Posts

Columbia survives its first tornado — then throws a concert

Image
My Dear Columbia , The big story this week, as we all know, requires no reporting. The wind did the telling for us. Nonetheless, on Thursday afternoon, the 20th of August, a tornado rampaged through our borough, leaving damage in its wake.  The Columbia Borough Fire Department confirms this to be the first tornado ever recorded in our history. So, was it an anomaly, or, as certain circles believe, the new normal? Climate change? Time (and weather) will tell, as the saying goes. The particulars, as verified by the National Weather Service, are these: an EF-1 tornado, with winds of some 100 miles per hour, tore through Columbia. It ripped roofs from buildings, collapsed sections of a brick wall, felled outbuildings, and uprooted trees along its brief stay. Among the notable casualties: the old Keystone firehouse on 4th Street, which lost a portion of its second-story brick wall, and the neighboring office building, which was partially de-roofed. Numerous smaller structures and reside...
Read more

Columbia Walks (and Waits) for Safer Streets

Image
My dearest Columbia, What is there to say? It's been a difficult week, and this author will confess that she, too, has gone searching for comfort in whatever small corners it may be found: a strong cup of tea, a longer walk than usual, the quiet company of neighbors who understand without being told. I shall not go over the particulars of what has grieved us so; they are, frankly, too painful. But grief, if it is to mean anything, must eventually roll up its sleeves and get to work. And so we must. We must find solutions to keep our people safe. It is the very least a town owes itself. Fortunately, Columbia is not without its champions in this cause. A spirited group calling itself "Columbia Walks" has assembled, and taken up the banner of pedestrian safety. One hopes the council chambers are prepared for their persistence. Speaking of council chambers: a resident rose before the council this week and delivered a statement of such force and care that one imagines even the...
Read more

A letter to Columbia: on the matter of her missing anthem

Image
Dear Columbia , I have been pondering a question that arrived uninvited and has refused to leave, much like an uninvited guest at Christmas: What, precisely, is the song of Columbia? Many towns have been given their due in verse. Mr. Springsteen, for example, has written of Atlantic City. Mr. Joel sang of Allentown. Even towns smaller and less scenic than ours have found some troubadour willing to immortalize their streets. And yet Columbia still waits for her ballad. Let us consider, then, what such a song might contain. It would surely open upon the river herself, the town's leading lady whether she asked for the role or not: vast, shallow, and prone to dramatic flourishes. One does not simply omit the Susquehanna in a Columbia anthem. Verse two belongs to the town itself, that charm of a place where residents still know one's name and, regrettably, one's business. The antique shops sit hither and yon, but there is a romance to the streets. And here is where any honest so...
Read more

On Again, Off Again: The Borough's Fickle Courtship with E-Bike Enforcement

Dearest Gentle Reader , This author must once more take up her pen upon the subject of e-bikes and e-scooters in our fair Borough of Columbia. It is a topic that refuses to remain buried. It dies quietly one season only to be resurrected the next. Let us review the timeline, shall we? In August of 2024, our esteemed Mayor Leo Lutz declared that police had "stepped up enforcement." Citations were issued! Riders trembled! Councilman Peter Stahl reminded all assembled that Police Chief Jack Brommer had decreed e-scooters unwelcome upon both street and sidewalk, save for certain designated parks. Then came April of 2025, and Mayor Lutz, evidently feeling that his prior firmness required an encore, appeared once more before Council to announce a fresh crackdown. "We can't risk people flying around on electric bikes, electric scooters here in the summer and wind up getting seriously injured or, my God, possibly killed," the mayor warned, with the theatrical urgency of...
Read more

Where are you, Columbia? The town is undone and perhaps the problem is us

Image
Dearest Gentle Reader, This author must confess she sat down to pen a lighter message this week: perhaps a bit of tittle-tattle regarding whose hedges need trimming, or which neighbor's dog has escaped to court scandal among the trash cans. Alas, the state of our fair borough will not permit such frivolity. For it seems, Dear Reader, that Columbia — our beloved, history-soaked, pride-drenched Columbia — is coming rather badly undone. Homicides. Assaults. Robberies. Fear and grief hang over our streets like a cloud that refuses to lift. It has taken up residence in our homes. The elders among us murmur that it was not always thus, that in years past such things did not happen, or certainly not to this degree. Whether memory flatters the past, this author cannot say. But the unease is real. As of this posting, killers are still at large. And where is our esteemed Mayor through all of this? One might expect him to address his frightened constituents directly, to post a message, perhap...
Read more

A letter to the good people of Columbia: On the matter of a field, a fortune, and a rather costly fantasy

Image
Dearest Gentle Reader , And so it is with great affection that this author must report upon the latest chapter in Columbia Borough's ongoing romance with a plot of land known as the former McGinness airfield, or less accurately as the McGinness Innovation Park. Some years past, a group of ambitious officials  conceived a vision so dazzling it might have been created by a vicar after too much sherry: a $20 million innovation park, replete with utilities, roads, and street lamps twinkling merrily over what was, in fairness, mostly dirt. The council voted 5-2 to purchase the property.  One former councilman, when pressed on the wisdom of wagering the public purse on this venture, assured Columbia that this was most certainly not gambling. No, no, he preferred the far more genteel term "managed risk." This author confesses a fondness for euphemism as much as the next diarist, but calling a wager "managed risk" is rather like calling a duel "assisted conflict re...
Read more

Columbia's troubled week: Gunfire, grief, and a council in retreat

Image
Dearest Gentle Reader , This author returns to her writing desk this week not with a quill dipped in scandal of the romantic variety, but in something considerably more grave, for it seems our fair Borough has, in the span of a few short days, furnished enough drama to fill an entire season. Let us begin, with the matter of the Borough Council, that most dignified assembly of civic gentlemen and gentlewomen who convene each fortnight to debate ordinances and whether the chambers can withstand the weight of an engaged citizenry.  The Council meeting scheduled for the 7th of July was postponed, on account of an expected crush of attendees so numerous that the modest chambers could not properly accommodate them. One is given to understand that a great many of these eager souls intended to voice their opinions — rather loudly, one presumes — on the matter of a certain proposed data center.  The Borough was caught rather flat-footed by the scale of public interest. One might say th...
Read more