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The Columbus Way is what our city leaders call the public/private partnerships that have been used to dress up and showcase the 14th largest city in the U.S.

Former Mayor Mike Coleman’s approach, and continuing under Mayor Ginther, has been successful in developing dozens of projects – the Arena District and Huntington Park, Columbus Commons and Bicentennial Park, the Scioto Mile, the Veterans Memorial, and the Crew Stadium, to name a few.

Here’s an apt description from Smart Columbus, another project that exemplifies the partnership approach:

“The concept of ‘The Columbus Way’ describes the unique community collaborations between the city, the businesses headquartered and located in the region, and nonprofit and academic institutions that make up the Columbus community. A 2015 Harvard Business School case study coined the phrase, capturing a decades-long spirit of collaboration that has been repeatedly tapped to tackle big challenges in central Ohio and transform the region into a world-class destination.”

Tuesday, July 28, 2020, 7:00 - 8:00 PM

The United States of America has spent much of its modern history ignoring the most important problems it must solve to be able to move forward as a contemporary democracy. A country that attempted to correct the horror of slavery after the Civil War and experienced a strong Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, stopped short of  eradicating racism. While some Western European countries kept trying to consolidate an environment with more equity in politics and economic rights with an understanding of the role of regional alliances, the US insisted on a political and economical model that increased the breach between the rich and poor. US society in general didn’t address the structural failures of a system that embraces several levels and kinds of segregation among the components of society.

It seems that a storm arrived in the context of an inoperant fascist government and it just became bigger with the pandemic and the explosion of civil rebellion towards a problem that has been ignored and even denied for too long -- racism and inequity.

Take action and send a letter to your State Representative and Senator. Read more and sign here. 

Sunday, July 26, 2020, 7:00 - 8:00 PM.
During the pandemic, the lack of investment in public health infrastructure, including health care for all, has had deadly consequences for tens of thousands of people. The $22.42 billion the U.S. will be spending this year to upgrade its first-strike nuclear arsenal could pay for 624 million corona virus tests, 747, 633 covid-19 hospital stays, or 6.6 BILLION N95 masks. This has to change. Our lives and security depend on it.  More information and registration here. 

Saturday, July 25, 1pm
Topiary Park, 480 E. Town St.
Please join us this Saturday at 1PM at Topiary Park for a Teach-In collaboration with CPD out of CCS!
We will be providing education on the school to prison pipeline, accounts from individual speakers, and a vision for a future without police. These systems have been waging a war on our youth and now is the time to learn more.
Visual ASL interpretation will be provided. Send a direct message on either Instagram or Facebook if you need a ride. Please share widely!
Accessibility Information: Topiary Park is downtown to the east of the main library. It is wide, paved paths and benches through out. There are entrances on all sides but currently Washington Ave and Library Park are blocked off to cars by construction. There are two entrances to the park off Town Street. There is also metered parking on Town St right next to the park, and free street parking further east down the block. COTA line 11 stops right by the park. This event is outside and there is no air conditioning or bathrooms. 

Friday, July 24, 7-11pm
Public · Hosted by For The People
We meet at the Oval EVERY Friday at 7pm
The Oval, 181 Oval Dr S, Columbus, OH 43210
(614) 292-6446
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ttG6HSGdbrXYuF75A

Have Columbus city officials ever demanded the Columbus Division of Police to aggressively enforce the law so to generate revenue for the city?

While such a direct demand might not have happened in Columbus, the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation on the Ferguson Police Department in 2014 exposed that financial crisis’ can cause this very kind of demand from a City to its Police Department.

After the killing of 18-year-old Ferguson, Missouri resident Michael Brown at the hands of a white officer in 2014, the DOJ uncovered overwhelming evidence that policing is not always about protection - it’s also a tactic Ferguson city officials demanded from their police force to generate revenue.

After the 2008 financial crisis, cities like Ferguson needed ways to generate more revenue. So in March 2010, Ferguson’s City Finance Director wrote an email to its chief of police:

Ohio's biggest-ever bribery case is rocking America's reactor industry…and the fall election.

Full details of the shocking arrest of Ohio's powerful Speaker of the House are still unfolding.

But on Monday the FBI charged Larry Householder and four associates with taking $61 million (that's NOT a typo) in bribes from “Company A,” suspected to be the Akron-based nuke utility FirstEnergy. The company has not been formally named as the source of the bribe, but FE’s stock has since plummetted.

Householder is suspected of buying votes for the widely hated $1.5 billion bailout of two decrepit nuke reactors on Lake Erie. Donald Trump lobbied at least five legislators to support the cash giveaway. Ohio’s moderate Republican Governor Mike DeWine has asked Householder to resign. 

Without the bailout, Perry and Davis-Besse would already be dead in the rising tsunami of US reactor shutdowns.  

The handout also supported two ancient coal burners (one in Indiana), and ten small solar plants. It killed a big, highly successful state-wide efficiency program and crippled further Ohio development of wind and solar.

Thursday, July 23, 7-9pm
Ohio Statehouse
Hosted by COOR - Central Ohio Organized Resistance.
In recent weeks, our numbers have drastically gone down, which has led to an increase in violence and abuse by both police and other citizens against our fellow activists. We need to remind those in power that these streets are our streets, and we're not going anywhere anytime soon.
Join COOR, the Central Ohio Organized Resistance, this Thursday night, to let the city of Columbus know that we're still fighting. We're not giving up until our voices have been heard and we get the change we need.