Wednesday, 12:15 p.m. We’ve talked to Kit Smith often enough that we don’t have to ask a lot of the basic Civics 101-type questions we have to ask candidates we know less well ("How important is party identification to you?") We’re able to jump straight into the latest developments on issues we’ve spoken of many times before.
She said the city of Columbia’s recent precipitate action on the homelessness issue — essentially hijacking the carefully-constructed regional process to make unilateral decisions about a permanent one-stop center — has thrown the county for a loop. "If it’s not going to be a regional action with regional decisions, then I don’t know" what the county’s role is now.
This past week, the county had been set to appoint its representatives to the metropolitan commission that was supposed to guide the process, but postponed the decision now that the city seems to have pre-empted the need for such a body. Basically, city leaders "prematurely brought it out to the community with a scare tactic," forcing a hasty decision.
The problematic relationship between Richland County and Columbia "is a constant — sort of like race," on issue after issue — animal control, tax increment finance districts, water rates, annexation policy, and on and on. "I sometimes think what we need is a public mediator," she said.
Working across political boundaries is a challenge with other governments as well, such as on bus service: "It’s a regional public good. But somehow it’s hard to communicate it to the other side of the river," she said. Actually, she added, "It’s hard to communicate it to this side of the river."
She wants all the local governments to take a broad, long-term (20 or 40 years out) on infrastructure needs of the community. She sees a time when the community would have separate lanes for buses and car pools, making such efficiencies more attractive to commuters. Until such a broad approach is taken, she said, "We have a lot of cognitive dissonance about planning."
(We were going to talk to Doug Hart, Ms. Smith’s opponent, on the same day, but he asked to postpone.)
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Kit Smith is another one of those politicians whom The State adores, so they will pretend to find a few flaws…BUT…always endorse her for re-election.