| Columbus: A World Class City? | |
From time to time I hear our leaders say this or that makes Columbus a "world class city". So I've been thinking: what does that mean? What makes a city "world class?"
First, I am assuming that "world class" means a city is a cut above the rest, a place that other places strive to be. Is Columbus a place other cities look to and envy? To answer that, in my mind, requires breaking the question down into several different categories:
- Safety--Is Columbus a safe place? Can you live and work and play there without being afraid of violent crime? In this category Columbus gets a B. Overall the city is pretty safe; rundown areas are relatively small, and the city tries to improve marginal areas. As Mayor Coleman says, a great city takes care of its neighborhoods, and Columbus in my opinion tries to do that.
- History--Does Columbus respect its' history and preserve its' past? Sorry, but I have to give a D- on this one. The bulldozers have made their mark on the city and we've lost a lot. Actually, I would have given an F but with the new arches in the Short North, talk of preserving some things along E. Broad St., and a movement to save the Northland area I see perhaps the beginning of a turnaround.
- Community--Is there a sense of community in Columbus? Do people work together to do what is best for all, or is there a lot of infighting and territorialism? Here I assign a C; I think overall the different departments and governments and communities do a fairly average job of cooperating and sharing resources.
- Government Services--A B here because public areas are pretty well maintained, the trash pickup comes regularly, and overall we get a pretty good return on our taxes.
- Culture--This gets a B because we've got some and it is pretty good, but what we have isn't really above what you would expect in a city this size.
- Variety--A recent forum posting said TOO MUCH BUCKEYES! A world class city has variety in its interests and events. When OSU football dominates the city's psyche to the point where every other event in town is moved for "the game" then I have to say Columbus lacks in variety. A C for this category since there is some variety in town even though it often goes unnoticed.
- Transportation--B- for highways that are pretty good (if you avoid rush hour on the north end) but public transit that is fair to middlin at best.
- Higher Education--I would give an A here, but spiraling tuition costs have forced me to assign a B to our several high quality colleges and universities.
- Pride--Can you proudly tell people you live in Columbus when you travel? Well, we can't say we are home of the Silicon Valley, or the movie capital of the world, but overall we can say we are from a nice city, so this gets a B.
- Reputation--What do outsiders think of when they hear Columbus? Think of it this way: what do you think of when you hear, say, St. Louis? The arch, or perhaps blues? How about Detroit--cars, inner city problems? Or Cincinnati--riverboats, hills? Well, when I think of Columbus, absolutely nothing comes to mind. Someone once said Columbus was a city of 300,000 people who came to see the state fair and decided to stay. Since Columbus has neither bad nor good connotations I was going to assign this one a C, but with the recent OSU riots tarnishing our national reputation I am downgrading it to a C-.
When you average this out, you get a high C+. Slightly above average, but not worthy of "world class city" status in my grade book. Interestingly, if the D- I assigned history is increased to a C, Columbus' total grade increases to a B-. This would be a good place to start.
The book Rise of the Creative Class ranked Columbus 24th among the 49 American cities with a metropolitan population of one million or more--another C rating. Author Richard Florida says the arts are good in Columbus, and cities with a large gay population are more open to new and exciting trends, but Columbus lacks eclectic neighborhoods, downtown housing, a local music scene and more.
What do you think about Columbus as a world class city? Add your comments to the Columbus Community Forum box below.
