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19 MAY 04: LOTS LESS

The Phenix City Council voted Tuesday to crack down on one of the city's biggest problems -- one that's lurked right under our noses for years, without our even realizing it. Sad as it is to admit, downtown Phenix City is addicted to used cars.

An ordinance approved Tuesday puts a freeze on any additional used car lots in Phenix City. But current businesses can remain open - so there won't be any new used car lots, only USED used car lots.

Phenix City is taking this step because it's trying to redevelop the downtown area. In the long run, it wants to replace used car lots with nice new restaurants. You know, like the Tyler's on 14^th Street which seems to keep bankers' hours....

Some Phenix City officials say the downtown area is overrun with car-related businesses - not only used car lots, but auto repair and parts shops. Well, what does the city want Russell County residents to do? Keep their old cars on concrete blocks ALL the time?

(Don't these officials realize that Phenix City beat Columbus to having an O'Reilly auto parts store? The national chain opened its first area location recently on Crawford Road - so Bill O'Reilly is more likely to visit them first.)

Under this new ordinance, downtown Phenix City used car lot owners can sell them to other people. But if the car lot ever shuts down, it cannot reopen as a car dealership -- and then it might be fun to dig around, and see how many auto parts are buried under the asphalt.

Some car lot owners in downtown Phenix City are displeased with this new ordinance. The manager of Red Dot Motors noted every car sold brings the city five cents on the dollar in sales tax. Shut down Red Dot, and you'll have Red Ink....

Another Phenix City business owner complained Spectrum wants to buy his prime space near the 13^th Street Bridge, but the city won't let him make the sale. We can understand the city's point of view on this - because we should only have one Spectrum store every eight blocks, not every six.

Lost in all this discussion is a rather basic question: where does downtown Phenix City begin, anyway? There's a "Downtown Steak House" (or there used to be) on Crawford Road that's much closer to the 280 Bypass than the Russell County Courthouse. If Phenix City's downtown zone is bigger than Columbus's, something's up....

We should note the new Phenix City ordinance will allow the construction of used car lots on U.S. 280, and other high-traffic areas. This could be what Arthur Sumbry's been looking for, to improve the south side of town - the "Alaga Auto Mall."

E-MAIL UPDATE: Tuesday was a doubleheader day in the message department. Our first letter comes from someone who spotted our paper "prayer rug" in our blog archives [19 Apr]:

Hi. I found your blog via Google while searching Saint Matthew's Church zip code 52641....

I, too, received this letter with the paper prayer rug today. I've seen this painting with the eyes that change a long time ago in the 1970's when a friend of mine had it hanging on her wall. It kind of creeped me out back then and I've never forgotten about it. But I've never seen one of them since.

Imagine my surprise when I got the paper rug with the same image in my mail today. Usually, I don't even open this kind junk mail, but for some reason today I did. I realize it's probably just a "Jesus Scam" as you mentioned in your post, but I'm a true believer in the power of prayer, so against my better judgement, I'll send them a dollar donation. But dog-gone-it! I wanna keep the paper rug and send it to my daughter so I can remind her "Jesus is watching you!" when I'm not there to see what she's up to. She's 24, single, and likes living on the edge. I well remember my own life at 24; and, as the tree is bent, so grows the twig! Maybe it'll creep her out enough to question her own actions sometimes. LOL

Why do you suppose these people who mailed this letter out asked some of those questions such as the exact amount of money I want God to bless me with. I'd like a million dollars of course, but then that's a little on the greedy side isn't it? I'd be perfectly happy receiving whatever He thinks I deserve. Besides, I'd rather poor children be blessed with the money anyway. So I don't believe a word of that horse manure.

Do you think we can really ask Jesus for all these material things? Like a new car, a new home, etc. After all, these are "worldy" "earthly" possessions, of no real value if one really believes the scriptures and Gospels. Material possessions will do us no good on the other side, and even if you don't believe in Christ or the bible, everybody knows "You can't take it with you!".

And, why do you think they want the names of people we'd like to pray for. They don't ask for their addresses so they can't be putting them on their mailing list.

I do however draw the line at the prayer chain emails. But, I'm just superstitious enough that this particular snail mail one got me. Call me a sucker, call me stupid, but, eh, I figure what's a dollar donation, even if it is a scam. It's just a dollar. It's not like I've never wasted a dollar in my life before. I'll just double up my usual donation to the Poor Box when I leave my own church this Sunday. :-) At least I know where that money really goes, which is to my community and their outreach programs.

Anyway, thanks for reading my commentary on the Jesus Scam.

Cripchick52

CripChick, I also saw something creepy staring at me Tuesday. Those HAD to be eyeballs in the O's promoting the TV report on "Internet Snoops."

If you send that paper "prayer rug" to your single daughter, please remember to anoint it first. I would recommend canola oil - lower in cholesterol, and a lot less expensive than olive oil.

This letter raises an interesting point - why doesn't St. Matthew's church send these blessing letters to poor children? Why doesn't it exchange letters with the Christian Children's Fund, and pour out money on starving youngsters in Peru?

Letter #2 comes from a regular Blog reader, who was stumped by one of our Tuesday Instant Messages:

NOBODY stays up till 11 PM to watch WRBL news. The suspense is killing me. Why, WHAT? Some reporter from 3 showed up at the Relay for life at 8:30 in the morning with a black see through number on! I was stunned! Do Tell!

OK, if you must know - Candace Cook on WRBL News appeared Monday night with a new permanent wave in her hair. And as we all know, changes like this are what so many viewers REALLY watch a television newscast to see,,,,

Nobody asked me, BUT - I personally think Candace Cook looks better with straight hair. But then again, all the other WRBL reporters have straight styles - so maybe Cook is trying extra-hard to win a Ledger-Enquirer "Reader's Choice Award."

By the way, remember former TV meteorologist Maria LaRosa? I read online Tuesday night she's taking a new job in Philadelphia! She's advanced about as fast as an infielder can with Atlanta's baseball team these days....

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