Editorial

The following is an op-ed from the Colorado-based PeoplesForBikes, an advocacy group with a mission to transform “the U.S. into the best bicycling nation in the world.”

It was the late 1990s and I thought we were so clever. We had just convinced the San Francisco Department of Parking and Traffic to incorporate an innovative new design into its bike plan, a bold statement conveying “bikes belong” right there in the middle of the street. I had first seen a shared-use marking, or “sharrow” — a white bicycle painted directly on asphalt — in photos of Paris and Chicago, put there to help bicyclists get through intersections by indicating their path of travel. In 1993, James McKay, a bike planner in Denver, used it on a trial basis to emphasize a bicyclist’s right to ride in the middle of the lane. 

The mayor’s, city council’s, and Columbus Police Department’s chiefs’ uninformed, misleading commentaries and mismanagement of public safety would be comic if they were not often deadly.

Much is captured in two current events: the legally irrelevant and self-promotional devotion to what I renamed Colemanville (formerly downtown Columbus) in city council’s passing on Feb. 6, 2023 a resolution that has neither merit nor authority, setting a speed limit of 25 mph in the small, ragged downtown area. (See Graff, “Columbus searches for its Downtown with historical, urbanist, and developers’ blinders,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Dec. 22, 2021; “Still searching for Downtown: ‘Ideas considered for Downtown plan,’” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Aug. 14, 2022)

Why does the Governor not spend for a qualified speech writer or an effective ad agency? Why is he so unfamiliar with either his home state or government policies in other states or the nation?

First, Ohio makes national news, not for DeWine’s “State of the State” redress but for its tacit endorsement of Nazi—not neo-Nazi—indoctrination—as home-schooling in North Sandusky. Neither the parents nor local and state education officials recognize that it is 2023 not 1939.

Of course, this is the state where a sitting Republican member of the state legislature asserted loudly and proudly that “both sides of the Holocaust” must be taught. After all, “only 300,000” Jews were murdered. Home educated herself with no college, Ms. Arthur, formerly a member of the State Board of Education, kept her seat. She was gently scolded but not formally reprimanded by Republican leadership. Of course, she is unable to articulate any “side of the Holocaust.”

Why does the Governor not spend for a qualified speech writer or an effective ad agency? Why is he so unfamiliar with either his home state or government policies in other states or the nation?

First, Ohio makes national news, not for DeWine’s “State of the State” redress but for its tacit endorsement of Nazi—not neo-Nazi—indoctrination—as home-schooling in North Sandusky. Neither the parents nor local and state education officials recognize that it is 2023 not 1939.

Of course, this is the state where a sitting Republican member of the state legislature asserted loudly and proudly that “both sides of the Holocaust” must be taught. After all, “only 300,000” Jews were murdered. Home educated herself with no college, Ms. Arthur, formerly a member of the State Board of Education, kept her seat. She was gently scolded but not formally reprimanded by Republican leadership. Of course, she is unable to articulate any “side of the Holocaust.”

According to the New York Post, “This superhuman tech can do a variety of complicated tasks on the fly, from composing complex dissertations on Thomas Locke to drafting interior design schemes and even allowing people to converse with their younger selves.” 

Wow! Do you suppose this wondrous technology could maybe get weaponized with malicious intent?

You bet it can...And it is.

In 2021 Henry A. Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher co-authored a book titled The Age of AI And Our Human Future. As you might expect, these guys are arch AI boosters. Critics pointed out that,

Writing about, and at present attempting to live in Ohio and Columbus is a daily challenge. It is not for the progressive, civil libertarian, fainted-hearted, sanitarian, diverse community members, or the unsteady walker or driver. As my wife and I ponder how much longer we can remain in radically right-wing Ohio and broken, dirty, corrupt, and mismanaged Columbus, I turn to humor.

Both Ohio and Columbus may rival other states and cities in these achievements despite today’s competition from many names and many lies of Congress-person Santos et al., many ballots of Kevin-athon McCarthy, mis-reader of children’s literature Ted Cruz, and know no rights-know no history Ron DeSantis (aka DeSatan).

Immediately following his election to the US Senate, I first offered to trade Senator (it pains me to type that title) J.D. Vance to three friends in Texas, for Ted Cruz. Cruz makes me laugh, Vance does not. They all turned me down cold.

Then I offered our newbie to friends in Florida for Marco Rubio. Without hesitation, they refused as well. We are stuck, Ohio. A six year sentence, at least.

Writing about, and at present attempting to live in Ohio and Columbus is a daily challenge. It is not for the progressive, civil libertarian, fainted-hearted, sanitarian, diverse community members, or the unsteady walker or driver. As my wife and I ponder how much longer we can remain in radically right-wing Ohio and broken, dirty, corrupt, and mismanaged Columbus, I turn to humor.

Both Ohio and Columbus may rival other states and cities in these achievements despite today’s competition from many names and many lies of Congress-person Santos et al., many ballots of Kevin-athon McCarthy, mis-reader of children’s literature Ted Cruz, and know no rights-know no history Ron DeSantis (aka DeSatan).

Immediately following his election to the US Senate, I first offered to trade Senator (it pains me to type that title) J.D. Vance to three friends in Texas, for Ted Cruz. Cruz makes me laugh, Vance does not. They all turned me down cold.

Then I offered our newbie to friends in Florida for Marco Rubio. Without hesitation, they refused as well. We are stuck, Ohio. A six year sentence, at least.

The city with no identity, no history, no leadership, and no expertise adds to its uniqueness—and lack of distinction—by its assault on most of its residents in most of it “neighborhoods.” Unlike most cities, Columbus seldom refers to itself as a “city of neighborhoods.” That is a clue to follow through the decaying broken streets and sidewalks, full of trash, zoning violations, and limited mass public transit. (See the Columbus Free Press website for my relevant essays.)

In my University District, fraternities that actively harm the area “adopt the area.”  That means paying a small fee to the for-profit/eering city departments to post a metal sign that further defaces the physical environment. “Area,” of course, is never defined. Where is the department of neighborhood protective services, like children or animals?

The sad slogan is “making Columbus beautiful.” Its parallel is city councilor-led very occasional “beautification” events of a few hours of individuals picking up trash. This substitutes for both funding and managing reliable recycling, trash collection, and inspection for violations. In others, slogans not public services.

Part Two

A new set of factors emerged in winter 2021-22. The first opened a previously unexposed window into the failed interworking of the Assistant City Attorney liaison for the Columbus Police Department (CPD). I first learned about this from a conversation with an exceptionally knowledgeable, professional CPD officer about why he was not permitted to give a citation or tow a car that was parked illegally.

For a relatively brief time, a court in another state ruled that police or parking enforcement officers chalking tires or making a note on a car’s window to indicate that it was observed for the 72-hour limit represented an “invasion of privacy.” A Michigan court struck that down.

After my conversation with the CPD officer, I contacted the relevant Assistant City Attorney. He refused to accept any information, citizen input, or question. While referring to the relevant court rulings, he denied their actual content, demonstrating complete unfamiliarity with the basics of his paid employment.

Both cause and consequence of Columbus as the “plague city” is City government’s—Council and paid staff including Columbus Police Department—rudeness. In ways that once surprised me, the City’s disrespect, dismissal, and incivility mirror the literal crudeness of the failing physical city, from filth to lack of sanitation, and endless broken streets and sidewalks. (See my “The plague city: Daily life in Columbus, Ohio,” Busting Myths, Columbus Free Press, Dec. 17, 2022.)

It is stunning how little attention mayor, city council, Zoning and Neighborhoods, and the Department of Public (aka Private) Services pay to “their” city. Instead, they cannot restrain the overflow of grants without accountability, tax abatements, and other incentives to developers which directly undercut the actual city’s well-being contradicting its charter-mandated services to its publics. The contradictions are incalculable.