Check out this comparison of the Columbia Police Department to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. It ran with Noelle Phillip’s Sunday story about the culture of the two departments:
NOTE: The crime rate is per 10,000 residents.
District 3 residents listen as Councilwoman Belinda Gergel welcomes them to the District 3 public meeting.
Wednesday night, District 3 Councilwoman Belinda Gergel held a public meeting about the proposed sheriff/police contract. A good crowd showed up at the Capital Senior Center, but I didn’t get a head count. Mayor Steve Benjamin and Richland 1 school board member Susie Dibble were there, along with Seth Rose, the Democratic nominee for the Richland County Council District 5 seat.
Most of the people who attended the meeting supported the contract, as opposed to the meetings in districts 1 and 4 where the overwhelming majority opposed the contract. Here is a sampling of the comments:
“Leon Lott has shown a lot of moral character. I think we need that at the top. That’s been lacking, and has filtered down to the rest of the department.”
“Somebody is going to be losing their job. Sheriff Lott will be bringing in his own team.”
“I do feel like the Columbia Police Department has a lot we could learn from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. I hear people say we have great officers in the City of Columbia. I don’t dispute that. I also hear we don’t have enough money. It seems the sheriff is doing more with less.”
“I wonder how Leon Lott will use part of his time to do a job for us without deteriorating the job he’s already doing. … It’s possible he could resign the job he has and we hire him to be the man for the City of Columbia.”
The next meeting is in District 2, scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Cecil Tillis Center, 2111 Simpkins Lane. City Council will hold a citywide public hearing Wednesday at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1737 Main Street.
I plan on writing a story for Tuesday’s newspaper recapping the public meetings so far and will include some comments from council members. They have given themselves until the end of September to decide.
The city is holding a news conference Monday to announce its “Southern Fried Fuel” environmental initiative. City officials are asking folks to donate their cooking oil, which will be converted to biofuel and be used to power one of the city’s garbage trucks.
I’ll be writing about it next week, but I wanted to let you know about it for now. You can read the news release below:
City of Columbia to Announce “Southern Fried Fuel” Environmental Initiative
The City of Columbia will hold a press conference on Monday, August 30, 2010 at 10am to announce a new environmental initiative, Southern Fried Fuel: From Frying Oil to Trash Truck Fuel. The press conference will serve as the official kickoff of the City’s new used cooking oil recycling program. Citizens will be encouraged to drop off their used cooking oil at the City’s Public Works Department. City of Columbia Green Business member, Midlands Biofuels, will then collect the cooking oil weekly and convert it into biofuel, which will be used to power one of the City’s garbage trucks. The press conference will be held at the City of Columbia Public Works Facility, located at 2910 Colonial Drive.
Members of Columbia City Council, City staff and CPAC members, along with representatives from Midlands Biofuels, SCDHEC and Palmetto State Clean Fuel Coalition will be present to give remarks. Also during the press conference, there will be a demonstration of the proper use of the cooking oil collection tank. Details on the collection process will also be provided.
Sorry I’ve been quiet this week. I’ve been working on a story about the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I’ve been talking with lots of people, and I just started writing the story this afternoon. It’s scheduled to run Saturday.
I know you will be saturated with anniversary stories this weekend. But it’s good to remember the role Columbia had in helping the evacuees. Below are some of our stories to help you remember:
Aug. 30, 2005
Aug. 31, 2005:
Sept. 1, 2005
Sept. 8, 2005
Sept. 9, 2005
Adam Beam covers the City of Columbia for The State newspaper. Here, he blogs about local government. Reach him at (803) 386-7038 or abeam@thestate.com
What I’ve been up to
City Council members meet at The Big Apple this morning to begin their two day retreat.
Sorry I haven’t been blogging lately. Lots of news to write for the paper this week, plus a two-day City Council retreat, means I don’t have much time to blog. Here’s what’s appeared in the paper from me this week:
That is a solid two days worth of work. Tomorrow, I’ll have a story about how the city is thinking of balancing its budget by outsourcing some city services, including residential garbage pickup.