Remarks of Co-Chair Ellen Feingold
Columbus Field Hearing, 9-24-01

It's a treat for me to return to be Ohio Statehouse. Those of you in this room who know me know that I was a consultant to the Ohio Legislative Governor's Commission that created the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. This was obviously when I was very young. So, it is fun to be here. I don't think we were in this room, but we did hold hearings. And the Ohio Housing Finance Agency has become of one the leading agencies in the country.

The Commission is so grateful. There are a lot of people in this room who have done a just a yeoman's service helping set up these hearing, which are sponsored jointly by AOPHA, the Association of Ohio Philanthropic Homes, Housing and Services for the Aging and with the Ohio Department on Aging. I particularly want to thank Clark Law, who you will be hearing from later, who put the resources of AOPHA to service in doing this. And Joan Lawrence, who I guess we'll get here shortly. Oh, is she here and I don't recognize her? I'm sorry.

And I also want to thank the Commission's own staff, who have labored mightily on this. Gerard Holder, our executive director and Ken Trepeta, who is our deputy director and, Dina Elani and Margretta Kennedy, who I think is outside the door and Judy Crawford.

It isn't easy to do it from Washington and we needed both staffs. We needed our Ohio sponsors and we needed our own staff and I am really very grateful to you all.

We will defer the introduction of the Commissioners in the interest of letting our special guests get out of here promptly. I would now like to introduce with special pleasure Congressman Patrick Tiberi. This is Congressman Tiberi's first term in the United States House of Representatives, but he is no stranger to these precincts having, I think, eight terms in the Ohio House.

He is a member of the Financial Services Committee and the subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunities, which before Congressman Tiberi's time, really gave birth to this Commission and we hope we are going to carry it forcefully in times ahead.

He is already a voice for Ohio in Washington and that we are delighted to have him here today. Congressman Tiberi.