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The Louie b. Free Show for October 09, 2009
Archive
Listen to this show in the archives Part One - Part Two - Part ThreeShow Schedule
US1
Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts
Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us about Humanity
Gay Bradshaw is founder and Executive Director of The Kerulos Center and president and co-founder of the Trans-species Institute.
Her founding of the field of trans-species psychology—the theory and practice animal psychological rehabilitation and conservation—began with the discovery of PTSD in wild elephant. She has written about this in her forthcoming book, Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us About Humanity (Yale University Press, 2009).
Her research has been featured in numerous media, including ABC 20/20, Stern, National Geographic, New York Times, Time, New Scientist, Nature, and the London Telegraph. Much of her research focuses on the effects of violence on and trauma recovery of parrots, elephants, and chimpanzees in captivity. Her area of specialization is elderly individuals who have suffered capture and captivity.
Statement From Mike Costarella
Regionalization is important to attract future opportunities to the valley.
(Lessons Learned from the Briar Hill Industrial Park Agreement)
Based on the state of joblessness in the US and the Mahoning Valley, I will most likely reluctantly vote on this latest agreement between Girard and Youngstown once I read the final details of it. Though I feel it is far from fair and equitable, I have great empathy for those people of the Mahoning Valley who have lost their jobs and are desperately searching for work. I also feel the plight of both Youngstown and Girard in terms of fiscal deficiencies. I hope I do not regret this vote in the future, but for those reasons I am inclined affirm the agreement.
I do have issues with the agreement and the process leading up to it that I would not like to repeat in future agreements of this nature. Some of these issues are discussed below.
Boundary Change VS JEDD
JEDD and JEDZ were added to the Ohio state constitution to allow for tax sharing opportunities in areas where existing municipal boundaries prohibit growth and expansion of business. The agreement between Girard and Youngstown did not form one of these constructs in this deal. This is a problem for the structure and possible legality of this agreement.
In a JEDD, when two cities have differing income tax rates, by design, the lower rate is to be applied. Girard's income tax is 2.0 and Youngstown's is 2.75. The reason our state legislature chose to apply the lower rate in this situation is that the fundamental reason for a JEDZ is to attract economic activity. It is illogical to assume that businesses want to pay higher income tax rates than they need to. Although, in this case it appears we were lucky with V&M on a situational basis.
We, as civic leaders, should openly discuss the possibilities for these areas prior to the actual process of business attraction. This will allow us as a region to be prepared for opportunities as they arise. It will also allow time to perform due diligence and public input necessary for these agreements to go uncontested. For example, I still have not seen an official map and legal description of the land to be transferred from Girard to Youngstown.
General Communication Issues Have Created Problems that can be avoided
When this current deal was first announced in the news I was interested but concerned. I was concerned because, as a voting member of an involved legislature, I was hearing more about it in the press than I did during council meetings. Whether that was in executive or general session. I made attempts both locally and at congressional levels to obtain information I felt might be necessary for me to make a responsible vote that I felt would be inevitable. My attempts were rebuffed. I was told that all was good, I could not be in the loop, and something good was in it for everyone. This left me very unsettled. Then I get a call from one of the same entities I had made inquiries to earlier. They indicated that if I did not vote for a boundary change, I would be blamed for stopping this deal and the jobs it may produce. This was in the first week of August during Girard’s scheduled council break. A deadline of three weeks for an agreement was also imposed. This immediately put me in a defensive and skeptical posture. One thing I have never thought of myself, as was a “rubber stamp”.
My point in saying all this is that, in the future, each of the cities or townships involved must make great efforts to inform all voting and administrative members. Do not assume that the administrator of another town will do your communicating for you. Do not assume the politics of one town is that of another. Otherwise distrust, intense pressure, and scrutiny will ensue.
Shovel Ready?
I would like to preface this next topic by saying that I am incredibly happy that the federal government in now more interested in cleaning up industrially polluted areas such as the one associated with the Brier Hill Industrial Park.
However, with the introduction of TARP funds that funneled into ARRA funds to Ohio came the responsibility of having projects in the works so that jobs may be created which would quickly help the economy. Although, this project was presented at a state and federal level to be “shovel ready”, it is clear by the sequence of events preceding this agreement that this project was not “shovel ready”. A majority of the pressure and compromise to fill in the missing details to make it so fell onto the city of Girard. This should definitely be noted and avoided in the future.
A Man Called Meadows
by Bernard Schaefer
----a book signing today and tommorow at
Larry Towell 
World renowned harmonica player, Mike Stevens.
