the urban news for the week ending Sunday, June 22, 2008
       |
 Painting can begin at Huntington Park on schedule next week after an appeals court ruled that Franklin County is fairly applying its contracting standards to bids for work on the Downtown ballpark.
The Ohio Arts Council is cutting seven positions from its staff of 35 and reducing unpaid grants by 7.7 percent to offset a $2.5 million, or 10 percent, reduction in state funding.
Construction of the Audubon Center on the Whittier Peninsula should begin soon after state environmental officials clear the way today.
Some say that Columbus is in danger of not only losing new business, but also seeing some of its current business drift away.
On March 13th Mayor Coleman presented his annual State of the City Address. A key component of the speech involved the upcoming Bicentennial Bond Package scheduled for this Novemberââ¬Â¦
Big changes could be coming for low-income housing in Columbus in the next five years. At the May 21st hearing of Columbus City Council's Health, Housing and Human Services Committee, the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) made public a plan to demolish about half of the city's public housing and give new Section 8 vouchers to the 1,800 households affected by the changeââ¬Â¦
A joint conference committee worked out differences between the House and Senate and unanimously approved the two-year construction budget, which provides more than $18 million for projects in Franklin County and includes provisions to help fill a projected $733 million operating-budget shortfall next year.
City planners see master plans as essential tools that require updating as times change.
The report was the result of Mayor Michael Coleman's Dream It. Do It. Campaign that was intended to enhance the quality of life throughout Columbus.
The amount of municipal bonds that have defaulted this year is already more than triple what it was for all of 2007.
There is a $75 million gap in the projected 2009 budget for the City of Columbus.
Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman received a long list of recommendations Thursday from a commission he appointed to create a blueprint for the city's bicentennial in 2012.
Dorian has been working for the city for 43 years and has been auditor for 39 of them. He said tax collections are stagnant, property tax revenue is down and the city's not getting as much money from the state as it has in recent years.
Paul Bonneville, a local Web developer and founder of the urban-development blog Columbus Retro Metro, likes the new service but also finds it a "bit weird."
Columbus officials have settled on the final price tag for what they are calling a "meat-and-potatoesâââ¬ì³Šbond package headed for the Nov. 4 ballot.
Columbus is paying nearly $1.47 more per gallon than it budgeted for gasoline and diesel fuel, Finance Director Joel S. Taylor told City Council members last night.
Aggressive panhandling was the topic at a City Council public hearing last night. Councilman Andrew Ginther moderated the testimony of 12 Columbus residents, as well as the deputy safety director, assistant city attorney and a police officer.
Many cities, states and other entities that issue municipal bonds - to finance schools, roads and other public projects - are facing lower revenue as a result of the slowing economy, which could affect their ability to repay their bonds.
This November, voters can support a plan to drive new investment into neighborhoods and to create thousands of new jobs in construction and in growing private industries. Today, Mayor Michael B. Coleman, City Auditor Hugh J. Dorrian, City Council President Michael C. Mentel and President Pro-Tem Kevin L. Boyce joined residents and neighborhood leaders to unveil the $1.66 billion, 6-issue, 2008 Voted Bond Package that will be on the November 4 ballot.
Coleman and city officials will ask voters in the Nov. 4 election to approve a $1.66 billion package -- by far the biggest in Columbus history -- that would authorize borrowing for major projects and purchases over the next four years.
City officials on Thursday outlined where the money would go, with about two-thirds of it to be invested in water and sewer projects. That includes efforts to reduce sanitary sewer overflows into rivers and streams to put the city in compliance with state and federal environmental mandates.
Campus Apartments, based in Philadelphia, has finished the renovation here of the former Seneca Hotel into 77 apartment units. The $20 million project took more than three years, but the company was able to gain millions in vertical brownfield incentives, and new market and historic tax credits.
More than two decades after the Seneca Hotel was sealed tight, a developer is preparing to take the wraps off a $21 million renovation of the historic building in the Discovery District Downtown.
The 2008 City Hop tour of 17 downtown residential projects will have a handful of first-time projects this year.
Sam Horner told Columbus Business First when he and his father bought the old Wendy's on High Street in Columbus two years ago that he hoped it could be turned into a restaurant with a Due Amici feelââ¬Â¦
The study, conducted by Boulevard Strategies, said downtown retailers - a segment spanning goods, services, dining and entertainment - reap $190 million in annual sales, but the total could grow to $300 million. The existing crop of retailers is capturing 14 percent of total spending. A wider offering of stores could get up to 23 percent, not accounting for growth.
Hexion Specialty Chemicals' planned purchase of a major competitor likely won't happen after all, the company said yesterdayââ¬Â¦
The German Village Society Board of Trustees earlier this week unanimously voted to send a letter to the Franklin County Commissioners asking for an independent noise study related to a proposed racetrack.
A minor misunderstanding between the German Village Area Commission and the proposed Livingston Avenue Area Task Force is still being worked through.
Grandview Heights expects to hire public finance experts at Robert W. Baird & Company Inc. to advise the city on how to fund up to $160 million of roads and infrastructure projects around the former Big Bear Stores Co. site.
Columbus officials are in the process of deciding what neighborhoods will be a part of a fledgling conservation program.
Columbus Police Chief James Jackson said he needs 639 more officers, but the mayor said the city is well-staffed when it comes to police protection.
The Columbus Division of Fire has about 100 vehicles down for much-needed repairs and preventative maintenance, NBC 4's Candice Lee reported. Sixty-seven of those are emergency vehicles such as fire engines, ladder trucks and medic unitsââ¬Â¦
The move effectively means that, for taxing purposes, nothing changed in these counties' housing markets from 2005 to 2007, despite a foreclosure crisis and price swings that have not been seen in decadesââ¬Â¦
The Federal Housing Administration expects to lose $4.6 billion because of unexpectedly high default rates on home loans, officials said Monday.
U.S. home prices are only about halfway through their decline, and most of the remaining erosion should occur this year, major bank economists said yesterday.
The state's $1.3 billion capital bill is headed to Gov. Ted Strickland this week after the Ohio Senate gave final approval to the measure late Tuesdayââ¬Â¦
I have never been much of an advocate of an approach to downtown retail as core element of a sustainable recipe for sustaining downtown revitalization. After all, that was the concept behind the creation and development of City Center mall so many years ago.
City officials are seeking permission from the federal government to tear down a stretch of 80-year-old concrete wall along the eastern bank of the Scioto River. As part of the Scioto Mile riverfront makeover, they want to recreate an earthen slope from Civic Center Drive down to the water 25 feet below.
Lifestyle Communities will break ground on their new River South community downtown on June 13, 2008. Located on 2.8 acres along South Front Street between West Town and Rich streets, the new project is estimated to open in late 2009 and will include 210 residential units. Lifestyle Communities hopes to target young buyers looking for moderately priced housing in an urban setting.
Ending nearly five months of discussion, a district committee is expected to recommend this week how big a levy the district should ask voters to approve in November.
The recommendation, which also includes up to $20 million in annual cuts over four years, is for a levy that would cost homeowners between $227 and $266 a year per $100,000 of property value.
I think they're talking about eight to nine thousand jobs, Fisher said as he emerged from the hour-long discussionââ¬Â¦
The Federal Reserve's Cleveland district bank Wednesday reported signs of economic stability in Ohio and some bordering states during April and May, even as other U.S. regions indicated their economies were softening.
Gasoline rose to a milestone mark Sunday as the national average compiled by motorist group AAA reached $4 a gallon for the first time.
The Columbus City Council approved a plan last night that will add miles of bike lanes along city streets, create dozens of new trails and add racks and a Downtown changing station for people riding on two wheels.
Columbus City Council on Monday night voted to adopt the Columbus Bicentennial Bikeways Plan as a guide for making policy decisions affecting zoning, planning and capital improvements.
While the nation's attention is focused on air-travel congestion and the high cost of fuel for highway driving, a crisis is developing under the radar for freight trains.
High gas prices have one Ohio lawmaker pushing to suspend the 28-cent-per-gallon state gas tax for 90 daysââ¬Â¦
Big-city mayors told Congress on Thursday that they are overwhelmed by the infrastructure needs of their regions and cannot maintain well-functioning water systems, roads and rail networks without more federal help. On July 19, 2007, an underground steam pipe exploded in New York, sending residents running for cover.
Legislation working its way through Congress - the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act - has local rail advocates almost giddy with excitement. The act proposes an up to 80 percent match to help states create or improve passenger rail service.
Taking public transportation has become so popular in Columbus that some packed buses are passing by people waiting at stopsââ¬Â¦
The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to double the tax rate on vacant properties and make permanent some of the tighter enforcement rules the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs has been practicing since early last year.
Soaring gas prices are prompting potential homebuyers to look closer to the central city to save money, say those promoting so-called "smart growth" for Columbus.
While the foreclosure epidemic has left communities across the United States overrun with unoccupied houses and overgrown grass, underneath the chaos another trend is quietly emerging that, over the next several decades, could change the face of suburban American life as we know it.
|
