Jaiza Page has only served on Columbus City Council for eight months since her appointment in January, but has quickly identified a niche focus for her efforts. She currently chairs the Education Committee and the Recreation & Parks Committee, both of which she said have become vital parts of her ongoing campaign for this November’s election.
“Both of those areas are extremely important to me because I’m concerned about children and families in Columbus, and that includes a good education, safe neighborhoods and all of the other amenities that we as a city can provide,” explained Page during a recent interview with Columbus Underground. “Of course, I’m also all about economic development and continuing to grow our city in that regard. We need to continue to have a diversity of jobs and a diverse workforce.”
Page said that the transition from her work with the City Attorney’s office to Columbus City Council has gone well this year, and that the new role has come with new responsibilities.
“There’s been a huge learning curve, but I’ve been up to the challenge,” she said. “I’ve been learning a lot more about how our city operates. I had the opportunity to help open two pools in our disadvantaged neighborhoods — the Lincoln pool and Maryland pool — and it was great to see the smiles on the kids faces. We did a summer reading challenge with over 300 kids across the city to encourage them to read through a partnership with the Columbus Metro Library. Those have been great opportunities to reinvest in neighborhoods, and I’m happy that I have the platform to do that.”
While Columbus City Council maintains a relationship with Columbus City Schools through the Education committee, City Hall does not directly oversee changes to the public school system. Instead, Councilmembers take a role in helping to influence change in the school system through guidance and other collaborative efforts both at the administrative level as well as the neighborhood level.
“The district is refocusing on paths for children, whether it’s college readiness, workforce readiness or entrepreneurialism — each child can have a plan, and that is what’s going to strengthen our school system,” said Page. “I’ve had the opportunity to talk to principals, and I am seeing what I think is a renewed interest in education. Some schools have strong PTOs like Hubbard Mastery and Marion-Franklin, and if every school had that kind of community support group that really stands up for kids, then they can all perform well.”
Beyond the Columbus City School system, Page acknowledges that there is similar work to be done to improve Columbus neighborhoods that have not seen the same level of revitalization or stabilization as some other areas of the city.
“Every community has different strengths and weaknesses — if we’re able to recognize those, we can pull in the appropriate resources and get to work,” she said. “But it can’t just be us saying we want it at City Council — it also has to come from the residents.”
Page said that a universal issue for all communities is public infrastructure upgrades.
“Our city is awesome in that we have a lot of different types of neighborhoods… we have our urban core, and we have our suburban areas… and we need to go back and see what each area needs,” she said. “For some areas it’s walkability, for some areas it’s new Rec Centers.”
As far as community engagement goes, Page said that she welcomes change when it comes to diversifying the ways that individuals can interact with City Council, especially outside of City Hall.
“I’ve had meetings with community leaders in their own neighborhoods where they can tell me about their issues, after seeing complaints posted on Facebook,” she stated. “That’s something that as a member of City Council I have to do. Whether it comes from a Facebook post or phone call, we have to be open, willing and ready. Everyone needs to know that we are here for them.”
When looking toward the future of the City of Columbus, Page says that there’s much work to be done to best accommodate the projected regional growth of 500,000 new residents that will call Central Ohio home over the next 35 years.
“I want to make sure we have adequate housing,” she said. “We have a lot of new multifamily dwellings being constructed right now, which is good for young professionals, but we need to make sure we have single family homes that are affordable as well.”
During the weeks leading up to Election Day on Novemeber 3rd, Page said that she’ll be participating in a variety of forums, discussions and events to help with her campaigning efforts in addition to engaging with different neighborhoods and audiences.
“I’ll be answering a lot of last minute questions all across the city,” she said. “I think I bring a different perspective to Council being born and raised in Columbus, and I want to continue to work on behalf of all families here.”
For ongoing discussion and updates on the 2015 Columbus City Council elections, CLICK HERE to visit our Messageboard.