Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:
The Marietta Times, May 8
Preparing by June 14 a plan to redraw Ohio congressional district boundary lines would invite all sorts of mistakes, not to mention mischief by politicians seeking advantages. Yet a three-judge federal court opinion mandates state officials do just that.
Issued last week in Cincinnati, the judges’ ruling holds that the current districts were drawn after the 2010 census in an “unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.” Republican state officials set the boundaries in an attempt to give candidates from their party advantages, the judges said.
State officials are right to appeal the ruling. It is difficult to see how an appeals court with any knowledge of the difficulties involved in drawing 16 new congressional districts could refuse to grant at least a stay of the order.
Still, state legislators should begin the process of preparing a new district map - just in case an appeal fails.
A new, bipartisan process of redistricting is in place for use after the 2020 census. If possible, that system should be used to draw a new district map, should an appeals court uphold the Cincinnati judges.
Clearly, Democrats behind the court case are hoping for new districts that would benefit them during the 2020 election. A new map, regardless of when it is prepared, should be handled in as nonpartisan a manner as possible.
Online: https://bit.ly/2Q4uKzx
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The Youngstown Vindicator, May 12
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was right to temper President Donald J. Trump’s self-aggrandizing announcement last week that the idled GM Lordstown car assembly plant will be repurposed to build “Electric Trucks.”
Here’s what Republican Trump tweeted Wednesday morning:
“GREAT NEWS FOR OHIO! Just spoke to Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, who informed me that, subject to a UAW agreement etc., GM will be selling their beautiful Lordstown Plant to Workhorse, where they plan to build Electric Trucks. GM will also be spending $700,000,000 in Ohio …” and “…. in 3 separate locations, creating another 450 jobs. I have been working nicely with GM to get this done. Thank you to Mary B, your GREAT Governor, and Senator Rob Portman. With all the car companies coming back, and much more, THE USA IS BOOMING!”
Several hours later, however, Republican Gov. DeWine delivered this message to the people of the Mahoning Valley: Don’t pop the champagne corks just yet.
Indeed, DeWine’s comments stood in sharp contrast to the president’s chest- pounding tweets.
“It’s not the day to celebrate yet for the Mahoning Valley or Lordstown or the workers,” he told Vindicator Reporter David Skolnick. “For this to really work, it’s going to be important for Workhorse to get the contract with the postal service.”
Workhorse Group, a Cincinnati-area company that makes electric trucks, and a newly formed affiliate have plans to buy the Lordstown plant from GM to build the next generation of U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles.
But as Gov. DeWine pointed out, Workhorse is one of several companies vying for the Postal Service’s lucrative order.
Other bidders include Auburn Hills-based Mahindra Automotive North America and Ford Motor Co., according to the Detroit News.
USPS spokeswoman Kimberly Frum said testing of five prototypes for the service’s next-generation delivery vehicles wrapped up in March. The postal service is expected to go out for bids this summer, Frum said. She would not comment further on the contract.
DeWine said he intends to lead a delegation to meet with USPS officials.
What about General Motors?
But given that Ford is in the mix, Workhorse could certainly use a major partner. One that immediately comes to mind is General Motors.
Consider the following statement from Chief Executive Officer Barra after President Trump had tweeted about the impending sale of the Lordstown plant:
“We remain committed to growing manufacturing jobs in the U.S,, including in Ohio, and we see this development as a potential win-win for everyone. Workhorse has innovative technologies that could help preserve Lordstown’s more than than 50-year tradition of vehicle assembly work.”
GM could benefit greatly from Workhorse’s “innovative technologies”.
That said, Barra’s talk about preserving the plant’s tradition drips with irony. After all, she pulled the rug out from under the Mahoning Valley.
GM’s idling of the Lordstown complex has resulted in the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs. The plant had 4,500 union and management employees when production of the top-selling Chevrolet Cruze was at its peak.
According to a study by Cleveland State University, for every four GM jobs lost at the Lordstown plant since 2017, two more supply chain-related positions and one more consumer service industry job were eliminated.
The study also found that the end of the third and second shifts in 2017 and 2018, respectively, will have an economic impact exceeding $5 billion.
Thus, when Barra characterizes the takeover of the Lordstown complex by Workhorse as a “win-win for everyone,” we have to ask: What happens if the company fails to secure the U.S. Postal Service contract for delivery vehicles?
Until more is known about Workhorse and its new affiliated company, we find ourselves agreeing with a statement from United Auto Workers International: “General Motors should assign a product to the Lordstown facility and continue operating it.
“A federal lawsuit filed by the UAW over the closing of the Lordstown, Baltimore and Warren facilities is still pending, and the UAW will continue its effort to protect the contractual rights of its members at these locations.”
National contract talks are scheduled to begin in July.
“We will monitor this situation as it develops to determine what course of action will most benefit UAW-represented workers,” UAW Vice President Terry Dittes said in a statement.
As the governor pointed out, last week’s announcement about the possible sale of the Lordstown plant is just the beginning of a long journey into the unknown.
Online: https://bit.ly/2Jko0NE
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The Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 12
A pernicious bill seeking to curtail Ohioans’ protest rights that died at the end of the last General Assembly session is back. And this time, Senate Bill 33 — part of a nationwide effort to limit protest rights at natural gas pipelines — appears to be headed for passage. Republican legislators in Ohio who treasure constitutional rights and the rule of law should push back.
SB 33 would make certain types of protest at “critical infrastructure facilities” like pipelines or telecommunications facilities a third-degree felony, which can carry a prison sentence of nine months to five years. It would also subject organizations supporting such protests to fines ten times the maximum now provided in Ohio law — that is, up to $100,000 per violation. And whistle-blowers who warn of safety concerns at infrastructure projects could be subject to similar sanctions.
The intent is obvious: to suppress protests or any impediments to such projects, curtailing Ohioans’ free-speech rights in the process, along with the right to peaceable assembly guaranteed in the state constitution.
In Ohio Senate testimony last month, Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, warned that the bill’s vague language could make something as innocuous as posting notice of a legal protest on a telephone poll subject to the bill’s criminal charges and fines. SB 33’s harsh penalties also could “intimidate whistleblowers” into remaining silent on safety hazards, Miller warned.
As our editorial board noted in opposing a version of this bill that died at the end of last year, SB 33 is unneeded. Ohio already has perfectly adequate laws on criminal trespass, criminal mischief and aggravated trespass. Nor can backers of the law point to a single incident in Ohio that merits such legislation.
Yet earlier this month, SB 33 flew out of the Ohio Senate on a largely party-line 24-8 vote, with the support of a number of usually level-headed local Republican lawmakers. They included Sens. John Eklund of Geauga County, Kristina Roegner of Summit County and Kirk Schuring of Stark County.
The bill is now pending in the Ohio House Public Utilities Committee, led by Rep. Jamie Callender of Lake County.
It should be shelved, for the good of all Ohioans and to preserve the free-speech rights that all of us treasure.
Online: https://bit.ly/2W4RqVG
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The Cincinnati Enquirer, May 3
Cincinnati should be open for business, not in the business of thwarting the most significant development project the city has going.
City Council needs to stop holding the FC Cincinnati stadium project hostage and grant the team’s request to rezone parcels within the site’s current footprint. Forcing the team to use a portion of newly acquired property north of the stadium for low-income housing before it approves the zoning change would be the epitome of government overreach, not to mention illegal.
FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding has stopped short of threatening to sue the city if council refuses to approve the rezoning. But it’s not a stretch to imagine the club’s lawyers are on standby, and the city, with all of its budgetary challenges, can ill afford a costly lawsuit. And what a waste of money that would be.
It’s evident council didn’t learn any lessons from the failed ransom attempt in 2017 of Children’s Hospital during its expansion in Avondale.
No one wants to see West End residents or businesses displaced by the soccer stadium, especially not a 99-year-old, bedridden woman. But the fact that at least a dozen renters near the site have been and others likely will be displaced, before and after the stadium is completed two years from now, should come as no surprise. From the moment City Council approved the project, change in one of the city’s most historic neighborhoods became inevitable.
It’s laudable that council members want to look out for the interests of West End residents. But this kind of government shakedown isn’t the answer. If city leaders are truly concerned about poor people in the West End and other city neighborhoods, then they should get serious about developing a comprehensive plan to address the lack of affordable housing (a 40,000 unit shortage in Hamilton County) and put some real dollars behind it.
Years of economic inaction by City Council led to the West End’s decline. For years, residents throughout the city have been pleading with council to invest more tax dollars in revitalizing neighborhoods and creating more affordable housing. Instead, elected leaders have poured money into pet projects such as the streetcar or handed out tax breaks like candy to wealthy homeowners or developers who didn’t need them.
Now, City Council is wrongheadedly leaning on FC Cincinnati to clean up their mess. And we wonder why the Amazons of the world overlook us?
Council should look to form partnerships with businesses to help accomplish goals, not extort them for political gain.
FC Cincinnati and Berding haven’t been flawless or completely upfront. Berding is passionate about his team and has been laser focused, sometimes to a fault, on the task of bringing Major League Soccer to the Queen City. His biggest gaffe was not being specific enough about who might get displaced by the stadium project.
Berding told WCPO-TV: “Let me stress this: We’re not taking anyone’s homes. We’re going to increase home ownership. We’re going to increase the number of people living in a neighborhood. The notion that we’re somehow going to try to buy people’s homes out, move people out of the neighborhood, that’s just false. That’s just made up.”
Berding has acknowledged that he should have been more specific about areas he was talking about, namely City West. But he maintained both he and the club have been “enormously transparent.”
His lack of clarity, spin and, in some instances, insensitive remarks have opened the team up to criticism and tarnished its once-sterling image. But FC Cincinnati is trying to be a good neighbor. It has spent more than $700,000 in community supports, including:
A community benefits agreement that pledges $100,000 a year to the West End for the next 30 years;
$100,000 for youth soccer field;
$100,000 for equipment for the Little Senators youth football team;
$150,000 for a first-of-its-kind housing study in the West End;
$175,000 to displaced restaurateur, Monica Williams, to relocate;
$100,000 for emergency housing assistance.
The team has shown a willingness to meet with residents, hear their concerns and address them where appropriate. Instead of putting tenants out in 30 days when the team bought three buildings on Wade Street, FC Cincinnati opted to give them as much time as they need to find a new home and are working with agencies such as the Council on Aging to help some of the seniors.
FC Cincinnati’s success is going to be good for the city and the West End long-term. It will bring jobs, exposure, economic vitality and revitalization to a neighborhood that has been chronically neglected. This $250 million private investment is something to be embraced, not shunned.
Sadly, FC Cincinnati told the editorial board it expects more flare ups over the next two years. But it doesn’t have to be that way. For once, the city, the team and the community should find a more constructive way to settle their disputes than the exhausting public spectacle on display.
Online: https://bit.ly/2YtZA7U
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