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Jerry Borin Expanded airline transportation to more destinations with more frequent flights. A big city needs very good air service. Expand public parks and protect “green space.” This is an important quality-of-life issue as the city continues to grow. The new downtown park and Audubon Nature Center are a good start. We are squeezing native wildlife. Let’s work to give them more space. New creative programs to improve public education. Make them relevant to today and the future. The entire city benefits if we raise the level of education. We need to engage parents and the entire community in this effort. BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Robert Breithaupt Columbus needs to become the arts and cultural center of this region—and we can. Unique and compelling offerings such as the Wexner Center, COSI, the Columbus Zoo, Jazz Arts Group/Columbus Jazz Orchestra, Thurber House and special places like the Franklin Park Conservatory and the Columbus Museum of Art provide a terrific balance to more traditional groups, as well as to the vibrant scene for individual artists. The arts serve as an engine for economic development and as an element that can “seal the deal” for corporate relocation and recruitment. Columbus leadership has a real window of opportunity in this area. Columbus needs to re-create City Center as an upscale, “urban” outlet mall. Located at the “intersection” of two major interstates, an urban outlet mall, combined with the critical need for grocery, hardware and other stores, could breathe life into City Center and attract a large group of customers that traditionally might travel great distances for such a place. While resistance might come from some notable places, a unique combination of outlets, entertainment, restaurants and services for the emerging downtown population could be an exciting concept. BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Paula Brooks Central Ohio communities must continue working together to recognize their potential as a region for growth. We must make it our goal to reduce the number of children living in poverty. In Franklin County, there are more than 44,000 children who live in poverty. A county as affluent as ours should endeavor to make that number a memory. We should continue to enhance our convention and visitors’ business by working more closely with COSI, the sports and arts communities and the hotel/motel industry. We are making progress in building that niche and we should keep it going. BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Yvette McGee Brown Columbus needs more shopping. High-end shopping is dismal in Columbus. While the shopping scene has improved in this area over the last couple of decades, we are still missing stores that provide a selection of high-quality business, evening and after-five attire. Many of my friends talk about the need to shop when we are out of town. One of my colleagues just went to New York to shop for a dress for a special occasion. Nordstrom and Saks in Columbus are sub-par compared with the same stores in Chicago, Boston, Cleveland and Cincinnati. The selection is small and generally inadequate. In other cities, these same stores have floors of selection, not just a few racks. We are missing an important market of consumers. Professional women want high-quality choices, not just blue and black suits or St. John knits. Somehow, Columbus needs to send the message to high-end department stores that we have disposable income to spend. Saks and Nordstrom need to take notice that we are not a sub-par market. We deserve a high-quality selection similar to Cleveland and Chicago. Perhaps Neiman Marcus or Bergdorf will give Columbus a look. BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Jeff Cabot Columbus needs accessible, affordable early childhood education. Years 3 to 5 are vitally important learning years, and too many of our children are beginning school already behind their classmates. BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Lelia Cady “Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character had abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and courage which it contained.” - John Stuart Mill Columbus could use more eccentricity. More people who make you look twice. More people walking dogs downtown. Rooftop or other swimming pools downtown. (For many years the old Sheraton sold summer passes, and there was an awesome pool/bar culture on weekends. After the new hotel halted the fun, the old Olentangy Inn—now the Cap City Diner—was the hot pool scene. Now there’s absolutely nothing.) Public art. The city gives all the art money (more than three million dollars per year generated by the hotel-motel tax) to the GCAC, which has unilaterally decided not to conduct a program to commission works of art available to the public, in parks and such places. This is a travesty in a city the size of Columbus, and I hope it changes with the new GCAC director under board chairman Mark Corna. Really good public transit. Nicer bus drivers, like the ones in NYC. Taxis that cruise for fares and pull over when you hail them. BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Jack P. Calareso More attention to the extraordinary number and quality of small, private colleges and universities. Increased cultural opportunities, especially downtown. More Italian restaurants! BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Paul Carringer A family discussion. Columbus this coming year will spend almost 80 percent of its available city dollars on public safety. I, as do all of us, desire a strong police and fire department. But, a budget that is increasingly devoting almost all of the available resources to this service alone is a budget on the brink of disaster. An honest family meeting is needed. And, we need our brothers and sisters in the police and fire corps to be at the table with us. We need to answer hard questions like these: How important is recreation and parks and how will we pay for them going forward? Is public health an area of city responsibility and how will we pay for these services? Are we going to give up on neighborhood services or truly commit to helping every area of our city stay safe, keep the lights on and help our children stay off the streets? How important is it to replenish the rainy day fund? Education-centered city. Columbus has a great opportunity to become an education-centered city for all its citizens. That is to bring together our public schools, Columbus State Community College and the Ohio State University in a seamless system that helps all young people succeed both in the K through 12 world and then into college. With OSU and Columbus State, Columbus stands out as a city where higher education is open and attainable to all. Opportunities for our citizens include traditional arts and sciences along with new leading-edge programs in e-commerce, GIS and medical technologies. But the current system is disjointed and difficult to navigate for many. The Columbus Public Schools have over 60,000 young people who want to succeed. We have the opportunity, through our commitment to becoming an education-centered city of tomorrow, to have a system that works together from the student’s earliest days to an educated adult ready for the work world of the new age. A seamless K through college system in our city will put us ahead of our competitors and provide the opportunity for a wonderful future we all desire. And, with education comes jobs, with jobs comes the ability to pay for the services our city needs and with services comes a great city to live in. Crime crushers. Columbus needs to crush crime wherever it shows its face. From the streets to the Internet, crime in Columbus is growing. I believe our public safety forces know what to do. And, I know from experience that our county and city attorneys know what to do. More than ever, we need to give them the tools to do their jobs. From high-tech investigation devices to more feet on the street, we need to provide those things proven to work to protect our citizens. And, we need to provide the means to keep our young people away from crime. That means more recreation and parks programs to get them in the gym and keep them out of jail. That means more community crime patrols where citizens help the safety forces with additional ears and eyes. And, that means providing hope to people looking for a way to learn more and become providers for their families. BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Ray Catalino Public transportation. It is embarrassing when visitors come to town and ask where the subway goes or the public transportation system stations are located. COTA is not a metropolitan-caliber system. An expanded county commission. When only three people make financial and growth decisions for Franklin County, it takes only two people to agree. We need more commissioners. Real recycling. Efforts at recycling are sporadic and vary from one part of town to another. If we are really serious about recycling, there needs to be a comprehensive plan and a financial incentive for participation. BACK TO THE LIST OF RESPONDENTS Michael Celentano A “city center.” It’s better than it was, but has a long way to go. A cleaner campus. High Street needs to be great. Campus Partners (the Gateway project) is a start. |
