Last week, Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman delivered the annual State of the City Address (which you can read about HERE) which focused on safety, jobs and new housing opportunities.
The following day, GOP Mayoral Candidate Earl W. Smith released his response to the State of the City address. In his response, Smith states that Mayor Coleman has been ineffective on crime, unable to create a friendly business environment Downtown, and failed to address other important issues including the Nationwide Arena funding crisis. The full text of Smith’s response is below:
Earl Smith’s Response to Coleman’s State of the City Address
This evening, Mayor Mike Coleman has attempted to portray that for all intent and purposes, all is well in the City of Columbus due to his leadership. In reality what we see is that after his 12 long years in office, our beloved city is hurting.
The citizens of Columbus who showed the selflessness to accept what Mr. Coleman represented to be the city’s dire straits financially, have seen their precious increased tax dollars go to pet projects and niceties that were not what was represented by our mayor.
I have heard Mr. Coleman say that in a few short years, no one will remember that the new Main Street bridge cost almost three times as much as estimated … a mere $39 million dollar overage! I will remember. And you should remember also because it was your money, not his, and such a response from the mayor is indefensible.
I see far too many neighborhoods in our city in which the sounds of gunshots have replaced the noise of crickets in the night.
Mysteriously, yet predictably, now that it is an election year, tens of millions of dollars … tax payer dollars are suddenly available for the neighborhoods … the appearance of doing the right thing. Why hasn’t the right thing been done every year for the past 12 years?
I look in amazement at the new Columbus Commons park which stands where viable retail, tax-generating businesses once operated. I love our parks, but that park represents an inability to use that prime downtown property to generate new business in the heart of our city, and lost tax dollars for our schools.
As Columbus has bled jobs and residents, I see neighborhoods across this great city that are in some cases returning to urban prairie … the exact same property plague that now pockmarks the once-great Detroit landscape.
I have spoken with people who once believed that Mike Coleman would improve the quality of life in their neighborhood, but find themselves feeling forgotten, frightened, and frustrated.
The Mayor was notably silent on the Nationwide Arena—Columbus Blue Jackets funding crisis. Does he have a plan? Does he plan to include voters in the discussion?
Once a year, when the culture of violence that has become endemic in our city, rises to a level that threatens to overwhelm us, Mr. Coleman encourages a brief high-intensity police response to make it appear that we are serious about crime, when in fact these issues require serious attention each and every single day if we are to regain control. And because his administration has been unable or unwilling to take effectual actions to control violent crime, we now hear the Mayor talk about guns … guns, which are used by criminals, the very community terrorists who have demonstrated by their actions that they do not respect ours laws, or their fellow citizens. Again, the appearance of a substantive response, but in reality an effort without any real substance.
Mayor Coleman promises a safer Columbus, but he has seemingly ignored a black tar heroin epidemic that has made Columbus one of the favorite targets of Mexican drug gangs, and made Ohio the starting point of an addiction crisis reported on the front page of the Los Angeles Times a year ago.
And now, as crime and safety concerns permeate almost every neighborhood in our city, we find ourselves facing substantial shortages among our experienced safety forces as a consequence of retirements … a challenge that was known to be coming for eight years!
We are so very fortunate in Columbus to have the offices of state government located here. We have amazing universities such as The Ohio State University. And we have great businesses, which make us rightfully proud of their presence in our community. Combined, they have offered us a measure of stability that few cities enjoy, however, that is more a matter of good fortune as opposed to good city leadership by the mayor. And frankly, betting on good fortune is a fool’s bet.
I look at the city I proudly served for well over three decades, and I worry about where we will be in the next three decades. What is so ironic is that Columbus offers some of the greatest resources any city can offer, or any community could wish for. We have some of the finest businesses and business leaders. We have wonderful colleges that offer an academic climate second to none. We have a population that is willing and ready to work, if only given the opportunity that should be created via real, long-term economic growth. We have a religious community that offers guidance and comfort to people of every faith. We have housing to suit virtually any economic capability and buyer’s interest. In other words, Columbus has it all! Now Columbus needs leadership that will do the right thing, at the right time, and for the right reason … every single day! It is time that the public knows exactly what is going on in the daily operation of their city government. It is time that the taxpayer knows their taxes, their precious dollars, are being used absolutely appropriately.
In the end, it’s about service before self, because it’s time!
Respectfully,
Earl W. Smith
Candidate for Mayor