Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren from WFIU WTIU News. This week, we're joined for the very first time in Columbus with Mayor Mary Ferdon. Hello, and welcome.
Speaker 2
thank you for having me. And you've got my name. Correct. So I'm excited.
Speaker 1
We really appreciate you coming on this show. Of course, it was a tradition with previous mayor Lienhoop. Always nice to be in the city to see what's going on what's new, what's happening. And I can we hope to continue that tradition. So thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker
You're welcome. It's great to have you.
Speaker 1
So let's just start with your role with the city, because we really haven't a chance to get to know you yet. Right. So what was your role with the city before you became mayor? Right?
Speaker 2
So under Mayor lineup, I was the executive director of administration and community development, and served in sort of as the deputy mayor, even though the city doesn't have one. So I worked with him for eight years.
Speaker 1
Okay. How's it going? How's it feel to be mayor?
Speaker 2
It feels different. The honeymoon lasted for about two weeks. But no, it's been great. And it's been a really true, smooth transition.
Speaker 1
I assume it's different being in the chair, that being outside of the chair, what have you learned so far in three months?
Speaker 2
So I've learned that a lot of people want to meet the mayor, and have a lot of questions and complaints at times. But it that it's it is a very important role in the community. And so I'm learning that you're a role model, and you all you're always on.
Speaker 1
That's for sure. We have so much to get to right every month, right? And I know that things, don't just wrap up with the previous mayor. And you're you're kind of balancing a bunch of plates. Can you talk a little bit about what's on your plate right now? What are what are some of the priorities right? And
Speaker 2
it's great, because the fact that I was here in the administration for eight years, I was part of a lot of those and you're right, they don't stop from year to year. One of our biggest priorities we're really excited is kind of getting to the end point. And that's our adaptive reuse of the old Fair Oaks mall here in Columbus. We renamed it Nexus Park. It's where we took a 35 acre property and we have converted it into a health and wellness and Recreation Center. It CRH our local partner has put, they've already moved into it. They've got 12 or 13 physician practices and a therapy pool and labs and clinics. And this tomorrow night at the state of the city, we are officially opening and ribbon cutting our 150,000 square foot 150,000 square foot Fieldhouse, which we've been so excited about. And then later next month, we'll be opening our parks and community space. And then later this year, our entire campus will be done. So that's a process and a project that started back in 2018. We made it through COVID through construction costs. And so we're we're just so pleased to kind of be nearing the end of it and being able to give it to the community and see how they react to it.
Speaker 1
We our last show with Mayor lit up we were there and he gave us a tour. Of course that was in December. I can't imagine that there were just putting the flooring in right on the court right now. So it's pretty close. I mean,
Speaker 2
well it's it actually is pretty completed we've had beginning sometime in late February. We've been already Having practices there. So we have our soccer local soccer teams have been practicing for several weeks. And so the turf is down, the courts are down. The scoreboards are up, the nets are up. So yeah, we've we've had some soft openings, we've had a few small events. But tomorrow night is where we recognize the donor as we recognize just the hundreds of people who've, who've put so much work into it, do that official ribbon cutting and then move on to the next project. So
Speaker 1
that's what we like to do. If you're up for it. We do like to meet you at certain places in the cities. Maybe that's something that'd be great. Go next month, and see what it's like Don, and Joe, all of our viewers and listeners. Yeah,
Speaker 2
well, the neat part about that is that it is a health and wellness facility that we officially next month will groundbreaking our fitness center, and we've got a teaching kitchen, the goal is to help people eat and cook better. And so you combine that with the hospital portion in the sports piece. And so we really do think that it'll give a lot to the community.
Speaker 1
And this was also a place for the employees of the city to go to receive health and wellness as well. Right. Right. So
Speaker 2
great question. Yeah, we, we've been working on setting up an employee clinic for a number of years. And so we are part of it's the employee health clinic, the City of Columbus as well as our local Bartholomew county school district employees. So we're really excited about starting that.
Speaker 1
I did want to ask, I saw in the Republic, something about city council having to approve nearly $3.2 million in appropriations to cover some of the year of end expenses. So this was maybe a couple months ago. Is that common?
Unknown Speaker
Or do you remember that? Yeah,
Speaker 2
I don't I don't remember that. Okay, cut that out. Yeah. Yeah, we we've, we've been constantly adding, we've had to go back to the city for appropriations on Nexus park that we knew were coming we may use? That's what we used various funds to take care of
Speaker 1
that. Yes. Okay. Yeah. But But so far the funding is, is okay.
Speaker 2
Yeah, does with this is great. Between we're using an edit bond for the Fieldhouse, we're using a park bond for the park community spaces. We've had somewhere in the neighborhood of four and a half million dollars donated from from local businesses and individuals. So and then we also, were able to use $6 million of ready funds for it. So we've been able to find the funding. And
Speaker 1
soon you'll be able to get user fees as well. Correct. Correct. Season Passes. And is that open now? Right?
Speaker 2
So the the sports facility, we will get rental fees and lease fees through the tournaments that come through. Just this past weekend, we had a seven on seven football league that came in. So yes, we will get lease fees through that. The fitness center of the teaching kitchen, there'll be an income based membership that people can have. So yes, we we should be able to start bringing funds in to help pay for the sustainability of the facility.
Speaker 1
So I have to ask you about the clips because it's what everybody's talking about. We were just in Brown County last week, of course, Bloomington before that, and everyone is preparing what is Columbus or how is Columbus preparing for the Eclipse.
Speaker 2
Like every other community about a year ago, we we realized the significance of the events. So the city as well as Bartholomew County, about a year ago started doing some major planning. It took us a little bit of time to get our first responders to understand how big this could be. So we the city team now meets on a weekly basis, working on our emergency plans working on our traffic plans. We have a number of local businesses who are having events throughout the weekend, I think starting Friday night, Saturday, Sunday. And then on Monday, there's we don't have as many events downtown. But we have a huge event at our airport air Park, and we have a renaissance event. And so it's a combination of renaissance fair and solar eclipse, you know, assuming that the weather is good. So we we are told like from Homeland Security, we can have 50,000 We can have twice our our population, depending upon weather. So we have to plan for 5000 or 100,000. Well, that's
Speaker 1
what I was going to ask. I mean, in Brown County said the same thing is that it could be 50,000 it could be 250,000. How do you plan for something like that?
Speaker 2
Well, you just you pull out the the disaster and the emergency plans that you have and we made the decision I think late last year that we were not allowing any city employees to take off that day. Police and Fire particularly and everybody's been really understanding about that because we don't know what will happen. And we we just as a as a team as a city team. We plan for all kinds of events. Anyway, we've got a local events team that meets and approves a lot of events. So we just went into high gear.
Speaker 1
This is also a chance to show off the city when you're getting that many tourists Right.
Speaker 2
Yep. So we have hospitality is something that every city wants to do well, and so part of what we're doing is making sure that our cities clean that we have, you know, the proper that we've let the businesses know that there will be a lot of people through their restaurants through their hotels. So yeah, we want to we want to look really good with all of those visitors coming through. So we're just balancing that with safety. Yeah, it'll be it'll be interesting. Yeah, Bloomington, Bloomington is dealing with the same as well, we had, we did have a virtual meeting with a number of mayors last month, from the area from Hamilton County on South. And we're all kind of in the same same boat. Not quite sure how many people will be coming through planning events and then just putting safety at the top of the list.
Speaker 1
And I was just reminded in Nashville. Today, we're talking about first responders, then there's things like trash, trash pickup or public restrooms. So there's, there's so much more than people even know what's going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 2
Right? Lest I think it's August, we put in an order for 200 porta potties. And they're coming from the northern part of the state that isn't being affected by the Eclipse. Yeah, trash, our Department of Public Works. We've got trash toters coming in from all over the city that will be put it in the area that we feel that people will be at.
Speaker 1
So let's switch gears just a little bit because I read, the city was notified of a record was at 130 encampments this year, staying in tents than local shelters. And we're seeing this in Bloomington. That was one of the very first things Mayor Thompson there had to deal with. Especially after two homicides and things were were pretty bad there. So how is Columbus working with those experiencing homelessness? So
Speaker 2
you said it that it's across the nation, we're seeing the number of homeless increase. And so we know that it's tied to mental illness and drug addiction. And we see that that got progressively worse post COVID. So we have great social services, we have great social agencies who have stepped up who run shelters, we've got our churches who have done a lot. But it's a it's a very difficult situation, because there's not necessarily a right answer. Because every every person's reason for being homeless is different. We are fortunate, because locally, our United Way is stepped up and we're starting, we're going to start an initiative with a lot of various community organizations who are going to kind of pull resources and figure out what what we're currently doing and how we can do it better. Because it's a problem that's really beyond the capacity of any one organization. Yeah.
Speaker 1
And obviously, no, this is this is a long term problem that comes with long term solutions, right. And I'm hearing I'm hearing the echoing of same answers from the different mayors. And it's that combination of resources, right of trying to address this a bigger issue,
Speaker 2
it is a bigger issue. And what we found is that what we're hearing from the social services is that the goal is when a lot of people when they become homeless, it's based upon a divorce or loss of job or some some traumatic event. The goal is to help people quickly if we can get them quickly back into a job or a place to live or back with their family, so that they're just temporarily homeless. And then that way we can focus our real attempt on those people who are chronically homeless, and try to figure out what needs meets their needs. So it's understanding the various causes of homelessness, and where we can intercept at different places. But yeah, we're in the same boat. Unfortunately, it's nationwide. And but what we are doing as we're trying to benchmark what what other communities are doing that works, and then try to figure out how that can fit what we have.
Speaker 1
I see there may be some updates on a new proposed conference center in Columbus. No, there was a study done a couple of years ago, kind of had some steam that kind of went away, it feels like it's coming back again, is it?
Speaker 2
It is in the sense that we're we're kind of, we're starting the process of reimagining our entire downtown, the riverfront project that you've kind of been following for years, we finally got all of our permits late last fall. So we've hired a construction manager, and we're starting to look at building out the project. So we're so excited about that. And then we have several new housing projects. But we also have a couple of properties that in our downtown that have gone up for sale. We call it the old Sears building that was owned by a local company, as well as the Irwin conference center. And so and then we have a property that was burnt a couple of years ago in our downtown that hopefully will be going on on the market quickly. So what we're seeing is we have a lot of opportunities. And so trying to figure out where the Hotel Conference Center fits into all of those because, you know, post COVID We've talked so much about what the new normal looks like and you know, my my position is, it's it's time for us to just get down to Start figuring it out on our own and, and transform Columbus. And I think we can do that.
Speaker 1
Is it something that's still needed? Is there a need for something like that here?
Speaker 2
We believe so. We believe so that people are now getting back to conferences. They may do it a little bit differently. It may be the sizes may changed. But we're still we still have it on our list as a as a project that we want to move forward on. Where in the downtown it goes, we're not quite sure.
Speaker 1
Okay. Is this something of a private endeavor could come in and do or is that something that the city wouldn't? If
Speaker 2
we had a private developer, and we've worked, we've talked with a lot of private developers, it's just the way the construction costs have gotten to the place where it's, it makes it very difficult without any kind of incentives or partnership for a private developer to be able to do something of that nature.
Speaker 1
Any bills that you're following at the State House, as they're starting to push through? Governor Holcomb has signed a few already? Right.
Speaker 2
I I'm trying to remember the the bill that the title of the bill, but the bill that deals with the maximum levy that cities will be able to see going forward, we're watching that because it really does impact the ability of local governments to raise tax dollars that they need. I understand the reasoning behind it, but with inflationary costs, if governments can't continue to assess and then tax as as they need to, we're going to find that there are services that we're not going to be able to provide. So and then I was disappointed to see Governor Holcomb signed the the animal bill.
Speaker 1
I was gonna ask you about that too, because Bloomington and Columbus both have ordinances, right. With selling dogs. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2
Yeah. So we felt like we went backward with that. But we will continue to work very hard to make sure that we don't allow businesses what what sometimes are called puppy mills into the city or the county.
Speaker 1
So I hear State of the City address, which Wednesday night? Can you give us a little preview of what it is? You'll be speaking, sir,
Speaker 2
yes, sir. So we are holding at Nexus Park, very excited, and it's going to be a little bit shorter, because we will be cutting the ribbon for the Circle K Fieldhouse, and the John McCormick fields, which is our Field House. So I'll be talking about some of the things same things that you and I have talked about housing, the importance of housing, we have a housing study that's going on the homeless initiative, transportation, we see the need to kind of revamp our transportation system, our bus system, responding to remote workers responding to our senior population. So we've got a transit study going on. Always, we always want to talk about the importance of public safety and what we're doing. They're talking about our downtown development, and then the solar eclipse. So we're packing a lot into hopefully a short period of time.
Speaker 1
And we did today, thank you so much. But before we go, I always like to give the mayor the last word, you have any announcements or anything that you'd like to say,
Speaker 2
I just so appreciative of of having the opportunity to serve the citizens of Columbus. I've worked here for eight years. And this is a little bit of a very different role. But I'm just so proud to be here. So thank you, Joe, for giving me the opportunity to talk. All right,
Unknown Speaker
and we'll see you next month. Great. Thanks. Thank you
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren from WFIU WTIU News. This week, we're joined for the very first time in Columbus with Mayor Mary Ferdon. Hello, and welcome.
Speaker 2
thank you for having me. And you've got my name. Correct. So I'm excited.
Speaker 1
We really appreciate you coming on this show. Of course, it was a tradition with previous mayor Lienhoop. Always nice to be in the city to see what's going on what's new, what's happening. And I can we hope to continue that tradition. So thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker
You're welcome. It's great to have you.
Speaker 1
So let's just start with your role with the city, because we really haven't a chance to get to know you yet. Right. So what was your role with the city before you became mayor? Right?
Speaker 2
So under Mayor lineup, I was the executive director of administration and community development, and served in sort of as the deputy mayor, even though the city doesn't have one. So I worked with him for eight years.
Speaker 1
Okay. How's it going? How's it feel to be mayor?
Speaker 2
It feels different. The honeymoon lasted for about two weeks. But no, it's been great. And it's been a really true, smooth transition.
Speaker 1
I assume it's different being in the chair, that being outside of the chair, what have you learned so far in three months?
Speaker 2
So I've learned that a lot of people want to meet the mayor, and have a lot of questions and complaints at times. But it that it's it is a very important role in the community. And so I'm learning that you're a role model, and you all you're always on.
Speaker 1
That's for sure. We have so much to get to right every month, right? And I know that things, don't just wrap up with the previous mayor. And you're you're kind of balancing a bunch of plates. Can you talk a little bit about what's on your plate right now? What are what are some of the priorities right? And
Speaker 2
it's great, because the fact that I was here in the administration for eight years, I was part of a lot of those and you're right, they don't stop from year to year. One of our biggest priorities we're really excited is kind of getting to the end point. And that's our adaptive reuse of the old Fair Oaks mall here in Columbus. We renamed it Nexus Park. It's where we took a 35 acre property and we have converted it into a health and wellness and Recreation Center. It CRH our local partner has put, they've already moved into it. They've got 12 or 13 physician practices and a therapy pool and labs and clinics. And this tomorrow night at the state of the city, we are officially opening and ribbon cutting our 150,000 square foot 150,000 square foot Fieldhouse, which we've been so excited about. And then later next month, we'll be opening our parks and community space. And then later this year, our entire campus will be done. So that's a process and a project that started back in 2018. We made it through COVID through construction costs. And so we're we're just so pleased to kind of be nearing the end of it and being able to give it to the community and see how they react to it.
Speaker 1
We our last show with Mayor lit up we were there and he gave us a tour. Of course that was in December. I can't imagine that there were just putting the flooring in right on the court right now. So it's pretty close. I mean,
Speaker 2
well it's it actually is pretty completed we've had beginning sometime in late February. We've been already Having practices there. So we have our soccer local soccer teams have been practicing for several weeks. And so the turf is down, the courts are down. The scoreboards are up, the nets are up. So yeah, we've we've had some soft openings, we've had a few small events. But tomorrow night is where we recognize the donor as we recognize just the hundreds of people who've, who've put so much work into it, do that official ribbon cutting and then move on to the next project. So
Speaker 1
that's what we like to do. If you're up for it. We do like to meet you at certain places in the cities. Maybe that's something that'd be great. Go next month, and see what it's like Don, and Joe, all of our viewers and listeners. Yeah,
Speaker 2
well, the neat part about that is that it is a health and wellness facility that we officially next month will groundbreaking our fitness center, and we've got a teaching kitchen, the goal is to help people eat and cook better. And so you combine that with the hospital portion in the sports piece. And so we really do think that it'll give a lot to the community.
Speaker 1
And this was also a place for the employees of the city to go to receive health and wellness as well. Right. Right. So
Speaker 2
great question. Yeah, we, we've been working on setting up an employee clinic for a number of years. And so we are part of it's the employee health clinic, the City of Columbus as well as our local Bartholomew county school district employees. So we're really excited about starting that.
Speaker 1
I did want to ask, I saw in the Republic, something about city council having to approve nearly $3.2 million in appropriations to cover some of the year of end expenses. So this was maybe a couple months ago. Is that common?
Unknown Speaker
Or do you remember that? Yeah,
Speaker 2
I don't I don't remember that. Okay, cut that out. Yeah. Yeah, we we've, we've been constantly adding, we've had to go back to the city for appropriations on Nexus park that we knew were coming we may use? That's what we used various funds to take care of
Speaker 1
that. Yes. Okay. Yeah. But But so far the funding is, is okay.
Speaker 2
Yeah, does with this is great. Between we're using an edit bond for the Fieldhouse, we're using a park bond for the park community spaces. We've had somewhere in the neighborhood of four and a half million dollars donated from from local businesses and individuals. So and then we also, were able to use $6 million of ready funds for it. So we've been able to find the funding. And
Speaker 1
soon you'll be able to get user fees as well. Correct. Correct. Season Passes. And is that open now? Right?
Speaker 2
So the the sports facility, we will get rental fees and lease fees through the tournaments that come through. Just this past weekend, we had a seven on seven football league that came in. So yes, we will get lease fees through that. The fitness center of the teaching kitchen, there'll be an income based membership that people can have. So yes, we we should be able to start bringing funds in to help pay for the sustainability of the facility.
Speaker 1
So I have to ask you about the clips because it's what everybody's talking about. We were just in Brown County last week, of course, Bloomington before that, and everyone is preparing what is Columbus or how is Columbus preparing for the Eclipse.
Speaker 2
Like every other community about a year ago, we we realized the significance of the events. So the city as well as Bartholomew County, about a year ago started doing some major planning. It took us a little bit of time to get our first responders to understand how big this could be. So we the city team now meets on a weekly basis, working on our emergency plans working on our traffic plans. We have a number of local businesses who are having events throughout the weekend, I think starting Friday night, Saturday, Sunday. And then on Monday, there's we don't have as many events downtown. But we have a huge event at our airport air Park, and we have a renaissance event. And so it's a combination of renaissance fair and solar eclipse, you know, assuming that the weather is good. So we we are told like from Homeland Security, we can have 50,000 We can have twice our our population, depending upon weather. So we have to plan for 5000 or 100,000. Well, that's
Speaker 1
what I was going to ask. I mean, in Brown County said the same thing is that it could be 50,000 it could be 250,000. How do you plan for something like that?
Speaker 2
Well, you just you pull out the the disaster and the emergency plans that you have and we made the decision I think late last year that we were not allowing any city employees to take off that day. Police and Fire particularly and everybody's been really understanding about that because we don't know what will happen. And we we just as a as a team as a city team. We plan for all kinds of events. Anyway, we've got a local events team that meets and approves a lot of events. So we just went into high gear.
Speaker 1
This is also a chance to show off the city when you're getting that many tourists Right.
Speaker 2
Yep. So we have hospitality is something that every city wants to do well, and so part of what we're doing is making sure that our cities clean that we have, you know, the proper that we've let the businesses know that there will be a lot of people through their restaurants through their hotels. So yeah, we want to we want to look really good with all of those visitors coming through. So we're just balancing that with safety. Yeah, it'll be it'll be interesting. Yeah, Bloomington, Bloomington is dealing with the same as well, we had, we did have a virtual meeting with a number of mayors last month, from the area from Hamilton County on South. And we're all kind of in the same same boat. Not quite sure how many people will be coming through planning events and then just putting safety at the top of the list.
Speaker 1
And I was just reminded in Nashville. Today, we're talking about first responders, then there's things like trash, trash pickup or public restrooms. So there's, there's so much more than people even know what's going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 2
Right? Lest I think it's August, we put in an order for 200 porta potties. And they're coming from the northern part of the state that isn't being affected by the Eclipse. Yeah, trash, our Department of Public Works. We've got trash toters coming in from all over the city that will be put it in the area that we feel that people will be at.
Speaker 1
So let's switch gears just a little bit because I read, the city was notified of a record was at 130 encampments this year, staying in tents than local shelters. And we're seeing this in Bloomington. That was one of the very first things Mayor Thompson there had to deal with. Especially after two homicides and things were were pretty bad there. So how is Columbus working with those experiencing homelessness? So
Speaker 2
you said it that it's across the nation, we're seeing the number of homeless increase. And so we know that it's tied to mental illness and drug addiction. And we see that that got progressively worse post COVID. So we have great social services, we have great social agencies who have stepped up who run shelters, we've got our churches who have done a lot. But it's a it's a very difficult situation, because there's not necessarily a right answer. Because every every person's reason for being homeless is different. We are fortunate, because locally, our United Way is stepped up and we're starting, we're going to start an initiative with a lot of various community organizations who are going to kind of pull resources and figure out what what we're currently doing and how we can do it better. Because it's a problem that's really beyond the capacity of any one organization. Yeah.
Speaker 1
And obviously, no, this is this is a long term problem that comes with long term solutions, right. And I'm hearing I'm hearing the echoing of same answers from the different mayors. And it's that combination of resources, right of trying to address this a bigger issue,
Speaker 2
it is a bigger issue. And what we found is that what we're hearing from the social services is that the goal is when a lot of people when they become homeless, it's based upon a divorce or loss of job or some some traumatic event. The goal is to help people quickly if we can get them quickly back into a job or a place to live or back with their family, so that they're just temporarily homeless. And then that way we can focus our real attempt on those people who are chronically homeless, and try to figure out what needs meets their needs. So it's understanding the various causes of homelessness, and where we can intercept at different places. But yeah, we're in the same boat. Unfortunately, it's nationwide. And but what we are doing as we're trying to benchmark what what other communities are doing that works, and then try to figure out how that can fit what we have.
Speaker 1
I see there may be some updates on a new proposed conference center in Columbus. No, there was a study done a couple of years ago, kind of had some steam that kind of went away, it feels like it's coming back again, is it?
Speaker 2
It is in the sense that we're we're kind of, we're starting the process of reimagining our entire downtown, the riverfront project that you've kind of been following for years, we finally got all of our permits late last fall. So we've hired a construction manager, and we're starting to look at building out the project. So we're so excited about that. And then we have several new housing projects. But we also have a couple of properties that in our downtown that have gone up for sale. We call it the old Sears building that was owned by a local company, as well as the Irwin conference center. And so and then we have a property that was burnt a couple of years ago in our downtown that hopefully will be going on on the market quickly. So what we're seeing is we have a lot of opportunities. And so trying to figure out where the Hotel Conference Center fits into all of those because, you know, post COVID We've talked so much about what the new normal looks like and you know, my my position is, it's it's time for us to just get down to Start figuring it out on our own and, and transform Columbus. And I think we can do that.
Speaker 1
Is it something that's still needed? Is there a need for something like that here?
Speaker 2
We believe so. We believe so that people are now getting back to conferences. They may do it a little bit differently. It may be the sizes may changed. But we're still we still have it on our list as a as a project that we want to move forward on. Where in the downtown it goes, we're not quite sure.
Speaker 1
Okay. Is this something of a private endeavor could come in and do or is that something that the city wouldn't? If
Speaker 2
we had a private developer, and we've worked, we've talked with a lot of private developers, it's just the way the construction costs have gotten to the place where it's, it makes it very difficult without any kind of incentives or partnership for a private developer to be able to do something of that nature.
Speaker 1
Any bills that you're following at the State House, as they're starting to push through? Governor Holcomb has signed a few already? Right.
Speaker 2
I I'm trying to remember the the bill that the title of the bill, but the bill that deals with the maximum levy that cities will be able to see going forward, we're watching that because it really does impact the ability of local governments to raise tax dollars that they need. I understand the reasoning behind it, but with inflationary costs, if governments can't continue to assess and then tax as as they need to, we're going to find that there are services that we're not going to be able to provide. So and then I was disappointed to see Governor Holcomb signed the the animal bill.
Speaker 1
I was gonna ask you about that too, because Bloomington and Columbus both have ordinances, right. With selling dogs. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2
Yeah. So we felt like we went backward with that. But we will continue to work very hard to make sure that we don't allow businesses what what sometimes are called puppy mills into the city or the county.
Speaker 1
So I hear State of the City address, which Wednesday night? Can you give us a little preview of what it is? You'll be speaking, sir,
Speaker 2
yes, sir. So we are holding at Nexus Park, very excited, and it's going to be a little bit shorter, because we will be cutting the ribbon for the Circle K Fieldhouse, and the John McCormick fields, which is our Field House. So I'll be talking about some of the things same things that you and I have talked about housing, the importance of housing, we have a housing study that's going on the homeless initiative, transportation, we see the need to kind of revamp our transportation system, our bus system, responding to remote workers responding to our senior population. So we've got a transit study going on. Always, we always want to talk about the importance of public safety and what we're doing. They're talking about our downtown development, and then the solar eclipse. So we're packing a lot into hopefully a short period of time.
Speaker 1
And we did today, thank you so much. But before we go, I always like to give the mayor the last word, you have any announcements or anything that you'd like to say,
Speaker 2
I just so appreciative of of having the opportunity to serve the citizens of Columbus. I've worked here for eight years. And this is a little bit of a very different role. But I'm just so proud to be here. So thank you, Joe, for giving me the opportunity to talk. All right,
Unknown Speaker
and we'll see you next month. Great. Thanks. Thank you
