• Rickenbacker Area Report Gets New Look
• Team Transportation Moves to Rickenbacker
• Businesses Discuss Public Transportation at Rickenbacker
• Detroit Regional Chamber Highlights Rickenbacker Logistics
• Local Company Joins Efforts to Provide Shoes to Those in Need
• Research Planned to Link LCK to Port of Philadelphia
• Foreign-Trade Zone Seminar Scheduled for Fall
• Groveport Madison High School Seeking Community Funds for Athletic Facility
• Air National Guard Dedicates Medical Clinic
• Ashville's Annual 4th of July Celebration
• Canal Winchester's Music & Art in the Park

The bi-monthly Rickenbacker Area Report has recently been upgraded from a PDF to an actual e-newsletter for easier navigation and readability. The newsletter also has added functions that allow recipients to forward the newsletter to a friend and lets the friend sign-up to receive the newsletter in the future.

There are also links at the top of the e-mail to information about the area’s core businesses like the international airport, air cargo, the intermodal terminal and logistics as well as the military.

The Columbus Regional Airport Authority (CRAA), author of the Rickenbacker Area Report, made the switch to the new format to better serve audience needs.

If you have information that businesses and/or the military surrounding Rickenbacker International Airport, Canal Winchester, Groveport, Lockbourne, Obetz and northern Pickaway County should know, please feel free to contact Amy Hite, editor of Rickenbacker Area Report and Communications Coordinator at CRAA, at AHite@ColumbusAirports.com or (614) 238-7807.

Team Transportation, the company providing scheduled ground transportation for Team Worldwide, has recently expanded to a warehouse facility at Rickenbacker International Airport.

“The move to Rickenbacker is part of our network expansion plan that will support our existing Team Transportation hub at our corporate facility in Texas,” said Bobby Brunson, CEO of Team Worldwide. “We are excited about capitalizing on the new Rickenbacker location and believe it will help serve our clients’ needs by having the capability of providing overnight transportation to a large portion of the US population.”

Team Transportation’s new 28,800 square-foot hub at Rickenbacker includes office space, 10 dock doors and two drive-up ramp doors allowing the company to continue its mission of expedited coast-to-coast ground transportation. It will maintain focus on delivering customer shipments to destinations with the most accurate routing and in the timeliest manner.

	COTA President Bill Lhota listens to attendees at a recent REAN meeting express their ideas about public transportation at Rickenbacker.

Representatives from the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) and Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown spoke at a recent Rickenbacker Employee Assistance Network (REAN) meeting regarding public transportation options at Rickenbacker.

Approximately 70 individuals attended the meeting from area businesses and non-profit organizations specializing in job placement. Participants discussed the need to offer public transportation between downtown Columbus and Rickenbacker.

“Some of the biggest transportation challenges we see with Rickenbacker is its large geography and variety of business hours,” said Bill Lhota, COTA’s President. “Businesses are spread out in an approximate three-mile radius and have a wide range of start and stop times, which can be difficult to service in an efficient and financially-reasonable manner.”

Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown spoke at a recent REAN meeting regarding public transportation.

“Open dialogue about the desire for public transportation is a good start for us to begin the process of finding a solution,” explained JD Null, Human Resources at Gap Inc. Direct and REAN facilitator. The meeting also started a discussion about forming a committee among REAN members dedicated to finding possible answers.

The Detroit Regional Chamber recently used Rickenbacker as a good example of a working partnership between public and private sector officials to build and implement a business strategy.

“The businesses and government at Rickenbacker united around a goal and development plan and started implementing a strategy,” said the Chamber’s President Dick Blouse, who presented the information to Detroit’s local and state government officials and business leaders. “Norfolk Southern’s new Rickenbacker Intermodal Terminal is a great example of this and how all parties at Rickenbacker are coming together to market the area as a competitor in logistics.”

Other cities that Blouse mentioned in his presentation included Louisville, Kentucky, and Kansas City.

	Joe Ryan, Director of Eastern Operations at Network Global Logistics (NGL), poses with old CrocsTM shoes prepared to be shipped to Crocs’ facility for recycling. NGL’s distribution center at 1500 Commodity Blvd. in Lockbourne is a collection center for the recyclable shoes

Network Global Logistics (NGL) has partnered with Crocs^TM footwear to support a shoe recycling program known as SolesUnited^SM.

The recycling program is the first of its kind and is dedicated to providing new shoes to people in need worldwide. Consumers donate their worn-out Crocs footwear at participating retailers or send them to Crocs’ collection centers, such as NGL’s distribution centers in California and Lockbourne. NGL, the local provider of supply chain, logistics, and transportation services, then sorts, palletizes, and ships the donated shoes to Crocs’ manufacturing facilities to begin the recycling process.

When the collected worn-out shoes arrive at Crocs’ facilities, they are sorted, cleaned, ground into new material, manufactured into new recycled shoes, and distributed to people in need through the SolesUnited program.

“Our partnership with Crocs in support of the SolesUnited program highlights our dedication to effective recycling programs and green initiatives, not only in our own North American network of distribution centers, but within our clients’ supply chains, as well,” stated Joe Ryan, Director of Eastern Operations for NGL, “We are excited to be a part of the SolesUnited program in helping to improve the quality of life for millions of people worldwide and have already shipped 5,000 shoes to Crocs’ manufacturing facility for recycling.”

The Columbus Regional Airport Authority (CRAA) agreed to partner with the Delaware River Maritime Enterprise Council (DRMEC) and the Howland Group, Inc. to include the Rickenbacker area as a component of the Ben Franklin Corridor.

The Ben Franklin Corridor is a planned global transportation gateway designed to enable more rapid and secure movement of goods through major Northeast and Midwest markets. The Corridor includes port, rail and highway transportation assets and intermodal connectors that link the strategic Port of Philadelphia with significant commercial and military hubs in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and New Jersey. It also includes a marine highway connecting the Port of Philadelphia with the East Coast ports of Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, and the Gulf Coast ports of Beaumont and Corpus Christi, Texas.

Pennsylvania Rep. Bill Keller, Chairman of DRMEC, explains, “The Ben Franklin Corridor is a critical transportation, infrastructure and economic development project for Pennsylvania and our entire region of the country. We are very happy to now have CRAA on board and we look forward to working with them to help turn our plans into reality.”

"We look forward to working with DRMEC and the Howland Group on identifying improvements in the corridor between Philadelphia and central Ohio,” said Elaine Roberts, A.A.E., President & CEO of CRAA. “Rickenbacker is an ideal inland port location and with the new Rickenbacker Intermodal Terminal we will be an instrumental asset as part of the Ben Franklin Corridor.”

Read more information on the Ben Franklin Corridor by visiting DRMEC’s Web site.

Join the Columbus Regional Airport Authority (CRAA) for the annual Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) seminar this November. Meet other local and regional importers, exporters, and developers and learn how participating in an FTZ can potentially save you money and increase your global competitiveness.

Look for your invitation in the mail with details about registration and the time and place of the seminar.

Contact Angie Atwood, FTZ Marketing Coordinator, at AAtwood@ColumbusAirports.com or (614) 409-3622 for details on the FTZ or to be added to the invitation list to the upcoming seminar.

Keeping the school spirit alive, Groveport Madison High School is seeking funds to build a new athletic facility.

“Our current facility is not adequate enough to meet the needs of our approximate 500 student athletes,” said the high school’s Supervisor of Athletics Michael George. “The new facility would, among other things, allow us to give our students the same benefits other schools in our conference have and provide us greater potential in the arena of academic and student-athlete success.”

To fund the athletic facility, Groveport Madison High School is looking for alternative funding from the local businesses and military as well as possible grants. Tiered sponsorship levels have been established beginning with $5,000. Any business or branch of the military that participates at the highest level will be given the opportunity to have their name on the building and scheduled use of the facility.

“We are hoping that the approximate $1.2 million needed for the new facility will be raised as soon as possible so we can start building,” explained George. “Once the 8,500 square-foot facility is built we have funds to maintain it and believe that it will be something that the community and athletes will be proud of.”

Contact Becky Martin, Groveport Madison High School Fundraising Assistant, at (614) 836-4968 for more information on how you can donate or get involved in the new athletic facility.

Elise Blount, widow of Dr. Wilbur C. Blount, and Warren Motts, Founder and Director of Motts Military Museum, admire the commemorative plaque the Ohio Air National Guard presented at the recent dedication ceremony of the medical clinic on the Rickenbacker base in honor of Dr. Blount.

The Ohio Air National Guard recently dedicated a medical clinic at the Rickenbacker base in honor of the late Dr. Wilbur C. Blount, a retired colonel in the Ohio Air National Guard and a well-known Columbus ophthalmologist.

Nearly 200 family, friends, military officials and civic leaders gathered at the base to honor Dr. Bount’s work and hear Warren Motts, founder of Motts Military Museum; Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman; Robert Peeples, president of the Ohio memorial chapter of the Tuskegee Airman; Brig. Gen Tom Botchie, commander of the 121st Air Refueling Wing; and more speak about his many accomplishments.

Dr. Blount was a leader in the military and central Ohio. He was the first black State Air Surgeon in the Ohio Air National Guard, a 2004 inductee into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame, and the recipient of Noel Parrish award – the highest honor bestowed by the Tuskegee Airman. He was also instrumental in establishing the Air Force Junior ROTC at his alma mater, East High School, and Young Astronaut program in Columbus.

“We are honored to have hosted this unique ceremony in remembrance of Dr. Blount’s exceptional service and the important legacy he left us,” said Brig. Gen. Botchie. “Dedicating the medical clinic to Dr. Blount will be a daily reminder of his selfless service to us all.”

Ashville will be hosting its annual 4th of July celebration during the week leading up to July 4. Games, contests, fish fry, festival pageant, parades, live music and fireworks are all part of the celebration. Check out the tentative schedule and plan to join us for a great time.

Music & Art in the Park is a free summer concert series held in Canal Winchester. Each event is from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. at Stradley Park Place, just north of the village’s municipal building at 36 S. High Street. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating at this family-friendly event. Picnics are also welcome; however, alcoholic beverages are prohibited. Canal Winchester’s community center, located at 22 S. Trine Street, serves as the backup location for inclement weather. Bring your whole family out to enjoy the fun.