u/George37712

Columbus City Council launched its new "participatory budget" pilot program, asking residents to suggest and vote on small projects using a small chunk of the city's multi-billion dollar budget.

While the city's budgeting process is already made available for residents to comment on and give input annually, the city council chose to earmark $9 million to dedicate to small, neighborhood-level projects. It's a drop in the bucket compared to the city's $2.7 billion total annual budget.

The effort comes at the same time as a group of residents back a similarly-named campaign to change how the city elects council members.

The "Our Voice, Our Choice" pilot program is accepting submissions from residents online. There are already dozens of submissions asking the city to consider new crosswalks, more trees or other small improvements.

Meanwhile, a group called "Our City Our Say" is wrapping up a signature collection campaign that could force a ballot issue in November, asking whether each of the nine city council members should be elected only by voters within their districts. Right now, each council member is elected by the whole city.

Read more at WOSU.org

Also not allowing "Trump" to be in the title of a post is ridiculous. It's a news article about a consequential bill that may or may not be signed by the president of the United States. Of course his name is in the headline.

Whitehall voters narrowly voted to recall one city council member, but voted to keep the Columbus suburb’s mayor and another city council member in a low turnout special election.

As of Tuesday evening, City Council Member Lori Elmore could lose this recall election by a six-vote margin, while Mayor Michael Bivens and City Council Member Amy Harcar could survive with a lead of dozens of votes.

Antone White, the director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told WOSU there are approximately 31 ballots that could change the results before results are officially certified on Monday, June 29.

If these ballots, some of which are provisional ballots, are all counted, it could change the unofficial results shown Tuesday evening.

Voters were asked on the ballot to vote “Yes” if they wanted the three to keep their seats or “No” if they wanted the three to be kicked out of office.

With 100% of precincts reporting, the "No" votes in Elmore's contest are leading, with 1,081 voters choosing to kick her out of office compared with 1,075 who voted to keep her in office.

The “Yes” votes for Bivens appeared to prevail with 1,127 votes to 1,029 "No" votes.

Harcar appears to have won and could her seat with 1,093 "Yes" votes compared to 1,064 "No" votes.

Columbus’s inner-city neighborhoods like King-Lincoln Bronzeville have struggled in recent history to provide fresh grocery options to its residents, but that is changing.

Grocery shopping near downtown Columbus usually requires a car for most residents. Two Kroger stores and Charmy’s Market have been around for a while, but until recently there has not been much else.

Soon, shoppers who do not want to travel far for fresh fruits and vegetables may finally see some options within walking distance. About half a dozen new stores, ranging from small local grocers to well-known brands, are already open or will be in the coming weeks, months and years.

One of those stores will be Aveneu in King-Lincoln Bronzeville.

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The Wexner Center for the Arts said one artist and one grant have pulled art and support from the center, citing the center's name amid controversy over billionaire Les Wexner's connections with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Cat Predmore, interim executive director of the Wexner Center for the Arts, told WOSU in an email that the grantee and artist cited Wexner's name on the building when pulling support or declining invitations to perform. Predmore declined to name the artist, the grant organization or the amount of money lost because of those decisions.

Predmore said the center supports the work of 100 different artists annually and receives $3.3 million in grants and gifts. The center has attracted exhibits and residencies from well-known artists, filmmakers, designers and architects such as Andy Warhol and Maya Lin.

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Read more at WOSU.org (no paywalls)