As promised Mary Jo Kilroy and other House Democrats have posted to their websites a link to the house changes to the Senate health care bill.
This is the bill the House would use to make changes to the Senate bill House members must pass first (or approve as part of some other legislative maneuver). Confused? Wait until you read the bill.
Alas, Senate President Bill Harris apparently did not emerge from his meeting with ODOT Director Jolene Molitoris wearing a conductor’s cap.
The two met Wednesday afternoon and Molitoris presented Harris with answers to his questions about the Cincy to C-Bus to Cleveland passenger rail service plan. ODOT’s answers defend ridership projections and maintain freight lines are willing to share the rails. ODOT’s reply also rejects complaints that the schedule is inconvenient for in-state travelers saying it allows business travelers to be home for dinner. The memo also predicts many families will want to spend the night in one of Ohio’s big cities and visit their many attractions.
But ODOT says some questions cannot be answered right now and thus it’s asking Harris to support using $25 million of the $400 million federal grant to complete preliminary studies into the rail plan.
Through a spokesperson, Senate President Harris promised to read the responses carefully, but he remains “skeptical” of the plan.
- Mike Thompson
Word is Senate President Bill Harris is meeting with Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jolene Molitoris presumably about the Republican leader’s questions on restoring passenger rail service in Ohio.
As you know the feds have offered $400 million to Ohio to re-start passenger rail service linking Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland. Supporters argue it will create jobs, attract young professionals and eventually lead to high speed rail. Opponents argue the estimated $17 million yearly state subsidy is too much, the trains will travel too slowly and the proposed schedule is inconvenient.
Harris posed some very good questions. We’ll soon learn if ODOT has some good answers - good enough to win over a skeptical panel of state lawmakers which has to OK the plan.
- Mike Thompson
With protesters chanting,”Kill the Bill” in front of her Columbus office, Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy released the following statement on the pending health care vote in the house:
“We appear to be reaching the end of a process over a bill that’s been the most debated of any bill in our nation’s history. Hearing the voices of my constituents, and not Washington insiders, is crucial to my decision making process. I am so proud to support the first amendment rights of and listen to those who support different policies.
“A health care reform bill should be available for my constituents and me to read for at least 72 hours before we vote on it. I will post the bill on my web site so my constituents may read it with me and express their opinions on the bill.
“For many months, I held meetings with people from all sides of the issue and advocated that we find common ground on which we can build, because the status quo of higher and higher premiums and people losing coverage if they lose or switch jobs is just not acceptable. Some people suggest eliminating private insurance and replacing it with a government-run system, while others want to eliminate our current system and replace it with tax credits. All have a stake in giving central Ohio consumers and small businesses control over their own insurance rather than leaving it in the hands of big insurance companies. I will continue to listen to my constituents and not Washington lobbyists as I review health insurance reform in the coming days.”
Translation: I’m undecided.
Alternate translation: I’ve decided, but I’m not telling.
Congressman Zack Space is on the same fence.
- Mike Thompson
We at Columbus on the Record discuss serious topics, but we try not to take ourselves too seriously. That’s why I regularly read The Onion and watch The Onion News Network (the other ONN). My favorite is The Onion program In The Know - satirically inspired by panel shows like Columbus on the Record . (No relation to the WOSU high school quiz show.)
This is a classic our print panelists will love. (Full disclosure: I collect historic newspapers.)
How Will The End Of Print Journalism Affect Old Loons Who Hoard Newspapers?
I hate the term 2.0 but figured it reflects my hipness. (Is 2.0 still hip?) We are in the process of revamping Columbus on the Record and I’d like to get opinions on what we can do to improve the show and as a result improve your understanding of the issues that affect Central Ohio.
We are updating the look of the show. With the help of the fine folks at Ozone Studios we are creating new graphics. As much as I have become fond of our Ford F-150 bedliner motif backgrounds and stealth bomber shaped table, we’ll also improve the set. And we’re updating the theme music.
While the look of the show is important, it’s just the frosting. What lies beneath, the content, the thoughtful discussion, is the real reason for watching.
The basic format of the show has not changed since we began in 2006. We have two journalists / columnists and two political activist types - one conservative and one liberal. I have a pool of about 30 professionals from diverse backgrounds who volunteer their time to prepare and appear. The five of us discuss four or five stories in the news that week. We focus on Central Ohio issues, touching on national topics only when they have true Central Ohio impact. While we sometimes have heated arguments, for the most part our debates are civil.
We try to have fun. Public TV public affairs shows have the reputation of being a bit stiff. We try to lighten the mood and poke fun at ourselves and others with sometimes irreverent writing and analysis. Our closing “Off the Record” comments often are the best venue for this.
That’s where we are, but we’d like to mix things up a bit. So give us your feedback. Should we cover more topics or fewer topics, even one topic each week? What topics haven’t we adequately covered? What topics have we bled dry? Should we interview newsmakers regularly?
We welcome your thoughts - on or off the record.
Mike Thompson
The best line of the 2007 mayoral campaign came from challenger Bill Todd – “Mr. Coleman, tear down this mall!” He of course was referring to the then near empty City Center Mall.
Now it’s happening and it’s amazing that many people still complain that demolition crews are destroying the downtown shopping center. They complain that it costs too much, there is no real plan to develop the site, and the city should have found another use for the building – like a casino.
But if you look at the experiences of other cities- especially small and mid-sized cities – Columbus is doing the right thing. You can debate whether it was wise to build the mall in the first place. You can debate whether government incorrectly gave tax breaks to competing suburban malls. But you can’t debate death. City Center was dead and the best thing to do is bury it.
Take the experience of my hometown, Worcester, Massachusetts. In spirit of early 1970’s urban renewal city and business leaders built a beautiful mall, The Worcester Center Galleria, and a huge above ground parking garage in the heart of downtown- across the common from City Hall. (We once bragged that we had the world’s largest indoor parking garage.) At first the two story mall with the two-football-field length glass ceiling thrived. It was the place to shop – so much so that it helped kill department stores on Worcester’s Main Street – just two blocks west.
But over the next 20 years newer malls steadily drew customers away from Galleria. The outlying malls were more convenient and offered those two magical little words: Free. Parking. Soon all but a pharmacy and a bank vacated the Galleria. It sat mostly empty for several years. It was sold and still sat empty. There was talk of tearing it down. Nothing happened. There was talk of converting it to a convention center. Nothing happened.
In the mid- 1990’s the new owners gave the mall new life. They renovated it, and converted it to an outlet mall – The Worcester Common Fashion Outlets. Despite its oxymoronic name, at first the new mall was packed. The community celebrated the re-birth of the mall and waited for the tour buses to bring “destination shoppers” from all around New England.
They did not come. And about 5 years later the mall was all but empty again.
Finally city and business leaders decided they’d had enough. It was time to tear it down. Its new private owners and state and local government announced plans to demolish it and build a new mixed use development – street level retail, condos and offices. That was in 2006. Nothing happened.
Then last spring, another announcement – the project finally was moving forward, the mall was coming down and new buildings were to rise. Nothing happened.
For much of the past 4 decades, a vast swath of downtown real estate has sat dormant. The white elephant (actually it’s off-white) hibernates as a constant reminder of an unwise decision. If Worcester had it to do over again, it would have torn down the mall after its first death – in 1990.
While it’s painful to see the cranes pick apart the once shining City Center, it’s the right thing to do. At the very least downtown Columbus will get a park out of it. And if things go right, developers will build housing, offices and stores on the site. It’s a lot easier to build success if the failure is gone.
-Mike Thompson
As a reporter covering State of the Union/ State / City addresses over the years I always waited for the line “THE STATE OF THE ________ IS STRONG AND GETTING STRONGER! (Lawmakers wild applause!).
We have not heard that line a few years.
As Governor Strickland and President Obama give their annual addresses this week we’ll hear the somberly optimistic rhetoric that comes with a recession, two wars and threats of terrorism.
For Ted Strickland, he has some explaining to do. Ten months before his re-election he will try to explain why Ohio has lost 340,000 jobs since he took office and how he plans to reverse that trend. Likely he will claim Wall Street and the worldwide recession are to blame for Ohio’s job woes. He could also claim that despite this economic calamity he balanced the state budget without a tax increase ( Remember, it was an income tax cut delay.) while maintaining funding for education.
President Obama’s State of the Union address is a little tougher to predict. Will he give up on healthcare reform or challenge Congress to finish the job? Will he eat humble pie or say, Massachusetts voters be damned - we’re still in charge!? We could get a combination of the two.
For Ohioans, the address is very important. President Obama certainly will lay out his plans to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Not a moment too soon for Ohio which has an unemployment rate tickling 11%.
With the Democrats super-majority gone in the US Senate, healthcare reform is on life support. Some Democrats suggest the House should just approve the Senate healthcare plan. If the president surprises us and suggests that course of action, it could put Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy in a bind. She voted for the House plan but opposes parts of the Senate plan. A tight re-election fight in a slightly right leaning district could cause her to abandon a ‘better-than-nothing” healthcare reform package.
Climate change legislation is a huge issue for Ohio. Coal production and coal based electricity generation is a very large part of Ohio’s economy. Many pundits say cap-and-trade legislation is dead for now because of the loss of the super-majority in the Senate. Listen to what the President says about the issue - it will have a direct impact on your utility bill and possibly your job if you work in a factory that relies on coal-generated electricity.
Whether it’s strong and getting stronger or weak and getting weaker, the state of our union and state is one thing - interesting.
You can listen to the State of the State address Tuesday at noon on WOSU 820 am and wosu.org, and watch it on WOSU Ohio.
You can listen to the State of the Union addresss Wednesday at 9pm on WOSU TV, WOSU 820 and wosu.org.
While I shan’t twitter, but John Kasich (or his campaign) does. He’s set to announce his Lut. Governor selection this afternoon at 2:30 via twitter. His choice is expected to be State Auditor Mary Taylor.
You can watch it live at John Kasich’s campaign website.
Ted Strickland is said to be close to naming his running mate. His campaign says he’ll do it the old fashioned way - via e-mail. Speculation is that former Franklin County Judge Yvette McGee Brown is the Democrat’s choice. Keep an eye on it using Strickland’s campaign website.
On Friday, December 11th we talked about the possible “Blue Jackets Bailout”.
The city and county are trying to work out a deal, presumably with at least some public money, to help Columbus’s National Hockey League franchise remain financially viable and remain in Columbus.
This viewer took issue with our discussion and recommends further reading,
- Mike Thompson
Mike:
I can not tell you how angry I am with you guys again for completely missing almost all of a the salient points concerning the financial issues associated with the Blue Jackets and the arena district. Shame on you and your panel.
Please do me and mort importantly your intelligent listeners a favor. Before you discuss this topic again–and you will–make sure that all of your panel members receive and read the newspaper article that is obtainable by pursuing the link provided below. How ironic it is that ti takes a Canadian newspaper to see the real value of the team and the district to our community. I will not go into detail because article speaks for itself but I must point out the most important points captured by this paragraph below:
“Without it, Columbus would get no new NHL franchise, no big-league label. Without it, downtown would remain dead, and various companies would continue to lose good young people to bigger, more glamorous cities. Columbus would forever be Ohio’s third city, behind Cleveland and Cincinnati, and such a non-entity on the American stage that outsiders invariably referred to it as “Columbus, Ohio,” never just Columbus”.
The complete article (must reading for you guys) is a cut and paste away:
Ordinarily I would say that I enjoy your show but since last night ….well let’s say I’m most disappointed.
John J Kennedy
Professor Emeritus
Ohio State