Columbus
Andrew Ginther is the Mayor of Columbus, Ohio.
With the support of the Dentons Smart Cities & Communities Think Tank, PUF chose to honor Austin, Columbus, San Antonio, Spokane and suburban Birmingham as the Fortnightly Smartest Communities 2019.
PUF: What makes Columbus distinctive that propelled it to the front of the pack among the cities and communities trying to be smart?
Mayor Ginther: The major reason is the Columbus Way. We believe we do public-private partnerships better here in Columbus than anybody else in the country. It's a way that we have gone about it to win the Smart City Challenge in 2016, and how we've implemented Smart Columbus.
Let me share with you a couple of examples around the electrification program. In the two years of the electrification program, we've outpaced our goals and national levels for EV adaption and infrastructure. Since the beginning of 2017, the cumulative new electric vehicle registration in the Columbus region has increased by one hundred twenty-one percent.
Columbus' growth in the new EV registrations outpaced eighty-two percent expansion in the Midwest region, and ninety-four percent seen across the United States in the same time period.