Life became more difficult over the past year for Linden resident Anita Rosvanis, 39. She lost her fianc茅e in July after a months-long battle with cancer. Rosvanis also had to stop working for six months while she cared for him.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just starting to catch back up,鈥� Rosvanis says.
, a mother of three, last year as part of our 鈥淐hasing The Dream鈥� project investigating why Columbus is the second most economically segregated city in the country.
Rosvanis traveled by three COTA buses to her job in Gahanna as a home health care aide. The journey took her an hour and a half each way. She earned $9 an hour.
Today, Rosvanis continues to struggle with transportation to get to work. Some days, she still travels by bus to her new Gahanna area job at ARC Industries, where Rosvanis works as a personal care aide to employees with developmental disabilities.
It can take as long to get to her new job as her old one. Some days, however, a friend will drive her to save her time, which is time Rosvanis can鈥檛 spend with family. She normally works from 9-3, but often does not get home until 5 p.m.
She also earns more money, $13 an hour.
鈥淚t鈥檚 helped a lot, but you know with the death, we try to get ahead, but we鈥檙e behind because for six months I didn鈥檛 work because I had to stay home and take care of him,鈥� Rosvanis says.
Rosavnis says she bought a vehicle earlier this year, but it broke down four months later and repairs were too expensive.
In the city of Columbus, 19.7 percent of African-American residents don鈥檛 own a car. That鈥檚 compared to 7.6 percent of white residents and 9.1 percent of Latino residents.
A found that Columbus is the second-largest city in the country without intercity public transit, with neither bus service nor light rail.
Rosvanis is hopeful her situation can improve in the next year.
鈥淢aybe eventually I might be, but right now no, I鈥檓 still in the same situation I was a year ago,鈥� Rosavnis says.
