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(COLUMBUS) Today Mayor Mike Coleman kicked off the TV ad campaign for his third term
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(Columbus, OH) In 2006, Mayor Michael B. Coleman announced that the City’s first "green" neighborhood would
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CONTINUE MAKING NEIGHBORHOODS SAFER
While we are one of America’s safest big cities, and overall crime is down since 2000, safe neighborhoods will always be the City’s top priority.
I will continue to be aggressive in fighting and preventing crime and violence through a comprehensive approach to neighborhood safety.
The City must continue to hire more Police Officers and to support innovative strategies like my Anti-Gang Initiative and Summer Strike Force. We’ll
continue to invest more than 70% of the budget on public safety. Under our Safety plan, we’ve hired 600 Officers since 2000, and we must continue
to grow the force in the next four years. I’m proud to work with both the Divisions of Police and Fire, as well as the Fraternal Order of Police
and the local International Association of Fire Fighters to provide our safety forces the tools to do their jobs, like vehicles, data tracking, radios
and other equipment.
Finally, we must be willing to look at innovative strategies to enhance policing and prevent crime, including using technology tools like neighborhood
safety cameras. While these can never replace a Police Officer, they could be a useful tool in neighborhoods who ask for them to prevent crimes or help
solve crimes.
CREATING JOBS
While other cities lost residents and jobs, we grew larger and more diverse than any other metro area in Ohio and much of the nation. This wasn’t an
accident. In 2000, we set out with a bold vision of what Columbus could be, and our record reflects cooperative leadership and our focus on the quality
of life in neighborhoods.
The City will continue to be an active partner with the business community, Columbus Chamber and local entrepreneurs to grow the regional economy. Even as
Ohio’s economy remains sluggish, Columbus leads the state in creating new jobs and attracting a young, talented workforce. Since 2000, my administration
used performance incentives to help create and retain 25,307 jobs and leverage billions of dollars in private investment. While this is good, we must do
better, by aggressively creating jobs and opportunities for the citizens of Columbus.
IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE
To keep Columbus moving in the right direction, we must continue to focus squarely on the quality of life in neighborhoods, whether through code enforcement
or by building quality parks, rehabilitated housing or sidewalk construction, or the hundreds of other things the City does. At the end of the day, Columbus’
consistently great quality of life is the most important asset we have to offer to those who live here and those we want to move here. That’s why I’ve focused
so much on essential neighborhood services and neighborhood revitalization as Mayor.
When our city grows, our neighborhoods prosper, but we must grow smarter and differently than in the past. I believe our city should grow outward with a plan
and inward with a passion. This means we must balance outward growth’s need for streets, parks, sewers, safety forces and trash collection with inward growth’s
focused urban renewal and reinvestment. I think my record shows that this plan works when the public and private sector come together to reinvest in the housing
and commercial corridors of urban neighborhoods like Northland, Linden, Parsons Avenue and the South Side, Franklinton, South Campus and the King Lincoln District,
among many others.
A cornerstone in improving the quality of life is to invest in quality, affordable housing. We’ve helped build 12,000 homes in neighborhoods, bringing new hope and
investment to areas that were sometimes neglected for a generation. Programs like Neighborhood Pride and Home Again will continue to drive housing rehab and the
elimination of blighted properties in the coming years. In addition, some 4,200 new apartments and condos are being developed downtown spurring a new energy and
excitement for urban living. My record on neighborhood redevelopment is clear, and it is a critical part of our city’s positive momentum.
EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN
We need to focus on tomorrow’s Columbus, by ensuring a quality education system for children. The Mayor should always be a leader on education, and focus on practical
partnerships that get results. That's why, in my first term as Mayor, I created the City’s first Office of Education to coordinate our work with educators, parents
and schools and manage the nationally-recognized Capital Kids after-school program that has served thousands.
We must continue to work with our elected School Board to improve education, build new neighborhood schools, and make sure that education is a community priority. It
is partnerships like this that contribute to our schools’ progress in the past few years, with new buildings opening and improvements on the State’s report card. Today,
talks are underway to explore exciting new partnerships to take education to the next level, increasing mentorship and further building the competence, confidence and
skills of our children.
RUNNING EFFICIENT, ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT
While other cities went into deficit spending, we balanced seven budgets without raising taxes or cutting neighborhood services. We must constantly work to make the City
of Columbus the most efficient and accountable municipality possible. Our responsible fiscal discipline continues to pay off, as Columbus remains the nation’s highest
credit-rated big city, and the only one with the top AAA from four rating agencies.
We will continue to implement performance standards and balance budgets just as we’ve done for the past seven years. Today we operate with 300 fewer civilian, general
fund employees than in 2000, and while the economic situation has stabilized somewhat, I am committed to continuing to hold Departments accountable for spending and to
focus budgets on essential neighborhood priorities.
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