Ohio's First Suburb's Consortium

Infrastructure, transportation, revenue sharing and predatory lending issues are front and center in the group's message to the Statehouse.

"When Governor-elect Ted Strickland takes office in January, Ohio's older suburbs want to welcome him with ideas to help them rebuild.

About 50 officials and advocates for the inner-ring suburbs of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton gathered here Wednesday. They discussed ways to shore up crumbling roads, redevelop abandoned property and keep cities from using state-sanctioned tax breaks to pirate businesses from each other.

"We're going to try to take advantage of the change in power to see what kind of change we can effect," said Tom Moeller, city manager of Madeira, outside Cincinnati."