Ginther, Motil face off in Columbus mayoral race

Motil: "It's about the fight"

The Clintonville native's father was a union carpenter, while his mother's family owned a chain of candy stores around town.

• He says this upbringing informed lifelong support for small businesses, labor unions and hard work. He went on to have his own career as a union laborer and construction safety professional.

Flashback: Motil previously served on local development and historic preservation commissions and has a reputation as a perennial candidate.

• He has run unsuccessfully for City Council five times, most recently in 2019, along with two failed bids for state representative.

What he's saying: "To me it's not about losing, it's about the fight," he tells Axios. "You've got to continue fighting for what you believe in."

State of play: He believes Columbus is controlled by special interests — namely, developers, leading to inequality and misshapen priorities.

• If the city has $2 million for three downtown bathrooms, he says, it should have enough to help the unhoused instead of conducting tent encampment sweeps.
• "We're not doing anything progressive in this city," Motil says. "There's so much more that can be done."

On housing, Motil condemns "buy out" options for developers to pay to not build affordable housing units in new properties.

• He generally dislikes tax abatements because he sees them as tools to benefit developers at the cost of public services.

The big picture: He takes a macro view of crime, saying Columbus must focus on underlying problems of housing, education, systemic racism, health care, jobs and infrastructure.

• And he believes the city should continue developing its Right Response Program, which sends social workers to non-violent emergencies when appropriate.

Meanwhile, Motil promotes free COTA transit service, safer bike lane infrastructure and more funding toward growing Columbus' tree canopy coverage.

Ginther: Columbus is on the right path

Leadership was "lonely" at times during his second term, which featured intersecting professional and personal challenges, Ginther tells Axios.

• The pandemic hit a few months after his re-election, as did widespread racial justice protests over the killing of George Floyd.
• Over recent years, Ginther lost both parents, plus a a 21-year-old niece in a car accident.

What he's saying: "It's been my faith, it's been my family, it's been the people of Columbus that have prayed for me, supported me, sustained me, and grabbed me by the lapel collars from time to time and tell me when I messed up," he says.

Zoom in: Ginther acknowledges the city did a poor job interacting with peaceful protests in 2020.

• Since then, the city has paid millions in settlements to injured protestors, restricted police use of "military-style equipment and tactics" and invested in protest response training.
• Ginther also says he has a vision for Columbus to be the "safest big city in America," but acknowledges "we're not there yet."
• The city is on pace for its second-most-violent year on record for homicides, we recently reported, as Ginther and other city officials continue imploring the state to enact gun control restrictions.

Meanwhile: Ginther points to The Columbus Promise and CelebrateOne as two local successes going under the radar.

• Respectively, the programs offer free college education to high school grads and support new parents to reduce infant mortality.

What we're watching: The mayor previewed other major initiatives coming in a potential third term.

• Columbus plans to embrace density and height — two key ways to help housing supply and affordability — via a long-awaited zoning code rewrite.
• "Sprawl is not a strategy," he says. "Sprawl has not served this community well for the last 30 years or so."
• Ginther supports the Amtrak expansion proposal and noted the LinkUs initiative to fund major infrastructure improvements planned for the fall 2024 ballot.