Cleveland Eyes a New WPA

Cleveland legislators Monday introduced a bill to create a jobs program modeled after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s federal Works Progress Administration.

The program, called the Ohio Works Progress Administration, would create 5,000 jobs, an average of 50 jobs in each of the state’s 88 counties, according to local reports. It would cost $400 million and would be financed from an expected Ohio budget surplus of $1 billion.

Each job would pay $27,500 a year for such duties as disaster cleanup, home renovation and demolition, landfill maintenance, and conservation of waterways.

Cleveland Democratic state Reps. Nickie Antonio and Mark Foley introduced the bill Monday. “This is a kick-start to really get people at the ground level employed and working and doing the maintenance things in our communities,” Antonio was quoted as saying.

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