Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I was wondering what is happening with this JEDD and where it is at? I recently read that another public hearing is going to be scheduled. When is that hearing? I also read that there are some critics of the proposed JEDD agreement. Like normal the local newspapers are very weak in explaining the issues at this level. What does all of the cooperation bring to our community? I hear the rhetoric but very little substance to back up the rhetoric.

Has anyone else got questions and what are they?

By Average Joe taxpayer

JEDD

JEDD stands for the following -

Jeff Fix
Expects
Dollars and
Donations for his re-election campaign

By Joe

Shouldn't we think this one out?

We hear all of the accolades of the local officials on how these cooperative efforts will help us and our tax burdens. Please recall the campaign promises made on how these efforts will provide ?“MILLIONS?” to our local economy. Isn?’t Canal Winchester held up as a shining example of the result of the fine work our Violet Twp trustees are doing? Yet with only a third of the students that PLSD has they seem to be faced with the very same problems we have without the commercial development. I would think long and hard about this one:



Canal Winchester schools
High-schoolers being assigned new bus routes
If latest levy fails, stops won't just be consolidated, they will be eliminated
Saturday, January 26, 2008 3:06 AM

By Jim Woods

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Canal Winchester students who take the bus to school must adjust to new route changes starting Friday.
High-school students will be picked up at nine stops, some of which are miles away from their homes. Students from kindergarten through the eighth grade will have their bus stops consolidated into collection points up to a half-mile from their houses.
The consolidated routes are expected to save about $20,000 for the remainder of this school year. The district, which has 3,450 students, covers 32 square miles in Franklin and Fairfield counties.
Superintendent Kimberley Miller-Smith and the school board required the bus-route changes after an operating levy was defeated in November.
Bev Hockman, Canal Winchester's transportation supervisor, spent countless hours planning new routes, packing into days what normally takes all summer to do.
''We have consolidated as much as we can,'' Hockman said.
The school board originally threatened to halt busing for high-school students if the levy failed.
But Miller-Smith and the board decided it was best to retain high-school busing for the rest of this school year.
High-school busing will be axed for the 2008-2009 school year if an operating levy which would raise $3.7 million annually fails on March 4, Miller-Smith said. The 8.9-mill levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $273 more per year in property taxes.
State law requires school districts to bus students who live more than 2 miles from a school.
But Canal Winchester's standard is for students who live more than a mile from a school to be bused, Miller-Smith said. Canal Winchester has some rural areas with no sidewalks, making it difficult for students to walk.
The district recently opened its new middle school on 7155 Parkview Drive off Lithopolis Road. Nearly all of the students who attend the middle school have to be bused because they live more than a mile away, Miller-Smith said.
Miller-Smith said she has received a few phone calls on the issue. Parents and students have been informed by mail of the changes with their routes.
There probably will be more calls come Friday.
Genevieve Bates said she will have to take her two children, who are in kindergarten and second grade, halfway to Indian Trail Elementary School.
''I don't see the logic,'' Bates said. ''I am sure it saves a few cents on gas, but not a lot.''
Bates said she also understands the district is under financial pressure.
''I work in a small company and I know business is business,'' Bates said. ''But it doesn't seem like a good move when one of the first major cuts hurts students physically if they have to stand at a bus stop.''
jwoods@dispatch.com





By Average Joe taxpayer

working together already exists

I think before we all jump into the water we should see if there are any crocodiles in the water first. What effort will this five party JEDD agreement have on this newly formed alliance? Clearly it seemed to have been coming for a long time now and we form our own group.




CORRIDOR MARKETING

Rt. 33 team ready to bag businesses
Saturday, January 26, 2008 3:01 AM
By Robert Paschen

THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS

A group that is working to bring business and industry to the Rt. 33 corridor in Fairfield County soon will move from the talking phase into action.

The fledgling Fairfield 33 Development Alliance plans to spend $1.25 million during the next five years on marketing and other efforts aimed at attracting commerce.
''We'll be in the marketplace in the second quarter 2008,'' as soon as a newly appointed board of directors formalizes its priorities and approves a budget, said Chris Agnitsch, president of the Lancaster Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce.

Agnitsch said he expects the group's priorities to include developing marketing materials, launching a Web site, attending trade shows and identifying business prospects that might be a good fit for Fairfield County and, more specifically, the area along Rt. 33 between Canal Winchester and Lancaster.

The alliance's mission is not only to attract business but to strengthen existing employers and support the area's work force by attracting companies that will use the products and services of existing companies and providing job opportunities to area residents, he said.
To fund the marketing push, the alliance's public-sector partners -- Canal Winchester, Pickerington and Lancaster; Fairfield County; and Bloom, Greenfield and Violet townships -- have pledged a combined $500,000 in the next five years.
The alliance's goal is to raise an additional $750,000 from the private sector. So far, $312,750 has been pledged.

''We hope to make significant progress wrapping up fundraising in the next six weeks,'' Agnitsch said.

Initially, the alliance will target warehouses and distribution centers, Agnitsch said.
Chris Strayer, Canal Winchester's development director, said the organization also is likely to focus on light industrial, office and manufacturing developments.
Those areas are particularly attractive because of the ''high-paying jobs and also property taxes,'' he said.

The group hopes to tap the air and other transportation-hub capabilities available in the Rickenbacker Airport area.

''Retail is a possibility, but it has not been discussed,'' he said.

Strayer said Columbus has been ''over-retailed,'' and he doesn't want to see that happen in the Rt. 33 corridor.

The alliance is after ''a good mix'' of commerce.
According to recent studies by the Ohio Department of Development and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, the combined population of Canal Winchester, Pickerington and Violet Township will nearly double -- to about 80,000 -- by 2030.
The Ohio Department of Transportation predicts the same for traffic. An agency study last summer said typical traffic growth in Ohio is 2 percent per year. Along Rt. 33 between Canal Winchester and Lancaster, traffic is increasing at twice that rate.
Agnitsch said alliance members are committed to ''thinking regionally'' and avoiding squabbles over the specific locations of new companies.

''Every business has specific needs, and every alliance community has specific advantages,'' he said. ''If someone is interested in being close to Columbus, they may choose Canal Winchester. Someone wants access to rail? They may choose Lancaster. Someone who wants cheaper land may choose the county.
''There are so many variables.''

rpaschen@ thisweeknews.com

The group will first go after warehouses and distribution centers, but it also will seek light-industrial, office and manufacturing businesses for the corridor.



By Average Joe taxpayer