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Former Ohio appellate court judge Ray Headen is a trusted advisor, counsellor, and advocate to public and private clients and communities throughout Ohio. He solves client issues and problems with the meticulousness of an appellate judge and bond counsel.

The City of Toledo announced yesterday that the City’s unimproved street resurfacing program has begun. In total, 109 streets are to be included in the City’s overall road construction program for this year, compared to seven streets that were fixed in 2020. Of the 109, 35 are unimproved roads.

Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said at a press conference that unimproved streets are often characterized by the lack of curbs and a gravel or rock surface.

Editor Comment: Ohio’s economic development
Continue Reading Toledo begins repaving unimproved city roads

A collaborative economic development team of the Medina Economic Development Corporation, the Ohio Development Services Agency, and Team NEO have worked with Superior Roll Forming, a Wesler Profile company, to help the company make Medina County’s largest capital investment by a manufacturer since the start of the pandemic. Superior Roll Forming is a supplier for the automotive, aerospace, construction, and solar industries. The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved the project for tax credit assistance on April 26. The company is
Continue Reading Superior Roll Forming to expand production operations, plans to add 150 new jobs

Progressive Insurance has announced the creation of an 8.4-acre solar panel array, which will include over 4,000 panels. The company plans to have the new system up and running at its Mayfield Village campus this summer (construction began on March 29). The completed project will help reduce Progressive’s carbon emissions by 4,000 metric tons per year.  Progressive contracted with three local companies – Mars Electric, YellowLite Inc. and Preformed Line Products Solar for the installation, design and construction of the
Continue Reading Progressive Insurance installs 1.8 Megawatt solar panel array

A Bloomberg opinion article argues that neighborhood style single and multi-family homes built specially for renters could help make housing more affordable and also avoid existing homeowners’ normal aversion to high-capacity housing (“Not-In-My-Backyard-ism”). The author claims that institutional investment opportunities currently lie in building new homes, rather than in buying economically opportunistic existing homes because the market is now currently dealing with low rates of inventory. In new built-to-rent communities, high capacity housing will likely be received more warmly because
Continue Reading Opinion: Expected Institutional Investor boom in ‘build-for-rent’ homes could help kill NIMBYism

When Goodwill of South Central Ohio purchased a property belonging to the Chillicothe City School District, neighborhood residents were concerned about how a new warehouse (and potential future industry) would impact their community. Goodwill of South Central Ohio CEO Marvin Jones, a Tiffin native, hosted a meeting to listen to citizens’ concerns and Goodwill amended its zoning application so that only some of the land will be zoned for industry.

Read more in the Chillicothe Gazette here.
Continue Reading Goodwill Industries promises it won’t ‘split up the neighborhood’ at former Tiffin school

Aqua Ohio announced ambitious construction plans replace old utilities. The projected cost of the projects has been calculated at $70 million. In Marion, Aqua Ohio will be retiring and rerouting a water main line built more than 120 years ago.

Read more in the Marion Star here.
Continue Reading Aqua Ohio begins construction on water main on Church Street

The City of Dayton plans to sue Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the U.S. Department of Defense to prevent the continued chemical contamination of drinking water. While Wright-Patt responded that it is taking an “aggressive” approach to addressing the issue, and is collaborating with state authorities, the City of Dayton threatened to file a lawsuit in early May if the situation is not addressed.

Read more in the Dayton Daily News here.
Continue Reading Dayton intends to sue Wright-Patt, says it wants to stop water contamination

A pair of proposed laws may soon protect Akron tenants from eviction both by stopping evictions for tenants who are able to pay back rent through pandemic assistance, and by prohibiting landlords from using particular sources of income (such as child support, housing vouchers, welfare and other income subsidies) as sole grounds for denying rental applications. The laws will continue to be debated through April.

Read more on the Akron Beacon Journal website here.
Continue Reading Proposed laws would support struggling Akron renters facing eviction

A partnership of JobsOhio, Ohio Development Services Agency, Team NEO, Western Reserve Port Authority, Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce and Macy’s Corporate Services LLC, operating as a distribution and logistics center for Macy’s Inc. in North Jackson, has announced plans to expand at the facility to operate a fulfillment center. Macy’s will add 417 new jobs and retain 55 employees.

The project will include a $29.9 million capital investment to accommodate this growth. Macy’s corporate executives chose to leverage North
Continue Reading Macy’s chooses Northeast Ohio for fulfillment center