17 AUG 05: WATCH THIS SPACE
Columbus Council approved the rezoning of land on Whittlesey Boulevard Tuesday for -- well, for something. Some people with offices or homes nearby fear it could be a Wal-Mart SuperCenter. And if THEY fear it, imagine how the staff of the Winn-Dixie store on Veterans Parkway feels.
Ben Carter Properties isn't dropping any hints about which stores will build along Whittlesey Boulevard, near Columbus Park Crossing. The company only says there will be "stores new to the Columbus area." Don't they know we ran that outsider Albert Paley out of town a few weeks ago?
Mayor Bob Poydasheff told WRBL Tuesday he thinks the retailer heading for the Whittlesey Boulevard is "very likely a Wal-Mart." Our poor mayor needs to get out more - because Wal-Mart has been in the Columbus area a long time.
But I've heard at least one person complain the roads on Whittlesey can't handle the traffic that a Wal-Mart SuperCenter would bring. I'm not really sure why they can't. U.S. 280 in north Phenix City isn't exactly an eight-lane interstate....
WRBL interviewed attorney Ken Henson, whose office is on Veterans Parkway. He complained traffic jams are a regular problem around Columbus Park Crossing. There's an easy way for Henson to deal with this. Join the crowd of lawyers, and move his office to the Historic District.
A dispute arose over exactly how many vehicles travel down Whittlesey Boulevard each day. Some say the number is 9,900. Research conducted for Ben Carter Properties puts the number at 7,500. And if gas prices keep rising, the number could drop to 2,000 in no time.
I've driven around the Columbus Park Crossing area on enough Saturdays to know the traffic really isn't that bad during prime shopping time. Some drivers simply are impatient. They wait through two cycles at a traffic light, and they declare that gridlock.
If you asked me to guess which store is the prime contender for that land on Whittlesey Boulevard, I would NOT guess Wal-Mart. My guess is Kohl's -- a national department store chain owned by a Senator from Wisconsin. But of course, you'd think a Democrat would put that store on the south side of town....
If you asked me what I really WANT to see on Whittlesey - well, I've expressed my feelings here before. Columbus needs a Kroger store, to bring down the price of groceries. And while they're at it, an oil refinery next door wouldn't hurt.
Elsewhere in Columbus, City Manager Isaiah Hugley suggested Tuesday that Cherokee Avenue be made a three-lane road instead of four. So which direction will traffic in the middle lane go, sideways?
(The good news about this idea is that part of Cherokee Avenue is eroding, anyway - so let that lane drop, and you'll save on construction costs.)
City Manager Isaiah Hugley admits a three-lane approach will make Cherokee Avenue more crowded. But he called that a good thing, because drivers will slow down. Based on this logic, I hereby call for one lane on each side of the J.R. Allen Parkway to be reserved for bicycles.
The City Manager believes with slower traffic on a three-lane road, Cherokee Avenue won't need those controversial guardrails. The people who build NASCAR road courses like Watkins Glen know better than that....
E-MAIL UPDATE: Eve Tidwell's trips to Texas, inspired by Cindy Sheehan's stay outside the President's ranch, have one blog reader thinking:
Richie-boy,
While others might see this episode as a grieving mother taking her anguish out on the President, or while other say she wouldn't be on TV if she was black, I think we're all missing the bigger picture. When our beloved President (excuse me while I choke on the word 'beloved') was running for office, he was willing to talk to any Joe or Jane Schmoe who caught his eye. In fact, all candidates do. But once we elected him, the door was shut. Once we put the baby-kissers and the hand-shakers in office, they shut the door on us.
Back before assassinations and terrorists, Presidents often talked to the 'common man' face-to-face. It wasn't unusual for someone to knock on the White House door and be greeted by the President, or at least someone who could take them to the President. But of course for security reasons, those days are finished. However, security for our leaders is top-notch these days. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to sneak Sheehan out of her media circus camp and get her an hour with the President, IF the President wants.
The situation is getting bigger and bigger, and the flames of the fire are being fed with every news report or article about it. If the President REALLY does care about what Americans think, maybe he could show us by allowing Sheehan an hour of his precious time. A one hour sit down; listen to what she has to say, without the disturbance of cameras or reporters; maybe convince her that her son died believing it was for a greater cause. Anything. Alas, that will probably never happen, and in 3 years we'll elect yet another of those baby-kissing, hand-shaking hypocrites. Someone who goes to Town Hall meetings, shows up in diners to commune with the townspeople. A man of the people.....that is until he gets sworn in, and yet another door gets shut in the collective American face.
AR
Be careful, AR - many people considered former President Clinton "beloved," and that put him in a lot of trouble.
President Bush still gets out and visits with ordinary people like you and me. Simply make a big enough donation, and you'll be invited to a town hall meeting.
Somehow I think it would be hard right now to "sneak" Cindy Sheehan inside President Bush's ranch. Let's face it: the last time so many reporters watched a rebellious person in central Texas, his compound went up in flames.
AR's putting down a boundary here for the 2008 Presidential campaign, and I think he has a point. Any candidate who kisses a baby should be disqualified -- at least for reasons of hygiene.
Meanwhile, Tuesday's Ledger-Enquirer had an article by Dr. Jack Tidwell, about his wife's Texas travels. He described Cindy Sheehan's outdoor demonstration as "part circus, part media event...." Just wait until the lawsuit against David Glisson goes to trial.
But did you see the part of the article Dr. Jack Tidwell wrote specifically to his wife? He revealed by traveling to Texas, Eve Tidwell missed seeing the Broadway musical "Wicked" in New York. And all this time, local ministers thought she wanted God to BLESS Fort Benning....
Now for final sideshows from Tuesday's news:
+ Gas prices in Columbus jumped another six cents, to a low of $2.57 per gallon. Who cares about that "housing bubble" anymore - I want to see a gas bubble.
(This makes five gas price hikes in Columbus in the last nine days. No wonder it's so hard to find a "Money Back" store in this area anymore....)
+ Brickyard Road in Phenix City was closed between 7th Street and Colin Powell Parkway, because of a 28-feet-deep sinkhole. Finally -- a hole big enough to bury all those nasty memories of the 1950's.
(I didn't know until the other night that Martin Luther King Boulevard is closed in Columbus, between Buena Vista Road and Lawyers Lane. Did city officials find out another big civil rights march was being planned?)
+ Which Alabama television station had a job opening posted recently for an announcer - but when people contacted the station, the Human Resources staff knew nothing about it? In what part of North Korea did the person who posted this get training?
+ Instant Message to my family back home: It must be hard these days, watching the Kansas City Royals lose 16 games in a row. But it could be worse - the Royals could have traded for Rafael Palmeiro before the season started.
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