YOUNGSTOWN U.S. government should buy NOCC, Taft urges

The governor said a new car line for GM Lordstown is his top economic priority.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Gov. Bob Taft is asking the federal government to buy Northeast Ohio Correctional Center.
"It appears to me that the acquisition of the NOCC by the Federal Bureau of Prisons would quickly assist in alleviating crowding in the federal prison system and utilize a trained work force familiar with an existing prison operation," Taft wrote Wednesday to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Taft and members of his Cabinet are in Youngstown today for a meeting. Officials from Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties and local business leaders were to attend and make presentations at Youngstown State University's Beeghly College of Education.
Announcement: Corrections Corporation of America told the city Friday that it may close NOCC in August if it does not get a new contract for inmates. There are about 350 prisoners in the 2,106-bed prison.
CCA announced last month it would reduce its 449-member work force by 45 percent and gave out 60-day termination notices Wednesday to the remaining 249 workers.
The prison had an annual payroll of about $11 million and paid the city about $250,000 in income tax last year.
"I am very concerned about the serious economic impact on Youngstown and the Mahoning County community the closing of this facility would represent," Taft wrote to Ashcroft. "As such, I am writing this letter to request the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to give serious consideration to purchasing the facility."
Steel industry: Taft also sent a letter Wednesday to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick requesting a federal investigation into the impact of foreign steel on the domestic steel industry.
In the letter, Taft said the investigation is the only option left to save the ailing U.S. steel industry.
Four Ohio steel companies -- including CSC Ltd. of Warren -- have filed for bankruptcy protection in recent months.
Steel officials blame foreign companies that flood the U.S. market with steel sold at prices below production cost, known as dumping.
Taft says he has done what he can in recent months to help the steel industry in Ohio, including making $110 million available in state grants and loans, but the federal government needs to step in.
Other visits: Besides the YSU stop, Taft was to visit the Youngstown Business Incubator to discuss how the facility can attract technology-based businesses. He then was to go to Boardman Township Park, where he was to announce more than $500,000 in state and federal grants for 14 park projects in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties.
His final public stop was to be at Kent State University Trumbull Campus to give the school $500,000 for its Workforce Development and Continuing Studies Center.
This was Taft's 15th visit to the Mahoning Valley since he took office in 1999, and his seventh stop here in the past seven months.
Aid priority: "We are here often in this region because of its importance to the state," Taft said at YSU. The governor added that he is doing all he can to help the Valley, which has been hit hard lately with a number of economic setbacks.
He said getting a new car line for the General Motors complex in Lordstown is his No. 1 economic development priority. He added that the state will invest $150 million in transportation projects in this area over the next four years.
The governor said the Valley will benefit significantly from the Issue 1 fund, which will provide $200 million statewide for brownfield cleanup. The state Legislature should approve the spending package by July.
"We are at a crossroads in the Mahoning Valley, and this governor cares about the area," said Warren Mayor Hank Angelo, a Democrat. "The Valley needs a friend in Columbus more than ever. I believe we have that friend in Gov. Taft."
Taft also announced today that Elizabeth Ross, superintendent of the Trumbull County Educational Service Center, is his new executive assistant for education.