Unknown Speaker
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren. First week of the month already and as always, we find ourselves in Columbus with Mayor Jim Lindop. Hello, and welcome. It's November.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, it is. kind of snuck up on us. But it's a beautiful day outside today. And I appreciate the fact that it's a little dry out there. But the weather is certainly certainly enticing. For this is why we live in Indiana right. Now, it's beautiful outside, just just just a lot of fun.
Unknown Speaker
Happy Halloween last night, everything go go okay, in Columbus, and the weekend.
Unknown Speaker
Excuse me, our Halloween hours run from 530 to eight. And I know in our house, we had quite a few trick or treaters, but the number dwindled off. And I don't think we had anybody after about 747 45. So, you know, there's always a question. You know, when do you start when do you and, you know, you've got little kids that want to get out and do this a little earlier, while it is laid out. You got older kids who, you know, would prefer to wait a little while and maybe they want you know, the whole two and a half hours, they got a lot of homes they want to hit but but we do want to finish up before it gets too dark, because we are concerned a little bit about safety for those who are walking around on the streets and the roadways. But yeah, there weren't any incidents last night and the weather was pretty close to perfect. So it was a great time for evening.
Unknown Speaker
What was this is a trick or trash program that I heard about?
Unknown Speaker
Well, yeah, it's up to we're trying to start has to do with the rappers that a lot of the candy comes in, you know, when I was a kid, you know, a lot of the candy was homemade, Moby, you know, we don't encourage that today will encourage givers to go to the store, buy some pre wrapped pre packaged treats. And then there's always a question about what do you do with the with the wrappers. And so we've got a box, couple boxes around town that are set up to accept those wrappers and we'll see that they get put to another good use.
Unknown Speaker
Interesting first time I've heard of that. But let's see how that goes. Well, let's get to city council news. One of the main items is want to talk about was a follow up from last month. And you explained about redistricting City Council boundaries. There was a vote already scheduled a month ago now there's a final vote for Tuesday night. brief synopsis of what this is about and what you expect the vote to be tonight,
Unknown Speaker
there's two things going on here. One is that every 10 years in this country, we have a census as required by the Constitution. And so the 2020 census data is available to us. And so with each census, we take a look at the city council districts to try to make sure that they are as balanced as we can make them. And so we want to make sure again, that the population numbers are about the same from one district to the next. And as it's happening in Columbus, I mean, we have more growth on the west side, which is in district two, than we have on the other areas, or there's two sides of the community, there may be an apartment complex are two or three that get built that might change the population. So it's important for us to look at that. And as I say we do that at once every 10 years anyway, sort of coincidental with that, with this review, we are looking to switch from five city council districts to six. And that'll be as part of our switch from a class three city to a class two city. We made that decision a month or two ago. And, and so we have to provide not only for a rebalancing of the existing districts, but the addition of sixth district. And so in essence, we'll go from five districts that have had about 7000 population each to six districts. So it'll be somewhere around 5600. And, and they won't be exactly that that mean, it's just never easy to get these all lined up the way you might we might like but because we're basically at the end of the day, we're using precinct boundaries, which is an even smaller division of the politics. And so we assigned precincts to districts. We try not to split a precinct and then we want to transfer them whole when we can. And so in this particular iteration, we have no split precincts, we feel pretty good about that. And we have relatively consistent numbers in terms of population across the board. As I mentioned, we're going from class three to class two. So in addition to going from five to six districts, we will go from two to three at large positions. So the City Council today is comprised of seven voting members and that will go to nine you'll add one at large and said one district and and those additions This will take place or will be effective one 124. But they will show up on the ballots that we have in 23. So we'll have a municipal election galley sometime first week of May. And we'll have an opportunity to vote on nine council seats instead of instead of seven, we'll also see a change with respect to the clerk treasurer's position, the clerk treasurer will go away, when that position goes away, and it's replaced by a clerk position, the city will hire a chief financial officer controller, as the name will give to that or the title give that person the mayor's office experiences no change with respect to the voting, it'll have a little bit of a change with respect to duties. Today, the mayor serves as the chair of the City Council provided that prepares the agenda for those meetings. And that will change the City Council will elect a president who will serve as chair and that person will be responsible for the agenda. So it's, it's gonna be a little different. But every city in Indiana that has our size or larger, has already made the switch to class two, and we're from from that perspective, we're a little bit late to the party. But I think the current arrangements have served as well. But as we can't contemplate going forward, I think we'll be better served by by the different arrangements. So. So yeah, that'll take effect on 124. But you'll begin to see it on the 2023 ballots.
Unknown Speaker
Meridiam broadband project is underway in Bloomington at a central office are moving into one in downtown Bloomington in the Fourth Street parking garage retail space. So I assume they're getting ready to break ground in Columbus. Any news on that?
Unknown Speaker
They're on schedule is what I know. They have appeared before the county council and city council and told us you know what the plans are. And I anticipate if we're lucky, you know, people may be able to sign up early and 24. My guess is it's going to be the second quarter, you know, before they finally start accepting customers here. But But yeah, this, this is a pretty big deal. We'll have gigabit speeds, one gig up, one get down. And we're kind of excited about bringing that to the not just Columbus, but the entire county of our thumb. And I say the entire county. I mean, they I think they chose 85% of that residences as their target. So it will almost be, you know, the whole county I'm sure there'll be a few spots that can't get to. But But yeah, we've we've worked pretty hard to get him here as as the county and for follow me. And yeah, it'll be it'll put both of our communities Bloomington and Columbus among the most wired in the nation, and should make us all the more attractive to those people who wish to work remotely and just, you know, stay plugged in from, you know, from the comfort of their porch or your couch or, or wherever.
Unknown Speaker
Well, we reported a month ago, I think gigabit now is the initial ISP. And residents can actually pre register now online. But this is also to get broadband internet to low income residents too. Right.
Unknown Speaker
Right. Yeah. Because during the early during the pandemic, we I guess, we found out something that maybe we thought existed, but we needed a little bit proof or evidence, and that was that while all of Columbus was connected to the internet, or the internet was available, you know, we had some places that were really were dark, so to speak, but they were brown, you know, or they weren't, the speeds weren't high enough to accommodate at home learning, you know, and, and so part of what we want to be able to do is provide the speed that that requires throughout the community. So that's step number one. Step number two, was we found out that there were many places that just didn't have internet available, I mean, many residences, that did not because the household couldn't afford it. And so there are several programs available to accommodate broadband access to average at risk families are at risk students. So So yeah, we'll be pursuing those as well. And, again, that should help us attain the 85 or I'm hopeful, you know, even higher percentage than that, in terms of being able to get connected.
Unknown Speaker
Want to get an update on Nexus Park? I thought the Republic did it. There's nice feature a week or so ago that construction is underway. It's a former mall for a new recreation facility, but there are still open businesses inside. So can you give us an update on the construction progress and how those businesses are doing?
Unknown Speaker
Well, I think the businesses are doing pretty well particularly those that are related to the sports industry. You know, we we continue to have a pretty strong sports tourism business here in Columbus and we have Lincoln Park, which is a place for softball and baseball is just across 25th Street to the south and have nexus Park. And so from that perspective, the location works out really well. We've got a few other businesses in there that restaurants and a couple of retail shops that tell us that they're continuing to do okay. But they all realize that something really special is headed their way. And so they want to hang around and and be able to participate in that when it comes, you know, we we have done the demolition work that's necessary to make the area clear for the field house. And we expect construction on the field as to start sometime in February, we've got what's the phrase a ton of steel, I mean, we've got a lot of steel, come on, they told us it's 115 truckloads, that will build the Fieldhouse that we're putting on the north edge of Nexus Park. And, you know, with that we expect to see, you know, it's maybe it's 40,000 users a month to come visit that space, that'll be on top of what CRH commerce Regional Health anticipates in their space, which is somewhere around 1000 visitors a week. So we expect the place to be very busy. And so with a lot of those people going around, I think it's going to be a good place for, for retail, for restaurants and the like. We anticipate being able to host tournaments, softball, volleyball, and just about any kind of spaces, or any kind of facility that needs a significant indoor space. Any kind of activity, I should have said, that needs significant indoor space. And we're hopeful that we can put this all online about January of 24. So sometime in maybe the second quarter of 23, we'll we will begin once we get, you know, some confidence from our contractors that we're going to be able to meet this deadline, we'll begin to accept reservations for events in January, February of 24. So things are on schedule, we feel pretty good about that, we began to request proposals with respect to a build out of the park space. This is the old JC Penney space, that would be in a different part of the mall. But that's where we will transition the Parks Department to it. That's probably a little bit later, in terms of timing. but it too is it's pretty close to on schedule.
Unknown Speaker
And same. Could you say the same for budget, too?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So far, you know, our numbers are coming in, okay. We hired a construction manager, company called Taylor brothers, which if you're from Columbus, you're probably familiar with the name, they have just done an excellent job of helping us, you know, sort of maneuver through the choices that you need to make with respect to building materials and, you know, how tall to make your walls and where to make your corners and, you know, things that I don't necessarily value, but, but they tell us make a big difference with respect to how much something costs. And so they've been helpful in terms of the design and, and selecting the contractors and, and have been able to keep us keep us on budget on schedule as well.
Unknown Speaker
You know, I've seen snippets and heard about the air park development. And I believe it's a project happening over at the airport there in Columbus, but I'm not sure is that something that the city is looking to for economic development.
Unknown Speaker
Right, the city owns the airport, we've got a separate board, you know, that manages that property, forest. And there's just a whole lot going on out there. And we would like for there to be a whole lot more. But as you can well imagine, I mean, right now we've got runways, we've got a terminal building, we've got hangars, we've also got a fair number of commercial enterprises that have rented ground upon which they have built a building. You know, most of its a little unusual for this part of the country. But most of the ground out here is owned by the airport board, and then made available to the tenants pursuant to a ground lease, that in many cases lasts for 99 years. So it's, it's really the same as ownership and just a little bit different format that we don't see a lot in this part of it in this part of the country. But the airport Board wants to try to expand commercial activities out there. And so I think where we're headed here is that tonight at the city council meeting, we will review an aura resolution that would authorize the redevelopment commission has spent a little bit over a million dollars to extend the Grissom drive. And and the whole notion would be to open it up for for further development in order to bring traffic to a few lots that today are that you can't access. And so, you know, make that a little bit more attractive to businesses because in the end, you know, that tends to feed. You know what we're trying to do here. I mean, the property taxes that those businesses pay, help support what goes on out The airport. And I don't know that there's a direct tie between those businesses and land offs or hand offs, landings or takeoffs. But, but yeah, we're trying to see that we promote the use the ground out there to the to its fullest advantage. And year for year over year, that's been agriculture. But we think we can do a little bit better with some commercial development. And that's, that's really what's driving this.
Unknown Speaker
Is there enough traffic to the airport to bring commercial retail? Or is it you think in the opposite, where if you bring the commercial and retail more people would come and, and be part of that air? Space?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, that's one of those chicken or egg kind of questions. At this point, we don't have enough traffic out there to draw retail. And we're close enough to national road that any retail that would be interested with just to send them down there and pick up traffic that's got nothing to do with the airport. Because, again, we're it's all car centric, right? I mean, we're all going to be driving around in our automobiles. And it's really easy to get from the air park down to national road and access all that retail activities that are there. So I, I think the long term, we would like to see some retail up at the airport. But it's going to be a while, you know, before we were able to generate sufficient traffic in terms of people to warrant that.
Unknown Speaker
I have to ask you about the exhibit, Columbus public by design symposium held just recently, any indication how this year's event went? Were you there? Were you able to go to any of it?
Unknown Speaker
Well, no, I was not there was. We were out of town that weekend. And it just kind of unfortunate, but the indication that I've received was that it was extremely well, well put on and well received. And we had an event or two here at City Hall. And so I've had a chance to talk to our staff, people who participated in that, or at least observed it. And, and they were very complimentary, you know, about the quality of the event and the attendance, so forth. It's just really interesting. I mean, part of what we're trying to do with landmark Columbus is to make sure that the people who live here understand how unique the architecture legacy is that we have, and how valuable it is to us. And part of the way we do that is we invite people from all over the world to come to Columbus, and and those who live here, from time to time Express kind of an amazement, that what, you know, why would somebody from Germany come to Columbus, you know, why would somebody from Australia or Japan? And the answer is, yeah, it really is that special. So, so yeah, landmark Columbus, the symposium that they put on this past week or two weekends ago, I guess, is really important to us in terms of making, or helping people understand, you know, the value, the legacy, the legacy that we have, and its value to us. So I want to say I was happy to see it do well,
Unknown Speaker
I know we're about out of time. But I did want to mention, the Indiana chamber mentioning Columbus or receiving the community of the year, and you didn't even know you were nominated.
Unknown Speaker
Communities that there's all kinds of awards out there, you know, that are bestowed upon communities from one year to the next. And and I've learned in my time here that you often start the process by nominating yourself. And, and I'm pleased to report that in this case, we did not do that. I mean, the the president of the Indiana chamber called me and he said, you know, surprise, you're our award winner for 2020 to 23. You know, you're the community of the year and and now, it's hard to joke and what seems I didn't quite understand what we had done to earn that honor. And he said, Now, you didn't nominate yourself, but it's just in recognition for all the meetings that are going on in Columbus. And so from my perspective, that's a whole lot more than than what might be going on right at city government. We've just got a variety of institutions in our community that function well, you know, I talk about the school system, Columbus Regional Health chamber, the visitor center, there are just several things the Community Foundation, the United Way. I started naming among them, I'm afraid I'm gonna leave somebody out. But we've got a variety of things that work very well here in Columbus. And so I think it's a recognition that all of us can share, and all of us need to celebrate. So yeah, November 16, there will be the annual meeting for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. So that's one will will receive the formal designation and they've said it's a black tie optional. So for the first time since my daughter's wedding, I'm going to go out and rent a tuxedo and go up there and and try to look the part
Unknown Speaker
okay, gratulations on that and we're out of time, but I always like to leave the last word to you anything else you'd like to say or any important announcements?
Unknown Speaker
No, I just we're the community of the year. And we're going to figure out a way to promote that. I anticipate having a lot of, I think they're called door stickers are some some adhesive. Something you can put on a door, you know, if you put it right there by the handle and every time you reach to, you know, come in inside a city facility, you'll be reminded that we are in a community year and so we're going to, we're gonna have some fun with this. I'm looking forward to it.
Unknown Speaker
Thanks again so much for your time, and we'll see you in December.
Unknown Speaker
I look forward to take care. Bye bye
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren. First week of the month already and as always, we find ourselves in Columbus with Mayor Jim Lindop. Hello, and welcome. It's November.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, it is. kind of snuck up on us. But it's a beautiful day outside today. And I appreciate the fact that it's a little dry out there. But the weather is certainly certainly enticing. For this is why we live in Indiana right. Now, it's beautiful outside, just just just a lot of fun.
Unknown Speaker
Happy Halloween last night, everything go go okay, in Columbus, and the weekend.
Unknown Speaker
Excuse me, our Halloween hours run from 530 to eight. And I know in our house, we had quite a few trick or treaters, but the number dwindled off. And I don't think we had anybody after about 747 45. So, you know, there's always a question. You know, when do you start when do you and, you know, you've got little kids that want to get out and do this a little earlier, while it is laid out. You got older kids who, you know, would prefer to wait a little while and maybe they want you know, the whole two and a half hours, they got a lot of homes they want to hit but but we do want to finish up before it gets too dark, because we are concerned a little bit about safety for those who are walking around on the streets and the roadways. But yeah, there weren't any incidents last night and the weather was pretty close to perfect. So it was a great time for evening.
Unknown Speaker
What was this is a trick or trash program that I heard about?
Unknown Speaker
Well, yeah, it's up to we're trying to start has to do with the rappers that a lot of the candy comes in, you know, when I was a kid, you know, a lot of the candy was homemade, Moby, you know, we don't encourage that today will encourage givers to go to the store, buy some pre wrapped pre packaged treats. And then there's always a question about what do you do with the with the wrappers. And so we've got a box, couple boxes around town that are set up to accept those wrappers and we'll see that they get put to another good use.
Unknown Speaker
Interesting first time I've heard of that. But let's see how that goes. Well, let's get to city council news. One of the main items is want to talk about was a follow up from last month. And you explained about redistricting City Council boundaries. There was a vote already scheduled a month ago now there's a final vote for Tuesday night. brief synopsis of what this is about and what you expect the vote to be tonight,
Unknown Speaker
there's two things going on here. One is that every 10 years in this country, we have a census as required by the Constitution. And so the 2020 census data is available to us. And so with each census, we take a look at the city council districts to try to make sure that they are as balanced as we can make them. And so we want to make sure again, that the population numbers are about the same from one district to the next. And as it's happening in Columbus, I mean, we have more growth on the west side, which is in district two, than we have on the other areas, or there's two sides of the community, there may be an apartment complex are two or three that get built that might change the population. So it's important for us to look at that. And as I say we do that at once every 10 years anyway, sort of coincidental with that, with this review, we are looking to switch from five city council districts to six. And that'll be as part of our switch from a class three city to a class two city. We made that decision a month or two ago. And, and so we have to provide not only for a rebalancing of the existing districts, but the addition of sixth district. And so in essence, we'll go from five districts that have had about 7000 population each to six districts. So it'll be somewhere around 5600. And, and they won't be exactly that that mean, it's just never easy to get these all lined up the way you might we might like but because we're basically at the end of the day, we're using precinct boundaries, which is an even smaller division of the politics. And so we assigned precincts to districts. We try not to split a precinct and then we want to transfer them whole when we can. And so in this particular iteration, we have no split precincts, we feel pretty good about that. And we have relatively consistent numbers in terms of population across the board. As I mentioned, we're going from class three to class two. So in addition to going from five to six districts, we will go from two to three at large positions. So the City Council today is comprised of seven voting members and that will go to nine you'll add one at large and said one district and and those additions This will take place or will be effective one 124. But they will show up on the ballots that we have in 23. So we'll have a municipal election galley sometime first week of May. And we'll have an opportunity to vote on nine council seats instead of instead of seven, we'll also see a change with respect to the clerk treasurer's position, the clerk treasurer will go away, when that position goes away, and it's replaced by a clerk position, the city will hire a chief financial officer controller, as the name will give to that or the title give that person the mayor's office experiences no change with respect to the voting, it'll have a little bit of a change with respect to duties. Today, the mayor serves as the chair of the City Council provided that prepares the agenda for those meetings. And that will change the City Council will elect a president who will serve as chair and that person will be responsible for the agenda. So it's, it's gonna be a little different. But every city in Indiana that has our size or larger, has already made the switch to class two, and we're from from that perspective, we're a little bit late to the party. But I think the current arrangements have served as well. But as we can't contemplate going forward, I think we'll be better served by by the different arrangements. So. So yeah, that'll take effect on 124. But you'll begin to see it on the 2023 ballots.
Unknown Speaker
Meridiam broadband project is underway in Bloomington at a central office are moving into one in downtown Bloomington in the Fourth Street parking garage retail space. So I assume they're getting ready to break ground in Columbus. Any news on that?
Unknown Speaker
They're on schedule is what I know. They have appeared before the county council and city council and told us you know what the plans are. And I anticipate if we're lucky, you know, people may be able to sign up early and 24. My guess is it's going to be the second quarter, you know, before they finally start accepting customers here. But But yeah, this, this is a pretty big deal. We'll have gigabit speeds, one gig up, one get down. And we're kind of excited about bringing that to the not just Columbus, but the entire county of our thumb. And I say the entire county. I mean, they I think they chose 85% of that residences as their target. So it will almost be, you know, the whole county I'm sure there'll be a few spots that can't get to. But But yeah, we've we've worked pretty hard to get him here as as the county and for follow me. And yeah, it'll be it'll put both of our communities Bloomington and Columbus among the most wired in the nation, and should make us all the more attractive to those people who wish to work remotely and just, you know, stay plugged in from, you know, from the comfort of their porch or your couch or, or wherever.
Unknown Speaker
Well, we reported a month ago, I think gigabit now is the initial ISP. And residents can actually pre register now online. But this is also to get broadband internet to low income residents too. Right.
Unknown Speaker
Right. Yeah. Because during the early during the pandemic, we I guess, we found out something that maybe we thought existed, but we needed a little bit proof or evidence, and that was that while all of Columbus was connected to the internet, or the internet was available, you know, we had some places that were really were dark, so to speak, but they were brown, you know, or they weren't, the speeds weren't high enough to accommodate at home learning, you know, and, and so part of what we want to be able to do is provide the speed that that requires throughout the community. So that's step number one. Step number two, was we found out that there were many places that just didn't have internet available, I mean, many residences, that did not because the household couldn't afford it. And so there are several programs available to accommodate broadband access to average at risk families are at risk students. So So yeah, we'll be pursuing those as well. And, again, that should help us attain the 85 or I'm hopeful, you know, even higher percentage than that, in terms of being able to get connected.
Unknown Speaker
Want to get an update on Nexus Park? I thought the Republic did it. There's nice feature a week or so ago that construction is underway. It's a former mall for a new recreation facility, but there are still open businesses inside. So can you give us an update on the construction progress and how those businesses are doing?
Unknown Speaker
Well, I think the businesses are doing pretty well particularly those that are related to the sports industry. You know, we we continue to have a pretty strong sports tourism business here in Columbus and we have Lincoln Park, which is a place for softball and baseball is just across 25th Street to the south and have nexus Park. And so from that perspective, the location works out really well. We've got a few other businesses in there that restaurants and a couple of retail shops that tell us that they're continuing to do okay. But they all realize that something really special is headed their way. And so they want to hang around and and be able to participate in that when it comes, you know, we we have done the demolition work that's necessary to make the area clear for the field house. And we expect construction on the field as to start sometime in February, we've got what's the phrase a ton of steel, I mean, we've got a lot of steel, come on, they told us it's 115 truckloads, that will build the Fieldhouse that we're putting on the north edge of Nexus Park. And, you know, with that we expect to see, you know, it's maybe it's 40,000 users a month to come visit that space, that'll be on top of what CRH commerce Regional Health anticipates in their space, which is somewhere around 1000 visitors a week. So we expect the place to be very busy. And so with a lot of those people going around, I think it's going to be a good place for, for retail, for restaurants and the like. We anticipate being able to host tournaments, softball, volleyball, and just about any kind of spaces, or any kind of facility that needs a significant indoor space. Any kind of activity, I should have said, that needs significant indoor space. And we're hopeful that we can put this all online about January of 24. So sometime in maybe the second quarter of 23, we'll we will begin once we get, you know, some confidence from our contractors that we're going to be able to meet this deadline, we'll begin to accept reservations for events in January, February of 24. So things are on schedule, we feel pretty good about that, we began to request proposals with respect to a build out of the park space. This is the old JC Penney space, that would be in a different part of the mall. But that's where we will transition the Parks Department to it. That's probably a little bit later, in terms of timing. but it too is it's pretty close to on schedule.
Unknown Speaker
And same. Could you say the same for budget, too?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So far, you know, our numbers are coming in, okay. We hired a construction manager, company called Taylor brothers, which if you're from Columbus, you're probably familiar with the name, they have just done an excellent job of helping us, you know, sort of maneuver through the choices that you need to make with respect to building materials and, you know, how tall to make your walls and where to make your corners and, you know, things that I don't necessarily value, but, but they tell us make a big difference with respect to how much something costs. And so they've been helpful in terms of the design and, and selecting the contractors and, and have been able to keep us keep us on budget on schedule as well.
Unknown Speaker
You know, I've seen snippets and heard about the air park development. And I believe it's a project happening over at the airport there in Columbus, but I'm not sure is that something that the city is looking to for economic development.
Unknown Speaker
Right, the city owns the airport, we've got a separate board, you know, that manages that property, forest. And there's just a whole lot going on out there. And we would like for there to be a whole lot more. But as you can well imagine, I mean, right now we've got runways, we've got a terminal building, we've got hangars, we've also got a fair number of commercial enterprises that have rented ground upon which they have built a building. You know, most of its a little unusual for this part of the country. But most of the ground out here is owned by the airport board, and then made available to the tenants pursuant to a ground lease, that in many cases lasts for 99 years. So it's, it's really the same as ownership and just a little bit different format that we don't see a lot in this part of it in this part of the country. But the airport Board wants to try to expand commercial activities out there. And so I think where we're headed here is that tonight at the city council meeting, we will review an aura resolution that would authorize the redevelopment commission has spent a little bit over a million dollars to extend the Grissom drive. And and the whole notion would be to open it up for for further development in order to bring traffic to a few lots that today are that you can't access. And so, you know, make that a little bit more attractive to businesses because in the end, you know, that tends to feed. You know what we're trying to do here. I mean, the property taxes that those businesses pay, help support what goes on out The airport. And I don't know that there's a direct tie between those businesses and land offs or hand offs, landings or takeoffs. But, but yeah, we're trying to see that we promote the use the ground out there to the to its fullest advantage. And year for year over year, that's been agriculture. But we think we can do a little bit better with some commercial development. And that's, that's really what's driving this.
Unknown Speaker
Is there enough traffic to the airport to bring commercial retail? Or is it you think in the opposite, where if you bring the commercial and retail more people would come and, and be part of that air? Space?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, that's one of those chicken or egg kind of questions. At this point, we don't have enough traffic out there to draw retail. And we're close enough to national road that any retail that would be interested with just to send them down there and pick up traffic that's got nothing to do with the airport. Because, again, we're it's all car centric, right? I mean, we're all going to be driving around in our automobiles. And it's really easy to get from the air park down to national road and access all that retail activities that are there. So I, I think the long term, we would like to see some retail up at the airport. But it's going to be a while, you know, before we were able to generate sufficient traffic in terms of people to warrant that.
Unknown Speaker
I have to ask you about the exhibit, Columbus public by design symposium held just recently, any indication how this year's event went? Were you there? Were you able to go to any of it?
Unknown Speaker
Well, no, I was not there was. We were out of town that weekend. And it just kind of unfortunate, but the indication that I've received was that it was extremely well, well put on and well received. And we had an event or two here at City Hall. And so I've had a chance to talk to our staff, people who participated in that, or at least observed it. And, and they were very complimentary, you know, about the quality of the event and the attendance, so forth. It's just really interesting. I mean, part of what we're trying to do with landmark Columbus is to make sure that the people who live here understand how unique the architecture legacy is that we have, and how valuable it is to us. And part of the way we do that is we invite people from all over the world to come to Columbus, and and those who live here, from time to time Express kind of an amazement, that what, you know, why would somebody from Germany come to Columbus, you know, why would somebody from Australia or Japan? And the answer is, yeah, it really is that special. So, so yeah, landmark Columbus, the symposium that they put on this past week or two weekends ago, I guess, is really important to us in terms of making, or helping people understand, you know, the value, the legacy, the legacy that we have, and its value to us. So I want to say I was happy to see it do well,
Unknown Speaker
I know we're about out of time. But I did want to mention, the Indiana chamber mentioning Columbus or receiving the community of the year, and you didn't even know you were nominated.
Unknown Speaker
Communities that there's all kinds of awards out there, you know, that are bestowed upon communities from one year to the next. And and I've learned in my time here that you often start the process by nominating yourself. And, and I'm pleased to report that in this case, we did not do that. I mean, the the president of the Indiana chamber called me and he said, you know, surprise, you're our award winner for 2020 to 23. You know, you're the community of the year and and now, it's hard to joke and what seems I didn't quite understand what we had done to earn that honor. And he said, Now, you didn't nominate yourself, but it's just in recognition for all the meetings that are going on in Columbus. And so from my perspective, that's a whole lot more than than what might be going on right at city government. We've just got a variety of institutions in our community that function well, you know, I talk about the school system, Columbus Regional Health chamber, the visitor center, there are just several things the Community Foundation, the United Way. I started naming among them, I'm afraid I'm gonna leave somebody out. But we've got a variety of things that work very well here in Columbus. And so I think it's a recognition that all of us can share, and all of us need to celebrate. So yeah, November 16, there will be the annual meeting for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. So that's one will will receive the formal designation and they've said it's a black tie optional. So for the first time since my daughter's wedding, I'm going to go out and rent a tuxedo and go up there and and try to look the part
Unknown Speaker
okay, gratulations on that and we're out of time, but I always like to leave the last word to you anything else you'd like to say or any important announcements?
Unknown Speaker
No, I just we're the community of the year. And we're going to figure out a way to promote that. I anticipate having a lot of, I think they're called door stickers are some some adhesive. Something you can put on a door, you know, if you put it right there by the handle and every time you reach to, you know, come in inside a city facility, you'll be reminded that we are in a community year and so we're going to, we're gonna have some fun with this. I'm looking forward to it.
Unknown Speaker
Thanks again so much for your time, and we'll see you in December.
Unknown Speaker
I look forward to take care. Bye bye
