Your Comments (9-23-08)

Homeless

Joe:

I do remember Rick Baty! Did he intoduce the slogan "Think Globally, Act Locally?" Also, didn't Ligon want to develop the riverfront area with "the bridge" before "the vista" came along?
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Dear Joe,

Rick Baty was a creative genius whose talents and perpetual-motion presence will be forever missed in Columbia. Thanks for reminding us about Rick, may he rest in peace.

In the summers of 2005 and 2006 I had a unique opportunity to work at the United Nations and observe life in Manhattan up close. What amazed me was the greenery. Every square inch of available soil -- nearly every crack in the concrete jungle -- has something planted and growing. After a rain, the air smells wonderfully fresh because there are trees and flowers everywhere. I think the planting program is called The Urban Forest -- something like that.

If that kind of tangible enchantment can be found in New York, there is no reason it cannot be duplicated and exponentially improved upon here in Columbia, a city whose potential is still mostly a blank canvas.

Thanks for your always interesting and informative newsletter.
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Joseph,

I certainly plan to be at the city council meeting in which the Homeless situation is discussed.I am disgusted with the way the city is handeling it. The more they sweep it under the rug, the worst the problem gets, and the more the business owners complain. yet City concil is either too arrogant, too stupid, or too insensitive to realize this fact. In my opinion, it a a combination of the the three.

I also remember Rick Batey. His studio was net to hairemhair cut place in Five points where I used to get m haircut. I was also a volunteer on his campaign, and do recall him coming up with the curb side recycling idea. I also recall that prior tot he run offs between Coble and Adams, there was a debate at at Lonhstreet theatre (if memory serves my correctly). I also seem to recall that at the time of this debate Coble said it was ecomomically not practicle, as did Adams. Coble also scolded Adamds for what at the time he said was a waste of money on Sidney (Now Finley) Park. It amazes me how many things coble has put down to a waste of time only totake credit for it when it works.


Parking Issues and Parking Meters at County Administration Building

jsa-Below was my note to David Adams about the meter issue. Sometime soon after the media called to find out who the doctor was as they wanted to interview him. Unfortunately, though the bad taste still lingered and he has never gone back, he politely declined any comment, though he still had nothing nice to say about the Coble response or the mayor’s lack of help. The patients he saw could not always afford a $10 prescription, yet they got hit with fines and towing fees higher than that. He felt if the city had that callous a heart, his time was worthless, so he left.
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Way to go David! You are the hero of the common man! But this is not the first time this has come up. I know a doctor who volunteered his time at the free clinic in your building. The indigent patients who came to the clinic often had to pay for meters and get tickets because they had to be in longer than they expected. Going to feed meters could mean missing your call. Worse yet, when they had to park along the railroad track side because of lack of spaces, they would not only get a ticket, but if memory serves me correctly, they got towed.

Imagine. These are people who cannot afford prescriptions for themselves or their children, and we are ticketing and towing them. So we spend tax money for welfare, then steal it back by tickets and towing. Then they need more, and we have to give them more.

The doctor wrote mayor Coble a letter asking for relief for these patients, but nothing happened. He explained that he is giving his time free to help people, so he is saving taxpayers money from doctors fees. In turn, couldn’t the city help by not penalizing people who have very meager, if no, means to help themselves? I cannot remember if he got a bland “we will look into the matter” letter from Coble, or no response at all. I just remember this doctor’s frustration and anger with the city and mayor over seeing his patients being robbed of money they so desperately needed, especially since he was giving his time for free, even paying his gas and other expenses out of his pocket. He eventually quit volunteering, angered at the situation.

David is absolutely right. Citizens are being penalized to do business with their own government, which is not following the letter of the law they make any business follow. Whenever anyone builds, he has to have a minimum number of free parking spaces based on square footage of the building and business classification. That is the law, zoning law. Yet city hall does not have that. Try finding a space on a Wednesday when council is having a meeting, starting at 10a. At least county council meets in the evening when there are no meter violations.

David is right. The meters need to come out!

Joseph Azar
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jsa-This was part of the correspondence I had with the doctor and the news person.


I sent him an email and asked him if he would talk with you. He is not eager to, though still angry about the situation, He said: “Joseph, I'm going to pass on this.

Bob Coble doesn't give a damn about the poor, but for various reasons I'm not going to weigh in on this.”

I asked him if he would speak anon to you and have not gotten an answer yet. You might want to interview past and present workers at the clinic. Some may talk about this issue. It needs to be brought to light and I am sure someone will be bold and unafraid enough to speak out.

Let me know how more I can help.

jsa-It is unfortunate this issue never made the news.

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Re parking meters and the problems they cause: I was talking with a middle manager who works for the state. She mentioned the time & money it costs the state when the employees
a) stop work to run outside & feed the meters
b) stop thinking about their work and start worrying about feeding the meters

Speaking of the problems the city (and state) causes itself, why doesn't it stop wallowing in self pity & resentment about something that happened almost 150 years ago, and get on with its life?? If they would try to think of something positive they could say about Columbia. . . instead of Columbia's HOT (which not a surprise in July & Aug). . .they might start making some progress and rely less on being a vassal of USC.

PS: If you doubt my correctness re self pity & resentment, Joe, just look at the mural on the building adjacent to the Flying Saucer. Is that all Columbia can claim as a heritage??
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Joe,
Re: "Recently, the county has added dozens of new parking meters to compliment the dozens of city meters around our building."

Joe, Joe, Joe you're going about this all wrong! You and the Hari Kari Grill are sitting on a 'gold mine.' Get yourselves some custom made meters that take Visa and debit cards and sink them in your parking area. Maybe they could play a tune or have cool flashing lights or a 'double or nothing' option. Or maybe golden tanned bikini clad 'Valet Parking Attendants' after dark sponsored by Island Tan and you could just park cars up Lee St. and all around the park! Look at this as an alternate income opportunity and not an obstacle. Set up a pair of those D T Bipolar SuperTowers and Tower Loudspeakers and play Bluegrass music with wailing hammer dulcimer solos and mandolin jam bands all night. You know that the 'Don of 5 Points' Freewheelin' Frank Barco wouldn't let an opportunity like this pass him by!! Use the proceeds to by books!! So, what do ya think?

Yours truly,
(Omit my name so I can remain a ‘Secret Partner!’)

jsa-Hmmm. You want to be the first to park here? Only $5/hour, and free music!
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Joseph,

You and everyone else do NOT understand! The city has to have the meters to help pay the TREMENDOUS NUMBER of out of kilter salaries, studies, law suits, etc. that they incur because of "sneaky", corrupt leaders.
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Not to mention the ridiculous amount of people we 'employ' to play hall monitor on the meters. This is especially galling during the 'extended' hours or weekends or other times when the amount of revenue surely doesn't cover their cost. I'd much rather see them providing security and safety services in more areas of the city.

Meters are a major business prevention mechanism. At a time we need to encourage people to visit businesses and engage in the city, we instead make it a pain to go anywhere downtown or in 5 Points during the day (and the day extends way too far into the night!).
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Do you know if employees at that building have to pay for their parking in the garage?
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another commitee and another expensive consultant no one listens to....hmmm.. way to go belinda. those are some really fresh ideas. great leadership.



Other Comments

jsa-Those of you that read this column will know the issues behind these comments. Those of you who don’t, start reading. The archives may be found at http://groups.google.com/group/theazarnewsletter/topics.
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Joe, with regards to the person wanting to see a light rail line run from Irmo to downtown, I beg to differ. Mass Transit, even in places like New York and D.C. does not pay for itself and Columbia's limited (does CMRTA even have enough funding to qualify as limited?) transportation funds should go to the buses. BTW, I'm not sure how much CMRTA's ridership would increase if they had understandable routes and maps available for the public to see. My parents live in the Harbison area and I see buses all the time running down Harbison Blvd/St. Andrews and Bush River Roads. Has this person ridden a bus? Let's get acountablility with CMRTA, find out what its potential ridership is and give it the funding needed to get people around Richland and Lexington Counties (and other places with the Shuttles) before spending tons of money on pie-in-the sky proposals like rail.

Also, Joe although many of us can certainly understand why businessmen like Mr. Ligon and yourself may not want to serve as mayor, I think I speak for many of us who want a mayor who understands what it takes to make a business run tackling issues like audits, budgets and city ordinances instead of a cheerleader who doesn't grasp why the city shouldn't do somethings regardless of how good they sound.
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You can pay your parking tickets in the alley behind the Marriot downtown. That is where you can go to argue the tickets also.
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Add Boozer Lumber Company to your list of small businesses going down.
It is no wonder! A Federal Government that caters to big business and pays lip service to small business is the reason we have so many oligopolies. There is no real pursuit of antitrust anymore. I have a friend who has started at least three small banks during his career solely for the purpose of being bought up by the big ones. He's made a fortune! Wonder if this is a contributory factor to our banking crisis today. Some heads need to roll in the financial community; and George W. Bush should be indicted for treason. A war (another one) going no where; an economy going down the toilet; and a country that is taking back seat to banana republics who hold oil over our heads and sap the cash out of our wallets. Harry Truman, are you still there? FDR, can you once again bail out this country with a program that puts Americans back to work? Bailing out Wall Street and the financial community is only a band aid that the wealthy want so they can save their asses (excuse me, I mean assets) at the tax payers' expense. Democrats tax and spend; Republicans borrow and spend. It's time to tax the people who have the money. Take the cap off of Social Security earnings; apply it to unearned income as well as earned. Apply a declining rate of tax to capital gains making short-term gains taxable at the highest rates and long-term taxable rates at the lowest rates; this will separate speculators from investors. Federal taxes on non-essentials, like entertainment, football tickets and sports revenues, concerts. A huge recycling tax on paper products, bottles, cigarette butts, plastics, and take-out foods. A graduated income tax based on gross earnings (earned and unearned) so that people making more than $300,000 a year pay taxes. Scrap regressive tax plans like the flat tax and the national sales tax, as they unfairly tax those with lower incomes. Get rid of WIC, Section 8, Title Nine and all other plans that are discriminatory against the majority. Our economic crisis may be an omen of the need for a fire sale.... get rid of everything and start over.
And let's begin with Congress and the White House!
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Do you know anyone that has a house for rent?
Robby and I got caught in the middle of a property owner vs. HOA fight and now we have to get out.
Looking for a 3 Bd/1.5 Bth for under $600.00 or a 3/2 for under $750.00 a month.
Let me know if you or your readers have anything.
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Hey Joe,
'
I forgot to mention that the city is spending at present tens of thousands of dollars to get the books balanced by a CPA firm. Where is that money coming from???? They have people in the finance dept. that are supposed to be able to do that without calling in the accountants from the outside world.
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Thought you might be interested in this article from Education Week. The Richland 1 board has clearly been looking for a leader in the super hero model.







The Turnstile Superintendency?

August 27, 2008 by Larry Cuban

Despite problems in their districts, the more successful urban school leaders stick around and make steady progress
http://lnk.edweek.org/edweek/index.html?url=/ew/articles/2008/08/27/01cuban_ep.h28.html&tkn=7%2BaVyyRHh%2BGjxxw1VDryqRx4HlR%2FR2ys


© 2007 Editorial Projects in Education
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I fel the Hospitality Tax is a Rip-Off and the money is not being spent as it should. When you pay tax on top of tax it gets into greed.
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We've got to be kidding ourselves if we believe the "Brain Drain" can be reversed anytime soon in Columbia. Maybe if you were in Charlotte or Atlanta things would be different. Even Charleston and the upstate are ahead of us when it comes to retaining young precious talent. Why ? Look first at our leaders and those groups that are even compensated for bringing industry here. Columbia is a nest of old world thinking in a modern fast moving world. We the citizens can blame ourselves whether we've moved here recently or been raised here. It's our vote that consistently puts these people in office. The University and it's growth are responsible for the greater percentage of job opportunity. As one elder friend put it; it has got to be in the water because no other city in the south with this much future potential could consistently do the same things over and over again and expect something different. The "New Columbia" of the future will not only draw people here to be educated, but settle down and stay here because of job opportunity and progressive leadership.
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Usually I just read your comments without making a comment but the one about Paxil got my attention. I went into a deep depression about 10 years ago after a relationship breakup. I found that the breakup triggered some other "depression" related cycles I was experiencing. So, my doctor recommended Paxil. I admit it wasn't the greatest solution. I had to change dosages several times until they came out with Paxil CR. Everything leveled out on the Paxil CR. At one time they pulled it from the shelf for a short period of time and I had to take Zoloft. Now, that MADE me crazy!!!! I got back on Paxil CR ASAP. It works for me. It doesn't work for everyone. My depression is cyclical and doesn't consume my life. I've chosen to continue taking the medication to prevent depression. After that last one, I don't want to risk a bad bout that I might not recover from. So, medication helps some while it hinders others. Each person must take the course of action that is best for them.
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Thank you for including me on your newsletter email list.
The information I am forwarding to you is of vital interest to me.
Our national deby is not a result of the NIH or science grants; I believe
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ability to lead our country through the economic and technological
challenges in the future.


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Subject: Earn it!!

A social studies schoolteacher at Robinson High School
in Little Rock did something not to be forgotten.

On the first day of school, with the permission of the
school superintendent, the principal and the building
supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her
classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they
discovered that there were no desks.

'Ms. Cothren, where're our desks?'. She replied, 'You
can't have a desk until you tell me what you have done
to earn the right to sit at a desk.'

They thought, 'well, maybe it's our grades.' No,' she
said. 'Maybe it's our behavior.' She told them, 'No,
it's not even your behavior.'
And so, they came and went, the first period, second
period, third period. Still no desks in the
classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started
gathering in
Ms.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy
teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled
students found seats on the floor of the deskless
classroom, Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no
one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done
to earn the right to sit at the desks that are
ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to
tell you.' At this point, Martha Cothren went over to
the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven
(27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that
classroom, each one carrying a school desk.
The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and
then they would walk over and stand alongside the
wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final
desk in place those kids started to understand,
perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how
the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at
these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed
the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in
them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good
students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so
that you could have the freedom to get an education.
Don't ever forget it.

By the way, this is a true story. Please consider
passing this along so others won't forget that the
freedoms we have in this great country were earned by
U. S. Veterans.


AMERICA - THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE