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Article: Port authorities deliver in different way; Regionwide, they're increasingly used as economic development, financing vehicles.
- Article from:
- Crain's Cleveland Business
- Article date:
- September 8, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: JAY MILLER
The port authority business is booming in Northeast Ohio. But the growth has more to do with bonds and real estate than shipping or fishing.
While ports are traditionally places where ships unload cargo, port authorities in Ohio are something else entirely. State laws governing port authorities don't require the agencies to be in a city on a body of navigable water. Many are, though Medina, Portage and Summit counties haven't seen much waterborne freight since the Ohio Canal was abandoned after the Civil War.
"`Port authority' is almost a misnomer for a majority of them,'' said D. Bruce Gabriel, a partner at the Squire, ...