NEW HEIGHTS
Work starts on UA project that includes an 11-story tower
Work began this week on Arlington Gateway, the $100 million Upper Arlington project that’s been five years in the making.
Crews started demolishing buildings on the site, on the southeast corner of West Lane Avenue and North Star Road, to make way for the 11-story structure. That height makes it Upper Arlington’s tallest development, and it will serve as an eastern entrance to the city.
A Pizza Hut restaurant and an apartment building were the first to go, to be
Like then, Ohio Job and Family Services said it needed time to get its systems set up to handle the payments.
Payments under the new program will be made retroactively to Dec. 27.
Thousands of Ohioans continue to rely on unemployment benefits. The state reported last Thursday that 37,309 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed the previous week, the highest level since May as cases of the coronavirus climbed at the end of the year.
Need for extra jobless assistance is acute
The money can’t arrive soon enough for people who are depending on the benefits.
James Wright, 39, who now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, but collects unemployment benefits from Ohio, where he has mostly worked, has been anxiously awaiting benefits to resume after they stopped at the end of the year.
“It’s just been an absolute nightmare,” he said. “Meanwhile, rent was due on the first.”
He has kept filing for his benefits and trying to get answers from Job and Family Services on when benefits will resume.
“Not to be paid for three weeks since December, it’s been devastating,” he said. mawilliams@dispatch.com @Bizmarkwilliams