Local
The president of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Capital City Lodge #9 – the union for Central Ohio law enforcement – called a local activist group “terrorists” because they had plans to protest at the home of the parents of the Blendon Township officer believed to have killed Ta’Kiya Young in the Kroger parking lot.
The union’s president, Brian Steel, also a Columbus police sergeant, posted this over the weekend (just before September 11th) to his personal Twitter account: “This is the terrorist group who plans to protest the home of innocent senior citizens.” Steel was referring to Columbus Emergency Direct Action Reserve, or CEDAR, self-described as “a collective of community members committed to see anticolonial abolitionist direct actions.”
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.
Ohio’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission will hold its next meeting on Monday, September 18, 2023, at 10 a.m. to consider industry applications to frack several Ohio state parks and wildlife areas.
Tuesday, September 12, 2023, 7:30 PM
Join Indivisible Central Ohio for a thorough voter registration training -- perfect whether this is your first introduction to VR or you are an experienced old hand wanting to improve your game. Register for the online meeting HERE.
Facebook Event.
Jean
I looked at my sister and thought, she knows what’s happening but won’t tell. I picked at my tooth that had been bothering me all night and day and spat in the direction of Jean. “Hey, are you trying to be funny?” Jean yelled. “Don’t do that again!.” Jean was the baby of the family. Everybody loved Jean. She got on my nerves most of the time, but still, she was my baby sister, so I had to deal with it. Little Miss Prissy could get anything she wanted from Mom. I was the only one who didn’t fall for her bullcrap. I turned my head in the opposite direction and spat again. I didn’t bother to answer her because I knew that I would curse her out. I’d had it with her secrets, let along her attitude of smugness.
Monday, September 11, 5-8pm
Eldorado’s Food & Spirits, 4968 N. High St.
Eldorado’s is across the street from Graceland Shopping Center on N. High St. and has a bar and restaurant so attendees will be able to eat and drink. There is a large parking lot.W
GRN 91.9 community radio is kicking off our new frequency with this free gathering that will be celebrating the life of our Board President, Gregory Gross.
Music will be provided by Bob Sauls (plus band), Joe Keehner, Eugene Beer, and Dave Immel.
WGRN is kicking off our new frequency, 91.9FM, and raising money to help pay for our new tower. WGRN will also honor volunteers with our annual awards.
Contact: cogreened@gmail.com
What we witness on the video footage released is more evidence of murder, a lack of urgency in providing trained medical care to a clearly pregnant and wounded woman, and a concerted effort to shield Officer Connor Grubb from accountability and criminal charges.
In the footage, you hear Officer Grubb repeatedly state “she tried to run me over” to other officers on the scene, as justification for killing Ta’Kiya, before a sheriff’s deputy informs him that he’ll get a lawyer for him and to stop talking. What is clear from the video is that she did not try and run him over, she turned the wheel as far away from him as possible before the vehicle began to slowly move forward and to the right, and Grubb had every opportunity to follow departmental policy and take evasive action instead of discharging his firearm into Ta’Kiya’s chest.
Despite recent House testimony by highly credentialed whistleblowers, we do not know if spacefaring extraterrestrial organisms have ever visited Earth. However, the mere possibility of their existence raises an important challenge for our continued exploitation of animals here on earth.
Sunday, September 10, 12:30-2pm
Hot Times Festival, 240 Parsons Ave., Main Street Stage
This special edition of Make Jazz Not War (formerly the JazzPoetry Ensemble) brings our irrepressible, irreverent, and downright exciting mix back to Hot Times. Michael Cox joins regulars Roger Hines, Brett Burleson, The Governor, and Michael Vander Does for American protest music that will get you out of your seat.
Hosted by Make Jazz Not War.
We just buried my ex-husband Darryl Mendelson. He had been battling leukemia for several months and finally succumbed on Thursday, August 24, 2023.
He had been a major player in some Columbus institutions, including Comfest, which he helped to create. Darryl, born Stephen Victor, was raised in Brooklyn with his brother Ro-z (Jeffery). I met them at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1969. Darryl, Ro-z, Stan Bobrof, Charlie Einhorn and Steve Terkel had embarked from Columbus and were living on the bus called Progress. They had been traveling to pop festivals around the country and had established an encamptment at the bottom of “Acid Alley” at Atlanta. There were two other buses: Candy Watkins’ little bus Pathfinder and Wonderbread, which looked just like a loaf of bread, with all the spots. Four adults and four kids lived on that bus!