Latest / Chuck Douglas / Problems With Columbus Politics

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Problems With Columbus Politics · Chuck Douglas

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  Speaker 1: We are making 24 minutes away from the top of
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  Speaker 1: the hour. Chuck Douglas of Power Hour, 610 WTVN, 821-9886,
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  Speaker 1: the number 821-WTVN. I saw a story on the television
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  Speaker 1: news over the weekend. I can't remember which channel. It's
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  Speaker 1: probably six. I usually watch six. But it was about
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  Speaker 1: that school building down there in the bottoms right there.
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  Speaker 1: You know where 70 and 315 intersect. And since I
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  Speaker 1: was a youngster, I mean, like back in my teen days,
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  Speaker 1: I would look at that and I had an idea
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  Speaker 1: for it. And it seems that some other people have
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  Speaker 1: had that same idea, but the idea doesn't look like
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  Speaker 1: it's going to come to fruition. And it is owned
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  Speaker 1: by the Catholic diocese here in central Ohio. I've seen
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  Speaker 1: some construction work going on there, but I guess they
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  Speaker 1: have come up with a figure of $ 10 million to
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  Speaker 1: rehabilitate the property. So they just want to knock it down.
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  Speaker 1: It's easier to knock it down and start over. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the Franklinton Area Commission, here's where I get heated again.
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  Speaker 1: The Franklinton Area Commission voted disapproval on the request to
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  Speaker 1: knock the building down. One member was in favor. The other,
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  Speaker 1: I think it was 12 to 1, not in favor.
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  Speaker 1: I've said this before many times. In fact, when I
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  Speaker 1: had Joe Motil on a couple of weeks ago, we
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  Speaker 1: talked about issues eight and nine. And because issues eight
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  Speaker 1: and nine are on the ballot right now, this is
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  Speaker 1: a particularly interesting story to me. The area commissions were
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  Speaker 1: created by the city of Columbus. Basically to appease people.
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  Speaker 1: That wanted, you know, what they always want to refer
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  Speaker 1: to as a ward system, a representative system for city council.
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  Speaker 1: They said, ah, this at-large thing just doesn't work and
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  Speaker 1: we need representative areas here. And so the city said,
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  Speaker 1: here's what we're going to do. We're going to develop
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  Speaker 1: area commissions. And they will serve these communities that were,
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  Speaker 1: last time I checked, there were 16 area commission boundaries
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  Speaker 1: in the city of Columbus. And this will be a
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  Speaker 1: group of your neighbors who live in your community that
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  Speaker 1: And they will meet with developers and people looking for
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  Speaker 1: variances and zoning changes and all this kind of stuff.
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  Speaker 1: They'll go to the Area Commission. The Area Commission will
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  Speaker 1: then make a recommendation to Columbus City Council or to
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  Speaker 1: the zoning board or wherever it goes on behalf of
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  Speaker 1: your community. And you'll be able to attend the meetings
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  Speaker 1: and speak for or against something if you want to.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds great, but... There's always a but in there.
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  Speaker 1: As I have said so many times, the area commissions
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  Speaker 1: have no teeth. So if the diocese wants to knock
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  Speaker 1: this building down, and if Columbus City Council wants to
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  Speaker 1: knock this building down, and if Andy Ginther wants to
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  Speaker 1: knock this building down, 12 to 1 or not, that
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  Speaker 1: building's coming down. And as I said, back in my
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  Speaker 1: teen years, I used to think, you know, I was young,
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  Speaker 1: I was idealistic. I wanted to turn that into... Not
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  Speaker 1: a shelter, mind you. Not a shelter because the open
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  Speaker 1: shelter and the– what was the other one? Oh, I
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  Speaker 1: can't call the name of it right now. But they
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  Speaker 1: had opened up here in the city of Columbus. But
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  Speaker 1: I thought, you know, wouldn't it be great if you
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  Speaker 1: had someplace where you could go to do job applications,
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  Speaker 1: get mail, You know, you put in an application and
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  Speaker 1: then they send you a letter and say it would
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  Speaker 1: not be email today. But back then you could get mail.
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  Speaker 1: You'd have access to, you know, maybe some some people
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  Speaker 1: that can help put your resume together, have access to computers,
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  Speaker 1: the Internet, this kind of whatever kind of a business
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  Speaker 1: center thing on top of just a place to flop. Because.
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  Speaker 1: It's giving a hungry child a pacifier might shut them
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  Speaker 1: up for a while, but it doesn't feed them. Same
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  Speaker 1: thing with places like, you know, the homeless shelters. You're
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  Speaker 1: not getting them off the street. You're not. Now, I
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  Speaker 1: know today it's 2026 and we got a lot of
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  Speaker 1: drug zombies out there. It's a different world. But back then.
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  Speaker 1: Back then, homelessness was largely an economic issue. It wasn't
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  Speaker 1: an issue of choice. It wasn't an issue of drug use.
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  Speaker 1: things fell apart for a lot of people. And every
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  Speaker 1: time my parents would drive by that building on the freeway,
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  Speaker 1: I couldn't help but to have that conversation and be
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  Speaker 1: thinking about that. And some others have tried over the years,
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  Speaker 1: I guess, to do that as well. But somehow, someway,
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  Speaker 1: something always got in the way. So in spite of
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  Speaker 1: the recent work that I've seen going on there, you know,
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  Speaker 1: pickup trucks and guys in hard hats going in and
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  Speaker 1: out of the building. They've decided it's cheaper just to
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  Speaker 1: tear it down than to spend the $ 10 million. I
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  Speaker 1: want you to keep an eye on this. I want
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  Speaker 1: you to keep an eye on this story. 12 to 1,
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  Speaker 1: the representatives of that community voted against the demolition. Keep
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  Speaker 1: an eye on the story and watch the building come down.
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  Speaker 1: Because it will, if that's what they want. That's why
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  Speaker 1: area commissions are, you know, it was nice while it lasted.
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  Speaker 1: And I say this as a former member and a
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  Speaker 1: former chairman of an area commission. Nice while it lasted,
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  Speaker 1: but it's time to move on from that. Which brings
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  Speaker 1: me back to issues eight and nine. Issue eight. Issue eight.
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  Speaker 1: And the podcasts are up, by the way. You can
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  Speaker 1: go back and listen. I think Joe Motel's name is
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  Speaker 1: on the podcast title, if I'm not mistaken, isn't it? Yes.
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  Speaker 1: There are two different ones. There's the on-air, and then
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  Speaker 1: there's a, I don't know, maybe 15 minutes or so
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  Speaker 1: that Joe and I talked off the air afterward that
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  Speaker 1: we posted as well. Issue 8 was a ballot initiative
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  Speaker 1: brought forth by grassroots effort. People in Columbus, Ohio... got
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  Speaker 1: this on the ballot. And what it says is we
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  Speaker 1: want area representation. And there are those who will counter
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  Speaker 1: that and say, well, that means the South side is
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  Speaker 1: going to be fighting with Linden and, and the East
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  Speaker 1: side is going to be fighting with the West side.
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  Speaker 1: And yes, that's exactly what it's going to mean. Just
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  Speaker 1: like it means in the halls of Congress, just like
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  Speaker 1: it means in the state house, just like it means
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  Speaker 1: that your union hall, some people will be of some position.
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  Speaker 1: Some people will be another year, You gripe and grouse
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  Speaker 1: and bang your hand on the table, and eventually you
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  Speaker 1: come to a conclusion that makes everyone as happy as
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  Speaker 1: they can possibly be without giving in to the other
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  Speaker 1: side completely. That's how our government works at all levels.
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  Speaker 1: That's how our government works, except here. So, yes, you
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  Speaker 1: are going to have advocates involved. People will be elected
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  Speaker 1: to serve a given community. My beloved West Side will
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  Speaker 1: have someone elected that actually cares more about the beloved
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  Speaker 1: West Side than they do the rest of the city.
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  Speaker 1: And no longer will you have, you know, people who
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  Speaker 1: live in Clintonville or Berwick deciding to yank a park
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  Speaker 1: away from people on the South Side. Because somebody from
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  Speaker 1: the South Side will be there to stand up and say, oh,
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  Speaker 1: hell no. You promised this in writing, in ordinance, in vote.
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  Speaker 1: You promised this, and it's going to happen. Personally, I
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  Speaker 1: love it. Now, Issue 9 looks a lot like Issue 8,
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  Speaker 1: but here's the catch. Issue 9 is from Columbus City Council,
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  Speaker 1: from the city of Columbus. And what it does is
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  Speaker 1: establishes neighborhood representatives, but it also adds in three more
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  Speaker 1: at-large seats, which is what allows those people in Clintonville
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  Speaker 1: to decide what happens on the South Side. We need
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  Speaker 1: to get away from that. Not only does Issue 8,
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  Speaker 1: in my mind, in my way of thinking, not only
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  Speaker 1: does Issue 8 need to pass... Here's an absolute issue.
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  Speaker 1: Nine has to be voted down because more trickery at
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  Speaker 1: the polling place. If issue eight passes and issue nine passes,
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  Speaker 1: then issue eight disappears and issue nine wins. You understand that?
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  Speaker 1: If eight and nine both pass, then eight disappears and
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  Speaker 1: nine is what becomes the law. So not only do
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  Speaker 1: we have to vote yes on eight, we've got to
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  Speaker 1: vote no on nine. Otherwise, we're just establishing three more
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  Speaker 1: people elected at large, making choices for people in other
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  Speaker 1: parts of the city where they'd never even go. That's
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  Speaker 1: what we wanted 30 years ago. We've stalled out on
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  Speaker 1: it every time. And if government pushes back this often,
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  Speaker 1: this regularly... if government pushes back against something that is
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  Speaker 1: initiated by the citizens always, then you know what? It's
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  Speaker 1: probably something that's best for the citizens and not for
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  Speaker 1: the government. They don't want to give up power. They
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  Speaker 1: don't want to give up control. They don't want to
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  Speaker 1: give up influence. We have some decent people in office.
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  Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. We also have a lot of
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  Speaker 1: turds in the punch bowl when it comes to people
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  Speaker 1: in office. That's fact. We've got to start fixing that.
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  Speaker 1: We've got to start fixing that. Not voting, not participating,
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  Speaker 1: you have no voice. But if you vote for something
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  Speaker 1: and you get what you voted for and it stinks... Pay.
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  Speaker 1: Accept the responsibility for it. Live with it. You created
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  Speaker 1: the monster. We have a chance to uncreate a few
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  Speaker 1: monsters this time around, and I surely hope that we
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  Speaker 1: will do it. Because it's necessary. Columbus is... It is
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  Speaker 1: the capital of the state of Ohio. It's short police officers.
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  Speaker 1: It's short firefighters and paramedics. It's over budget on both,
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  Speaker 1: which council is talking about tonight, as far as I know.
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  Speaker 1: Police budget, they've used like eight, what, eight million of
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  Speaker 1: their allotted 10 million or something like that in overtime already.
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  Speaker 1: But let's not forget that overtime report that came Columbus Dispatch,
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  Speaker 1: I think it was, that printed that about a month ago.
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  Speaker 1: All of the overtime being paid to officers guarding the
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  Speaker 1: mayor and council members. Do we do we do we
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  Speaker 1: do we need that? Again, I'm being honest. I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you think if there were like credible threats against
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  Speaker 1: Columbus City Hall that the news would be all over it?
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  Speaker 1: Every news camera, every microphone in town would be downtown
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  Speaker 1: covering that. Zach, check the record. When's the last time
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  Speaker 1: we had a credible threat of violence toward the mayor
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  Speaker 1: or members of city council? You should probably be able
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  Speaker 1: to Google that pretty quick. Because I don't think it's happened.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, there's going to be some people sending hot-headed
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  Speaker 1: emails and going, you suck, I hate you. There's a
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  Speaker 1: long list of nothing here. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. We're spending
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  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of money paying Columbus police officers to
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  Speaker 1: be personal bodyguards for people that, as far as I
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  Speaker 1: can tell, are not in any immediate danger. You're already
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  Speaker 1: making a ton of money. What is it, $ 96, 000 and change,
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  Speaker 1: I think, council people get. And that's still considered a
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  Speaker 1: part-time job, although now they go, well, some members treat
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  Speaker 1: it as a part-time job, others treat it as a
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  Speaker 1: full-time job. Columbus City Council traditionally was a part-time job.
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  Speaker 1: And I recall many moons ago when I actually considered running,
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  Speaker 1: went down and interviewed with the party alleged leadership. And
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  Speaker 1: the salary at that point was $ 47, 000 and change. The
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  Speaker 1: assistant to the council member, the legislative aide to the
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  Speaker 1: council member actually was making more than the city council
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  Speaker 1: member back then. And now they're talking about a budget which, what,
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  Speaker 1: a 32% increase by 2030 or something like that? Come on, man.
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  Speaker 1: Come on. You're there to serve people, not to get wealthy.
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  Speaker 1: Did we pull a stat out, I don't know, maybe
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  Speaker 1: almost a year ago, that the mayor was making more
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  Speaker 1: than the governor? Do you recall that? I remember something
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  Speaker 1: about that. Yeah. Like we were both like, what? in
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  Speaker 1: the world is going on I remember it was more
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  Speaker 1: than like a one day thing my hometown is knee
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  Speaker 1: deep in political poo poo that's what it comes down
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  Speaker 1: to and we need to seriously people make some changes
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  Speaker 1: start thinking differently start thinking about the greater good and
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  Speaker 1: not just being some self serving robot that follows instructions
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  Speaker 1: and follows orders read stuff talk to people that don't
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  Speaker 1: agree with you learn things Educate yourself and vote.