The interesting thing was that in episode two (because CBS is all screwed up the next few weeks with March Madness) the White Collar tribe member that teaches a college course on Survivor (yes, there are actually courses on Survivor in a number of Universities because it really is a fascinating social experiment) was booted off. Basically he new way way too much about the game.
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So I have been poking the bear a bunch lately (you might have noticed) trying to find the REAL reason for the Room Tax controversy and I finally was told why. I don't know why this was not mentioned in council because it sort of makes sense and would have REALLY cleared things up for not only myself but for the citizens of Columbus. I actually agree with my fellow council members . a little.
However - my contention is that we have had no Room Tax Committee for over a year. There is absolutely zero long term plan on Room Tax Funds. Nothing. Not even a hint of a plan. We don't even HAVE a committee. The City Council was forced to become the committee.
In my view if Mr. Eisenga wanted to form a volunteer group to have a festival that makes 3000 people happy with proceeds going to charity and gets Columbus mentioned on Channel 3 as a place to visit (like Ale and Arts) but at the same time brings people into his store and helps his business. I would help fund it. It's good for Columbus.
Same with Jodee O's or the Cage or Sharrows Downtown or if Doc formed a committee and wanted a festival next to the Capri that created a buzz and helped a charity but at the same time drew people into his restaurant? I would vote to help fund it. Same with the Dollar Store or Duffy Grain or Julie's Java. I would vote to help ANY business who created a group of non-paid volunteers to create a Columbus buzz even if at the same time it helped their business. I am pro helping business anywhere in Columbus. What else are those funds being used for???
If ALL of them wanted a festival? THEN - I would start to limit and get more strict on handing out funds. I am 100% on my fellow council members side of restricting access to funds only for "marketing" if, there was an actual plan that involved marketing Columbus and those funds were needed? THEN I would start to restrict access to this money.
There are no plans and there are no plans to make a plan, there is only talk that we should have a plan. The money is just sitting there collecting dust doing no one any good at all.
I don't know about the other council members but I certainly did not want to be the Room Tax Committee, it was sort of forced on us when the the old committee was disbanded. Like we have nothing better to do? THAT is the real problem here. Being forced to be a committee we never wanted to be on in the 1st place.
This is the last I will speak of this topic as I finally found what I was looking for and I agreed with them on one level.
I have restricted comments because I'm tired of the constant chest pounding and arguing. This is a personal blog and not a public forum, it's editorial. The thought police have already stopped by!
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March Madness - We all have our brackets fill out right? The chances of winning all 63 games is 1 in 9.2 quintillion. An assistant professor of sport management at the University of Michigan had a study showing that flipping a coin will actually have you beat most other players in a pool who used their brains. As he says
“A grandmother who's never seen a game has a similar chance of doing as well as her grandson who spends eight hours a day watching and researching basketball.”But here is a weird thing.
$1.9 BILLION in lost productivity to business will occur in the next few weeks. Yet this is one of the best times in the year to be heavily invested in the stock market. In the last 10 years 97% of the S&P 500 companies have seen positive returns over the next two weeks. There could be other reasons but the correlation is rather astounding.
Something else interesting. NBA scouts already have their fantasy drafts ready for picking players for their teams but how does March Madness relate to college players. We all know that a few games does not show an entire college career. 1.5% of the people you see in the next few weeks will actually ever play a game in the pros.
BUT - of those that will play, having a good tournament will put more money in their pockets. A tournament will not make of break you but it will give you a higher draft pick which is more money.
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Nate Silver's picks for the final four are Kentucky 72% chance, Arizona 46% chance, Villanova 45%, Duke 32%. I see no Wisconsin. Vegas has Wisconsin as #3.
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WEATHER - blah - partly cloudy for like forever. A system hitting us late Tuesday and Wednesday giving us some much needed rain, maybe 1/3 inch? Otherwise nothing much happening in this oddly quiet period in spring. We need rain to suck out the frost in the ground and help motorcycles get back on the road. All of my cycle friends are complaining about too much salt is still on the roads for their bikes.
