The official motto of Columbus is “The Friendly City,” but for some time now, a better characterization of the city could be pulled from the Pogo comic strip: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

During this week’s Between The Headlines podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts or at cdispatch.com/podcast, Burns Bottom developers Nic Parish and Saunders Ramsey drew from another animated story to describe the way Columbus residents often view their city. They call it the Eeyore complex after the perpetually dour donkey of Winnie the Pooh fame.

Parish and Ramsey, along with Parish’s brother Garrett, have completed negotiations to purchase and develop the area near downtown known as Burns Bottom from the Columbus Redevelopment Authority. As you listen to Nic Parish and Ramsey talk about their vision, you can tell they have a genuine enthusiasm for a city that has, for some time now, been down on itself.

They call their partnership Friendly City Developers, a nod to the city’s more positive self-image that has somehow slipped away a bit. And since we are playing on pop culture references, their success could become the opening scene of “How Columbus Got Its Groove Back.”

There are people alive today who remember when Columbus was the city every other city in North Mississippi aspired to be. What happened?

In the podcast, Parish and Saunders compare Columbus and neighboring Starkville and how each community views itself. Starkville is booming and growing, in part because the city projects an air of optimism and progress.

Columbus, by contrast, has seen very little growth because, in large part, it projects an air of pessimism and stagnation.

But are the two cities, whose circumstances are comparable in so many ways, really that distinctly different? For example, the cities have roughly the same amount of crime, yet the perception is that crime is much worse in Columbus because citizens insist on seeing the worst and expecting no better.

Starkville, meanwhile, is much more interested in building, growing and improving. If someone in Starkville were to describe the city as a first-grader, it would be the kid getting all the gold stars on his report card. The child Columbus sees in itself is the kid sitting in the corner eating the paste.

They are both self-fulfilling prophecies.

Saunders, who developed the remarkably beautiful Adelaide community in Starkville and Parish, who lives in Columbus, are wagering that some of what separates successful Starkville and failing Columbus is attitude.

Columbus is rich with assets surrounding Burns Bottom: the Columbus Riverwalk, the Old Highway 82 Pedestrian Bridge, the Roger Short Soccer Complex and the potential for an amphitheater, not to mention a vibrant downtown. These are features most cities of Columbus’ size would envy.

Being businessmen, Saunders and Parish are investing both their financial and emotional capital on more than just a love of the community and desire to see it succeed. They’ve done their homework. Home sales in Columbus are robust, in some months sales volume is twice as high as in Starkville. Home prices are 18 to 20% lower in Columbus than Starkville, which means more home for the buck.

The reason why nobody is building in Columbus may be simply because nobody has tried. It’s a state of inertia that Saunders and Parish plan to shake off. People will be watching. And we hope people will be cheering.

Perhaps that will be the shot in the arm the city needs to get out of its doldrums and adopt a more optimistic self-image.

At long last, Eeyore no more.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.