Eisenga: Council inaction could delay Commerce Center project - An eggxample

I always try to buy the best eggs (within reason) I can find but never REALLY understood what was hype and what actually meant something on labels.   I feel better now that when I buy Phils Eggs from HyVee which are Certified Humane and Cage Free I understand what it means.

I think I have only had chicken eggs in my life.   Emu?  Remember when Emu's were the next BIG thing.

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I am LOVING the 60 Minutes piece last night about growing old.  Drinking alcohol, gaining weight and having sex will make you live longer - YEA BABY!!

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This whole racist problem with the LA Clippers is going to get more interesting  From what I have heard the owner is going to fight to keep his team or at least keep it in the family Trust.  But then listening to sports talk shows Charles Barkley says it's not going to be a problem at all.   

He guaranteed that if any person associated with Donald Sterling or any person in his family controls the team, no black player will play for the Clippers, guaranteed. And he doubts any white player will play.  Period.  

When asked if this was creating stress among players and so forth he said, "not at all". No one will play for that team. It's not even a talking point, not going to happen. It's already a done deal. 


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Had a unique event at my bird feeder yesterday - a hairy woodpecker AND a red-headed woodpecker at the same time on the suet.  No camera was available.  

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City Council Tuesday at 6:30.    Here is the agenda for the next meeting.  Of note are items #2, #3 and #4 which concern changing city wide zoning to allow, in a nut shell more strip malls and the possibility of Pay Day Loan companies plus a grocery/hardware store. I'm pro grocery/hardware store, not so much strip malls and pay day loans companies.  Sadly they seem to be linked together and our problem is to unlink them in a timely manner.  That area will become a strip mall, that stone was cast a few years ago and it's not going to change and we just have to deal with it.  
 
Council Agenda    

If you are one of the 10 people reading the news or getting emails you might know about this.  I would not have known but luckily Mr. Eisenga emailed me Saturday night informing me that this news article was out there. 

Eisenga: Council inaction could delay Commerce Center project  

I must correct him on one thing. When he says " “The city council's plan commission has approved this project and the requested permits and zoning changes twice. But the new city council appears to be balking on this, and I'm not quite sure why." 

Well, that is not actually the entire truth.

On March 18th staff received a letter from Ruekert-Mielke, Wisconsin’s oldest Municipal Engineering firm.  This letter was presented to Council with this wording "Prior to Conditional Use approval being issued, the following comments will need to be addressed or additional information needs to be provided per the following letter".  

They were not addressed as there were still 22 outstanding problems. 

MOST were just paper work but a few were BIG problems that we are working on.  When the developer built the very first commercial (not industrial) store, the ShopKo, it was built in the wrong place and not compliant with current zoning laws and it has opened up a HUGE can of worms with ramifications that could really hurt the future business climate of Columbus . . . unless, in a worst case scenario, you like strip malls with Pay Day Loans, funeral homes and fraternal organizations. 

We can not just change zoning for one zone without it effecting all future zones and Council is trying VERY hard to find a work around. 

But, of course the developer blames the city council with a media blitz. 

On a personal note - When I got Mr. Eisengas email late Saturday night I read the article and then was thinking to myself  "how does this make me feel" since I have never been in this situation before. 

Oddly - ENERGIZED!!   It's really a fascinating problem for both sides and the exact reason I wanted to be on the Council.

Stay tuned, go to or watch the Council.  City Council is like watching a baseball game.  Lots of boredom intermixed with some pretty exciting stuff.  

Rod