Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Three Catalytic Projects Public Meeting Summary & Frequently Asked Questions

La Villa Hispana, The Dream Neighborhood &
West 25th Street Corridor Initiative

The following information is a summary of three projects that are underway on the near west side of Cleveland.  The projects geographically are located within or in portions of the following neighborhoods that comprise City of Cleveland Wards 3, 12, 13, 14 and 15:
  1. La Villa Hispana: Clark Fulton and portions of Tremont and Ohio City.
  2. The Dream Neighborhood: Clark Fulton and Stockyard.
  3. West 25th Street Corridor Initiative: Ohio City, Clark Fulton, Tremont, Brooklyn Centre and Old Brooklyn.
In addition to the three community and economic development projects covered in the information below, a forth project  - The MetroHealth Transformation, being lead by MetroHealth, seeks to physically integrate Metro's main campus with the surrounding neighborhoods and also revolutionize care delivery and engineer new ways of working to ensure the health and wellness of those they serve in Greater Cleveland.

All of the partners listed and referenced for the La Villa Hispana, The Dream Neighborhood & West 25th Street Corridor Initiative are also partners working with MetroHealth to ensure the success of their planning and investments.
If you would like more information about any of the four projects and initiatives listed here, please send us an email indicating your interest and we'll be sure to include you on any future emails and mailings for updates or future meetings.


Media coverage:


La Villa Hispana

The Dream Neighborhood

West 25th Street Corridor Initiative

The MetroHealth Transformation 
Other

Friday, December 4, 2015

Cleveland City Council Tobacco related Resolution and Ordinances

The following are two pieces of legislation and one resolution that have been introduced through the Cleveland City Council Health and Human Services Committee related to the regulation of tobacco products.  In addition to information and copies of the Resolution and Ordinances, additional information is provided below that was reviewed in the last three Health and Human Service Committee hearings held on 11/16, 11/23 and 12/2/15.

Here is a status of the pieces; copies are provided below:
  • Resolution No. 669-15; Tobacco Free Workforce Working Group - Resolution Declaring that the City of Cleveland will strive for a tobacco free workforce by January 2016, and establishing a working group of Council, the Jackson Administration, and community stakeholders to study employment policies of hiring only tobacco-free employees and offering smoking cessation programs to current employees.
    STATUS:  Passed out of the Health Committee, scheduled for hearing of the Council of the Whole, beginning 9:00 am, Monday December 7th, 2015.  Resolution 669-15 was first read on June 1st, 2015.
  • Ordinance No. 737-15; Raise Age for Tobacco Sales and DistributionOrdinance to amend Section 607.15 of the Codified Ordinances of Cleveland, Ohio, 1976, as amended by Ordinance No. 474-14, passed June 2, 2014, to raise the sales and distribution age from eighteen to twenty-one years for cigarettes, tobacco products and alternative nicotine products, including electronic cigarettes.
    STATUS: Passed out of the Health Committee, scheduled for hearing of the Council of the Whole, beginning 9:00 am, Monday December 7th, 2015. Resolution 737-15 was first read on June 8th, 2015.  Note: Section 4 of ordinance states: "That the amendments to Section 607.15 shall take effect sixty days after the effective date of this ordinance."  There is a consideration to increase the grace period to 90-days to allow for sufficient time for public education and awareness.

  • Ordinance No. 929-15; Partial Ban of Flavored  Tobacco Products - Ordinance to supplement the Codified Ordinances of Cleveland, Ohio, 1976, by enacting new Section 607.21, to ban the sale or distribution of flavored tobacco products, except in a retail tobacco store.
    STATUS: Ordinance has not been passed out of the Health Committee and is NOT scheduled to be heard by the Council of the Whole on Monday, 12/7/2015.  The next opportunity for this legislation to be heard in Committee hearing(s) is the week of January 4th, when council returns from winter legislative recess that begins 12/8/2015.  The next potential opportunity for a vote on this ordinance is Monday, January 8th, 2016.
The above legislative status information is provided by Councilman Brian Cummins, member of the Health & Human Services Committee.  Health Committee member information can be found here.

669-15-Res-Declaring City Will Strive for Tobacco Free Workforce by Brian Cummins



  • Wednesday, October 28, 2015

    Municipal Services & Properties Committee Meeting - Administration Responses 10.2015

    The following memo and attachments detail responses to questions raised in a recent Municipal Services and Properties Committee Meeting of Cleveland City Council.  The information pertains to street maintenance, crack sealing, pot hole repair and snow plowing.







    Public Works Service Zones map - Ward 14

    Click on the image for a larger view.






    Thursday, October 22, 2015

    PUBLIC NOTICE: NOV 4 presentations of catalytic community projects - La Villa Hispana; Dream Neighborhood & W 25 St Initiative

    Please see below the invitation letter and flyer for this important community event.

    Stay tuned for additional information about these projects and the presentation materials that will be shared on November 4th.

    Please RSVP to Keisha Gonzalez, Bilingual Community Organizer, (216) 961-9073 x204 or Kgonzalez@dscdo.org by November 1st, 2015.

    ----------------------------------

    Acompáñanos para una cena y discusión de tres proyectos comunitarios vitales que están en proceso en nuestros vecindarios!

    Miércoles, 04 de noviembre 2015
    6:00-7:00 PM Inscripción, Cena y Redes· 7:00-9:00 PM Presentaciones y Preguntas
    Lincoln West High School (3202 West 30th Street, Cleveland, OH 44109)

    Por favor de RSVP a Keisha Gonzalez, Organizadora Comunitario
    al (216) 961-9073 x204 o Kgonzalez@dscdo.org



    Thursday, August 20, 2015

    Cleveland Council approves proposal for Charter Amendment aimed at increasing diversity of workforce, changes required by DOJ agreement

    Cleveland City Council passed on Wednesday an ordinance that proposes changes to the City's hiring practices. Ordinance Number 842-15 passed as an emergency ordinance -

    "Authorizing the submission to the electors of the City of Cleveland of a proposal to amend Sections 131 and 133 of the Charter of the City of Cleveland relating to civil service appointments and promotions wherever practicable."

    A copy of the ordinance is provided below.

    In discussion in a Committee of the Whole council President Kelley offered an amendment that was passed that limited the proposed changes to the hiring of new employees and not that of promotions.

    The initial Ordinance would of required the certification of ten of the top ranked applicants for both hiring and promotions.  The Charter currently requires that the top three applicants for both hires and promotions be certified and used for selection of awards.  If accepted by Cleveland voters, the new Charter amendment would increase the number of top candidates for hire from three to ten but would retain the top number of candidates for promotions at three.

    Several Council members (Cummins, Polensek & J. Johnson) questioned the need for the amendment that would maintain the rule of three for promotions  Council members Polensek and Cummins voted no on the amendment that then passed.  In the vote in Chambers later in the afternoon, the measure passed 16 to 1 with Cummins casting the Nay vote.

    Between the Committee of the Whole and the council meeting in Chambers, Councilman Cummins shared with colleagues an alternative for selecting top ranked candidates for hiring or promotion, by using a category rating instead of a purely numerical ranking of individuals.  Category ratings are used by federal agencies and qualify candidates in categories such as:
    • Superior = 98 - 100
    • Best Qualified =  90 - 97
    • Well Qualified - 85 - 89
    • Qualified = 70 – 84
    In Committee Cummins argued that if the City truly wants to be more inclusive and ensure greater diversity that the rule of three should be replaced for both hiring and promotions and that a category rating system would be useful in certifying the most qualified list of candidates from which a hiring officer could make a decision for an award.

    Although it was argued by some Council members that by increasing the pool of qualified candidates to select from in the initial hiring would have an affect on increasing diversity, Cummins pointed out that it would take on average 7 to 12 years before the City could anticipate seeing more diversity in higher ranking supervisory positions and in effect the ordinance that passed will likely maintain the status quo for at least that period of time if accepted by voters.


    Diversity numbers for Cleveland's Division of Police, as reported by ideastream®



    The changes are driven by a requirement within the City of Cleveland and Department of Justice Consent Decree Agreement that states (pages 70):
    • (300) "To maintain high-level, quality service, ensure officer safety and accountability, and promote constitutional, effective policing, CDP will review and revise as necessary its recruitment and hiring program to ensure that CDP successfully attracts and hires diverse group of qualified individuals.  [ands]
    • (301) The Mayor will work with the City Council to develop an ordinance to place a Charter Amendment on the ballot that would give the appointing authority greater flexibility in the selection of candidates from the certified eligibility list for the CDP."

    In addition to the specific language in the Consent decree regarding providing greater flexibility for hiring, the agreement also sets forth criteria that will need to be used in annual performance evaluations for police (pages 72-73):

    The annual performance evaluation will be augmented to
    include an assessment of:
    1. community engagement and communication with the public as appropriate to assignment;
    2. use of communi ty and problem-oriented policing and problem-solving strategies as appropriate to assignment;
    3. de-escalation strategies;
    4. techniques for dealing with individuals in crisis;
    5. civilian commendations and complaints;
    6. disciplinary actions;
    7. compliance with policy;
    8. safety (e.g., officer safety standards and vehicle operations);
    9. training;
    10. report writing; and
    11. decision-making skills.

    And, for promotions -

    In determining whether the officer is likely to be effective and appropriate for the
    position to which he or she is being considered for promotion, the appointing authority
    will consider the following factors, where relevant:
    1. effective use of community and problem-oriented policing strategics;
    2. the number and circumstances of uses of force;
    3. an officer's service as an FTO or Field Training Sergeant;
    4. disciplinary record;
    5. problem-solving skill s;
    6. interpersonal skills;
    7. support for departmental integrity measures; and
    8. pending disciplinary process.





    Reference:

    Friday, July 31, 2015

    Cleveland Police Commission - Application Process and Notice of August 3rd Public Meeting

    The Selection Panel for the Community Police Commission appointed by Mayor Frank G. Jackson will hold its second public meeting, Monday, August 3, 2015 at 6:00 pm at the offices of Hispanic Alliance, 3110 w. 25th St. Cleveland, OH 44109.

    For more information about the Commission Selection Panel and Community Police Commission (CPC), see the CPC website.  Application for the 10-member positions being appointed are due by August 6th, 2015.





    English and Spanish Public Notices
    for the meeting being held August 3rd, 2015.








    REF:





    Wednesday, July 22, 2015

    Cleveland City Council passes Ordinance 928-15 repealing and enacting new Sec. 411.05 regarding Parades

    The following legislation was heard and passed today by Cleveland City Council under a Committee of the Whole, and then under an emergency passage with a suspension of the rules.  The vote passed 12 yeas, 4 nays (B Cummins, TJ Dow, J Johnson, Z Reed), 1 absent (B Kazy).

    The Mayor's Administration in committee gave testimony that the Department of Law sought to improve on the clarity of the laws concerning parades, as "parade" was not sufficiently defined in Section 411.05.  There were statements that since December as related to protests, there have been questions by attorneys and other interested parties about the laws pertaining parades, and that for the last month the Administrations has worked to improve and introduce this legislation.

    Although the intentions as stated seem legitimate and the end result of the ordinance appears balanced, in particular the exceptions made for not requiring permits for use of sidewalks, crosswalks.. as well as impromptu demonstrations, providing at least an 8-hour prior notice of a parade.

    Nonetheless, I voted no on the Ordinance due to the process by which the Administration did not include Council in any deliberations on the amendment prior to introduction, and that the committee process was not utilized in the Ordinance being introduced in a summer session and passed under emergency.

    As I stated in Committee and in Council Chambers: Passage of such an ordinance, although intended to help clarify the laws regarding permits and regulations for "parades", when passed without substantive debate and discourse with Cleveland City Council, or members of the public and organizations that have shown active interest in participating in police reform, has an impact of increasing the divide between the City and residents and organizations working for reform.  It injurs and widens the gap in communications, relations, and trust.  And, from this point forward there must be a proactive stance from the Administration for inclusion, participation and transparency when seeking to amend the City's charter and ordinances.

    In a discussion with Safety Director McGrath after the Committee he indicated a willingness to engage in direct dialogue with activists and members of organizations working towards police reform as well as a willingness to participate in future Council Committee meetings to further amend and improve ordinances such as 411.05.

    The new Section 411.05 establishes definitions as well as exemptions (411.05.f.) in requirements for obtaining a permit for the following two types of parades or activities:


    The full text of Ordinance 928-15 is as follows, in addition to the executive summary utilized in the Committee hearing.




    Friday, July 17, 2015

    Dream Neighborhood initiative presented to City Planning Commission

    Following a series of neighborhood meetings over the last six months, Cleveland City Councilmen Joe Cimperman and Brian Cummins led a presentation to the City Planning Commission on the Dream Neighborhood initiative.  The Councilmen were joined by Samantha Peddicord, Executive Assistant for Ward 3 and Tony Bango,  Housing Development Coordinator, Stockyard, Clark Fulton & Brooklyn Centre Community Development Office who have both been instrumental in developing the project.

    Classroom. Teacher and Students at Thomas Jefferson International
    Newcomers Academy, CMSD News Bureau, 3/10/2015.

    The Dream Neighborhood project seeks to build off of existing community assets and strengthen a portion of the Stockyard neighborhood with a general boundary area of Fulton Road to the east, W. 58th Street to the west, I-90 to the north and Storer Avenue to the south.  The neighborhood area is centered around Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy (TJ).

    Target area for the Dream Neighborhood, centered around Thomas Jefferson
    International Newcomers Academy located at 3145 West 46th Street


    NEIGHBORHOOD ASSETS
    The main neighborhood assets the project draws from are:
    1. Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy & Students (over 500 plus), along with their families. TJ is a unique Pre-K to 12th-Grade Cleveland municipal school that serves as an English Immersion program for Limited English Proficiency Students.
    2. Refugee and Immigrant families already located in the area - 33 refugees settled in this area in 2014.
    3. Affordable housing and commercial space opportunities
    4. Clark Recreation Center and The Salvation Army 
    5. The presence of 850 manufacturing jobs
    6. A presence of community organizations and history of neighborhood involvement from residents.
    7. Exciting new projects in adjacent areas - La Villa, Hildebrandt Building and Gypsy Brewery
    8. Public Services - Second District police and good Public Transportation

    PRIMARY PROJECT ELEMENTS
    1. Social Services and Community Inclusion
      • Refugee Related Organizations
      • Medical Organization
      • Social Services
      • Residents
    2. Housing
      • Create housing opportunities for refugees
      • Reduce vacancy of existing housing stock
    3. Economic Development

      • Low interest loans for new small businesses
      • Directly addressing vacant commercial space
    (See presentation document below for more details)


    PROJECT PARTNERS




    The initiative represents an unprecedented collaboration between government, non-profit, for-profit and faith-based organizations that include:

    A visit to the International Newcomers Academy.  By Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer, 12/9/2010.
    Housed in Thomas Jefferson School on West 46th Street, the International Newcomers Academy is one of Cleveland's newest schools, and perhaps its most unusual. Its 200 students are all new to this country, and come from countries across the globe. From pre-K through 12th grade, they learn English through total immersion. The goal is to acclimate the students as quickly as possible, then transfer them to a mainstream school.



    The following is the presentation provided today at he Cleveland Planning Commission.  The presentation was an advisory and informative presentation that did not seek an official approval or endorsement of the plan,  Community meetings and project partnership meetings will continue and progress will reported on as the initiative develops.



    Related articles and information:




    Housing Stabilization by the numbers - foreclosed, rehab and demolition in the Stockyard, Clark Fulton and Brooklyn Centre Neighborhoods

    Four of ten housing structures were foreclosed on between 2011 and 2015 in three near west side neighborhoods in Cleveland.  The Stockyard, Clark Fulton and Brooklyn Centre neighborhoods were collectively the hardest hit neighborhoods on the west side of Cleveland in terms of the foreclosure crisis.  Although the crisis nationally is said to have been concentrated from 2010 to 2013 foreclosures in Cleveland began having serious impacts as early as 2005 and have only recently subsided.

    SCFBC Rehabs from 2010-2015


    In 2010 after more than six months of community meetings, Councilmen Jay Westbrook, Matt Zone and Brian Cummins collaborated to create a new community development office to serve the neighborhoods of Stockyard, Clark Fulton and Brooklyn Centre.  The Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization (DSCDO) was responsible for creating essentially a branch office that was established with and oversight provided by an Advisory Council of residents representing the distinct communities.

     The Stockyard, Clark Fulton and Brooklyn Centre Community Development Office (SCFBC) was created in July of 2010 and in collaboration with the council offices began immediately in tracking and inventorying vacant and abandoned houses.  A resident driven Housing Committee took the lead in highlighting the fact the neighborhoods were under served in previous years in terms of funding for demolition.  By 2014 Ward 14, which represented the core of SCFBC service area was ranked in the top three wards for amount of demolitions and funding being provided to remove the worst rated structures.

    From the decade of January 2005 through March 2015 these three neighborhoods had 3,075 foreclosures.  This represents four out of every ten housing structures.  In that time there have been a total of 397 demolitions, with the majority occurring from 2010 - 2014.  

    In addition to the focus on demolitions, SCFBC through the experience of staff at DSCDO was able to quickly initiate a housing rehabilitation initiaitve and successfully assisted in rehabbing an estimated 90 homes in this same period, 2011 - 2015.  The rehab initiative first focused on volume and worked primarily with investors who were required to go through a rigorous screening process and contract requirements to ensure quality.  By late 2012 the pool of investors began to expand to include more and more smaller investors and homeowners within these neighborhoods and over the last 12 months approximately 40% of sales of vacant properties through SCFBC have been to local residents.

    Below are maps reflecting the foreclosed and rehabbed properties for the Stockyard, Clark Fulton and Brooklyn Centre neighborhoods - Foreclosures are represented from January 2005 through March 2015 and rehabs from January 1, 2011 through March, 2015.







    Other supportive and related information

    The following are links to specific housing projects that are related to the work being done in tracking and inventorying foreclosed and vacant properties; promoting re-investment and developing resources for home repair; and focusing on code enforcement for properties owned by absentee landlords.




    Friday, July 10, 2015

    Process for appointment of the City of Cleveland Community Police Commission

    With the appointment of the Selection Panel on Tuesday, the following steps and process are defined in the Consent Decree agreement with regards to seating the Community Police Commission (CPC).

    Community Police Commission

    "To leverage the experience and expertise of the people of Cleveland, and to ensure that CDP recognizes and operates in a manner consistent with cooperative community understanding and engagement, the City will establish...a Community Police Commission...consisting of 13-members who represent the many and diverse communities in Cleveland."
    1. The newly appointed Selection Panel is required to accept applications from individuals who reside or work in the City of Cleveland within 30 days, an announcement of the application process should be forthcoming;
    2. After the initial 30 days of accepting applications, the Selection Panel, in a open public forum will recommend 10 persons to be appointed for a term of no more than 4 years;
    3. At least 1 representative must be recommended from the following categories:  
      1. faith based organizations
      2. civil rights advocates
      3. business/philanthropic community
      4. organizations representing communities of color
      5. advocacy organizations
      6. youth or student organizations
      7. academia
      8. individuals w/ expertise in challenges facing people with mental illness or the homeless
    4. In addition to appointments of individuals utilizing the eight categories above, the Cleveland Patrolmen's Association, Fraternal Order of Police and the Black Shield will each identify one member to be appointed to the commission.
    5. The persons recommended by the Selection Panel and three Police organizations shall be appointed as provided by the City Charter (Mayor with Council approval).
    6. Vacancies within the original four year term will be filled in the same fashion as the original appointments.  At the end of the four years, a selection panel will be reconstituted and the process will be repeated.
    7. One Commission member will be selected by the CPC to attend meetings of the Community Relations Board (CRB) and one member of the CRB will be selected by the CRB to attend meetings of the CPC. 
    For details on the functions and responsibilities of the Community Police Commission, please refer to the City of Cleveland & DOJ Settlement Agreement: III.  Community Engagement and Building Trust. A. Community Police Commission.

    Tuesday, July 7, 2015

    BlueWater NearWest Fiesta - FREE event July 25th

    Announcing the BlueWater NearWest Fiesta, a free summer outdoor festival of music, food and fun! Featuring the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra, Carlton R. Woods, Conductor with The Oblivion Project, a tango band (Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla).  Additional performances from Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts CenterArrupe and The Music Settlement.



    BlueWater NearWest Fiesta,
    Saturday July 25th, 2015
    3:00 -9:00 pm at Kyle Field, 
    at Saint Ignatius High School, West 30th and Lorain Ave., Cleveland, OH



    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Contact:  Carlton R. Woods
    440-781-6215
    bluewaterco10@yahoo.com


     BlueWater NearWest Fiesta 

    On July 25, 2015, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra presents its first summer outdoor festival, the BlueWater NearWest Fiesta, from 3-9 PM at Kyle Field at Saint Ignatius High School.  Supported by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, this free event is a gift to the community.  BlueWater Chamber Orchestra will perform the feature concert at 7 pm with special guest soloist The Oblivion Project, the well known tango band.  Artistic Director Carlton R. Woods will conduct.  From 3-6:30 pm, artistic groups from the Near West community, including dancers and musicians from Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center and students from Arrupe and The Music Settlement, will present alternating programs.

    The Oblivion Project, formed in 2003, is dedicated to the exploration and performance of the over 3000 Nuevo Tango works of Argentine composer Aston Piazzolla.  Piazzola’s unique and attractive language of tangos has had a major impact on musicians from around the world.  Oblivion Project is based in the musical crossroads of Cleveland and includes BlueWater musicians Concertmaster Kenneth Johnston and cellist Derek Snyder.  This performance will feature the ensemble in works with BlueWater Chamber Orchestra as well as pieces presented by the tango group alone.   The orchestra will perform selections from Falla’s Three Cornered Hat and the Danzon No. 4 by Marquez, both in the chamber orchestra versions.

    Local food vendors will be offering dining selections along West 30th Street. This project is being coordinated with West Side Catholic Center’s annual “Sips and Swigs” event, being held on the field that same afternoon.  Concertgoers are invited to purchase tickets to the WSCC event as well, either in advance at www.wsccenter.org/sipsandswigs/ or on site.  Tasting Ticket: $60; 4 tickets for $200; and, Non-Tasting Ticket: $25.

    BlueWater Chamber Orchestra is a refreshingly unique professional ensemble dedicated to sharing great music with new audiences in metropolitan Cleveland, Ohio. Through engaging performances and community education, the group is reaching out to listeners via neighborhood-based programs that bring classical music directly to their doors. BlueWater is in residence at the Breen Center for the Performing Arts at Saint Ignatius High School, near downtown. This remarkable partnership unites experienced professional musicians with students and the near west community for exciting performances and individual musical instruction. An ongoing relationship with Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights also brings performances directly into the eastern suburbs. Committed to welcoming new audiences while serving established chamber music aficionados, BlueWater celebrates the luminous world of inspiring chamber orchestra music.






    Music samples






    Anuncio de Servicio Público para La Placita Cleveland evento este sábado 11 de Julio


    Announcing the third of five La Placita events being held in the US Bank Parking lot at W. 25th Street and Clark Avenue.  See the post card below.  And, for Spanish speakers listed to the Public Service Announcement provided below.  Come and enjoy!




    Anuncio de Servicio Público para La Placita evento este sábado 11 de Julio de 11:00 a 4:00 en el Estacionamiento del US Bank, W. 25th y Clark.

    Friday, July 3, 2015

    Ohio $78.3 billion biennial budget passes - highlights from news reports

    News Summary
    Winners and losers and what it means for the State of Ohio




    Polic Matters Ohio (click on image to enlarge)


    (NEW) ABORTION RESTRICTIONS
    • Requirement for abortion clinics to have patient-transfer agreements with private hospitals within 30 miles of them.
    ALCOHOL
    • Allow bars during certain major events, like the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, to stay open until 4 a.m.
    EDUCATION
    • Prohibit a university from requiring a student to live on campus if the student lives within 25 miles of campus.
    • Add $20 million per year to pay for state student assessments.
    • Give charter e-schools $25 per pupil for facilities.
    • Spends $955 million more in basic state aid for K-12 schools than the last two-year period.
    • Boosts state funding for higher education to help offset a two-year tuition freeze at public universities.
    • Requires colleges to propose ways to reduce student costs by 5 percent.
    • Maintains the dollar amounts for the three categories of limited English proficient students from FY15 for both years of the biennium.

      CHARTER SCHOOLS
    • Facilities funding for brick and mortar community schools increased to $150 per-pupil, an increase of $50 over current law
    • First time funding for facilities for E-schools of $25 per-pupil, to help with testing sites and counseling
    • Community School Classroom Facilities Grant program with a $25M fund, can be accessed by "high-performing" schools
    • Performance bonus payments for community schools and STEM schools linked to four-year graduation rates and performance bonus payments for community schools reaching targets for third grade reading proficiency scores
    • Education Cut - Summary Analysis - Rich Exner, Northeast Ohio Media Group
      Estimated $32.9 million in 2016-17, representing a third of veto-related cuts in education spending for the entire state...next largest amounts by county are $9.7 million for Hamilton County, $6.8 million for Summit County, $6.4 million for Franklin County and $4.7 million for Lake County.

      By district, the largest losses because of the vetoes are $13.8 million in Cleveland, $3.6 million in Mason, $3.1 million for Lakota, $2.8 million for Strongsville, $2.7 million for Olentangy, and $2.6 million each for Mayfield and Mentor.

      For overall state funding, the five largest losses from 2014-15 to 2016-17 on a percentage basis all involve Cuyahoga County districts: Independence (41.7 percent), Mayfield (40.5 percent), Orange (37.9 percent), Beachwood (35.9 percent) and Westlake (31.3 percent).

      REF:  Gov. John Kasich's vetoes cut $33 million from Cuyahoga County school districts;
      find details for each Ohio district (database)
      Rich Exner, Northeast Ohio Media Group By Rich Exner, Northeast Ohio Media Group, 7/2/2015

    FIREWORKS
    • Eliminates a requirement that consumers complete a form agreeing to take fireworks outside Ohio within 48 hours after buying them, though people still would be banned from setting them off in the state.
    • Extend for two years a ban on new fireworks manufacturers in the state
    GAMBLING
    • Require the state Lottery Commission to install 3,000 new gambling terminals into locations with liquor permits.
    GOVERNMENT
    • Increase the maximum allowable rainy-day fund from 5 percent of general revenue funds to 8.5 percent, or about $3.1 billion. Actual balance under the budget is about $2 billion, after the committee added another $50 million.
    • Grant 5-percent annual pay raises for judges, and for county and township elected officials, their first pay increases since 2008.
    • Terminate the Constitutional Modernization Commission on Jan. 1, 2018, three years earlier than its termination date when the commission was initially created.
    • Requires a commission studying tax policy to recommend how to transition Ohio’s personal income tax to a 3.5 or 3.75 percent flat tax by tax year 2018 and to review a proposed tax increase on oil and gas drillers.
    • The Budget Passed 62-33 by the House;  and 23-9 by the Senate.
      One Ohio House and one Ohio Senate Democrat voted for the final budget plan: Martin Sweeney, Cleveland (House Dist 14); Sandra Williams, Cuyahoga (Senate Dist 21).
    GUNS
    • Eliminate journalists’ access to concealed handgun records.
    HEALTH CARE
    • Prohibits independent health care and child care workers under contract with the state from unionizing.
    • Invests $286 million over two years in to support work opportunities, increase home- and community-based services and provide new options for the developmentally disabled.
    LOCAL FUNDING
    • Reduce state funding for cities that continue to collect traffic-camera revenue.
    • Add $5 million to help cover costs of increased police training.
    QUOTES
    • "What we've achieved here we should be able to crow about from the roof of this Capitol and across our great state,"
      - Gov. John Kasich
    • “Our goal of cutting taxes for hardworking Ohioans, ensuring funding for schools and supporting important initiatives that help various projects in the state has been.
      - Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger 
    • “This budget hurts our local communities and makes it harder for our hard-working middle-class families to get ahead. We expect our state budget to strengthen families while rewarding hard work to grow our economy in the long run. This budget falls short and it leaves workers behind,”
      - State Rep. Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) 
    TAX INCREASES
    • increases the sales tax by a quarter percentage point
    • 35-cent increase on a pack of cigarettes, to $1.60 per pack
    TELECOMMUNICATIONS
    • Allow phone companies to abandon landlines.
    VETOS - 44 line-item vetoes, double the amount from two years ago.
    • sales-tax exemption for aerospace research.
    • expansions of the new markets and historic rehabilitation tax credits, and a gold coin sales-tax exemption.
    • an attempt to collect internet sales tax on transactions between out-of-state retailers and Ohioans.
    • creation of new lottery games - self service terminals for bars and restaurants.
    • property-tax break for owners of power plants.
    • restriction on municipalities’ ability to use buffer zones around waterways.
    • language that would of blocked moving forward with Medicaid expansion.
    • budget item that would have imposed expensive private appraisal standards on county auditors' offices; current law allows "mass appraisal" techniques every six years.
    • Special tax break to private water corporations that would have significantly reduced taxes on new tangible personal property.

    Budget Info and Media


    More of the same, what Policy Matters warned in January

    SEE:  A budget that works, 2016-17
    Policy Matters Ohio, 1/29/2015

    Selected Excerpts, read the full article at the link above. 

    What the tax cuts have done has been to make our state and local tax structure less fair. After a decade of cuts to the personal income tax, the lowest 20 percent of tax filers, earning less than $18,000 per year, on average, pay 11.7 percent of their income in state and local taxes. The top 1 percent, earning more than $356,000, pay 7 percent on average (5.5 percent if the federal deduction of state and local taxes is taken into account).[19] On average, the wealthiest 1 percent have gotten a state tax cut of $20,000 a year since 2005, while the poorest pay $138 a year more and those in the middle pay $65 a year more.

    • Employment growth lags the nation: The nation has more jobs now than before the recession, but Ohio has still not caught up to pre-recession employment levels. Nor have more recent job gains matched the national average.
    • Poverty has stayed at high levels: The share of Ohioans living at the federal poverty level grew slightly from 15.8 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2013. 
    • Business creation: Ohio ranks 48th among the states in business creation per 1,000 workers.
    • Low-wage jobs in the economy: Eleven out of the top twelve largest occupational categories in Ohio pay so little at the median they leave a parent with two kids in or close to poverty.
    • Small business ownership: We rank 37th in small business ownership rate.
    • Job creation: Ohio’s job growth (weighted by state population) ranked 32nd among the states and District of Columbia in 2014,[17] down from 22nd in 2011.

    [Tax Cuts] Lawmakers have cut taxes nearly every year since 2005, costing the state about $3 billion a year…These cuts went mostly to businesses, which no longer pay a tax on corporate profits, and affluent individuals, who got most of income tax rate cuts of nearly 29 percent since 2005.

    The estate tax was eliminated in 2013…Other new tax breaks, such as a new tax deduction for business income, are reducing revenue, while new taxes on casinos and racinos have not made up the difference in overall lost revenues during the past four years.

    The state got money for tax cuts and spending in the last two budgets by taking funds from cities, other local governments and schools…down by $418 million a year compared to 2010. Adjusted for inflation to 2013 dollars, the loss is $813 million

    Tax reimbursements for local health and human services alone dropped by $210 million over the level of funding in the prior budget, for FY 2010-11.

    In the same period, tax reimbursements for schools dropped by $1.2 billion (not adjusted for inflation).

    Libraries, which saw their funds slashed in the state budget for FYs 2010-11, were trimmed further. The state General Revenue Fund was $1.55 billion higher in both FY13 and FY14 because of these revenue diversions.

    Ohio’s cash assistance program, Ohio Works First, has been cut almost in half since January of 2011. The number of people receiving assistance was reduced by nearly 116,000 as of December 2014.

    Public transit: Ohio’s public transit system is severely underfunded. Routinely, less than 1 percent of the state’s transportation dollars go towards public transit, earning Ohio the rank of 47th in the nation for its commitment to public transit. In 2014, the state of Ohio spent just $27.3 million of the state’s $3 billion transportation budget on public transit.

    [Public Trasportation] Due to persistent underfunding of Ohio’s public transit system over decades, The Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) statewide Transit Needs Study found an additional $563 million is needed in 2015—$273.5 million is needed just to address system backlog and bring Ohio’s transit fleet to a state of good repair; $289.1 million is needed to expand transit service to meet current, unmet demand ($192.4 million for vehicles and infrastructure, $96.7 million for operating costs).

    Ohio: A state with average taxes
    Ohio is sometimes wrongly portrayed as a high-tax state. Altogether, state and local taxes per capita in Ohio amounted to $4,053 in Fiscal Year 2012, less than the national average of $4,423. Such taxes amounted to 10.3 percent of personal income, the same as the national average.[126] Tax levels are fairly similar across most states.

    See full report for Summary and recommendations.