[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 129 (Thursday, October 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2033-E2034]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IN RECOGNITION OF THE STOCKYARD REDEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 2005

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Stockyard 
Redevelopment Organization (SRO), which has done much to oversee the 
redevelopment of Cleveland's Stockyard neighborhood in Ohio's 10th 
Congressional District. Once the center of Cleveland's stockyard 
industry, this neighborhood, like many such neighborhoods in Cleveland 
and around the country in the decades following World War II, became 
blighted as companies fled to the suburbs, sunbelt, or overseas while 
residents followed the new freeways out of town.
  In March 2000, when SRO's newly appointed director Alex Brazynetz 
visited my office for the first time, he brought big dreams, 
significant problems, and a small request. His dream was the 
revitalization of this long-neglected inner city neighborhood. The 
problem was that the privately owned and crumbling West 67th Place was 
not eligible for highway funding or local road maintenance, while the 
owner was unable to provide the maintenance. The request was for a 
creative way to get this street fixed to retain the last remaining 
businesses and to attract new business to this blighted neighborhood. 
The key to overcoming the obstacle and realizing the dream was a 
federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant to fix West 6th 
Place.
  In conjunction with the SRO, the Westside Industrial Retention and 
Expansion Network (WIRE-Net) and the EDA, the City of Cleveland agreed 
to purchase West 67th Place for a nominal fee, making the street 
eligible for a federal grant. The $1.2 million grant was the key to 
completing a $1.8 million infrastructure investment. This investment 
then leveraged $24.7 million in additional and proposed investment in 
the immediate area, along with realizing 362 additional jobs.
  Building on the success of the West 67th Place project, the SRO is 
currently undertaking a Land Use Study of the West 65th Street, Denison 
Avenue & Ridge Road corridors in collaboration with WIRE-Net and with 
support from Councilmen Matthew Zone (Ward 17) and Kevin Kelley (Ward 
16) and the nearby City of Brooklyn, Ohio.
  Mr. Speaker and distinguished colleagues, the success in Cleveland's 
Stockyard neighborhood proves that small federal investments in our 
nation's cities can be stretched and leveraged to go a long way to help 
rebuild our cities. More of these opportunities must be made available. 
We must continue to rebuild the commercial, industrial, and residential 
bases of our nation's cities like Cleveland and neighborhoods like the 
Stockyard, with the help of federal investments like what we've seen 
successfully done in conjunction with the federal Economic Development 
Administration, the City of Cleveland, and the Stockyard Redevelopment 
Organization.

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