25 MAR 09: SYN. Secrets

The first hint of trouble came Monday evening, during the dinner hour. A man wondered why the "huge layoffs today at CB&T" didn't make the news. Maybe the reporters don't get paychecks to take to the bank until later in the week.

The man claimed people with as much as 26 years' experience at Columbus Bank and Trust were let go. But this man was NOT one of them, and the supposedly laid- off workers didn't want to talk about it. They probably wanted to pass through the Columbus Career Center as quietly as possible - hoping unemployment checks were on accounts from Wachovia.

A spokesman for Synovus Financial didn't know Monday night about any layoffs. But that didn't stop the rumors. Tuesday afternoon I talked with a concerned Synovus shareholder, who noted her stock has gone "down the tubes." And for so many people who invest close to home, this is a YourTube display.

The woman claimed to know some of the newly laid-off Synovus employees - but she added they were under a severance agreement requiring them NOT to talk about their situation. It's hard to expose a "cover-up" when the people being covered up don't want to come out from under the covers.

So we had the makings of a classic standoff -- Synovus denying layoffs, other people saying they happened, and the affected workers refusing to go public. I could feel for the employees in the middle. It's like the day I umpired youth league baseball, when a runner missed home plate and went to the dugout without
being tagged. Is he safe, out - or something in between?

The shareholder offered an idea for resolving this matter. I should stand outside the Synovus headquarters as Chairman Richard Anthony left the building for the day. Oh thanks a lot - the humor blogger becoming an "ambush journalist." And I don't even own a video camera, to record executives shoving me to the sidewalk.

Thankfully, I didn't have to head downtown and stage a 5:00 p.m. vigil. A Synovus spokesman finally confirmed late Tuesday that the company is cutting 200 positions. There will be 74 cuts in Columbus by the end of May - which is actually about one percent of the corporate staff. So is this really a "huge layoff," or a layoff with a huge severance plan?

It's not clear how many of the 200 positions are open, and how many are actual layoffs. But workers who face elimination apparently can apply for other corporate jobs. This makes a cutback at Synovus sound a bit like cutting dead wood from the federal government....

So where are there open jobs at Synovus? Richard Hyatt's web site found dozens of them in South Carolina. A new call center will open in Sumter next year, employing 100 people. They couldn't even be put in Sumter County, Georgia?!

(I can hear the skeptics now - claiming Synovus finally found a place in the South where workers were willing to work for less money than in Columbus.)

That wasn't the only job cut making news Tuesday. Alatech Healthcare announced its Eufaula plant will lose about 300 employees - workers who spend their days making condoms. I hesitate to call this "bad news," because plenty of fundamentalist preachers probably are rejoicing.

Be honest now -- doesn't it seem strange that a major producer of condoms is located in Eufaula? In the heart of the "Bible Belt?" Shouldn't this be the area leading the world in making chastity belts?

Alatech had a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development to produce condoms. But AID decided it could obtain condoms from China for less money. Given what we've heard about other products made in China, this news might scare a lot of people into a life of abstinence.

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E-MAIL UPDATE: Before Tuesday night's main event at Columbus Council, we received a lengthy comment about the topic in question (yes, sent as one long paragraph)....

Legacy Apartments are too expensive. They rent for $500, no utilities. The fence is not high and the area looks dangerous. The scenery is not something to relish in, railroad tracks, the prison, unattractive apartments to the left of them. It gives the impression of being a dangerous area. Still, as poor as I am, I checked into them. I was very surprised that they were $500 a month. They are also for people 50 years old or older only. They are rentable on section 8. No one seems to know that though. Columbus needs apartments for the disabled very badly. The rich elderly are fairly well served, but the poor elderly are greatly underserved in this area. When I went to Legacy Apartments, they were sort of cute, but there was no one there; no tenants, no management on the premises, just nothing. The outdoor fans and porches looked somewhat inviting, but not one person could be found anywhere. I thought perhaps they were just built and were not yet being rented out. I called the number and I believe it is Elite Ventures who is managing them. I am surprised that much smaller towns have websites for their housing authorities. Columbus does a terrible job as a whole, when it comes to information about different apartments. Some are rent controlled, but it is never advertised, some are available for section 8, and even people at the Housing Authority are not aware of it. Our Housing Authority is in great need of a web site. Even many smaller cities have a web site up for their Housing Authority, listing the various properties and pertinent information about them. Columbus does not. One gets referred to GHS, an anacronym for Georgia Housing Service, but covers the entire state, not just Columbus. On GHS many housing authorities have a link to display their web site for available rentals, Columbus does not. Columbus is much bigger than a lot of these smaller Ga. cities, yet Columbus still does not have a site. They had one for years that claimed to be under construction. When I click on it now, it says the account has been cancelled. It is hard for the poor elderly, or disabled to find a place here in Columbus. Ralston Towers keeps changing their policies. One year tenants can smoke, the next they can't. The same is true with food. At present meals are mandatory to reside there. Meals are served at 6:45 a.m. and at 10:45 a.m. and no dinner. I probably should not say this, but it is true, I had an appointment to see a unit, the lady said she had made a mistake, and did not show units on Fridays, so I was a little peeved, but also had to use the restroom. I went to the side of the dining area to look for a bathroom. It lead me into the food area. The food was in industrial cans and some were expired. There were droppings from bugs and mice also. I am a vegetarian so I guess Ralston is out for me, although they said I could get a letter from my doctor proving my vegetarianism; however, my doctor said that a blood test to confirm vegetarianism was not covered by insurance and could not positively confirm that a person even is a vegetarian. So much confusion and disheartenment. Mandatory meals are very expensive at Ralston, for those on very limited incomes. Very few elderly or disabled are awake to eat before dawn. I think it is unfair and silly, not to mention, that even I would not want to eat that food.

Who needs the downtown trolley route, when you have this tour? About all we lack is a review of the Booker T. Washington Apartments - but they make the news so often, they might not need an introduction.

Not only is the Columbus Housing Authority's web site down, a related web site for the Ashley Station complex doesn't appear to have been updated since last May. You'd think those after-school computer labs for children at Elizabeth Canty Homes would be accomplishing something....

It's sad to read about the changing policies at The Ralston. You'd think a compromise could be struck on smoking - such as putting the smokers on the top floors, so smoke drifts up and away from the residents practicing their yoga.

Of all the things to learn from writing this blog - I didn't know you can take a blood test to prove you're vegetarian. Shouldn't a simple trip to a pizza buffet settle this matter?

But we're digressing here - the issue before Columbus Council Tuesday night was Legacy Terrace. And after nearly two hours of discussion, the vote was for the city to buy the housing complex on Ninth Street. So the next time Columbus residents drive by it, they're welcome to sing: "Legacy, our Legacy."

Other e-mails will have to wait until another day, as we need to wrap up the rest of the Tuesday news:

+ A Georgia House committee voted 4-3 against changing the state law, to require buckled seat belts inside pickup trucks. Does NASCAR play by these rules when truck races are held at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

+ A Columbus businessman withdrew a proposal to open a bar next door to an Auburn day care center. Supporters tried to argue the businesses would operate at different times of day -- but opponents then noted the Auburn men's basketball team might play well enough next season to earn a lunch-hour tournament game on a Thursday.

+ Those Auburn Tigers were bounced by Baylor 74-72, in the National Invitational Tournament semifinals. If Jeff Lebo's team wants to go to New York, he should ask Charles Barkley to buy the team round-trip tickets.

(The Baylor-Auburn game was nationally televised on ESPN, after the end of spring break - and still it failed to sell out, with an attendance of less than 6,600. The football team's opening night of spring drills again showed which coach REALLY is in charge.)

+ Brookstone bruised Shaw in high school baseball 18-0 - and the game took only three innings. Yes, a little school routed a big school. But then again, Brookstone has the money to recruit World Baseball Classic reserves from Japan.

+ Instant Message to the Ledger-Enquirer: I don't care if it took place at Shooters. Since when did suicides earn a front-page story? Especially if it's someone hardly anybody knows? Why not take the next cost-cutting step, and reduce the paper to tabloid-size?

SCHEDULED THURSDAY: Plots along Victory Drive -- involving land, and maybe other things...

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