Ginther focuses on crime, housing, in his address
Annual State of City for 2023 released on video
Public safety, housing affordability and exceptional city services were the themes that Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther focused on Tuesday in his annual State of the City address, which was released on video.
“We’ll see to it that Columbus is the safest big city in the country,” Ginther said in the professionally produced hourlong video, which included montages of past accomplishments dating back to the first of his two four-year terms and one-on-one interviews with city residents who have benefitted from his programs.
Ginther highlighted his 2017 launch of the city’s first-ever Comprehensive Neighborhood Safety Strategy, which brought together community groups to tackle crime from multiple angles, as a success story in bringing down violent crime.
“Last year, we saw a 33% reduction in homicides — the largest-single percentage drop among the 20 largest cities in the country. We’ve also seen a dramatic decline in violent crime,” Ginther said. “We’re solving more cases more quickly, holding more criminals accountable and, ultimately, making our streets and neighborhoods safer.”
The 140 homicides the city recorded in 2022 was 65 fewer than the city’s record 205 set in 2021, which followed the previous record of 175 homicides in 2020. However, the 2022 homicide total was still about a third higher than the numbers in 2018 and 2019, where just over 100 homicides occurred each of those years. Most of the homicides each year involve shootings.
“First and foremost, we’re getting more officers on the streets,” Ginther said. “For the past two years, we’ve activated an additional class for new recruits — with the capacity to graduate up to 170 officers annually. We’ve also, for the first time ever, opened our
safety forces to officers from other cities who wish to come to Columbus.”
Yet the number of new recruits and lateral transfers from other departments, even out of state now, have not yet reached their full capacity. The city continues to have a shortage of officers.
The city’s 400-page budget document shows Ginther requested funding for 2,021 uniformed officers for 2023, up 74 positions — or about 4% — since 2020.
Acknowledging Columbus “can’t simply arrest our way out of crime,” Ginther also pointed to new programs like the city’s “Right Response Unit,” which places social workers and clinicians in 911 centers to connect callers in crisis with non-police agencies when appropriate. He also cited the “Rapid Response Emergency Addiction and Crisis Teams” — or RREACT — that specifically target helping those dealing with addiction.
“We will continue holding officers accountable for wrongdoing, as well,” Ginther said. “I believe strongly that we can support our officers and support policing reforms at the same time.
“... I led the effort to establish the Civilian Police Review Board and the Office of the Inspector General for the Division of Police, both of which were approved by Columbus voters and paved the way for civilian oversight of police for the very first time.”
Ginther also hired Police Chief Elaine Bryant, the first from outside the Division. “But our work is far from finished,” he said, “and I’m committed to seeing it through.”
On housing affordability, Ginther noted Columbus is growing faster than any city in Ohio —the only Midwestern city to gain more than 100,000 residents over the last decade. Central Ohio could be home to more than 3 million people by 2050.
“We can always make room for more neighbors, as long as we make decisions now that enable us to grow in a dynamic and inclusive way,” the mayor said. The city needs more new affordable housing projects, even beyond the $250 million in city bonds that city residents have approved since 2019 to leverage private investment.
“There were no affordable housing requirements for tax incentives before I became your mayor,” Ginther said, but such requirements have since led to 1,400 new affordable units across Columbus. The city’s ongoing effort to streamline zoning also will help the effort, making it “easier, and faster, to build the housing we need where we need it,” he said.
On city services, Ginther pointed to the ongoing transformation of the 69 acres at Kilbourne Run Park on the Northeast Side into new playing fields, parking, restrooms and playgrounds. He failed to mention, however, that Kilbourne was Plan B after the state failed to cooperate on Ginther’s promise for such a recreation facility near Linden at the former Mapfre Stadium site. Ginther had billed that sports-park project as the main community benefit in return for city taxpayers funding the new Lower.com Field Downtown for the Columbus Crew, but the state ultimately didn’t agree.
The mayor also noted that residential recycling will be expanded from biweekly to weekly pickup later this year by Rumpke, which the city awarded a new $16 million-plus contract on Monday.
Joe Motil, Ginther’s sole opponent in the November election, called Ginther’s video production a “glorified campaign commercial” filled with electionyear promises that history has shown will not all be kept.
“He talks about the city being in such a great state,” Motil said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s crumbling all around us,” pointing to decaying streets, bike trails, and recreation facilities.
Motil’s response to the mayor’s address, issued Tuesday afternoon,included a proposed new city Office of Anti-corruption to combat a pay-toplay City Hall culture that has included the Redflex redlight-camera scandal, secret provisions hidden in the Lower.com Field construction project, the deal to give away a freeway exit ramp to Ohiohealth to build a parking garage, and other deals.
Motil said he would: create a confidential whistle-blower hotline and a city inspector general to probe wrongdoing; prohibit all campaign contributions from vendors and developers with business pending before City Council; and outlaw all former elected officials and city directors from lobbying city officials “forever,” instead of a “meaningless” one year exclusion period.
@Reporterbush wbush@gannett.com