Last night’s public meetings on the sheriff/police contract

Folks take their seats as the District 4 public meeting was about to begin.

There were two of them. One in District 4, the other in District 1.

The District 4 meeting started at 6 p.m. at Woodland Park. About 85 people showed up to tell Councilwoman Leona Plaugh what they thought about the proposed contract. I listened to 10 people talk. Eight were opposed to it, and two were for it.

A sampling:

“City Council has interfered with our police department. We don’t have a good opportunity to see what our police can do.”

“I think it sounds like a recipe for confusion and mismanagement. A better merger would be (with the city and county’s) planning and zoning departments.”

“Lott can appreciate what police officers go through on a daily basis. He is interested in law enforcement and doing those things that make our community safe. We’ve had five chiefs in four years. It doesn’t get any better than Leon Lott.”

The District 1 meeting was at the Eau Claire Print Building. It started at 6:30, and I arrived at 7 p.m. About 115 people showed up. One big difference from the District 4 meeting were the number of public officials in attendance. I spotted:

I don’t think a single person attended the District 1 meeting who supported the contract. The best line of the night came from Mary Myers, the vocal president of the Gable Oaks Neighborhood Association. She was speaking to the City Council members in attendance:

“Look at yourselves. Do you feel slapped in the face if someone offered Richland County Council to take  your spot?”

That got the crowd going. Rutherford concluded his remarks by asking everyone in attendance who was opposed to the contract to raise their hand. Every hand went up.

Three more meetings are scheduled. They are:

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Palmetto Trees coming to Devine Street

Click to enlarge

Columbia officials plan to install 13 Palmetto Trees along Devine Street in Five Points to replace the existing Ginkgo trees that have not grown well amid the concrete and asphalt.

The Ginkgo trees have been in the ground three years and, in the words of the city’s Forestry and Beautification Superintendent Sara Hollar, “they are really sad trees.”

The Palmetto trees won’t provide as much shade, but they will not block the sidewalk as much for pedestrians, Hollar said.

The Five Points Association will pay for the trees, Hollar said.

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Gameday is almost here

Are you ready?

I’m not asking if you are ready sports-wise. There are other blogs for that. I’m talking about traffic. The season opener is Sept. 2. Here are the traffic maps:

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Columbia’s rankings

I had lunch today with the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism. They provided a list of all the lists Columbia has made it on. Here they are:

  • 14th Strongest Metro (Business Week)
  • 8th in America’s cheapest homeownership market (Bloomberg Business Week)
  • Best Tasting Tap Water in S.C. (S.C. Environmental Conference)
  • Top 10 underrated cities (hotels.com
  • 2nd America’s most livable communities (Partners for livable communities)
  • One of America’s manliest cities (Combo’s Snacks)
  • 6th Business Climate (Site Selection Magazine)
  • 1st in parks and recreation opportunities (Earth Day Network)
  • 7th metro area for European expansion (Expansion Management)
  • Among best sports cities (Sporting News)
  • 21st America’s 50 hottest cities (Expansion Management)
  • Top 20 city on America’s Best Bang for your buck list (Forbes)
  • Top 10 most livable bargain markets (MSN Real Estate)
  • Top Midsized College Town in the U.S. (Epodunk, The Power Place)

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State Fair left out of hospitality tax funding

Sorry for the lack of posts. Here are my excuses:

  1. I was at City Hall for eight hours Wednesday.
  2. I was running around Thursday writing about the flooding in Five Points.

Now, back to work.

Wednesday, Columbia City Council members approved a plan to give $2.5 million in hospitality tax funding to local arts and tourism groups. (Hospitality taxes are the 2 cents on the dollar you pay every time you eat in a Columbia restaurant.)

The goal of giving out hospitality tax money, according to the Hospitality Tax Committee, is to bring more hospitality taxes to the city. In other words, the money needs to go toward events that bring people to the city who spend money in local restaurants.

The South Carolina State Fair brings a lot of people to Columbia. The fair attracted 409,541 people last year, and 425,804 in 2008. It’s safe to say that most of those people buy deep fried Pepsi and funnel cakes, which according to the city is prepared food and includes the hospitality tax.

The State Fair asked for $195,000. They got nothing. The reason, according to Hospitality Tax Committee chairman Richard Burts, is because the fair does not replenish the hospitality tax fund.

Here’s his reasoning: While everyone is eating at the fair, they aren’t eating at local restaurants, which means there is no net gain to the hospitality tax fund.

City Council had some spirited discussion about this Wednesday. What do you think?

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