COLUMBUS – Declaring the state of the city “strong” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther nevertheless acknowledged challenges ahead, such as a wide gap between rich and poor neighborhoods, a housing shortage and a persistent opioid crisis.
Ginther delivered his State of the City address Thursday night at West High School in the heart of the Hilltop, an area plagued by poverty and crime.
“For Columbus to reach its full potential as America’s ‘opportunity city,’ we must grow dynamically and inclusively,” he said.
Affordable housing, or the lack of it, is at the heart of many of the city’s issues, he said.
The shortage of affordable housing is creating more homeless individuals and families and exacerbates a problem with infant mortality, which plagues Franklin County at a high rate compared to other parts of Ohio.
He cited progress made in those areas, but said there is work to be done.
“I’m not giving you a list of ten things tonight that we can easily check off at this time next year,” Ginther said. “The challenges that we have chosen to tackle together are not simple or easy. They will not be solved overnight nor in the next year.”
One of those challenges is improving relations between the police and the neighborhoods where they patrol and rebuilding trust within the African-American community following the controversial shooting of a black man by white officers in 2015 and corruption among officers in the vice unit.
He said newly-hired police Chief Thomas Quinlan has already started implementing reforms recommended by a consultant, including disbanding the vice unit. Other recommended reforms include the formation of a citizen commission to monitor the Division of Police and improved training.
“Chief Quinlan knows, I know and you know that there is much work to be done to rebuild trust within the community, especially the African-American community,” Ginther said.
“We can, and we must, do better and we will,” he said.
Ginther also vowed to continue to battle an opioid crisis he says leads to two drug overdose deaths per day in the city.