Op-Ed: Sen. Sherrod Brown in Your Hometown Sprucing Up the Buckeye State
City News Ohio – COLUMBUS – Ohio has a rich legacy. When Ohio became the first state in the Northwest Territory, our cities and frontier towns became the new gateway to the West. Through the 1800s, the economic opportunity and untapped potential of our state led settlers to plan cities, build roads, design parks, and construct factories and homes for our the booming population. But forward-looking Ohioans did not rest on their laurels. Into the 20th Century, Ohio’s great colleges and universities helped elevate a quality of life that attracted workers and industrialists to every corner of our state. Along the way, each big city and every small town developed its own cultural and economic identity. Populations boomed. Communities flourished.
Today our cities and small towns face a new set of challenges. Many of our biggest cities have experienced significant population decline over the past 60 years. After years of trade and tax policies that shipped manufacturing jobs out of our state and overseas, Ohio communities have been forced to deal with vacant homes, crumbling infrastructure, and acres of abandoned properties. Public transportation and services have not kept pace with the needs of our population. Students attend our world-class colleges and universities, but too many leave our state after graduation. We will confront these challenges with the same spirit of optimism and sweat-equity of our forebears.
