Cleveland Plain Dealer...
Ohio House Democrats
propose revival of Depression-era program to create jobs
By Joe Guillen
Monday, June 13, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A pair of Cleveland-area lawmakers want to revive a
Depression-era jobs program in Ohio to create about 5,000 jobs.
The program, called the Ohio Works Progress Administration and modeled
after a federal agency President Franklin D. Roosevelt established
during the Great Depression, would create an average of 50 jobs in each
of the state’s 88 counties. Each job would pay $27,500 a year to
perform a variety of public services.
The program would run for two years and cost about $400 million in
salaries and benefits. An expected state budget surplus this summer of
about $1 billion would cover the costs, said Rep. Nickie Antonio, a
Democrat from Lakewood who is behind the program.
“This is a kick-start to really get people at the ground level employed
and working and doing the maintenance things in our communities,”
Antonio said.
Antonio, along with Rep. Mike Foley, a Cleveland Democrat, introduced a
bill on Monday to create the program.
Antonio acknowledged the plan is not expected to gain the support of
Republicans, who hold a 59-40 majority in the House of Representatives.
Employees would provide a variety of public services, including
demolition and rehabilitation of vacant homes, recycling and landfill
maintenance, disaster cleanup and conservation of lakes and waterways.
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