I recently won an election for a seat on the Clintonville Area Commission on a simple but urgent platform: put community needs before campaign donors, developers, and political insiders at City Hall.

I didn’t run because I was looking for a title. I ran because something is fundamentally broken in how Columbus is governed. In this city, competitive elections barely exist. The scales are tipped, the rules are rigged, and outcomes are too often decided by appointments and money , not voters.

Area commission elections—small as they may seem—are one of the last remaining places where democracy, even a symbolic version of it, still survives in Columbus. And that is exactly why they matter.

Development Isn’t the Problem—Who Controls It Is

Let me be clear: no one is against development. Neighborhoods evolve, and they should. But City Hall has prioritized developer profits over neighborhood needs . Columbus hands out massive tax abatements to wealthy developers—many of whom are also major campaign donors. These giveaways come at a cost. When the city exempts corporate projects from paying taxes, it shifts the burden onto working families and retirees through higher property taxes. Meanwhile:

•  The jobs promised from these giveaway deals often never materialize.

•  Our schools are underfunded.

•  Our public transit is neglected.

• Infrastructure crumbles.

• Police, fire, and social services are stretched dangerously thin.

This is not development — it’s public wealth being funneled upward.Cronyism Isn’t an Accident—It’s a System.

Columbus hasn’t had a functioning democracy in over 40 years—and that’s by design.

• City Council members routinely pick their future colleagues before the people have a chance to vote for their City Council candidate of choice.

• City Council elections are all citywide (rather than elected by residents in their district), making them obscenely expensive, effectively enabling a small group of developers, corporate CEOs and incumbents to control who gets elected.

• Dark money influences the Franklin County Democratic Central Committee, which acts as a rubber stamp for City Hall, the Mayor, and their corporate allies.

This is a managed democracy—the same political model used in Russia—where elections still exist, but their outcomes are engineered to protect the powerful. This didn’t start recently, and it isn’t partisan. These structures were built in the 1970s to block ward  representation and silence neighborhood voices—the very reason area commissions were created in the first place: to pacify, not empower, the public.

Why I Ran—and Why This Moment Matters

I ran because area commissions shouldn’t be decorative. They shouldn’t just offer non-binding advice before being ignored by City Hall. They should have real power to:

• Guide neighborhood development,

• Direct city resources where they’re needed,

• And spark community-led innovation at the local level.

The best way to make that argument was simple: win an election. And we did—because Clintonville is tired of being ignored. Tired of being overruled. Tired of decisions made for us, not with us.

The System Is Cracking—Finally

For the first time in my life, I genuinely believe the political tide in Columbus is turning. This year’s  primary election  for City Council proved it.

Over 60% of voters rejected the political machine by voting for Jesse Vogel and Kate Curry Da-Souza over the establishment’s handpicked candidate, Tiara Ross—someone who moved to Columbus just two days before filing and managed to rack up $3,800 in unpaid parking tickets while allegedly driving on a suspended license. Ross is the establishment's candidate. That’s how little they think of voters.

But now, the cracks are showing. For the first time:

• CWA Local 4502 and AFSCME Local 1632—two major municipal unions—rejected City Hall’s influence and endorsed Jesse Vogel.

• The Columbus Education Association, representing over 4,000 public school teachers, endorsed Vogel.

• Even members of the Franklin County Democratic Central Committee pushed back against party attempts to tip the scales.

• Kate Curry Da-Souza the candidate who came in third has firmly backed Jesse Vogal in the general election.

People smell the rot. They’re ready for change.

The Road Ahead

Elections should be marketplaces of ideas, not auctions for power. When they’re free and fair, they give communities a real say—and real hope. They allow us to:

• Address the growing social inequality and resource extraction that is harming our communities.

• Invest in public schools and children.

• Build affordable housing without corporate welfare.

• Invest in expanding access to universal Pre-K and address skyrocketing cost of childcare.

• And expand mass transit and green infrastructure that benefits everyone.

If Jesse Vogel wins—or even comes close—it will show there is a growing desire for change and a more accountable city government. The growing movement behind candidates like Zohran Mandani and others here locally suggests something new is possible: a democratic city that actually works for working people.

Jesse will still be just one voice on City Council here in Columbus. We need to continue to build a movement to change the system and blow open the doors for anti-corruption, working-class candidates to run for City Council, General Assembly member, and Mayor. In order to do that, we need to get big money out of local elections and create true council districts that represent neighborhood interests.

This is our moment. Not just to protest what’s broken—but to build what comes next. Let's come together and make it happen.