Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Legislative Action: 10th District and State - 102907

American Planning Assn
presents:
MegaVote

October 29, 2007

In this MegaVote for Ohio's 10th Congressional District:


Recent Congressional Votes -
* Senate: Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Act, FY2008
* Senate: Nomination of Leslie Southwick to be U.S. Circuit Judge
* House: Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act
* House: Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act

Upcoming Congressional Bills -
* Senate: Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007
* Senate: Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act
* House: Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act
* House: Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007
* House: Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007


Recent Senate Votes

Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Act, FY2008 - Vote Passed (75-19, 6 Not Voting)

The Senate voted in favor of this $605.5 billion bill funding the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education for the 2008 fiscal year.

Sen. George Voinovich voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. Sherrod Brown voted YES......send e-mail or see bio


Nomination of Leslie Southwick to be U.S. Circuit Judge - Vote Confirmed (59-38, 3 Not Voting)

The Senate confirmed Mississippi Appeals Court Judge Leslie Southwick to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

Sen. George Voinovich voted YES......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. Sherrod Brown voted NO......send e-mail or see bio



Recent House Votes

Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act - Vote Passed (261-153, 18 Not Voting)

The House passed this bill that would allow Native Hawaiians to form an Interim Governing Council which would have the power to negotiate with the federal government.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted YES......send e-mail or see bio


Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act - Vote Passed (265-142, 26 Not Voting)

A new bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program was passed by the House, a week after the chamber failed to override President Bush’s veto of the previous version of the bill.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted YES......send e-mail or see bio



Upcoming Votes

Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007 - S.294

The Senate is scheduled to vote on this bill to reauthorize Amtrak.



Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act - H.R.3963

The Senate is also expected to work on this bill to reauthorize and expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.



Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act - H.R.3867

The House is scheduled to vote on this bill that would update and expand the Small Business Administration’s procurement programs.



Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007 - H.R.2262

This bill is intended to modify the requirements for mining on public domain lands.



Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007 - H.R.3920

The House will also take up this bill to amend the Trade Act of 1974 to reauthorize trade adjustment assistance and to extend trade adjustment assistance to service workers and firms.



Saturday, October 27, 2007

Cleveland Institute of Art Unveils New Design

I do not usually repost articles from the Plin Dealer because I felt I was just reposting something that people could easily read at Cleveland.com However, the following news is big and might be of interest to readers outside of the Northeast Ohio region.

Cleveland Institute of Art unveils MVRDV design for $53 million expansion

Posted by Plain Dealer Architecture Critic Steven Litt October 26, 2007 16:13PM

Categories: Impact

Blending humor, simplicity and bridgelike engineering, the Cleveland Institute of Art expansion envisioned by Dutch architect Winy Maas hunches up in the middle like a giant inchworm or caterpillar.


The Cleveland Institute of Art added momentum to the revitalization of University Circle Friday by unveiling plans for the $53 million expansion and renovation of its McCullough Center on upper Euclid Avenue.

The four-year art college has raised nearly half the money for the project in cash, pledges and tax credits and hopes to break ground in May, said David Deming, the school's president.

"We're excited, we really are excited," he said. "It's very gratifying to arrive at this moment. It's something the faculty, administration and trustees have been trying to figure out for 20 years."

When the project is finished in 2009, the art institute will vacate its aging and outmoded Gund Building at 11141 East Blvd., opposite the Cleveland Museum of Art, and sell or lease the property for uses that could include a luxury condominium.

The expansion of the McCullough Center, in effect, will unify the art institute in a single campus for the first time since 1981.

The art institute project, designed by architect Winy Maas of the leading Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, will anchor the eastern edge of Case Western Reserve University's $300 million Triangle development, also called the University Arts and Retail District.

The goal of the Triangle is to create a vibrant new residential, cultural and retail zone. The 8.5-acre development will be anchored by the art institute expansion on the east and on the west by a new building for the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.

"There's a whole district-in-waiting that's just going to be lit up by MOCA and CIA," said Chris Ronayne, director of the nonprofit University Circle Inc. "These are all iconic assets that will breathe life into the neighborhood."

The art institute's expansion, to be built by developer John Ferchill, will add a new 80,000-square-foot structure designed by Maas to the west side of the Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts at 11610 Euclid Ave. The art institute has occupied the building, a former Ford Model T factory, since 1981.

The McCullough Center will be renovated with new galleries, classrooms, studios and a library.

The expansion next door will be a long, low, rectangular box framed in glass and steel. It will arch up in the middle like a gigantic inchworm to create a covered entrance. An auditorium, cafe and classrooms will be located on terraced floors above the arch.

Deming called the Maas design a creative reinterpretation of the McCullough Center. He's confident it will be approved by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office and the U.S. Department of the Interior for roughly $11 million to $13 million in state and federal tax credits. The credits are critical to the project.

The art college has raised an equivalent amount in cash and pledges, and is confident it can raise a similar amount by this winter. That would bring funding to 75 percent of the project's cost, the goal set by trustees for the go-ahead, Deming said.

The Cleveland Institute of Art expansion will add 80,000 square feet to the west side of the school's McCullough Center.
A diagram shows how Winy Maas conceived the basic massing of his Cleveland Institute of Art expansion. The project hunches up in the middle like an inchworm, and also curves to the side, to bring the warped rectangle in contact with the art institute's existing McCullough Center.

A computer rendering shows how the expansion of the McCullough Center will look at night.
A close-up view shows the arched entrance proposed for the expanded Cleveland Institute of Art complex on upper Euclid Avenue.

Friday, October 26, 2007

News Concerning US Senate's Efforts on Passenger Rail

Follow up from yesterday's news from All Aboard Ohio:

Dear Supporter of Passenger Rail,

The amendment to S.294 by Senator John Sununu (R-NH) that would have eliminated any train that lost over $200 per passenger was defeated by a vote of 66-28 (six senators not voting). To view how your Senator voted, click the link below, then click on Roll Call 00395 :
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_110_1.htm

More amendments are expected to come to the floor and are expected to be negative for the operation of the national system. The message that needs to be communicated to your Senators is thus: We must invest in Amtrak and we must invest in critically needed rail infrastructure to ensure frieght and passenger trains run on time.

For information to pass on to your Senators, Amtrak released it's ridership numbers for its routes. The routes in Ohio performed substandard at best due mainly to on time performance that is caused by congestion on freight tracks in Northern Ohio. Lake Shore Limited---312,643 FY07 vs 323,480 FY06, down 3.4% Capitol Limited---193,748 FY07 vs 198,044 FY06, down 2.2% Cardinal—96,896 FY07 vs 95,076 FY06, up 1.9%

Given the timeliness of this issue, E-mails and letters are not relevant.
Phone calls are needed.

Contact iformation for your Senator can be found here:
http://www.allaboardohio.org/cms/index.php/content/action/

Thank you,
Andrew Bremer

Thursday, October 25, 2007

URGENT: S. B. 294 - Amtrak Reauthorization on Senate Floor Today!

Forwarded message from All Aboard Ohio:

Dear Supporter of Passenger Rail,

This important peice of legislation has come up to the Senate on such short notice that I have copied the information verbatum from Ross Capon, Executive Director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. Please read the update on Senate Bill 294 below and email or call your Senator today.

Contact information for your Senator can be found here:
http://www.allaboardohio.org/cms/index.php/content/action/

Andrew Bremer
All Aboard Ohio

***


The Amtrak reauthorization bill came up on the Senate floor late yesterday. It will be on the floor today (Thursday) and possibly tomorrow and beyond. Debate today begins at 10:30 AM and a vote is planned for 12:30 PM on a Sununu amendment which could be the first of many nasty ones (including, apparently, one by Coburn, R-OK).

Sununu, as I understand it, would kill all trains that lose over $200 a passenger after a certain number of years. So this kills the long-distance network and doesn’t even use a rational basis (like revenue-to-cost ratio or loss per passenger-mile) to do it. Of course, the network is so skeletal that removing just about any individual route would have significant harmful network impacts. In other words, the domino theory applies here, whether or not you believe it in foreign policy!!

Phone calls this morning to Senate offices should urge votes against this and any other anti-train amendments. Most senators probably know an anti-train amendment when they see one. However, they can assume that an amendment is anti-train if Senators Lautenberg and Lott do not both accept said amendment as friendly.

Remember, when you phone and ask for the staff person, you may be offered voice-mail. Accept that offer and be sure to leave a substantive message. Do not rely on the staffer’s ability to return your call in a timely manner.

Your message could go like this: “Please support S. 294 and please vote against the Sununu per passenger subsidy cap amendment—a wolf in sheep’s clothing—and any other anti-train amendment that is offered.”

You can reach any Senate office by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard 202-224-3121. If you are on-line, your senators’ direct-dial number and web site are at
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Thanks for your efforts!


Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Legislative Action: 10th District and State - 102207

American Planning Assn
presents:
MegaVote

October 22, 2007

In this MegaVote for Ohio's 10th Congressional District:


Recent Congressional Votes -
* Senate: Commerce/Justice/Science Appropriations Act, FY2008
* House: Internet Tax Freedom Act
* House: Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act
* House: Overriding the Veto of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act

Upcoming Congressional Bills -
* Senate: Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Act, FY2008
* House: Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007
* House: Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007
* House: Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act


Recent Senate Votes

Commerce/Justice/Science Appropriations Act, FY2008 - Vote Passed (75-19, 6 Not Voting)

The Senate approved this $55.4 billion bill that would fund the Department of Commerce, Department of Justice, NASA and other science agencies.

Sen. George Voinovich voted NO......send e-mail or see bio
Sen. Sherrod Brown voted YES......send e-mail or see bio



Recent House Votes

Internet Tax Freedom Act - Vote Passed (405-2, 25 Not Voting)

The House passed legislation that would extend the moratorium on Internet access taxes through November 2011.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted YES......send e-mail or see bio


Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act - Vote Passed (377-38, 16 Not Voting)

This House bill would require rail carriers transporting hazardous substances to pass inspection and to provide their workers with supplementary safety equipment.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted YES......send e-mail or see bio


Overriding the Veto of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act - Vote Failed (273-156, 4 Not Voting)

The House came thirteen votes short of overriding the President's veto of H.R. 976, a bill that would reauthorize and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich voted YES......send e-mail or see bio



Upcoming Votes

Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Act, FY2008 - H.R.3043

The Senate is expected to complete this $600 billion bill funding the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education for the 2008 fiscal year.



Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007 - H.R.3685

The House is scheduled to take up this bill on Wednesday that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against employees based on sexual orientation.



Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007 - H.R.505

Under this bill, Native Hawaiians would be permitted to organize into a governing entity that could negotiate with the federal government.



Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act - H.R.3867

This bill is intended to improve the government's small business contracting programs.