17 MAY 07: 20 ACRES AND STUBBORN AS MULES

Wednesday marked the first full day of a "cooling-off period" in Columbus. And as City Manager Isaiah Hugley declared it, a cold front moved through the city with scattered rain. Our City Manager has more power than we thought....

The cooling-off period involves the long-disputed land around the Columbus Public Library. If I understand it correctly, six acres belong to the city. Another 14 acres belong to the Muscogee County School Board. And hundreds of diverse citizens have come to the conclusion all the land really belongs to them.

Columbus Council was expected to vote Tuesday on a budget for remaining money from the 1999 special one-cent sales tax. But the vote was postponed, due to disagreement about what the priorities should be for land around the library. About the only thing everyone agrees on is that Firestone should NOT have a new and improved tire store.

In one corner of the debate is the group which wants the land around the main library turned into "green space," including a park. I'm tempted to call this group The Parkers - except I don't think school board member Linda Parker would want to be connected with it.

Muscogee County Republican Chair Josh McKoon has taken the lead, in the fight for what I'll call "Simple Green." Your blog has seen e-mail he sent to Columbus Council, outlining his reasoning - and most of it goes back to the 1999 campaign to approve a special one-cent sales tax. And I thought I was a packrat, for holding on to old city annual reports.

Josh McKoon's e-mail quotes supporters of the sales tax as saying in 1999, "a green space and a park will find residence alongside the new library." Last time I checked, they hadn't put a single sculpture in front of that building near Macon Road....

But one of the "facts" cited in Josh McKoon's e-mail shows at least one argument for the 1999 sales tax is seriously flawed. He quotes school board member Barbara Pierce as saying the sales tax would "free up money for books." While some new books were purchased for the central library, a lot of old ones vanished - and the religious reference works weren't even donated to Beacon University.

Josh McKoon's e-appeal to Columbus Council includes a petition for the Simple Green approach, which is signed by more than 300 people. The best-known names on the petition include former mayoral candidate Bert Coker and "God Bless Fort Benning" founder Eve Tidwell - even though a park near a library sounds like a great rallying point for S.O.A. Watch protesters.

(A few comments on the Simple Green petition claim once green space is lost, "it can never be regained." Yet another signee notes the disputed area had "nothing but beautiful trees" years ago -- so should several of these names be disqualified, for contradicting each other?)

One thing keeps puzzling me about the Simple Green campaign. Why don't supporters of green space around the central library use the green space that's in the area NOW? Do they use the ball diamond on Rigdon Road, between the old Sears building and Rigdon Road School? Or are they like Harris County residents, and require a two-acre minimum lot?

On the other side of this debate is the group supporting mixed-use development. One petition signer describes the plan as "286 houses on 15 acres," which by my math computes to each house being 48 feet by 48 feet. I guess some people can live comfortably on half a basketball court -- with little patches of green space for playing hopscotch.

(The strange thing is that Phenix City seems thrilled by this sort of approach. They call it the Phenixian development, near the river....)

The proposed mixed-use development would have some businesses, as well as people living near the central library. Critics say no one would want to live near Macon Road and Rigdon Road. This seems illogical, given the expected population growth from BRAC. Besides, gasoline prices keep increasing - since both roads are on METRA bus lines.

City Manager Isaiah Hugley told WRBL Wednesday one issue in the debate is whether the city can afford to have a park near the central library. You may remember a study presented to the school board last year [25 Jul 06], which said green space would cost $200,000 per acre to maintain -- so maybe the trees there should be fruit-producing, to sell along the roadside.

The e-mail from Josh McKoon hints if the mixed-use development approach is approved by Columbus Council, it might be challenged at the Georgia Supreme Court. McKoon explains the "original initiatives" of the sales tax question would be violated. But if a library's already built, isn't 90-percent fulfillment good enough?

Muscogee County School Board member Fife Whiteside said Wednesday the land debate has reached the point where both sides have "deeply entrenched views," and seem to be in no mood to compromise. Can something be worked out, by the next scheduled Columbus Council appearance of May 29? I mean, beyond having everyone go to the Pastoral Institute for counseling....

Perhaps Eve Tidwell has the best idea, in her comment written on the Simple Green petition: "Why can't it be both, small shops that encourage reading.... lots of shade, lots of green grass in squares...." In other words, replicate The Landings -- but add some more trees.

I suspect we'll hear from some readers about this one - and now let's see if other Wednesday news will add to that:

+ A mid-afternoon drive past Fourth Street Baptist Church found lawn/sidewalk watering underway again, at about 2:00 p.m. Georgia state rules only allow outdoor watering between 12:00 midnight and 10:00 a.m. So is this another of those "serendipitous overflow" things?!

+ Former Russell County Commissioner Tillman Pugh commented on the dismissal of the sexual harassment suit against him. Pugh said the the complaint by County Administrator Leann Horne-Jordan was "dismissed without prejudice." If both parties had been of different skin colors, some people might have reached a different conclusion.

+ An attorney wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue lacked the authority to take back his veto of a midyear budget. In other words, the state constitution's rules on vetoes were written before someone invented the "undo" button for computers.

+ WRBL showed the Columbus State women's softball team practicing for the Division II World Series in Ohio - but indoors, on an enclosed college football practice field. This team keeps having new experiences. First some players make their first airplane flight - and now they've been at a college which really plays football.

+ Instant Message to WKCN-FM morning host "Wild Bill": My apologies for not finding this out earlier - but congratulations on your engagement! Does this mean after you're married, you'll become Tame Bill?

(P.S. I'm assuming you bought the engagement ring at Wild Bill's Pawn Shop on Buena Vista Road....)

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