Roll call

Dr. Lonnie Randolph Columbia City Council convened around 9 am on Wednesday, March 4, on the third floor of City Hall. All council members were present: Kirkman Finlay III, Tameika Isaac Devine, E.W. Cromartie, Mayor Bob Coble, Sam Davis, Daniel Rickenmann, and Belinda Gergel.

NAACP

Dr. Lonnie Randolph, president of the S.C. chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, accepted a proclamation from Mayor Coble commemorating the centennial of the NAACP, which was on February 12. The S.C. chapter was founded about 70 years ago.

Good to Great

Grant Jackson and John Mikula, members of the Good to Great Foundation, presented to council progress reports on their foundation's campaign. The interview process is under way with a list of 147 questions asked before every interviewee, 104 different companies so far. Also, under the approach that green is good for Columbia and along the lines of lessons learned from the Omaha Green Business Council, the interview process is couched in the green orientation. Jackson reported on the knowledge economy cluster in the Midlands, such as the 8- 10,000 people employed in the insurance technology field. With the imminent gains in nuclear plant construction nearby, a new cluster called skilled crafts is burgeoning.

Lyman Munson Fast Forward

Dee Albritton, executive director of Fast Forward, gave her quarterly presentation to council. Chicagobased CompTIA Educational Foundation is giving out 500 IT scholarships this year, and Columbia's Fast Forward gets 100 of them. Finlay warned Albritton of the coming budget crunch, and Fast Forward may have to suffer a 25% cut — like all city beneficiaries — from its current city funding, which is about $125,000.

BBQ at CCH

Judge Mildred McDuffie, chair of the Community Promotions Advisory Committee, recommended council approve $2,500 to help with the Carolina Childrens Home Annual BBQ Cook- Off Festival. Council approved.

Landlord's business license

The city had decided small- property landlords should get business licenses, which is already required of landlords with five or more properties and which would force absentee landlords to designate a local agent, someone who could be held accountable. Enough objections were heard from landlords to push council into asking city staff to come up with a better idea on how to locate absentee landlords who fail to maintain their properties.

Grant Jackson 3907 Ridgewood Avenue

Lyman Munson, vice president of the Hyatt Park/Keenan Terrace Neighborhood Association, asked council to deny the developer's request for a zoning change at Three Oaks Apartments. Munson suggested the low- income classification of the 44 units under a new Planned Unit Development (PUD) would remain for 35 years if the zoning change were granted. Munson argued appreciating value eventually hits all real estate, and positive change results. But if the zoning fixes the low- income designation for another 35 years, change for the good is intercepted. Developer Kevin Connelly testified to council his firm's esteemed track record. Rickenmann called around the state, as did city executive Krista Hampton, and the reports on Connelly and his product and his long- term maintenance program were all favorable. Davis still wondered, though, if Connelly would simply pump up the value of the place and flip it for a fast return. Davis holds the developers at Prescott Terrace, for instance, in low regard. Lawyer Bob Fuller, representing the current owners of Three Oaks, said the zoning change application would put parameters around something that made sense. His clients, the current owners, wanted out. Council voted to further tweak the language of the zoning change and to engage Connelly in more obligatory language. The first reading was postponed again, but it appeared some promises could be made and could be kept.