Year: 2019

Here's what the Council candidates are saying

Here are links to Council candidates’ campaign pages. Find out what they’re saying:

  • Heather Zink for Columbia Borough Council
  • Eric W. Kauffman for Columbia Borough Council
  • Sharon Lintner for Columbia Borough Council
  • James R. Settle For Columbia Borough Council
  • Howard N Stevens Running for Columbia Borough Council
  • NEW: Kelly Murphy – Candidate for Columbia Borough Council

    • Sparrow Websites hosts $500 Instagram Contest

    Now through Friday, May 31, Sparrow Websites, a Columbia-based Web Design Company, is hosting an Instagram contest with a grand prize of $500. The contest is designed to encourage Columbia locals, employees, tourists, and other visitors to share on Instagram how they discover Columbia, using the hashtag #DiscoverColumbia.

    The Instagram entries will be judged on a combination of creativity and number of likes, so be sure to share the post with your friends and family.  In addition to the single grand prize of $500, other prizes will be awarded to deserving entries including gift cards to Columbia-based businesses and locally made goods. 
    Photo entries must be taken in Columbia and include the hashtag #DiscoverColumbia to be entered. However, participants do not need to reside in the city. 
    Contest participants are encouraged to post personalized captions of how they discovery Columbia, through nature, history, the local community, and more. 
    If you have any questions about contest details, visit www.sparrowwebsites.com/discovercolumbia. 
    Be sure to follow along with the hashtag #DiscoverColumbia to see contest entries and like the photos you think deserve to win. 
    For any other questions, please contact hello@sparrowwebsites.com or call 717-537-1311 and view our website at www.sparrowwebsites.com.
    [Source: Press release]

    Judge hands Columbia Concerned Citizens Association its first victory in lawsuit against the Columbia Borough

    Columbia Borough taxpayers scored a legal victory last Thursday when Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas Judge Leonard G. Brown III denied the Borough’s request for a stay of proceedings in a legal case. The Borough had requested the stay in response to a lawsuit filed by the Columbia Concerned Citizens Association (CCCA). The suit ultimately seeks to have the Borough’s Revolving Loan Fund and recent tax hike repealed. If the stay had been granted, the Borough could theoretically have delayed the proceedings indefinitely. The judge’s decision allows the suit to move forward.

    The Revolving Loan Fund, which was established last year by Ordinance 897, is a program by which Columbia Borough (through Community First) lends taxpayer funds to private business. CCCA believes that the Pennsylvania State Constitution and the Borough Code prohibit such loans. Columbia Borough, in an effort to push back, is asserting that Borough taxpayers do not have standing to file the suit. If standing is established, CCCA will request an injunction to prevent the lending of any more funds until the case is decided.
    CCCA’s lawsuit – and the organization itself – grew out of residents’ dissatisfaction with the loan fund and subsequent tax hike. In December 2018, petitions containing approximately 1,160 signatures were presented to Borough Council members. The petitioners sought a meeting with Borough Council to eliminate the $800,000 allocated to the Revolving Loan Fund, and to repeal the Fund and the tax hike for 2019. Council ignored the request for a meeting, and at its January 8, 2019 regular Borough Council meeting, it summarily dismissed the petitions, thus ignoring the will of Borough taxpayers.

    CBFD gives water safety presentation at Columbia River Park on Sunday

    Members of the Columbia Borough Fire Department with Fox 43 reporter Grace Griffaton (4th from left) Sunday at Columbia River Park

    The Columbia Borough Fire Department provided a presentation on water safety for Fox 43 at Columbia River Park on Sunday afternoon. The Department reminds boaters of the following guidelines:

    To stay safe and within the law –

    • Always, always, always wear a personal flotation device or PFD.
    • Let someone know when you’re going out on the water and when you expect to be done
    • Take the Pennsylvania Boater Safety Course – which is actually required by law if you’re born after January 1, 1982.
    Fox43’s report and video on yesterday’s presentation is HERE.

    About Town 5/5/19

    This week’s photos from around Columbia

    The “Onewheels” invaded Columbia yesterday.  A Onewheel is a type of electric skateboard.

    ****************
    Something happens Tuesday 7AM-11AM

    Blossom on the trunk
    Replacement tree at Rotary Park

    And there it is.

    A little late, but here are some students’ Arbor Day illustrations on the 200 block of Locust.

    Residents at the Columbia Animal Shelter

    Resident of the outdoors

    Assorted throwaways, including tires, an antique TV and, of course, a mattress

     Three-star flag

    Under the bridge, things aren’t looking so good.

    Here’s the tree that was down at Rotary Park.

    The 100 block of North 4th, self-explanatory

    Always make sure your drawers are snug.

     Down around the bridge

     Bike cache

    Free-range eggs available at Mullen Books, 121 Walnut Street

    Seagull rising

    Fully risen

     Let’s hope we won’t need it at least until December.

    Bug, elevated

     Street, swept

    One of the ubiquitous ROAD CLOSED signs

    Seen at River Park

    Apparently official

    Line-up at Tollbooth Antiques
    Vehicle full of deer heads in the Turkey Hill Experience parking lot:

    The disembodied heads are owned by a guy named Randy who was driving the Penske truck and said he’s moving to Georgia. 
    One last look
    ****************
     Lending a hand

    Ready to shovel

     The red, white & blue, and black

    The junk artist is at it again.

    Historic steps
    On a mission on Bank Avenue
    The mission: Move remnants of the Eberly Myers apartment building project at the bottom of Locust Street away from the parking lot.
    Mission accomplished
    This election is not about party but about replacing the two incumbents running for re-election with candidates for change. As the saying goes, “Throw the rascals out!” 
    A wheelchair for all seasons
    Watcher in the window
    That’s strange. You’re walking down the sidewalk on Poplar Street, and suddenly you’re in someone’s front yard.
    ABC27 on the scene at the High School to learn about the upcoming security upgrade
    One of the five workout stations around the track at the High School
    Pictographs help explain the exercises.
    Here’s the flip side.
     Totally gone

    Free
     Engineers engineering
    Aftermath of last week’s fire at 521 Locust Street
    Notes of encouragement
    Free skids, etc. at Peerless Hardware
    In need of care
     Are they on the right track?
     Defiant vehicle
     Mosaic of some sort
     School board candidates
    More junk in the street
     Kirklin Hammill-Torres and a ’72 Impala at Saturday’s “Cruisin’ for Cats” car show sponsored by the Columbia Animal shelter
     Pollinator Friendly Garden/Bird Habitat on 10th Street
     And there it is.
     Soon-to-be sidewalk on Bethel
     Double-parked
    (The red car in the background was making a U-turn at the intersection. A few seconds later, another car came barreling through the stop sign on Second Street and made a right turn down Walnut and swerved to avoid the double-parker.)
    At the offices of the former Colonial Metals
    Adhesive tape works wonders.

    @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent }