Columbia City Council Fourth Ward candidates: Ron Graves
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
ABC 17 News is interviewing candidates for key races in the April municipal elections. Today's interviews feature Columbia Ward 4 candidates Ron Graves and incumbent Nick Foster.
The interviews will air on ABC 17 News leading up to the April 8 election and will be posted online as they air. Read the interview with Ron Graves below:
ABC 17 News reporter Haley Swaino: Why are you running and what are your qualifications?
Ron Graves: You know, I have been a lifelong, lifelong resident of Columbia. Born at Boone County Hospital, my grandparents moved here in the '30s from that 'large' city in Ashland, Missouri. So I've always kind of wanted to give back to the community at large. I've done a lot of volunteering, but I wanted to really give back to my community. Really, the impetus of me running was the young lady that was shot Downtown. When that happened last November, I just decided I really needed to do something. I have a son that's a freshman at the university, and I just I didn't want him to get in a situation like that.
Swaino: What do you see as top priorities for the city and why?
Graves: So, I really feel one of our top priorities is crime. Obviously with, with the things that are going on Downtown and in North Columbia, I really think that we need to do a renewed concentration for crime in Columbia. We, in 2018, they stopped a program called the Community Policing Program, which they would have particular police officers in different areas of the community. So they could get to know the residents, get to know the people that live in that area and kind of, you know, make sure that they trust them. And that was very effective. It was a very good way for Columbia to police the hot spot crime areas in there... in Columbia. But due to not having enough staff, they stopped that program in 2018. That really was, was kind of, that was upsetting to a lot of the residents that lived in that area because they knew what was going to happen after that.
The other things that I'm really concentrating on: Infrastructure. We really need to do more with the bond issues that were sold 10 years ago. And that really needs to be planned and completed. The prices for those have gone up. Construction prices have risen enormously since COVID, and the prices for those projects have anywhere from 30-to-50% higher than they were before.
The last would be affordable housing. I think we really need to have some incentives for developers to come in and build some affordable housing. You know, the city shouldn't be responsible to build it all. I think it would be, it would, it would help our budget if we could have developers come in and do something. But they need to be incentivized, I believe, through tax increment financing or some sort of tax abatement that they, that they can use to to be, you know, see if they want to even do this.
Swaino: What is your vision for the future of Columbia’s public safety and how would you get us there?
Graves: You know, I have been looking at some numbers. We have five more police officers in 2023 than we did in 2003. There's 39,000 more residents during that time frame. We really have about 16 police officers at any given time running their patrols in Columbia, which means there's eight north of Business Loop and eight south of Business, basically. And that's a lot of area to cover for eight police officers. If there was a major issue, you'd see two or three go into that issue. So that leaves five or six to cover the rest of that area.
The one thing you know -- I haven't really had a chance to really dive in deep to the 600-page budget of the city has. But, I think there's some ways that... we can we can figure out a way to to add those police officers that we need. City of Columbia averages one police officer for every 720 residents. And cities like Jefferson City and Springfield average one police officer for every 425 residents. So looking at those, at that ratio, we are really short just in total police officers that we have.
Swaino: How specifically would you use the city’s tools and resources to increase access to affordable housing?
Graves: I work with, at the VA hospital in Lee. I work with our our Homeless Veterans program. Right now, we have 40 homeless veterans that are looking for housing in Columbia and Jefferson City. We can't find them. They are using vouchers, very similar to what they do at the Columbia Housing Authority. In fact, it's a partnership with the Columbia Housing Authority. And we just can't find housing for these, for these veterans. The resources that the city has, like I said earlier, I really think that they have the ability to do some financial incentives to bring people in to do more housing projects in the community for affordable housing.
Swaino: If you received a $1 million grant to use for the city any way you wanted, what would you do with it and why?
Graves: So, I think that people would say you should use it for public safety. I'm going to kind of go against what what my main platform is, because I really think that a million dollars could do a lot more. I mean, it sounds like a lot of money. It really could affect public safety a little bit, but I really think it could really affect affordable housing a lot more. The idea of building a lot more housing with that, with those funds and getting people into a home or an apartment would be, would be more beneficial for that million dollars.
Swaino: Is there anything else you would like people to know about your platform?
Graves: Well, you know, I'm from Columbia. I'm just I'm a neighbor. I'm a friend to a lot of people. I've done a lot of volunteering at the annual Little League. I really think that I'm not a politician. I really am not a politician. And I really think that kind of a voting, voting or checking my name off at the ballot, it would really give someone a common sense, local solution to a, for a candidate.
