Your Comments (9-9-08)

Just looking to see if the latest Free Times had hit the internet and I kept seeing this headline: Austin Says City Too Broke to Fund X-Mas Street Lights (http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=11010712073616103&ShowArticle_ID=11462711072021489). I really should get Warren Bolton a gift subscription to the Free Times. Maybe then he would understand what everyone else knows: the city is broke.

On to your comments.


Bus System

About my letter to The State, which (Warthen Bolton will never print and I never expect), one reader said: This certainly feasible..
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Hi joe,
Well I agree with you 100%. It would be a complete joke if Columbia doesn't fix the bus system budget issues. The city shouldn't have to borrow funds from other places to make it work. Come up with several solutions and have the people vote on the best one. What planet are we living on that this cannot be communicated logically from anyone besides you. Atleast you're, as Glenn Beck would say, a thinker.

on top of that maybe if the system was improved then the city could actually transform itself as far as transportation goes. Examples: new stops, clean stops where people don't have to drag a log from the woods to sit on, and maybe even some new eco-friendly buses. I know these things will cost money but then maybe people will use it and generate some revenue for the city. I know I would!!!!!
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Joseph,
I am so sorry to take so long in getting back to you on this issue, since as you know this is an issue that I am very passionate about. Not nly because I use the bus system, because I have been able to drive, and proabaly will again. I feel this is an important issue because the people in this town, especially the "so called" political and business leadership need to to stop seeing the bus ssytem as a way to get poor and lederly people from thier homes/neighborhoods to the neighborhoods and homes of the hotlesl and homes that they clean, and begin to see it more as a tool for economic advancement. I even know one professor at Benedict who told me that she ahs a student who must wheel herself across the bridge to the transit station, to get to Benedict College.

the fact is the better the bus system=more people are able to get work= more taxes paid to the city+ more discretionary spending monye (movies, plays, shopping etc)= more businesses taxes paid to the governement becasue these busineesse are growing and earning more.

Now, ahving said that I happen to agree with your coments about Mr Fisher's observations. I should also point out that I called Councilman Rickenman on the bus system topic and he promptly called me back. I was on my cell phone with him from the timwe thatI got on theb bus at the transit station unti just before i got off in st Andrews. (about 20-30 minutes)

As i recall one thing that we did agree on is that businesses, individuals, and the municiplaities need to work together on this issue. I even went so far as to say that what needs to happen is instead of various local governments pointing fingers at each other (i.e.Richaland County Council vs City council), we need to have a joint meeting between the various local governments. (City of Columbia, Richaland Couty, Lexington County, west columbi, sringdale etc) and various businesses and citizen to ppoint out he benefits of putting into the bus system. As councilman Rickenman pointed out during in our phone conversatin part of the problem is that we have four or five bus systems that repeat one another in many cases, U.SC. CMRT, Newberry express, wateree expreess, Chapin express) which should pool their resources and join inot one system.

Will any of these things ever happen? i dount it? Too many of the people involved just wante to play power games.

I also e-mailed mayor Coble on this issue and he did e-mail me back and responded that the city had been unsuccessful in getting people/businesses ot advertise on the inside of the bus. i e-mailed him back that he and the city should consisder doing commercial on the enefits of advertsing on the inside of the bus similar to how they advertise the smart/parkingmeter card. I also suggested tat a portion of the money generated from the sale of the parkingmeter cards be used towards the bus system. At least on a temporary basis. he e-mailed m back with a two woord response. "Good Ideas!"

Now I was not able to make the meeting, but I doubt nay of thos "good ideas" (to use Mayor Coble's own words) were put forth, or will be put forth. Simply because our leaders see in an outdated classist way rather than a tool for economicdevelopment.

However. in al fairness to our politicians, I must state her what I tell people who ride the bus everytime they ask me to give them an update on what is goingoon or what I think about the situation: "Go to the meetings!" Joe until this happens, things are not going to change. As much as people like you and I speak out on issues such as this, it is also important that busriders and busdrivers also attend these meetings.

please feel free to sign my name.

Keith h. Seymour



Tipping

Tipping on to go orders…

It depends. The food usually costs the same for the restaurant and you whether it’s dine in or to go. Some may charge more for to go, but most don’t. However, the service for to go orders varies. Obviously with dine in, you have a poor little server (or bartender) running her butt off for $2.13 an hour (or $3.75 for bar), unless it went up with the recent minimum wage increase (but it usually doesn’t). However, that hourly wage is barely enough to cover that server’s tax on all over credit card charges, which the restaurant makes her pay. So if you’re sitting down drinking beer while you wait on your to go food, and you have a server taking care of you, then YES, you should tip. And don’t forget that in that situation, you took up a table in her section where a family of four could have sat while dining in, and therefore would have hopefully tipped 20% - and yes, that’s the starting rate! People think it’s 15%, but it’s not. Servers can work up or down, but that’s the standard starting point – 20%.

Now, if you order to go food at say, Yesterday’s, they probably have a hostess putting it together in a bag for you with all the condiments, fork set, etc. If that’s the case, they’re making at least minimum wage, and this duty is usually part of their job. In this case, tips are really great and certainly appreciated b/c $7 an hour doesn’t go very far, but they’re not as necessary as when a server brings the food.

Regardless, food and beverage employees are paid almost nothing in Columbia, unlike Charleston, Hilton Head and other tourist areas, so if you have the extra dollars, spread the love!


On the City

Joe - you frequently have some valid points regarding the operation of the City of Columbia but you also fall short occasionally in your diatribes....

I have been involved in and been a part of the Vista revitalization. It has truly been a remarkable effort since Mayor Findlay focused the City on that area in the early 80's. The joint effort of USC and the city has been nothing short of amazing. There are countless success stories, i.e. increased residential development, the Publix, the new baseball stadium, the Convention Center, the Colonial Center, the new Hilton - the list goes on and on.

The City got the best deal it could out of the bus system - I'm told by people who understand the negotiations. SCE&G was determined to opt out and the court had ruled it could not be forced to operate the transit system at a loss. Coble is correct, on a net basis we did better than Charleston with SCE&G. The future of an acceptable transit system in the midlands will involve increased taxes (and maybe fares) of some kind.

Coble and the Council have made their share of mistakes, the lack of credible accounting procedure probably the most serious.

Personally I don't share your view of CCI. It was an eyesore with absolutely no redeeming features. As a movie set? Come on Joe, that is so far removed from reality, it's absurd!!

jsa-I assume Group Therapy is more significant? That’s why it has been used in movies? Who would need an old jail as a set anyhow?

SCE&G has been determined for years to opt out. What court ruled that and when? Maybe those that told you we got the best deal also had circuitous economic interests. You know this town well and how it works. I believe I heard a story maybe you could substantiate about someone in the Vista area, a “community leader”, who is getting a nice break on a house and rent. Something to do with the old CDC. I never did take time to investigate the minutes as someone told me to.

The Vista is much better now than when I was a child. It was a run down warehouse district. It has come a long way. You have done a good job.
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Joe, I know it predates Chucky being city manager (and to be fair I was critical of his performance as police chief as well), but why the bleep have ALL city council members and Mr. Coble not been concerned about the lack of accounting of city finances? I'm sure Mr. Bolton is a nice guy, but what was he smoking when he wrote this? A cigarette left in an ashtray by a video poker machine? BTW, any comments on a good bike to get for someone who wishes say to ride 10 miles a day that would handle both street and light trail (i.e. Riverfront park)

Thanks for your time,

p.s. You are 100% correct about the Colonial Life Arena debacle, something that as a stagehand I have to make sure I'm correct on.
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RE: CCI:
It need to be destroyed because it was not safe when the Dept. Of Corrections moved. I worked in and out for 21 months and people signed a statement to sleep in the single cells because they were unsafe. Fortunately there was not an accident. It was my understanding that CCI was the first state facility in SC. A marker to CCI should be sufficient. I too wanted something left, but when it was checked out, none of bldgs were in shape to remain.

jsa-So was the Publix-unsafe. Remember the boards used to hold it up? It is not nearly as architecturally or historically significant as the old CCI. Yet the Publix is now used by thousands a day and condos are going into that building also. Any building can be brought up to spec, just look at 701 in Olympia.
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Spelling Error:
For Future Reference:
"Penney's" Should Always Be Properly Spelled With An "e"
Not
"Penny's".
Also:
J.C.Penney''s
J.C.Penney
i.e.:
Stands For:
James "Cash" Penney*
Middle Name "Cash"; Often Used As An Inquiry For A Popular Trivia Question
In French:
Pronounced
J.C.Pen~A

jsa-OK, OK. I take my lashings.
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asked what the results of the two test holes at the old Kenny's site in five points. In less than a week after they were dug, the reduced the height of the proposed building. The location was originally a swamp.

jsa-Hmmmm……


ABC Denver

Even though I intend to vote for Obama/Biden, you are right about the money talking..

The only real reason the two party system is sacrosanct in the US is that it is easier for the big-monied corporate interests to buy off two parties than more than two. Over half of the former members of the US House and Senate are now lobbying the US House and Senate, mostly for the big money boys.
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Joe,

Unfortunately this little clip shows only the arrest and puts its own spin on why the arrest was made (it could have been for harassing an old lady for all I know).

It would be more believable, if it had been filmed as completely as the arrest threat of Ralph Nader at the presidential debates a few years ago, where he had a ticket but the cops had been given orders not to let him in by the debate commission!
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I’ll bet celebrities wish they could have Denver police handle the paparazzi.
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I smell a massive lawsuit against the Denver Police. Its a public sidewalk so the hotel had nothing to complain about. This demonstrates that the Democrats are as corrupt as they say Republicans are.
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That's heavy and not just the weight on that Denver cop(lol) but in all fairness to Brett he was on public property but secret service agents said he was in a protest free zone and ironically it was they who determined the parameters of the zone.