One of my interlocutors wants to discuss the resurrected Green Diamond plan. Have at it. This thing is coming from so far out of left field, and without any warning whatsoever, to the point that I can’t even start thinking about it on a Friday (especially when my Sunday column’s already due, and I haven’t picked a topic). Right now, my only reaction to the news is, "Say what?" But here’s the story, and here’s an excerpt:
Developers who for a decade have pushed to build a $1 billion community south of the capital city have launched a third attempt — this time by leapfrogging a river and trying to be annexed into the city of Cayce.
Columbia Venture petitioned Cayce within the last week to annex 3,000 acres in Richland County.
Cayce Mayor Avery Wilkerson said Thursday the city is poised to do just that.
So have at it. I’ll wait until I’ve been "taken up in the spaceship," and have the opportunity to ask some questions about it. You know, like "Before, we were worried about it flooding Cayce across the river. Whom might it flood now?" Things like that.
The spaceship thing is an old Green Diamond joke on the editorial board. Remember when this thing was first brought up, and it was something like a year or so before we saw any diagrams or heard any details? Well, for months during that period, former S.C. Agriculture Commissioner Les Tindal was going around saying he had seen the plans, that they had been spread out before him on a table, and he examined them. We kept saying Mr. Tindal had been "taken up in the spaceship," and we thought it pretty weird that if there were detailed plans, why was Mr. Tindal the only one who had seen them?
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I brought this up, but there really isn’t a whole lot to say. Cayce’s mayor and city council are just plain idiots. There really should be no debate on this issue. The damn Green Diamond proposal sits on a flood plain. Just go watch some old footage of the Mississippi River flooding events over the past 25 years. Better yet, take a look at the Katrina flooding. South Carolina is not a densely populated place so why does a developer have to build in a flood plain?
An office wag just observed to me, "They’ve got Avery Wilkerson up on the spaceship, and that’s all they need." But the Cayce mayor’s making no such claim: "Wilkerson said the developers have not laid out a full plan for the property and he has not pressed them for one."
If I can get out of the office today, I need to walk down Bluff Road and see if Mayor Bob’s throwing up breastworks to prepare for Cayce’s amphibious assault on his flank…
… question is, does Cayce have the sealift capacity to establish a beachhead, if Mayor Bob has the foresight to blow the Alex Sanders bridge?
What a time for Columbia’s armed forces to lack a general!
OK, I’m done now…
If they are so determined to build on a flood plain, maybe they should be allowed to. They can always get insurance thru Lloyd’s of London (pricey, but available). We can then hope that a flood would help clean up the shallow end of the gene pool.
Whoa! Coming from Karen, that’s way harsh.
It’s not MY fault if their serology’s higher than their IQ (speaking both individually and collectively).
Bud,
I have read two of your blogs on this site in the past week and I have decided that “bud” is exactly what you have been smoking. Your obviously a state employee with a great deal of time on your hands. Please, take this time for an extra long lunch, smoke break, or whatever you do and save us your moaning.
Columbia may lack a General put they have plenty of Privates “take that for its denotation or slang” to yap it up.
I could care less what Cayce does, but at least they are doing something. Bud, I have figured a way to may yourself useful!
Cayce might need you when they are looking for fill to improve their river bank.
OK, so we have an argument between “bud” and “Roach” as who’s been smoking dope.
I’m beginning to feel disoriented in the haze thus created.