Trumble

Maybe the idea of riding around in this heat smelling horse farts just didn't appeal to you. I find that to be a quite a reasonable attitude, and commend you for it.

Undisputed fact... but like the axiom "the poor will always be with us," I don't think there's a reasonable way to change that. Nor do I think it is an intrinsically desirable goal to try to change that. Are you attempting to make an unspoken point? I'm not sure what you're driving at.

My point about the economics of mass transit in Columbia is made in very graphic fashion here... look at what we'll all probably be paying to subsidize those who do ride: http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/12193567.htm Do NOT post copyrighted material

Spartan, you correctly noted the real problem of waiting... and of waiting in the weather. But that's not all. I live near Richland Mall and work downtown... and I've used the buses at times, and if you have a regular hours job like I do, it's just not realistic unless you like getting up very early and wasting a lot of time standing around bus stops waiting for connections... or missed connections. And if you miss one by 30 seconds and have to wait another 45 mins. to an hour for the next one, you get up close and personal with weather and every panhandler, sociopath, and psycho waiting at (or walking by) the bus stop. Or if you don't want to deal with all that, you may just end up walking those last 8 blocks to work... which is no big deal, but you've paid for the bus ride, and you get to work hot or cold depending on the weather... and you can add wet to it at times, too. It just doesn't work efficiently... I challenge the world's best logisticians to come up with a bus schedule that can efficiently serve even 50% of the people who'd use it if it were better... there are just too many divergent needs for who needs to go where. However, if there were enough buses to run by every stop on a 15 minute schedule, maybe you'd have more people using the bus. But not enough to make it economically feasible because they would probably all be less than a third full. So... until someone can quote figures on some other city's successful, thriving bus system (a city not much larger than Columbia), all it is here is just a larger version of the joke that is called our trolley system. And I'm glad Columbia is not as big as Charlotte. It's fine if it gets there one day, but for right now, it's a cool size town, and would lose a lot of charm and accessibility if it were a good bit larger. Emerge, not to be hostile or cynical, but yeah, it's idealistic... and you used the word "diversity"... and that's definitely a PC buzzword. If you had meant to say more people using public transportation, you should have just said that. Ethnicity or nationality or income level shouldn't matter to you if you think more is better insofar as riders... you should just be thinking more butts in the seats and more paying customers.

You sure it's in Forest Acres? I thought Beltline was the dividing line. I was wondering why the schematic for the mall renovation showed a possible/probable relocation of the FH City Hall to the corner where the gas station/minimart is... I was thinking "That's not FH!"

Let's not jump on Debi so quickly... why not focus on the "great place to live" part. That's very affirming (that Columbia is a great place to live), IMO. I happen to think it's a pretty cool place to visit, too, but maybe there are things Debi could tell us as to why it's her favorite slogan. Debi, is it the summer humidity, or that plus how confusing the layout can be to newcomers? We should be open to new ideas and constructive criticism here, folks. Waterparks... that's what it is... Columbia doesn't have any downtown waterparks!

Agreed; downtown Charleston can be a sauna when it's like that. Likewise with the rest of the Charleston area. The entire lowcountry, for that matter. Hey, on that sweatiest list, what's with Phoenix, Vegas, Tuscon, Corpus Christi, etc. being sweaty? They're supposed to have dry heat, right? I definitely agree with Tampa and Orlando, though... yikes. If you've been to Didney Wurl in the summer, you know sweat. Also, about five years ago, I spent about a week near Eustis, Florida (just above Orlando) with about 20-25 buds and budettes from the U.S., Canada, and England who are members of an online jazz club I belong to and I can tell ya, that was the hottest, most humid place I've ever been. It was in August. That's a big golfing area, and I don't know how anyone could play golf or tennis in that stuff. Unless it was at night, and even then, you'd be soaked. But daytime is oppressive for sure. Most of us stayed at this motel near the club founder's house, and at 9:00 in the morning, you'd literally be covered with sweat just walking from your room to the lobby where the coffee was.

There's nothing about the new Richland Mall; is that still "on"?