P O I N T — blog

Last Thursday (3/13/2008), the Ohio Department of Development posted the publication: Approved Historic Preservation Tax Credit Applicants (in Adobe PDF format) on their web site. The following information can be found on page 3 of that document.

Fort Piqua Hotel (Piqua, Miami County)
Total estimated value of credit: $3,675,563
Estimated qualified rehabilitation expenditures: $14,702,251

Total project investment: $19,673,703

On the Monday prior to the last P.O.I.N.T. meeting, I’d added a link on the “PDF Library” page of this website to allow you to easily download a PDF formatted copy of the 2003 International Property Maintenance Code. In the text posted underneath the link on that page, I’d taken the additional step of explaining why that document is important. This is one of the things that I thought had been discussed in detail at last Tuesday’s meeting, but apparently there is still some confusion.

Yesterday John Martin asked me if the 2003 International Property Maintenance Code (“purple manual”) was available “yet” rom the P.O.I.N.T website. I informed that it had been up well prior to that meeting, so if anyone else is having trouble finding the link, I’ve copied that portion of from the “PDF Library” (reference) page on this site and pasted it below.

• 2003 International Property Maintenance Code

§ 150.105 CODE ADOPTED. (A) (1) Pursuant to the provisions of Ohio Revised Code (R.C.) § 731.231, the 2003 International Property Maintenance Code, promulgated by the International Code Council, which provides standards intended to ensure public health, safety and welfare insofar as they are affected by the continued occupancy and maintenance of a structure or premises, is hereby adopted and shall be enforced as the city Property Maintenance Code, except for those portions thereof that have been or may hereafter be deleted or amended.

Was it enough? No city in Miami County received any award directly from the state. Be sure to take a look at awards made to Ashland, Ashtabula, and especially Crawford (over $1.5 Mil total) counties, just to name a few.

Ohio FY 2007 Community Housing Improvement Program Award Recipients

County Award Recipient Amount
Allen Allen County $ 544,000
Ashland Ashland County 522,000
Ashland City of Ashland 522,000
Ashtabula Ashtabula County 566,800
Ashtabula City of Geneva 556,000
Belmont Belmont County 520,000
Champaign Champaign County 500,000
Champaign City of Urbana 500,000
Clinton Clinton County 520,000
Columbiana Columbiana County 544,000
Columbiana City of East Palestine 500,000
Coshocton Coshocton County 490,900
Crawford City of Bucyrus 500,000
Crawford Crawford County 350,000
Crawford City of Galion 500,000
Darke Darke County 500,000
Defiance City of Defiance 528,000
Fayette Fayette County 545,000
Gallia Gallia County 500,000
Geauga Geauga County 544,000
Greene Greene County 500,000
Henry City of Napoleon 400,000
Highland Highland County 500,000
Hocking Hocking County 522,400
Hocking City of Logan 500,000
Logan City of Bellefontaine 588,800
Logan Logan County 534,000
Lorain City of Elyria 500,000
Lorain City of North Ridgeville 528,000
Lorain City of Oberlin 469,000
Lucas City of Oregon 544,500
Lorain City of Sheffield Lake 500,000
Madison Madison County 413,600
Mahoning City of Campbell 600,800
Mahoning Mahoning County 556,000
Mahoning City of Struthers 600,800
Medina Medina County 522,000
Medina City of Wadsworth 578,400
Meigs Meigs County 452,000
Mercer Mercer County 500,000

Miami Miami County 612,000

Muskingum Muskingum County 544,000
Noble Noble County 500,000
Ottawa Ottawa County 571,500
Perry Perry County 522,400
Richland City of Shelby 500,000
Sandusky City of Fremont 566,500
Sandusky Sandusky County 519,300
Seneca Seneca County 500,000
Shelby Shelby County 500,000
Shelby City of Sidney 500,000
Trumbull City of Girard 460,000
Trumbull City of Newton Falls 316,700
Union City of Marysville 500,000
Washington City of Belpre 500,000
Wayne Wayne County 544,800
Wayne City of Wooster 556,000
Williams City of Bryan 422,000
Williams Williams County 452,000
Wood Wood County 544,500
Wyandot Wyandot County 500,000

Total $31,194,700

POINT membership met at the Loyal Order of the Moose March 11, 2008 at 7:00pm. Chuck Starrett opened the meeting and welcomed all members and visitors.

Dick Haynes read the minutes of the February 12, 2008 meeting and gave treasurers report. Chuck requested a vote to approve the minutes. Motion made by Chet Osborne and seconded by Jim Cruse. Minutes were approved by show of hands. Chuck requested a vote to approve the treasures report. A motion was made by Roy Howard and seconded by Luke Bolin. Treasures report was approved by show of hands.

Read more…

[ The following is excerpted from an 8-8-2007 ACLU press release originally posted by the ALCU on their website at: http://www.acluohio.org/pressreleases/2007pr/2007.08.08.asp ]

08.08.07

Free Speech Chilled by Mason Officials

Threats of Prosecution Intimidating Residents from Circulating Petition

MASON, OH—Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio sent a letter to City of Mason Law Director Ken Schneider urging him and other local officials to stop threatening prosecution for residents who were planning to circulate a petition to recall several City Council members. Schneider and other officials contend that anyone who distributed or sponsored the petition may be charged with a felony because they believe some of the claims of the petition may be inaccurate.

In his letter to Schneider, ACLU of Ohio Legal Director Jeffrey Gamso said there is no basis in Ohio law to charge someone with a crime because of supposed inaccuracies in petition language. After Schneider threatened prosecution, local organizers subsequently stopped the petition process.

Gamso said, “This is a classic example of free speech being chilled because the government does not like what is being said. Without any legal basis, city officials have intimidated these residents into silence by threatening serious legal action, not just for the authors but those who even dare distribute the petition.”

The statements by Law Director Schneider were made during a March 26, 2007 Mason City Council Meeting after members of the council saw copies of a draft of the petition. Schneider said that he hoped those who were planning to circulate the petitions were aware of the danger in doing so. Vice Mayor Thomas Grossman added by asking clarification that not just those who authored the petition, but those who are sponsors or circulators could be prosecuted as well and Schneider responded affirmatively.

Organizers claim that once officials made it clear that they would prosecute anyone associated with the petition, they decided to stop working on the campaign to avoid further threats or harassment.

“Concerned residents should feel able to petition the government regarding issues that they care about. Normally, one would think elected officials would be pleased that constituents want to have an active part of the political process. However, the actions of Mason officials indicate that unless you agree with them, silence is best. The First Amendment and the very foundations of our government say otherwise,” concluded Gamso.

Read the letter to City of Mason Law Director Schneider