Franklin County Green Party

"They want us to stay silent while Palestinians remain imprisoned and while immigrants and activists are targeted here at home.

We refuse.

On Palestinian Prisoners Day, join us in Columbus to demand freedom for Palestinian hostages and everyone detained by ICE.

🗓 Friday, April 17
🕡 6:30 PM
📍 Goodale Park Gazebo
120 W Goodale St, Columbus, OH 43215

Bring your keffiyeh, signs, flags, friends, and your voice.

We stand against imprisonment, detention, torture, and the criminalization of our communities. From Palestine to Columbus, we know our struggles are connected.

ICE OUT.
FREE PALESTINE.
FREE THEM ALL."

Franklin County Greens,

As we approach the November 4th election, here's the following guidance to voters seeking an independent, progressive alternative rooted in the values of social justice, ecological wisdom, and grassroots democracy.

Columbus Board of Education Race
The Green Party does not endorse any candidates backed by the Democratic Party or corporate-aligned interests due to conflicts with our principles of transparency and anti-corruption. Instead, we support truly independent and community-rooted candidates committed to equitable public education and democratic reform.

We recommend supporting:

Mounir Lynch, a public health educator focused on combating privatization and promoting equity in schools.

Kimber Mason, a community activist advocating for transparency and inclusive education governance.

Janeece Keyes, a grassroots organizer emphasizing fair funding and community-driven reforms.

These candidates represent the progressive change and accountability Greens stand for, opposing corporate influence and entrenched party machines.

Ballot Measures

Issue 1 (Mental Health Service Tax Levy)
Support. The Green Party supports investing in mental health, addiction, and social services through fair and sustainable funding. A property tax levy of $74 per $100,000 assessed value aligns with our platform’s call for equitable and adequate public investment in community well-being.

Issue 2 (Zoo Maintenance Tax)
Oppose. The Green Party is fundamentally opposed to the captivity and exploitation of animals in zoos and similar facilities. Our platform calls for the abolition of public and private zoos, redirecting funds currently used for zoos toward restoration of natural habitats, anti-poaching efforts, and sanctuaries that replicate natural environments for animals unable to return to the wild. Therefore, we oppose any property tax levy that funds zoo maintenance or expansion.

Issue 9 (Public Utility Infrastructure Bond)
Support. The Green Party supports infrastructure investments that prioritize renewable energy, public ownership, and community resilience. Bonds for maintaining water, sewer, and power infrastructure should be approved if they promote green energy, waste reduction, and public control over essential services, avoiding privatization that undermines environmental sustainability.

Issues 5–8 primarily continue essential funding for city services like transportation and recreation. Since grassroots groups such as TransitColumbus endorse these renewals and no serious opposition has emerged, the Green Party advises an informed Yes vote to maintain vital public services.

The Green Party reaffirms its commitment to combating the corrupting influence of unlimited in-kind campaign contributions and entrenched political interests. Our mission remains to elevate grassroots voices, secure fair elections, and foster social and ecological well-being for all Franklin County residents.

As of this writing, the Green Party has not made endorsements for City Attorney or City Auditor races due to lack of appropriate independent candidates in these contests.

For City Council races, particularly in key contested districts, Greens advocate for candidates who run grassroots campaigns opposing corporate-backed incumbents.

Jesse Vogel for City Council District 7 stands out as a reform candidate focusing on renter protections, transparency, and equitable public transportation. Greens encourage voters to research such candidates who align with Green values.

Incumbents are not endorsed in any local races

Philena Farley
Ohio Delegate

Local advocacy group Transit Columbus has long pushed COTA to seriously consider free fares, pointing to what they see as successful test cases in cities like Albuquerque, Kansas City and Boston (where only certain key routes were made fare-free). Philadelphia also has a pilot program that has sent out over 24,000 free transit passes to low-income residents.

COTA to Study Feasibility of Eliminating Fares - Columbus Underground The Central Ohio Transit Authority is looking into the idea of eliminating fares on its buses. Earlier this week, the agency’s board approved spending up to $320,000 on a “No-Fare Feasibility Study,” to be performed by a California-based company called Four Nines Technologies. The study would ...

https://www.earthdaycolumbus.org/volunteer #/

Volunteer — Earth Day Columbus 2024 Volunteer with Green Columbus for Earth Day 2023

Columbus, OH — Last night, Columbus City Council approved $1,000,000 in emergency funding to Mid-Ohio Food Collective (MOFC) to help meet the urgent and overwhelming needs of Columbus families facing food insecurity. MOFC will use the funds to help replenish critically low food supplies so that more shelf-stable food can be distributed to agency partners that put food on people’s tables across our community.

The need for food assistance in Central Ohio is at unprecedented levels as families struggle to make ends meet in the face of the highest inflation rates in over 40 years. Households are facing impossible choices while dealing with the high costs of groceries, energy, and rent as well as other necessary expenses like child care and health care. Consequently, service levels in Columbus and Franklin County have increased dramatically in recent months, setting new records that far surpass those set during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Mid-Ohio Food Collective is one of our City and Central Ohio’s most effective nonprofit partners,” said Council President Shannon Hardin. “Quality food and housing are the two most basic needs that we work together to provide for families struggling to make ends meet.”

At the same time, MOFC itself is battling supply chain and inflationary issues that make it difficult to acquire enough food to meet the record levels of need. Available product from federal government sources is down dramatically, forcing MOFC to purchase more food while the cost for most products has increased substantially.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disastrous impact on families in Columbus. Two years later we continue to battle with COVID variants, a housing crisis and an economic downturn. The cost of food has soared leaving families to struggle to pay for their next meal. This is unacceptable,” says Councilmember Shayla Favor, Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. “We must do all that we can to make sure every family in Columbus and Central Ohio have access to safe and healthy food. I thank everyone at the Mid-Ohio Food Collective for their work and leadership in completing that mission.”

In response to these challenges, MOFC has also committed to spending $1 million of its general operating funds for the immediate purchase of additional groceries. This action, paired with the city’s timely investment of $1,000,000, will help MOFC to meet the increased needs of customers across its 20-county service area during these challenging times.

“The City of Columbus is a critical partner of Mid-Ohio Food Collective. Their leadership and support is helping to supply wholesome food to individuals, families, and seniors throughout Columbus,” said Matt Habash, President & CEO of Mid-Ohio Food Collective. “While we are very grateful for this support, we will need additional help to ensure that we can continue to feed our hungry neighbors.”

Media Contact: Malik Perkins, PR Manager (937) 545-1402

About Mid-Ohio Food Collective

Mid-Ohio Food Collective is the umbrella organization that holds five assets: Mid-Ohio Foodbank, its anchor asset, Mid-Ohio Farm, Mid-Ohio Markets, Mid-Ohio Farmacy, and Mid-Ohio Kitchen. Mid-Ohio Food Collective has a network of 680 partner agencies across 20 counties to connect those in need to nutritious food. Learn more by visiting mofc.org

Demonstrations continued for the second night in a row in the aftermath of police fatally shooting a Black man on Monday.

Confrontations between police and protesters broke out Tuesday night when Columbus police deployed pepper spray around 9:15 p.m. on a group who had broken into the division's Marconi Boulevard headquarters. It appeared one person was taken into custody at the scene.

State of the City: Police, economy top issues in Columbus as Ginther prepares address

Mayor Andrew Ginther issued a statement late Tuesday urging future demonstrators to remain peaceful.

“We share the frustrations over police killings of unarmed Black men, and we support nonviolent protests," Ginther said in the statement. "That does not include breaking into public buildings or violence against officers. Let me be clear: Violence and destruction will not be tolerated.”

The clash came after a crowd of more than 100 had marched through Downtown streets and congregated outside the division's headquarters to protest the police killing of Miles Jackson, 27, inside a medical center in Westerville.

Read More: St. Ann's shooting updates: Protesters break into Columbus police headquarters, pepper spray used

Protesters march up North Front Street in downtown Columbus on April 13, 2021. Miles Jackson was shot and killed inside Mount Carmel in Westerville by police on Monday. Well over 100 demonstrators took to the street.
Shooting at Mount Carmel St. Ann's
Jackson, of the Northwest Side, was shot by police in the emergency department Mount Carmel St. Ann's following an altercation, police said. Emergency department personnel immediately attempted to revive Jackson and transferred him to a trauma bay, but he did not survive his injuries.

Jackson had originally been transported to the medical center sometime Monday morning after he was found unconscious in a vehicle in Westerville.

Westerville police determined that the man was wanted on arrest warrants from Columbus police on charges of domestic violence and for having a weapon under disability for a prior felony conviction. The shooting occurred during a transfer of custody to Columbus police.

Protester receives medical attention as police surround Columbus Division of Police headquarters after pepper spray was deployed on a group after they broke a lock and entered the building on April 13, 2021. A peaceful march with over 100 demonstrators took to the streets earlier in the evening. Miles Jackson was shot and killed inside Mount Carmel in Westerville by police yesterday.
Protesters object to 'pipeline of suffering' around police shootings nationwide
On Tuesday, a group of protesters had initially gathered around 8 p.m. outside police headquarters where a series of demonstrators spoke to the crowd through a megaphone. They mentioned not only Jackson, but Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, police officer during a traffic stop.

Speakers also referenced the killings of Casey Goodson Jr. — a 23-year-old Black man fatally shot Dec. 4 as he attempted to enter his residence in the Northland area by Franklin County Sheriff's SWAT deputy Jason Meade — and Andre Hill, a 47-year-old unarmed Black man shot and killed Dec. 23 by former Columbus police officer Adam Coy, who has been indicted for murder.

"We see this pipeline of suffering that's directed toward Black people," said one speaker who would only identify as "Storm." "Ultimately it's Black bodies that pay the price."

The crowd then marched through the street east on Long Street and south on High Street.

The crowd briefly stopped on High Street on the west side of the Ohio Statehouse to chant slogans such as "Black lives matter" and "whose streets? Our streets" before moving on and, heading west on State Street and North on Front Street, ending where they started.

The demonstration appeared to be coming to an end before a clash with police ensued.

Protesters yell towards the police surrounding Columbus Division of Police headquarters after pepper spray was deployed on a group after they broke a lock and entered the building on April 13, 2021. A peaceful march with over 100 demonstrators took to the streets earlier in the evening. Miles Jackson was shot and killed inside Mount Carmel in Westerville by police yesterday.
Previous protests
A day before, protesters gathered near Mount Carmel St. Ann's at the corner of South Cleveland Avenue and West Schrock Road on Monday night within hours of Jackson's death.

A lone Black Lives Matter flag was held aloft on the southeastern corner of Cleveland Avenue and Schrock Road as a group of 50 or so chanted slogans and the names of Black men fatally shot by police while traffic whizzed by the busy intersection. After sunset, the group marched on the sidewalk toward the medical center, where they shouted at police staged in the parking lot and continued to chant.

Hana Abdur-Rahim leads protesters who marched to the Mount Carmel St. Ann's hospital in Westerville after a male suspect was shot and killed by police in the emergency department.
A megaphone in hand, Hana Abdur-Rahim, a community organizer and activist from the South Side, led the protesters most of the way.

Just as she did nearly every night last fall, and last summer, and late last spring, and then again in December and in the winter months that followed, Hana Abdur-Rahim marched through on city streets again Monday night. And Tuesday night. And probably in the coming days.

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Because police killed another Black man and nothing has changed, she said.

“I’m feeling a sense of redundancy in the sense that this keeps happening and the police in the city seem to have the same script every time,” said Abdur-Rahim, a community organizer and activist from the South Side, who acknowledged the circumstances of Jackson's death differed from that of Goodson and Hill. “And the police are never held accountable.”

Columbus Dispatch reporter Holly Zachariah contributed to this story

Pepper spray deployed in clash between Columbus police and protesters Police deployed pepper spray on protesters Tuesday night who had broken into the headquarters' lobby following a march through Downtown Columbus.

Protesters mark birthday of Casey Goodson Jr., who was fatally shot by deputy 250 protestors gathers in Columbus to mark what would have been the 24th birthday of a man killed by a deputy

This comes from “Whiteness of a Different Color” ISBN 9780674951914, located within I. The Political History of Whiteness, 3. Becoming Caucasian, 1924–1965, page 112.

Also, the student was a girl:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17243558/the-tampa-tribune/