Over the course of the next two weeks, Columbus Underground will be providing you with an in depth look at each of the six candidates running for Columbus City Council this November. All six interviewees are being asked the same set of questions, most of which were submitted from Columbus Underground readers. This feature should give everyone a better understanding of where these candidates stand on a variety of important local issues, and help you to decide how to vote this coming November.
Our first interview is with Republican Candidate Alicia Healy. Alicia currently resides in the Driving Park neighborhood on the Near East Side, and is a first time candidate for the office of Columbus City Council.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your personal, professional, and political background?
A: My professional background is that I worked at Kohl’s Department Store for about seven years as a sales supervisor. I trained employees on policy and procedures and how to use the registers. I also had to boost morale as the supervisor, and keep people happy. I had to be able to communicate with the public because that’s really what people like if you’re coming to a store and looking for that kind of environment. I did reviews monthly and yearly, and I also worked in the jewelry department. So I’ve done a whole lot of different things within my seven years at Kohl’s, which has helped me relate to the public.
Also, in my community, I was one of the co-founders of the Driving Park Walking Club, which is part of the Central Ohio Diabetes Association. Within our area, we have the highest count of diabetes right here on the Near East Side. So, I was asked to come in and coordinate activities with that. I also did some door-to-door knocking and talking to the residents. Since walking is so inexpensive, and everyone can do it, we thought that was one of the best ways to get people back into shape.
We also started a community garden in my backyard, so we have a lot of fun things within the Driving Park community that we’ve been working on.
Also, I just love Columbus. I think Columbus is a good place, and I guess that has to be part of the reason I would want to run. I really enjoy living here.
Q: What drove you to run for City Council, and what are your most inspired areas of interest when it comes to local Columbus issues?
A: I guess over the years I’ve kind of complained a little bit about a lot of the things that were going on and really didn’t do a whole lot about it. Really, I was not considering running for Columbus City Council. I was actually thinking of running for Columbus School Board because I’ve home schooled my kids for a few years. So I was kind of thinking more into that, but then the opportunity came up to consider City Council and I just thought… Wow. So, I kind of did some praying, I did some fasting, and I said if I go through the screening and the Republican Party endorses me, and they did, from there on the momentum started. So I’m really excited. There are a bunch of issues within the city that I would love to address, and will be addressing once I get on Columbus City Council.
Q: With the income tax increase recently passed, how do you plan to keep the budget in line going forward?
A: I just want to state first that I did oppose the tax, and that was mainly because over the past eight years there has been a lot of mismanagement of the funds. For eight years we’ve been told that the budget was balanced, but when you think of a balanced budget, you’re not really pulling from any other source, and we have pulled from the rainy day source. So when the time came to use the rainy day source, we were bankrupt… and a crisis occurred. The people, to me, were basically duped into approving a tax that didn’t specifically say it would go to police, fire, trash, rec… none of those things. To me it was a blank check to the city to continue the mismanagement of spending.
I was at a council meeting on Monday and there was a $663,000 construction of a bridge that was declared an emergency over the Scioto. So to me, because of the fact that we have to tighten up on our belts within our home budgets, the city has to do the same thing. I think that now that this blank check is there, it’s the continual spending, and we have to control that. We have to reign in that spending, and what I would like to do on City Council is exactly that. Some of these things that are being passed, I will oppose them, and also bring it to the attention of the citizens that I need you to come and I need you to say “Why are we spending this money in this fashion when we just passed an income tax because we had this crisis that we couldn’t take care of police or fire?” We’re going to lay these people off, yet we continue to do other kinds of spending that I think isn’t necessarily a waste of money… but it is a waste of money.
Q: What plans do you have to help attract and retain businesses in Columbus?
A: Well, I think the best thing to help retain and attract business is to lower the income tax. I mean, we just passed one, and I’m not sure if you’ve heard that The Limited is going to be moving their headquarters from Morse Road up to New Albany, and I kind of believe that the reasoning is because the income tax was passed. Although it seems like some of these companies were for it, when they look at the bottom line, it’s a lot more money coming from our businesses. So I think we have to lower taxes, and I think that will attract businesses. Once we attract more businesses, and we have lower taxes, I think with funds they’re going to basically balance out. Also, government is not to be into all of these different programs that it’s in. Government is really to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizens, and let the free market work itself. We can’t manage everything within our economy because it gets too big, and we can’t afford to do it, and then what we end up doing is taxing our citizens. Our citizens are strapped right now. We can’t afford to really take anymore from our pockets.
Also, to retain those businesses I think we need to go to those businesses and see what it is we can help them with to keep their businesses here in Columbus. I think some of the burdens of regulation that we have on some of these companies… I have a friend who started a catering company, and it cost $300 to buy a sink, but it cost him $1200 with licenses, fees, and so forth, just to put that sink in. So I can’t imagine if this was just for a sink how much it would cost for the bathroom, or this and that. So, I think we need to have a more business-friendly atmosphere here in Columbus for our businesses, to retain them and also to attract them.
Q: What can council do to continue and encourage the development and growth of our small business community?
A: Again, I think we need to target some of these small businesses, because really, small businesses make up our economy. We want to have that entrepreneur spirit. We want people to go out and we want them to start companies because when they do that, it makes Columbus even more diverse. I mean, we have a wonderful diverse place here in Columbus, and I want to continue that. And again, we just have to talk with some of the businesses to see what it is we can do to help retain our businesses.
I’ve had a few other business people say “You know, if I could move out of Columbus, I would be gone”. They’re entertaining the idea of getting out of Columbus because of this income tax increase. We don’t want that. We don’t want to have a ghost town. We want Columbus to be a thriving community, and in order to do that we have to find out what it is that we can do to retain our businesses, and I believe that though less regulation and less taxes, is really the way to go.
Q: Given the current economic climate, should we consider finding new ways to attract residents beyond 10 year tax abatements?
A: I was actually just talking to someone in regard to starting within our schools. I think that as these kids are in High School, talking to them about the benefits of staying in Columbus… to go to college here, and to stay here, and how it really helps the economy. I think if we can get that kind of a good, fun spirit of staying in Columbus… because there’s so much to do here for our younger people… to go to college here, and then to start a business here, or to work here. But we want to be able to have businesses for them. In order to have those businesses and to encourage our kids to stay here instead of leaving Columbus, we have to have the employees here to hire them.
Q: There was a lot of emphasis on the “creative economy” right up until about a year ago, when everything started to crash. Given our new economic context, what place does our “creative sector” have in the hierarchy of economic priorities?
A: Even though the economy has gone down, I still think that entrepreneurs are pretty bright. They want to start a company, and they find ways to do that. I think that will still continue even though we have a down economy because there are still people who like the arts, or who like to remodel. I think a lot of remodeling entrepreneurs are doing really good because a lot of people are deciding to stay put and remodel their homes.
I still think that manufacturing is something that we still have to get into too, because we have blue collar workers who don’t have that education backing, and a lot of those people are not working. In order to help keep crime down, we have to also create employment for those people as well. I’m not saying that you can’t be creative… we still want that spirit of creativity within our economy, and I think we should cater towards that so that we can have a more diverse group of people and businesses within Columbus that will help thrive our economy.
I think we have to look at some statistics on what the amount or percentage of the creative economy is, and also what the manufacturing base is, because right now I think we have so many of the manufacturing businesses that have gone overseas and we have those people who don’t have jobs right now. We’ve got to have a balance, and I think sometimes we focus a lot on something and then we lose focus on the other thing. Right now because the economy has been in a downturn, a lot of the people who are normally doing manufacturing and blue collar work, we have to create an economy for them, because of the fact that they have families. They’re used to these jobs making $16 or more per hour, and to lose that and then just go into a retail job… it’s really hard just to keep up with your bills. So I think we really need to work more on that economy but not disregard the creative economy as well.
Q: What are your thoughts on various transportation improvement initiatives (bikeways, passenger rail, pedestrian safety, etc) both from a mobility standpoint as well as an economic development standpoint?
A: Looking around Columbus, I think we have a lot of nice walking paths and and so forth. With our economy being the way it is, I’m for it, but I don’t think we have the resources to put as much money into it right now. It’s something to look at maybe in the future, and as the economy gets back into shape we can have that extra money to do those things. But for right now I think we have really good bike paths, walkways, and different things that we have right now are pretty good, and accessible to most people in Columbus.
Q: What plans do you have for aiding in the redevelopment of downtrodden neighborhoods in Columbus that suffer with blighted or abandoned properties, safety issues, and image problems?
A: I was driving through the city and I could see a lot of boarded up houses, especially on the South side of town. Even in my neighborhood, there’s a lot of boarded up houses. Something I was considering, is to possibly get some of the commissions that are in the different areas to go and do an assessment of what’s going on within their community, and get on paper the areas that we need to focus on. There’s some areas that really need a lot of focus on right now because they’re crime-infested with drugs and so forth. Some of these houses are being used for that, and I think we have to really focus on those areas. When we can alleviate the crime in those areas, it’s going to help the community to grow a lot better what what it is. Most of the time, when you see a lot of crime in those areas, people want to move out. I think City Council has to really look at those areas and really be focused on those areas because again, that’s going to also attract businesses or it’s going to cause businesses to leave. So I think that it’s very important.
Q: What do you think about the proposed use of Cooper Stadium as a racetrack and its impact upon the surrounding neighborhoods?
A: I don’t think that would be a bad fit, because of the fact that Cooper Stadium was there, so it’s already some kind of entertainment location, and that area really needs something else since Cooper Stadium has left. I think that might be a way that we can revitalize that area. Once you have something like that, businesses will start coming in, and I think they’ll start fixing up that area. When you look at some of these areas like where the Lincoln Theatre just moved in, businesses are going to start looking at this area and wanting to move in. But if we have a lot of crime and so forth going on in those areas… I think again that’s another way that we can focus on those areas once we put something like a racetrack in. I think it will bring businesses and also bring jobs and bring some additional entertainment to that area. So I think it would be a good fit for Columbus.
Q: Do you support waste disposable services that would include curbside recycling for all?
A: It’s one of those things that is very costly and that the city can not afford to do at this point. Maybe servicing it out to another company, and maybe having the city talk with that company to come up with a deal that would be cost effective for our citizens. I just think that separating different things is very costly, and right now the city cannot afford to do that. If we can contract it out to maybe a private company and work out some deals with them… maybe have a contract with them saying that this is what we need for you to do for our residents… I think most companies that we would look at would be apt to doing that if it’s going to help their bottom line.
Q: How do you feel that all of the members of City Council have originally been appointed to their positions, and do you think these advantages of incumbency make for a Council that best represents the City?
A: I know that’s something that if it were the other way around we would do the same thing. But I still think that City Council right now does not represent all of Columbus because of the fact that it is one-sided. I think that if they are appointed, it shouldn’t be a case where they’re appointed and they’re in office for four years. I think it should be where the next election that comes up, that they have to run for that office again.
Q: Would you be willing to support restructuring City Council so that Columbus can move to a district/ward/parish system? Why or why not?
A: I’m thinking we should do more of a ward. I agree with that. I think more like 4 to 6. Because right now City Council does not represent all of Columbus. I’ve been going door-to-door and talking with a lot of individuals and they seem to believe that the current system doesn’t represent the full Columbus. So if we break down more of 4 to 6 wards at a time, and have someone represent that particular area, I think all of the areas at that point would be better represented. You can see in certain areas where it seems like they’re forgotten, and I think when you have more of a ward kind of setup, just like they do with the representatives for the Senate or so forth, I think they represent that particular area better than trying to represent a whole city.
Q: Where do you see the City of Columbus being in 2012?
A: Again, I would like to see our taxes lowered, our regulation lowered, and I’d like to see more small businesses thriving in Columbus. I would like to see our percentage of workers… I think right now in our city it’s about 21%… I would like to see that down to maybe 1%. That would be awesome. I really believe that we could do that even with the economy downturn. My motto is “Columbus Ohio is open for business” and so if we are more open to businesses, they will come and they will stay. But we have to give them some incentives to come, and right now I don’t think we have a lot of incentives for those businesses.
So in 2012, I can see us having more businesses here because our taxes have gone down… but if that doesn’t happen I can see in 2012, especially with with union contracts, they are really bankrupting our city. If we really don’t put a handle on that within the next couple years, then we might be going into chapter 9 bankruptcy, and we don’t want to have that.
And so, on pro side… I would love to see Columbus be a thriving city in 2012, with more businesses, with people working, with all the things that will really make us a safer, friendlier atmosphere for Columbus. But on the con side… if we don’t do these things now, our budget, even with the income tax that was passed, if we continue with the union, with not renegotiating those contracts, those really make up a large percentage of the budget, that we will not be able to sustain ourselves, because we’re going to be asking for another tax increase within 2012. And we can’t afford to do that.
Q: Something fun to end on – Your favorite places in Columbus?
A: One that I really enjoy when I drop my kids off to school is walking at Schiller Park. I just think that’s a really nice place to walk. It’s just a really beautiful place. Even walking through German Village is really nice.
I enjoy walking Downtown. I think we have a pretty cool Downtown… some of the parts of Downtown. Down by the water, Genoa Park, I think that’s a nice little area through there.
And I like being on my side of town: Driving Park. We have the Driving Park Rec Center, and we have a nice walking path back there. I think a lot of people don’t even know about it because I didn’t even know about it until I started the walking club. So that’s a really nice area.
For more information visit : VoteAliciaHealy.com.