A political newcomer and an incumbent who has served 10 months on the city council are seeking to represent Columbus City Council District 3.
The seat is currently held by incumbent David Bush, 34, majority stakeholder of Kenny Glass Inc. Bush was appointed by Republican precinct members in December to fill a vacant seat after former councilman Frank Jerome resigned after moving out of the district. Bush took office on Jan. 1.
In May, Bush won the GOP nomination for District 3 by a narrow margin, defeating challenger Russ Poling by 25 votes in the Republican primary.
Bush is being challenged by Democratic candidate Katea Ravega, 42, an attorney specializing in pharmacy law who was selected by Bartholomew County Democrats to replace Nancy Hoover on the ballot after Hoover dropped out of the race in April due to health reasons.
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Although Bush is the incumbent, this race is his first attempt to win a full four-year term on the city council.
City projects
Both candidates are supporting the FairOaks Mall project, which would transform FairOaks Mall into a community wellness and sports tourism complex, as well as exploring new potential uses for Donner Center.
On Dec. 14, the city finalized the purchase of the 35.36-acre mall property at 25th Street and Central Avenue for $5.9 million. The city put up approximately $4 million, or 75 percent of the property’s appraised value. Currently, the project is in the public input phase.
Bush said the city got “the best bang for our buck” by purchasing the mall property, instead of attempting to build a new facility from scratch.
“Being able to purchase that much square-footage at that price is actually a bargain as compared to trying to renovate or rebuild Donner Center, which is dilapidated and towards the end of its useful life,” Bush said. “While I can’t say I agree 100% (with the project), because the project hasn’t been fully developed and it’s still in the public-input phase, the broad issue of was it a good idea to purchase this property and utilize it in some way for the community and the parks (department), I absolutely agree with because it’s the best bang for our buck. Trying to build a brand new building of anywhere near that size, we’d spend three times that.”
Ravega said she believes the project will “absolutely” be a “positive thing for the community.”
“I think that it’s great that the city is using its position to be a catalyst for facilitating positive growth,” Ravega said. “We definitely have indoor sports needs. I’ve had people talk to me about the fact that we don’t have the type of indoor, in-ground swimming pool that they can use for swim meets. …I know there are other sports that folks are also very concerned about making sure we have enough facilities for, and providing health in the community is really important.”
However, Ravega said there has been a “gap in communication” between the city and public regarding the project and the decision to purchase the mall in the first place, which she said “highlights” one of the reasons why she decided to run for city council.
“The city may make a profit on some of it, but I don’t know how solid of a plan they had for it before they bought it, because it seems like they bought it and now they’re like, ‘Well, we don’t know what to do with it,’ or, ‘How are we going to get our money back?’” she said. “And I kind of wish there was a little more discussion of that before we bought it.”
Riverfront Project
Each candidate expressed varying levels of support for the Columbus Riverfront project.
Along the East Fork of the White River downtown, the Columbus Riverfront project is in the conceptual planning phase. The project seeks to improve the appearance, recreational function, environmental quality and economic benefit of the riverfront area between the Second and Third Street bridges. The project could include, among other things, the removal of the lowhead dam in the East Fork of the White River, maintenance and repair of the river banks, connections to the People Trail system and an in-water recreation area.
Bush said he currently supports the project even though he was against the idea at first.
“Initially, I was opposed, but through gaining information about it, what I found out is that there are several safety problems at the riverfront,” Bush said. “One, there is an old landfill that is nearly exposed down there because of the washout that is going on. Removing the low-head dam and replacing it will help to prevent future erosion. There is also a sanitary sewer line that is currently exposed. If that were to get hit by river debris and rupture, we as a city would be dumping raw sewage into the White River. That’s another major reason to do it. The third is the lowhead dam is a safety concern and just the clean up of the area. …Those are the reasons the project needs to be done, but the side benefit is that we get a People Trail connection and we get an attraction area for downtown. So we’re taking lemons and making lemonade because it’s a problem that needs to be solved, and in the process of solving that problem, we might as well make it as useful for the city as we can.”
Ravega said “it’s time to address” dangers posed by the lowhead dam.
“I think removing the lowhead dam is good,” she said. “I think that is a dangerous situation. We’ve had people die because of the dam being there.”
However, Ravega wouldn’t specifically say whether she supports the rest of the project, adding that she thinks the planned railroad overpass at the intersection of State Road 46 and State Road 11 could impact the implementation of the project.
“I think it’s going to be interesting to see how that works with the new configuration of traffic on that side of town,” she said. “I don’t know if we’ll get out of (the riverfront project) what we want or not, because they’re going to redo the overpass and that’s right there, too. I don’t know how those projects are going to affect each other.”
Substance abuse
Both candidates said they support local efforts to address substance abuse, including ASAP and the drug court and expressed support for continuing those efforts.
In August, the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress opened a 2,000-square-foot recovery resource center, called the ASAP Hub, for individuals, families and friends who are impacted by substance abuse disorder.
Ravega said Columbus “could be a leader in the state in addressing substance abuse issues,” but said some improvement could be made in helping the family members of people who are struggling with substance abuse disorder.
“The areas where we could try as a community to make improvements relate to the families that are affected by it,” Ravega said. “There are so many kids that are affected by this stuff because they end up needing foster care or they have challenges at home resulting from these things. That’s really tough. I don’t have any magic solution in mind, but I think it’s important to think about that just as much as we’re thinking about the folks with the actual addiction problem. That person is not in isolation. They have parents, they have kids and they have a universe of people who are affected by that.”
Bush said the city is going in the right direction with the ASAP Hub and the Bartholomew County Adult Drug Recovery Court, which he called “the tip of the spear” in fighting substance abuse disorder in the community.
“I think we’re definitely putting programs in place to help alleviate the problem, but we have to keep going,” Bush said. “ASAP is in its early stages, and we have to continue to keep developing it and being adaptable to what the community requires.”
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Political affiliation: Democrat
Age: 42
Occupation: Partner at law firm Quarles and Brady LLP
Education: Law degree from Georgetown University; bachelor of arts in international economics from Valparaiso University
Previous government service: None
Community affiliations: Bartholomew County Bar Association, Bartholomew County Health Board
Family: Husband Marco, two children
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Political affiliation: Republican
Age: 34
Current occupation: Primary shareholder of Kenny Glass Inc.
Education: Bachelor of science in construction engineering and management from Purdue University
Previous elected offices held: Columbus City Councilman for District 3
Community organization memberships and service: Serves on the operations board at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Columbus Plan Commission, Columbus Board of Aviation Commission, soccer coach in the Columbus Parks and Recreation leagues and serves on the Barcon Vocational Builders board, which works with Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.’s C4 program to assist students in building a house
Family: wife Katie, three children
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