Author: SPY
What now? Solutions needed for Columbia schools. Here are some options.
Failing in slow motion: A community's helping hands
What I saw recently
Some shots from around town recently . . .
A peek inside the mausoleum at Mount Bethel Cemetery
A miniature crucifix at the port hole
One ancient myth says that when a person dies, a crow carries the soul to heaven.
On Friday (June 27), a conservation officer kept watch on the river from a vantage point at River Park.
Four Waterways Conservation vehicles were parked there, two with empty boat trailers.
One assumes the officers were out patrolling the river.
The two vehicles with trailers were parked in the appropriate parking spaces.
But wait, what’s this – a violation?
Meanwhile, a stray cat checked out a dobsonfly.
On the 100 block of Locust – a sign of Columbia’s more prosperous past.
Skeletal frame of the River Park center
Artists at work on Saturday morning (June 28) . . .
Seen in Wrightsville yesterday. What is it?
May as well park on the sidewalk, especially since there are at least half a dozen empty parking spaces available.
Bikers
Today . . .
Inkmen 7 Fourth Friday reception
Exhibit starts today
Failing in slow motion: How poverty impacts the classroom in Columbia
10 things to know about Columbia's sale of its wastewater assets
Columbia officials voted on June 23 to sell the borough’s wastewater assets to the Lancaster Area Sewer Authority.
Here are 10 key points about the deal
"Do-Nothing Dave" sidesteps again
Today, Lancaster Newspapers began an informative series of reports on Columbia Borough’s financial state, an apt time to do so, considering Monday night’s council vote on LASA.
As I read the report, I found it quite troubling that PA State Representative Dave Hickernell, who represents the borough, refuses to state whether or not he supports a natural gas extraction tax or other tax to help fund education. Setting aside my belief that in politcalese that means “no,” I have to ask Rep. Hickernell two questions:
1. What is your stand?
2. Why are you afraid to make your views known?
We, as taxpayers, have the right to know a public servant’s stance as well as the justification for it.
Rep. Hickernell must have built-in night vision, considering how he operates so much in the dark. For example, when questioned by Columbia Borough Councilman Jim Smith at a town meeting last December on why the borough did not get any of the extra $30.3 million in state funding, Hickernell replied, “Most representatives were unaware of the ‘carve out.'” He added that it was clear “most of us were in the dark.”
You certainly nailed it there, Dave. You were in the dark. Blindfolded and wearing sunglasses. But the nagging question remains: “Why were you?”
Unless Rep. Hickernell gets on the ball, keeps his constituents informed, and works for them instead of his cronies in Harrisburg, we’ll just have to call him “Do-Nothing Dave.”
Taxes increasing 3% in Columbia school budget
Property owners in the Columbia Borough School District will face a 3.06 percent tax increase under a new $22.3 million school budget approved on June 19.
The budget, passed unanimously, will raise Columbia's tax rate to 28.2 mills — one of the highest rates in the county.
The 0.838-of-a-mill increase will mean an additional $67.46 in taxes per year for a property assessed at $80,500 — the median homestead value in Columbia.
Columbia Spy 