today’s news and information gleanings from here and there!

Quote for today… “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, what he don’t appreciate the next man will.” – old adage that seems to apply at the Columbia Mart. If cars in the lot are one indicator of success, then the Columbia Mart is doing considerably better than the former occupant, a Turkey Hill convenience store.

• Facelift in progress: A little short term inconvenience; cannot wait to see the new look at the shopping area at the east side of town. The signs on the movable barriers say Paul Risk Associates, Inc. There’s no mention of the facelift project at the Paul Risk Associates’ Current Projects Website.

• One school system is going to tackle its nepotism policies, saying, “nepotism, or the appearance of nepotism, can degrade staff morale, arouse public district, and is an obstacle to teamwork, effectiveness and quality performance.” Amen – LancasterOnLine.

• In Steelton, residents demand diversity and an end to nepotism in borough hiring – Harrisburg Patriot-News

• Homophobia: in scouting – LancasterOnLine

• How do visitors, or anyone, know when to pay for metered parking? As we parked by a meter near Stover’s last evening around 7 pm, we looked for signs informing us what the hours of metered parking are. We could not find any notice of hours on signage or on the meters. We looked for, but could not find easily, that information later at the Columbia Borough Website. After clicking on the “Ordinances” link at the Website and searching “Parking” we found this: “It shall be unlawful for the owner or operator of any motor or other vehicle to park such vehicle between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on any Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on any Friday and between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on any Saturday for more than 2 1/2 hours at any time on the following described municipal parking lot in the Borough of Columbia, which is hereby established as a parking meter zone; provided, however, that the foregoing restrictions shall not apply to parking on Sundays or on any of the following legal holidays: New Year’s Day, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.” In places like Lancaster, the hours of operation are shown on the meters and at the Parking Authority Website.

• This Columbia news, views & reviews post about parking signage appeared a few years ago: “At the same meeting, the Council president said, ‘Boy, are we going to take a beating on this one.’ He was referencing the decision to remove four parking meters from Fourth Street and to re-designate the four spaces as parking for the projected medical facility. A councilor asked the borough manager for some ‘wordsmithing’ on the signage. [NOTE: Here’s one idea of what the sign for one of the suggestions might look like:]”

• This New York Times article praises Hackenberg’s leadership and ideals; dismisses O’Brien’s

• Nine of ten people don’t believe. In York Daily Record poll question: “Do you believe anything you see in political ads?”

• York Daily Record Opinion: The horror of ill-informed citizens