Columbus will look SWEET!

If Council passes what the CSS task force proposes Columbus (James Street) is going to look REALLY sweet. We have been working pretty hard trying to stay in the confines of the paltry some of money the State is giving us to re-due our streetscape and even though we have had some great ideas we have had to toss a good number out because of weird rules set down my the agencies you would not think have control over Columbus.  The National Parks System? Seriously?

What makes Columbus a great little historical city also makes it hard to update into the modern world.  For instance, no colored sidewalks in front of the F&M Bank even though the architect of that bank would have LOVED colored sidewalks.  

But there are other nuances to think about like repair and color matching down the road.

And while the rules say no back lit signs downtown that does hamper business growth.  People complain that they do not know what is downtown, well . . . .that is because there are no highly visible signs!  HELLO!!  

But the latest idea with the help of Water and Light sharing the load might be the ticket to a wonderful James Street if all sides agree (yet to be determined). 

So for the first time I'm a lot more optimistic on this solution if it is passed be the W&L Commission and the City Council once the presentation is made.  I'm excited on what it will look like . . .AFTER the nightmarish summer of 2017. 

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DJ and I attended the Columbus Crawdads home opener yesterday and the dust was so bad we left after a few innings.  What a horrible baseball field Columbus has.  Talking to umpires and players it's one of the worst in Home Talent League.  I think I played on better diamonds in Madison Softball leagues.  It's not the fault of DPW or anything, it's just a bad field they can't do anything about.  Dirt/clay infield?  bumpy outfield.   

Austin Dieter throws a swing and a miss strike. The crowd goes crazy! 

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I talked to the head of Madison Disc Golf and the Firemans Park Disc Golf Course will soon be nationally recognized and put on the map and in the booklets.  What I need to do is find one of those wheely things to measure actual footage of the holes. 

One small problem is that people seem to park their cars on the grass in front of the baskets which seems weird but I suppose once a few disc's hit the cars they might move them LOL.  

The shot is a little trickier now. 

The original designer is going to come up to Columbus and offer suggestions on tournaments and anything else.  After playing the course a large number of times a few of us (Friends of Columbus Disc Golf, or the FCDG) changed a few holes for safety.    

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0.37 inches of rain last night.  Nitrogen?  Actually when you see lightning you don't get THAT nitrogen.  What happens is that we get the nitrogen from lightning that happens a hundred miles west of us. The wind blows all of that about 100 miles.   When you wake up and see all of the grass greener and leaves fuller . . it's not the nitrogen, it's just from the rain.  

Nitrogen is the lightest of the pnictogen's.

OH - I was so proud when I saw that the talking weather heads were FINALLY talking about 80 degrees on Friday when I predicted it early last week.  FAIL!!  BUT - I failed much earlier they they did.

No more rain today - but there is a chance of rain for the next SEVEN DAYS!  Cool tomorrow and then back into the 80's Wednesday and Thursday before cooling off to normal newt week.

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Brewers are HOT winning 3 of the last 4 and firing their Manager. Bring on the Phillies!!  Wait, we have to play one of the hottest teams in baseball now - The Brooklyn Trolly Dodgers (their original name).

OK OK Mr. Fact checking balderdash - not the ORIGINAL name.   Brooklyn Atlantic's were first, then came the Bridegrooms, Grooms, Superbas, Robins, and finally the Trolley Dodgers before the Dodgers in the 1930's.

Here is a fun fact. Milwaukee's County Stadium was the first stadium to have a REAL parking lot just for the stadium.  It was such a unique idea that when the Dodgers moved to LA, Walter O'Malley added this new concept to Dodger Stadium.

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Hope everyone makes it to Bike Night on Dickason tonight  next to city hall 6:00 to 9:00, food and music.  

Have a glorious day!

Rod