The mayor is scheduled to get his vaccination Thursday, a COVID relief bill isn't a priority, and a new downtown development has plans for a new Bloomingfoods location.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: The state is now allowing those aged 65 and up to register to be vaccinated. So far in Columbus, Bartholomew County, how's the vaccination process going? And I know you're gonna be able to find out soon.
Lienhoop: Yeah I got registered Monday. And it took a little while, maybe a half hour for me and a half hour for my wife to register. But our appointments are later this week on Thursday and Friday. And, most of the people I've talked to have indicated that you go over there to the vaccination site, whichever one you choose, there are a couple, and you're in and out. It's really not time consuming. And so we encourage everybody that is eligible to go get vaccinated.
Hren: Did you have any trouble registering on the website?
Lienhoop: I got kicked out once. But again, the total time spent was about a half hour apiece, for myself and for my wife.
Hren: Last month, every mayor I talked to was worried whether there would be enough vaccine. Indiana is at the top of the country in vaccinating people, I saw a chart yesterday. I know that's changing, but how are local people stepping up to this mass vaccination process?
Lienhoop: Well, the local providers are doing an extraordinary job. Particularly and getting out to some of the shut-ins and the nursing homes, I mean that those places have been administered to. And the last conversation I had with folks at CRH, Columbus Regional Health, they have yet wasted a vaccine dose.
The discussions what you're trying to achieve, I think is what they call herd immunity. And, the numbers vary based upon who you listen to, but my guess is that here in Bartholomew County, we need to vaccinate about 70,000 people. The last time I checked, we were right around 2,000. So we got a ways to go. I don't want to diminish the challenge in front of us. But but so far the reaction has been strong, people are willing to proceed with the vaccine, the process works pretty well.
Hren: We've had a few emails and people worried they're going to go get their first vaccination, and there's not going to be enough for their second. Are you hearing anything about that?
Lienhoop: No, we've been told not to worry about that, that is part of the process. They understand that providers do that. They they have to provide a second vaccine within a certain period of time, and they're prepared to do that.
READ MORE: Bartholomew County Jail On Lockdown As COVID Cases Surge
Hren: We reported on sheriffs in Bartholomew and Monroe counties asking the state to vaccinate inmates. Just last week, about 50% tested positive in the jail there in Columbus. Have you heard anything more about getting the vaccination to jails?
Lienhoop: Right, right. No, I have not heard anything more about vaccinating the jail. But you're exactly right. I mean, the virus gets spread when we share the same air. And you know that that's going to happen in any enclosed environment. And so a jail is just ripe for the virus to transmit one to another. But no, I have not heard heard anything new about that.
Hren: We had an email sent in about those who are 65 and older but can't get to a vaccination site, is there someplace in Bartholomew county or Columbus that people can get the vaccine taken to them?
Lienhoop: I'm not aware that we've got any delivery. We do have the city has a service offering 'call a bus.' And so you can call in and get a ride. I think they would take you to the vaccine site. But that's where I would direct people to call our transit system. You need to wear a mask. President Biden's recent declaration or mandate affects our transit system. Anything that is federally funded, is picked up in his order. And so that includes the city of Columbus buses and the transfer stations.
Hren: You lead right into the next question we're getting, if you do get both of the vaccinations, that must mean you don't need to wear your mask anymore?
Lienhoop: We will encourage you to continue to wear your mask until we are to either my view 70,000 vaccinations here. But but you can also pay attention to the state's color coded chart for various counties. And when we get the blue, you can you can take your mask off.
Part of what I've read is that the vaccine may prevent you from contracting the virus, but you may still get it and and the vaccine might minimize your symptoms. And it might make the disease a little less severe. But you can still contract it.
Hren: We did get an email from Ann. She writes 400 mayors signed a letter saying that they are in need of local relief that's included in the COVID relief package the President Biden has put forward. That relief for states and local governments though is not in the smaller relief package that's favored by the 10 Republican Senators. Where do you stand on that relief and whether they signed the letter?
Lienhoop: I did not sign the letter, because I haven't seen it. You know, typically those kinds of letters are drafted by some national organization that wants to promote a particular agenda. And it may make sense, it may not, but I haven't seen it. So I really don't have an opinion.
Candidly, at this point, if I take a real hard look at it, our revenues have not been adversely impacted by the virus. We've been one of the fortunate ones. And I read something the other day that indicates that's likely due to the fact that our economy is based heavily on manufacturing. And manufacturing has not had the hit, so to speak, that other sectors of the economy have, particularly those that are reliant upon tourism.
Hren: I saw Flaherty & Collins is approved for a mixed-use housing, urban grocer development, some parking, with a total price tag of $39 million, but the city is putting some money into that too. Can you maybe explain how that works?
Lienhoop: It's a little complicated. We may need three or four hours to get through it all here, but there are several components to the financing. One is that we will contribute some ground, I'll say 10 acres, I could be mistaken as to the actual number. If you look at it, that's all east of Lafayette Street and south of Second Street here in downtown Columbus. We didn't pay anything to receive a good portion of it as it was gifted to the city by the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller interests.
Now there are few parcels we bought for a few $100,000, but it's sort of minor in the whole scheme of things, there will be a couple million bucks, that the city will contribute to the project, along with the proceeds of a bond that the city will issue and the redevelopment commission will issue and the bond repayment will come from the property taxes that the project generates. So you know, it more or less finances itself. The developer himself will put in close to $30 million.
When they actually design it, it could be 198 or 204 apartments. And then we also will have a grocery store. The developer has an arrangement with Bloomingfoods, who I'm sure you're familiar with. And so we hope to have them in downtown Columbus here March of 2022. I look forward to that, they represent a little bit different slice of the market to a Kroger or Walmart. And I think that would be well received here in Columbus. Plus, it provides healthy choices for those people who live within walking distance they can't get right now. So, we're kind of excited about it.
Hren: Any big announcements during the virtual State of the City address?
Lienhoop: No, but we do have a couple things that we hope people pick up. One is how truly thankful I am. We started our first COVID-19 Task Force meeting February 28. So not quite a year ago. And I think we got on it a little early. With about 48-hours notice, we convened a group of leaders throughout the city, education leaders, healthcare, community, clergy, the social services folks, we had representatives from industry here too, to focus their attention on what we thought was headed our way and the first big decision that had to be made, was whether to return from spring break.
And they concluded no, and so it was a really quick pivot for them to go from 100% in person learning in about four weeks, two weeks of study, and then two weeks of fall and spring break, to go to 100% e-learning. And, so our hats off and what they've been able to do and and I just want to make sure that everybody understands how thankful we are universal in the county.
We know, we got some of the problems everybody else does with this virus, but right now we're kind of a pinpoint of orange in a sea of red. And I think people should feel good about that. I realize a small comfort to somebody who's fallen victim of the virus but, we really have done a pretty good job. And the credit goes to those who have stepped up and just made the right decisions, even though they weren't easy, or they might have been costly. So I tried to get that message across in the State of the City. And I hope I did a good job of it.
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