Report: Cities building blocks for state's success

COLUMBUS - Ohio's 16 metropolitan areas account for 84 percent of the state's jobs, 81 percent of the state's population and 87 percent of the state's economic output.

Yet, Ohio's policies have left them behind in favor of ones encouraging development of new communities over redevelopment of older ones, such as Lima, and needless competition among communities, according to a draft report presented Wednesday.

A summit with more than 1,000 Ohioans, from Gov. Ted Strickland to township trustees, focused attention on using the state's "core" communities to reinvigorate the state's economy. A draft report from Greater Ohio and the Brookings Institution, "Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing Ohio's Core Communities," drew the attention of leaders across the state, including Lima Mayor David Berger, who sat on a panel responding to the policies presented and whether their implementation is realistic.

"This cannot just be a homily for the church choir and congregation within the walls of the church," Berger said. "It has to be a tool for evangelizing those who don't hear."

Berger, fired up after what he called an "unprecedented day" decades overdue, said Lima's situation and other central cities', in which more people live around the city than in it without understanding a struggling center means trouble for everyone, creates an uphill battle.

"The power of the status quo is absolutely enormous. Those who are doing well under the current rules of the game like it," Berger said. "They like it when sprawl occurs. They like it when shootings take place in downtown Lima and they go back to their homes and not have to worry about it. The like it when they can continue to support the well-to-do suburban school districts and criticize Lima schools, saying to get rid of teachers who don't know what they're doing and chastise children who are failing."

The challenges are great for cities such as Lima, with unemployment rates and high school dropout rates higher than those nationally. But officials also believe Ohio has unmatched assets.

"The people who came before us created a state so good that try as we have, we haven't been able to kill it," said Al Ratner, co-chairman of Forest City Enterprises. "We need immigration. Immigration is anyone who doesn't live in Ohio."

Ohio communities will not rebuild the way they grew through the early part of the 20th century, the report said. They must focus on innovation, educating their work forces, modernizing transportation and creating quality places with history, culture, amenities and walkable neighborhoods.

The state needs to support communities, focus resources and leverage assets that matter in a new economy, said Bruce Katz, director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.

"Ohio's policies stack the deck against core communities at the very moment these places have a critical role to play in helping the state compete," Katz said. "The Ohio way - in which resources get spread across the state like peanut butter and local jurisdictions proliferate - is a luxury that Ohio taxpayers can no longer afford."

Jerry Good, Strickland's economic development representative for the region, liked what he heard.

"The historic piece is that after 30 or 40 years we're coming together as a state," Good said. "We're investing in regions and their assets. We're trying to do that with our eight-county region."