Well, another week has come and gone in this city of Augusta that I truly love as most of you do as well, but nothing noteworthy has changed.
The grass still needs cutting, the trees still need trimming and the used tires thrown anywhere and everywhere haven’t been touched. Trash remains in piles all across our city. Blighted properties and burned-out houses and buildings haven’t been touched.
I guess Commissioner Stacy Pulliam needs to call for a workshop to find solutions. After all, just think of all the problems that have been solved due to all those workshops.
It seems this commission loves to name, rename and change the names of anything they can come up with.
The Administrative Services Committee voted to name a ball field at Diamond Lakes after a former commissioner, Fred Ancil “Andy” Cheek, III. The vote was 4 to 0 to move to next week’s full commission meeting. I have no issue with that as Andy focused his attention to cleaning and maintaining our parks in his spare time.
The committee voted 4 to 0 to name the Augusta Utilities/Engineering Building in honor of the late Thomas D Wiedmeier. I have no issue there either. Everyone who knew Tom knew he was dedicated to Augusta and his job.
Now here’s where the road gets as washboard bumpy as the section of Wrightsboro Road between Highland Avenue and Jackson Road. The family of former Mayor Edward M McIntyre, Sr. has requested that Augusta Riverwalk and the 8th Street Plaza be renamed after him and that his name be placed above the 8th Street bulkhead archway. The vote was 3 to 1 with Commissioner Sean Frantom voting no.
When the subject of renaming the Riverwalk and the plaza first came up there were two names connected with it, former Mayor Ed McIntyre and former Mayor Charles DeVaney. The Riverwalk was McIntyre’s vision; however, Mayor Devaney helped get the project partially funded with several grants while in office. Therefore, a double-rename was the original ask.
When the subject of McIntyre’s conviction and prison term came up, all of the commissioners were in a forgiving mood. They knew that people made mistakes and bad decisions, but that shouldn’t erase all the good things that they had done.
It seems to me that with these commissioners forgiveness is easy when it serves their purpose. But they couldn’t stand behind Devaney because he was the mayor that led Augusta into consolidation.
Next week, the entire commission will vote on these name changes. Here’s a possibility of what just may happen: they will leave it on the consent agenda, and all three will be voted on at once.
So, Frantom may still desire to vote no to McIntyre’s name but in doing so he will also be voting No to the others. See how this is played?
Surely a commissioner will pull the three items so that they can be voted on separately. In doing this the citizens and public can see exactly how each commissioner votes and what they may have to say about their vote.
However, this might be a little too transparent for some. Nevertheless, my prediction is that all three name changes will pass and I am sure one or maybe two of the commissioners’ votes will be eye opening.
Last week someone decided to show the quality of their upbringing by using a can of spray paint to spray vulgar four letter words on areas of Lake Olmstead. Calls were made to 311 and to city departments to no avail. Days went by with no movement.
The graffiti was simply ignored.
That is until a picture in a text was sent to Mayor Garnett Johnson with the location of the graffiti. He responded with a text saying he was on it. It was taken care of posthaste.
What an oddity! We have a mayor that you can reach and responds to get an issue fixed. But it is still best to go through the proper channels first. After all, Mayor Johnson has the entire city to take care of, against all odds.
The three co-owners of an endeavor named Pedal Pub came before the commission seeking a BYOB ordinance for their business. They would like to be able for their customers to be allowed to bring beer in a plastic cup onto the Peddle Pub while they are cruising around the downtown area. Public drinking would be controlled, they say.
Other cities that have these pubs on wheels and there’s no problems to report. The commission told them that they could approve it, but it had to first be approved by the sheriff.
A new boundary for the downtown entertainment district is supposed to be presented sometime in late October or maybe even November. It will be interesting to see as to where and what ordinances there will be pertaining to it.
After the meeting,$ I was on Broad Street making my way to Augusta and Co. to purchase Arts in the Heart tickets. Every year, Brenda Durant and the Arts Committee puts on the best arts festival to be found anywhere. That’s when I ran into two of the three co-owners of the Pedal Pub, Charity and Anthony.
We stood on the sidewalk and had a great conversation about their business and how it operates. They have a brick and mortar building housing a restaurant and lounge downtown and the Pedal Pub is an extension of that business.
They would serve the customers in their building before they got to the Pedal Pub. They would have control of what and how much alcohol the customer consumed. Beer only, they stated, would be served on the Pedal Pub and a half tour around downtown follows.
Commissioner Frantom brought an idea like this up to the commission about three years ago, and it was laid to rest before it could take a breath of life. Now there are three enterprising people making it work.
Now, I did tell the owners that I thought it would be a fun and a nice way to spend a couple of hours downtown. They could maybe even do a haunted tour on the rolling pub, but not to count on me. At mine and Fred Flintstone’s age, we would rather sit at a sidewalk table and wave as the youngun’s pedal by.
Also at the committee meeting, Frantom had brought up an agenda item to discuss Augusta going cashless, meaning that all business would be done with credit card, debit card or check. However, Frantom’s idea hit a roadblock.
A lot of customers of the Utility Department pay with cash. It would be nearly impossible to convert all departments from cash to card. So, they went about exploring the idea with a couple of department heads.
Parks and Recreation Director Maurice McDowell explained that after events at the Augusta Common they had a way of securing all cash until the next morning when a bank deposit was made. That is all good but doesn’t answer the questions of correctness, accurate count or accountability.
The subject of the Augusta Landfill cash taking at the entrance was discussed. Finance Director Donna Williams stated that approximately only 1% of the landfill collections was in cash. That would amount to around $16,000.00 a month and approximately $192,000 a year. Again, what about correctness, accurate count or accountability?
At one time while I was on the commission, Commissioner Brandon Garrett and myself got word that the landfill was taking cash only and no cards at the entrance scale house. We were informed that the card scanner was broken and had to be replaced. This went unresolved for two or three months, and there was no accountability.
If people refuse to have any form of bank account, that’s their business. However, they can still purchase a Green Dot Visa, have the money put on there and then pay the utility bill.
Now I know there are going to be those that complain about undue burden being placed on the customer. Just remember that when you are complaining about their undue burden, they can’t order food delivery by putting cash through the phone.
Now, back to going to Augusta and Co. to purchase Arts in the Heart tickets. As I stood at the counter in front of the credit, debit card reader, I reached for my wallet and pulled out my debit card to pay for two tickets. The young lady stated as she reached for the tickets,” the tickets are cash only.”
How’s that for irony?
As always, folks, you just can’t make this stuff up.
