Restoring Prosperity
The Greater Ohio Policy Center Blog
Five years ago, Columbus was awarded a $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in the “Smart City Challenge”; an initiative that was conceived as an opportunity to jump-smart the transition to a more technologically-advanced transportation network within a midsize U.S. city.
Transit is an invaluable resource in low- and moderate-income communities, connecting residents to job centers and services that may otherwise be inaccessible without a car. However, there are concerns that significant investments in transit, particularly rail transit, may increase property values and displacement pressures on area residents.
July 1 marks the beginning of the State of Ohio's new fiscal year, with the enactment of the new biennial budget. A state budget always reflects what the priorities of the state are, and the most recent budget includes a number of issues Greater Ohio had been tracking throughout the legislative process.
The budget agreement, which includes an investment of $500 million dollars in brownfield revitalization, along with commercial and industrial building demolition, represents game-changing investment for all of Ohio's 88 counties and represents a major commitment on the part of the State of Ohio to remediate this scourges of economic progress.
