Central Ohio Relocalization Effort (CORE), Columbus, Ohio

Central Ohio like many communities is the USA is not well prepared for an energy constrained future.

In 2006 SustainLane did an evaluation of the 50 largest cities in the US and Columbus ranked last.(1)

The Brookings Institute did an evaluation regarding land use issues in Cental Ohio in 2006 also.(2) Again, it would appear there are obstacles difficult for us to overcome. Tools that communities have in other states are not available here in Ohio.

Transportation wise:
COTA must struggle for funding on a regular basis by passing levies. Unfortunately, the Constitution of the State of Ohio prohibits taxes collected from the sale of gasoline to be used on other forms of transporation than the automobile.(3) As of this moment, I'm not aware of any significant effort to get the State Legislature to pursue a ballot initiative to change the constitution allowing for gas sales tax revenues to be spent on the development of other transportation modalities.

Regarding local food:
While we have some Community Supported Agriculture opportunities (4) and while there are quite a few Farmer's Markets (5), according to a recent communication I had with a representative of Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association our local organic food system is rather weak.(6) Local Harvest is a great website to locate local and organic food producers. http://www.localharvest.org/

In September 2006, Matt Simmons, president of the world's largest energy investment company, did an interview on Financial Sense (7) and advised us to grow food locally. In August, 2007 Governor Strickland announced the formation of the Ohio Food Policy Advisory Council - http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/Admn/News/2007/news_gov_080707_OhioFoodAd...

(1) http://www.postcarbon.org/files/SustainLaneRanksColumbusLast.pdf
(2) http://www.relocalize.net/files/BrookingsInstitution_Columbus.pdf
(3) http://www.relocalize.net/files/GasSalesTax_OH.pdf
(4) http://www.postcarbon.org/files/CSAinCentral%20Ohio.pdf
(5) http://www.postcarbon.org/files/CentralOhioFarmer%27sMarkets_0.pdf
(6) http://www.relocalize.net/files/LocalFood_CentraOH.pdf
(7) http://www.financialsense.com/Experts/2006/Simmons.html

Attached is the 2006 Annual Report for the Relocalization Network that highlights the efforts our group made during it's first year.

Anita Laurin, Coordinator