Columbia's decision to ban former employee from its property may be 'unconstitutional' [Lancaster Watchdog]
Chris Vera [Columbia Spy file photo] The following information is excerpted from a December 6, 2025 LNP Watchdog article by LNP | LancasterOnline reporter Jade Campos. Still reeling from an abrupt firing from his role as head of the Columbia Market House in March, Chris Vera was surprised to get a letter in the mail from a Columbia Borough attorney two weeks later telling him he was banned indefinitely from borough property. The letter gave no reason for the ban. Nine months later, Vera, who has served as president of the Columbia Historic Preservation Society for more than a decade and has helped with the borough’s comprehensive plan, is still banned from borough property. He believes the ban includes borough parks, which is part of the reason he moved his annual Albatwitch Day festival, which celebrates the myth of a local cryptid, to Wrightsville. Vera said he’s not sure why the borough went to such lengths to keep him away from public spaces given his termination from the borough s...
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It is a bad plan conceived by an outside consultant whose interest are collecting fees and winning accolades from others in their profession in order to justify ever higher fees and repeating the whole process somewhere else. It is the kind of plan that enforces the notion that Cafe 301 will be more popular and successful than the Black Olive. It’s the kind of plan that shows how sensitive and sophisticated Columbia is instead of a plan that attracts visitors and spurs economic progress. It is the kind of plan that believes Garth can sell as much coffee as Dunking Donuts because it has uplifting art instead of upfilling donuts.
If you want to spend tax money to show the world how ‘with it’ Columbia is, then, indeed, build the River Hammock. If you want visitors and economic gain build a boardwalk. Yes, a boardwalk complete with cheap attractions, cheap trinkets, beer, games of chance, and junk food. If you want to build an outdoor classroom it’s a good plan, if you want to build a place to enjoy nature, connect the park to the trail without making me walk a half mile along the bypass.
/2 - al dodson