Neighbors blast city parking deal
Photos and story by John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Guy Jones District III voted for Belinda Gergel, and the city council vote on this parking deal should wait for Ms. Gergel's official presence on council.

The city's proposed $5.8 million purchase of 200 upper- deck garaged metered parking spaces at the corner of Saluda Avenue and Blossom Street is just too much, or too tall, or too big, or too cozy, or too loose, or too anything, according to a filled room of nearby neighbors at the Maxcy Gregg Senior Center on Tuesday night, April 22.

The parking deal's proponents, including the neighboring advocates and the developers' consultants, made up less than 10 percent of the crowd. Still, when asked to stand to be counted, the advocates and the paid consultants stood in unison from their tightly configured seating.

Judging from the turnout, the invitation could have read, "If you really hate this deal, and if you want to kill it, by all means show up. And if you like it, if you find it reasonable and even positive for Five Points and for the city as a whole, please stay home." The crowd was overwhelmingly against the project, but city council is prepared to vote for final approval at its May 7 regular session.

Don Rosick I am co-owner of the Five Points Book Shop on Santee, directly across the street from the city's elevated parking site. We went through seven months of construction during the beautification of Five Points, and we barely survived with the few customers who could brave the limited approach to our shop.What happens to us when this thing gets under way?

Below are rough recalls of what some of the participants said.

Vickie Eslinger As a practicing attorney, I author and review contracts, and this contract the city has with the developers is one of the loosest I have ever seen. The city is grossly overexposed. Spend more time looking over this contract, please, and think. Judy Roberts As owner of Portfolio Gallery with doors on both Devine Street and Saluda Avenue, I called Steve Gantt (assistant city manager) in November 2006 to ask what could be done to hold down the height of this building, and he said it was a done deal. The contract was signed. And that was in the late fall of 2006. Jim Prater I'm president of the Earlewood Neighborhood Association.We reduced the scale of a proposed six- story project along our river frontage. This city deal includes a total of six stories at the corner of Blossom and Saluda where the new zoning overlay allows for four stories. Our project along the river was reduced, and I have to assume this one can also be reduced. Bob Guild As president of the Granby Neighborhood Association, I know that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If the planners say this area of Five Points should go no higher than four floors, why give this project the exception and allow for six floors? In defense of their deal, three members of Columbia City Council attended the meeting and noted the protests. The city's two at- large council members, Tameika Isaac Devine and Daniel Rickenmann, sat with Mayor Bob Coble at the head table.