Politics

This came up I was just doing some solar assessments over in North Central Ohio and more when you go driving in in that kind of region you're going to see a lot of these signs along the road that say no solar panels on Prime farmland and it's interesting anyway because they're all clearly made by the same people. Everybody's got the same signs and so I was just curious as to who's behind this effort that's going on. 

What's the motivation what's the argument so I did a little research and then I thought I'd just share that with you  a lot of this is going to be happening in the Midwest specifically so what's the issue that we're dealing with
here? 

I guess I should back up just a little bit because I have some sympathy for them I have some sympathy for these positions in my way of thinking. Prime farmland, Green Fields, whatever you want to call them, should be the last choice right? We should be prioritizing and saying, okay, let's deal with the brownfields first and foremost. 

In Franklin County, there have been 56,714 evictions filed since 2020. In 2022 there were 2,311 foreclosure-related filings. More and more residents are unhoused. The Auditors property reappraisals and property taxes are coming due and their numbers are soaring.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther has given out well over $600 million in tax abatements since he became mayor. Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that should have gone to Columbus City Schools went into the bank accounts of corporate Columbus, developers, and others. And the burden to make up for those who don’t pay their fair share of property taxes has been placed on those who can least afford to for too long.

Ginther’s policy of giving out tax abatements in return for campaign contributions has been escalating our affordable crisis for years. It is forcing low-moderate income homeowners and seniors out of their homes. Landlords who once provided truly affordable housing are raising rents where tax abated new developments are being constructed in gentrifying neighborhoods. This forces more and more people to move and find affordable housing that doesn’t exist. 

Following a few months’ summer hibernation, after the super-majority Ohio legislative Republicans refused to include his anti-educational and unconstitutional SB83 in its 6000-page budget bill, right-wing State Senator from rural Kirtland, Jerry Cirino is back with a new vengeance, intellectual complications, and dishonesty.

Recipient of three degrees from vocational Lake Erie College including an honorary PhD from an institution that does not award doctoral degrees, Cirino is a challenged individual with no memory, limited literacy, and no understanding of higher education, American history, or either state or US Constitution. Undisturbed by calls from a colleague in the State House to “teach both sides of the Holocaust” and home schooling a 1930s German Nazi (not neo-Nazi) school curriculum, he fantasizes universities—especially public universities—that do not and have never existed. Cirino is an active threat to all 18-28 year olds. And to all residents of the state of Ohio.

It’s been a long circuitous journey. From 2011 to 2016, the word “medical” prefaced all submitted, rejected, or certified marijuana-related ballot initiatives in Ohio. All were proposed as constitutional amendments. Then, in March 2020, during the pandemic, the concept of regulating marijuana like alcohol emerged in an amendment that the Ohio Attorney General (OAG) rejected. A year and a half later in August 2021, the OAG did certify the Act to Control and Regulate Adult Use Cannabis (a resubmission) for signature gathering as – for the very first time – a citizen initiated statute. That meant game on for adult use cannabis in Ohio.

On July 25th I screened for the endorsement of the Columbus Firefighters Union Local 67. For nearly one hour, I discussed how I would address the most important issues facing Columbus citizens and what I would do to support Columbus firefighters and emergency medical service professionals.

This past Friday I received a letter from Local 67 President Steven Stein stating in part that “On behalf of the Columbus Fire Fighters Union Local 67 Executive Board and membership, I am sorry to announce we have chosen not to endorse any candidate for City of Columbus Mayor. The Screening Committee has come to the decision that both candidates have been, and we hope continue to be, friends of Local 67.”

As the unprecedented, unnecessary and expensive special election approaches on August 8, the Libertarian Party of Ohio (LPO) still stands with over 200 other organizations against Issue 1. But now the LPO is taking things further by filing a complaint against one of Issue 1’s biggest proponents, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

On Monday, the LPO filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, saying that LaRose violated the federal Hatch Act as a public official by receiving federal funds for elections, while also using his office to affect an election. LaRose first earned the LPO’s scorn by voting for SB 193 when he was a state senator in 2013, which gutted minor parties’ ballot access.

Andy Ginther and Columbus City Council continued to show their true colors at the Monday, July 24 Columbus City Council meeting.

Three separate Enterprise Zone 10-year 75 percent abatements were handed out without a blink of an eye totaling roughly $24.74 million dollars. But it doesn’t end there. The generosity of Ginther and company also included more taxpayer funds to help subsidize the construction of the Merchant Building totaling $31 million.

Recipients of the tax abatements included a $4.7 million hand out to the Trident Capital Group whose company assets are valued at about $1.2 billion. Local developer and friend of Ginther, Crawford Hoying, received a $9.6 million property tax gift. And not to be outdone was CCBCC Operations LLC which is the nation’s largest Coca-Cola bottler and who is owned by Coca-Cola Consolidated. Gross profits for Coca-Cola Consolidated in the first quarter of 2023 were $624 million and one share of Coca-Cola Consolidated is currently selling at $646. Do you think that just maybe they might be able to get by with paying their fair share of property taxes?

The Columbus Dispatch ran an op-ed by Tim Ryan — the former Ohio Congressman now employed at a fossil fuel industry-backed organization — on July 24. Ryan asserted that expanding our use of natural gas is necessary for accelerating progress toward climate goals. If we care about a livable future on this planet, we will heed the warnings of nature over the false claims of the fossil fuel industry.

When Andy Ginther’s office was asked by WSYX TV on July 3 to respond to the deplorable conditions of the new Greyhound bus terminal on North Wilson Road, his office stated, “Greyhound is private property and that issues should be brought to the Greyhound company.”

That statement couldn’t be further from the truth. Officials of Ginther’s Development Department signed off on a Zoning Clearance and allowed this facility to open and operate without plumbing, one trash receptacle, improper maneuverability for buses, no lockers for passengers’ baggage, vending machines and no on-site security.  

Breaking News: US Supreme Court breaks US Constitution and federal law, and misreads American history in striking down decades of varied approaches to affirmative action. The Court and its right-wing support are racist in their celebrations especially as they illogically label anti-racism as racism.

Update: as of June 28, the only signs on OSU’s off-campus administration in hiding building are for Smashburgers and Chicken Tenders. A security guard tells me that pizza is next. Not one word announced that OSU’s senior administration has relocated secretly to 15 E. 15th Avenue at North High St.

Late and unknowledgeable as always, Gov. DeWine and Ohio school administrators follow behind the US and the world in their sudden discovery of the much touted but little founded marketing term “the science of reading.” Lately, it promotes itself, literally, as SoR.