One of the biggest challenges facing state and local leaders in accomplishing change is making Ohioans believe that change is needed. Food is plentiful and reasonably priced, unemployment is low and traffic problems are minimal compared with cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. But it won't necessarily stay that way. People who gloat about the good life in central Ohio, Habig said, need to understand that Columbus is a relatively young city growing in patterns similar to some of the congested, deteriorating older cities they joke about. The concerns about current trends go beyond farmland, a loss lamented as much for its effect on aesthetics as economics.
Roads clog with commuters and wear out faster.
The gap between highway needs and the state's ability to meet them continues to widen. Suburban school districts swell with students, requiring new buildings, more teachers and higher taxes. A sense of history slips away as century-old buildings and historic sites are bulldozed for parking lots. New neighborhoods on the fringe draw public and private resources away from the central city. The number of households living below the poverty level increases in the central city, and neighborhoods deteriorate.