The Columbus Dispatch
With school ending for Columbus City Schools on Thursday, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said the city’s “unprecedented investment” in summer programming and safety measures are being implemented so Columbus has its safest summer yet.
In addition to more than $20 million in funding announced last week and the reintroduction of lights and cameras in city parks, as well as bike patrols, the city will be deploying officers as needed based on crime data and enforcing laws like curfew.
“All of us need to do more, do everything in our power, to keep our families from harm,” Ginther said.
In addition, Assistant Chief LaShanna Potts said some parking restrictions will be relaxed in the Short North this weekend as police reevaluate the necessity of resources after two violence-free weekends.
“Our goal is not arrests and citations, it is safety,” Potts said.
Parking will be available on the southbound side of High Street between Goodale Street and 5th Avenue. Northbound parking will remain closed.
Following two consecutive weekends of violence in the Short North to start May, Ginther had asked businesses to voluntarily close at midnight and forced food carts to close at midnight via executive order — a change that then was enacted as city ordinance by City Council.
“It’s fair to say we’re seeing great success there with two peaceful weekends in a row,” Ginther said.
For the second consecutive year, up to 40 police officers will have a visible presence in parks and at community centers and pools with voluntary overtime shifts for officers. “Operation Moonlight” also uses 25 portable camera towers and seven portable light towers to provide additional resources that can be deployed to parks as needed and relocated as data and events dictate.
Potts said the overtime shifts are not going to pull officers from the street and are being well-received by the force.
“We don’t have enough spots,” Potts said of the enthusiasm of officers.
Bernita Reese, director of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department, said there will be extended hours at several area community centers — including in Linden, Westgate and Driving Park — to provide a safe and cool space for young people. Reese also said there are still spaces open in some summer camps and programs for parents who are looking to find something for their child to do.
“We are safe,” she said.
Much of Ginther’s efforts are focused on young people, including efforts to enforce the city’s curfew that requires those between 13 and 17 years old to be off the streets between midnight and 4:30 a.m. He urged parents to take stock of where their children are and who they are with, citing several recent incidents where teens have been injured in shootings in early morning hours.
In previous years, Ginther has said publicly that the city was not able to enforce the curfew despite concerns over youth violence, such as in 2021 after the shooting death of 16-year-old Olivia Kurtz at a gathering at Bicentennial Park.
“The city isn’t going to enforce a curfew,” Ginther said at the time. “We need you to do it in your house, in your neighborhood.”
With a recent uptick in violence, including multiple shootings in which teens were injured on Sunday night and Monday morning, Ginther said the city must “remain vigilant” as should parents in protecting their youth.
“We have to remain on offense to keep kids safe,” he said.
Success with these summer safety measures will be determined in a simple way, the mayor said said.
“We need violence to go down, period,” he said.
During the summer months over the past five years, the city has averaged nearly 38 homicides between June 1 and Sept. 1.
In 2022, there were 33 people killed in June, July and August, a decline from the 57 killed in 2021 and the 51 killed in 2020. Both 2020 and 2021 were record-breaking years for the city in terms of the deadly violence reported.
