May 28th, 2013
Hancock County Map
Greater Ohio Policy Center today released three research briefs highlighting the numerous benefits government collaboration can bring to local jurisdictions and the Ohio Department Transportation (ODOT). Developed with financial support from the State of Ohio, these objective reports examine potential statewide cost savings through:
- facility and equipment sharing between local governments and county engineers,
- facility integration in counties with a large number of garages owned by ODOT and the county engineer, and
- modifications to ODOT’s service delivery and fleet management at the county level.
GOPC’s reports estimate that taxpayers statewide could save over $99 million over the next ten years by replicating local shared purchasing programs currently underway or by implementing commonsense reforms to the way service delivery is administered by ODOT and local governments. GOPC developed these reports in coordination with the Center for Community Solutions as part of a larger research package on shared services opportunities in Ohio.
GOPC is a longtime advocate of right-sizing local government in order to encourage regional decision-making that considers economic development and land use in ways that best benefit Ohio’s metro regions. These reports outline how our communities can maximize resources and improve the quality of our government services.
Click here to download GOPC’s three reports.
Tags: Shared Services
Posted in Regionalism | No Comments »
January 18th, 2013
We are proud of the accomplishments we have made in 2012. To fill you in on what’s been going on at GOPC’s office and throughout the state in the past year, below is a list of our accomplishments within our three priority policy areas: Urban Core and Neighborhood Redevelopment, Transportation and Sustainable Growth, and Regional Governance Reform. Together, redeveloping our urban centers, expanding our transportation options, and fostering regional cooperation will contribute to smarter, more sustainable growth, improving our quality of life and economic competitiveness in Ohio.
URBAN CORE & NEIGHBORHOOD REDEVELOPMENT
Raising Our Statewide Profile:
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Ohio Properties Redevelopment Institute. GOPC hosted this innovative two-day forum that promoted solutions to vacant and abandoned properties. Nearly 200 local leaders from municipalities and non-profit community development organizations across the state attended.
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Moving Ohio Forward Grant Program. The Ohio Attorney General’s office contracted with the GOPC to provide technical assistance to communities for the Moving Ohio Forward Grant Program, which supports Ohio’s communities undertaking activities to demolish abandoned and vacant residential properties.
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Panels and Keynotes. GOPC presented on urban revitalization issues over 20 times to a variety of audiences including Ohio code enforcement officers, Cincinnati’s Foreclosure Group, Cleveland’s Vacant and Abandoned Property Action Council (VAPAC), and Heritage Ohio workshop attendees.
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In the Media. In 2012, GOPC was quoted or cited over 50 times in Ohio’s major newspapers and other publications around the country. In one article about vacant properties, The Columbus Dispatch relied heavily on data and graphs produced by GOPC.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Budget, Economic Development, Latest News, Legislation and Testimony, Regionalism, Smart Growth, Transit, Vacant and Abandoned Property | 1 Comment »
December 27th, 2012
By Lavea Brachman, Executive Director, Greater Ohio Policy Center
With the aftermath of the election barely behind us and the so-called “fiscal cliff” looming, political polarization seems unabated. But beneath the surface and beyond the drama of the national election in “battleground Ohio,” Ohio is less divided in ways that matter to economic progress. As a bipartisan state policy organization, we are privileged to observe the similarities of governing and good policies among policymakers of both parties.
First, the urban-rural divide characterizing Ohio for decades has quietly and gradually begun to fade away. Seven major regions in the state exist now, centered around cities. Rural places are increasingly economically dependent on the urban areas and their satellites. But benefits extend in both directions- for example, urban Columbus-ites enjoy the proximity of the Hocking Hills while those in the Appalachian region benefit from health care and spin off jobs from the city.
Second, for over a decade, policymakers have been turning these regions into the building blocks of the new economy. Democratic and Republican governors alike embraced the concepts found in a seminal report completed in the mid-2000’s during the Taft Administration, identifying key economic regions in the state and critical industries. A regional economic development approach was initiated under Governor Strickland with now Governor Kasich working on economic redevelopment through on-the-ground regional organizations. While implementation scenarios vary, regional economic growth efforts – corresponding loosely to metropolitan regions — are starting to take hold.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Economic Development, Governance Reform, Innovation, Latest News, Quality of Place, Regionalism, Vacant and Abandoned Property | No Comments »
October 8th, 2012
On October 3, 2012, Greater Ohio Policy Center spoke at the Central Ohio Association of Government Accountants about the potential for service sharing among local jurisdictions and the importance of such collaboration in paving the way towards local governance reform and regional economic development.
Joined on the panel by Hugh Quill of Public Performance Partners and Steve Campbell, Director of Regional Growth Initiatives at the City of Columbus, Greater Ohio spoke to the benefits of shared services and other collaborative relationships, such as increased service delivery, lower costs and the creation of a more regional culture throughout Ohio.
Greater Ohio Policy Center strongly believes that Ohio must reduce duplication within our local government activities—in a thoughtful and strategic way. In streamlining how local government delivers services, natural regions can form among former local competitors and excess funds can be direct back into our communities and schools.
As one important route toward sustainable statewide prosperity, reforms among local governance structures and regional approaches to economic development must occur if Ohio wants to compete in the 21st century.
Posted in Economic Development, On The GO, Regionalism | No Comments »
July 10th, 2012
By Smart Growth America
The twelve counties that make up Northeast Ohio are home to a community that prides itself on its public art, theaters, parks and hiking trails, and home-grown businesses. Now, a new vanguard of engaged residents are working with a local organization to make Northeast Ohio even better.
The first step in this process is to examine what’s working in Northeast Ohio’s communities, and a new survey from the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC) does just that. NEOSCC released its Conditions & Trends platform on Tuesday, during the Consortium’s monthly meeting in Youngstown. The extensive inventory of Northeast Ohio’s assets, challenges and year-over-year trends provides a comprehensive assessment of how the region could improve.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Conditions and Trends Platform, DOT, EPA, HUD, NEOSCC, Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium, Partnership for Sustainable Communities, SGA, Smart Growth America, Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant
Posted in Guest Post, Latest News, Regionalism, Smart Growth | No Comments »
June 4th, 2012
ULI Columbus and their partners present Columbus 2050, a strategic vision on how we will LIVE, WORK and PLAY in Central Ohio by the year 2050.
Columbus 2050 Description
Over the past 40 years, the population of Central Ohio has grown by 707,000 people, adding 235,900 between 2000 and 2010 alone. If the region grows at even half the rate of the past ten years, 604,000 will be added to the area by 2050. Absorbing a population that equates to the entire city of Boston will take some planning.
In furtherance of its mission to promote the responsible use of land, ULI 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, Department of City and Regional Planning, has developed a strategic vision that explores where and how we will Live, Work and Play in Central Ohio in the year 2050. This strategic vision is focused around eight themes: Metro Metrics; The City Wild; Water, Power, Light; Getting Around; Whole Buildings; Full Spectrum Housing; Plan it. Build It; and Click, Learn, Go, Get.
To download the full Columbus 2050 report, click here.
Tags: Central Ohio, City and Regional Planning, City of Columbus, Columbus 2050, Franklin County, Knowlton School of Architecture, MORPC, Ohio State University, ULI Columbus
Posted in Innovation, On The GO, Quality of Place, Regionalism, Smart Growth | No Comments »
March 15th, 2012
Yesterday Greater Ohio’s Senior Director of Governmental Affairs, Gene Krebs moderated a Columbus Metropolitan Club Forum, “Grow Smart, Grow Regional: Practical Examples of Collaboration.”
There has been much talk at the state and local level of the possibilities and pitfalls of a more regional approach to government services and government itself. Sometimes however, it is not always clear what “regionalism” looks and feels like in reality. This Forum explored “on-the-ground” perspectives from local business, local government, and education leaders of what regionalism and collaboration means in Central Ohio.
The expert panelists included: Bart Anderson, executive director of the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio, Michael Hartley, VP of Government Affairs at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, and Ginny Barney, partner at the Collective Genius and former city manager of Upper Arlington, a first suburb of Columbus.
All three panelists discussed numerous “back office” efforts underway in the region which are streamlining operations. Some examples offered were the sharing of computer tech support among a number of school districts, small villages contracting municipal services from neighboring villages (instead of hiring their own staff and equipment), and managing payroll and other fiscal operations within a centralized location.
All panelists spoke to the importance of having an attractive region that makes businesses and potential employees move to the area, and all pointed the role regionalism would play in lowering costs, but increasing service quality.
Ginny Barney, along with Bart Anderson and Michael Hartley, warned that central Ohio still has tough conversations and adjustments ahead as we “retrofit” our educational systems and local governments to an upgraded version that more closely aligns with today’s realities. All three were optimistic that Central Ohio’s current regionalism efforts were creating a foundation which would keep our region strong in the future.
This Forum was the first in a yearlong series that will shine a spotlight on current efforts in Ohio and beyond that are creating sustainable communities through collaborative, region-focused, relationships. The next Forum is under development, but will be announced soon.
Posted in Best Practices, Events, Latest News, Regionalism | No Comments »
March 5th, 2012
On Wednesday, March 14th, the Columbus Metropolitan Club will be hosting a lunchtime forum that will explore regionalism efforts currently underway in central Ohio. Showcasing “on-the-ground” examples of government collaboration, “Grow Smart, Grow Regional: Practical Examples of Collaboration” is part of a year-long series that will highlight efforts in Ohio and beyond that are creating sustainable communities through regionalism and governmental collaboration.
Offering a range of perspectives on collaboration, shared services and purchasing, mergers, and consolidation, the panelists include Bart Anderson, Superintendent, Educational Service Center of Central Ohio; Ginny Barney, Senior Partner, The Collective Genius and former city manager of Upper Arlington; and Michael Hartley, Vice President, Government Relations, Columbus Chamber. Chester Jourdan of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission will be moderating.
Greater Ohio has provided advice for this panel to the Columbus Metropolitan Club and is excited for the opportunities this and future panels will offer in sparking a dialogue among Central Ohioans on governmental innovations underway and transformative changes yet to come.
To attend this exciting event, tickets can be purchased online at the Metro Club’s website or by phone 614-464-3220. The event will be Wednesday, March 14th from 12-1.15 at the Athletic Club of Columbus, 136 E. Broad Street.
Posted in Events, Latest News, Regionalism | No Comments »
December 23rd, 2011
By Gene Krebs
While Ohio’s tax obligation as a percentage of income is ranked 33rd highest of the 50 states, we are ranked a stunning 6th 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.
Posted in Governance Reform, Regionalism | No Comments »
October 24th, 2011
By Lavea Brachman
This is the second post on Executive Director Lavea Brachman’s tour of European cities as part of the “Cities in Transition:Shrinking Cities Project”, sponsored by the German Marshall Fund. Please visit our blog for past and future posts on this series.
One remarkable observation from the Germany’s Ruhr region is their leaders’ purposeful focus on forging a regional identity out of “polycentric” area — that is, a region with at least five significant cities and multiple other smaller cities. This effort began as early as the 1960’s at the time that the coal and steel industry in the area first began to decline. The Ruhr experience, with its multiple proximately located cites with similar industrial histories, potentially poses lessons for Northeast Ohio and its three significant cities, related historic industrial bases, and an existing strong set of universities, community colleges, and other educational institutions.
In meetings in the Ruhr with managers of several of the regional networks, we noted how the cities have managed to effectively restructure separate but related economies within a polycentric region, and leveraged a tradition of competition among the cities to do so (such as holding an “Innovative City” competition). We observed how the Ruhr forged a regional identity, labor market and business sector, on the one hand, prevailing over the traditional economic loyalty to individual cities that can lead to poaching and hinder development of a common regional identity and strategy, on the other hand. Our Ohio cities can and should take a page out of these efforts.
One of the first actions taken to bolster the Ruhr’s flagging economy was the founding of a network of universities in the late 1960’s with the specific objective of creating engines of innovation, and more recently these universities have formed a regional alliance. Unlike in Ohio, the Ruhr area previously had no institutions of higher education, so we should more actively and deliberately leverage the advantage of existing institutions. Other regional efforts have followed suit, such as in the land use planning and corporate social investment areas. Finally, in 2010, the whole region was selected as the European Capital of Culture (an award that usually goes to a single city), and policymakers seized on the opportunity to promote further the collection of cities as a single place, the Ruhr.
Posted in Cities in Transition, Innovation, On The GO, Regionalism | No Comments »
