SustainLane 2006 US City Sustainability Ranking
Columbus: Time to Get Green
Smack dab in the center of Ohio on the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, Columbus is the state capital and host to Ohio State University, as well as a transit hub for rail freight and trucking. Its city center, though, has never caught on as a hub of redevelopment and revitalization-the city's energies and population have flowed ever outward on asphalted spokes.
In 2005, Mayor Michael B. Coleman launched a Columbus "Get Green" policy that targeted air quality, recycling, and green building. The city has made a number of improvements around recycling, and has a huge opportunity to take action by developing sustainability programs.
Columbus would be best served by confronting head-on its dependency on the automobile and fossil fuel energy. The city is in danger of becoming less competitive economically as its citizens feel the pinch of higher gas prices. With no viable public transit, more and more of their hard-earned money will be spent on just getting around-reducing income for spending on restaurants, entertainment, and nonessential shopping.
It makes sense for Columbus to expand its fleet of public transit buses and to examine developing other forms of public transit as well. Besides improving the city's air quality, such actions would provide insurance against energy-related economic woes.
