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I have to go 2 miles out of downtown to get to a grocery store, but if I need an attorney, there are 6 different law firms on every block. This city isn’t designed for people to live in it. Any future modifications should be firmly rooted in New Urbanist principles, making the city livable and walkable, providing more integrated green space, better public amenities, and improved transit options, and reducing the land area dedicated to parking. If you want to improve downtown life, start by turning 4th St from Jackson to Franklin into a pedestrian zone and offer incentives to get a food market into one of the several empty buildings in the downtown area.

I wish you offered more to do for the 20s, 30s and 40 somethings who don’t have kids that doesn’t involve just sitting at a bar. Sure, it’s nice to have a cocktail or two on the weekends, but that’s really the only thing to do (especially downtown). The lack of options forces many of us who fall into this category to go to Louisville, Indy or larger surrounding areas for entertainment.

I love the charm of Washington Street and people-watching in the downtown! Since the Commons has come to town, it’s always full of joyful children and their families. We could use more places to people-watch and gather downtown (dining, seating, small parks, etc.).

It would be great to see more local establishments in the downtown area, such as grocery stores, social cafe’s for the adults offering a diversity of food to meet the diverse population of Columbus. It would also be good to see a better transit structure to encourage people from the North side of town to get easy access to the downtown area and not worry about parking spaces.

I wish there were more streets like the fourth street section between Jackson and Washington, where we could just sit have coffee or grab a quick meal or walk around without having to worry about cars and traffic. I wish there were more open social spaces that allowed us to just hangout.

Columbus has always been a place for visionary ideas and what it means to have a vibrant community. More and more people and businesses are now evaluating the value of a city based on its leadership on sustainability and environmental protection. The future of Columbus should be resilient to a changing climate and one that values the health of its people and environment. How about a comprehensive sustainability plan for the city? Curbside recycling was a great start, but how about a climate change goal? This would put Columbus on the map as a leader for the state and great place to live and work.

You are a part of me and make me who I am. I have grown up with you, watching you become a place that cares about the mental and physical health of your people. You have evolved into a place of diversity, preserving and expanding art, education and recreation but the one thing you have missed is the preservation of your greatest asset…the rich history of your agriculture. I am proud of you for caring about the health of your community by way of amenities but what about the most important aspect of health ~ your food chain? Columbus you can do better. You can lift up your small farmers and offer your people the best quality of what makes them holistically healthy… their food. You have created a great start through your farmer’s market but it takes more than once a week a few months a year. Columbus, if you really care about your people show them by giving them a way to access year-round wholesome food. We are what we eat and what we currently eat is not the best. Create a place that provides access to the “fuel” we need to be the healthiest we can… a wholesome grocery that offers year round access, connecting us to our greatest resource, our farmers.

I love you, but the cost of living is way too high for a city this size. Please consider allowing tiny houses (either on foundations or wheels) and auxiliary dwelling units as quality but lower cost of living homes. A drug store or healthy grocery store downtown would be amazing. Thanks!

When I first read about Envision Columbus in the Republic about two weeks ago I was disappointed that renewable energy wasn’t mentioned. Maybe renewable energy is being included in the vision but I don’t see any evidence yet. As a citizen of Columbus, I want to express how important I believe it is to move to 100 % renewable energy for our city. Citizens across America want it, the youth of Columbus and many voting citizens of Columbus want to make the change. Please embrace this opportunity and let us do this together. Let us continue to be the progressive city that Columbus has always been proud to be.

The commitment to building a better city has brought major economic development and stability in the past decades. Currently the small number of hotel rooms & conference space in the greater Columbus area leaves us hindered to support the current tourism demand. To build a better Columbus is to build more recourses to allow further injection of tourism revenue. Only then may the Columbus economy support more leisure activity businesses. Campaign for downtown hotel & conference space.

I was born and raised in Columbus, so I feel very loyal to the community. I love the history of Columbus, the parks, the people trails, the restaurants and downtown area. My only complaint would be the traffic on Central Avenue. When I lived downtown, it took me 30 minutes to get to work at Walesboro. I recently married and moved to Greenwood. I thought this would be a longer commute, but it only takes me an additional 15 minutes to get home. I think the traffic, especially on Central Ave and Third Street is going to cause more people to consider living outside of the City. Maybe some money and development could go into making the traffic less of a nightmare.

I have always found the history of you to be very interesting and vital to your existence. A heavier focus on how far you have come in the past couple of decades/century is needed. I am only 22 and I can appreciate it (and I have since I was way younger than that) which means others of all ages would find it interesting and important. I think in order to appreciate where something is you need to know how far it has come.
Love,
Emily Dial

Downtown Columbus needs a nice, small grocery/pharmacy/convenience type store Downtown. It could serve both those living and working Downtown, as well as visitors. It would be so convenient to pick up a snack for midday, some cold/allergy meds, a few items needed for dinner, or a greeting card/gift for a co-workers celebration.

Parking downtown is just terrible during normal business hours. Cummins employees fill the spots in the morning and then really just rotate out in the afternoon too. There is no short term parking for when you only need to be parked for 15-60 mins to do your business. Its all 3hr parking and usually filled for all 3 hours.

Columbus needs restaurants to be more vegan-friendly and eco-friendly. Most of them offer Styrofoam to-go boxes, which are proven to be highly dangerous to health and not recyclable locally and non-degradable for hundreds of years. Please be mindful of the destructive nature of such seemingly normal activities.

Columbus is a very family friendly community. However, Columbus seems to forget the single people who live in Columbus. Most single or young professionals (20’s-30’s) are here due to professional careers. Columbus needs to be more all inclusive. This would encourage singles and young professionals (20’s-30’s) to stay in Columbus. This would also retain talent in Columbus. The only reason this resident rents in Columbus is because of the career at Cummins. Cities more so like Indianapolis or Louisville offer more activities, live music, and social events. Sooner then later, a move will be made to one of these cities due to the lack of offerings in Columbus.

I would love to see a food market downtown! And, if we could get an ice cream shop downtown like Chocolate Moose in Bloomington/Nashville, for example, that would be awesome! I know we have a architecturally famous ice cream place but honestly it doesn’t fit the “feel” of the type of ice cream shops that would can just relax in, get coffee maybe, have your pets outside with you, etc!

Cost of living and options for living downtown are too prohibitive for a young professional to move downtown. There is a urgent need for more, affordable options to live – that does not mean new developments, but rather dual-zoning of existing buildings to allow residential units and businesses to co-exist. Additionally, Restaurants need to be open on Sundays and late at night. One cannot expect to attract visitors, customers, and new residents when the coffee shops or fine dining restaurants close early every day or do not open at all on Sundays.

Cost of living is too high, with the second highest rent rate in the state, and property taxes that are double the surrounding communities. Too much of the city resides in flood plains, and not enough is being done to mitigate flood risk, especially after 2008. The noise and delays caused by trains running through the city has gone beyond a tolerable level. These are reasons why I did not purchase a home in Columbus when I bought my home 2 years ago.

Crump has many great memories of Columbus past. However time has destroyed the structure to the cost of $30,000,000 for restructure. As much as it may hurt our emotion tear down the Crump and build a dinner theater. This would make something for residents, visitors and surrounding communities to do for entertainment. As attractive as Columbus is it is very boring once the working hours have ended. Let us add professional theater.

I’m sick of having plants and garden ornaments stolen! It’s hard enough to pay for and maintain nice landscaping. When you have people walk into your yard, or onto your porches or patios and steal from you, it makes you wonder why you bother at all!

I really wish that Donner park could better serve me. I live near by, and visit regularly. The trees are beautiful, and I’m glad that there is a play ground, but I wish that the center was a place that was more welcoming to art, community events, and had more to offer for seniors and childless adults.