Granted, I do not understand grants.  This robbing of Peter to pay Paul circular activity gains a sterling reputation certainly among grant-writers, whose audiences consist of tax-payers who have evidently contributed enough revenue that sums lay within treasure chests all across the land, just waiting for extraction–our money–from us!  According to a city councilman Tuesday evening, September 23rd, if these monies remain untouched by us within a qualifying time frame, somebody else in another community (heaven forbid?) benefits by reaching inside (into our community chest? surely not?) and sharing the wealth with traveling bands of engineering types willing to trouble-shoot on behalf of the imminent arrival of pet community projects.  Thus, approval of raiding our own mysterious slush (or “rainy day”) fund merited a majority “Yea” vote, hardly any questions asked, so that nobody else would pre-emptively plunder our stash.  Odd. 

Come and get it, engineers!  Ours is yours. Perform your studies and advise us.  You, whoever you may be, received our consent.  No better time than the present.  Next, we shall hire the afore-mentioned grant-writer, affiliated with a Fort Wayne-based hospital system, to scribble down all of these “engineered” recommendations upon official forms, and possibly Columbia City citizens will receive an 80% refund simply for apathetically allowing and enabling this round-about effort?  Wondering, though, what suggestions our community will receive pertaining to additional, up-and-down-the-road financing to address safety concerns, encourage beautification projects, and re-generate real estate bounties?  The beat goes on…and on.

Limited questioning, a handful of testimonials directed toward the worthiness of the hypothesized proposal of what might eventually be referred to as an actual “avenue”, a quick and early vote occurring because the autumn television season premiered in part on Tuesday, the doors of Columbia City opened for out-of-town engineering consultants to introduce citizens to a “Gateway” operation we shall be instructed we simply cannot live without.  Perhaps Parkview ought to spend three million dollars for the right to name our new entrance (s), and then State Road 205, Highway 30 and Van Buren Street might all merge, intersect, and live happily ever after, appropriately redistributed, widened, narrowed, wrapped around, clover-leafed, luxuriously land-scaped, or what have you (in mind?)  Really, we should invite those engineers and grant-writers to stay home as we get smart and encourage this representative of corporate medical-America to pay Columbia City for the privilege, not to bankrupt the citizenry, rather, to “come grow with us”, a slogan employed by former Mayors Teghtmeyer and Zickgraf.  Those were the days.