23 MAY 07: A HAPPY MEDIAN?
Columbus Council approved plans Tuesday for the next big "Streetscape" project. If you thought the work on Broadway was annoying, just wait until crews start working on Veterans Parkway - which actually is used by a large number of cars every day.
Trees Columbus officials outlined plans to improve the middle of Veterans Parkway, between Fourth and 13th Street. The biggest change would be the addition of a median with trees - and if they're like the trees along downtown Atlanta streets, they'll need changing every ten years because exhaust fumes will kill them.
Parts of Veterans Parkway in the "streetscape zone" actually have medians already. In other cities, it's called a "median strip" -- but in Columbus, the ones on Victory Drive with such a name would only make single men snicker.
Downtown sections of Veterans Parkway with medians with grass or bushes - but Trees Columbus apparently wants trees there instead. If you still needed evidence that President Bush is a "lame duck," there it is.
But some business owners along Veterans Parkway are concerned about the medians. They fear they might lose money, because drivers won't be able to make left turns in the middle of the block. If they ran body shops or wrecker services, this might be logical....
One beauty shop owner along Veterans Parkway expressed concern the addition of trees in the median might make it harder for customers to find her business. The answer to this seems to be easy - make the beehive hairdos that much higher.
But some locations are thriving in the parts of Veterans Parkway which already have medians. People are able to get to the Mildred Terry Branch Library without much difficulty, and plans are in the works for expansion. Maybe more businesses should offer free computers for listening to rap music.
Columbus Council didn't mind approving this streetscape plan because it won't cost the city any money. It's being paid for by a state grant, as well as Trees Columbus. But I wonder if Columbus Police might object to all the trees in the middle of Veterans Parkway - since they'll give panhandlers places to hide.
The streetscape plan for Veterans Parkway also means the removal of billboards along the roadsides. One of them at Eighth Street says El Carrizo restaurants are "just ahead." I'm not sure when "just" started meaning halfway across the city....
So where does Trees Columbus plan to stop with this streetscape work? First Broadway, then Veterans Parkway beginning next year - but if it dares propose trees with medians on Whittlesey Boulevard west of Columbus Park Crossing, the group might lose almost all its donations.
A scenic place leads off our look at other Tuesday news:
+ Georgia state officials announced several state parks will close two days a week, to save money. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Providence Canyon State Park originally was on the list, but officials changed their minds. Perhaps they were concerned tourists who walk in Sunday afternoon might wind up stuck until Wednesday morning.
+ A southeast breeze spread smoke from the Georgia-Florida wildfire across the Columbus area. For some people, the layer of smoky haze was a bother. For the people who live close to barbecue restaurants, it was simply another day.
+ Several law enforcement agencies announced more than 120 arrest warrants, at the end of a ten-month drug operation. For those of you who complained to your neighbors that nothing was being done about drugs in the neighborhood - how do you know one of those neighbors wasn't an undercover officer?
+ WRBL reported the amount of money in the Columbus city general fund is up six percent this year. This is due in part to $19,400 in fines for false alarms - and imagine if that included the people spreading wild rumors about the immigration bill.
+ The Georgia Public Policy Foundation honored Rigdon Road, Benning Hills and Dimon Elementary Schools as "no excuses" schools. You'd think every teacher in the district would know better than to buy the "dog ate my homework" line....
(By "no excuses," the Georgia Public Policy Foundation means these schools excelled despite having a large number of low-income students. But all that could change next school year - once the deep discounts end, and Chapman's goes out of business.)
+ Columbus High School blitzed Blessed Trinity 13-1 and 10-1, to advance to the AAA baseball semifinals. Blessed Trinity will seek penance, while Columbus seeks pennants.
+ Instant Message to Wyeth Laboratories: What's this new pill you just had approved - Lybrel?! The one they say promises "an end to periods"?! What will we writers use instead -- nothing but exclamation points?!?
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