Bruce Katz, a vice president at the Brookings Institution and an expert on the nation’s big cities, says that while Ohio tends to think of itself as a rural state, the vast majority of the state’s population, jobs and productivity are in or near cities. And he’s worried the legislature won’t target its stimulus funds to the metropolitan areas that spur innovation and help Ohio’s economy.
KATZ: The major question here is whether Ohio and its core communities can use this huge one-time infusion of federal funds in far-sighted ways that have longterm implications for productive growth in this state. Or, will you take a business as usual approach, spread the money around the state like peanut butter and continue to tread water economically?
Katz says the Ohio legislature already fell into that trap, when it doled out funds to help communities hard hit by foreclosures.
KATZ: The state allocated the funds according to criteria that ensured that all places in the state received funds. As a result some places were deluged with more funds than they could fully use, while others did not have enough money to make a difference.
Katz made the comments as part of a keynote address at at a forum held at Cleveland State University on restoring prosperity to Cleveland.
The event attracted a few hundred representatives from government, business and civic organizations.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish, and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher were among them.
Budish echoed Katz’s remarks, saying there’s too much of an urban/rural split in the state house. Katz clearly hopes more lawmakers will hear his plea, and think about the good of the state, not just their home districts.