Sunday, April 02, 2000
Builder wants Dayton to get a bigger share
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Legislative leaders are besieged these days with letters and phone calls pleading for a share of the state's $1.7 billion construction budget.
Most come from mayors or other civic leaders interested in a few thousand or million for a museum, a new bike path or some other community project. But now a Dayton construction company, a potential recipient of taxpayer-funded business, is getting into the act.
Vincent Corrado, president of Shook Construction, is angry that Dayton may get only $12 million from the construction budget. Rep. Robert Corbin, a Centerville Republican who chairs the House Finance Committee, told him that's all the city should expect.
“We reiterated that any amount less than $20 million would be categorically unacceptable to the community,” Mr. Corrado wrote last week in letters to Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, and House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, R-Reynoldsburg.
He urged the leaders to call Gov. Bob Taft “by noon tomorrow” and convey the company's concerns.
Mr. Corrado should prepare himself to be disappointed. After all, the governor and legislative leaders are trying to balance the needs of the entire state.
Folks in other cities aren't shy about asking for money, either. State leaders are being asked to finance at least $100 million in construction in the Cincinnati area alone.
***
Another example of construction-budget chutzpah came from John Baron, executive director of the Hamilton County River City Correctional Center.
The lockup needs $850,000 to build a multipurpose room and a garage, Mr. Baron wrote in a letter to Rep. Robert Schuler, R-Sycamore Township.
It took 13 paragraphs for Mr. Baron to say why he was asking Mr. Schuler for help.
“I believe that even though these funds were requested, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has decided not to recommend the appropriation to the governor,” he wrote.
In the newspaper business, we call that burying the lead.
***
Here's another item that likely won't make the list of projects up for state assistance when the construction budget is introduced next month: Freddie the Firetruck.
The Bethel-Tate Fire Department in Clermont County is asking for $6,800 to buy Freddie, a device used to help teach children about fire safety.
“Freddie moves, squeaks, listens, winks, blinks and plays audio cassettes all by remote control,” according to a promotional brochure that Rep. Rose Vesper, R-New Richmond, included in a request forwarded to the House speaker.
Legislative aides say the state isn't likely to go into debt to finance Freddie, but maybe the department would have more luck in the next operating budget. Lawmakers tucked more than $74 million in pet projects in the current two-year spending plan.
***
The governor sometimes seems as if he's going through the motions when talking to groups that ask him to appear at their events. You probably would, too, if you had so many people asking “for just a few minutes” of your time.
But the Cincinnati native obviously enjoyed meeting with bicycle enthusiasts last week to promote the state's first Bike Awareness Day.
Mr. Taft, an avid cyclist, eagerly tried on the requisite T-shirt given to him. Then he surprised his aides by endorsing a proposed license plate for the Spandex- and helmet-wearing set.
“If you can get those 1,000 signatures (to get a plate bill drafted), I would be proud to sign that bill,” Mr. Taft told a group gathered in the Statehouse Atrium.
Michael Hawthorne covers state government for The Cincinnati Enquirer. He can be reached at (614) 224-4640.
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