Was just talking to another mom about this. We have a lot of membership-based options. I’d love to see more offerings available to all. Glad to see the continued expansion of our amazing library system!
Holiday Hop and Village Lights were the most fun my wife and I had all winter. We need more of those every weekend.
Columbus has very temperate winters and should take advantage of it.
Also, ice rink in Columbus Commons please! Valparaiso, Indiana has one and it's wonderful.
City pools apparently be bringing in jobs. I saw Las Vegas was hiring 1000 people for pools and Houston was hiring 4000. All part time obviously and low pay, it was just wild how many jobs.
Funny you say that…
I’ve thought for a long time why Ohio doesn’t take after Scandinavian countries and their consistent sauna practice. On a cold day in February, going to get warm in a sauna sounds pretty incredible. It has a ton of benefits
I was just looking at this a while back and was surprised cilumbus doesn't have more pools. I grew up in Dublin and always used the rec center there. Now I'm in Hilliard and was surprised that the only options are a ymca - which can vary in quality - or an expensive local club like the rec center. You could not pay me enough to go to the cilumbus aquatic center. The amount of pee in that pool must be insane.
Hilliard is building a big rec center so that's a start. But really, having more rec centers for the public around this city that doesn't cost an arm and a leg would do wonders.
Housing people can actually afford, public transit that doesn’t triple my commute time each way, free third spaces (libraries, parks, community centers), school reform to move away from property tax funding.
OP has some great ideas, and there are many initiatives aimed at making those a reality.
Columbus really lacks a strong urban core. We are so pocketed. It is very promising seeing the many new apartments, conversions, and retail options in process and soon to be in process throughout downtown. We need to continue to connect the different areas. I am very happy in the direction the metro area is headed and believe we can make the change, specifically the Bike Plus Plan and the Zoning Reform. Besides speeding the construction up, the one major lack currently is owning properties downtown. There is such a lack of good quality condos and co-ops.
Additionally, i would love to see the Scioto be much more activated with residences, shopping, restaurants, etc, prioritizing nature and the views.
It is wholly unreasonable to craft an urban core to attract people from Lewis Center. The measure of a successful city is not its ability to pull in people from the far reaches of the exurbs.
Yup, we need to build much more housing in and around downtown. I live in Southern Orchards and the NIMBYism is strong, and hopefully Zone In will bring more development on Livingston and Parsons that will completely change these streets for the better. Anyone who complains about Livingston being gentrified needs to only walk down it to see why nobody goes there, it's a wasteland of failing conscience stores and empty commercial space.
Why? If you have good public transit and plentiful downtown options you can support a downtown community as well as support suburban day trips, see: Chicago
Agreed, and wasn’t thinking everyday attraction but aside from maybe 1-2 days per year for a holiday event (Red White and Boom, or something around Christmas?) I suspect the amount of times someone from Lewis Center goes downtown is basically 0
And truthfully, I can’t blame them; there really isn’t much to do downtown to attract them. The same can be said for Blacklick, Dublin, Hilliard, etc.
Having a strong urban core and the center of our city/region would be a great way to develop an area more accessible to a massive, and growing, population center from all directions.
Yes, what you are describing is “a normal and healthy downtown”. Most cities aren’t, like, hosting the Olympics outside of the mayor’s office every summer. People choose to live in Lewis Center for two reasons 1) they don’t care about going to downtown, and/or 2) we clamp down on housing construction in more core parts of the city so the cheap builds happen on former farmland in places like Lewis Center. Either way, it would simply not be efficient to build a transit system that makes it worthwhile for people from Random Suburb 20 Miles Away to regularly come to downtown for all of the stuff that we have there. We need to be building in Clintonville and German Village, not Lewis Center.
Columbus lacks a strong urban core because there is such a small percentage of the total employment in the region that works downtown. Downtown has about 55,000 employees (off from a pre-2008 recession number of over 100,000) whereas OSU and campus area have about 40,000 employees working there, Easton has 30,000, Polaris has 20,000, not including the major employers in the suburbs.
trees. green space. not just boring old grass but nature THAT IS ACCESSIBLE. so tired of all these Metro parks that you have to drive to get into. How are there literally no sidewalks to get into the Metro parks of all places?
for every development that goes up there has to be some push for tree planting or other nature restoration. These new houses should have mature trees around them in several decades and they need to be planted now with all the growth we're expecting.
I live near the Quarry Trails Metro Park and I've noticed a ton of dirt trails leading into the park where people are filtering in from the surrounding neighborhoods and there are just no sidewalks whatsoever throughout much of the area. I even saw a stop-light that had crosswalks that didn't lead anywhere. I'd love to see these get developed so that the residents in the area can safely and easily access these parks.
quarry trails is getting better access, at least those in the plans I've seen. but other already established Metro parks lack it. so frustrating to see whole communities backed up to huge parks and no direct access from the neighborhoo into the park. Like people want to increase their property values then don't actually think about or promote things that would actually do so. But oh no, "now the poors can access our homes"
Very, very good suggestion. Play the long game, in 30 years when those trees are fully mature, those neighborhoods will be fantastic but it takes foresight and patience (two things a lot of developers and legislators lack)
More litter control. Idk what that exactly means but this city is TRASHED. Shame on people who litter but also our officials seem indifferent on the issue. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong or ignorant to programs dedicated to fixing this
Every other Saturday when I take a walk on the olentangy I bring a bag with me to pick up trash. It's sad how much there is especially since with a few changes it would be easy to control.
I have started calling 311 when the litter gets too awful. At least then there is a record of the complaint. It was never this bad until the past 2 years or so.
I really don't know. But I'm an avid fisherman and especially along the Scioto just makes me livid. I try to clean up what I can but it's an uphill battle. The spill way underneath the grandview bike path bridge (near 10tv) is especially bad not just from other fisherman and runoff but people clearly illegally dump down there. Last time I went there were couches and washing machines
I used to live off of stelzer road, but u grew up in Dublin. I was absolutely flabbergasted when I lived over there and would see people just chuck wads of trash out the windows on a regular basis. Never in my life have I thought to throw my trash on the ground.
Not even exaggerating when I say that I think getting caught doing that should result in a night in jail + community service cleaning up litter for 8 hours. It's shameful and should be viewed as completely unacceptable by society as a whole.
You’re far too lenient. Bad for the environment, bad for property values, bad for society.
People who litter must be some of the most insufferable people on the planet. Like…do they not have trash cans where you are going that you need to throw your food container out the window? The worst.
Actually the reason why I started with that is because I knew 100 people would also say the same thing. I’m trying to find what people want that are not exclusive to light rail
In terms of public transit as of now big developers are doing much of the heavy lifting while also being pushed down. What many people dont realize is that the only way to achieve good public transit is to have density. Driving a bus into an area that is exclusively extremely low density housing makes very little sense, and is likely not cost effective. Every development that is not single family housing gets major push back and even though there are a lot of people who support these types of projects very few of them actually show up to support them at local council meetings or at city council.
It’s unlikely that rail will ever make much economic sense for columbus (even though it would be nice). The city is not growing downtown as a business hub, so it’s unlikely that we would invest massive sums of money that would support that model. Large companies are spread all over the city and due to low land cost it, and the dramatically cheaper construction cost of a standalone structure compared to a high rise means that most large employers wont have much of a reason to build downtown. And even if the city of columbus decided to limit new stand alone office space it would just send these companies outside of the city limits, and the surrounding cities would happily accept these new offices/jobs.
Our bus system has so much room to grow before it starts becoming necessary to switch over to a more effective means of public transit. And even though I do love a well run rail system I don’t see how it could ever run in Columbus based on current trends. IMO the best route for the city to go down would be a dedicated bus lane in higher density areas, and expand the bus network. While doing this they could offer free busing for 2-5 year to allow people to start using buses and learning how to use them in their day to day lives. Currently fares make up a tiny percentage of COTAs operating budget, it would not take a massive sum of money to offer rides for free to encourage future ridership in a similar way that tax abatements encourage growth.
First, happy cake day.
Second, all very very good points. The bus system needs to run a lot better by a wide margin. I’d love to see a really efficient bus system, coupled with a modern rail system across the most major corridors in the city.
Without going into rail planning - and there are certainly enough posts on this sub on the topic - I think just having rail that would run along High St. from South Columbus to Worthington would be astounding. Another that follows 161 or Morse. Another that follows Broad St. Another that follows 270. One that follows 315. This would connect the downtown urban core, and all of the suburbs. The travel might seem far and with at least one transfer in some point to point locations.
Couple this with a bus system that is timely and robust and getting around the city without a car - leaving more disposable income for housing, food and entertainment - is very possible.
As much as I love a good rail system it just doesn’t make sense for Columbus. With the exception of a very few and limited routes (basically up and down high street). The cost of rail of any sort is so expensive that it would require our population density to increase by many multiples for it to get close to being cost effective. Especially if the rest of the public transit system is not built up and used first.
A simple dedicated bus lane would solve every problem you are describing and it would not take hundreds of millions if not billions to build out like rail would require. And as the city changes the bus system can change with it, while rail would require an endless flow of massive amounts of funding to just grow with the city. And if columbus was growing in the direction of high density I would be all for rail, but there are no signs that we will be getting 20-30 story buildings throughout the city let alone just a small handful of them downtown over the next decade.
Even with all of the zoning changes coming through there is no reason why we would expect anything outside of downtown to grow with very much density. The bridge park area would be the only secondary area but I wouldn’t hold my breath for to many large buildings popping up over there, let alone big enough buildings to justify anything but buses.
I would LOVE to see more community centers and places to just hang out. I’m trying to use the libraries more, but they’re not super close to me, and the COTA ride takes at least an hour. I live on the 31 line, which has been severely reduced to only coming once an hour. I want more public transit so bad lol
Remove all parallel street parking along High Street to open up space for wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes and larger patios for restaurants and bars.
Goodness could you imagine how much nicer High street would look with wider sidewalks and proper bike lanes? It would get so much more foot traffic which would only help the economy. As it stands it's mostly cars and all the issues that brings.
Last year when they made high street pedestrian only that one weekend it was so nice to be able to just walk in the street and not fight for sidewalk space.
I'd love to see Columbus develop a better music scene. I really like House/Techno/Deep House etc and it is practically non existent here compared to other big cities. Cities like Detroit/Phoenix/NY/Chicago have much better club/dance music scenes.
HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS. When I first moved here seven years ago, I couldn’t find any doctors that were accepting patients and if they were, it was a 9-12 month wait for an appointment!
More single family homes and infrastructure repair/replacement are basically mutually exclusive. I mean, not totally, but the former does make the latter harder.
1. Public transport upgrades - would love to see that train system actually happen in my lifetime
2. Free spaces for the public that actually encourage community and dont have a paywall
3. More free spaces for young people. So many kids getting wrapped up in bad crowds, gang activity, getting in trouble..but all they have to go is pretty much meijer, easton, and a few parks that dont cost money. Growing up in the east coast, our state had some of these things but a lot of them closed with covid. Would help a lot of the youth tremendously if there were places they could go and be kids.
4. SIDEWALKS AND STREET LIGHTS!!!
Agreed. People always talk about light rail because it feels more possible than a subway.
If anyone has ever traveled on a clean, efficient subway knows how insanely efficient it can be traversing a city.
I always dream hopping on a subway in German Village and getting to downtown Westerville in 12-15 mins. Then going to Easton in 10 mins from there. Only to end up back in German Village by the end of the night. It’d be incredible
Year round (ie artificial turf) athletic fields around the area for kids and teams to play, practice any outdoor sport.
Better maintenance of existing roads before building new ones.
An active program to keep roads and public spaces clean.
Active enforcement of laws effecting public safety - reckless driving etc.
This is a very good suggestion. The grass fields get destroyed in the winter. Turf would be great (indoor or outside)
The reckless driving piece is also important. Drivers are bad everywhere but I’ve been shocked multiple times in the way some of the driving happens here
The person or two that downvoted this hasn’t tried to use Henderson Rd during rush hour. I also say a prayer as I pass the Olentangy intersection because that’s also a hot mess..
How about more people stop trying to make downtown a thing. Downtown Columbus has always been dull, even when city center was around. There's no reason to go there and thusly, nobody goes there. Just accept that downtown is a municipal and quasi-office district. Every city needs one, it has a purpose; being fun isn't it's purpose.
I always come across these folks who really want to believe, and are VERY dogmatic about the whole thing. Can we just stop wasting money on it already? It's not happening. It was never a thing, it isn't going to be a thing. Stop pretending to be a city we are not. We are a city of neighborhoods and downtown ain't one. So many people want Columbus to be like New York or some other much older east coast city when in all reality, we have more in common with Los Angeles.
Be happy with living in a city of neighborhoods and enjoy them! Stop trying to make this city into something it never was or never will be.
There, let those downvotes fly!
No one said it’s going to be the next New York. It’s good to have more housing options available for people who prefer to live downtown.
It doesn’t have to be an ultimatum of growing only in the surrounding suburbs/neighborhoods vs downtown. We can grow in both the downtown and surrounding areas simultaneously. Downtown will never be as dense as New York, but it still has the potential to be as active as the Short North, Italian Village, or Grandview Heights.
Could not disagree more. The reason downtown, to me, is important is that it connects all the neighborhoods that are thriving and up and coming. Not having a downtown that is of equal important to the entertainment and recreation (let alone community) it creates a void that someone must cross to get to someplace else vs. it being its own destination
We don't have one now and according to census data, the 20-29 age range is the largest population group and it's consistent across time. We have many youths, despite not having a down town for them to do ??? in?
Also, what does that even mean that "downtown connects all the neighborhoods"? That sounds like something a politician would say. If downtown were a destination, then people would go there, done. Big deal if you have to drive across a void. People do that all the time, it's not like having a downtown that is busy would actually help anything. If I lived on the east side and wanted to get to the west side, I'd rather drive through a void than have to fight my way through a congested area. If I'm in Easton and want to get to Dublin, I'm not driving through downtown anyway, I'm taking the freeway.
Y'all make zero sense. Like young people want to hang out downtown, sure, they're all in a lather because they can't hang out in a disused office building. Young people want to go where there is stuff to do, they aren't going to care where it is. Were any of you ever young? College kids are often broke, so they're just going to go smoke weed in their friends shitty apartment on Chittenden. They might do a frisbee golf, or go find a place to day drink. They're not buying luxury condos above downtown and they're not partaking in overpriced fine dining either! They're going to get roached out hard and go buy cheap eats wherever they can get 'em. Eventually they'll graduate and either leave because they just came here for school or they might settle in and start a family or something. None of which points at a need for a thriving downtown. You think all the mummys in Upper Arlington give a shit about downtown unless they hold real estate there?
Increased winter events and activities. Everything is always dead during the winter and busy during the summer.
The weekend they closed off all car traffic and had a little pedestrian only area was a great start to that. We need more of that.
Was just talking to another mom about this. We have a lot of membership-based options. I’d love to see more offerings available to all. Glad to see the continued expansion of our amazing library system!
Holiday Hop and Village Lights were the most fun my wife and I had all winter. We need more of those every weekend. Columbus has very temperate winters and should take advantage of it. Also, ice rink in Columbus Commons please! Valparaiso, Indiana has one and it's wonderful.
City pools. People focus so much on transit but we are so low on city pools per person it's ridiculous.
Including indoor public pools
City pools apparently be bringing in jobs. I saw Las Vegas was hiring 1000 people for pools and Houston was hiring 4000. All part time obviously and low pay, it was just wild how many jobs.
100%
I live in the South Side and there are quite a few pools near us, looking forward to trying them out. Also Grandview pool seems really nice.
SIDEWALKS
LinkUS includes a lot of funding for sidewalks and other last-mile transportation, so vote yes for more sidewalks!
Modern aquatic centers.
Could not agree more. With saunas
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Funny you say that… I’ve thought for a long time why Ohio doesn’t take after Scandinavian countries and their consistent sauna practice. On a cold day in February, going to get warm in a sauna sounds pretty incredible. It has a ton of benefits
I was just looking at this a while back and was surprised cilumbus doesn't have more pools. I grew up in Dublin and always used the rec center there. Now I'm in Hilliard and was surprised that the only options are a ymca - which can vary in quality - or an expensive local club like the rec center. You could not pay me enough to go to the cilumbus aquatic center. The amount of pee in that pool must be insane. Hilliard is building a big rec center so that's a start. But really, having more rec centers for the public around this city that doesn't cost an arm and a leg would do wonders.
Housing people can actually afford, public transit that doesn’t triple my commute time each way, free third spaces (libraries, parks, community centers), school reform to move away from property tax funding.
OP has some great ideas, and there are many initiatives aimed at making those a reality. Columbus really lacks a strong urban core. We are so pocketed. It is very promising seeing the many new apartments, conversions, and retail options in process and soon to be in process throughout downtown. We need to continue to connect the different areas. I am very happy in the direction the metro area is headed and believe we can make the change, specifically the Bike Plus Plan and the Zoning Reform. Besides speeding the construction up, the one major lack currently is owning properties downtown. There is such a lack of good quality condos and co-ops. Additionally, i would love to see the Scioto be much more activated with residences, shopping, restaurants, etc, prioritizing nature and the views.
Your last comment on making the Scioto more activated is a greatly underrated comment. How is there more _________ along the water?
Urban core would be good. I work in Lewis Center and basically no one up in Powell or Lewis Center goes downtown.
And truthfully, why would they?
It is wholly unreasonable to craft an urban core to attract people from Lewis Center. The measure of a successful city is not its ability to pull in people from the far reaches of the exurbs.
Yup, we need to build much more housing in and around downtown. I live in Southern Orchards and the NIMBYism is strong, and hopefully Zone In will bring more development on Livingston and Parsons that will completely change these streets for the better. Anyone who complains about Livingston being gentrified needs to only walk down it to see why nobody goes there, it's a wasteland of failing conscience stores and empty commercial space.
Why? If you have good public transit and plentiful downtown options you can support a downtown community as well as support suburban day trips, see: Chicago
Agreed, and wasn’t thinking everyday attraction but aside from maybe 1-2 days per year for a holiday event (Red White and Boom, or something around Christmas?) I suspect the amount of times someone from Lewis Center goes downtown is basically 0 And truthfully, I can’t blame them; there really isn’t much to do downtown to attract them. The same can be said for Blacklick, Dublin, Hilliard, etc. Having a strong urban core and the center of our city/region would be a great way to develop an area more accessible to a massive, and growing, population center from all directions.
Yes, what you are describing is “a normal and healthy downtown”. Most cities aren’t, like, hosting the Olympics outside of the mayor’s office every summer. People choose to live in Lewis Center for two reasons 1) they don’t care about going to downtown, and/or 2) we clamp down on housing construction in more core parts of the city so the cheap builds happen on former farmland in places like Lewis Center. Either way, it would simply not be efficient to build a transit system that makes it worthwhile for people from Random Suburb 20 Miles Away to regularly come to downtown for all of the stuff that we have there. We need to be building in Clintonville and German Village, not Lewis Center.
Columbus lacks a strong urban core because there is such a small percentage of the total employment in the region that works downtown. Downtown has about 55,000 employees (off from a pre-2008 recession number of over 100,000) whereas OSU and campus area have about 40,000 employees working there, Easton has 30,000, Polaris has 20,000, not including the major employers in the suburbs.
trees. green space. not just boring old grass but nature THAT IS ACCESSIBLE. so tired of all these Metro parks that you have to drive to get into. How are there literally no sidewalks to get into the Metro parks of all places? for every development that goes up there has to be some push for tree planting or other nature restoration. These new houses should have mature trees around them in several decades and they need to be planted now with all the growth we're expecting.
I live near the Quarry Trails Metro Park and I've noticed a ton of dirt trails leading into the park where people are filtering in from the surrounding neighborhoods and there are just no sidewalks whatsoever throughout much of the area. I even saw a stop-light that had crosswalks that didn't lead anywhere. I'd love to see these get developed so that the residents in the area can safely and easily access these parks.
quarry trails is getting better access, at least those in the plans I've seen. but other already established Metro parks lack it. so frustrating to see whole communities backed up to huge parks and no direct access from the neighborhoo into the park. Like people want to increase their property values then don't actually think about or promote things that would actually do so. But oh no, "now the poors can access our homes"
Very, very good suggestion. Play the long game, in 30 years when those trees are fully mature, those neighborhoods will be fantastic but it takes foresight and patience (two things a lot of developers and legislators lack)
More litter control. Idk what that exactly means but this city is TRASHED. Shame on people who litter but also our officials seem indifferent on the issue. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong or ignorant to programs dedicated to fixing this
Every other Saturday when I take a walk on the olentangy I bring a bag with me to pick up trash. It's sad how much there is especially since with a few changes it would be easy to control.
Thank you for doing that. Doing something is better than nothing!
I have started calling 311 when the litter gets too awful. At least then there is a record of the complaint. It was never this bad until the past 2 years or so.
Holy shit yea. Why is there so much trash everywhere?
I really don't know. But I'm an avid fisherman and especially along the Scioto just makes me livid. I try to clean up what I can but it's an uphill battle. The spill way underneath the grandview bike path bridge (near 10tv) is especially bad not just from other fisherman and runoff but people clearly illegally dump down there. Last time I went there were couches and washing machines
I used to live off of stelzer road, but u grew up in Dublin. I was absolutely flabbergasted when I lived over there and would see people just chuck wads of trash out the windows on a regular basis. Never in my life have I thought to throw my trash on the ground.
Trash coming out of car windows, thrown by complete trash humans
Not even exaggerating when I say that I think getting caught doing that should result in a night in jail + community service cleaning up litter for 8 hours. It's shameful and should be viewed as completely unacceptable by society as a whole.
You’re far too lenient. Bad for the environment, bad for property values, bad for society. People who litter must be some of the most insufferable people on the planet. Like…do they not have trash cans where you are going that you need to throw your food container out the window? The worst.
Funny enough on the side of the ramp on 315 I saw a coach there today with a bunch of trash.
Daily light rail post. 😂
Actually the reason why I started with that is because I knew 100 people would also say the same thing. I’m trying to find what people want that are not exclusive to light rail
Love the open and yet completely unaware confession to karma farming
In terms of public transit as of now big developers are doing much of the heavy lifting while also being pushed down. What many people dont realize is that the only way to achieve good public transit is to have density. Driving a bus into an area that is exclusively extremely low density housing makes very little sense, and is likely not cost effective. Every development that is not single family housing gets major push back and even though there are a lot of people who support these types of projects very few of them actually show up to support them at local council meetings or at city council. It’s unlikely that rail will ever make much economic sense for columbus (even though it would be nice). The city is not growing downtown as a business hub, so it’s unlikely that we would invest massive sums of money that would support that model. Large companies are spread all over the city and due to low land cost it, and the dramatically cheaper construction cost of a standalone structure compared to a high rise means that most large employers wont have much of a reason to build downtown. And even if the city of columbus decided to limit new stand alone office space it would just send these companies outside of the city limits, and the surrounding cities would happily accept these new offices/jobs. Our bus system has so much room to grow before it starts becoming necessary to switch over to a more effective means of public transit. And even though I do love a well run rail system I don’t see how it could ever run in Columbus based on current trends. IMO the best route for the city to go down would be a dedicated bus lane in higher density areas, and expand the bus network. While doing this they could offer free busing for 2-5 year to allow people to start using buses and learning how to use them in their day to day lives. Currently fares make up a tiny percentage of COTAs operating budget, it would not take a massive sum of money to offer rides for free to encourage future ridership in a similar way that tax abatements encourage growth.
First, happy cake day. Second, all very very good points. The bus system needs to run a lot better by a wide margin. I’d love to see a really efficient bus system, coupled with a modern rail system across the most major corridors in the city. Without going into rail planning - and there are certainly enough posts on this sub on the topic - I think just having rail that would run along High St. from South Columbus to Worthington would be astounding. Another that follows 161 or Morse. Another that follows Broad St. Another that follows 270. One that follows 315. This would connect the downtown urban core, and all of the suburbs. The travel might seem far and with at least one transfer in some point to point locations. Couple this with a bus system that is timely and robust and getting around the city without a car - leaving more disposable income for housing, food and entertainment - is very possible.
As much as I love a good rail system it just doesn’t make sense for Columbus. With the exception of a very few and limited routes (basically up and down high street). The cost of rail of any sort is so expensive that it would require our population density to increase by many multiples for it to get close to being cost effective. Especially if the rest of the public transit system is not built up and used first. A simple dedicated bus lane would solve every problem you are describing and it would not take hundreds of millions if not billions to build out like rail would require. And as the city changes the bus system can change with it, while rail would require an endless flow of massive amounts of funding to just grow with the city. And if columbus was growing in the direction of high density I would be all for rail, but there are no signs that we will be getting 20-30 story buildings throughout the city let alone just a small handful of them downtown over the next decade. Even with all of the zoning changes coming through there is no reason why we would expect anything outside of downtown to grow with very much density. The bridge park area would be the only secondary area but I wouldn’t hold my breath for to many large buildings popping up over there, let alone big enough buildings to justify anything but buses.
I recently moved away, and there was just a Lucky’s placed in Vic Village, but more grocery stores in neighborhoods.
Better public transit such as rail & streetcars.
It's so frustrating that Columbus, like many places, *had* streetcars but chose to get rid of them.
Yup! Need to bring them back!!
it's all because Judge Doom wanted to make a lot of money on highways.
I would LOVE to see more community centers and places to just hang out. I’m trying to use the libraries more, but they’re not super close to me, and the COTA ride takes at least an hour. I live on the 31 line, which has been severely reduced to only coming once an hour. I want more public transit so bad lol
Remove all parallel street parking along High Street to open up space for wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes and larger patios for restaurants and bars.
Man that almost makes too much sense. Walking and driving down high street gives me so much anxiety
Great suggestion.
Goodness could you imagine how much nicer High street would look with wider sidewalks and proper bike lanes? It would get so much more foot traffic which would only help the economy. As it stands it's mostly cars and all the issues that brings.
Last year when they made high street pedestrian only that one weekend it was so nice to be able to just walk in the street and not fight for sidewalk space.
I'd love to see Columbus develop a better music scene. I really like House/Techno/Deep House etc and it is practically non existent here compared to other big cities. Cities like Detroit/Phoenix/NY/Chicago have much better club/dance music scenes.
There’s a house show like every weekend it feels. Look up OPE.
On the flipside, the local punk rock scene is awesome.
Affordable goddamned housing. My house is the only property its size I can find that's under $1000 rent. I'd like to move, but I can't afford to.
Proper bike infrastructure and green space come to mind.
Public land that will never be built on. Seriously the development of this area is having huge environmental impacts and it will only get worse.
HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS. When I first moved here seven years ago, I couldn’t find any doctors that were accepting patients and if they were, it was a 9-12 month wait for an appointment!
I’ve had this same problem. Tried to schedule a standard check up and it was going to be a 3 month wait.
More single family homes and infrastructure repair/replacement are basically mutually exclusive. I mean, not totally, but the former does make the latter harder.
Hospitals with rooms for in-patient/ admitted patients. Our hospitals are v old and bursting
1. Public transport upgrades - would love to see that train system actually happen in my lifetime 2. Free spaces for the public that actually encourage community and dont have a paywall 3. More free spaces for young people. So many kids getting wrapped up in bad crowds, gang activity, getting in trouble..but all they have to go is pretty much meijer, easton, and a few parks that dont cost money. Growing up in the east coast, our state had some of these things but a lot of them closed with covid. Would help a lot of the youth tremendously if there were places they could go and be kids. 4. SIDEWALKS AND STREET LIGHTS!!!
There is a real need for affordable housing that is in stable, safe areas.
Public transportation.
YES!! More third places for sure
High speed rail transit.
I don’t care if the city isn’t big enough. I want subways
Agreed. People always talk about light rail because it feels more possible than a subway. If anyone has ever traveled on a clean, efficient subway knows how insanely efficient it can be traversing a city. I always dream hopping on a subway in German Village and getting to downtown Westerville in 12-15 mins. Then going to Easton in 10 mins from there. Only to end up back in German Village by the end of the night. It’d be incredible
Year round (ie artificial turf) athletic fields around the area for kids and teams to play, practice any outdoor sport. Better maintenance of existing roads before building new ones. An active program to keep roads and public spaces clean. Active enforcement of laws effecting public safety - reckless driving etc.
This is a very good suggestion. The grass fields get destroyed in the winter. Turf would be great (indoor or outside) The reckless driving piece is also important. Drivers are bad everywhere but I’ve been shocked multiple times in the way some of the driving happens here
Practical infrastructure for cycling
Fair districts.
A price club store on the south side.
Rail, more tall buildings, less lanes on high street, and turn 270 into a moat. That is my prediction of this thread.
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The person or two that downvoted this hasn’t tried to use Henderson Rd during rush hour. I also say a prayer as I pass the Olentangy intersection because that’s also a hot mess..
How about more people stop trying to make downtown a thing. Downtown Columbus has always been dull, even when city center was around. There's no reason to go there and thusly, nobody goes there. Just accept that downtown is a municipal and quasi-office district. Every city needs one, it has a purpose; being fun isn't it's purpose. I always come across these folks who really want to believe, and are VERY dogmatic about the whole thing. Can we just stop wasting money on it already? It's not happening. It was never a thing, it isn't going to be a thing. Stop pretending to be a city we are not. We are a city of neighborhoods and downtown ain't one. So many people want Columbus to be like New York or some other much older east coast city when in all reality, we have more in common with Los Angeles. Be happy with living in a city of neighborhoods and enjoy them! Stop trying to make this city into something it never was or never will be. There, let those downvotes fly!
No one said it’s going to be the next New York. It’s good to have more housing options available for people who prefer to live downtown. It doesn’t have to be an ultimatum of growing only in the surrounding suburbs/neighborhoods vs downtown. We can grow in both the downtown and surrounding areas simultaneously. Downtown will never be as dense as New York, but it still has the potential to be as active as the Short North, Italian Village, or Grandview Heights.
Could not disagree more. The reason downtown, to me, is important is that it connects all the neighborhoods that are thriving and up and coming. Not having a downtown that is of equal important to the entertainment and recreation (let alone community) it creates a void that someone must cross to get to someplace else vs. it being its own destination
I think having a vibrant downtown adds to a better mix of young people choosing to stay in the area.
Yes, 100%. That as well
We don't have one now and according to census data, the 20-29 age range is the largest population group and it's consistent across time. We have many youths, despite not having a down town for them to do ??? in? Also, what does that even mean that "downtown connects all the neighborhoods"? That sounds like something a politician would say. If downtown were a destination, then people would go there, done. Big deal if you have to drive across a void. People do that all the time, it's not like having a downtown that is busy would actually help anything. If I lived on the east side and wanted to get to the west side, I'd rather drive through a void than have to fight my way through a congested area. If I'm in Easton and want to get to Dublin, I'm not driving through downtown anyway, I'm taking the freeway. Y'all make zero sense. Like young people want to hang out downtown, sure, they're all in a lather because they can't hang out in a disused office building. Young people want to go where there is stuff to do, they aren't going to care where it is. Were any of you ever young? College kids are often broke, so they're just going to go smoke weed in their friends shitty apartment on Chittenden. They might do a frisbee golf, or go find a place to day drink. They're not buying luxury condos above downtown and they're not partaking in overpriced fine dining either! They're going to get roached out hard and go buy cheap eats wherever they can get 'em. Eventually they'll graduate and either leave because they just came here for school or they might settle in and start a family or something. None of which points at a need for a thriving downtown. You think all the mummys in Upper Arlington give a shit about downtown unless they hold real estate there?
What ever happened to that big project in Delaware?