Top three key takeaways from Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson’s State of the City address
Despite challenges in addressing affordable housing and other economic issues in Columbus, Mayor Skip Henderson presented an optimistic future based on economic development in his annual State of the City address Tuesday.
Rather than a traditional speech, Henderson participated in an interview-style conversation with Crystal Shahid, chairwoman of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce. Around 300 people from organizations across the city attended the event in the Cunningham Center at Columbus State University, said Brian Sillitto, vice president of the chamber.
During the conversation, Henderson and Shahid spoke about a variety of issues affecting Columbus. Here are the top three takeaways:
Crime prevention
Crime prevention is one of the city’s priorities, Henderson said.
The crime prevention director, Seth Brown, is working to keep people from committing a crime in the first place, Henderson said. And work is being done in the prison system to help prevent individuals from returning to prison.
Herbert Walker, Muscogee County Prison warden, has been aggressive in providing educational opportunities and job training through the assistance of Columbus Technical College, he said.
“When the folks roll out of there and go to look for a job, they’ll have something in their hand,” Henderson said. “They can hopefully go to work pretty quickly.”
The Columbus Police Department is now fully staffed, Henderson said, and the violent crime rate went down about 18% last year.
CPD is utilizing technology in the Real Time Crime Center to address crimes, he said, which is helping ensure criminals are captured.
“I’m not a big fan of Big Brother,” Henderson said.
However, CPD is able to capture almost 90% of individuals who commit violent crimes, Henderson said. In Columbus, people who commit violent crimes have only about a 12% chance to get away with it, he said.
One issue Columbus needs to improve on is getting individuals’ cases done faster so they can move on from jail to prison if guilty or move on with their lives if they’re found to be innocent.
“We’ve got some folks who have stayed in there for three or four years,” Henderson said. “We need to be better.”
Uncertainty about federal funding
One of the most pressing issues facing Columbus is uncertainty with changes to federal funding, Henderson said.
“We rely on those federal dollars to pass them through to other individuals,” he said.
The funding primarily comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Community Development Block Grants. Money also comes into the city from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
If these funds aren’t able to get approved by the new administration, Henderson said, then that will impact Columbus residents.
The concern is if something changes after the city releases federal funds, he told the Ledger-Enquirer. Then the federal government could tell the city the money must be returned.
“We’re just trying to be very calculating and looking at the programs,” Henderson said. “(We’re figuring) out which ones we have the most confidence in.”
The city is in communication with Columbus’ representatives in Congress, he said.
“We feel very confident that they’re going to continue to help us serve the local folks here in Columbus,” Henderson said during the address.
Infrastructure projects
Columbus is spending about $1.2 billion in infrastructure, Henderson said, and about 60% of that spending is in south Columbus.
“What we’re trying to do is open up corridors for commerce,” he said. “We’re trying to make it easier to get to areas in our community.”
People are always asking for more restaurants or businesses in certain areas, Henderson said. The city can’t do that, he said, but what they can do is try to create the infrastructure to be more appealing to businesses.
Projects like the overpass on Buena Vista Road is an example of this, Henderson said.
Roundabouts are also an important part of improving Columbus’ infrastructure, he said, particularly the project on Williams Road and Fortson Road. The four-way stop there is “a mess,” Henderson said.
These projects will improve mobility and provide tools the chamber can use to encourage more industries to come to Columbus, he said.
