Over the course of the next two weeks, Columbus Underground will be providing you with an in depth look at each of the six candidates running for Columbus City Council this November. All six interviewees are being asked the same set of questions, most of which were submitted from Columbus Underground readers. This feature should give everyone a better understanding of where these candidates stand on a variety of important local issues, and help you to decide how to vote this coming November.
Our next interview is with Republican Candidate Roseann Hicks. Roseann currently manages Yogi’s Hoagies in Westerville, serves on multiple Northside commissions and associations, and is a first time candidate running for City Council.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your personal, professional, and political background?
A: My name is Roseann Hicks. My professional background is that I have been managing our small family business for the past 10 years, and we’ve actually been in business for 33. My political background has been more civically and community engaged than political. I have spent about eight years serving the Northland community, first as Secretary of the Maize Morse Tri Area Civic Association, then I won the position of Vice President and stayed there for two years, and then I served two years as President. I’m currently serving again as Vice President and Past President. I also serve on the Executive Board for the Northland Community Council. I have served as Secretary for three years. I also chair the neighborhood pride committee and the social committee for NCC. I also am a trustee from the Northland Area Business Association. I’ve been doing that for going on four years, and I chair the nominating and fundraising committees for them. I also co-chair the auxiliary for the Helping Hands Free Clinic.
Q: What drove you to run for City Council, and what are your most inspiring areas of interest when it comes to Columbus issues?
A: Well, I think just working with the neighborhood associations and the community council and even the business association… I felt like at times we were lacking a connection with City Hall. There were things that I wanted to see done in our community, and in neighboring communities, that I thought I would have an opportunity to have more impact if I was actually at City Hall. So what really drove me is the opportunity just to provide a public service on a bigger platform.
Q: With the income tax increase recently passed, how do you plan to keep the budget in line going forward?
A: Well, I think the first thing we need to do is identify what the basic priorities of the city are, and what we need to fully fund first, which would be our street maintenance, our police, our fire and our trash removal. Those types of things need to be fully funded first, in my opinion. When we go from there, I think we can start building on that. A way I’d like to keep it in line is by educating more residents on what the money is used for. I would like them to educate us on what they would like to see done with their tax dollars. The money does not belong to City Hall, the money belongs to the residents of Columbus, and I think they need to have more of a direct say in where that money is used.
I think just by engaging some of our community organizations, and having more of a presence at their meetings, allowing them the opportunity to address and to vent their concerns to a Council Member and have a Council Member bring answers to those concerns back to them would be a huge step in keeping that in line.
Q: What plans do you have to help attract and retain businesses in Columbus?
A: I have a couple of plans. I would like to see our city code updated. Right now there are some holes, in my opinion, as to the accountability of commercial property owners. I know that a vacant residential structure will pull down the values of your neighborhood, but what is going to pull down the entire neighborhood is a half-empty shopping center while you’re driving into the neighborhood. A lot of these property owners live out of the state or out of the city, and they don’t see what’s going on. Or it’s corporate. I can give you an example. At the corner of Morse and Maize there is a abandoned gas station that is actually owned by Marathon, and several times per summer we have to call and go through several channels to get somebody to come out and mow the grass. I think that if we can start holding our commercial property owners to a higher standard through our city code, the city will be able to maybe remove some of that blight and bring a select property up to a more aesthetically pleasing piece of property, which might attract a new small business or somebody looking to open up in a certain area of town.
One of the other things I’d like to do is provide the small business community with information. I think that there are a lot of small businesses that are really hurting right now. They’re on the borderline of closing their doors. They are just keeping a cash flow with money coming in and money going out just to keep the doors open. Some of them don’t know where to turn. I think that the city can offer information on grants, on low-interest loans, and give these business owners options so they don’t feel like they’re alone and dead in the water and that they have a city that is willing to support and back them. I think that will give us a huge step in supporting our business community.
Q: What can council do to continue and encourage the development and growth of our small business community?
A: I think again, with holding our commercial property owners more accountable and bringing up the aesthetics of certain shopping centers. I know George Hadler with the Columbus Square Shopping Center has done so much in the way of improving the aesthetics of his shopping center and has been able to attract National College, which is a nationally-based college system. When you can bring in a college or an educational type of environment, you bring in a whole new group of consumers to your area. I think he’s worked a small miracle over there, and I’d like to see more property owners in Columbus invest that kind of passion, time, and money into their properties.
Q: Given the current economic climate, should we consider finding new ways to attract residents beyond 10 year tax abatements?
A: I think we need to look at what Columbus is already doing well. There are certain industries that Columbus excels in. We have a wonderful medical community. We have a nationally recognized research hospital. I think Columbus does well in attracting those kinds of jobs here. I think that if we can start spending time to go out and court those kinds of businesses, I think we’re going to attract a lot of residents to follow behind it. I think one of the other things we can do to start attracting more residents is also with the city code. We can start getting rid of the blight in our neighborhoods, and bringing our neighborhoods back up to a standard that people actually drive through and go “Oh, I want to live there!” I think we need to look at our school systems. It’s sad to say, but a lot of people will move where they feel the best schools are, and I don’t blame them if they have children. I would want my children to go to the best schools. If we can work together with the School Board and try and bring those improvements up, I think that people will follow and say “Columbus is great, I want my children to go there. They have a lot of opportunities.”
Q: There was a lot of emphasis on the “creative economy” right up until about a year ago, when everything started to crash. Given our new economic context, what place does our “creative sector” have in the hierarchy of economic priorities?
A: I think that the creative economy and the creative industries provide a support for not only small businesses, but large businesses as well. These are the types of jobs that people used to grow their business through the internet, through social networking, through attracting new customers to come into a certain area, if you’re talking about opening new restaurants. I think it’s important, but I don’t know that honestly Columbus is coming out of the recession quite yet. I think that, and this is just from my own personal experience, a lot of businesses are still very focused on the basics and keeping their current employees going home with a paycheck and keeping their doors open. I think as Columbus moves forward, those kinds of services are going to be what sets Columbus apart from other communities. But I think as for right now, a lot of business owners are still scared, and I think it’s up to the people we elect to restore a little bit of that hope, and a little bit of comfort to these business owners.
Q: What are your thoughts on various transportation improvement initiatives (bikeways, passenger rail, pedestrian safety, etc) both from a mobility standpoint as well as an economic development standpoint?
A: I think Columbus does very well on providing alternative mobility options. I think we have a great freeway system. I think that our main thoroughfares are kept up well. I think that Columbus offers a lot in the way of bike paths and walking paths right now. I think as Columbus continues to improve the infrastructure and we start moving forward on completing what they call the Complete Streets, where you have new roadways and sidewalks and lighting and everything, I think Columbus needs to continue moving in that direction.
Streetlights are a huge priority for me. There are areas of campus that are seeing really high crime rates right now who desperately need to have street lights. I think that sidewalks are going to be a huge help in supporting our small business community because it’s giving the neighborhoods and the neighbors a way to traffic and funnel into certain business districts. I mean, if you go to Easton for example, and you park your car somewhere, the fact that there are sidewalks that connect every part of Easton makes you want to go to every part of Easton, and I think that’s something Columbus needs to move forward with.
As far as any kind of rail option or light rail goes, I don’t think we can afford that. I don’t think we can afford it right now. I think that a lot of residents are just struggling to meet their bills and they’re living paycheck to paycheck, and we need to start letting people take home more of their money so that they have disposable dollars to start spending in our communities and supporting our small business communities.
Q: What plans do you have for aiding in the redevelopment of downtrodden neighborhoods in Columbus that suffer with blighted or abandoned properties, safety issues, and image problems?
A: The first thing I think we need to do is spend some time in those communities. We need to spend some time at their blockwatch meetings and we need to spend some time at their civic association meetings. We need to find our what these residents want and what types of things are actually contributing to these problems, be it lack of income… and that’s something that goes back to the taxes. We need to make sure that people are going home with more money in their pockets so that they can keep up on their property. A lot of people don’t like living in a house that’s not painted, they just can’t afford to paint it. I think that crime also is a huge factor. Columbus right now is dealing with a huge drug trafficking problem. Columbus is serving as a hub for heroin traffickers that are going back to several other counties and selling the product that they buy here for a lot more money and making a profit on it. We deal with gangs, and a lot of our gang members are juveniles, and when their parents move to other parts of the city, they may moving unknowingly into another gang’s area, but their child is still remaining loyal to the gang they started with, and that’s causing a problem. I think that educating the residents on what to look for in gang activity and what to look for in drug activity is going to go a long way to solving the problem, but we also need to provide our police officers with the support and the manpower to proactively address the problems. Right now we have a reactive police department. All they have time to do is react to the problems they encounter. We need to give them the tools to be proactive.
Q: What do you think about the proposed use of Cooper Stadium as a racetrack and its impact upon the surrounding neighborhoods?
A: The first thing I think of is “Would I want it in my neighborhood?” and the answer to that is no. No, I wouldn’t. I’m all for encouraging an entrepreneur in the city, and I’m all for encouraging business and development, but when it starts to infringe on the personal property rights that a homeowner or property owner or business owner has in that area… to define what kind of neighborhood they want to live in, I’m sure that’s not what they want to have in their backyard. But beyond that, for me, if it’s something that that neighborhood wants, although I don’t believe that it is, I’m going to support what those neighbors want. This is not about what I want for them. It’s about them educating me on what their goals and desires for their neighborhood are. So I’m going to be supporting of what these communities want above all.
Q: Do you support waste disposable services that would include curbside recycling for all?
A: If we could eventually afford it. Right now, the goal is to make sure we’re funding our basic services first. I think that Columbus does a wonderful job of offering free opportunities in very conveniently located places around the city to deal with your recycling. When I go to Kroger, I can drop my recycling off when I’m picking up my groceries, and that doesn’t cost any taxpayers anything. I think we need to be sensible here. Our goal and our purpose in government is not to fund everything. It’s to protect your rights as people and to support what the community wants. It’s not to be the end-all and be-all of everything.
Q: How do you feel that all of the members of City Council have originally been appointed to their positions, and do you think these advantages of incumbency make for a Council that best represents the City?
A: I don’t feel like Columbus City Council fairly represents the city. I actually went through the appointment process, and I’m not going to say that the appointment process wasn’t fair, but I wish I had had the opportunity to meet with every sitting Council member. I only met with three out of the five. I did not get calls from the other two. I think that eventually you start picking people with like ideas, and I know people are attracted to individuals with like ideas, but often times you need to have both sides to find a middle ground. As convinced as you think you are that you are correct on something, there’s always going to be somebody who has a differing opinion who might be able to offer insight that you would have otherwise not thought of. I think it’s very important that we restore a balance to the city of Columbus. I think it’s very important to the future of the city of Columbus that we restore a balance to City Hall.
Q: Would you be willing to support restructuring City Council so that Columbus can move to a district/ward/parish system? Why or why not?
A: I would actually like to see a hybrid system. For example, say we divide the City of Columbus into four wards, and we have four ward races. One, I think it could potentially be more fiscally responsible to run a race that way. It costs an awful lot of money to run a City Council race… to get out and reach every single corner of the city. I think that if we could have a ward system, it would take less money from individuals and from businesses to be able to reach voters in those areas. So I think a ward system is great because you get representation from each area of the city, but I also think it’s a more fiscally responsible way to elect officials. I do think we also need to give the city a voice as far as the hybrid goes, which means that you’d have your next top three vote getters, and those people would actually be city-wide, and those are going to be the individuals who got out and worked, and that the community identifies the most with, and I think that those individuals deserve a chance to serve on council as well.
Q: Where do you see the City of Columbus being in 2012?
A: I see the city reinvesting in its neighborhoods. I see the city proactively addressing the problems with the drug trafficking. I see the city updating our city code and being less reactive. I think we need to have foresight into what some of the potential problems are. I think that the tax is a great example of where Columbus was reactive. They had the opportunity several times to either reign in spending or ask for a tax increase, but they didn’t do it until there was a serious problem. Maybe if we had done it five or ten years ago, whether we reigned in spending or asked for a tax increase, it could have hurt a lot less… but beginning on October 1st we’re seeing another half percent come out of your paycheck and I think that that’s a knee-jerk reaction that the city had to make to a problem that was staring them dead in the face.
So, I see a vision of Columbus in 2012 that projects a plan for a prosperous city that is engaged in the neighborhoods and the neighborhoods are engaged in the decisions at City Hall. I think that we’ll have a redeveloping small business community in 2012. 2012 will be a reason to celebrate for me if we are able to maintain adequate police and fire services, if we’re able to provide citizens with our basic essential services without charging them any more money, and if we’re able to send them home with more money in their pockets so that they have more money and more disposable dollars to use in our communities. I think that is going to be a true bicentennial celebration.
Q: Something fun to end on – Your favorite places in Columbus?
A: My five favorites places would include… home. I love to be at home and I love to be in my neighborhood with my neighbors. I love to be at work, which is my family’s restaurant. It’s called Yogi’s Hoagies. I’ve grown up with the people in there, and I get to talk to them on a daily basis about what their concerns are. I love to be at church, because every decision I make is grounded in my faith. I love to be at our community meetings. Nothing inspires me more than to see people coming together for a common good. My fifth favorite place to be in the city is probably COSI. I grew up there, and in the original COSI, my grandpa came out of retirement to design the blacksmith display in the street of yesteryear. So it really has a lot of emotional ties for me to be at COSI.
For more information, visit www.RoseannHicks.com.