Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Charleston Round-Up

A few things happening under the radar in Charleston recently:

- Mayor Danny Jones got a pretty good spanking by some old-money Charlestonians for trashing up Mountain View Cemetery with the Fourth of July Fireworks. Although in his public statements he made it sound like no big deal, the fact is that he was read the riot act by several City "Mothers." Rod Blackstone took the blame. If it had been a big hit he wouldn't have been credited.

- Keep your ears open for at least one City Councilman to announce his resignation soon - or at least announce his intention to not seek office again. Butting heads with Mayor Jones can make one lose one's taste for local politics. There are two councilmen who are at odds with the mayor presently and rumor has it that at least one of them is talking about making a big stink when he leaves office. It should be interesting.

- "Friday Night at the Levee" attendance is dismal. You gotta wonder how long the city can spend the money on street crews and police for a party for 100 people or less every Friday night. But since this was Tom Lane's idea, you can be sure that it will get every consideration before it's axed.

- I wrote about the boondoggle park on the East End, but another proposed park for the West Side is nearly as stupid. The next time you are down West Washington Street look at the steep, grassy hillside at the Barton Street intersection and try to figure out what the hell they are thinking.

- In a bizarre, almost reality show type of behavior, former radio talk show host Jerry Waters can now be found sitting on the sidewalk outside Taylor Books almost every day. He sits and snidely comments about passers-by the same way he did about virtually everything in his talk show days.

That's all for now, I think my FiberNet service might be coming back online soon and I have a few hundred phone calls to make!

2 comments:

primalscreamx said...

Yeah, my wife was really upset about the fireworks in the boneyard. Jones is not particularly high on my list these days. I don't like jacking up the user fee or his love affair with security cameras.

Anonymous said...

Charleston is doing a good job of keeping activities going through the summer. But for those of us who want something else to do that is different and get out of Charleston for a while, plan on visiting Lewisburg for the WV State Fair.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and enjoy the art of cooking, you might be interested in the West Virginia Recipe Challenge, which takes place Aug. 18 during the State Fair in Lewisburg. New entrepreneurs and existing businesses will participate in two separate contests. The competition winners will be awarded over $10,000 worth of services for their products, including recipe refinement, packaging design, label development, technical assistance, production time in a commercial kitchen, and product marketing.

Last year Darrell Vowell won the new entrepreneur category with his barbeque sauce, and he has since founded Cowboy Cookin’ Company. The application deadline is July 27. Contest rules and registration are available online at www.statefairofwv.org.