Adam: Hold My Bier

June 2014, my first trip to Europe. I had traveled across the Atlantic with some friends. While we were backpacking from hostel to hostel we met up with an old friend, a foreign exchange student from Germany. Lüthje took us out on the town in Mannheim. We were drinking at a hipster bar. I was connecting with my Deutschland roots and feeling very good. The group wanted to get some fourth meal but I hadn’t finished my bier. That’s when Lüthje turned to me and said those four magical words that have stuck with me ever since: “Take it with you.”

South of Downtown in the city of Columbus there’s a place, “German Village” and West of that village is an area known as the “Brewery District.” In 1836 a Deutschland immigrant by the name of Louis Hoster opened the first brewery in that district. In its heyday the district was home to five breweries: Schlegel Bavarian Brewery, Schlee Brewery, Born's Capitol Brewery, Gambrinus Brewing Company. But after 83 magnificent years brewing beer in the city everything came to a halt.

The temperance movement had been gaining momentum since the 1820s. Culminating 99 years later with the Eighteenth Amendment ratified on January 16, 1919. United States Constitution prohibited intoxicating beverages. It regulated the manufacture, sale, or transport of intoxicating liquor (but not consumption). It ensured an ample supply of alcohol and promoted its use in scientific research and in the development of fuel, dye, and other lawful industries and practices, such as religious rituals. It did not define "intoxicating liquors" or provide penalties. The Volstead Act wasn’t far behind and it cleared up those gray areas. The act defined intoxicating liquor as any beverage containing more than 0.5% alcohol by volume. Prohibition had hit America.

But before 1919 what were the laws and regulations for intoxicating beverages? There were only two: regulations of its sale and bans on public drunkenness. That’s it. The term “open-container” would have been completely foreign to any American for the first 143 years of this great country and the additional 284 years from when that genocidal Italian, my city’s namesake, first arrived in the hemisphere until declaring independence. The Volstead Act quickly killed the heart of the Brewery District shutting down all of the breweries and forcing the newly unemployed German Village residents to relocate in search of work.

After nearly fifteen years of prohibition the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. Americans across the country had been given a freedom back. But the damage was done many communities across the country, like the brewery district, would never return to their former glory. After prohibition things went back to the way they were for the most part. Most states had settled for laws simply prohibiting "common drunkards" or "vagrants.” Until 1964 the Supreme Court ruled in Robinson v. California that it was unconstitutional to categorize vagrancy as a crime. The court also struck down a California statute classifying drug addiction as a crime including alcoholism. This made it more difficult for police to enforce laws like “public drunkenness.”

According to Joe Satran at the Huffington Post: “Between 1975 and 1990, in the wake of the decriminalization of public drunkenness and vagrancy, cities and states gradually imposed bans on drinking in public. New York City Council voted to ban public drinking just six weeks after public drunkenness was decriminalized throughout New York state on Jan. 1, 1976. Mayor Abraham Beame vetoed the bill, citing its "disturbing civil-liberties implications." Three years later, the council passed another ban, despite vociferous opposition from minority groups -- and Mayor Ed Koch signed it into law… By 1995, the bulk of the cities in the U.S. had passed bans on public drinking.”

But there I was on the streets of Mannheim Deutschland in 2014 carrying an open container of beer. This was days after popping a bottle of wine while eating cheese in a public park in front of the Eiffel tower. Land of the free. America loves to brand ourselves as the place of liberty and whatnot but here I was in Europe experiencing a freedom I didn’t even think was possible on the planet. Returning to America has been difficult for me. These past five years have been a struggle. I find myself time and again, wishing I had a beer on a walk through my neighborhood. Wondering how my evenings would be if only I could carry the remainder of my canned beer as I saunter to my next venue or even on a pleasant autumn evening back home.

What is the reasoning behind allowing adults of drinking age to gather in public places and consume alcohol? But if those same responsible adults of drinking age decide to do the same act on a sidewalk or in a park that is somehow illegal? In the event a person becomes unruly in a drinking establishment what is the step management takes? They have that person placed outside on the sidewalk. The exact place we are forbidden to drink. If the reason we are not allowed an open container outside is to prevent public intoxication then why is it the first response of a bar is to place said drunken person on those very same sidewalks? Americans are allowed to drink in public bars. Americans are allowed to drink on patios of bars. Americans are not allowed to drink on the sidewalk? I don't understand the logical leap taking place here. 

Prohibition started exactly 100 years ago. It took us fifteen years to realize it was unAmerican to regulate the freedoms of fellow Americans. But here we stand today one hundred years later and what have we learned? We need to organize and we need to start asking ourselves why not? Why not be allowed to drink a beer on the street? Why not be allowed that bottle of wine in the park? Why not that white claw while you push your child’s stroller in the cool of the day?

As I mentioned above I read an amazing article by Joe Satran for this rant. In fact, I almost didn’t bother ranting at all because he did such a better job than me...but obviously I decided to complain nonetheless. Here is an excerpt from his article that I think shines a light on why exactly our freedom claiming country doesn’t allow open-container from sea to shining sea. And it should be no surprise to anyone in America with a pulse:

“...Yet patterns of police enforcement of public drinking laws do suggest their origin as a replacement for unacceptably vague and discriminatory status offenses. Though national data on public drinking infractions are hard to come by (or nonexistent), the few studies of police enforcement indicate that poor, black people are arrested at rates many times higher than affluent white people.
Judge Noach Dear of Brooklyn had his staff look into tickets for the offense in his borough in 2012, and found that "More than 85 percent of the 'open container' summonses were given to Blacks and Latinos. Only 4 percent were issued to whites." Nearly 40 percent of Brooklyn residents are white.
In 2001, the City of New Orleans commissioned a study of a then-30-year-old city law that banned open glass and metal (but not plastic) drinking containers on the streets. Researchers found that nearly 80 percent of those charged with violating the open container law were black, prompting the city council to repeal the ban.
That's all to say that anyone can be ticketed for drinking in public under the terms of the new Prohibition. Just as anyone could be ticketed or jailed for public drunkenness in 1960. But the available research suggests that young black kids drinking 40s on the corner are more likely to be ticketed than a prosperous, middle-aged white couple drinking a bottle of wine in the park.”

So this holiday season as you raise your Eggnog or Christmas ale, consider for a moment what this country could be. Consider that stroll through your neighborhood enjoying the lights of the street while warming your insides with a hot apple cider cocktail. Consider caroling door to door with sips of pleasant hot chocolate with a dash of Baileys. There is no federal open container law but a web of local municipalities. Write to your mayor, call your city counsel member and ask them why.

Adam: It's Easy to Cheat, Hard to Vote

When the final votes were tallied and the results announced in November 2008 Barack Obama was elected our nation's 44th president (of course only 58.2% of the voting age population (VAP) voted and of that, 52.9% voted for him.) Among the nations majority, Ohio had turned blue. 

But back in 2008 there had been news swirling about an organization called the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN.) Leading up to the presidential election, ACORN had been accused of voter fraud. A subsidiary of the group was paid $800,000 by Obama's campaign to register voters for the 2008 primaries. Obama's campaign told CNN that it, ‘is committed to protecting the integrity of the voting process,’ and said it had not worked with ACORN during the general election.”

However for what it is worth, what the Republicans were calling ‘voter fraud’ was actually ‘voter registration fraud.’ Seeing as how none of them had attempted to vote yet (at the time).

Turning our eyes back towards Ohio, the republican party had started to turn up the heat on the then Democratic Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. “The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ordered Brunner to create a system to provide a list of newly registered voters whose Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers did not match their names. (in three days)” Secretary of State Brunner filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court blocked the Circuit Court order. Three weeks later Barack Obama was elected our nation's 44th president, (in Ohio 65.3% of the VAP voted and of that, 51.49% voted for him.) Ohio had turned blue. Republicans turned red.

In 2010 Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner sought the Democratic nomination for United States Senator instead of running for re-election. This meant the secretary of state spot was wide open, enter Jon Husted. Jon Husted, a graduate of Montpelier High School class of 1985. I remember the first time I learned of his existence. I was doing a field experience in a second grade class at Harmon Elementary in 2016. Every morning the elementary school would play video announcements followed by some local ‘celebrity’ saying the school’s vision. That’s when I first saw this ‘Thank you for smoking, Harvey Dent’ looking politician, nothing more than an afterthought to me. “How could this one insignificant state politician affect my life or the lives of others across the nation?” I thought to myself. He won the election flipping the secretary of state to republican and in 2011, he was sworn in.

The following year was another presidential election year. This time Ohio republicans were ready, newly equipped with Husted as their secretary of state they made their first move. Every county in Ohio has an election board with two republicans and two democrats. Husted allowed the countys to vote if they wanted early voting nights and weekends in their counties. County election boards in “Republican-leaning suburbs of Cincinnati, allowed people to vote for president beginning in October by going to a polling place in the evening or on weekends. But, in Cincinnati, Republicans on the county election board planned to end early voting in the city promptly at 5 p.m., and ban it completely on weekends. In counties likely to vote for President Obama, Republicans had voted against the extended hours, and newly elected Secretary of State Husted had broken the tie in their favor. (He said the counties couldn’t afford the long hours.) In counties likely to vote for Mitt Romney, Republicans had not objected to the extended hours.” These same restrictions were put in place for the other urban areas of Ohio, Cleveland, Columbus and Akron. However, “When the New York Times highlighted the distinctly non-uniform early-voting rules, Husted quickly passed a statewide rule setting uniform, extended early-voting hours in all 88 counties.” 

Husted was determined to use his political power in the 2012 election to flip the state back to red. Jon’s next move was to end early voting the weekend and Monday prior to the presidential election. the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied it. Husted and then Attorney General Mike DeWine tried the U.S. Supreme Court. They declined to hear the appeal. Thwarted a second time Husted then issued a directive to all 88 county boards of election, setting voting hours to:
Saturday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials said, “In 2008, when there was no uniform rule for weekend voting, Franklin County set hours:
Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. 
before Election Day, when long lines stretched out of the county’s voting center at Veteran’s Memorial.” 

In addition, a “study examined voting in Cuyahoga County in 2008 using elections records and census data. It found that black voters and white voters cast early ballots at similar rates in 2008, but that blacks -- who accounted for about 29 percent of the overall vote -- cast more than 77 percent of the in-person early ballots. White voters casting early ballots were much more likely to vote by mail. Of the two types of early voting in Cuyahoga County, only in-person voting had been targeted for cutbacks, the study noted.” When the final votes were tallied and the results announced in November 2012 Barack Obama was reelected and remained our nation's president (of course only 54.9% of the VAP voted and of that, 51.1% voted for him.) Among the nations majority, Ohio had stayed blue. Husted turned red. 

He had managed to get reelected as Ohio secretary of state in 2014. And there was much work to be done to get this state back on the red track. Golden Week was created in 2005 with early voting legislation that allowed voters to cast absentee ballots up to 35 days before the election. But now after his reelection in 2014 “State Republican lawmakers approved Senate Bill 238 which reduced early voting by a week, thus eliminating “Golden Week.” It seemed like Jon was going to have better luck in his second term. But the state law was overturned in federal court. Jon was all to familiar with fighting the court systems to tip the scales in favor of republican votes. He appealed and got it overturned by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Things were looking up for Jon and his republican counterparts. Voter rights advocates, rather than appeal to the potential 4-4 supreme court (because republicans in Washington refused to confirm any justice nominated by President Obama), settled with Husted. The settlement “restored one day of Sunday voting and added weekday evening hours, but let stand the elimination of golden week. It also ensured that all counties will have the same voting schedule.” Some background to Golden Week: In 2012, more than 90,000 Ohioans voted during golden week. 157,000 Ohioans in total — disproportionately minorities — voted on the days that were cut. 

Husted’s attempt at allowing evening and weekend early voting for exclusively republican areas was nationally called out. His attempt at denying in-person early voting the weekend before the election was also defeated. But now he was able to settle a lawsuit that potentially rid Ohio of 157,000 votes. The 2016 presidential election was closing in. How was Jon going to turn this seemingly deep blue state back to the red of his party? If the majority of the voters weren’t going to willingly vote republican he’d have to try something else. That’s when the idea hit him: Use it or lose it. Flexing his power as chief elections official he decided to remove voters from registration lists if they had not cast a ballot since 2008. Husted said, “Those who don’t vote over a six-year stretch or respond to a postcard mailed to their address have only themselves to blame, ...If this is a really important thing to you in your life, voting, you probably would have done so within a six-year period.”

Where in the book of democracy does it state that those with the right to vote do not also have the right not to vote? Does choosing not to vote imply voting isn’t important? Do citizens of a democracy not have the right to choose which elections to participate in and which not? Jon had done it! He had found his ticket to allow his political party a fighting chance without having to update or change any of their unpopular views. Not only would this plan help for the 2016 election but the policy would stay in place long after he's gone forcing Ohio voters who miss an election to constantly scramble to re-register for all eternity. 

Six years sounds like a long time not to vote but in all reality those six years only included one presidential election and two midterms. Had a voter sat out (or rather been unable to vote because of limited early voting and long work hours) in the 2012 presidential election they would be purged from the voting rolls. Husted said in an interview, “You're inactive for two years, meaning that you've not voted, you've not done anything, we send you a card to say, ‘Hey, are you still registered to vote?’ And, ‘Are you still living at this address?” This means that if you had missed even one election you’re sent a card and given four years to reply. “Overall, 30,000 voters had been removed due to inactivity since 2012, a larger figure than Obama’s margin of victory that year.” “Ohio's 20 most populous counties purged more than 200,000 inactive voters, according to research by PBS NewsHour Weekend.”

INTERVIEWER:
Does this policy disenfranchise poor African-Americans?
JON HUSTED:
It actually has no race, gender, ethnicity component to it, because it treats every single voter exactly the same. And remember, if you receive one of these cards, it's because you haven't voted.
INTERVIEWER:
You don't think it's an unfair burden, requiring people who haven't voted for a while to make some kind of affirmative statement?
JON HUSTED:
The law says it's six years. The federal court agreement says it's six years. I can understand people who have policy disagreements. If you want to make it longer, change the law I'll follow the law.

The stage was set. Husted had his golden week stripped and his voters purged as the 2016 election neared. When the final votes were tallied and the results announced in November 2016 Donald Trump was elected our nation's 45th president (of course only 55.5% of the VAP voted and of that, 46.1% voted for him.) Among the nations majority, Ohio had flipped red. Jon had done it! Six years of hard work attempting to suppress voters had finally paid off. Jon had found his goose that laid the golden egg, purging voter rolls. “In its 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Ohio's policy is reasonable, even though the National Voter Registration Act prohibits canceling registrations for not voting. The conservative majority said that because Ohio sent out a mailing to previous non-voters, the failure to vote was not the sole criterion for being dropped from the rolls—giving Ohio a constitutional pass.” Jon was now untouchable.

Husted had voter rights activists panicked all over the state. In a stroke of genius “...the secretary of state’s office said it doesn’t keep a centralized record of voters purged or those who’ve been flagged for infrequent voting. Husted spokesman Sam Rossi referred data requests to individual county boards.” This way if activists wanted to help Ohioians re-register to vote they would have to drive all over the state attempting to obtain lists and track down these citizens in an effort to exercise their democratic right to vote. More than 40,000 Cuyahoga County voters were purged in 2015 alone. Across the state registrations were canceled in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods at about twice the rate of Republican neighborhoods.

But Jon wasn’t done yet. A state election was approaching and he had his eyes set on something bigger than secretary of state. Jon had used his power to suppress democratic votes in the state then jumped on a republican ballot! Jon and his friend Attorney General Mike DeWine, who had worked with him to suppress votes years before, were now ticketed together with their sights on Governor and Lieutenant Governor. When the final votes were tallied and the results announced in November 2018 Jon Husted was elected Ohio's 66th lieutenant governor (of course only 50.9% of the VAP voted and of that, 50.4% voted for him.) 

I know you might be asking, “but what happened to the role of secretary of state?” Republican Frank LaRose took that place and in an attempt to continue the nearly entirely republican stranglehold on the state’s government you can rest assured the purges are continuing. “182,000 voter registrations were purged September 6th, 2019.” Leaving only 31 days until the registration deadline of October 7, 2019. As the purges continue some have been looking into the purge lists "The Dispatch, voting rights groups and others discovered problems, including a vendor error that resulted in about 1,600 registrations being improperly on the purge list." Now even if you had been voting religiously you may still be purged. So what has our boy Jon been up to in his new Lieutenant Governor position? In September the White House held a ceremony awarding medals of valor to six police officers who swiftly took down the mass shooter in Dayton. Lt. Gov Jon Husted attended the ceremony with fellow republican Donald Trump.

I was glad to be at the @WhiteHouse today w/Senate President @LarryObhof, Sen. @SteveHuffmanOH, Rep. @PhilPlummerOH40 to honor the heroes of the @DaytonPolice Dept. for their courage during the August shooting in the Oregon District. #DaytonStrong pic.twitter.com/uTXHDxz0mH

— Jon Husted (@JonHusted) September 9, 2019

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley was not invited.
Don't even get me started on gerrymandering in Ohio.


sources for this month's rant:
https://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/17/ohio.voting/
https://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/15/ohio.voters/index.html 
https://www.factcheck.org/2008/10/acorn-accusations/ 
https://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/09/acorn.fraud.claims/ 
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/opinion/overt-discrimination-in-ohio.html 
http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/06/jon-husted-the-most-powerful-man-in-the-ohio-vote/?iid=sl-main-lead 
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/us/politics/justices-reject-appeal-over-early-voting-in-ohio.html 
https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2012/10/analysis_of_cuyahoga_county_vo.html 
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/ohio-voter-purge/485357/ 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-votingrights-ohio-insight-idUSKCN0YO19D?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social 
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/inside-ohios-fight-voting-rules 
https://www.journal-news.com/news/ohio-ranks-lower-than-most-states-voter-registration-voter-turnout/08PKVVtZRixUP5XxfNvBSM/?ecmp=journalnews_social_twitter_2014_sfp

Adam: Did you watch the game last night?

November 30th 1991 in Guangzhou China, history was made. The first ever Women's World Cup was decided on that day and none other than The United States would be the first to hoist the cup. Two and a half years later June of 1994 the United States hosted the Men's FIFA World Cup. “The tournament was the most financially successful in World Cup history… it broke the World Cup average attendance record with more than 69,000 spectators per game, a mark that still stands. The total attendance of nearly 3.6 million for the final tournament remains the highest in World Cup history.” One year later the second FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and America took home the bronze.

Something was happening in the 90s. Football (soccer) the world’s most popular sport, was gaining momentum in America. Then just seven months after the women’s team placed in the world cup; on February 6th 1996 The Columbus Crew selected Brian McBride with the first pick of the MLS draft, becoming the nation’s first professional soccer team. Now after all of the success of the women’s national team and the attendance of the men’s tournament, the United States finally had its own professional soccer league. During the first three seasons in the MLS the Columbus Crew played its home games at Ohio Stadium.

Ohio Stadium, or as it is affectionately referred to by buckeye fans, the Shoe, was built in 1922. This is the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Through the decades of tradition the stadium grew, updated, and modernized. The beloved stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in 1974. Fifty two autumn collegiate seasons that stadium held before being recognized as a historic place, solidifying itself in sports history and lore. Today the Buckeyes still play each home game in the Shoe and its hallowed halls fill with fans from across the world. But that tradition, that history, and that nostalgia didn’t happen overnight. 

After three seasons in the Shoe the nation’s first major league soccer club made yet another historic landmark move. May 15, 1999 the Columbus Crew finished the first soccer-specific stadium ever built for an MLS team. Columbus Crew Stadium wasn’t just a historic moment for the city, it was a historic moment for the professional soccer world. Now the first MLS club had the first MLS stadium to call home. Throughout the two decades MAPFRE Stadium, as it was later renamed, has continued to incubate national soccer memories. Here are a few:

Six 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup group matches
Ten U.S. men's national soccer team FIFA World Cup qualifying matches (7-2-1)
Five U.S. women's national soccer team friendlies (3-1-0)
Two U.S. men's national soccer team friendlies (1-1-0)
Two MLS Cup Finals (one of which Columbus participated)

In 2015, MAPFRE Stadium was honored with the prestigious Field of the Year award by the Sports Turf Managers Association for the professional soccer division. Brian Straus wrote an article for Sports Illustrated in November of 2016 saying, “There is no official national stadium in the United States, but a case can be made that American soccer–or at least its most popular team–does have a spiritual home. ...When the chips are down, however, the U.S. relies on Columbus, the unexpected–and now unquestioned – home of the national team's most high-profile game." 20 years of history. 20 years of soccer.  

Last year the new ownership, the Haslam family and former team doctor Pete Edwards, rolled out plans to build a new stadium. This new stadium will cost $230 million, be relocated to the 'arena district,' and seat the same amount as the current historic stadium. Fifty two autumn collegiate seasons before the horse shoe was recognized as a historic place fifty two years of memories and tradition. Mapfre stadium is a mere 3 decades away from the potential realization of the value and the nostalgia that stadium represents. The future of soccer for generations to come had the potential to point to Columbus as the cradle of the world’s game in America.

The 22 season average home attendance for the Crew is 15,377. Some of you are reading this and thinking, “Building a brand new stadium will certainly attract more spectators and relocating to the arena district will also help!” The attendance did jump five thousand in 1999 the first year with the brand new history setting stadium. However since the stadium was constructed there have only been three seasons above 17,000 average attendance.

Thankfully, we have another professional sports team who did build a new stadium in the arena district and we can look at the attendance data to compare. Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets, seats 18,500 (for hockey games.) The average attendance for a Blue Jackets home game is 15,923. And as you can see from the data, the average attendance has been declining since the birth of the team. New stadiums and downtown locations do not necessarily mean sustained attendance success. In fact across the hockey world the city's team is unaffectionately known as Lumbus.

Let’s turn now to the infrastructure of the area. The arena district is home to Nationwide Arena (as mentioned) which seats 20,000, Huntington Park which seats another 10,100, and Express Live! which fits 5,200 guests for outdoor concerts. Let’s add an additional 20,000 soccer fans and on the right Saturday night in the summer there is the potential for 55,300 spectators to be leaving the area at the same time. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of attending an arena district event knows the traffic afterwards is horrific to put it nicely. Now I know what some of you are thinking, “Thank god Columbus won that transportation grant to create new and innovative ways to solve traffic issues such as these!” However, all the AEP smart meters in the world aren’t going to solve this mess.

But the issue for Columbus isn’t stadiums. Thinking you can solve attendance issues with a new fancy downtown stadium is like thinking you can solve your midlife crisis with a convertible. “Did you watch the game last night?” I overhear one patron of the near east side YMCA ask another while resting between reps. “Did you watch the game last night?” This question is asked time and again all across our country. The game. This question is what separates Columbus from the rest of the professional sports hosting cities. If it were October in Pittsburgh and I asked “Did you watch the game last night?” That person would know, without a doubt, I’m asking about the Steelers. If I posed that question in Boston in January that person would know I’m asking about the Bruins. That question in Denver during a February day, talking about the Nuggets. May in Cincinnati, we’re talking Reds baseball. And if June in Seattle, I’m talking about the Sounders.

All around the country the question is asked, “Did you watch the game last night?” and all around the respective sports markets the game is implied. But what about Columbus? When that person asked his acquaintance, “did you watch the game last night?” It can be assumed he’s not asking about the Blue Jackets, He’s not asking about the Crew, He’s asking about a different city’s team entirely. If you want to catch a Blue Jackets game at the bar you better look up a hockey bar in the city. If you want to catch an away Crew match while out, you have three choices where to grab a drink. And that’s the issue with attendance in Columbus. We don’t value the things we have.

We have the nation's first MLS team and the nation's first MLS stadium. We have the USNT's unofficial home pitch. How do we treat them? We nearly lost our MLS team last season. And now with this historic stadium, we build a newer flashier one in what was the hottest district in the city a decade ago. The Cubs aren't the Cubs without Wrigley. The Packers aren't the Packers without Lambeau. We are trading our history and tradition for a flash in the pan. Austin and Cincinnati FC will complete their new stadium in the spring of 2021. We will lose what makes our Soccer team unique. We will be lost in the shuffle of new stadiums. All being built around the country at the same time, just another cookie cutter soccer stadium of the early 20s. I know the wheels of "progress" have already been set in motion and this futile rant does little to preserve the stadium. (This is Buckeye territory and when it isn’t one of the 16 weeks of Ohio State football it’s one of the 36 weeks to reminisce about past seasons’ glory and speculate about this season’s chances.) How are we to recreate that sort of tradition, history, and communal fanhood if we can't keep a stadium for half the time of a historic place? How can we have parents taking children to the same stadium their parents took them if we so easily sacrifice history for fleeting glamour? Sports is mostly generational memories and tradition. Ask yourself why do you like the teams you like. Ask yourself if you'd desire to take your child to a game one day and why. 

Now, I’m not one to rant without a plan. I would have taken that $230 million and purchased the land where the Lowes, National Tire and Battery, and Frisch's Big Boy stand near Mapfre. Redevelop the area into mixed use apartments, office space, and night life. Creating a new revitalized stadium district 'Mapfreville'. Develop the massive parking lots around the stadium into multi-use residential-commercial developments. Buildings with parking on the first (possibly second) floors. I would put in the application to add Mapfre to the National Register of Historic Places. I would push the cities bar scene to play away matches rather than other market sports. I would value the unique and wonderful things about our soccer club. Show the country and the other professional sports leagues that Columbus is a growing community that cares and cherishes its teams. All this to maybe one day draw the eye of an NBA, MLB, and NFL team completing the pentafecta* of the five major professional sports leagues So that one day when that fateful question is posed "Did you watch the game last night?" We, as a collective community, can reply "yes."

*except maybe not the NFL and its morally bankrupt system, but that’s for another rant.

Adam: Dumb Columbus

December 6th 2015, It was a chilly autumn evening in the city of Columbus twenty one thousand people filled Mapfre stadium. The energy was electric the city was having flashbacks to the 08 MLS cup and now here they were in their own backyard fighting for a chance at a second taste. But the city of Columbus is all to familiar with that bitter taste of defeat. Aside from the university north of the heart of the city, Columbus has been cast in the shadows of other Midwest cities time and again. When people think Ohio they think of Cleveland, maybe Cincinnati not often Columbus. And as the stoppage whistle blew and the match concluded it would be Portland who carried the cup not the home city. Columbus again tasted defeat.

But something else was stirring in the nation that faithful December in 2015. And like most things on this beautiful planet, out of death out of defeat often comes life. The United States Department of Transportation decided to launch a challenge. In the words of the department itself: "asking  mid-sized cities across America to develop ideas for an integrated, first-of-its-kind smart transportation system that would use data, applications, and technology to help people and goods move more quickly, cheaply, and efficiently." Hope ignited within this mid-sized mid-Ohio, Midwest city.

78 cities sent in their visions during the first round of this brutal competition of titans. 78 powerful cities with their cultural influences and their aspirations for a chance to be the first city in a 'space race' like competition to hold the title of 21st century smart city with state of the art transportation. The envy of America, nay the world.

The competition was fierce but not long after the second round was announced. The top seven cities and their proposals had been selected. Austin, Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco and last and possibly least...Columbus. The mid of mids had by some stroke of fate made it to the second round.

The country rose to a fever pitch as the nation's eyes turned towards these seven cities. The oven had turned up the heat. There were too many cooks in the kitchen and each of them knew it. Proposals and submissions were filed using the hottest hot button futuristic words like: autonomous, vehicle-to-vehicle Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), electric, fleets, smartphone, sustainable, infrastructure, and apps, These cities pulled no punches.

Three months went by and when the dust settled one city remained. Against all odds and able to stand while the others stumbled and collapsed under the extreme pressure of the competition and the nation's eye Columbus got a taste of that victory.

Once the world's eyes turned towards this underdog city, everything was going to change. The city had just been handed a free check for $40 million dollars towards transportation. Not long after that Vulcan Inc. emerged from the shadows of its defeated city of Seattle, set aside it's feelings of loss and decided to give an additional $10 million to Columbus. That's when the dominoes began to fall. $170 million from AEP $64 million from the University $35 million from the state $9 million from IGS Energy $7.5 million from Singularity University $2 million from Nationwide. The next thing this little city knew it was staring down the opportunity of half a billion dollars in funding to completely change its transportation, modernizing as THE city of tomorrow. 

A quick trip south on I-71 to the Queen city and you'll find an electric streetcar that cost the city $148 million to build. Imagine, would Columbus use some of it's money to build a completely debt free electric streetcar? Leaving still $352 million? Bob Weiler, a Central Ohio developer and former board member of the Central Ohio Transit Authority told WOSU that he would like to see the COTA free for all riders. According to the COTA budget in 2017 total operating revenues from passenger fares was $1,968,800. Would Columbus spend 2 million dollars to make COTA fares free for a year? Still leaving $350 million on the table. A look at one of the seven finalists, Denver, they built The Southeast Corridor Light Rail Line 19 miles of track for $879 million. 19 miles could go from German village to Lewis Center. And that's the price of those materials being lugged up and installed in the mountainous and expensive city of Denver. Imagine how much cheaper the cost would be installing in Columbus. Putting down $350 million leaving only $529 million left to pay off through light rail fares. Would Columbus completely change its transportation dynamic?

Columbus is on pace to have three million residents by the year 2050. Could these public transportation options prepare the city and potentially attract more than the estimated number growing this mid-sized city to a size comparable to Chicago, its Midwestern big brother?

The future seemed limitless for this young up and coming city. Would people flock here? Would Amazon eat its hat for passing up its second head quarters in Columbus? 

In June of 2018 The Smart Columbus visitor center and headquarters opened in downtown Columbus across from the Scioto Mile park. It was a (by mid west standards) chic design black with white text and some LED lights, the kind Ohioans find stylish on their porch railings. Pressed underneath a bland white cement parking garage figuratively displaying both the pressure and the task of solving the transportation whoas of not just this city but all of America. The public seemed confused, the real estate had to be ridiculously and unnecessarily expensive but with $500 million in the pocket who would notice? The tech world was still this Midwest city's oyster.

But then something happened. On April 22nd 2019, WOSU was reporting on the exciting new things Smart Columbus could do with it's 500 million in funding when the reporter mentioned, "...Smart Columbus' grant runs out in March 2020," Wait, 2020? But the city had only just gotten this money three years prior. The city looked seemingly unchanged. No light rail, no street car, no driverless buses solving congestion around town, not even free bus fare for the citizens of the city. What had happened? Where had the money gone?

One six person self driving shuttle
600 electric vehicle charging stations
505,978 AEP smart meters installed
158 public sector electric vehicles

And the money will be gone in March 2020. Dumb.