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IT collaboration sparks interest By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
Scot Rourke long has dreamed of a day when governments all across Northeast Ohio would work together to become highly efficient digital machines. Only now are many area governments starting to embrace the idea. Driven largely by falling tax receipts and rising costs, a growing
NE Ohio governments warm to shared services amid mounting budget pressures number of cities and counties in the region are showing a willingness to share software, hardware and even staff members who know how to use the technology. The attitude shift is far from complete, said Mr. Rourke, who is president of OneCommunity.
However, his organization — a Cleveland-based nonprofit that offers high-speed Internet access and information technology services to area governments and nonprofits — might be able to persuade a few more communities to join the cause.
OneCommunity is offering to extend its super-fast fiber-optic network to the offices of cities and counties that put together proposals showing a serious commitment to sharing IT resources and putting them to good use. The nonprofit plans to use $15 million to connect 200 government sites and 600 other nonprofit institutions to its bigger fiber-optic network, which is undergoing a See IT Page 17
STEVE BENNETT
Country club surfaces in talks on AG expansion
JOBSOHIO BOSS MEANS BUSINESS
Crocker Park neighbor may be on firm’s radar By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
Mark Kvamme sees momentum building behind state’s economic development efforts
Crocker Park, the sprawling mixed-use center in Westlake, has shops, restaurants, offices and apartments on its 75-acre grounds. However, a deal announced in May to add American Greetings Corp.’s headquarters to the mix appears to be triggering a quest for land at adjacent Lakewood Country Club. A forest on the private country club’s northeast corner brushes against open land on the southwest edge of Crocker Park that American Greetings picked as the destination for its new home. Word of interest in the country club’s land came out during a June 18 meeting of Westlake’s planning commission. Residents of the Wyndgate Club condominiums, which abut Crocker
By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
H
e’s only been in Ohio seven months setting up Gov. John Kasich’s JobsOhio, the nonprofit vehicle for the governor’s job creation push, but Mark Kvamme already is working on JobsOhio 2.0. The Silicon Valley entrepreneur said at a meet-and-greet swing through Northeast Ohio last Thursday, July 28, that he expects legislation to be introduced in the state Legislature in the next few weeks that will fill in the details of how the new nonprofit will work with the state Department of Development. While by giving the bill the “2.0” suffix he’s implying a new and improved version, Mr. Kvamme said businesses and the economic development community won’t see big changes in the way the state packages its incentives to businesses.
See CROCKER Page 6
ONLINE Sports chat goes live
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Crain’s last Thursday launched the first of a periodic online chat feature, at which readers can comment on topics, from sports to news. Watch for the next edition on www.CrainsCleveland.com.
See KVAMME Page 6 MARC GOLUB
Mark Kvamme, who is leading Ohio’s economic development efforts at JobsOhio, says he is confident the nonprofit will help generate new business activity in the state.
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SPECIAL SECTION
REAL ESTATE Euclid Avenue has undergone a renaissance fueled by calculated redevelopment ■ Page 11 PLUS: CREATIVE OFFICE RENOVATIONS ■ PURCHASING POWER
Entire contents © 2011 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 32, No. 31