Keith Myers’ background as urban planner and landscape architect helped him to catalyze a new vision for central Ohio’s five major north-south waterways while he was chair of the Urban Land Institute Columbus. The result is RAPID 5, a movement to connect people of central Ohio with nature and one another across those rivers and creeks and their adjacent parks and trails.

“The creative design expertise we have here to enhance access to our bountiful natural environment is beyond compare. RAPID 5 is about empowering communities to connect people with nature and one another for the benefit of all.

”Following 30 years in private practice and a decade as vice president of planning, architecture and real estate at The Ohio State University, Myers is excited about the potential for RAPID 5 to transform how central Ohio is appreciated by residents and visitors alike.

“RAPID 5 will leverage our region’s rich natural resources to improve our quality of life here, today and for generations to come.”

Tom Katzenmeyer sees the potential for more public displays of art and more places for people to enjoy artistic presentations throughout central Ohio. That’s part of his day job, and now it’s something he is positioned to pursue outdoors as a RAPID 5 board member.

“This movement will force individuals outside of their homes and away from their computer screens and telephones. There will be tremendous mental and physical health improvements. Let’s include public art and performance spaces throughout RAPID 5.”

RAPID 5 has also inspired Katzenmeyer to set a personal goal for more connection with nature. Specifically, he wants to kayak all five major waterways in the region: Big Darby Creek, Scioto River, Olentangy River, Alum Creek and Big Walnut Creek.

Mark Wagenbrenner has made a career of turning once-forgotten brownfield sites into mixed-use jewels that greatly enhance their surroundings. His redevelopment perspective helps him appreciate the RAPID 5 vision of “putting a park within five minutes of every Franklin County citizen.”

Wagenbrenner has always enjoyed the beauty of nature, but seeking outdoor reprieves during the pandemic through walks and mountain biking taught him “that my mental and physical health are far better when nature is a part of my daily life.”

That personal experience and his professional practice combine in support of RAPID 5. “Getting free, easy access to trails and parks along our forgotten waterways and greenways is a gamechanger for central Ohio residents. It won’t only make us happier and healthier residents; it will change the identity of Columbus.”

Kerstin Carr was an original RAPID 5 Project Management Committee member who is often credited with attracting the attention of Dr. Amy Acton by sharing the vision of better connecting people to central Ohio’s five major waterways with her longtime friend. From that serendipitous introduction, Acton immediately saw the potential to improve public health and wanted to be part of RAPID 5.

Carr is an outdoors fan who enjoys hiking, camping, backpacking, biking, skiing and canoeing and wants to spend more time on the region’s waterways with her family.

“RAPID 5 is an incredible opportunity to unite the various regional visions and planning initiatives across Central Ohio into one central vision focused around nature and quality of life. Let’s be bold together and think big and strategic so we can create a resilient and sustainable region where everyone can thrive and live a healthy life.”

Kristen Atha serves as the Director, Department of Public Utilities (DPU), for the City of Columbus. In this role, she leads the organization, which includes nearly 1200 employees, including the Division of Water, Division of Sewerage and Drainage and the Division of Power. The Department provides safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater services for over 1.3 million residents in central Ohio, and electric utilities to approximately 17,000 customers within the City of Columbus. While the Department of Public Utilities is part of the City of Columbus, we provide water and wastewater services to 26 suburban partners, serving in a regional capacity to support the growth and prosperity of the Central Ohio region. Kristen holds Bachelor’s degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and Business Administration from Miami University.

Ms. Atha has spent over 30-years building her career as an environmental engineer focused on working with municipal water and wastewater utilities. Prior to her appointment in 2022 as Director at the City of Columbus, she served as a Vice President and Regional Market Sector Leader for AECOM’s water business line in the Midwest. Kristen also recently served as the Chair of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s Sustaining Scioto Board. The Board guides the Sustaining Scioto Implementation Plan to help the Central Ohio region adapt to climate change and ensure access to clean and abundant water for the growing Central Ohio region.

Frederic Bertley is first a scientist. In his view, “Science is everywhere and for everyone.” From that perspective, RAPID 5 is an opportunity to “connect people with nature and the environment through science. Building science literacy and inspiration helps to fuel our community’s STEM workforce pipeline for the future environment.”

AS RAPID 5 works to increase people’s access to parks and waterways, COSI’s new “Smile on the Mile” walking program has a goal for COSI team members to walk 2,023 miles together in 2023. “We will use the beautiful Scioto Greenways and Dorrian Green Park around our building as well as COSI’s indoor spaces during colder months,” inviting others to share in the fun.

“Our community will benefit greatly if all residents have the benefit of living within 1.5 miles of a park or greenway. I have a particular interest in ensuring both urban and low-income Columbus residents have equitable access.”

Michael Bongiorno knows it is essential for good design to seek balance between people and their natural environment for the mutual benefit of both. For him, RAPID 5 presents the opportunity “to challenge how we approach our relationship with our complete physical environment in a new way.” Bongiorno especially connects with nature when he is in water, having grown up close to an ocean.

“Opportunities like this don’t come around often. We all need to understand the moment and embrace it with all we have. If we really aspire to be a benchmark city of the future for all, then RAPID 5 is a powerful, unique and authentic armature around which we can organize our energies.”

Michael Corey is excited by the RAPID 5 promise of making Columbus healthier for citizens and Mother Nature alike. “Tying the community closer together while making it more appealing for all of us to be active outdoors is a cultural shift all by itself; to pursue this while concurrently improving our green spaces to the betterment of our environment and our economy and our community is why this is such a tantalizing opportunity.”

Like others who were drawn to nature’s serenity during the COIVID-19 pandemic, Corey also appreciates a “renewed vigor and unprecedented momentum toward preserving and protecting our environment” that has motivated him to incorporate sustainability into daily practices. “RAPID 5 stakes out a vision for what our community could be and how we might navigate it – and make this growing community smaller along the way. But we needn’t wait for this tapestry of rivers to be bound together. We can go outside today and explore.”

Dr. Melanie Corn believes RAPID 5, connecting with nature and one another, can help save the planet.“Environmental sustainability can only be achieved collaboratively and will only be sought if one deeply understands its necessity. This worldwide work needs to start for each of us in our own backyards, and RAPID 5 will be an outstanding opportunity for everyone in central Ohio to create those meaningful connections.”

When it comes to exploring the outdoors, Dr. Corn enjoys Metro Parks dog walks and looks forward to kayaking and birdwatching in the future.“I want our community to embrace RAPID 5 as the space where environmentalism, physical and mental health, social justice, and the arts can all come together into an intentional and creative ecosystem that can enhance the lives of everyone in our region.”

Greg Davies appreciates how RAPID 5 fits perfectly in the big picture of significant growth anticipated for the Columbus region. From his unique lens focused on downtown development, Davies is excited about RAPID 5’s capacity to “protect and enhance our waterways and in turn our water supply” as it increases access to nature for all citizens.

As Davies sees it, the nonprofit’s work “provides opportunities for downtown to become greener and more connected to nature and begins a community conversation around important topics that have historically been championed by individuals or individual organizations. RAPID 5 has the potential to tie together the government, environmental groups, recreational groups, the development community…everyone.”

Brian Ellis knows firsthand that developing successful communities is not only about design and construction, but also about lifestyle, connectivity, and bringing complementary elements together where the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts.

“The vision of a unified greenway system is incredibly compelling. We’ve worked for decades to build Columbus into a major league city by creating spaces, places and experiences that attract people, jobs and economic growth.”

For Ellis, RAPID 5 adds a welcome dimension to local development. “As we continue to invest in our communities, advance Columbus’ image, and enhance the lives of our citizens, coordinated connectivity and improved access to our region’s abundance of natural resources is the next transformative step.”

Jonathan Kass is inspired by RAPID 5’s potential to tap into nature to connect and unite people and communities. “This movement will improve the quality of life for all central Ohioans by creating easily accessible and diverse opportunities for people to connect with the natural environment around us and in turn to connect communities with one another through engagement with the natural environment.”

As someone who enjoys hiking and discovering new parks and trails, Kass sees RAPID 5’s mission as “vitally important both in the present and the future. Given the ambition of RAPID 5’s goals and initiatives, its objectives must be pursued in the present with passion and urgency to ensure the greatest possible benefit for current and future generations.”

Tim Moloney works every day to pursue his philosophy that “getting outside and experiencing nature is the great equalizer for all of us,” even as spending time outdoors has lessened with succeeding generations. “I have been very fortunate to spend my entire career getting people outside, and I have seen these experiences change lives.”

Moloney’s recreation of choice is boating. He has pursued that passion for more than 40 years and is “still discovering sections/rivers where I have never been” because access to natural resources is still lacking. “Now is the time; the stars are aligning and with everyone’s help, we can make great strides in making central Ohio the envy of the rest of the country.”

Bill Stanley heartily endorses a notion he learned from leaders of indigenous tribes with ancestral lands in Ohio – that people are a part of nature, not distinct from it. “Deep down in our bones we all know that we are a part of nature, and it is a part of us. By spending time immersed in nature, we reconnect with that part of ourselves that we may be out of touch with, and this makes us healthier, wise and more whole.”

He especially enjoys spending time paddling and fishing in Big Darby Creek and biking and hiking the area’s Metro Parks and the Big Darby Headwaters Nature Preserve that The Nature Conservancy manages. As RAPID 5 promotes equitable access to enjoy nature for people of all backgrounds in central Ohio, “not only will nature be better for it, but people will thrive and Columbus’ reputation as a world-class city will grow.”

As a physician, Andy Thomas knows the physical, psychological and emotional health benefits of time spent outdoors. “Whether it’s being surrounded by natural beauty, physical exercise related to outdoor activities, or social connections made on outdoor adventures, being out in nature has so many positive health impacts.”

His chosen escape is the Wagtail Trail in the Battelle Darby Creek Metropark, where his three dogs over the past 22 years “spent some of the best days of their dog lives.” Canoeing on Big Darby Creek and exploring the ravine at Highbanks Metropark have been other favorite family pastimes.

“If we don’t take the time now to plan, enhance and innovate how we connect our community to nature, we will miss the window to preserve, protect and expand our most valuable natural resources here in Central Ohio – most notably our waterways and the green spaces that can connect them.”

Janica Pierce Tucker has to be a big-picture thinker as partner in charge of Taft Columbus and in her employment law and management practice. She also likes that RAPID 5 has a vision to connect people with nature and each other, and addressing community disparities in the process.

“The pandemic taught all of us the importance of being able to be outside, take a walk, have a gathering, but not all ‘outsides’ are equal. Some folks didn’t have a park in their neighborhood or safe streets to take a stroll. RAPID 5’s work will improve the quality of life for all ages as it has something for everyone. This work will be for our entire community, and it will last for many generations and change the way we live for the better.”

Tucker enjoys taking walks, exploring flowers and gardens, hiking, and rafting.

Hannah Wexner welcomes any excuse to spend time in nature, counting tennis and trail running among her favorites. “Central Ohioans should have the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors in all sorts of different ways. We may not live in the mountains or by an ocean, but there is still a huge amount of nature to be enjoyed right here!”

She is most inspired by RAPID 5’s mission “to ensure all members of our community have the ability to access nature and feel that nature is a way to connect with one another. It’s not only about protecting the environment for generations to come, but also about reimagining how our natural assets can improve the health of our communities and the quality of our day-to-day lives.”