Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Lancaster Eagle Gazette

State allocates $359K of federal stimulus to Lancaster


BY JOE GIESSLER ?• The Eagle-Gazette Staff ?• March 27, 2009


LANCASTER - The City of Lancaster has been awarded about $359,000 worth of stimulus money for transportation-related projects.

Lancaster Department of Transportation Superintendent Toby Shamblin said the stimulus money will upgrade current systems and repair other problems such as the roof, which leaks.

''This money was needed to support our public transit system,'' Shamblin said. ''As with all government entities we are operating on a smaller budget. This helps us maintain the quality of service the people of Lancaster deserve.''

Most of the local money will be used to purchase two new transit vehicles, renovate offices and vehicle storage facilities, and repaving the parking lot for the transit building at 819 Lawrence St.

More than 21,000 jobs will be created as federal economic stimulus dollars flow into Ohio to fully or partially fund 149 transportation-related projects in nearly all of the state's counties, Gov. Ted Strickland said Thursday.

Strickland announced a list of priority projects, from roadways to port improvements, that he said likely never would have been funded without the help of $774 million in federal stimulus money.

Lancaster Safety Service Director Mike Courtney is happy to see projects, which were postponed because of budget cuts, receive funding.

''There hasn't been additional dollars for these projects in the past couple of years,'' Courtney said. ''And quite honestly, I don't see when we would have had those additional funds in the immediate future.''

He said local contractors will be hired for the stimulus projects whenever possible.
Lancaster Mayor Dave Smith said the capital improvements made now, will save the taxpayers later.

''It doesn't reduce current expenditures (in the 2009 budget),'' Smith said. ''It allows us to make capital improvements that over time will reduce operational costs.''

Strickland's announcement comes on the same day the U.S. Department of Energy announced more than $84 million for Ohio cities that submit projects to improve energy efficiency.

The City of Lancaster has been allocated $163,000 for commercial and residential energy efficient projects.

Information from the Associated Press contributed to this story.


By BB

DId the boat leave without us?

Here are some facts:

Population of Pickerington 16,000

Population of Violet Township 19,000

Combined population 35,000


Population of Lancaster 38,000

They have applied for and received a stimulus payout of $365,000 for transportation needs. They are going to use some of that money to fix a leaking roof. Not sure what else they will spend this money on if any is left over after the roof.

Now I am not advocating that our city/township have a public transportation system modeled after Lancaster. What I am saying is that they are receiving dollars from a higher government and our residents are paying for some of the improvements that these Lancaster residents ?“deserve?”. The simple fact here is if we had a larger governmental footprint we could demand more and receive more when these funds become available.

I guess my question to the Pickerington government why didn?’t Pickerington apply for funds? I think you can drive all over the city and see that in most areas where development is going on that sidewalks have not been completed. These are places where the right of way is in the city?’s name and the engineering would not take five years to complete. I am sure if you looked at the site plans of these projects the sidewalks are already drawn into the plans. I haven?’t heard any discussion or read any discussion about putting in sidewalks in commercial places that are simply left open now because the vacant lot has not developed. A good example of this is along Refugee down from North High School. The sidewalk stops waiting on the properties to develop. When the school district cuts back are they expecting the kids to walk on the roadway of Refugee road?

It is obvious that our grandkids are going to be paying for the Lancaster transit system?’s new roof yet they will still be walking on the streets here in Pickerington and Violet Township. I think a merged consolidated government up in this corner of the county would present a stronger and louder voice to demand some of our tax dollars sent back up our way. I Believe the more urban we get the more of these problems will start to surface. I will have more later on us getting the short end of our tax dollars but that will come in due time.


By BB

They did!

I talked to a council woman and she said everything that the city could apply for, they did. Apparently Picktown could not generate the number of jobs to qualify for big money but they did get some for smaller projects.

You should really be asking these questions to elected officials or city staff and not post them on a website no ones reads.

gee compare

Lancaster and the Pickerington area are apples and oranges!

Comparatively our area per capita has been hit less by the downturns in the economy over the last 25 years than Lancaster.

I am sure there are a few in Lancaster who think that the Pickerington/Violet area is the rich people begging when they come and want county money etc etc to support infrastructure. they are likely right if you compare them side by side.

I think there are bigger things right now than to worry to protect our school district. It seems to me that the ''doughnut hole'' in columbus is growing out east, you can see that it moved from roots in the Livingston Ave area through Reynoldsburg to Reynoldsburd High school and also from the Livingston area through brice road up tussing road then down 256 and parts of Diley.

Things look quite different than ten years ago and if this trend accelerates in ten more years people will be moving to Baltimore.