COLUMBIA SPY

The regular monthly meeting of the Columbia Borough Council was held at the Borough Hall, 308 Locust Street, at 7 p.m. on July 14, 2014.  Highlights of the meeting are as follows: In Citizen Comments (Agenda Items Only), Columbia resident and Market House vendor Jen Stoutzenberger presented to council a list of complaints against the Columbia Historic Market House Trust, including non-responsiveness and lack of vendor input in decisions made by the trust. She said she doesn't know who is on the board and stated that the trust's responsibility is to oversee the market and not individual businesses. A second vendor told council that picnic tables were removed without notice and replaced with metal bistro-style chairs, which elderly patrons find difficult to sit on. He added that he was willing to supply tables to accommodate those patrons as well as larger groups but was not permitted to do so by a trust representative. Borough Manager Sam Sukolsky said the missing table is...

 As I was taking shots of the dignitaries at Friday morning's Columbia Bypass groundbreaking ceremony . . . I looked between them and saw police officers down over the bank at the railroad tracks. Why were they there?

Some shots from around town over the last few days . . . Hard at work at the River Park Trail Services Building Stealing a drink Rear of the Columbia Wagon Werks on Plane Street (Yes, that's how they spell it.)

Nora Motter Stark of the  First National Bank Museum  led an informative walking tour of downtown Columbia on Friday, which focused on the borough's rich architectural heritage. For information on upcoming tours, contact the   Columbia Visitors Center  at 684-5249.

Workers rolled out another completed train car at Rail Mechanical Services, Inc. in Columbia on Friday. In conjunction with Kinsley Education Center , the company builds and refurbishes train cars for railroad companies and museums. Building the cars affords apprentices the opportunity to learn construction trades as part of an apprenticeship program offered by Kinsley. Instructor Steve Taylor led a team of over half a dozen apprentices, who built up the vehicle from the steel base of an older train car, using wood from old buildings in York County, as well as newer lumber to finish out the project. The car was built on-site at the Columbia location. The car pictured here was on its way to Steam Into History, Inc. an organization in New Freedom, PA that operates a steam train and promotes York County's role in the Civil War. The completed car about to leave. The car was pushed from the construction building. . . . and onto a waiting flatbed trailer . Wor...

For a spectacular video of the borough by Columbia filmmaker Jerry King Musser,  GO HERE: http://vimeo.com/m/100463202

(Click on the pic for a larger view.) A groundbreaking ceremony for the Columbia bypass project was held today at 9 a.m.  at Cedar and Second streets in Columbia.  State, county and local officials, including Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz, Borough Manager Sam Sukolsky, Former Borough Manager Norm Meiskey, State Representative Dave Hickernell, State Senator Mike Brubaker and others, spoke at the ceremony. When completed, the bypass will reroute heavy truck traffic along the borough's perimeter. Currently, trucks travel along Route 441 through Third Street and down Locust Street, essentially cutting though the center of town. The total cost of the project is almost $20.4 million, according to PennDOT spokesman Greg Penny.