A Special Report by A Better Columbus
The “interim” city planner (interim about six years) wants one million dollars “to clean up Columbus” and has no plan. He wants the city to get in the business of purchasing property and maintaining it. Under his watch, blighted property has only increased. Is it time to get a credentialed city planner? Public Works is supposed to do the demolition, but it’s not keeping up with blighted properties. Some have noted when public works does the demolition the project takes three days because the workers take the time to harvest the copper, wood, and other materials while the project should not take a full day for demolition, haul off, and leveling. Why would anyone think the “interim” city planner can “clean up Columbus” when he does not address the blighted property on his own street?
About two years ago, a couple named Leslie and Will, were taking a walk in their neighborhood, saw a group of what looked like family and friends, sitting on their porch. Leslie approached the porch and crew, calling out, “your flowers, plants, and pots are beautiful!” A woman emerged from the group, flattered, and shared the different plants’ names and pointed to her mother’s house, just two houses away, that was also tidy and filled with potted plants.
“You’ve done a lot, your place looks nice, and it’s a shame your living across from this,” Will said, waiving toward a blighted property with the roof caved in, a dirty couch on the porch, and a booze bottle on the railing. The group freely shared their frustrations, happy to have someone listen, and said “there’s a pool back there!” Shocked, the couple thought of the public safety issues that go with standing water-like mosquitos and the sad potential of someone drowning. The neighbors told stories of the once nice house and the well-to-do person who used to live there.
It left the couple heartbroken and disgusted because their neighbors had given up on things ever getting better. Leslie vowed Will to get the problem resolved. Will shared how he researched what other cities had done to eliminate blight, reduce crime, and that he had presented those concepts to the prior city administration. The couple insisted positive change could come with persistence and shared their enthusiasm to rid the city of blight and offered to take this project on. The neighbors remained skeptical the blighted properties would get address.
When the couple told city employees about the dilapidated property, with a concrete pool that had no fence, and a person squatting on the long-abandoned property, they were surprised when the city employees told them they already knew, saying “Everyone knows about the property. The Columbus Municipal School District (CMSD) owns it.” In fact, the property existed in the deplorable condition on the same street the city planner resides and would pass on the way to the municipal complex. But the CMSD didn’t know.
We couldn’t understand why the city did not want to enforce its codes as it would be a win-win for all involved. It appeared some city employees thought they were “helping” CMSD. Eventually, after the couple notified CMSD of its new-found liability, CMSD voted to demolish the property at a cost of $7,000. But that wasn’t the end of it.
On the same street and just a few houses from the CMSD property, was a partially burned house with no doors, windows, and possibly people squatting there too. When the couple shared their concerns about the blighted property and that it was unsecure, a code enforcement city employee responded that the property had been demolished—but it hadn’t. About six months after the council had voted for it to be torn down, no one noticed (or cared) that the work had not been completed. When it was brought to the city’s attention that the house was still standing, they started work “the next day.”
A couple blocks away and across from the “interim” city planner’s home, another uninhabitable property has sat for an unknown number of years. When a concerned citizen reported it, the city code enforcement department head wrongly responded that the property was on the fire department’s burn list, but it was not. The fire department responded to an inquiry that they notified code enforcement the structure was too close to other inhabited structures to be used for training demolition. That was in 2020. The most recent visit to City Hall was in October 2021. Now, in 2022, it’s a cleared property.
So, now the “interim” city planner wants citizens step out on faith that he can clean up the city if we give him a million dollars of “free money”? How much money has been already wasted, grants missed, and responsibility shirked under the “interim” city planner? Does anybody think it looks like Columbus has a plan? If what has been happening is going according to plan then all can forecast the future of higher taxes, more crime, more debt, and lower quality of life.
Below are images and comments from the City of Columbus’ “SeeClickFix” site:
213 5th Street North
1424 3rd Ave North
509 15th Street North
More photos and close up of the properties, including one that the city is doing a demolition on. Another photo is of a cleared lot. All of these are related to 15th Street North.
