Prosperity can be double-edged sword

I read the Tuesday Dispatch editorial “Economic indicators shine in Columbus” with great curiosity. In my opinion, praising Columbus’ success on vapid measures does a disservice to the region’s collective efforts to improve.

If Columbus is going to continue to lead into the 21st century, we need to think beyond the metrics and ideas that offered prosperity in the 20th. When the editorial board boasts of expensive home sales and decreasing foreclosure rates, it ignores the housing market’s unequal recovery and a growing homeless population that’s bucking national trends. When the board brags of increased flights and new hotel rooms, it disregards the related affordability crisis facing the few areas of Columbus well-connected to mass transit.

And, when the board dismisses the problem of rising homicides as an issue affecting only a handful of neighborhoods, it fails to consider the geographic pervasiveness of the opioid epidemic or how indicators like concentrated poverty, F-rated schools, and racial and economic segregation contribute to a lack of upward mobility.

What we measure matters, and by many indicators, good and bad, Columbus leads. But we shouldn’t mistake communal pats-on-theback for earned applause. To truly claim success, we need metrics that measure what’s actually important. In a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons, we have a lot of work left to do.

Jonathan Dworin Columbus