It’s time to quit whining

It’s time to quit whining

EDITOR:

In recent weeks, there has been much discussion and blather about JEDDs in a nitpicking series of letters promoting penny-nickel Band-Aid solutions to the region’s economic problems. It is evident from the letters that none of the writers have any idea of what a JEDD really is. Likewise, they do not understand that if Youngstown sinks, they also will sink. I also wonder if the city officials understand what a JEDD really is.

What is a JEDD? It is an acronym for a Joint Economic Development District! It is an arrangement in Ohio where one or more municipalities and a township agree to work together (!) to develop township land for commercial and/or industrial uses. The benefit to the municipality is that they get a portion of the taxes levied in the JEDD without needing to annex it. The benefits to the township are that it does not lose prime development land. It can still collect property taxes, and it normally receives water from the municipality, which it may not otherwise have.

They began in Summit County as an alternative to Akron’s annexation of parts of the surrounding townships. This made for bad relations with the townships and hurt them economically. Mayor Don Plusquellic pushed the idea of the JEDD as a means of expanding the city’s tax base without having to fight with its neighbors. At first, only Summit County was allowed to have JEDDs, but the idea was later expanded to the rest of the state. Akron quickly formed JEDDs with Springfield, Coventry, and Copley townships. Since then other communities in Summit County and the rest of the state have formed JEDDs.

To create a JEDD, the city and township work together to create a contract. This contract specifies details such as how taxes are levied and shared, annexation prohibitions, and water rates. The communities then vote on the agreement. The issue must pass in each community for the JEDD to be approved.

One example of a JEDD was established in 2006 between the City of Columbus and three jurisdictions in Pickaway County. The purpose was to make infrastructure available to aid in the development that will come from the construction of an intermodal facility by the Norfolk Southern Railroad, the present Rickenbacker Freight Air Hub, development by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority on property they own, and private industrial parks in the area. The JEDD provides for the provision of sanitary sewers, water, roadways, and other needed infrastructure for new businesses in the Rickenbacker area. In the past 20 years, almost 26 million square feet of distribution space has been developed in the Rickenbacker area. The long-term projection for development is for about $9 billion and almost 70,000 direct and indirect jobs. Other partners in the project include the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Compete Columbus, Franklin County, the Villages of South Bloomfield and Ashville.

It is decades past time for the region to put aside its local yokel turf battles and work together. JEDDs are the one proven means of doing so. The local nitpicking response to the idea simply indicates that the people of the area prefer to whine about how bad things are without doing anything about it.

JEROME K. STEPHENS

Warren

War on drugs spurs violence

EDITOR:

Your well-thought out editorial regarding combating gangs in Youngstown (Let fallout of gang sting trigger new initiatives, Aug. 16) made many good points. It left out one consideration, though.

Gangs are funded primarily through trade in illegal merchandise, primarily narcotics. In this trade, they are tied back through organized crime to foreign drug cartels and terrorist regimes around the world. If 40 years of the “war on drugs” have shown nothing else, it has proved that our current efforts merely ensure that the drug trade stays in the hands of the most ruthless, violent people possible.

If we’re really serious about stopping gangs and the violence they live by, we need to completely rethink our efforts to control drugs.

JOHN FOCKLER Jr.

Struthers