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    Milo-Grogan Works Toward Economic Integration

    A recent study found communities where poor and wealthy people coexist are typically safer and better educated. Using housing prices, a list was made to show cities that were either integrated or segregated, and by what degree. At the bottom of the list, among the most segregated cities, is Columbus, with four percent of its neighborhoods considered integrated.

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    At the top is Boston, with just over half of it having a “balanced mix,” and Seattle follows with 31 percent.

    Related research by AllColumbusData compares household incomes instead of housing prices to measure economic integration. That data, focused only on Columbus, was then mapped out to show in which neighborhoods lower median household incomes outweighed the higher, and vice versa.

    Map via AllColumbusData.com.
    Map via AllColumbusData.com.

    In 2000 the problem areas seemed bound by I-270, but the map for 2014 shows them spreading further. Still, neighborhoods like Milo-Grogan in the urban core struggle the hardest with economic integration. Robert Barksdale, Area Commission Chairman for Milo-Grogan, said neighborhood leaders have been working hard to break the cycle of poverty that took hold in the middle of the 20th century and only worsened since the housing crisis.

    “When you talk about economic development, integration and segregation, often times communities such as Milo don’t get the same as a Harrison West,” he said.

    Barksdale, who grew up in Milo, recounted the neighborhood’s economically booming past, and the changes it’s seen throughout the last few decades.

    “If you think about Milo, at the turn of the century, the Timken site was a booming money maker,” Barksdale said. “Five or six thousand people worked at Timken over the years, and at that point you have the railroad around Milo, so there was a lot of industry and development and manufacturing.”

    Ever since Timken left in 1993, the site has sat vacant. But 18 months from now, Rogue Fitness is expected to open its administrative and manufacturing headquarters, bringing around 90 jobs and a purpose to the long-abandoned lot. Mark Lundine, Columbus Director of the Department of Development, said that Rogue and its owner, Bill Henniger, are a long-awaited match for the neglected site.

    “It’s just not your average business deal,” said Lundine. “He’s big on taking people in. They want to develop skills in employees so that they can become machinists or fabricators, or potentially move into the office functions of the company.”

    Still, another manufacturing plant settling in the district has some community members dissatisfied. Critics of the deal would rather see a park on the 31-acre lot Rogue now possesses, but Barksdale said it just wouldn’t fit the needs of anyone who lives there.

    “Milo has never had that,” he said, referring to the idea of an abundant green space. “The paradigm is that it’s a time to survive, and time to get a job, and time to keep a job, and time to feed your family.”

    Barksdale said there is a project in the works, sponsored by the EPA, called “Greening America’s Capitals”. It’s described by its website as a program that develops an “implementable vision of environmentally friendly neighborhoods that incorporate innovative green infrastructure strategies.”

    “We have not seen what they’ve come up with yet,” said Barksdale. “They haven’t unveiled that yet, but I think that’s a next step.”

    Specific plans for greening Columbus are expected to be hashed out in the coming months.

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    Lauren Sega
    Lauren Segahttps://columbusunderground.com
    Lauren Sega is the former Associate Editor for Columbus Underground and a current freelance writer for CU. She covers political issues on the local and state levels, as well as local food and restaurant news. She grew up near Cleveland, graduated from Ohio University's Scripps School of Journalism, and loves running, traveling and hiking.
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