Interested Party Testimony on HB 674 - Heritage Ohio, Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee (June 3, 2020)

Summary

Interested party testimony from Heritage Ohio on HB 674 (Hillyer), dated June 3, 2020, to the Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee, in support of House Bill 674. Heritage Ohio describes itself as Ohio's statewide downtown revitalization non-profit and the coordinating agency for the Ohio Main Street Program since 1997. The testimony states that the DORA Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas has proven to be an effective means of stimulating the economy and that streamlining the language would let smaller cities implement it more quickly. The signature block names Joyce Barret, Executive Director, and Duane Van Dyke, Chair, Government Relations.

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“Interested Party Testimony on HB 674 - Heritage Ohio, Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee (June 3, 2020).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2020-06-04-commerce-labor-testimony-hb674heritageohio-752d57dfd4/, SHA-256 30cac45f10c44679bfff88ad9bad3897e6703bcfa4e70f9ecc65bda997df43a7.

Full text

                  Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee
               Interested Party Testimony, HB 674 (Hillyer)
                                 Heritage Ohio
                                  June 3, 2020
Thank you Chair Manning, Vice-Chair Dean, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan, and members of
the Commerce and Labor Committee for the opportunity for Heritage Ohio to provide
interested party written testimony in support of House Bill 674.

Heritage Ohio is Ohio’s statewide downtown revitalization non-profit that has been the
coordinating agency for the Ohio Main Street Program since 1997. Currently we manage 22
certified Main Street programs and work with 35 Downtown Affiliates to assist with community
revitalization and economic development efforts. We also assist dozens of additional
communities with technical assistance through a CDBG grant from the Office of Community
Development.

The DORA Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas has already proven to be a highly effective
means of stimulating the economy, pre-covid. We know that streamlining the language to allow
smaller cities to implement this more quickly would help ALL of the businesses in those
downtowns that chose to enact a DORA.
We think the endorsement by the legislature to ease the process will give communities more
confidence that this is a safe program that has met success in twenty-two communities so
far…with many more scrambling to get one in place now that it is recognized as a way to help
save their restaurants.
Because of our work across Ohio, we know that restaurants are the anchor businesses driving
traffic in our downtown commercial districts. The survival and success of our restaurant
industry going forward will impact not only restaurants but are important for the vitality and
stability of our other Main Street businesses.
Heritage Ohio supports the swift passage of HB 674 to help save these Ohio businesses, which
are the backbone to our local economies.

We can be a resource to communities, sharing best practices for implementation, signage, cups,
wristbands, etc., which help the public quickly understand the DORA parameters.
Thank you for your time, and if you have any questions, we can be reached at 614-258-6200.


Joyce Barret                                                      Duane Van Dyke
Executive Director                                                Chair, Government Relations

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