Make Columbus Great Again — Readers Tell Us Why We Suck

by (614) Staff, Originally Published in (614) Magazine

We love Columbus. You love Columbus.

But when rent is starting to hit many’s personal economic ceiling and your city is still named after an increasingly despised tyrant, you’ve still got a ways to go. So, in honor of election season—your civic opinions are still valid after the Nov. 8 showdown, ya know—we’re giving you, the reader your own soapbox in our pages—this month. This is our 2016 version of the good old-fashioned mailbag, with good old-fashioned Midwestern feedback.

Behold, the populace’s initial round of suggestions—and our two cents on their take(s)—on how to take this city up a notch:

Mikey Thomas

Columbus would benefit from having more gathering spaces that encourage interaction. The water features at Scioto Mile are an example. The city parks and bicycle trails are great, as well, but Columbus lacks urban spaces where impromptu gathering and hanging out can take place. Currently, urban interactions require purchasing a ticket to a sports event, or walking in a commercial zone to spend money (think Short North district). These are not bad things, but there are far less options for non-sport fans and those who don’t need to shop to exist. Imagine a city where major companies and organizations challenge themselves to make spaces, inside and out, where the public is encouraged to gather (to read, skateboard, exercise, perform, and celebrate) rather than spaces where people are chased away for hanging around. My recommendations: LARGE scale public sculptures with viewing atriums, (urban) skateboard parks, mini-performance venues for impromptu performing, protest, and speaking.

Agreed. The popularity of the Open Streets events shows that people love to gather, just to “play.” Let’s close the streets more often and allow for more neighborly hanging out. And, please, let’s stop being afraid of groups of young people hanging out and enjoying the vibe of the city.

Jan Bell

More dialogue between the community and law enforcement in developing a plan that benefits both sides. Too many young lives are being lost.

“Sides” is an unfortunate word choice, as it creates a binary of mistrust. This is, though, the narrative of the world as we know it today. We wish the sentence read “More dialogue between the community and law enforcement in developing a plan that benefits everyone.”

Hannah Stephenson

Better public transit, especially from elsewhere into downtown and vice versa! If only we had a rail system/option. Also, a shift in perspective around many of the universities in town. They do host fantastic events, many of them free, but I’m always surprised that more folks from the community don’t know about them. I know that students pay for the privilege of attending the schools, but the schools are also a huge resource and draw for this city.

All the schools in and around central Ohio—from The Ohio State University to CCAD to OWU to Capital University—consistently offer a feast of events, everything from dance concerts to lectures from top-notch thinkers and creatives (who don’t have to rely on TED), but we agree that getting the word out does not seem to be anyone’s forté—except the Wexner Center, who are masters of social media. The colleges and universities would do better to consider themselves part of the flow of the city, not islands on their own.

Heather Munn

Better/more/less-expensive-per-trip public transportation so that all persons in the city have access to all urban and suburban opportunities without it taking two transfers and two hours of your life to take a one-way trip that can then be reversed at the end of the day.

Y’all want a light rail, y’all gotta vote for a light rail, ya dig?

You can read more about why Columbus sucks at 614columbus.com.

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