Charmaine Putka: They didn’t help at all. They said if I can’t make the payments to just stop. And then they could foreclose.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray’s suit – filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court - alleges that American Home Mortgage Servicing violated the state’s Consumer Sales Practices Act by failing to offer timely or affordable help to borrowers in trouble.  When the company did offer help, the suit alleges, it charged excessive fees. This is the state Attorney General’s second such suit against a loan servicer. Cordray says there could be more.

Richard Cordray: If loan servicers are not willing to modify loans on reasonable terms and keep people in their homes, we will pursue them through all legal means.

In response, American Home Mortgage Servicing on Thursday filed suit against the state Attorney General’s office – but in Franklin County.  It says the state’s allegations are “entirely without merit” and is asking the Court of Common Pleas to find its practices compliant with Ohio law. 

The company says it services over 17,000 loans across Ohio and has modified nearly 2500.

Opponents of Issue three had argued gambling would not create the jobs Gilbert promised, would spur prostitution and other criminal activity, and lead more Ohioans down a path of destructive gambling. 

Gilbert said his and other investors’ next step is to draw up plans and secure financing.  The ballot measure calls for the creation of a state gaming board within six months, and barring any unforeseen delays the hope is to break ground on the facilities by the second half of 2010. 

Using median household incomes as a basis, the census bureau
surveyed 16 municipalities with populations of more than 20,000 in Cuyahoga County; and 12 similar sized towns in Summit County.

While income reductions in cities such as Euclid and East Cleveland may have been anticipated - drops in North Royalton, Strongsville, Hudson - where income was reduced by nearly 8% - and Brunswick; in Medina County, may not have been.

Economic researcher and analyst George Zeller says such reductions in wealthier suburbs are a strong barometer of the region’s employment troubles

GEORGE ZELLER: “There’s an awful lot of people in Strongsville who work in finance and insurance or manufacturing elsewhere in the county, and those people have been hit very hard just as the people in East Cleveland had - so this is not just a Cleveland & East Cleveland problem by any means.”

Not all communities suffered declining household income.  Several showed INCREASES, including Solon, Westlake and Shaker Heights.  Also showing a nominal boost in the average household income were Cleveland, Lorain, and Parma.

Each annual American Community Survey averages the current year plus the two previous years - that’s to smooth out any anomalous spikes that may occur and give a better idea of trends over several years. 

The data is gathered to help determine how more than $400 billion of federal tax dollars are allocated.

Bellamy:  “The investor had much lower expectations, understood that a lot of the problems were in its origination, and were looking for a way just to get the thing producing income again.”

But in the case of losing a job, which is happening to a greater degree in suburban households, Bellamy says there are fewer options available to a distressed homeowner. 

Bellamy:  “Now you’re looking at a situation where the loan was well underwritten to a strong borrower, but the money just isn’t there to support the rest of the expenses of the household and the mortgage.”

And so as jobs continue to disappear, Bellamy expects the number of foreclosure cases to continue to rise.  Nationally, experts are predicting that the number of foreclosure filings has not yet peaked.

Bill Rice, 90.3

DAVE SHOUP:  They’re called replacement “gilts” --- a gilt would be a female that’s never had a litter of pigs. 

SOUND: door opens to sounds of pigs UP & UNDER

The dozens of gilts in this barn are just a portion of the 3000 pigs that make up the Shoup family swine operation that covers almost 23 hundred acres in Wayne, Ashland and Stark counties.  Most of the animals here are grouped in pens of 12 and, in a few days, Dave Shoup’s crew will walk a male pig through the barn to try to get the ladies aroused.

DAVE SHOUP: We’re going to take the boar through, and try to detect heat and see who’s receptive that day.  And the ones that we find, we’ll move down here and inseminate them.

What happens to female pigs once they are inseminated is at the core of this major battle between the farm industry and animal welfare advocates.  Most of the Shoup herd will spend their pregnancies roaming in indoor pens with other pigs, but some of them will be put into individualized stalls made from steel pipe that have just enough room for a 300 pound pig to move side to side a bit & back and forth a few feet.  The floor is slatted so that animal waste can fall through.  Dave Shoup says the enclosures protect pregnant females.  But, these so-called “gestation crates” have been condemned by the Humane Society of the United States. 

DAVE SHOUP:  HSUS would probably tell you that this animal is so tightly confined for his entire life and can’t do many things that he normally would do.  But, these animals in these stalls have fresh feed, fresh water, and their waste materials are removed through the concrete slats.  So, they have everything that they need. 

A sow at Shoup’s operation can spend as much as thirty days in the gestation crate; at many other farms though, the sows are confined for as much as three and a half months.  A major lobbying effort by the Humane Society convinced California voters, last November, to ban gestation crates and other tight livestock enclosures.  The group met with Ohio agribusiness officials this past February trying to persuade state farmers to support similar treatment measures here.  Instead, the farmers set out to head-off any Humane Society effort in Ohio.

The farmers fear that would force them to spend millions retrofitting their operations.  They got lawmakers to craft the ballot measure known as Issue 2 --- a constitutional amendment that would create an Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.  This 13-member committee would regulate the treatment of farm animals… As we drive to another livestock barn, Dave Shoup says he’s not afraid of state scrutiny.

DAVE SHOUP: We know that we’d much rather have it in their hands than some outside organization come in here and just raise the emotions of people who really don’t know what goes on out here.

The Washington-based Humane Society argues that the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board would be stacked with members favorable to agribusiness who would prevent meaningful animal treatment reform.
The Shoup family has farmed this country for more than a century.  The operation has tripled in size over the past decade or so.  Shoup, who is also a veterinarian, suspects some people might consider him a factory farmer.

DAVE SHOUP:  People use “factory farm” as a negative connotation to disrespect our industry, because they want the general public to think that, all you care about is making money.  You don’t care about the animals, you don’t care about the environment, your goal is to put pigs through what ever is needed, in order to kick out more pigs on the other side.  Well, farms don’t survive doing that. If you’re mean to them, if you’re crowding them, then they don’t eat, they don’t come in heat, they don’t breed, they don’t have good litters. 

SOUND: Soft squeal of piglets and the snorts of their mothers

As we step into a birthing barn, it’s apparent that the Shoups have animal husbandry down to a science.  There are rows of what’s known as “farrowing stalls”, where mothers lie on their sides, as suckling newborns get their nutrition under the warmth of a heat lamp.

DAVE SHOUP: Each sow gives birth to anywhere from 11-13 pigs.  We actually induce these sows to farrow at a certain time --- just like you can induce a woman to have a child the next day, we can induce these one afternoon to farrow the next afternoon. 

SOUND: truck door slams…engine starts…

DCB: Most every yard along these rural roads has a “Vote for Issue 2” sign on it. Shoup says that farmers, by their very nature, are independents who don’t like being told what to do.

DAVE SHOUP:  Years ago, the family farm was just kind of left alone; there weren’t many regulations for it.  As long as the product you produced was wholesome, nobody seemed to care.  Now, we’ve got people looking over our shoulders all the time. 

Still, Dave Shoup figures that an Ohio-based animal care standards board would weed out a few bad apples in the state and keep everybody honest.  But, what isn’t clear is: if you build it into the constitution, will there be enough legislative oversight to keep the Standards Board honest? 

The resonant chants of a threatened workforce cascaded across Tiedeman Road in both English AND Spanish, as the Hugo Boss manufacturing plant virtually emptied for the rally. Workers were hoping the show of unity would carry back to the clothing maker’s headquarters in Germany.

LEADER CHANTS IN SPANISH: PEOPLE RESPOND

Leaders of the Workers United union say Hugo Boss plans to close the Brooklyn production plant - eliminating more than 320 jobs.  The company has been making men’s suits under various owners - for 165 years.

Pat Sifchek has been working in the payroll department here the last 28 of those years, and is afraid of the impact of a shutdown.

PAT SIFCHEK: “The city of Brooklyn will suffer. We’ll all suffer, there’s 400 people here. We have a warehouse in Savannah too, with a couple of hundred people.”

Hugo Boss sold more than two-point-four billion dollars of product in 2008, and sales through September are up 6%.

Brooklyn workers believe their efforts are responsible for some of the profits, but they feel unrecognized. Coat shop worker Christine Vasquez is the acting union local President.

CHRISTINE VASQUEZ :"It’s a shame Hugo Boss can stand and tell us that all the years we’ve dedicated to them, we’re worth $8.30 an hour? It’s like ...we’re worthless.”

But a statement from a Hugo Boss official - received just before this story’s deadline - the company said negotiations to keep the plant open have resumed.  It said the company is committed to reaching a fair and equitable contract with employees and will continue to work towards that in an appropriate manner.

Rick Jackson, 90.3.

Cimperman:  “As always, the devil’s in the details.”

The current plan from the Port Authority itself would move port operations to the lakefront at E. 55th Street, displacing a long-established marina.  The port’s presence there would also impact the upscale Quay 55 apartments that are less than a decade old.  Cimperman says he’s concerned about these and other issues: for instance, he wants the port to get specific about how it plans to save nature preserve at nearby Dike 14, a now-closed repository for dredged material from the Cuyahoga.  Cimperman also finds fault with the timeline the Port Authority has set for the move - more than 20 years, because the land at E. 55th would have to be created with 20 years of river dredgings.  He says redeveloping the downtown lakefront needs to happen a lot sooner than that. 

Cimperman:  “We know what happens when the Rock hall has an event, when the Great Lakes Science Center has and event.  Yes, it’s those attractions that bring people there, but it’s in the perfect spot - it’s right on the water.  The more we can open that land down there, the more I think people are going to realize they can fall in love with their lakefront all over again.”

BR (on tape): “Is 20-25 years too long to wait?”

Cimperman:  “Way too long.  We don’t have that kind of time.”

Earlier this month Hunter Morrison, head of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at Youngstown State University, called the time line “unacceptable” in an op-ed piece published in the Plain Dealer.  He suggested the Port enter into a regional partnership with ports in Lorain to the west and Ashtabula to the east, both of which currently have an abundance of dock space.  Plain Dealer Columnist Brent Larkin endorsed Morrison’s ideas in last Sunday’s paper.

The articles are creating some buzz over the issue, but Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson isn’t persuaded.  In an interview Monday on 90.3 he suggested the Port Authority’s 20-year plan is adequate, and he’s ready to implement it.

Jackson:  “If these decisions would have been 20 years ago when they shoud have been nade, the we would be living on a new lakefront and this wouldn’t be a question.  The fact that people want to have ideals… that’s nice and I’d like to engage in that, but we have to do things now.”

And while Councilman Cimperman is eager to discuss other possibilities, there is no groundswell of dissatisfaction among council members with the port’s plan - at least not right now.  Several long-simmering projects are now finally getting underway, and in today’s economy, some say, that’s impressive enough. 

Bill Rice, 90.3

The project started earlier this month and employs 200 construction workers. It’ll be finished in the middle of next year. Biden says this Ohio project and other’s funded by federal stimulus dollars have saved and created thousands of jobs. But Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine says the stimulus money is not helping the struggling economy. He says 115-thousand Ohioans have lost jobs since Biden and President Obama took office. Biden also spent time in Cleveland raising money for Tuscarawas County Congressman Zack Space and Congressman John Bocccieri of Stark County. Earlier in the day, he was in Columbus, raising money for Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy. 

JOHN LUNDBERG: “The people that are here see the value that veterans can bring to their organization, so they want to come here to connect with them, to see if they can bring them on board.”

Recruitmilitary has been running job fairs for three years.  During last spring’s event - when the economic meltdown was still relatively recent - hundreds of applicants per hour turned out, with lines snaking out the doors of Browns Stadium.  But today (Thursday), the veterans’ job fair enticed comparatively few job seekers.  Those we spoke to were discouraged by months of rejections and scarce opportunities for jobs with decent pay. 

FRANK FERENGIO: “I am a little frustrated. Only one table here is looking for what I’m looking for. Basically, it’s like every job fair I’ve been at.”

That’s Veteran Frank Ferengio of Cleveland - who’s been looking for more than a year. He complains the collection of security, transportation, and insurance companies here are offering largely entry level positions; at barely entry level wages.

FERENGIO: “It doesn’t help people. Employers just don’t want to pay for the experience. How does that help me? It doesn’t.”

Veteran Yvette Hooper says she’s also disillusioned.  She doesn’t see her big break turning up here. 

YVETTE HOOPER: “I was expecting jobs. (Rick-’instead you’re finding???’) I’m finding schools, and more things that I have to invest my money into that I don’t have money for… I’m looking for a job.”

Klegg: I mean we did physical work so we’re trying to find something that’s easier on our bodies. We’re getting older now, we’ve worked most…well I’ve worked most of my life in the factory and I’m real excited about getting out of the factory and doing something different.

…which is why they spent much of yesterday at an education and community expo in Twinsburg. The pair was laid off from General Electric’s Ravenna plant in May, and both are considering going back to school in a health-care related field, especially since the government will foot the bill with federal stimulus funds.

Wally Hoffer and Frank Tinus are handing out information on Stark State College. They’re regulars at these events.

Hoffer: Certainly individuals are out there understanding that education is a way to more opportunity and maybe a better lifestyle in the future.

And George Bentfeld, District Coordinator for the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services - which sponsored the event - says now is the time to gear up for a new career.

Bentfeld: We want to make sure they have all the training education opportunities they can before we turn the corner on this slight down turn and full production starts up because once production starts up it’s kind of too late you wanna get in there and you wanna work.

Healthcare was one of four industries heavily emphasized at the resource expo, alongside information technology, renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing jobs, all areas where local jobs are expected to grow in the next few years.

Tri-Pointe is the first new “from the ground up” hospital to be built in Northeast Ohio in 28 years. 

It will have fewer beds than Lake East, but all rooms will be private, which means that it will actually be able to accommodate more patients, says spokesman Gary Robinson.  And it will have all the latest medical and information technology, something Lake East could not accommodate. 

Robinson:  “In terms of the kind of technology that’s available today, you’re just not able to retrofit that into older buildings.  So with Tri-Pointe Medical center we were able to put the latest digital technology into the facility.”

Painesville had struggled to convince the Lake Health System to build the new facility in Painesville, but it was decided the more natural and spacious Concord site was a better choice.  LakeEast Hospital will be demolished, with plans on the drawing board to fill the space with new homes and businesses. 

Opponents say Issue 2 is an attempt to head off efforts by animal rights groups like the Humane Society to establish, through their own ballot issues, standards for animal care. 

Ward 14 Councilman Joe Cimperman is among those who have pushed for the resolution.  He says urban farming is becoming more prevalent, and the proposal represents only large rural agriculture interests. 

“It takes power out of the Ohio Department of Agriculture and puts it in the hands of people who are appointed,” Cimperman said, “and does it in a way that I think smacks of big business basically dictating what food policy should be.”

Supporters of Issue 2 say farmers are committed to humane animal care, but that the demands of animal rights activists are extreme, and undermine efficiency in the livestock industry.

Conversation was often animated, as in this exchange when the Mayor charged the proposal was crafted for the state constitution; only to ‘protect’ casino owners in the future.

MAYOR JAY WILLIAMS: “There is no way on earth this creates anything other than a monopoly. That’s why it’s in the state constitution. You can’t have legislative action amend the constitution (Gilbert interjects, argues they could repeal this...)
ends: (Williams) it was difficult to get this amendment… Ohioans have shot it down four times.”

Gilbert calls the strict language a `protection’ for Ohio taxpayers, while also defending charges the state charged too little for gaming licenses, which have sold in PA and NY for up to eight times Ohio’s $50 million fee.

But Gilbert did say that should Issue Three lose, he would not stand in the way of another effort to choose casino operators.

DAN GILBERT: “It’s a well thought out proposal that we think is going to pass and make sense. If it doesn’t, I’m not going to give up on Cleveland and everything else that we’re doing here. I’m in it for the long haul.”

Issue three is endorsed by labor groups, the state police union, and several big city newspapers - opposed by Senators Brown and Voinovich, religious groups, and casino operators in Michigan and West Virginia.

Rick Jackson, 90.3.}

State officials in Ohio said last week that some 13,000 jobs have been saved or created here with stimulus dollars.  But we’re told that’s just a fragmentary figure; a lot of things weren’t counted and most of the stimulus money hasn’t been spent yet. 

Confused?  So are we.  But ideastream® reporter Ida Lieszkovszky has been trying to figure out just what all these numbers mean.

Now, with backing of both towns’ mayors and city councils, 190 acres of Girard’s land is being annexed by Youngstown - but with a tax-sharing plan that guarantees benefits for both cities.

The deal will give Girard 55% of the income taxes generated at the plant, but the border adjustment means Girard will lose 40% of its zoned industrial land. Girard Mayor James Melfi says the city is giving up a lot; but the change for his town also meant considering what is best for the region.

JAMES MELFI: “We recognize the fact that this was possibly a once-in-a-lifetime situation and that we had to make it happen, but we had to do our job, we couldn’t shortchange our community.”

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams points to the regional impact of 400 new permanent jobs and up to 700 construction jobs.
But even with the agreement, it’s not certain V&M Star will come through.  Williams says it’s still weighing the Youngstown site against one or two others. 

JAY WILLIAMS: “We feel that we would be more competitive than any of the other sites, but even if ultimately this project isn’t built here, we now have a site that is ready to accept other economic development issues that would still be of benefit to the community.”

V&M is expected to decide on a site by year’s end.

Both city leaders say the bigger victory is the example set here for co-operation among other towns in Northeast Ohio.

Rick Jackson, 90.3.

The group is criss-crossing the state to alert voters to the potential impact on `their’ livelihood.

Patty Rebman is a third generation owner of one of Lorain’s largest entertainment centers - built around its 48 bowling lanes. She’s studied the research of casino impact in other states, including a Hiram College report released at the end of September.... and she’s scared.

PATTY REBMAN: “Yes I want jobs, but I want to keep my customers. I’m afraid of them bowling a couple of nights a week, they might say, `Ahhh, I won’t be doing that any longer’, so less and less people come into the bowling center… obviously less business for us.”

Owners of similar entertainment operations, bars, and restaurants gathered in Cleveland to reiterate the negative aspects of casinos highlighted by the Hiram report - and to question why the state legislature isn’t looking at more options for gambling.

David Corey heads the Coin Machine, AND Bowling Center Associations of Ohio.
He fears the state is handing out monopolies to the casino’s future owners.

DAVID COREY: “It’s important to create a strategy in Ohio. Just not have one idea, but a balanced, fair, expanded gaming strategy, that will give the state a good deal, Ohioans a good deal, and homegrown local businesses an opportunity to share in the potential rewards.”

The group contends that much of the cash collected in casinos is homegrown as well - they point to research indicating 80-90% of the money spent, will come from Ohioans, not from tourists.

Rick Jackson, 90.3

Raising taxes rarely brings cheers from a crowd but Monique Menifee gladly joined a group chanting to do just that at a rally at tower city Friday.  Issue four - is a proposed levy that would substantially increase what county homeowners contribute to the Cuyahoga Community College budget.  Menifee is a student there.

Tri-c president Jerry Sue Thornton was at the rally too ....explaining that the state is cutting its support for community colleges and the decline in property values also has reduced what they’ll have to operate on ....without the tax hike.

DR. JERRY SUE THORNTON: “ It’s not that we would have to do slight changes if this levy does not pass; it’s major changes. It would be a very different college.”

The cuts have come at a time when enrollment at tri-c is growing as the newly unemployed flock back to school.  Thornton says the school has already trimmed costs in the facing of rising demand for its services. 

The change ...if voters approve...would translate into an 18 dollar tax increase for every 100,000 dollars in home value. 

Rick Jackson, 90.3.

GARY THOMPSON: We ask where they live.  And when they give their address, it turns out they’re in the Township.  So, we say, “We’d love to help you, but you’re not in our jurisdiction.”

For the better part of two centuries, Olmsted Falls and Olmsted Township have been separate communities --- on paper.  But, they have more in common than just their names.  They already share the same school system, the same churches, the same zip code.  And in about three weeks, area residents will vote on the idea of taking that one step further --- the creation of a commission to study the idea of merging. For Township native Jeanine Kress, there are all sorts of reasons to merge.

JEANINE KRESS: Economies of scale would be one.  But, there are other issues, including clout in Washington and Columbus.  Being a bigger city, that could be a relevant issue. 

As it is, Olmsted Township residents have watched neighboring cities nibble away at them for years.  For instance, Berea was able to annex land along a major industrial corridor because the city offered landowners improved services and waterlines that the Township wasn’t able to provide.  Local historian Bruce Banks says that when they lost that land, they also lost revenue.

BRUCE BANKS: The tax base keeps shrinking, because you have less real estate tax, so it gets more and more challenging, the smaller you get. 

But, Banks says not everyone in Olmsted Township …population 10,500… is so sure that banding together with the Falls…population 8,000… will be to their benefit. 

BRUCE BANKS: Some of the people in the Township feel that their control of their destiny will be diluted if we become part of something bigger.

This isn’t the first time a merger between the Township and Olmsted Falls has been proposed.  Several previous attempts have failed to win over the public but more may be willing to at least consider the idea this time.  Longtime Township trustee Karen Straka has opposed past merger efforts, but says she won’t stand in the way of residents who would like to see the issue studied.

KAREN STRAKA: I support the people’s right to vote on the issue, and I’ll help them in anyway I can, but I don’t feel there’s an overall financial benefit for a merger to take place.

Olmsted Falls mayor Bob Blomquist is more upbeat about the prospects.  By conducting a merger study, he thinks that these two small communities could be trail blazers that others would emulate.

ROBERT BLOMQUIST: It would be the perfect case study.  As the region looks to consolidation, as it looks to combinations of different ways to deliver government services, we could answer a lot of broader questions, and perhaps demonstrate a little leadership to the rest of the county and to the region.

Voters from the Falls and the Township will decide November 3rd whether or not they want to be part of such a case study. 

Then, last week and without warning, the company abruptly shut down.

ROTHACKER: I knew things were tough for the company. I didn’t know they were that tough.

Greg Rothacker was an InkStop store manager for nearly two years. He got a call late last Thursday that he wouldn’t be going to work the next day. And…he wouldn’t be getting the more than $2000 in back pay he earned the past few weeks.

Now, he and fellow-manager Brian Wolf stand outside Rothacker’s former store in Strongsville.

There’s no note to customers on the door telling them of the closure: only a few stickers from UPS drivers who were, understandably, unable to deliver shipments. For Rothacker, it’s kind of gallows humor.

ROTHACKER: As you can see, over on the door, our InkStop brand ink is 75% off. Don’t know how you’re going to take advantage of that deal, but good luck to you if you can.

Rothacker says the first warning sign that things weren’t totally rosy at InkStop was a dwindling supply of ink. There hadn’t been a shipment since June.

ROTHACKER: Or as Brian put it, “Ink Stopped.”

Still, he believed the company’s assurances that everything was OK.

Now, locked out and laid off, Rothacker and Wolf spend their days applying for jobs online.

For Wolf, even the 40 mile trek to see his mother gives him pause. 

WOLF: I’m forty years old. The last thing I want to do is ask my mom for gas money. (let bite breathe for a second)

Rothacker was about to become a homeowner.

ROTHACKER: The doors closed at InkStop on Friday, Saturday we got a call from a realtor saying the bank finally approved our offer, and it was such a heartbreaker for my wife and I.

He has five days to find a job or the deal is off.

That’s why these two Ohioans don’t want to hear that the recession is finished.

WOLF: They say the recession’s ending, the recession’s over, we’re out of the woods, we’re out of the dark, you can hear the munchkins singing now, and the answer is wrong! If you look around, you see a lot more of this happening. 

Indeed. So far this year, there’ve been 170 mass layoffs in Ohio. 

Those charges would cover the cost of the bulbs and delivery, plus a portion of revenue first Energy would lose as a result of the reduced sale of electricity.

Speaking on 90.3 this morning, First Energy spokeswoman Ellen Raines justified the program, saying that the law allows the company to recoup revenue lost as a result of a state mandate. 

Raines:  “Can you think of another business that is mandated to sell less of its product?  And if so, would you not consider that there’s a cost associated with that?  That cost is not recovered forever, but for some limited amount of time to allow that company to adjust.  I think that was the thinking behind this.”

Word of the program hit the newspapers on Wednesday.  By the end of the day the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio had received nearly 13 hundred complaints by phone and email, and Governor Strickland and several lawmakers asked that it be suspended.  Raines says the next step is to sit down with the PUCO. 

Raines:  “This program had been approve, but based on some of the reaction, the reaction that we’ve all seen, we’re going to take a look at it and discuss with the commission what our next steps should be.  There hasn’t any decisions to postpone the program at this point, but we’re going to get those conversations underway.”

Bill Rice, 90.3. 

Gilbert:  “It’s another way for us to compete against the other states around us that all have casinos, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan and now even Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh.  And thousands of people every day are leaving and voting with their feet.  And we’re not getting any economic benefit from it, no job creation and no tax money.”

Brian Rothenberg ...another guest on the call-in program...is Executive Director of Progress Ohio, which is full force opposed to Issue 3.  little good can come of it, he says, arguing that gambling is a vice that, once it takes hold, can drain both residents and the local economy.  . 

When you go into a casino you’re spending a lot of money.  People’s incomes are set.  People in the city of Cleveland and in that surrounding area are struggling financially.  Average incomes are going down in that area.  And when you’re dealing with that and people start spending money in a casino as opposed to in local restaurants and local entertainment….  It can really hurt the economy. 

Rothenberg says he isn’t just relying on his own analysis.  He cites NATIONAL studies on the detrimental social effects casinos can have. 

Rothenberg:  “The gambling National Security, Terrorism and Military Readiness Study, it’s by the U.S. International Gambling Report, these are all studies that were sworn before Congress, shows that bankruptcy costs go up 1.5 million dollars every year because of problem gambling.”

Supporters of casino gambling have their own studies to buttress their arguments.  For example, does gambling spur increases in crime?  Dan Gilbert says not according to the numbers he’s seen. 

Gilbert:  “When you do it proportionally, crime will actually go down on a proportional basis.  You have 8 million more people coming to an area, if you look at it in raw numbers there’s going to be a difference, but if you look at it as a proportion it actually goes down.”

Also joining the conversation was Christopher Diehl, executive director of the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative at Kent State University, who takes a generally dim view of casinos.  he framed the challenge this way. 

Diehl:  “Is there a way to have a casino integrated into a downtown without killing it?  And so far I haven’t seen evidence of any situation that hasn’t actually been to the detriment of restaurants and hotels and city life because they gravitate to the hotels or casino where the restaurants are and avoid the vibrancy of E 4th Street and the vibrancy of Playhouse Square or the Warehouse district.”

Gilbert acknowledges casinos can cause problems if not planned right.  He agrees that most aren’t, but says this time will be different. 

Gilbert:  “Our whole intent her is integrate this, work with the best architects and urban oplanners in the world to make sure this is a boom for downtown.  It does the exact opposite of what people fear.”

SOUND: (ACOUSTIC GUITAR UNDER) The livestock we raise are healthy and well-cared for, because they feed our families and yours.  Let’s keep it that way. 

The way to “keep farm animals healthy and well-cared for,” the ad says is to vote amend the state constitution with Issue 2 which would create a new regulatory agency to oversee the standards and practices of livestock farming.  It would cover chickens, pigs, cattle and the like.

Issue 2 has the backing of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation - the state’s largest farm industry association.  Jack Fisher is (? President).

JACK FISHER:  We’re very committed to the highest quality of animal care for all of our food production animals.  We were seeing an erosion and some challenges to our efficiency and to the quality of our food production system, led by activists who were looking at our industry with a single point of reference.

Paul Shapiro is one of those “activists.” He’s (what position and organization) and he says Issue 2 isn’t about protecting animals at all…..  it’s about protecting the status quo.

PAUL SHAPIRO: It’s essentially creating an industry-dominated council that would allow the foxes to guard the hen house.

Shapiro and Fisher were guests on Tuesday’s Sound of Ideas call-in program on 90.3 explaining why a food industry lobby says it wants more regulation while a group dedicated to humane treatment of animals is against it.  Normally, those positions would be reversed. 

Here’s the backdrop.  Animal rights supporters have been winning battles in some states….California being the latest…to more strictly proscribe the conditions farm animals can be raised under, requiring that all animals at least be able to turn around in their cage and be able to spread their limbs.  Currently, it’s not uncommon for chickens, for example, to be packed so tightly that they never can spread their wings and so-called “gestation crates” highly restrict the movement of pregnant sows.

Having succeeded elsewhere, the Humane Society began to target Ohio next.  That spurred the Farm Bureau and its allies to take a pre-emptive step. 

JACK FISHER:  Your choice of what you eat and what’s available is at stake here.

The constitutional amendment the Farm Bureau wants would establish a livestock review board that would be dominated mainly by farmers and others sympathetic to their needs.  Paul Shapiro thinks that’s a terrible idea.

PAUL SHAPIRO:  This is a real power grab, seeking not only to self-regulate but to put this in the constitution, which I think makes it an even more onerous proposal.

Candace Croney, a bioethicist from Ohio State University and another guest on the Sound of Ideas said both sides have valid points…but that both the Farm Bureau and the Humane Society are presenting oversimplified views of a complicated issue.

CANDACE CRONEY: The idea that animals should be more comfortable and have more freedom to move around is an idea that every behaviorist I know would probably support.  The problem is that, to meet that reasonable request, requires retrofitting existing facilities that actually is really expensive. 

That is the nub of the argument.  That giving greater protection to farm animals ….could cost farmers millions.  Recognizing that financial strain, contending faction in other states have compromised, including phasing in new regulation.  That hasn’t happened here.

Matthew: Right when you come home, can we practice football in our yard? 

They talk about their homework.

David: Well, I did do 20 minutes of reading, and I didn’t have any math.

And they say a prayer together.

Caitlin: Amen. Good night dad, I love you.

The only thing that makes tuck-in at the Gentry household different is that Christopher Gentry is talking to his kids through the phone. He commutes long distance, 350 miles one-way, for a job in the capitol. 

Chris: My job in D.C. has kept us living here, it’s supported her business. So it’s something I’m very blessed and thankful for, the downside is that it’s in Washington D.C.

Gentry took an I.T. job at the Veteran’s Benefits Administration in February, two weeks after he was laid off from the Cleveland Clinic. He spends the week in D.C., and flies home for the weekend.

I caught up with Chris Gentry’s when he was home in Sagamore Hills for the weekend. A plastic bag on the kitchen counter holds all the papers and quizzes the kids want their dad to see. During the week they keep in touch through text messages, e-mails, and digital photos. Tammy Gentry says that although the past few months have been pretty tough, overall they feel lucky. 

Tammy: I’m so thankful that he has the job he does and that he’s employed and that we have the means to do things, our lifestyle has not changed, so to speak. It’s become challenging to keep the family together like we want it to be. You have to set your expectations to reality.

And the Gentry’s aren’t the only ones. Chris’ roommate in D.C. also commutes from Hudson, Ohio. Another acquaintance, Russell Montgomery, commutes to Chicago every week. He stuck with the same company, but gets paid more at his Chicago job. He says it’s worth getting up at 4 a.m. every Monday for the long commute, and he doesn’t mind putting in extra hours at work so he can spend his weekends with his family in Sagamore Hills.

Russ: It’s usually pretty long days during the week because I don’t have anything else to do while I’m here other than go back to the hotel.

Alan Pisarski is a transportation consultant and the author of a series of books called “Commuting in America.” He says that while such extreme commutes are still the exception, it is becoming more common. And the recession is certainly, at least in part, to blame.

Pisarski: Because the times are tough and you’ve maybe had to wait 6 or 10 weeks to find a job you may just be willing to take that job that’s that long commute away.

According to the Census Bureau, more than 3 million Americans commute over 50 miles for their jobs. For Chris Gentry, his long distance commute will probably continue at least until next February, when his contract expires. His wife, Tammy says it’s the little things that make her miss her husband the most. Like getting into a little fender bender, or that time she found a hairy intruder in her garage.

Tammy: I come downstairs and I open the garage door and there’s a big raccoon in our garbage can and I’m like where’s my husband when I need him? Because, it’s just one of those, you know, husband moments. 

Tammy says she keeps her garage door shut now, at least until the weekend when her husband comes home.

Fishman:  “...an 18 story, nearly 500 thousand square foot office tower that will be the new corporate home for Tucker Ellis and West and Earnst and Young, a 550-car parking garage and 150 room boutique hotel in addition to 3 or 4 restaurants, a health club and a conference center.”

The developers expect to break ground on new construction this winter, and have the office tower ready for occupancy by the spring or summer of 2012.  The second phase of the project will center around new residential construction, which Fishman says can’t begin until capital markets improve and banks are more willing to lend. 

Dave Green, President of United Autoworkers Union Local 1714 says since GM emerged from bankruptcy, employees have adopted a new attitude. 

Green:  “I think there’s a whole new feeling now and respect for our jobs.  Also, there’s just a sense of urgency around this Cruze and excitement that we’re going to be a key player for General Motors.  We’re going to get this car right...”

The Lordstown facility had been running three shifts up until November of last year, but after the economy tanked and demand plummeted, it was shut down.  Now that the second shift is back up and running, it’s hoped that success on the part of the Cruze will eventually bring back the third shift. 

{Ford began producing one of it’s most enduring vehicles - the E-series van, commonly known as the Econoline, in the early 1960s at its Lorain and Avon Lake plants.  It’s long been a , but in 2005 reduced demand compelled Ford to close the Lorain plant and consolidate production in Avon Lake.  Now, with the commercial van market moving toward smaller, more fuel efficient models, the Econoline faces being taken out of production. 

Djeiczec:  Calendar year 2012 is the last year…

That’s Kirsten Djeiczec of the center For Automotive Research in Ann Arbor - citing a report by CSM worldwide, an automotive market forecasting firm. 

Ford has not confirmed the eventual demise of the Econoline, but Avon Lake officials hope that the plant can pick up an alternative: the Ford Transit - a small, four cylinder van that’s currently manufactured overseas.  But, Djeiczec says, Ford has a lot of choices, and communities with existing plants vying for the business. 

Djeicek:  Certainly Avon Lake would like to continue making the commercial vans for Ford.  there’s an SUV plant in kansas City that they’re product is going out and they would like it, there’s a small truck plant in Minneapolis/Saint paul, they’re losing their small truck, the Ranger.... 

Also, Djeiczec says, the Transit is built on the same design platform as the Ford Focus, and there are plants in in Kentucky and Michigan that could easily adapt. 

Avon Lake does have some advantages - it’s proximity to other Ford manufacturing facilities, plus a new, more environmentally friendly paint shop just completed in 2007. 

But much depends on what the state can offer in incentives to Ford to keep the plant open.  Steve Schoney, with the state department of Development, concedes that other states are also vying for the Transit. 

Schoney:  “It is a very competitive business.  Companies make their location decisions for a variety of reasons.  Some of it’s incentives, and there are a host of other things that go into it.”

State officials and Ford are keeping any negotiations under way close to the vest.

Bill Rice, 90.3. 

The companies, whose names are being kept confidential, indicated they could generate 80 million dollars in investment and add as many as 400 jobs. 

That’s just among those surveyed, says Frank DeTillion, President of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce. 

He says the economic turmoil of the last year has forced many owners and CEOs to rethink their business strategies.

DeTillion:  “One of the things that this recession has done is to put businesses in position to understand that they need to identify new sources of revenue, new customers, new processes, become more competitive.”

The survey results coincide with a report by PNC Group citing improvements in manufacturing orders and production in the region.  However, the company predicts further JOB losses in Northeast Ohio in 2010. 

Bill Rice, 90.3. 

That would affect 10 specific industries, including petroluem refiners, steel, glass, and aluminum makers - all prevalent in Ohio.
Combined, the targeted industries employ more than four million people nationally...about 195,000 in Ohio, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the Washington, D.C. based think tank that released today’s report that urges caution on emissions caps. 
Dr. Robert Scott, the principal author. 

DR. ROBERT SCOTT: “If we do the policies that we’re developing now; if we make them intellegently, if we do them well, they can support creation of millions of jobs in the United States, but if they’re done poorly, they’re a threat to a number of energy and greenhouse gas intensive manufacturing industries.”

Scott and some other analysts fear U.S. manufacturing companies might shift production to non-regulated nations with higher pollution levels, lowering their producting costs. The report says Ohio stands to lose more jobs from cap and trade than any other states except Texas and California.

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is one of five Democratic Senators who recently asked President Obama to slow all this down and conduct more study of the economic impact cap and trade could have on the U.S.  He cites today’s report as evidence that this route to pollution control needs a lot of reworking.

SENATOR SHERROD BROWN: “It makes no sense for a plant to be closed here because we followed the international climate rules, the international environmental rules, and open up in another country that doesn’t follow them. They should not be rewarded for that, because all of the world suffers as a result.”

The House passed cap and trade legislation in June; the Senate is still working on its version.

Business is booming at the Gypsy Beans coffee shop at 65th and Detroit, on Cleveland’s west side.  Through the window you can see workers planting trees, installing benches and laying colorful paver stones. The city has sunk three and a half million dollars into this spruce-up job, which has been timed to coincide with the re-opening of the historic Capitol movie theater, across the street.

NIKI GILOTTA:  I think the Capitol being here is huge.  I know it’s going to be huge for my business. 

Niki Gilotta opened Gypsy Beans four years ago when she learned of plans to redevelop this old working-class neighborhood into what’s been christened the Gordon Square Arts District.  The new movie house is the latest piece to the ever-expanding district, which includes the several stages that are part of Cleveland Public Theater and the Near West Community Theater.  The area also includes a number of art galleries, shops and restaurants. Niki Gilotta says her coffee shop has been reaping the benefits.

NIKI GILOTTA:  I think it’s this buzz of the Capitol getting opened, CPT, Near West --- everything’s coming here, so people want to be here.  It’s just been difficult to get here because of the construction (laughs).

John Gest clutches a cup of coffee as he eyes the workers reshaping his neighborhood.  An Admissions officer across town at Case Western Reserve University, Gest moved here last year.

JOHN GEST: I was looking to move into more of an urban environment.  A place where you could walk to shops, walk to cafes.  It could be a place where, on the weekend, I could drop my car off and not have to get in it again until Monday.

He’s also looking forward to being able to walk to his new neighborhood movie theater.  So, is Linda Eisenstein.

LINDA EISENSTEIN: I can’t wait.

She and her husband Bob Schnellbacher have found a two-seat table in the crowded café where they recall the far different neighborhood they moved to twenty years ago.

BOB SCHNELLBACHER:  It had reached its nadir, I think.

Linda nods.

LINDA EISENSTEIN:  We had to shoo away the prostitutes from the cars nearby.  And, for awhile, it was just very dark.

She credits the local community development group for the transformation. 

LINDA EISENSTEIN:  You cannot underestimate how powerful the Detroit-Shoreway Community Organization has been.  Buying up properties.  We had dodgy apartment buildings that they eventually took over, cleaned up.  Now, there’s a lot of new blood with the townhouses and condos.

But, it isn’t all gentrification.  There’s a mix of the new and the old, with upscale lofts being added to a stock of affordable, older homes.  A sly smile slips across Bob Schnellbacher’s face as he considers the long path his neighborhood has taken over the past couple of decades.

BOB SCHNELLBACHER:  Now, we have a problem.  We have to keep the yuppies out.

VALERIE McCALL:  We had the weight of everybody --- the governor was involved, every council member, the General Assembly, our senators, our congress people, and pretty much said, “nothing beats a failure like a try.  And if we don’t try, we’ll never know.”

One of the judges was Darl Schaaff, who headed the site selection committee that visited the three finalist cities, this summer. 

DARL SCHAAFF: I came there without any pre-conceived notion, and I said, “You know, Boston’s a bidder and Washington’s a bidder, and those are big cities that I’ve been to, and Cleveland’s going to really have to live up to some big shoes.” And, I was blown away.  I thought it was the most amazing place.  I loved it.

Dan Williams of Positively Cleveland --- the local convention and visitor’s bureau --- says the Gay Games dwarfs any other sporting event the city has hosted.  Williams estimates attendance will be in excess of 100,000 people. 

DAN WILLIAMS: You know, you’re going to have people here, they’re going to be in our hotels, our restaurants, and this is going to extend down to Akron, go out to all the suburbs.  The people are going to be in our museums --- they’re going to be everywhere

The Cleveland Synergy Foundation, which organized the city’s bid, will now focus on ironing out the dozens of details involved in coordinating sporting venues from Cleveland to Akron for 34 events that will take place over a two week period in the summer of 2014.

The argument is that if BOA shareholders had known about that and huge bonuses about to be handed over to Merrill executives, they might have voted the merger down.

Among those shareholders were the pension funds for teachers and other public employees in Ohio.

Paul Rose is a securities law expert at the Ohio State University and he says this case is, in a sense, Main Street versus Wall Street.

ROSE: This case is an opportunity for a lot of folks to express their displeasure with the way Wall Street has been doing business.

Attorney General Richard Cordray wants to get some of those lost billions back-though Cordray doesn’t say exactly how much.

Rose of OSU says the suit has merit, but there’s at least a tinge of politics here.

ROSE: You see the attorney general really drawing attention to the fact he’s bringing this case, you can’t help think there’s some political motivation behind that. But even if there’s political motivation, this is the kind of case he would pursue and that he should be obligated to be interested in.

Ohio’s attorney general isn’t the one going after Bank of America. Andrew Cuomo of New York charges the firm committed securities fraud. Bank of America says it disclosed all the information required and says it’s confident it will prevail in court.

Grunenwald:  We end up with a very competitive aquarium compared to those around the country and we can do it in a way that’s economical because we’re starting with the shell of a very beautiful building as well as the necessary parking and the amphitheatre which we expect to use for aquatic events and shows related to the aquarium as well as a quarter mile boardwalk

Grunenwald says they hope to start construction early next year, and to open the facility by next summer.  The aquarium is projected to bring 40 jobs to the flats, and between 9 and 27 million dollars in annual profits once completed.