From Jeff Rainwater, Community Development:
I hope all is well, I will continue to call, email, or visit your neighborhoods (look for my white Ford Taurus) to try to keep up with you. If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact me. Here are our updates for this week:

9-11 Ceremony
The City of Columbia will once again hold it's annual 9-11 Ceremony to honor the memory of those who fell victim in this tragic event. Friday, September 11, at 12:00noon, activities will be held at City Hall, 1737 Main Street, in Council Chambers on the 3rd Floor. The public is invited.

Public Hearing on Tractor Trailer Parking
On Wednesday, September 2, at 10:00am, City Council will hold a Public Hearing on Ordinance #2009-048. This ordinance addresses the prohibiting of certain size tractor trailers from parking in residential areas and some streets. The full ordinance is available for reading on the City of Columbia web page http://www.columbiasc.net; see the second article on the front page and click "read more...".

Prescription Discount Cards
This is a reminder of the discount cards available through the city and the National League of Cities. Again, this is not insurance and for more information you can call 1-800-620-1749 or go online at http://www.caremark.com/nlc>www.caremark.com/nlc. I still have cards available.

Street Paving
This is an issue that has come up in many of our neighborhoods repeatedly and we are having some success. Two things I'm working on are finding out which streets are city and which are SC DOT maintained (Robert Sweatt, our Streets Superintendent has been very helpful) and money for these projects. Unfortunately the city's funding will be limited and there will be more patching done instead. I'm still trying to get responses from DOT; they are hard to get in touch with, so I can get some idea of the timeframes for their work.

Crime / Police
This continues to be an issue with many of you and I know you are working hard with the Police. It seems like break ins are still the biggest concern, so you have to be vigilant in keeping an eye out for the unusual happenings in your neighborhood; as we've said many times, be a "nosy neighbor". Again, as I said last month, go to the Police web page http://www.columbiapd.com to check on crime stats and see where these criminal activities are happening.

United States Census
It will soon be time for US Census 2010 and I can't tell you how important this count will be for Columbia. I will be talking about this again at your meetings as we get closer; for more information go to http://www.2010census.gov.

Palmetto Capital City Classic
This annual event will be Saturday, September 5 at Benedict's Charles W. Johnson Stadium on Two Notch Road. The weekend will have Benedict hosting West Virginia State in football along with many other activities.

City of Columbia Elections
Next April will be elections for Columbia City Council. You may have already read or heard about the candidates and some of the issues, if not, you will over the next eight months. Here is your opportunity to choose the direction for the City of Columbia, you will be having folks coming to your meetings asking for your input, ideas and your vote; use this time wisely.

Jeff Rainwater
545-3383
jlrainwater@columbiasc.net