April 18 Update from Dave Berger

Greetings, Ladies and Gents:


The spring time weather has truly been delightful for the past couple of weeks. I hope you are enjoying it!

A Vision Of and For Our Downtown
(Photo below compliments of Jesse Sadiua)













While this aerial snapshot captures Town Square on a bright and sunny day, the work being undertaken by Downtown Lima, via the efforts of Jennifer Brogee, will help fashion a vision for its future.



Jennifer wears several hats. She is a co-owner of the Meeting Place on Market, an employee at HR Services, and a board member for Downtown Lima. In the latter capacity, she has undertaken to create a Marketing Plan for the downtown and wants feedback from you and others. The Lima News website is carrying Jennifer’s survey and it will run for the next 2 weeks.

Please take a minute to fill out the survey & forward this email to friends and associates.

Link: http://www.limaohio.com/sections/infocenter/downtownsurvey/

Also, Downtown Lima now has a Facebook fan page. If you're on Facebook, please become a fan. That way you will be notified as events take place in our central business district. Feel free to post events, information, memories of Downtown Lima to the fan page Wall.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Downtown-Lima-Ohio/112518775432855

Lima’s downtown continues to be a vigorous community center. You can add to its dynamism by partnering with us as we encourage ongoing positive change and development.


Now, tell me, how are you going to fill it?
Last night, I attended the Hall of Fame dinner for Lima Central Catholic High School, as 4 terrific individuals—John Bishop, Tony Lester, Brett DeCurtins and Dick Ireland--were inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame. (The following link describes the inductees: http://epaper.limaohio.com/Olive/ODE/LimaNews/Default.aspx?href=LMA%2F2010%2F04%2F17&pageno=9&view=document).

Following the dinner, a friend approached and began to comment in some amazement about Lima’s new 5.1 billion gallon reservoir under construction on the west side of town. As he concluded, he wondered aloud, “Now, tell me, how are you going to fill it? Are you just going to wait on the rain? Won’t that take a while?”

The answer is “No, rainfall by itself will not fill the new reservoir.”

Instead, we’ll help Mother Nature by pumping from the Auglaize River in order to fill the new containment, and it will take us most of a year in order to do that.

Below are several pictures of components for the new pump station just installed.

Photo 1: This is a surge tank, constructed in South Dakota and transported across 5 states at 35 mph. It regulates pumping pressures in 3 miles of pipeline connecting to the reservoir.














Photo 2: The surge tank being lifted into place next to the Auglaize River pump station.

















Photo 3: The original pump station (in brick), the new pump station (under construction), and the surge tank placed on the east side.



Lima’s 3 east side reservoirs—Lost Creek, Metzger and Ferguson—are fed by the Ottawa River. The Bresler and new reservoirs on the west side are fed by the Auglaize River. These five up-ground containments will provide us with over 15 billion gallons of storage, yielding over 40 million gallon per day for residential, commercial and industrial uses. A terrific resource for long term economic development!

Take care.

Dave


David & Linda Berger
1211 Lakewood Avenue
Lima, Ohio 45805
419-228-7498
dberger@wcoil.com

April 3 Update from Dave Berger

Greetings, Ladies and Gents!


Applause! Applause! For the LCC T-Birds
Last weekend’s OHSAA Division III State Championship victory by the Lima Central Catholic High School boys basketball team was a thrilling, heart-pounding experience! The team, the coaches, the school, all deserve our commendations and applause for a great season of disciplined, hard-driving team play.

You can check out some wonderful photos of the game, courtesy of the Lima News at http://varsity.limaohio.com/sections/slideshow/?pic=3&id=2628820


Lima City Council will be voting on a resolution of commendation for the team on Monday evening, 4/5. You can attend the meeting or tune in on GTV2 at 7:00 p.m.

Congratulations, Thunderbirds! You have made us proud!


Allen County, Ohio: 2 cities, 8 villages and 12 townships: What do we share?
Strength.

Real American Strength.

The kind of strength that just isn't about being powerful - it's about being steadfast and grounded.
It's about understanding who you are and where you've been.
And, perhaps, more importantly - where you're going.

We are more than a city, more than a county.

We are a place that's more than the simple sum of all its people and places.
Here, our strength comes from our Midwestern work ethic and values.
Our productivity, culture, and way of life are sacred gifts passed down to us from those who came before.

They're the kinds of things all Americans want - yet few actually possess.



When you have a moment, please visit www.realamericanstrength.com


Our Community: The Spring 2010 Edition



Here’s the link to the latest edition of Our Community: http://www.cityhall.lima.oh.us/ourcomm1004.pdf







ENJOY!




Take care.

Dave



David & Linda Berger
1211 Lakewood Avenue
Lima, Ohio 45805
dberger@wcoil.com

March 17 Update from Dave Berger

Greetings, Lads and Lassies!

I hope that this St. Patrick’s Day finds you and yours enjoying and sharing an Irish spirit of liveliness, generosity and hospitality!


Invitation to Google!
You may have heard a couple of weeks ago that Google announced it is looking for communities throughout the United States where it would consider investing in the development of high speed internet systems. Since then, the City of Lima has been working with a team to prepare our community’s response to Google’s RFP (Request for Proposals).

We have also prepared a website where you can join us in making our voice heard distinctly by the folks at Google. Please go to http://www.limafiber.com/ and click on the link where you can help nominate Lima for this investment by Google.

If you are a student, tell Google why you think that a high speed internet hook up would help your education.

If you are a business owner, explain to Google why your business needs higher transmission speeds to help you maintain or gain a competitive edge.

If you are a teacher, share with Google your perspective about the importance of a high speed information network for you and your students.

If you are a civic minded person, express to Google your hopes and dreams about how Lima will fit into the global marketplace via an ultra high speed hook up.

If you are a doctor or engineer, describe for Google the band width and speed that you need for your business activities or professional practice to succeed.

We need to show Google that there is broad support for this initiative in our community. Please take a few minute and help us do that in a very direct way by visiting the website and entering your thoughts and ideas. Please respond by March 26, when our proposal is due to Google.

Thank you very much for joining this team effort to Invite and Welcome Google to Lima, Ohio.


How big is 54”?
The City of Lima is currently building a $28 million above ground reservoir complex to the west of our existing Bresler Reservoir. We broke ground last September and have 3 major project components: a large pump station on the Auglaize River, situated adjacent to the present pumps; 3 miles of pipeline to connect the pumps to the new reservoir; and the 5.1 billion gallon reservoir itself. During the winter weather, grading for the reservoir had to stop due to freezing conditions. However, work on the pump station and the pipeline has proceeded largely unhindered by the weather conditions.

Below are several photos that attempt to capture the scale of this work.



















































So the answer to the question “How big is 54” inches?” is the Diameter of the Pipe being placed in the above photo!


Newsletters at the City’s Website
Without a doubt, VOLUNTEERS are energetically engaged in and on behalf of our community.

• Visit the City of Lima’s website to connect with Lima Allen County Neighborhoods in Partnership (LACNIP) @ http://www.cityhall.lima.oh.us/dept/community/NeighNotes1003.pdf. Please plan to join LACNIP for its 4th Annual Cultural Appreciation Festival this Sunday at the Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center!

• Check out the list of 2010 Volunteer Opportunities @ http://www.cityhall.lima.oh.us/dept/community/voluntopport2010.pdf. You, your family and friends can become involved in a wide array of activities that improve our community year round.
• The Lima Sister Cities Association has a full agenda for this year too. We are sending students from Lima to our Sister City in Harima cho, Japan in June and we are welcoming a delegation of 28 from Harima cho here in August. Click on this link in order to learn more: http://www.cityhall.lima.oh.us/dept/local/sistercity/Newsletter1003.pdf
  

Take care.

Dave


David & Linda Berger
1211 Lakewood Avenue
Lima, Ohio 45805
419-228-7498
dberger@wcoil.com

February 28 Update from Dave Berger

Greetings, Ladies and Gents:

I don’t know about you, but the Chilean earthquake, the threat of Pacific-wide tsunamis, and the blizzard in the Northeast made the couple of inches of snow we experienced in the past day or two seem fairly insignificant. Without a doubt, we should all be thankful and generous as the requests for help in Haiti, Chile and elsewhere are made.

City Finance Director Testifies

This past week, Steve Cleaves, the Finance Director for the City of Lima, testified before the Ohio House of Representatives concerning proposed legislation that would eliminate Ohio’s income tax. Because of the profoundly disruptive impacts that would be felt locally and statewide from such legislation, Steve prepared and delivered comments that argued forcefully against such a step. By virtue of his 28 year career in the international oil business and his half dozen years of service with the City, Steve’s expertise is broadly acknowledged. But his testimony was not an expression of mere opinion. He relied upon a longstanding resource—KPMG’s Guide to International Business Locations—to validate the relatively low tax burden in Ohio and its cities.

This is a subject that deserves some study time.

Please read Steve’s 2-page testimony at http://www.cityhall.lima.oh.us/dept/local/SCleavesOhioTestimony02242010.pdf

Also, you can download KPMG’s report at http://www.competitivealternatives.com/

The bottom line: There is no free lunch. Quality of life in local communities and in our state requires public expenditures and private investments. We need to do our part as tax payers if we expect to have high quality public services that serve us well and create environments that will motivate investors to keep our economy vibrant in a global economic system.

May 2010 renewal ballot for Ohio’s Third Frontier Program

The Ohio legislature has approved the placement of a renewal for the Third Frontier Program on the May 4, 2010 ballot. The Third Frontier program—begun by Governor Bob Taft--invests in research, commercialization and entrepreneurship in technologies in high tech industry clusters. This past year, the Ohio Department of Development contracted with SRI to conduct an independent economic assessment of the first 7 years of the program’s efforts. SRI concluded that the Third Frontier program created $6.6 billion in economic impact and 41,300 jobs by making grants of $681 million to research, development and commercialization projects at academic, research and development institutions and companies, entrepreneur-development organizations and venture capital funds. An important conclusion of the business case study: the Third Frontier program is likely to pay for itself by 2014 with income and sales taxes generated by organizations receiving its grants.

You can access a copy of the 2009 Annual Report at the following: http://development.ohio.gov/ohiothirdfrontier/Documents/RecentPublications/Third_Frontier_Annual_Report2009.pdf

If you go to pp 14-15, you’ll be able to read about Lima’s American Trim and Rhodes State College teamwork under the Third Frontier Program.

As May approaches, I expect to be working to highlight the investments made in our NW Ohio region from the Third Frontier program. There’s lots to talk about.

Take care. And be well.

Dave

David & Linda Berger

1211 Lakewood Avenue

Lima, Ohio 45805

419-228-7498

dberger@wcoil.com

February 14 Update from Dave Berger

Greetings, Ladies and Gents:

I hope this Valentine’s Day finds you well and comfortably surviving the winter snows that have fallen in 49 out of the 50 states. We have had enough snow here in Lima that yesterday I had to rescue my buddy, Smokey, from a snow drift that he got himself stuck in!

Positive News: $1 million Energy Stimulus award to American Trim

This past week, the Director of the Ohio Department of Development, Lisa Patt McDaniel, was in Lima to announce that American Trim was one of 18 companies around the state that had been selected for a grant of nearly $1 million for construction of a new energy efficient manufacturing line. (cf. http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=1510). American Trim will be spending $1.3 million of its own resources along with the grant for a state-of-the art coating line, which will save 95% of the energy used in prior technologies.

Steve Hatkevich, head of R&D, for American Trim, describes the new energy savings technology.

American Trim has been highly successful in rolling out new technologies from its laboratories and scaling them up for high-tech manufacturing. These efforts by American Trim are part of a

multi-year commitment by the Company to reinvent its manufacturing processes and pursue an agile manufacturing strategy with the express purpose of retaining jobs in Ohio and Lima in particular.

And this project illustrates the validity of that strategy: After several years in their labs, the company is now prepared to install a coating line that will apply a protective film to steel panels built for doors on appliances. This coating is cured in place using flashes of ultraviolet light, rather than the traditional heating and cooling processes. The energy savings are enormous, and the technology is entirely “green”, with no environmental emissions.

The announcement was made in the company’s Baxter Street facilities where millions of similar products were previously made using the old technology. These facilities are now vacant and unused, but the new energy efficient manufacturing line will create 40 new jobs and allow the company to once again compete globally.

Congratulations, American Trim!

Lima’s Sister City connection to the Winter Olympics (in Nagano, Japan, 1998)

With Friday’s opening of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the Lima Sister City Association has launched a special fundraising effort, connected to the ’98 Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan.

Keiko Hahn, a co-chair of our Japan Committee, has a sister, a master quilter, who served as the Coordinator of the Olympic Quilt Exhibition in Nagano. As a part of this exhibition, quilts were created in the shape of kimono using antique kimono fabric by expert Nagano area Japanese quilters. These quilts were presented to each participating country in the spirit of international friendship. After the exhibit, two of these kimono quilts, one for the country of Yugoslavia (which no longer exists) and one for The Gambia, a small country in West Africa, were unclaimed. Keiko’s sister gave these quilts to Keiko and the Lima Sister City Association to be sold as fundraisers in the future.

These quilts were posted separately on e-Bay on February 7.

Bidders should know that 100% of the sale price will go to the LSCA Youth Fund, which provides opportunities for high school students to visit Lima's sister city, Harima-cho, Japan.

Below are links to the quilts' item description pages:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110491805576&ssPageNa

me=S

TRK:MESELX:IT#ht_1136wt_1167

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110491806821&ssPageNa

me=S

TRK:MESELX:IT#ht_994wt_1167

In the spirit of international friendship fostered by the Winter Olympics, I hope you’ll consider participating in this auction and supporting the efforts of Lima Sister City Association.

More Information concerning Ohio’s Passenger Rail Hub Plan

As you probably are aware, the City of Lima has been working for years to re-establish passenger rail service that once linked us to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York. That opportunity is closer with the federal commitments that are now moving ahead for the funding of high speed passenger rail recently announced. Ohio’s first corridor to be built will be along the 3’C’s and with the announcement of $400 million being available to actually begin its development, lots of debate has begun. And as always, debate is good.

So to help foster the debate I am passing along a link to information being provided by the Ohio Passenger Rail Association.

http://members.cox.net/ohiohsr/3C%20mythbusters.pdf

Hope you’ll take a moment and check it out.

Thanks.

Take care. And be well.

Dave

David & Linda Berger

1211 Lakewood Avenue

Lima, Ohio 45805

419-228-7498

dberger@wcoil.com

January 31, 2010 Update from Dave Berger

Greetings, Ladies and Gents!

Today’s bright sunshine is terrific, despite the cold temperatures. I hope to find a little time for some exercise with Smokey in Faurot Park, and hope too that your Sunday is pleasant and enjoyable as we prepare for the coming week’s endeavors.

Lima’s Future with High Speed Rail

As you may be aware, this past Thursday, announcements were made around the country for the first federal commitments to building the initial sections of our nation’s high speed passenger rail systems. I and many others have been hoping that the planned route through Lima would be among those first commitments. I drove to Columbus and joined in the celebration at the Statehouse as Governor Strickland and others announced the commitment to the 3 C corridor (i.e., Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati).

For details, please click on the following link: http://209.51.133.155/cms/index.php/news_releases/more/ohio_rail_routes_win_600_million_in_federal_funds/

Though the route through Lima was not among those announced, several things should be kept in mind:

- This really was the FIRST set of commitments, which, of course, implies that there will be future ones as well. Lima is a part of the Ohio Hub Plan and there are 7 major corridors in that plan, and only 1 corridor is now funded. Our job is to continue to work vigorously to see that the entire Ohio Hub Plan is built.

- Thursday’s announcement included a commitment to the Chicago to Detroit route. This will include improvements through Porter, Indiana and as such will help to solve the N. Indiana bottleneck that does impact all routes to the east, including ours. So there is an indirect benefit for us in Lima and Ohio.

- Active support matters! As I joined in the celebration at the Statehouse it was clear that community and political support was essential to obtaining the federal commitment. We must continue to build active support from our 4^th Congressional District and the Ohio and Indiana communities along the proposed route. The build out of these high speed regional systems is a nationally competitive process, and those who compete well as a team with all of their community and leadership assets will be the winners!

There is an insightful article in Wired magazine illustrating these regional systems. Check it out by clicking on the following link: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_fasttrack/

So, rather than being discouraged that we were not among the first, let’s remain energized and committed to assuring that Lima truly has a future with our nation’s high speed passenger rail system!

Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Forecast Breakfast remarks

Friday morning, bright and early, the Lima Chamber of Commerce held its annual Forecast Breakfast. I was invited to deliver a 3-4 minute prognostication, which is reprinted below. Feel free to share with others.

2010 will be very, very busy for the City of Lima. Years of planning and engineering are coming to a head on multiple projects.

Through the sustained efforts of the Community Development staff, the city was able to secure $1.7 million in Neighborhood Stabilization funds. Beginning last fall, we identified a list of approximately 250 dilapidated houses and are aggressively pursuing their demolition. Efforts in our first target area on S. Pine are well underway, and similar efforts will now spread to other areas in the city in 2010, all this work being done to clear pockets of blight for long-term redevelopment.

Our west side reservoir project–at $28 million, the single biggest capital expenditure in the history of the City–has made good progress and will continue to come up out of the ground this year. Work on the Auglaize river pump station and 3 miles of connecting pipeline is progressing. The excavation for the 5 billion gallon reservoir itself will begin anew once the spring thaw has taken place. This new water resource will make us drought-proof while providing opportunities for economic and industrial growth.

We also have $10 million in equipment upgrades underway at the wastewater treatment facility and are expecting to ramp up a new $12 million activated carbon filter project for drinking water treatment in coming weeks. This project is required under federal regulations to be on line in 2012, but we are hoping to take advantage of the current bidding environment by moving the project aggressively ahead for a ground breaking yet this summer. This filtering process will make our great Lima water even better.

We have finished the detailed design and engineering for the Vine Street underpass, and the project is heading for bidding in March. The project now totals more than $15 million and is funded largely through a combination of stimulus funding and the city’s gas tax and license tag fees. City staff, outside engineers and consultants have been burning the midnight oil in order to meet the deadlines for this project! This underpass has been designed to be aesthetically pleasing, and will not be just a concrete canyon..

Other stimulus projects involving two storm water projects on the west and north sides have been bid, as is a sewer lining project. These total $900,000 in stimulus funding.

As you may be aware, after nearly 3 years of collaboration with Downtown Lima and other stakeholders, the city has prepared specifications for the renewal of the downtown streetscape. Additionally, we succeeded in securing a grant of $1.2 million for funding 80% of the project. By putting together a package for matching funds, we are hoping to avoid assessments to the property owners and yet to be under construction in Lima’s downtown this summer.

Last fall, the bids came in too high for the JRS project on S. Main. We are now out to bid again, expecting that new bids will be more competitive. This project is expected to cost roughly $1.2 million. In all there are a dozen Public Works projects, including the rebuilding of University Boulevard, that will be underway this year at costs totalling $14 million.

In summary, the city of Lima has roughly $65 million in capital construction projects moving ahead in 2010. Truly, an unprecedented year that will create jobs and will make long term investments in our community’s infrastructure, improving our quality of life and increasing our economic development prospects.

The Automotive Communities Program of the Center for Automotive Research

For about 5 years now, I have chaired the Lima Automotive Task Force and we have been engaged in promoting the region’s automotive industrial base. As a part of these efforts, we are members of the Automotive Communities Program and information about Lima is currently highlighted at their website. Please visit by clicking on the following link: http://acp.cargroup.org/

Take care. And be well.

Dave

David & Linda Berger

1211 Lakewood Avenue

Lima, Ohio 45805

419-228-7498

dberger@wcoil.com

January 10, 2010 Update from Dave Berger

Ladies and Gents:

Hot Off the Presses!

The City of Lima’s latest quarterly newsletter, Our Community, is now available for you and for any with whom you would care to share it.

I hope you’ll take a moment and click on the link below to access the entire issue. Great information that you can use now and in the near future.

http://www.cityhall.lima.oh.us/ourcomm1001.pdf

By the way, to the 10th person who responds to this email and correctly identifies the man in the Tartan tie and Scottish kilt pictured in this issue, I will present a set of Kewpee Hamburger coupons.

USPS Needs to Get Some Mail from YOU and ME!

I hope that you have been following the proposal being advocated by the US Postal Service (USPS) for the closure of the mail processing center here in Lima. This past Wednesday the USPS held a public hearing at Lima Senior High School. The event was well attended with over 500 business leaders, representatives from surrounding communities, elected officials, and postal employees participating.

In summary, the information presented by the USPS was incomplete and the rationale for the proposed closure was ill conceived.

For information about the issue, please visit www.458postaltaskforce.com.

Once you have come up to speed on the issue, please write a letter to the persons listed below to express your support for keeping the Lima mail processing center open.

Ms. Chu Falling Star, District Manager

1591 Dalton Ave.

Cincinnati, Ohio 45234-9994

Ms. Megan J. Brennan, VP Operations

One Marquis Plaza

5315 Campbells Run

Pittsburgh, Pa. 15277-7010

Today’s Lima News provides a helpful perspective on this issue:

Lima News Editorial: Closure decision doesn't add up

| Recommend 2

Postal Service should prove its numbers before shutting Lima center

January 10, 2010 12:05 AM

The Lima News

Everyone can understand the U.S. Postal Service’s need to tighten its belt. It is losing billions a year. Something has to be done to stem the losses.

That something, however, shouldn’t be the random throwing of darts at a map. The something the Postal Service does should be on a national basis. The something should make sense, and it should be a savings that the Postal Service can prove will take place.

The possible closure of the Postal Service’s Lima distribution center doesn’t meet any of those criteria. Closing Lima, which serves 458 zip codes, appears to be what District Manager Chu Falling Star thought would be the easiest option.

Falling Star chose to study the Lima center for closure. It has been her call alone to this point. She says closing the Lima distribution center would save $1.4 million a year, but she has been unwilling — perhaps unable — to show how she arrives at that number. She calls it a conservative estimate, but Lima residents, postal officials and members of Congress apparently just have to take her word for it.

That’s not good enough. It wasn’t good enough for community leaders and postal union workers who turned out Wednesday to protest a possible closure. It shouldn’t be good enough for U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, whose districts could suffer service delays and even the loss of businesses if the Lima distribution center closes.

The Postal Service closing the Lima center would cost this community 87 jobs. Eventually, merging Lima’s work with that of the Toledo distribution center would eliminate more than 50 jobs in Falling Star’s Western Ohio district. It’s believable that those jobs — which the postal union says pay about $80,000 annually in salary and benefits — could save the Postal Service quite a bit.

But Falling Star should be able to put the numbers on paper. How do transportation costs factor in, for example? Would it make more sense to downsize Toledo or Dayton operations a bit, bringing more work to Lima?

Right now, Falling Star told The Lima News before Wednesday’s public hearing, her numbers are tentative. So, despite our having asked, the postal union having asked, Jordan’s office having asked and community leaders having asked, Falling Star isn’t showing anyone where she gets $1.4 million. We’re just supposed to believe it because she says so.

Eighty-two communities in 10 counties stand to lose, so Falling Star should be able to offer more than her word.

Postal officials — the final decision isn’t Falling Star’s — must be able to show these savings are real and this is the best way to realize them.

Even assuming they do, the Postal Service’s district-by-district approach to trying to save — district managers chose which of their centers to look at — is piecemeal. If Congress wouldn’t have bailed out the Postal Service on retiree health costs, it would have lost $7.8 billion last year. The Postal Service needs to do a comprehensive study of its national operations rather than relying on its district managers alone to try to come up with those savings.

Could Lima absorb work from Toledo? Lima is more efficient. Could Lima or Toledo absorb work from Columbus or Indiana — which are in different districts than what Falling Star oversees — or vice versa?

The digital age has taken a large part of the post office’s business. Nationwide, there has been a 9.2 percent drop in parcels mailed over the past two years, while Lima’s handling has dropped off 17.5 percent in that same time. No one would argue that. But while Falling Star can recite those numbers, she can’t say how much business has dropped for Toledo, Dayton or Cincinnati — suggesting Lima seemed like the least hassle to close.

That isn’t fair. More importantly, it suggests Falling Star could be ignoring better ways to save money.

Take care.

Dave

David & Linda Berger

12ll Lakewood Avenue

Lima, Ohio 45805

419-228-7498

dberger@wcoil.com