for Water Works Park. The city could begin negotiating the details of the venture with developer Puller Group Inc. of Indianapolis by early March, Council President Linda Hartlaub said. Council hired Cleveland law firm Squire Sanders and Dempsey for $100,000 to help with the deal. E-mail Kristina Smith at [email protected]. http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070124/NEWS01/701240321/1002/rss01

From the 1/23/07 Port Clinton News Herald: Council may decide on plan tonight By KRISTINA SMITH Staff writer If City Council chooses condominiums for Water Works Park, it would have to sell pieces of the land to the developer, according to the city Planning Committee. And the committee is not willing to give up the property, said member and Councilwoman Debbie Hymore-Tester. E-mail Kristina Smith at [email protected]. http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS01/70123001/1002/rss01