Mayor John Wolfe was quoted as saying about Whitehall, “You don’t become the next Upper Arlington by just dreaming big”. I’m sure, as an authoritarian, he meant the kind of place that is regulated and controlled to an inch of its life, to his liking. Since he was a golfer I’m sure it also had to do with that level of community. This also meant that Mayor Wolfe had grand aspirations for Whitehall becoming like an Upper Arlington. As a native and realist that notion gave me a good laugh but it also clued me into how out of touch and foolish a notion it was. What wasn’t articulated was that, while dreaming big is terrific, one must also acknowledge the reality of ones surroundings and keep your feet grounded in the truth. The ‘dreaming big’ he and the current Mayor, Kim Maggard, are doing is actually more akin to a nightmare. Allow me to defend that position.

They present an unnatural facade that only fools people into thinking its something that its not and try desperately to entreat people to live and do business here that are inorganic to the community based on that false premise. This is done so to attract people like themselves to Whitehall, chase out ‘undesireables’ and create some sort of false utopia. It is presenting one thing to people while another acts as a counterpoint, as an alternate reality, one that less people may be aware of. This is best illustrated in the stark contrasts between the pretty welcoming median (the facade) being constructed on Main Street near Collingwood, and City Hall fortified with heavy, thick plexiglas (the reality) making it look like a police precinct in the Bronx, not Whitehall.

Whitehall is a post-war suburbia, most of its houses are laid out in typical suburban tracts with same or similar mid-20^th century architecture. To ever have it resemble Upper Arlington is to tear out a lot of the housing and replace it with homes in neighborhoods most wealthy people who like areas like Upper Arlington would never live. The destruction and change and investment and downright foolishness of such an endeavor is beyond the scope of rational thought. You see a little of this in the change for Yearling Road which Whitehall was too poor to fully pay for or at least, pay in part and which had to be done in increments. They had grand schemes and ambitions to change Yearling Road to have an olde English theme because Whitehall was named after Whitehall England, despite the fact that there is absolutely nothing here slightly reminiscent of Britain. It cost a lot of money and because it wasn’t true to the character of Whitehall, it was never really bought by the people and therefore went nowhere. I say it was faulty thinking and planning. It is fashioning an inorganic character for it that has nothing to do with its true character, ignoring the reality and possible gold its real character does possess and offer and being okay with that. It is looking for its identity outwards instead of inwards, which shows an uncomfortability with and disrespect toward its truth. We are a small landlocked suburb of Columbus Ohio grown out of the boom and need for more housing in post World War II America, that which included my parents. It is not Upper Arlington, it is not Gahanna, it is not Paris or Stockholm either. It is little old Whitehall Ohio. It is what it is. It has wealthy people in it, it has middle class people in it, as well as poor people too. This has always been Whitehall’s reality and still is. To deny any part of this and inorganically push for something its not, shows the true contempt they have for it. Therefore, I maintain it is they who actually don’t like Whitehall, not accepting it as it is and working within the parameters of that, which is mainly a small, working class town.

You have the gorgeous sweeping lawns of the wealthier homes on Fairway Boulevard, the working class apartments of Parklawn, the middle class saltbox homes in the Ural Avenue area, the regular folks in the area of Rickenbacker, Erickson and Elaine. The old homes in the tree-lined streets of ‘The Woods’. There are so many differing areas of the city, each with their own unique character. That unique character is what should be appreciated, respected, promoted and celebrated, not torn out, picked apart and standardized (for whose benefit, liking or gain?). Again, anything else is in contempt of the truth that really exists and is a disrespect and betrayal of the reality of Whitehall’s neighborhoods and its people.

I believe this is what drives Whitehall’s leaders. They want to inorganically change and shape Whitehall into something they want it to be, not raise up, promote and better what actually is. They do this with heavy-handed code enforcement which either chases out those that don’t fit into their ‘vision’ or standardizes them through harassment and fines until they bend to their will and become, as the code office says, “compliant”. A bland, standardized, sanitized, uninteresting, corporatized sameness through compliance, one that they’re comfortable with but which offers up a community with little to no character and little to no interest, either to the citizen or visitor. This is City Hall’s ultimate vision and I think it is causing irreparable harm to our future. It has put Whitehall into a difficult position; trying to find its identity and future while in the upheaval of change, within the stifling, hemmed-in climate of ‘No!’

THE CITY OF ‘NO’

It is an ugly truth that Whitehall leadership has contempt for those who don’t fit into their program, their ‘vision’, because they don’t truly understand sociology, psychology and the overall human condition. They don’t respect and appreciate the true rich parade of human beings and their varying character. They don’t know what to do with them or how to elicit getting what they want out of them in a more respectful, honorable and naturalistic fashion. So, they hit people over the head and prosecute them and say no to things that don’t lie within the parameters of their banal taste or the understanding in their skulls, instead of allowing those that do exist to be themselves and promote and celebrate that which they actually are. Codes are so stringent in a town of regular people that it leaves little to no room for exciting innovation, diverseness of character and expression from your very own talent pool. I have heard ‘no’ so many times within Whitehall it truly speaks to what is wrong here, and not with the people themselves. City Hall is so afraid to allow people their true liberty, scared to death that every human being in town will go utterly mad without their control and start robbing, murdering and putting their cars on cinder-blocks in the front yards. They have a complete lack of trust in anyone’s sense, except their own, and that’s the truth of Whitehall’s leadership. They rule with an anti-liberty, anti-diversity, anti-poor, anti-freedom, anti-human ‘vision’, steering the ship of state with an iron grip, eyes fearfully peeled for anyone or anything unlike their dull, standardized selves which challenge their contemptuous ‘vision’.

Then, there is ‘yes’. As I well know from my comedy improvisation days in New York City, ‘yes’ opens up possibilities. Life truly is like a river, yes and truth are the natural course of the river. When you say no, its like a big boulder has landed into the river and sent it off in a direction that wasn’t natural to its flow. When you say yes (with sense and reason) the river goes in an organic direction to where its supposed to go. In that result you find and take advantage of the gold which was naturally ordained to be and which can serve the community immeasurably. Sure, you may have bumps along the way but ‘no’ stops innovation, ‘no’ stops organic growth, ‘no’ stops exciting possibility and the unending creativity, joy and innovation that ‘yes’ brings to life. This is what they’re missing. They’re so busy saying ‘no’ that they’re missing the gold that ‘yes’ can bring. The truth of life is that we all share our humanity, we cry, we bleed, we die, we want happiness and to protect ourselves and our families. However, we are diverse in traditions and character, those fascinating differences which are exciting and bring real interest to our lives. That which, with belief in and courage, we can and should be celebrating and promoting for an interesting community rich with an organic character, not dull with a standardized one, forced on us by someone elses fears and tastes.

In Whitehall codes, there are rules governing, for instance, the spaces in your fences. Conveniently for City Hall then, you hear Mayor Maggard saying things like, “If there are spaces in the fences and we can see through them, we can cite them for violations”. This certainly makes it appear that the codes were written (and there are several) to benefit and make unending and cyclical the code enforcement division themselves, making money for the city and those who enforce it. In particular the nearly $100, 000 paid out annually to the two that enforce it now. As well, just to name two, there are codes standardizing the size of house street numbers and criminalizing artificial flowers, those which I have seen many times on my walks door to door. What these do, among several or many, is block creativity and expression, that which is individually organic and which may have the ability to make Whitehall an interesting enough place to attract the attention of others (media, other open-minded denizens) to our city. What is natural for Whitehall should be promoted, appreciated and celebrated by the government which represents those very people, not crushed, pushed out and fined. If you want to promote artists, then promote artistry. If you want to attract intelligent people then promote and attract them by being intelligent and doing things which they would appreciate and enjoy. If you want tepid, fearful, standardized dullards, then push that. Otherwise, promoting a false, general narrative that doesn’t exist is understood to be exactly that by the very kinds of people you’re trying to attract and is rightly avoided by them due to the fabrication it is. Interested, artistic, innovative, good, smart people with flair who help raise a community up aren’t interested or swayed by false affections for their kind. After all, you can’t present a turd on a silver platter to smart people and expect them to believe its a Baby Ruth.

Now, Whitehall has two choices. Here is the fork in our road;

We can continue to allow people with no actual vision or intellect (but plenty of ego, authoritarianism and self-aggrandizement) to mold and exert unnatural control on our communities with little understanding for how they work and what makes them succeed. Suppressing liberty, innovation, creativity, truth and freedom to fashion a nostalgic husk of a city which all the true vibrant life has been wrung out of by a contemptuous authoritarian standardization.

Or…you can be a city of ‘YES!’ and say to the rest of central Ohio, to the world, that Whitehall gives a damn about its people and their government is here for them and not the other way around. That it celebrates the diversity of ethnic identity and color and individual character and what gold that brings the community. It allows for a wonderful tapestry of creativity and displays of the human spirit. It believes in all of its citizens, poor and rich, old and young, black and white, able and disabled, home owner and renter and not just the ones like themselves. It believes the power of ‘yes’ has the capability to elevate their community to something that’s rarely seen anymore and trust that the ‘yes’ will be okay (outside of safety issues). It believes that we are all a part of humankind and respect and believe in every person’s capacity for good and the wonderful gifts their unique talents bring to the table. It is a city that does not presume the worst in people but believes in and expects the best from them and if they fail that vision, tolerate and respect their right to be themselves outside of your expectations. It promotes friendly competition among neighborhoods, promotes good behavior, innovation and the best Whitehall offers, in a range of categories. If, at the end of the day you have a city that is engaged and has fun and interesting character and diversity and is organic to itself, then that is what it is and it is right and inclusive and respectful of its natural order. This can be done with a good portion of patience, willingness, trust, belief in and enthusiasm to see it accomplished. With that a wonderful community can rise. Not necessarily what once was but rather what can be. Whitehall can be an amazing place if we just relax and help it become its truth.