Future vision: Multi-purpose park, friendlier sidewalks 9/4/2009 10:30:00 AM In revealing its plan for the future look of Columbus Thursday, a visiting charrette team emphasized the flexibility of its suggestions. As one team member put it, “This is not the vision for Columbus. This is just a vision.”
Sports project's future up to property owners 9/1/2009 10:34:00 AM Lowndes County economic officials this week likely will learn if 31 property owners in Columbus’ Burns Bottom area will be willing to sell their land to use for a proposed six-field soccer complex.
Soccer field project moves slowly forward 7/22/2009 11:00:00 AM The future of the project, not the location, seems to be the most important issue facing the proposed soccer complex tentatively slated to be constructed in Columbus’ Burns Bottom area, said members of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors.
Board votes to hire appraiser for Burns Bottom land 7/8/2009 Lowndes County economic development officials may be nearing an end to their search for property options from more than 30 landowners in the city’s Burns Bottom area.
Follow the money? 6/24/2009 I have been reading the comments regarding the Burns Bottom “sportsplex” with interest, some amusement, and much aggravation. I am reminded of a tale I heard/read many years ago regarding an influential and wealthy State Senator from Columbus. I hope my memory serves me well here.
‘An awful idea’ 6/17/2009 Building a sports complex in Burns Bottom is an awful idea. What happens when downtown needs to expand? Burns Bottom would be an ideal location of adding shops, apartments, restaurants, etc. to the downtown landscape. Six measly soccer/football fields would take away expansion needs from downtown, but at the same time, as the city of Columbus grows, the sportsplex will eventually need to also.
Notorious for flooding 6/17/2009 Birney, good column in Sunday's paper, as well as the other one in which you wrote about the Burns Bottom location for the six soccer fields.
Roger Short: The time has come to act 6/17/2009 As I sat in church this past Sunday morning, I found it difficult to concentrate on worship—sorry Brother Mickey— because of so many thoughts I was having about the proposed soccer/footballplex. I found myself thinking of reasons to defend the many hours that have gone into the process that has led us to where we are now.
Charging ahead 6/17/2009 It is disappointing, though not surprising that the Lowndes Supervisors are charging ahead with the Burns Bottom site for a soccer complex. At their Monday meeting, the supervisors announced plans to begin acquiring options to purchase land for that purpose. Joe Higgins of the Link has been activated for the task.
Council votes to support county’s sportsplex land quest 6/17/2009 Columbus officials are “on board” with the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors’ Monday decision to seek property options from landowners in the 71-acre plot of land in the city’s Burns Bottom area being considered for the county’s sportsplex project.
Steve Rogers: Burns Bottom ideal location for soccer complex 6/13/2009 Birney, in response to your column in Friday's Dispatch, I did what you suggested. I drove through Burns Bottom Friday night. It was about 10:30 p.m., long after the early evening storms blew through. I got out and walked in the bucolic, rain-cooled night air.
Birney Imes: Harry, this is a terrible idea 6/12/2009 Soccer moms and dads, before it’s too late — and it might already be too late — drive down to Burns Bottom. That’s the area just down the hill from Riverhill Chevron, the gas station/convenience store operated by Sanders Oil. At the station, turn off Main Street and go down the hill in the direction of the Hitching Lot, site of the Farmers’ Market.
City, county leaders throw support behind Burns Bottom sportsplex site 6/11/2009 County and local officials likely will purchase a nearly 71-acre piece of land near Columbus’ Hitching Lot Farmer’s Market to use for the county’s proposed sportsplex project, members of the Columbus City Council, Lowndes County Board of Supervisors and the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority said during a Wednesday meeting.
Birney Imes: Burns Bottom, come hell or high water 6/11/2009 Ever know anyone who when they make up their mind, it’s all over? End of discussion. Don’t confuse the issue with facts or logical arguments. I’ve made up my mind and that’s that.
Birney Imes: Harry and Susan and the playing fields 6/7/2009 With less than a month to go in office, Susan Mackay desperately wants to see the realization of one of her political goals, the siting of a recreation complex on the 156 acres of Army Corps of Engineers land adjacent to the Riverwalk and just south of Highway 82.
Sportsplex land studies to be unveiled soon 5/29/2009 Members of the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority within the next few weeks will present the results of a battery of studies conducted on a trio of properties being considered for the county’s upcoming sportsplex project.
Birney Imes: Developing a shared vision 5/23/2009 “A vision without a plan is a hallucination.” —Thomas Edison
On Friday about 15 people spent the afternoon dreaming about the future of Columbus. Leading the conversation was Randy Wilson, who in September will lead the community in something called a charrette.
Thinks Burns Bottom site a bad idea 5/3/2009 When I moved here three years ago with my husband and two sons, it took me less than an hour to realize that this was the town for me. I am a southern girl, but have never lived this “deep” in the South.
Columbus was an exotic, enticing town to me. It was spring, and my first encounter in this city was exhilarating.
Concerns about siting sportsplex 5/1/2009 As a resident of downtown Columbus who wants to see it thrive and as a research scientist with a PhD in civil and environmental engineering with 15 years experience in hydrology, I’d like to express my concern over the sportsplex site selection process, and make sure that some of the ramifications are considered.
Official: All sportsplex sites have pros, cons 4/29/2009 Whether it’s visibility, accessibility or proximity to retail and restaurant centers, each of the three properties being considered for Lowndes County’s proposed sportsplex bring “different advantages to the table,” according to Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority Executive Director Roger Short.
Sportsplex will bring downtown together 4/2/2009 Sports play a lot of roles in our society.
Whether it’s basketball or soccer or baseball or football, to name just a few, sports bring communities together. They unite people of different backgrounds and ages behind a school or a team.
Sports also bring people together at one location.
Burns Bottom presents unique challenge as sportsplex site 3/5/2009 With 31 different parcels and at least one landowner unwilling to sell, the Burns Bottom land proposed as a home for a future sportsplex would offer unique challenges, if selected from 11 sites under consideration.
Choosing a site for the sportsplex 3/4/2009 This week the county took one more step toward what until recently has been a mirage on the distant horizon, a sportsplex.
Officials detail 11 sportsplex land options 3/3/2009 Recreation leaders are considering 11 properties as a location for a new Columbus sportsplex, and soon will narrow their choices to two or three properties. The list will be narrowed during a March 12 meeting.
Disagree with editorial 2/25/2009 I read with concern and confusion a recent Commercial Dispatch editorial dealing with the proposed new soccer/sportsplex (Building a sportsplex: What are we waiting for? Feb. 18). While I certainly agree with the sentiments that the time has come for Columbus to build the facility, the editorial missed the mark when it dismissed two potential locations.
Eleven properties to be considered for sportsplex 2/25/2009 The Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority board of directors this Monday will review 11 properties submitted last week for a new sportsplex.
Building a sportsplex: What are we waiting for? 2/18/2009 For a decade, Columbus has been talking about building a sportsplex. Meanwhile, neighboring cities like Starkville and Tupelo have benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars pumped into their economies by such facilities.
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