From rapidly-rising poverty and homelessness, to bribing residents into attending mask-mandated job fairs, to how the mayor plans to solve it all by doing what has already failed everywhere it’s been tried, here’s your weekend look at all the muck that’s fit to print from the Columbus, Georgia area, along with a look at what to expect in the week ahead.
HENDERSON’S POVERTY PLAN
As the cornerstone of his ambition for his second term, Henderson said he intends to tackle the city’s dreadfully-high and ever-increasing poverty rate — but his cited approach to doing so leaves many Columbusites scratching their heads.
According to a commentary Henderson provided to WRBL following his swearing-in on January 3, Henderson does seem to understand the severity of the poverty issue in Columbus.
However, Henderson’s plan for how he intends to address the city’s poverty crisis does not appear to be as sound. While his plan claims to cite poverty’s “contributors” as his target, the “contributors” he mentioned aren’t contributors at all; they are symptoms of poverty rather than the causes thereof:
Instead of repeating the pitfall of treating the symptoms of poverty, we need to treat the causes instead.
Perpetual cycles of generational poverty in the free western world stem from the continuation of self-limiting beliefs that are perpetually reinforced through cultural norms and social pressures. Those cycles must be broken by leading people toward creating and securing their own futures.
How do we do that?
In a word: Leadership.
Instead of trying to develop buildings, we need to develop people.
Explore the full story for the details on how the four points of Henderson’s plan are treating the symptoms of poverty instead of its causes, along with how a slight change in perspective could help Henderson succeed where others before him have not.
COLUMBUS POVERTY TWICE NAT’L AVERAGE
Poverty in the Fountain City continued to drastically increase last year, leaving the city with an estimated poverty rate of 22% for 2022. The enormous 22% rate is roughly twice the national average.
The increase now leaves an estimated total of 45,236 Columbusites living in poverty out of the city’s total population of 205,617.
The city’s rising poverty becomes even more pronounced when compared to the sharply-declining rates of the state of Georgia and the nation as a whole. As a combination of bad policy and symptom-treating approaches continue to ravage the city’s poverty rate, the divide between Columbus and the rest of the country has continued to grow wider and wider as a result.
While that 2 percentage-point increase may not seem like much, it is actually a very drastic rise. Those two percentage points equate to a 10% increase overall. To put it another way, there is now one more impoverished Columbusite for every ten there were in 2020.
Explore the full story for the intricate details and view our interactive chart of cited data we compiled from the United States Census Bureau.
HOMELESSNESS INCREASED LAST YEAR; EXPECTED TO RISE EVEN MORE
Homelessness increased in Columbus for the first time since 2016, according to data produced by Home For Good; a program of the United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley.
During the city council meeting held on January 3, Ms. Pat Frey of Home For Good presented a briefing to city officials on the current state of homelessness in Columbus. Frey placed special significance on how the organization’s data shows a 2% increase in homelessness from 2021.
Frey went on to say that a similar increase is expected for this year’s count in 2023 as well:
“We did have a two percent increase in homelessness between 2021 and 2022, and we are anticipating about that (same 2% increase again) this year — maybe a little bit more.”
The new 2023 data Frey was referring to was just collected last week from January 23-24. After Home For Good made this year’s new data available, we quickly published a follow-up article that visually shows how 2023’s homelessness increase was far worse than expected.
Explore the full original article to learn more about how Home For Good goes above and beyond to connect those experiencing homelessness in our community with the resources and opportunities they may desperately need.
COLUMBUS GOV’T BRIBES RESIDENTS FOR JOB APPLICATIONS; REQUIRES MASKS AT JOB FAIR
The Columbus Consolidated Government will be hosting another job fair next week in partnership with WorkSource Georgia — and it is bribing residents in hope’s they’ll attend.
The event will be held at the Columbus Civic Center’s Chattahoochee Hospitality Room on January 31, 2023 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
According to an article published by WTVM, and in what could only be described as a desperate move without any consideration for ethics, CCG is offering gift cards as a bribe in hopes of having more residents attend the event.
In addition to literally bribing its residents in a way akin to that of a helicopter parent rewarding their child’s bad behavior with more iPad screen time, CCG will also be requiring attendees to wear face masks at the event.
Explore the full story for the details and see how staffing has been a continuous problem for CCG and the city of Columbus as a whole.
SPRINGER’S PAUL PIERCE ‘RETIRES’ AFTER SEVERAL SCANDALS
After a years-long pattern of scandals and shoddy behavior, Springer Opera House producing artistic director Paul Pierce has announced he is ‘retiring’ after this year’s season.
After Pierce’s so-called ‘retirement’ begins on October 1, he will oddly continue to work at the Springer in a newly-created ‘senior advisor’ position. Coincidentally, Pierce’s new role appears to be conveniently void of the executive authority he previously held.
Pierce’s old position will be performed by a combination of two current staff members who will simply be ‘absorbing’ Pierce’s old responsibilities as their own.
Pierce’s retirement announcement comes after a slew of several scandals in recent years. It is difficult to see a scenario in which his pattern of treacherous behavior wasn’t a factor in his removal from authority.
During the pandemic, Pierce had made several grotesque Facebook posts displaying his anger and self-apparent totalitarian views.
Explore the full story to see the extremist, profane, and dehumanizing things Pierce publicly posted on social media during the pandemic, along with other examples of the Springer’s pattern of discriminatory behavior.
NEW DATA CONFIRMS RAPID INCREASE OF HOMELESSNESS FOR 2023
Earlier this week on Jan. 25, we discussed how last year’s increase in Columbus homelessness — the first in many years — was expected to be repeated again for 2023.
Now, new data released by Home For Good confirms the increase was far worse than expected.
The new 2023 data shows a staggering 13.58% increase from last year alone.
After conducting its 2023 “Point In Time Count” between Jan. 23-24, Home For Good published that there are now 276 people currently experiencing homelessness in the Columbus, Ga. area.
Last year, there were only 243.
In 2021, that number was even lower at 239.
Explore the full story to see our interactive chart of the data, along with how you can help Home For Good connect those experiencing homelessness with the resources and opportunities they may desperately need.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Columbus city council met this past Tuesday on Jan. 24, with much of the meeting spent on heated legal arguments regarding how private homeowners will be permitted to use their own private property for their own private purposes. Are restrictions to be placed on the private lives of Columbus residents to serve the “economic development” special interests of a select few as opposed to upholding the rights of the many?
The council will meet again this upcoming Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 9:00 a.m. You can watch the event’s livestream through the city’s YouTube channel and view the meeting’s agenda here.
Are we on the right path as a city? What are your thoughts as the reader?
Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see our upcoming stories as they break throughout the coming week.
Ask the hard questions. Fix the hard answers. Rake the muck.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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