Candidate Farxaan Jeyte

Tim Fulton 00:07Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast, presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly, Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, in anticipation of this fall's election, the Confluence Cast is endeavoring to introduce Columbus voters to the 12 council and two mayoral candidates in their own words. Today, Farxaan Jeyte, the candidate for Columbus City Council District Five, discusses his background, how he believes council can help better the city's distressed neighborhoods, and the value of having a representative in each district. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Enjoy the interview. Sitting down here in person with Farxaan Jeyte. Hello, how are you?

Farxaan Jeyte 01:04Fantastic. Thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here today. This is very special.

Tim Fulton 01:11Well, good, I'm glad. You're the first of the candidates I've interviewed as well. Farxaan is running in District Five in the upcoming Columbus City Council election. If you could start just by telling us about yourself and how that relates to your candidacy, how it got you here.

Farxaan Jeyte 01:27My name is Farxaan Jeyte, and obviously you can tell by that name, it's not your average American name. But also, with my amazing accent, you can see my background — English is not my first language. Okay, we moved here to Columbus back in 1996. We were originally from Somalia, in East Africa. So we had a civil war, a real bad one. We had to go to a refugee camp. I was about eight years old at the time. We moved to Kenya, and the American government came by, they helped us out. The first Bush, HW. Yeah, he sent troops to Somalia to assist, because there was a severe famine and civil war. It was terrible. And out of all the nations in this world, George Bush — personally my favorite Bush — is the one that, out of the mercy of the United States, came out to help us out, to destabilize the civil war. There was a little bit of peace because of that. But unfortunately, then — I'm sure you heard the horror story about Black Hawk Down. That's where it took place. Yes, it took place. And then somehow, by faith — I'm Muslim, and there was a church that came to the refugee camp. They're the ones who actually sponsored us and brought us to the United States, our family. When we migrated, the first location we stayed was Springfield, Virginia. We stayed about two years. Life was tough, because it was so expensive outside of DC. Then one of my uncles, fortunately, he actually had a friend who he helped move to Indianapolis, and he had another friend close to Columbus, and he stayed over for a couple of weeks. At that time, my parents used to work at fast food and cleaning. And on average, I think the pay per hour used to be $4.15. And the house we lived at at the time, we were paying close to $2,100. Oh, wow. This is 1994.

Tim Fulton 03:40Big family?

Farxaan Jeyte 03:43Huge. We were seven, plus mom and dad, plus other relatives. So it was four bedrooms plus basement. So you could imagine, you know, typical immigrant family. And we always lived together. So it was a normal life, just having a lot of individuals at home. It's part of the lifestyle, it's just the way we are. Family-oriented, we are. So anyways, my uncle — his friend was working at a warehouse, he was making almost $7.50. He called my father. He said, we need to move within three weeks. I think at that time it was around July, mid-July. By the beginning of August, we migrated to Columbus, Ohio. We settled down in North Linden. We moved right next to where Northland Mall used to be.

Tim Fulton 04:31Yeah, I don't know if you recall that. Very much so. Yeah.

Farxaan Jeyte 04:35And then I ended up going to Linden-McKinley High School. Very scary situation. First, I was in there — this stuck with me. I remember my homeroom was history class, and I think it was Mr. Moore's, my history teacher. And everyone in the class was knocked out, asleep. This was a little bit of culture shock, because I'm coming from an area where it's a little bit more — Fairfax is one of the richest counties in the nation. So you can imagine the school system they have.

Tim Fulton 05:06Was quote-unquote better.

Farxaan Jeyte 05:09Cream of the crop. Yeah. Then, unfortunately, Columbus was way different, other side of the spectrum. And everyone in the class was asleep first period. And one kid had a gun, it fell off. That's how we came to find out. My first view of the class, you can imagine, I was panicking. The last time I saw a gun, we were at the refugee camp. And here I am panicking. But that's the experience that stuck with me in that area. But Linden-McKinley was a blessing and a curse, a struggle. I gained a lot of good friends, good experiences, a lot of life lessons. I ended up graduating from Linden-McKinley, ended up going to, not far from Linden-McKinley, Bishop Hartley, a Catholic institution. And here I am, a Muslim guy, by the way. One of the best decisions I ever made, going into that situation. I loved that school. I loved the people, I loved the administrators, made lifetime friends. And here I am. I come to this home. Columbus is where we have about 153 family members, directly related — my uncles, aunties, their kids.

Tim Fulton 06:26And I'd be remiss if I didn't point out, Columbus is, I believe, the second largest Somali population in the country. So this is not an uncommon story.

Farxaan Jeyte 06:36Right. If you go by state, I think we have the most Somalis. But the one place — Minneapolis, right, they have that. So this is where I established a business. And I have three kids, a 16-year-old, a 14-year-old, and an 11-year-old. So a typical Somali family is six, but they call me, I'm a little bit Americanized, so only three. So I underachieved in that department. But overall, Columbus is home. Columbus is where the future is. Columbus, there's so much that Columbus has given me, especially this community that we live in. And I owe them so much. But at the same time, this is the neighborhood that I grew up in, and it's deteriorating in so many different ways. And it's time to give it back. I believe in loyalty and I believe in sincerity, and if we don't improve within our own neighborhoods, who are we? It says a lot about who we are. And I'm running for Columbus City Council at the moment. One of the reasons why I'm running is because there's so much stuff that we can improve on, and I felt like it's time for me to give it back. I was always one of those individuals that encouraged others to run for office. And I did that so many times that finally I asked that question of myself, and I took the responsibility to do that. It's not easy. It's challenging. Obviously, you have to put my business on pause, my personal life on pause, and dedicate myself to the service. And even if we don't succeed, I think it's still a success, because we need to get this message across by bringing more awareness to the issues that we have. And even my opponent, whoever it is, we have to also figure out a way where we can improve the situation, regardless of the outcome of the results.

Tim Fulton 08:40Translating back what I'm hearing you say, you're coming to run for Columbus City Council because you believe that you have an obligation to serve not only the city as a whole, but also your community specifically.

Farxaan Jeyte 08:53Absolutely. My community — and what I mean is also the greater community that I grew up in, the Linden area. It's a duty that I have to give it back. Because of that, we need representation. At the end of the day, we definitely do need to have a voice, we need a voice forever too. And there has to be accountability. There has to be collaboration. There has to be transparency. At the end, we are the city taxpayers, we have to have a say. So unfortunately, for the past 16 years, the current city council and administration have been recycling the same policies and expecting completely different results. But as constituents, we feel otherwise.

Tim Fulton 09:44Can you talk through some of those issues you believe that the city is facing that you would want to address as a council member?

Farxaan Jeyte 09:51Public safety is number one. And I think the way they conduct themselves and where they lead us, it's not the best way for the community. For instance, between the police department and the community, there's not a great relationship. There's a lot of hostility going on. And at the end of the day, the individuals who are patrolling our streets are from our communities. So there has to be a relationship between the community and the police department. Yes, there are bad apples in the police department. Yes. My own nephew has actually been killed by the Columbus Police Department, by Columbus PD. And he was only 14 years old. At the CVS on East Main.

Tim Fulton 10:39I'm sorry, who is your nephew?

Farxaan Jeyte 10:41Mus'ad. Unfortunately, he passed away on January 24, 2019. And it's really hard to remember, it's hard to process that to this day. It's hard to imagine — he was a kid, he was in high school, he had drifted by influence, unfortunately, at that time. And it's heartbreaking to even say his name, to remember his face. He was really a very hardworking kid. But unfortunately, because of other influences, he ended up in a certain way where he was shoplifting here and there. And at the time when he got killed, I think there was an incident within the store, the CVS store, and when the cops showed up, they started immediately shooting him. And the investigation is still on. There are no results yet, so far. And I don't know, forever. But even though I'm feeling that way, I felt like there has to be a better relationship between the community and the Columbus Police Department. And we need to, because the officers themselves are human beings. Mental health is real. There's so much stress that they encounter. We've got to figure out a way where there's a better dialogue, better training. Whatever they do right now, it's not working. We've got to figure something out. That's one. Second is — I don't know if you live in the city, but there are some of these distressed neighborhoods, there are food deserts all over. At the high school level, when kids graduate high school, there's nothing for that kid to do. Career centers — there is absolutely none. We have a plan proposing school trades, such as carpentry, welding, home economics, mechanics. I think they took that away. So poverty is the issue. And unfortunately, the leadership has had really zero solutions for these issues. But we know that we have the best solutions to resolve this issue. It's a matter of going out there and introducing this to the masses. I'm sure everyone will welcome it, based on the solution, the formula that we have.

Tim Fulton 13:10Absolutely. What other issues would you want to address?

Farxaan Jeyte 13:14Transportation is one of the biggest issues that we definitely do need to address. The current system that we have has not worked for the past 15, 20 years. There's a better way. This is a city, a region, where it's going to be the Silicon Valley of the Midwest. The current system that we have — Columbus is the third worst air quality city in the United States. And obviously, we have a climate situation that we need to address on that end. And we want to do the LinkUS. It's a system Columbus city has been talking about since 2021. They want to dedicate about $100 million so far. So far, it's just nothing but talk, there is no solution. We have a solution to introduce streetcar transit. It can reduce the pollution, it can create more jobs, and it can actually take more people at once. So those are, I think, the areas that we felt like we need to address more. Obviously, the biggest one we have is affordability.

Tim Fulton 14:17Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I hear you keep saying "we," and — not to put words in your mouth — it's reflective of both the community that you represent and the city as a whole.

Farxaan Jeyte 14:31Yes. Yes to community. What I mean by community, because I chose Columbus city overall. So we are the people's candidate. So that's what we say.

Tim Fulton 14:41Okay, yes, almost the royal "we." Talk to me about, if you have thoughts on, the new district structure that Columbus City Council is going to be under.

Farxaan Jeyte 14:54This is the first time — I don't know how long, but the whole city council including the mayor is running for office, all of them. And these two districts that have recently been added on.

Tim Fulton 15:06And while there were no districts, were there two new seats?

Farxaan Jeyte 15:10Two new seats and a total of nine different districts. The significance of the district, the way that I understood it, is that the only way that it can benefit me is that if I'm getting my petitions only from that district. But the vote is coming from citywide. It's something that needs to be revisited. We need to go back to the city charter, and maybe when it comes to voting, it specifically should come from the district. That makes more sense that way. But the current system is not — it's confusing, it makes no sense. But at the same time, we know what's going to benefit the current administration or city council. But we, as constituents, have a say. So it's one of the things about the downfall of this administration and city council — they really do not prioritize the needs and opinions of the constituencies. They make that decision, there's no transparency, there's no collaboration, there's none. And when they make that decision, they make it public, and then they don't consider the suggestions of their constituencies. And that's something we would definitely want to make a change on. This is one of the most undemocratic cities in the United States. It's only Portland, Oregon, and Columbus that have this current system that we call up. The rest of the cities, the majority, have a ward system. And one of the main excuses they always make is that a ward system creates corruption. Well, Columbus is different. So let the constituencies make their own choices, instead of making the choice for them.

Tim Fulton 16:45I don't want to push back against you, but do you see value in basically the step towards that representation, in that there will be a representative in each of those districts? You have to live in District Five in order to be the District Five council person. Do you see value in that?

Farxaan Jeyte 17:12I see the value of that. But it's not going to bring a different solution. At the end of the day, it comes down to the policy that has been set to make the city move forward. But the benefit I would see is specifically for that ward, for that district, if the voting is strictly coming from that district, because then they will be more informed about the individual. But right now, everything's blanket.

Tim Fulton 17:40Well, and there's an argument that you would be held more accountable to the folks that live in your district.

Farxaan Jeyte 17:46Exactly. But is that something they want to see change? Only when we get elected, hopefully, we'll have the opportunity to make those changes.

Tim Fulton 17:54This is a new thought for me, but I'm super interested to see what the voting results look like for, let's say for you, for example, who's one of the few candidates who has somebody you're running against. Will the person who won in District Five end up being the person who got the most votes in District Five? That'll be super interesting to look at after all is said and done.

Farxaan Jeyte 18:23Right? Yeah, it'll be very interesting. But at the end of the day, it's not about whether we win the district or not. It has to be whoever gets most of the votes citywide.

Tim Fulton 18:31Exactly. Yeah, that is how it's going to be tallied. So finally, I wanted to ask you, what is your pitch? What's your unique value proposition? Why should folks vote for you?

Farxaan Jeyte 18:45First of all, I'm not a politician. One of the things I want to go back to, some of the issues, specifically the trade schools — I think that's the one that's going to change. One of the biggest issues that we have in the city is poverty. And poverty has a very strong grip in different areas, in different spectrums in our lives. And one of the ways we can improve that is that we implement trade schools at a young age, in even middle school, sort of a skill. And when that individual finishes high school, they have a certificate, either being a plumber, electrician, HVAC, or carpenter, and they can have their own independent LLC. And they can make $80,000 a year. And that's going to uplift the whole community. And they will have an alternative — not every kid, by the way, is going to go to college, so they'll have that alternative route. So that would actually create more entrepreneurship within the communities. And those individuals will have the skills for the rest of their lives. I think we used to have these programs back in the day, but unfortunately, recently, we didn't implement, for the past 15, 20 years, career centers, and that has not produced a very productive society, in my opinion. Another topic that I really want to go back into is the food deserts. And the food deserts and the transportation sort of align. What I mean by that is, the food deserts in some of these neighborhoods — what we have collaborated on with Ohio State, some of their professors in the agriculture department, we've had a long conversation with urban farmers and food distributors. And now our goal is to bring in a way where they can bring those products to the inner cities, into the distressed neighborhoods, into the convenience stores, and have a conversation with those specific convenience stores who are selling a gallon of milk for $7 to those neighborhoods, and to create a section for fresh produce. One of the reasons neighborhoods are becoming food deserts is because the kitchen of those houses became a desert, because of the fast food. We've got to change that. There's a heavy population — well, we have diabetes and obesity because of the food, the quality of life and the food that we're eating. And we can actually help that in the long run by producing these kinds of options in those neighborhoods. And unfortunately, some of our elders in some of these neighborhoods, they don't have the transportation to go to Kroger to buy a week's worth of food. And we have to improve transportation. If you ride a COTA bus, it's not a 15-minute wait, it's not a 30-minute wait. So we've got to figure out a way, where when we implement these streetcars — the streetcars will work only throughout maybe three, four miles within downtown, so that COTA can have a more fluid system where they can have faster, maybe less waiting time. So those elders, when they go to Kroger and they have a week's worth of grocery shopping, they can carry it around, they don't have to wait forever. I know they don't have the strength. But sometimes we've got to figure out a way where maybe we can have a conversation with COTA, they can provide additional transportation. We have to look out for our elders, for our youth, and those individuals who are in some of these distressed neighborhoods. At the end of the day, we are one family, we live in the city together. So there has to be a little bit of sincerity, we have to care for one another. Some people just look at the bottom line — yes, look at the bottom line, improve, become richer, by helping out your own community.

Tim Fulton 22:34So I end every interview by asking two quick questions. One is, what do you think Columbus is doing well? And two, what do you think Columbus is doing not so well?

Farxaan Jeyte 22:48Well, the region is doing well. I don't know if Columbus is doing well. What I mean by that is, fortunately, we recently had Intel coming into the region, we have Honda coming into the region. And one of the things that Columbus is not doing well is that Columbus public schools are not taking advantage of those programs by producing scholarships, from those institutions into the school system. Because those individuals, when they're 15, 10 years from now, when they finish high school, they need to be in the workforce, they have to be equipped with the right skills. And some of the leadership are not taking advantage of these opportunities for the youngsters to set them up for the long run.

Tim Fulton 23:31Okay, Farxaan, thank you for your time.

Farxaan Jeyte 23:33Anytime. Thank you so much. It's been a great day.

Tim Fulton 23:46Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast, presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, and share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite businessman. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson, our producer is Philip Cogley, I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great week.