Does Columbus City Council Members have Integrity?

I never thought I would wish to see Republicans on Columbus City Council.  Columbus like many large Urban metropolitan cities enjoy Democrats running their cities.  I too thought that this would be a good thing until just recently.

Jonathan Beard, CEO of an East side community organization, Compact, and numerous neighborhood organizations held a press conference last week.  The city leaders were invited, however only the Republicans and Libertarian candidates for City Council showed up.  Later the media met with Andrew Ginther, President of the Columbus City Council,and he stated that the press conference was a "...political stunt".  Murders, shootings, and drug dealings are political stunts?


Michele Mills who is the chair of the Safety Committee has no experience dealing with the police, firefighters or anything else that concerns the safety of Columbus neighborhoods.  I contacted Mills and Craig's offices to set up a meeting.  I have known both of these members for many years--I spoke to the aides.  I was told that they would call me back--that was in August.

My brother owns a home in a neighborhood that has been taken over by the drug dealers.  There are shootings at least twice a week, murders every couple of months, and drug dealings on the corners day and night, everyday.

Many of these young men do not live in the neighborhood--the police has been called, many, many, many times and nothing was done.  A young couple with a small child had their home shot-up, my brother has a bullet hole in his van, a neighbor had his truck shot up and a bullet went through the window of a young  child.  A house was burnt down twice and the garage.

Police officers will sometimes, get out of the cruiser and approach the young men-- the young men curse the police officers.  The officers retreat to their cruisers and move on.  The murders, drug dealers, and shootings are out of control, and no one in city government will not address the problem.  They are not willing to come to the table to find a solution for the neighborhoods who are under siege from the drug dealers.

I called Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority to alert them to drug dealings in homes that are rented by women who hold a Section 8 certificate. I have notified the owners of the homes and CMHA, but they also have looked the other way.  An older lady allows her grandchildren to hang out and sell drugs at her house and this continues even though CMHA was notified in April, 2011.

When will the leaders  of Columbus step up to the plate and protect it's citizens of Columbus?  The Democrats has a smug  attitude that they are in charge and the neighborhoods have no recourse.  The entire city is sewed-up by the Democrats.

Voters take a look at the leaders of Columbus and vote out members that refuse to do their job. Just like in Washington DC, no one listens to the voter.   We need leaders with integrity and who have not been "bought" and paid for by the big corporations, even in Columbus.