October Meeting Minutes – 10/28/2021

• Police updates from Captain Blendowski, CRT Parks,

Captain Crawford (RCSD) and Deputy Gamble (RCSD)

• 5 total auto break ins were reported 4 forced and 1 unforced.
  • Reminder to residents to lock their vehicles and not leave items in plain sight or unattended.
  • Property Crimes reported were 1 Grand larceny and 1 Burglary
• From August 1^st to present date (time of meeting) 310 Traffic Tickets were given, primarily in school zones. CPD wants you to know that they hear you and are working towards more traffic enforcement in the midst of staffing those areas.
• The holidays are coming up and Columbia Police would like to remind you of the following:
  • Please do not leave package trash in front of your residence that would let potential thieves know you have newer items in your home to steal.
  • Remember to not post your vacation plans on public forums or public social media posts to alert potential thieves to empty properties.
  • If you would like CPD to perform a property check on your residence there is an online form located at https://columbiapd.net/property-check-request-form/
    • You can submit the online form at this link- requests take 48-72 hours to be processed.
    • You can also call 803-545-3500 to request
• Contact information for the officers present at this meeting are as follows
  • Captain Blendowski CPD– 803-737-5880
  • CRT Hakiesha Parks CPD – 803-391-9243
  • Captain Jason Crawford RCSD-803-904-3694
  • Deputy Nathaniel Gamble RCSD-803-465-2811

• Heather Bauer for City Council at Large
  • spoke about her run for City Council at Large and offered up her contact information 803-979-1024.
  • Talked about the railroad tracks at S. Beltline and as of 10/28 they were on schedule to be repaired by end of 2021 by CSX.
• Allison Terracio – Councilwoman for District 5
  • Cell phone 803-622-6029
  • Spoke about the proposed moratorium between old codes and new codes for land development.
  • Public Hearing for those affected by code changes is 11/9/2021 at 2020 Hampton St
    • Masks are required
    • County Council meetings are held the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday of each month
    • Link to watch online is http://richlandcountysc.gov/Government/County-Council
  • She also touched on the American Rescue Plan Money which has been partially delivered to the council.
    • The information can be found at http://www.richlandcountysc.gov/ARPAfunding
      • Survey available in English and Spanish to give feedback on how the County should use it’s share (~80 million)

• RCC 2022-2024 term elections
  • Positions were announced on RCC Website, RCC Facebook Page and Event for Meeting posted 10/7/2021
  • Nominations were made to either current VP Mike Ely or current secretary Lindsay Boozer by email or Facebook Message/Comment.
  • As of 10/28 the parties running for all four positions were unanimously voted in.
    • President – Mike Ely
    • Vice President – Mike Holden
    • Secretary – Lindsay Boozer
    • Treasurer – Julie Bigham

• RCC would like to thank the Boland Team (Virginia and Randall Boland) for offering up “the first round” to RCC Meeting Attendees at this meeting. Below is the flyer that was presented as well as a link to their website.
  • https://www.yourkeytosc.com/about/
  • https://rosewoodneighborhood.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/boland-team-flyer.jpg

July Meeting Minutes – 7/22/2021

Meeting led by Tyler and Lindsay- both Tim and Mike unavailable

• Storm Drain Marking Event from June 2021 from Bob Askins
  • Marked a good bit of storm drains- still have a sleeve of medallions and want to plan another small scale event for marking the rest of storm drains.
  • If you have a drain to be marked please let someone on the council know and we will work towards getting it marked!
  • Marked every markable drain between S. Maple to S. Ott and Rosewood and Rosewood Park!
• Bob also spoke about the Bluebird Box project along the nature trail
  •  2 boxes that have been very productive- 16 new bluebird fledglings!!
• Great Rosewood Trash Pickup June 2021
  • Not a big turnout- 6 people total
  • Picked up 5 large bags full of trash around Valencia Park and along South Kilbourne Ave
  • We still have supplies from this event and will plan another trash pick up later in the year.
• Spoke about City of Columbia being behind on large trash pickup due to staffing. As of meeting time they were about two weeks behind. – as a result of an attendee asking about City traffic pick up vs our pick up.
• RCSD – Lt. Jason Crawford spoke about crime in the area
  • Uptick in the area has been break ins- based on people seeing posts on social media
  • Kids pulling on car door handles, lots of gun thefts and valuables stolen from cars that were left in plain sight or unlocked vehicles.
  • BOTH City and County Officers offer property checks for while you’re on vacation. Online forms are located here:
    • https://columbiapd.net/property-check-request-form/
    • https://www.rcsd.net/property-checks/
• CRT Hakiesha Parks with CPD spoke about crime in South Kilbourne
  • 3 burglaries between June 21^st and 30^th  – nothing was taken, not sure if they were connected
  • 1 auto break in with forced entry, nothing was mentioned as being taken on the report
  • 1 stolen car on Hemphill St- the key was left in the vehicle in this case
    • It is not illegal to leave your car running on PRIVATE PROPERTY – side note.
  • David Rice and Nick Hayes- both arrested finally. Multiple offenses of property crimes in both Rosewood and Shandon neighborhood.
• Captain Blendowski with CPD spoke about keeping the community safe by keeping them involved. Please communicate with the police for your needs.
  • Reminded us that the non-emergency numbers still goes to the same dispatcher as 911 calls.
  •  (803) 252-2911 is number for NON-Emergency calls, but if you feel like it is urgent he stressed to just call 911.
  • Also update on Roll Calls- they miss having them too, but they have not been approved to start back up yet.
• Jared Johnson spoke about the BLM Mural which is in process at Sweet Temptations Bakery on North Main St.
  • He also spoke about his project to put 21 books by Black Authors in Little Free Libraries across Rosewood, Shandon, and Earlewood. If you would like to donate a book to Jared please reach out to him via Facebook. He will share his list of books or you can purchase off the list at Odd Bird Books in the Arcade Mall on Main St. It is a local owned bookstore so you will be supporting a small business and black authors as well.

• Allison Terracio-
  • Spoke about the Richland County Website being updated to be more user friendly for outside people looking for information.
  • American Rescue Plan Money- County is getting ~80 Million and the City of Columbia ~27 Million
    • If you have input on how you want American Rescue Plan money go to
      • http://www.richlandcountysc.gov/ARPAfunding
      • Give Feedback on how you would like to see the County spend their share (~80 Million.)
• Michelle spoke about happenings in the South Kilbourne Group
  • National Night Out moved to October
  • Reminded everyone to please lock their cars, be on the lookout for yourself as well as your neighbors.

JULY 22nd RCC Meeting

Hello Friends and Neighbors!

We will have our second meeting of 2021 this Thursday, July 22nd at the Hangar at Owens Field. We will be outside on the green space (weather permitting) and invite you to come and mingle with your neighbors.

Please come and enjoy the weather

if you feel comfortable!

 Agenda

 
6:00      Social Time/Drink/Food Orders
 
6:30      Call To Order/Welcome Back
             Treasurer Report/Updates
              
6:40     Police Updates
 
7:00     Open Forum for Representatives
 
7:30     Social Time/Adjourn

6/19/21 Storm Drain Marking

We will be marking storm drains with the help of City of Columbia!

Tools will be provided, however please remember to bring gloves and water to drink! Depending on how many volunteers we get we will divide up into teams to help make this a successful event!!

Meet at Rosewood Park at 9am! Meeting will last approximately 2 hours.

Please see the link below to the event on Facebook!

https://fb.me/e/1lhTnBX7o

April 15, 2021 Meeting at the Hangar

Summary Of Events:

This was our first meeting since the start of the pandemic and we were so pleased to see a good turnout (including the aircraft) on what turned out to be a gorgeous evening weather wise.

Will Brennan was the first speaker of the evening who spoke about update to the city’s water infrastructure. A total of 22 million will be spent over the 3 phases, of which we are currently in the planning of the 1st phase which the funding approval and budget will be discussed at the meeting Tuesday evening (4/20). If you or someone you know has instances of brown water please do not hesitate to reach out to Will directly at will.brennan@columbiasc.com.

Will also the mural project going on in 4 different districts celebrating Black History. You might have noticed the mural going up at Valencia Park on S. Kilbourne created by artist McClellan Douglas who is a Hand/Dreher alumni.

CRT Mason Frier with CPD sadly announced that he will be leaving us, but it’s fantastic news for him as he has gotten a promotion and as of May 1st he will be joining the Special Victims Unit. We are so happy for this for him and we will welcome his replacement CRT Keisha Parks to our next meeting. Until May you can reach Mason at 803-391-6203.

Mason also talked about the drop in auto break ins, especially since there were arrests made in the catalytic converter thefts plaguing the area. There have also been some key arrests made throughout the county that will affect our local property crimes.

Tameika Isaac Devine joined us to speak about the American Rescue Plan and the funding that could potentially be allocated to helping with direct Covid relief for small businesses, first responders, essential front line workers and more. They are also discussing how to maximize the budget at the meeting on Tuesday.

Herrick Brown gave us an update on all the work being done to the nature trail, especially with the funds awarded from grants with Columbia Green and Palmetto Pride. We’ve had over 3000 volunteered person hours for at least 500 individual plantings, including some plants graciously donated by volunteers. The intent is to continue plant native species to help foster the other flora and fauna that have returned to the area after that area was barren for over a decade.

We also invite you to attend the official Ribbon Cutting for the Pump Track on April 27th at 11am if you are available! It’s gotten a lot of use already and draws in people from all over the tri county area to enjoy.

Other Concerns Addressed

Attendees discussed wanting more traffic calming near the schools, increased patrols in high speed areas, trash clean ups, storm drain marking and cleaning, speed bumps.

April 2021 Meeting

Hello Friends and Neighbors!
 

We will have the first meeting of 2021 thisThursday, April 15^that the Hangar at Owens Field. We will be abiding by mask wearing and social distancing guidelines and will mostly remain outside on the green space.

Please come and enjoy the weather if you feel comfortable!

Agenda

 
6:00      Social Time/Drink/Food Orders
 
6:30      Call To Order/Welcome Back
             Treasurer Report
              
6:40      CRT Mason Frier w/Police Updates
 
6:50      Herrick Brown – Nature Trail/RCCC
             Columbia Green/Palmetto Pride grants &plantings
 
7:10      Will Brennan
 
7:30     Social Time/Adjourn

New voting system will be used in Columbia for Nov. 5 elections

A city election is coming up in a few weeks, and South Carolina’s new voting system will be used in Columbia for the first time. Here’s a handy guide to how it works: scec_10856_01_Cast_Your_Ballot_8.5 X 11_2019_02 (00000002)

Proposed change to Rosewood Drive at S. Walker near Rosewood Elementary

Jay Rogers lives in Shandon and has kids who attend Rosewood Elementary. He also chairs the Rosewood Elementary School Improvement Council. He got in touch recently to let us know about a possible change to the intersection of Rosewood Drive and S. Walker, a place where numerous kids and families cross Rosewood Drive going to and from school. The proposed change would make Rosewood Drive right-turn only at that intersection. A concrete median would be constructed in the middle of Rosewood Drive at that intersection, with a single wide crosswalk cut through the middle. Two “Yield to Pedestrians” signs like the ones around USC would also be installed. South Carolina DOT has approved the plan, and they’re now looking to get feedback from neighbors about the change. A schematic of the plan is attached below. Comments left at this post will be passed along to the School Improvement Council.

SC 16 Rosewood Dr & S-355 S Walker St

Proposed traffic-calming measures for Rosewood

At the January meeting of Rosewood Community Council, a lengthy discussion was held about possible solutions to the problem of drivers speeding through the neighborhood. City Councilman Moe Baddourah and city traffic engineer David Brewer asked the neighborhood to submit a proposal for desired sites for traffic-calming measures. Rosewood residents responded strongly, and a committee collated the requests and submitted a map to the city for review. A couple weeks ago, Mr. Brewer sent us the city’s return proposal, and it’s a very good one with many of the requested sites designated for  traffic-calming measures. Yesterday, June 18, Columbia City Council voted to approve the plan. Rep. Seth Rose has asked DOT to issue the necessary permits, and Councilman Baddourah says implementation of the measures could begin within two months. A map of the proposed traffic-calming measures for Rosewood is attached below.

Rosewood Area Speed Hump Map 3

Minutes from Rosewood Community Council’s meeting on April 18

Thank you to everyone who came to Rosewood Community Council’s quarterly meeting on April 18.  As someone said afterwards, it was great to feel so much energy in the room and see so many people invested in our community.  Here’s a brief summary of the meeting with contact information for the guest speakers.

Given recent public safety concerns in central Rosewood, CPD officer Mason Frier invited Sgt. Christopher Morris, investigator R.M. Henry, and Captain John Williams to address our group. It was a lively discussion, and we received a lot of good advice from the policemen. Contact info:  Captain Williams, 803-737-5880; investigator Henry, 803-545-4255; Officer Frier, 803-391-6203; Sgt. Morris, 803-315-5428. Also, Sgt. Morris informed us that anyone who would like to host a front-porch roll call may contact him at christopher.morris@columbiasc.gov. You can also sign up for a front-porch roll call by contacting Officer Frier at mason.frier@columbiasc.gov.

We also met John Loveday, a candidate for the District 3 seat on Columbia City Council. He will be opposing Moe Baddourah, who is up for re-election in the November election. You can contact Mr. Loveday at john@votejohnloveday.com and 803-728-6821.

Our Rosewood neighbor Jen Coody, who works for the Columbia Animal Mission, gave us a brief outline of improvements coming to the Paw Path in Rosewood Park. New landscaping is being done, and more memorial bricks are being added. If you would like to purchase a brick to remember and honor a former pet, go to animalmission.org or call 803-776-7387.  It costs $50 to purchase a brick and all proceeds go to the Animal Mission.

 

Thanks, everyone, and we look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on July 18 in the large conference room at Owens Field Airport. This will be an important meeting because we will be accepting nominations for new officers for Rosewood Community Council. Nominations for president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer will be accepted, and the vote will take place at our October meeting. Have a great summer, and we look forward to seeing you in July.