We welcome Keith Myers, VP Planning, Architecture and Real Estate, Office of Administration & Planning to talk about RAPID 5 Project (Rivers and Parks Imagination Design).

The goal of RAPID 5 gets us back to the most basic definition of economic development, which is improving the economic well-being and quality of life for a community.

Economic Development professionals traditionally have focused on attraction of jobs to a community, but in recent years, our focus has had to shift, to also concentrate on quality of life or quality of place factors.

Not only is it important for our communities to grow in a smart and sustainable way to thrive, it is also important for businesses in regards to the attraction of employees to have desirable living amenities.

It is a big, collaborative puzzle to put the pieces together and have a truly transformational project for your community. It takes partnerships from the public and private sectors to develop, add new businesses, create housing options, have various modes of transportation, parks, restaurants, shops, etc.

Keith talks about some memorable projects he has worked on that have had a transformative impact in Central Ohio. He also gives a very detailed overview of the RAPID 5 project.

In short, this new large-scale project will be connecting all of Central Ohio’s major waterways and trails together into a cohesive system for residents and visitors. The “Rapid5” program is being spearheaded by local leadership at the Urban Land Institute of Columbus, MetroParks, MORPC, Franklin County and others.

The five major waterway systems that would be interconnected include Big Walnut, Alum, Olentangy, Scioto and Big Darby. A comprehensive system could include navigable waterways for long distance kayaking and cross-city biking and running trails that touch most major parks throughout all of the municipalities of Franklin County.

The RAPID5 can put park greenways and waterways within a mile and a half of every resident of Franklin County.

Join Jenna and Zach monthly as they have representatives from Franklin County (OH), as well as special guests from government and other organizations, to talk about different topics that are important throughout the Central Ohio region. 

That's part of the reason we named this podcast Whitehall Works. The City of Whitehall (OH) is working with a lot of different partners on transportation, affordable housing and workforce development. These are just some of the important topics that not only the City of Whitehall (OH) is working on, but everyone needs to work on.

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