jacketracket wrote:Stopped at the Polaris Barnes and Noble while out Christmas shopping w/the missus - Sarah Palin is apparently doing a book signing there tomorrow.
jacketracket wrote:What to make of these Blue Jackets?
jacketracket wrote:I wonder whether these three OT/SO losses might be a turning point? Hate to say it, but getting Calvert back could have a bigger impact than losing Gaborik.
jacketracket wrote:Just checking stats: Mason at 2.13/0.931 ... CBJ bumping along at the bottom, once again.
The six-member group recently shot down a request for TNTBONE, believing it was a reference to an explosive penis. Turns out, the applicant’s initials are TN, and he plays the trombone.
A citizens group trying to change Columbus politics has turned in petitions seeking a ballot initiative to stop the city from paying on its purchase contract for Nationwide Arena.
The Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government submitted 17,200 signatures to the Columbus city clerk’s office yesterday to amend the purchase ordinance and stop payments to buy the arena by 2016.
The group needs fewer than 5,000 of those signatures to be validated by the Franklin County Board of Elections to get the issue on the ballot.
City officials wouldn’t comment on the coalition’s proposal. In general, City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. said that contracts cannot be undone at the ballot box.
In 2011, the city and Franklin County agreed to spend an estimated $250 million in casino tax revenue to purchase, operate and maintain the arena through 2039.
Owners of the Columbus Blue Jackets supported the public purchase because the team was losing money, in part because its lease did not provide the team with revenue that other teams get from their home arenas.
The public purchase saved the Blue Jackets about $9.5 million a year and allows the team to keep all concession and parking revenue from hockey-related events. The team also agreed to remain in Columbus through 2039.
City and county officials said keeping the team solvent is important because of the revenue generated in and around the Arena District.
(Wolfe Enterprises Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dispatch Printing Company, is a minority owner of the team. Capital Square Ltd., the commercial real-estate arm of Dispatch Printing, is a minority investor in the Arena District development.)
Opponents called the purchase a bailout and said the public should have been given a vote on it.
“This is not about the Blue Jackets — we say, ‘Go Jackets,’ ” said coalition president Jonathan Beard in a news release. “This is about what we believe to have been an abuse of the public’s trust in Columbus City Council.”
If enough signatures are validated, the proposal will then be heard by the city council. The council cannot stop it from being put on the May ballot.
Beard’s group turned in enough signatures last month to ask voters to approve public financing for city council and mayoral candidates who agree to limit campaign spending.
That ordinance would provide a share of $300,000 in casino-tax revenue to city-council candidates who voluntarily spend no more than $85,000 on their campaigns and mayoral candidates who agree to spend no more than $350,000. That issue could also be on the May ballot.
Last year, the coalition didn’t make the ballot with an initiative to elect seven council members from wards and four at large. The elections board determined that the group collected fewer than half the signatures required and that paid collectors appeared to have turned in fraudulent signatures.
jacketracket wrote:Wow ... Bobrovsky, Prout and Horton all activated on the same day. Good stuff!
I'm probably higher on Calvert than most, but I believe his style of play brings so much to a third line. If he could just stay healthy for a few weeks, maybe these guys make a push.
Columbus is spending $600,000 to treat water from Hoover Reservoir for foul odors and flavors.
Meanwhile, officials with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday that their recent tests found no contaminants in the water and that they are becoming “more engaged” in the problem.
The city is treating the water from the reservoir with five times the carbon it usually uses, the maximum that state and federal guidelines allow. Fixing the foul odor and flavor in the water that goes to about 500,000 city water customers has baffled engineers since mid-November.
The extra carbon is costing the city about $300,000 a month. The treatments are expected to continue into mid-January or until the issue is resolved, said Laura Young Mohr, spokeswoman for the city’s utilities department.
Officials said freezing temperatures could also help. They say that the water is still safe to drink and that the problem is aesthetic. After testing the water, the state EPA agrees.
“The city is doing everything it can and using the best and latest technology to try and fix the issue,” said Erin Strouse, spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA.
EPA officials tested the city’s water on
Dec. 19.
City officials said the issue stems from algae called anabaena, which produces earthy and pondlike flavors and odors, Mohr said. Anabaena often secretes an “oily” substance from cells that creates an odor in the water.
Algae blooms feed on lawn and farm fertilizers that get into streams. Temperature swings and wind churn up the algae, making them difficult to remove.
Mohr said the city is two years away from filtration improvements to the Hap Cremean Water Plant that will eliminate odor and flavor problems. The plant treats the water from Hoover Reservoir that is delivered to residents north of I-70.
Many residents have complained about the water, and businesses from Clintonville to Easton Town Center are warning customers.
Some residents have said the smell makes taking a shower barely tolerable.
The city has received more than 1,000 complaints since November.
Strouse said that while other cities, including Akron and Toledo, have had similar problems with water when the temperature changes, Columbus’ lingering problem is unusual.
“We don’t know how long this issue will go on; it could be days, weeks or months,” Mohr said.
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