Tell the Cuyahoga County Port Authority: Don't Subsidize Sprawl

The Cuyahoga County Port Authority will consider a measure June 23 to grant the Eaton Corporation a $150 million loan to move its headquarters from downtown Cleveland to Chagrin Highlands.

The Plain Dealer reports that the port authority is expected to approve the loan.

Eaton Corporation, a industrial manufacturing corporation headquartered at E. 9th Street and Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, already received $71 million in tax abatements from the state of Ohio to move its corporate headquarters to the suburbs.

Tell the port authority not to finance sprawl and that there are more prudent and forward-thinking uses for our economic development tax dollars. $150 million could finance 3,000 small business loans of $50,000 each. If only 25% of those companies survived and hired an average of three workers, it would create more than 2,250 jobs for the Cleveland area.