Author: SPY

About Town 3/24/19

This week’s photos from around Columbia (and two from Lancaster)
(Click/tap on photos to see larger, clearer images.)
First stop – Lancaster, last Friday . . .
Even County Commissioner Josh Parsons (far left) looked askance at the red-winged angel.

Turns out there were a lot of costumed people on their way that day to Zenkaikon, “an annual celebration of anime, comics, games, science fiction, and fandom,” according to their website.

Lancaster even has (somewhat) literate graffiti.
Time to up your game, Columbia.
 Let’s hope he won’t need the winter garb any more this spring.

 Same here

 The next step at the clock plaza: resetting the pole

 A car traveling the wrong way knocked over one of the bollards as well as the underlying support pole last Tuesday morning as was reported HERE. Borough workers removed the bollard and bent pole and installed a new pole.  

 Traffic light at Bootleg Antiques

 Signs of spring

 Not a sign of spring, basically just a trailer lid made from a sign
 Riders on the trail – tall ones

 For the local sideshow

 Columbia MiniMart coming soon on the first block of North 4th

 The post office is trying to save on apostrophes.

 Utility pole on its way to somewhere

A look in the corner of the Market House

 Still there

 More roadwork on North 9th
 Free items

New light at the 4th Street firehouse?
 The Columbia Water Company will be replacing the water main in portions of the 400 block of Avenue H, starting Monday, March 25. The work is expected to take three to four weeks, according to a letter sent to local residents.

 Here’s an employee getting ready for the big dig.

 On guard

 Broken barrier with rebar revealed

 Sign that basically says nothing

 Watch that first step.

 Sign that says something, but with very little enthusiasm

 Angles and triangles

 Some sort of circular window

 Doors in the doorway

 More doors in the doorway

 Window in the doorway

 Table on the sidewalk

 Outhouse – for when you can’t bear it any longer

 Been workin’ on the railroad

 Creepy clouds

 Big fat tires

 Line-up at Kettle Works, a veritable THRONG

Empty container
 Columbia Park Rangers filled the container with debris during a cleanup of Columbia River Park on Saturday. More info on the endeavor is on Facebook HERE.
 Lotsa wood, with room for a lot more

 Tryin’ it out

Tryin’ it out

 New attorney in town?
(Locust Street)
 Near the attorney’s office

 Lots of vultures in town these days

 Here’s the lost kitchen sink from the phrase “everything but the kitchen sink.”

 Angler and angles

There’s the inlet. Where’s the outlet?

Strong arm robbery | Columbia Borough Police Department

  At 01:25 pm on 03-16-2019, a female victim from Lancaster picked up prescription medication from CVS on Locust St. The victim missed her bus back to Lancaster and was talking on her phone when a female suspect offered to give her a ride. The victim accepted and got in a dark colored sedan with the female suspect driving. A male believed to be the driver's boyfriend was in the front passenger seat. While driving in the area of Tenth St. and Park Ave, the male reached over the seat and took the victim's CVS bag including the medication. The male suspect made the victim get out of the car and returned the bag, but kept the medication.   The victim described the female suspect as thin, white, with light brown or dark blonde hair in her mid to late twenties. She described the male suspect as a light complexioned black male, very thin, with patchy facial hair.     Anyone with information regarding the suspects or who saw anything related to this incident is asked to call Columbia Borough Police.      Date:  Saturday, March 16, 2019 Reference ID:  18372-03-16-19 Case Status: Current Case Type: Criminal Source:  Columbia Borough Police Department

Sourced via CRIMEWATCH®: https://lancaster.crimewatchpa.com/columbiapd/10552/cases/strong-arm-robbery

https://lancaster.crimewatchpa.com/columbiapd/10552/cases/strong-arm-robbery

Governor Wolf visits blighted properties in Columbia, promotes "Restore Pennsylvania" program

PA Governor Tom Wolf visits Columbia Wednesday morning.
PA Governor Tom Wolf visited Columbia for about an hour and a half Wednesday morning to survey blighted buildings and promote his “Restore Pennsylvania” infrastructure program. Wolf said he believes there is bipartisan support for the program, which proposes a severance tax to help fund capital projects. The plan includes investing $4.5 billion over the next four years to fund a range of projects, including rehabilitating blighted structures through increased investment in land banks.

“We Pennsylvanians pay a severance tax,” Wolf said. “We pay it to Texas because they pay a severance tax and they fold that into the cost of their product.” Wolf noted that Pennsylvania is the only gas-producing state in the nation without a severance tax.

The first stop on this morning’s walking tour was Hotel Locust, which has sat idle for almost a decade. Afterward, a group of several dozen people, including borough council members, school board directors, and other interested citizens, walked to the Columbia Historic Market House, which could be renovated in the near future.

Wolf’s final stop of the morning was at 304 Cherry Street, where a blighted house is being rehabilitated by the CAPital Workforce, a construction initiative affiliated with the Lancaster Housing Opportunities Partnership, the Lancaster City and County Redevelopment Authorities, and the Borough of Columbia.

Information on the “Restore Pennsylvania” program can be downloaded HERE.
Governor Wolf greets the crowd.

A plan for the redevelopment of the hotel is shown above.

After Wolf toured the hotel, the throng eventually made its way to the Columbia Market House.

Wolf and others emerge after a quick tour of the Market Houses’s dungeon.

The next stop was 304 Cherry Street, about a block away.

Inside 304 Cherry Street

Housing Programs Manager Michaela Allwine of the Lancaster County Housing and Redevelopment Authority explains details of the rehabilitation to Governor Wolf.

Members of the press interview Wolf as he exits the house.

Governor Wolf to visit Columbia Wednesday morning

PA Governor Tom Wolf

Governor Tom Wolf will make a stop in Columbia Wednesday to visit two areas in the borough undergoing revitalization efforts, as part of a push he is making across the state.

The sitting governor will begin a short tour at 10 a.m. at Hotel Columbia/Locust, 309-315 Locust Street, in Columbia. It will be followed by a tour of a home on the 300 block of Cherry Street that is undergoing redevelopment with funds from the Lancaster Land Bank Authority.

More HERE. 

Drivers narrowly avoid head-on collision, bollard gets knocked over

Two drivers barely avoided a head-on collision this morning at 5th & Chestnut, but a bollard at the clock plaza didn’t fare too well.

An SUV was facing west at the intersection as the driver was waiting to pull out from the stop sign, when another driver, traveling east on Route 462 attempted to enter a one-way stretch of road on the 500 block of Chestnut.  The SUV driver turned slightly as she saw the approaching car that subsequently sideswiped the bollard, knocking it loose. (The same bollard was damaged in a traffic incident at the plaza several months ago.)

Neither driver was injured, but the vehicle that hit the bollard, a Lexus LS 430, had severe front-end damage and had to be towed from the scene.

Columbia Borough Deeds Recorded March 18, 2019

Columbia Borough
Christina E. Walk conveyed 1144 Locust St. to Carsten Management LLC for $90,320.
Elwood N. Earhart Revocable Living Trust and Elwood N. Earhart conveyed property on a public road to Valley View Capital LLC for $140,000.
Randy Lee Leonard, Paula A. Cabrera and Paula A. Leonard conveyed 1221 Central Ave. to CNA Construction LLC for $120,000.
John D. Reitzel, John K. Reitzel and Mary Lou Reitzel conveyed property on Maple Street to Mary Lou Reitzel for $1.
Peter Geltz conveyed 806 Plane St. to Tyler A. Stark for $68,500.
Dane A. Kraft conveyed 658 Plane St. to Revolutionary Performance Marketing LLC for $34,220.
Bradley E. Emig and Laura L. Emig conveyed 210 S. Fifth St. to Loyalty 1St Real Estate LLC for $25,000.
Nagwan N. Ayoub and Medhat S. Eskandar conveyed 316 N. Third St. to Hilary K. Gears for $127,000.

About Town 3/17/19

This week’s photos from around Columbia
(Tap/click on photos for larger, clearer images.)

 Plate removal

 Let’s hope someone killed the power.

 Commemorative brick?

 More found art

 New or vintage?

 Fallen angel

 Bar, and its partner . . .

Grill

 Patterns

Navy flag, right next to the apostrophe abuse

 Here’s a closer look.

 Illuminated vase

 Go in the back way, ladies. It’s not proper for a respectable lady to be seen entering a hotel through the front door.

 Wall marker

 Up, up, and away!

 Tracks looking for a vanishing point

 Power poodles
(Can you find the cat?

 A horse is a horse, of course, of course – unless it’s a statue.

Proud and mighty star at Laurel Hill

 Showing signs of age. Rumor has it, repairs will be done this summer.

 Auf wiedersehen, for now

 The former Poplar Street School – located on . . . which street?

 Hopefully it’s empty.

 Mating forklifts?

 Ready for summer – or winter?

 And if someone needs to access this box quickly?

 Soon to be the home of K.T. Graham

 Along the side: a temporary shelter?

 In Columbia parlance: a “burn barrel”

 Signs of decay

 There are many of these markers around town. Most of them contain +s. This one has a -.

 Break out the muzzle!

 Sign of spring

 Dirt-filled pot on a chair – 
What about it?

 Totaled

 As in – never?

 Lucky folks

 Fire at the bottom of Manor Street, also known as the sun

Places downtown

 Reflections

 One guy in the hole with three “advisors” watching

 The opposite of the universal gesture

 A bit out of town, but this is what happens when reality doesn’t agree with expectations.

 Out for a walk

 Sidewalk work

 Memorial graffiti where he was lost May 7, 2010

 Hurt fence post

 Notice of eviction

 409 Walnut

 Meanwhile at 433 Walnut – four mailboxes and a Knox Box

 Sticker shock!

 Soon to be for sale on Chestnut

 Billowing across the bridge

 Heavenly horse?

 Yellow submarine?

 The fence along Linden that was damaged by high winds a few weeks ago – now secured with washline rope. What could go wrong?
 More signs of life at CMX (formerly Colonial Metals)

 Movin’ out?

Pilin’ up?

 More contributions to Mattress City, USA, aka Columbia

 This one’s been in Avenue I for close to two months.

 More of the same

 Here’s a couple of sofas.

 Here’s one on Locust.

 This is right across the street on Locust.

 Down at the Living Stones operation . . . 

 Sacks of stones

 Sacks and sacks of stones

Canada geese and tundra swans traveling together
 More traffic troubles on the 300 block of Cherry
[Submitted photo]

Ditto
[Submitted photo]