The mayor says a 54 percent vaccination rate is not high enough, Columbus Regional Health is beginning to take over the former Carson's location at Fair Oaks Mall, and city tax districts will help fund a mixed-use urban grocer development.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop addresses these issues and more on a Zoom conference call. 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: We begin with another COVID update, hospitalizations declining, but not really seeing that decline to say it’s over?
Lienhoop: Hospitalizations have declined, which, as a community makes us feel good. But I want to remind people is if you're one of the folks who's hospitalized, that's cold comfort to you. And we still believe that the majority of the people who are hospitalized are unvaccinated.
And we have some data that indicates here we are about 54% vaccinated. So we still got a ways to go. And I believe what this means for us is that we will continue to see spikes from the coronavirus until we reach a place where 75 or 80% have either been vaccinated or had the virus itself in recovery.
Hren: Are there city departments hurting with labor shortage due to contracting COVID and staff quarantines, or just a lack of people?
READ MORE: As Indiana prepares to vaccinate Hoosiers 5 and older, pediatricians dispel COVID-19 myths
Lienhoop: All the above and I kind of lump it all together. We're particularly noticing that in our transit department bus drivers. We have an acute need for full and part time bus drivers. As you can well imagine, it's not a skill that everybody carries with them, you've got to have a commercial driver's license, and I forget which a B or C which one you have to have.
But in the areas that require us to respond daily, whether that's police and fire and sanitation, we're able to meet the needs with the staff that we have.
Hren: I want to get to this email from Art, he writes: "The former Fair Oaks Mall was shut down BC (Before COVID). At the time, there was talk of remaking it into a health and fitness facility, if I remember right. Is anything happening with that site?"
Lienhoop: There's a lot going on. And most of its indoors. We've hired a firm called MKSK. And with respect to our 75% with the city's portion, we have received what's called a schematic design. What that tells you is where they would put the walls and put the fieldhouse and so what we have to do is work through how much that's going to cost and whether that's within our budget.
I think the week before last we met with them for two and a half days. We are waiting now for them to return with a more updated schematic design that I think fits our budget parameters.
Columbus Regional Health is moving forward as well with their build out plans, they will have the Carson's space, and they're going to put quite a few physicians in there and build out that whole space. It may take them three years or so, to complete the build out. It will take us a couple of years to complete the build out.
The plans that we have now for the city space provides for a fieldhouse 150,000 square feet so which is a soccer field and a half. So there'll be a significant amount of space in there that can be used for a variety of purposes, not just turf type sports, but we'll be able to bring in temporary hardcourt and play basketball, volleyball - anything that you need a solid wood floor.
Hren: We've talked many times about the $40 million mixed-use downtown development that includes an urban grocer, 200 apartments, and see it's on the agenda to be voted on tonight by city council because it's using $12 million in TIF money for a bond and $2 million for the project. How does using those funds help the city?
Lienhoop: We've got about 10 acres there, that is grass. And we've accumulated this ground over a period of time, a good portion of it was gifted to the city by the Irwin Sweeney Miller foundation. Some of it was purchased by the city. Keep in mind right now, since the ground is owned by the city, it generates zero property taxes. So what we have come forward with here is a developer come to town build about 200 apartments, and a urban grocer about 15,000 square feet.
That will generate we think about a half a million in property taxes. And so that property tax that we will generate will be used to pay this additional bond payment that we just talked about. So we'll also issue a bond that will defray some of the developer's costs, it'll be in the $11 to $11.8 million range, and will be paid for by the property taxes that are generated by the project. And there will also be a guarantee by the developer, who will guarantee that if the property taxes for whatever reason are insufficient to pay the bond payment, he will pay the bond payment.
But it's important to us to try to provide for some more foot traffic downtown. We want to support the restaurants and the other entertainment venues. It's also been important to us to provide for a grocery store. We've had a couple people look at downtown Columbus, they've identified that we may have what they call a food desert, which means that it's just a little difficult for people who are maybe not as mobile as some of us to get to grocery store. And so we want to be able to provide that option in the downtown area.
Hren: Any word on signing Bloomingfoods as the grocer?
Lienhoop: They're still under discussion. Those discussions occur between Bloomingfoods and Flaherty & Collins, the developer. And, they're the ones that make it work. We get a report every now and then. And the last I heard was, they're still talking. I would love to have Bloomingfoods here, my wife and I drive to Bloomington as it is to visit their store, and I find it to be really an attraction. So I think it would go well here.
For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page here.
