Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / Ristorante Italiano in Columbus PLUS Franklin Academy, Trotter, and Haunted Houses

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Ristorante Italiano in Columbus PLUS Franklin Academy, Trotter, and Haunted Houses · Between the Headlines: Columbus

0:00
SPEAKER_00: From the opinion page of the commercial dispatch, this is Between the Headlines.
0:12
SPEAKER_05: This is Peter Imes, publisher of The Dispatch.
0:15
SPEAKER_05: One of our hosts of Between the Headlines is the managing editor of our newsroom.
0:20
SPEAKER_05: Typically, we try to keep news and opinion separate, but reporters have a unique insight into the workings of local government, and their analysis can be helpful for readers and listeners.
0:31
SPEAKER_05: The Dispatch remains committed to journalistic integrity, and our reporting will always reflect that.
0:38
SPEAKER_05: And now, between the headlines.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: Today on Between the Headlines, we talk about Franklin Academy with an estimated$23 million repair and weatherization bill.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: What in the world are we going to do with that property?
0:53
SPEAKER_02: But first, Ristorante d'Italiano or something like that.
0:58
SPEAKER_02: Or a moray or something.
0:59
SPEAKER_02: But it's going to be an Italian restaurant.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: It's an Italian place coming to Columbus, breaking news.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: And then da da da da da da da da da.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we got a charge for ice ice, baby.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: That was kind of cheesy, but you know what we're going to talk about today.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: The unusual fees for those who choose to rent the Trotter Convention Center and also special guest, Lieutenant Rhonda Sanders.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: But first.
1:26
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1:31
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2:03
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2:11
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2:15
SPEAKER_02: This episode of Between the Headlines is brought to you by Bank First, the locally owned bank that makes decisions right here at home by people who understand the needs of our community.
2:24
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2:33
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2:46
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2:51
SPEAKER_02: You are listening to Between the Headlines with Zach Plair, the managing editor of the Dispatch, and my name is David Chisholm.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: This is episode 38.
2:59
SPEAKER_02: We are T minus 68 days until the completion of the amphitheater per Mayor Jones' decree.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what you're gonna do the first week of January on this show.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: I've got plans.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: I do.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: All right, Zach.
3:14
SPEAKER_02: Here we are sitting in the studio, finally able to announce the opening of an Italian restaurant.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: Something the people of the friendly city have waited so long.
3:24
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, now it ain't open yet.
3:26
SPEAKER_04: It's under construction uh uh across the street from the dispatch downtown.
3:31
SPEAKER_04: It's in the old uh Main Street Thai building.
3:34
SPEAKER_04: It was gone tie before that, and a couple of other things.
3:37
SPEAKER_04: By all accounts, supposed to be legit, and I'm excited.
3:40
SPEAKER_04: My wife is excited.
3:41
SPEAKER_04: Every time we go to a town when we go on vacation, the very first thing we do is look up if they have a good Italian restaurant and go eat there.
3:49
SPEAKER_04: So it's gonna be nice to get to do that close to home.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, we've got enough Mexican places.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: And um, so when we talk about Italian, if you're giving this place an endorsement and it hasn't opened yet, that speaks volumes to me because you're a gardener and you grow these weird tomatoes out of what, Zimbabwe or not out of just Zimbabwe, they're out of all kinds of places.
4:13
SPEAKER_04: I've I've grown, I've grown uh tomatoes out of South America, I've grown tomatoes out of the Midwest, I've grown tomatoes out of Russia and Germany and all those places.
4:23
SPEAKER_02: I've grown some out of Alabama, but that's about it.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: Um so when I'm traveling, when I go to a an Italian restaurant, it's because I'm really hungry.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: Like I want to get full food.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: So uh what do we know?
4:39
SPEAKER_02: I know that Royce Hudspith was um very excited to uh give this news in and also Miss Frady, is that her name?
4:47
SPEAKER_04: Yep, Kelly Frady, she she owns the building.
4:49
SPEAKER_04: Uh she's a cold well banker here.
4:52
SPEAKER_04: She owns the building, is leasing it to uh this uh pair of cousins that who already have uh Italian restaurants in, I believe Oxford, Brandon, Clinton, and Tupelo.
5:05
SPEAKER_04: And um they thought that Columbus would be a natural uh fit for their next operation.
5:11
SPEAKER_04: So I'm I'm I'm hungry.
5:13
SPEAKER_02: So this is one of those we would classify it as a small chain.
5:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, right.
5:20
SPEAKER_04: And it's gonna it's gonna be all authentic too, from what I'm saying.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: So I hate to even put the word chain on it because if you say chain, that implies that it's some mass-produced thing.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: Right.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: Um like that other Italian restaurant that some people were hope hoping for, right?
5:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, the uh you know, I certainly not gonna call them by names.
5:42
SPEAKER_04: I have been to that one that you speak.
5:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:46
SPEAKER_04: I like it, it's fine, it's good.
5:48
SPEAKER_04: Um I've been to the authentic ones as well.
5:52
SPEAKER_04: I prefer the authentic ones, and and you know, hopefully this one will, you know, live up to the billing of that.
5:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I expect that it will.
6:00
SPEAKER_02: And and what's in what's really cool to me is the story uh that Miss Frady told uh in the paper.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: Basically, she struck up a conversation with the owners like she was in Oxford, was it?
6:13
SPEAKER_04: That's what that's what I understand, yeah.
6:15
SPEAKER_02: And she had done kind of a straw poll and the good people of Columbus, every time she would ask the people of Columbus, well, well, what do we want?
6:23
SPEAKER_02: What should we put here without hesitation?
6:26
SPEAKER_02: Everyone was saying, Well, we need an Italian place.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: And so it came up in conversation organically.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: This was not the government, this was not the mayor, this was not Leroy Brooks.
6:36
SPEAKER_02: This was just somebody saying, Hey, y'all do Italian, right?
6:39
SPEAKER_02: Well, have you thought about coming to Columbus?
6:42
SPEAKER_02: And they scratched their head, and what happened?
6:45
SPEAKER_02: Now they're coming.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:46
SPEAKER_02: This is really cool stuff, and it just goes to show let's not trash our town, let's talk it up, because these conversations with real people end up turning into real stuff.
6:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
6:57
SPEAKER_04: And this could be a uh, you know, I've talked to a couple of people about it, and they've used I'm I I don't want to steal this without attribution here, but I've talked to several people who have been excited about this, and the and the word that they use every time is that it's a potential game changer for downtown.
7:15
SPEAKER_04: So if this comes in, it's popular and it's done right.
7:18
SPEAKER_04: I agree that it could absolutely be a game changer for downtown.
7:22
SPEAKER_04: So good luck parking on Friday night.
7:25
SPEAKER_02: Like uh dress code and stuff or uh.
7:31
SPEAKER_04: Or is it come as you are?
7:33
SPEAKER_04: Uh I don't know.
7:35
SPEAKER_04: They don't even have a name for this place yet.
7:37
SPEAKER_04: So I only know what's in the story.
7:39
SPEAKER_04: It just depends on which church you go to, I guess.
7:41
SPEAKER_04: I guess.
7:42
SPEAKER_04: All right.
7:42
SPEAKER_04: That's a great story.
7:44
SPEAKER_04: That that will also depend on whether you get to have any of the wine, I'm sure, too.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: Okay, Zach, this next topic is fairly heavy.
7:50
SPEAKER_02: I'm looking at this Franklin Academy, which is, as many people know, the oldest public school in the state of Mississippi.
8:00
SPEAKER_02: That's correct.
8:01
SPEAKER_02: Founded in 1821, and now it sits vacant, and now it's starting to be an albatross as far as our funds go.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: Is that okay to say?
8:14
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't know if if we're there yet, but it's definitely something that uh the school board has articulated an interest in trying to get leased to a private entity uh and on the tax rolls some way, because uh you know they moved they moved the elementary kids out of there um this school year during a consolidation that will ultimately move five elementary schools to three or consolidate five elementary schools into three.
8:46
SPEAKER_02: So they had five, they chose to abandon two, right.
8:49
SPEAKER_02: One of them is Fairview down on Airline Road.
8:52
SPEAKER_04: Right.
8:52
SPEAKER_04: And that I think is gonna that's gonna be phased out next next year.
8:56
SPEAKER_04: Next year.
8:57
SPEAKER_04: But Franklin was phased out before this year.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: Now, you may not know the details of this, but was that a geographical decision or did it have to do with the condition of the building?
9:07
SPEAKER_04: It had to I mean it had to do with the condition of the building.
9:10
SPEAKER_04: It had to do with their, you know, which three of those five could uh be renovated for the least amount of money.
9:18
SPEAKER_04: Remember that bind is paying for those renovations.
9:20
SPEAKER_04: But now what's left at Franklin is now a building that the school district owns right behind the courthouse that's a historic building that a lot of people in the community deeply care about, part of Columbus's identity historically, and it needs$23 million of work before anybody can really do anything there.
9:44
SPEAKER_04: So, really the central part of the issue right now, yeah, you got the$23 million, that's a big number.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: And we'll talk about that.
9:50
SPEAKER_04: Yes, and it is a historic building, and we're gonna talk about that too.
9:53
SPEAKER_04: But right now you seem to have two very different visions of how to get this thing leased.
9:58
SPEAKER_04: Uh for$23 million, you need a heavy hitter.
10:01
SPEAKER_04: And you've got people on that board like Dr.
10:04
SPEAKER_04: Joe Schumache, who's saying, We need people in real estate that play on this level that can sling that kind of money around, at least advising us on what to do here, at least advising us on how to pursue getting somebody in there.
10:23
SPEAKER_02: She was humble enough to say, this ain't really out of my league.
10:26
SPEAKER_04: This is out of my league.
10:27
SPEAKER_04: I do other things, but as a board member, I am advocating for getting people in this field to at least talk to us about what you know what some of our viable options are or what they would, you know, see if they're interested.
10:44
SPEAKER_04: You know, and to her point, you've got the CRA that's already that's already moved Lee Middle for you.
10:51
SPEAKER_04: And the CRA is doing work right across the street or down the road from Franklin right now, getting Burns Bottom ready for the developers there.
11:00
SPEAKER_04: You also have the developers there who might can speak to this because what uh you know, what happens at Franklin is is going to have a direct impact on Burns Bottom, whether it be large or small.
11:11
SPEAKER_04: So I think their opinion would be magnificent to have.
11:15
SPEAKER_04: And they might even bid on it.
11:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, never know.
11:18
SPEAKER_04: But then you've got uh Robert Smith, board president.
11:22
SPEAKER_04: He's he's wanting to move with haste to that end.
11:26
SPEAKER_04: You know, he's he he drops it on the uh board the other day that somebody, we don't know who, has toured this place with Craig Chapman already.
11:36
SPEAKER_04: First of all, Craig Chapman needs to be running the school district.
11:39
SPEAKER_04: He doesn't need to be the uh he doesn't need to be effectively the de facto realtor for Franklin Academy.
11:46
SPEAKER_04: Uh but uh he's got stuff to do.
11:49
SPEAKER_04: But you've got him saying, you know, oh yeah, just call, just call Craig, he'll give you a tour.
11:55
SPEAKER_04: And uh secondly, he's saying, and if you've got an idea of what you want to put in there, come and pitch it to the board.
12:03
SPEAKER_04: So just, I mean, I guess like, you know, if uh Marty Turner wants to run a youth center in there, he can just get on citizens' comments uh on the on the CMSD board agenda and he'll be heard with the same in this in the same fashion and in the same forum as Chris Chain would.
12:20
SPEAKER_04: So I think that's a bad plan.
12:25
SPEAKER_04: I I I really I really do.
12:27
SPEAKER_04: Well and it's not that it's not in good faith, it's not that, you know, I don't understand the need to get this in private hands, get this on the tax growths, get the maintenance of this building as the responsibility of a of a of a private party.
12:42
SPEAKER_04: I understand them wanting to get that bill off their books, but there's something that happens when you when you when you do that, in my opinion, and I've I've seen it happen uh in in other areas, and and and you've seen it happen with those sort of cursed properties, those those businesses that never seem to keep somebody there.
13:03
SPEAKER_04: If you end up going with some jack leg somebody that not a bad tenant in the sense that they're a bad person or they're not paying their rent, but their business model is not sustained.
13:17
SPEAKER_04: They don't one, don't have$23 million, and two, their business model isn't sustainable for that space, maybe.
13:23
SPEAKER_04: You do that, and what you end up doing is you have a rotation of bad match tenants in that place, and then pretty soon you have nothing.
13:33
SPEAKER_04: That ends up being the larger problem.
13:35
SPEAKER_04: Well, do it right, do it once, take your time to do it right and do it once, and do it permanent.
13:42
SPEAKER_02: I you know I'm with you on that.
13:44
SPEAKER_02: I I think the buzzword that that my mind keeps going back to is is the the phrase that appeared in the paper yesterday, and that is area experts, local ex local experts.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: That that almost sounds to me like an oxymoron.
14:02
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying that we're stupid here.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: That's not what I'm saying.
14:06
SPEAKER_02: What I am telling you is that true experts, generally speaking, spend a lot of time on an airplane because they're in high demand.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: They're needed all over the country, sometimes all over the world.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: And so when we try to pretend that we right here in Columbus, Mississippi are experts in these really big, complicated situations.
14:29
SPEAKER_02: Now, wait a minute.
14:30
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna push back on you some on this because you've got you've got people like Chris Chain, you've got Mark Castleberry, you've got uh you've got Golden Triangle uh development with uh Saunders and Nick and Garrett uh Saunders Ramsey, Nick and Garrett Parrish.
14:46
SPEAKER_04: You've got area experts here that know what they're talking about and know what they're doing.
14:50
SPEAKER_04: So I'll push back on you on that a little bit.
14:53
SPEAKER_04: Fair.
14:54
SPEAKER_04: All right.
14:54
SPEAKER_04: But what you're not gonna get, Mark, what you're not gonna get is Mark Castleberry, or a Mark Castleberry, for example, to stand in line behind some lady in public comments that's pitching uh uh a very well-intentioned uh daycare center that she wants to run at Franklin.
15:14
SPEAKER_04: He's not gonna stand behind her in line and wait to make his presentation with uh from a from a much different point of view.
15:23
SPEAKER_04: That's not how those people play and nor should they.
15:27
SPEAKER_04: And I feel like uh there shouldn't be a cattle call for anyone.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: There should be a cattle call.
15:34
SPEAKER_02: I think that's what I'm getting.
15:36
SPEAKER_02: You're looking at something that has um, according to the architect anyway, a minimum price tag of 23 million.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: That's a starting point because you've got to fix it up to make things happen.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: Right.
15:48
SPEAKER_04: And that's before you make it into the thing you want it to be.
15:51
SPEAKER_04: That's to make sure it doesn't leak while you're doing stuff.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
15:55
SPEAKER_02: And so let's compare that to Lee Mall, 300,000 square feet.
16:01
SPEAKER_02: How much did Grandpa Hull pay for Lee Mall?
16:05
SPEAKER_02: $3.5 million.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: And it's got to purchase it.
16:09
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: Dozens of acres, a lot more return on investment.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: Maybe compared to what you see up.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, maybe that's true.
16:17
SPEAKER_02: I don't see how you'd make a lot of money off of that at that particular type of structure.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: But again, maybe I'm the idiot.
16:25
SPEAKER_02: I'm not I'm the area expert.
16:28
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
16:29
SPEAKER_04: You don't think you're an area?
16:30
SPEAKER_04: You you you want to put a big indoor swimming pool in there?
16:33
SPEAKER_04: You'd be an area expert on that, David.
16:36
SPEAKER_04: It's already leaking, so it won't matter if there's if water's supposed to be in there, then maybe you save some money.
16:43
SPEAKER_04: Well, okay, so there's another place that I want to go with this, and and it it goes through some of the more recent history in town related to history.
16:52
SPEAKER_04: One of the worst things I feel like that can happen here is for that building to just sit for decades empty with no takers, with no plan, and just decay right in front of our eyes.
17:08
SPEAKER_04: Just just a uh a short drive through some recent political history.
17:13
SPEAKER_04: When they were uh when the CRA bought Burns Bottom, they started they started um designating some of these houses for demolition.
17:22
SPEAKER_04: And I think it was like seven or eight houses were on the were on the first block of demolition and or on the first slate of demolition.
17:32
SPEAKER_04: One of those houses turned out to be uh the Burns House, like the the house that was uh that where the namesake of that community lived, and before that, the uh a union general during Reconstruction lived there.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: So that house was on the registry?
17:49
SPEAKER_04: Uh well that area was on the registry, and that house was a contributing structure.
17:53
SPEAKER_04: It wasn't a landmark yet, but it was but that was something that the city before they slated it to be torn down, they were supposed to go through the landmark process with it before it could be torn down, and they were just going to circumvent that.
18:07
SPEAKER_04: Jeff Turnage to this day believes that our coverage of that was me saying that the that the house shouldn't be torn down, and it never was that.
18:16
SPEAKER_04: It was the city needed to follow state law.
18:20
SPEAKER_04: But Jeff Turnage was right about one thing in that in that whole mess.
18:25
SPEAKER_04: The MDAH came in and said, Whoa, you can't turn you can't tear that down without going through this process.
18:30
SPEAKER_04: So the city said, okay, they go through their process.
18:33
SPEAKER_04: In the meantime, Jeff Turnage put a challenge out to all of the people with the pit pitchforks and torches that were yelling about conservation and about this, and this is our history.
18:44
SPEAKER_04: And we've got a lot of those people in Columbus that are that, you know, diehard historians.
18:50
SPEAKER_04: Die hard historic, diehard conservation.
18:52
SPEAKER_04: They don't want to see the buildings that were there at the beginning go away.
18:57
SPEAKER_04: And I understand that.
18:59
SPEAKER_04: And Jeff Turnage looks at those people and says, Okay, buy it and fix it up.
19:05
SPEAKER_04: Put your money where your mouth is.
19:07
SPEAKER_04: Not only did nobody buy the Burns house, but nobody else was standing in front of the wrecking ball when it showed up to tear it down, when it got when it got delisted, it wasn't made into a landmark, and MDAH said, fine, take it down because it was in terrible shape.
19:23
SPEAKER_04: Looking at 7th Street North, that parsonage at that Presbyterian church, that was in the historic district, Historic Preservation Committee, the city's historic preservation commission, when the church said we really need to tear that down because we can't afford the maintenance on it, and we need the parking space and accessibility for our aging membership, you know, to get around, not having to walk all the way about the building to get in the thing.
19:48
SPEAKER_04: Historic preservation said, see if you can come up with something else.
19:53
SPEAKER_04: So they said, okay, how about we sell it to somebody who's willing to move it?
19:58
SPEAKER_04: Would that satisfy you?
20:00
SPEAKER_04: They said, Yeah, try that.
20:02
SPEAKER_04: So for months, that church tried to sell that parsonage, and the word on the street was that they would sell it for a dollar to somebody willing to move it.
20:14
SPEAKER_04: Months go by, nobody buys it.
20:17
SPEAKER_04: Even with the Historic Preservation Commission still saying, please save that building, the city council said to tear it down.
20:24
SPEAKER_04: And they did.
20:25
SPEAKER_04: So Well, they had to.
20:26
SPEAKER_04: They had to, and that gets to my point on Franklin.
20:30
SPEAKER_04: Now Franklin is a much more important structure to Columbus's history than anything in Burns Bottom was or the Presbyterian parsonage.
20:41
SPEAKER_04: But if they don't do this right in getting a developer to come and really make a go of this, really fix that structure up and put something in it that'll work, then inevitably it stays empty for thirty year twenty, thirty years, decaying in front of our eyes, while everybody goes, Oh, that's just a shame.
21:04
SPEAKER_04: And then eventually the school district says, Oh, we're just gonna have to get the uh archives and history to delist this so we can tear it down.
21:13
SPEAKER_04: And that would be a shame, but at some point, if this is done wrong or if nobody is willing to put their money up to make the thing go, it's not feasible and it's not fair to for the state or for the community to accept uh to expect the school district to foot the bill maintaining a decaying building that nobody's in.
21:36
SPEAKER_04: So eventually you're gonna have to decide, does somebody have the money to make a go of that place?
21:41
SPEAKER_04: Or is this gonna end up like the Burns House and the Presbyterian parsonage?
21:45
SPEAKER_04: And just how much uproar is that gonna cause?
21:50
SPEAKER_02: Well, Zach, we have to be pragmatic.
21:53
SPEAKER_02: And I'm I'm not real optimistic that we're going to go about this the right way as of right now.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: The price tag has been put out there,$23 million.
22:05
SPEAKER_02: Okay, every contractor out there is saying$22.9.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: And so that does a lot of things to muddy the water.
22:13
SPEAKER_02: First off, it makes the property very much devalued, it makes it look really expensive, like something that that no money-driven contractor, just in my way of looking at things, is gonna want to touch.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: I could be quite wrong about it.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: Again, I'm not an area expert.
22:31
SPEAKER_02: I'm just telling you, that's a lot of money to put in that building.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: If it wasn't such a symbolic thing, I would say, you know, we've just got to push it over.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Maybe do like they did in Tuscaloosa to the old state capitol.
22:45
SPEAKER_02: You seen the Capitol Park in Tuscaloosa?
22:48
SPEAKER_02: Well, all that's left of it are these beautiful ruins, and it's a park, and you can walk through it.
22:54
SPEAKER_02: Um, I've been to a wedding there.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: It's quite beautiful, and it's very low maintenance.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: You need a weed eater, and that's about it.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: We've got to think smart about the money, otherwise we can't do anything.
23:07
SPEAKER_03: Right.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: Case in point, do you like old cars?
23:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, oh yeah.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like um, name a classic car, something that that you would be very much desirous to have.
23:19
SPEAKER_04: Uh any Lincoln Continental from the 50s, 60s, 70s.
23:23
SPEAKER_02: So if you had a car like that, you would want to restore it perfectly, have it mostly or all original, and just except for the spinners, I'd put spinners on it.
23:33
SPEAKER_04: It's a Lincoln Continental, man.
23:36
SPEAKER_04: And that's a that's a that that that's that's real.
23:38
SPEAKER_04: That's like that's like a bucket list thing is get an old Lincoln Continental, restore it to original and put spinners on it.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: So let me this.
23:46
SPEAKER_02: If you've looked into it all, I'm sure you know that making it original is a lot more expensive than having a hot ride.
23:54
SPEAKER_02: Right than going on JC Whitney and saying, okay, let's keep the shell of the vehicle, but just do aftermarket stuff and have something that works and has a fast engine, do whatever.
24:06
SPEAKER_03: Right.
24:06
SPEAKER_02: We may have to go that route with a thing over here.
24:09
SPEAKER_04: Archives and history only have to weigh in on what you're doing to the exterior of that building.
24:15
SPEAKER_04: But that's still pretty expensive when you're talking about the the bricks and the windows and the and the roof and all of those things like that.
24:24
SPEAKER_04: It has to be approved by the state.
24:26
SPEAKER_04: All of those materials have to be, and that's it's not going to be the cheaper materials, to your point when they do that.
24:33
SPEAKER_02: And and that particular branch of our government down there in Jackson needs to cool it.
24:39
SPEAKER_02: And and the reason I say that, look, look down here at MSMS.
24:44
SPEAKER_02: Talk about Cooper Hall.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: Is that what it's called?
24:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: The thing looks like a jail.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: Why is it even on the registry?
24:52
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: There are certain buildings that we we need to take pride in and take care of, like Poindexter Hall, the front of the W, you know, things of that nature.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: But these other structures, just because they're made out of bricks doesn't mean that that we have to put these restrictions on it.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't mean that you have to uh like say painter hall on the campus of MUW.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: Those windows are were very, very expensive to replace because you had to have those single um, what do you call them, panes.
25:24
SPEAKER_02: You had to have that particular style.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: Archives is gonna have to cool it.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: It's a self-perpetuating board, they've got to cool it.
25:31
SPEAKER_04: Well, and one thing that I want to say, just in case, you know, the listener feels like I said something that I didn't.
25:38
SPEAKER_04: I'm I I hope, I'm very I I'm not for tearing Franklin down.
25:43
SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm very hopeful that that beautiful building can be made, uh, can be restored, something can go in there that's viable and sustainable, and that piece of Columbus history can be enjoyed by generations to of Columbians to come.
26:01
SPEAKER_04: That's what I hope.
26:03
SPEAKER_04: What I'm saying is if if the school district does this wrong now, you're making tearing this thing down inevitable at some point.
26:10
SPEAKER_04: And two, if you want it restored and you've got the somebody's gotta put the money up, somebody's gotta put the investment in.
26:19
SPEAKER_04: And if you've got a board that can't get a good good investor or an investor's that won't do it, it is inevitable eventually that that is gonna decay to the point where it's not useful anymore and it will be torn down.
26:32
SPEAKER_04: So how much does it matter?
26:34
SPEAKER_02: And at the same time, they'll have to think outside of the box.
26:37
SPEAKER_02: You know, um uh I was in Charleston, South Carolina, and uh this was a while back.
26:44
SPEAKER_02: There was an alehouse that was in the location of an old historic church, uh huh, and it's quite a kinky experience to enjoy bourbon underneath a stained glass.
26:57
SPEAKER_03: Right.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: Yo bar.
27:04
SPEAKER_02: Dude.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
27:07
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna let that sit right there where it is.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: Comments at tips at cdispatch.com.
27:14
SPEAKER_02: So, Zach, when's the last time you've been to the Trotter?
27:17
SPEAKER_04: Hmm, let's see.
27:18
SPEAKER_04: The inauguration, the swearing in for the mayor and council.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: All right.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: I thought you didn't go to the Kabir Kareem Whites only thing that he had for Mother's Day.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: No, I didn't go to that.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's what the that's what the poster said.
27:33
SPEAKER_02: It's quite funny.
27:35
SPEAKER_02: Um so on this story about the Trotter Convention Center, uh, I am reading that there was a debate over whether or not to charge for certain amenities uh within the facility, uh, among those being the uh ice machine, which uh ice machines are expensive, truth be told.
27:56
SPEAKER_02: Right.
27:56
SPEAKER_02: And it was gonna be like 175 bucks.
27:58
SPEAKER_04: 125.
27:59
SPEAKER_04: If you want to use the ice machine, now it's 125.
28:02
SPEAKER_04: Or well, the proposal is that it'll be 125.
28:05
SPEAKER_04: City council still has to approve this, I'm pretty sure.
28:08
SPEAKER_04: All right.
28:08
SPEAKER_04: What's your thoughts on that?
28:11
SPEAKER_04: Unforced errors.
28:13
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I get where uh Miss Bonner's coming from with respect to the way it is right now.
28:20
SPEAKER_04: They go in, they rent the they rent the space, and they pay a flat fee to rent the space, and they have access to the concessions and the equipment and you know the dolly and and and all of these things, tables and chairs and all of that, and the kitchen, depending on, you know, what the what area they rent.
28:41
SPEAKER_04: And uh there's concern that those rates aren't covering.
28:47
SPEAKER_04: And so she looked at other places and she found that they were charging per amenity, they were charging for the ki access to the kitchen, they were charging for concessions, they were charging for the ice, they were charging per chair.
29:03
SPEAKER_04: She pitches we should be doing that too.
29:05
SPEAKER_04: Looks like the council is looking at this.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
29:09
SPEAKER_02: Are they on board with uh uh separating the fees or do they want to keep it as a flat rate, or do we know yet?
29:15
SPEAKER_04: Uh we I mean I've not I'm not sure we know yet.
29:19
SPEAKER_04: It did they haven't pushed back on any of these presentations yet.
29:23
SPEAKER_04: And um I feel like there's a couple of things that for me you need to be taking into account.
29:30
SPEAKER_04: The Trotter needs to be breaking even or getting dang close.
29:34
SPEAKER_04: But it is a public facility.
29:36
SPEAKER_04: It and Regal Hall, those are public facilities.
29:39
SPEAKER_04: They're not there to make a profit.
29:41
SPEAKER_04: As Jeff Turns noted in the work session where they talked about this last, they don't need to be m losing money either.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: I agree with that.
29:49
SPEAKER_04: But the budget for the Trotter doesn't come from its revenue.
29:54
SPEAKER_04: There is a budget set forth from the Trotter that is just taxpayer revenue.
30:00
SPEAKER_04: revenue that is going to those salaries and such.
30:04
SPEAKER_04: So there is a there's a general fund line item that isn't revenue based that helps the trotter.
30:10
SPEAKER_04: So for the trotter to say, you know, we need to make money to pay all of our bills, maybe not necessarily true.
30:18
SPEAKER_04: And I think that the other thing is the optics on it.
30:21
SPEAKER_04: If you need to raise your rates for the um spaces, raise your rates for the spaces.
30:27
SPEAKER_04: If you need to raise your rates somewhat significantly for the spaces, do that.
30:32
SPEAKER_04: But when you go up to somebody and say, okay, we're leaving our space rates essentially the same, but it's$1205 for ice, it's this much for the kitchen, it's this much for the chairs, it's this much for the concession area.
30:46
SPEAKER_04: And you're nickel and diming the people and you're throwing them a lot of you know curve balls for just stack on fees.
30:53
SPEAKER_04: If they feel like they're going to AT if they feel like they're buying a cell phone from ATT when they're coming to rent the trotter, that's going to be a disincentive for people to rent the trotter.
31:02
SPEAKER_04: And another thing that uh she brought up and that uh Daltrey brought up Chief Joseph Daltrey police chief brought up was that people are making money on the trotter.
31:16
SPEAKER_04: And I think that the implication of that is people are making money off of us so why shouldn't we make money?
31:24
SPEAKER_04: Some of those events some of the events that go to or that rent the trotter they're weddings and stuff like that that's just like sort of gatherings and reunions and the basic stuff.
31:35
SPEAKER_04: Some of it are money making ventures those fights, you know you might have a concert there.
31:41
SPEAKER_04: Those are money making ventures and yeah someone is profiting off of that.
31:45
SPEAKER_04: But a good bit of what the trotter is used for in cases where they're going to be charging and trying to make money are fundraisers for nonprofits.
31:57
SPEAKER_04: And frankly the Trotter should be making it should not be going out of their way to make it to make it harder for community nonprofits to raise funds.
32:06
SPEAKER_04: They ought to be taking the position of being more of a partner with them.
32:09
SPEAKER_04: I'm not saying give them anything I'm not saying give their space away or anything like that.
32:14
SPEAKER_04: I'm saying that be fair to them, do right by them and be the kind of resource that these nonprofits are going to and saying okay we got to rent the trot or we're going to have to use some of our overhead on that.
32:27
SPEAKER_04: But they're going to be fair to us and we're going to go there time and again I see something like this as a deterrent maybe not for your wedding or your anniversary or whatever but it's definitely going to be a deterrent for those nonprofits that are having to think about every dollar that they're putting into something and how much they're going to be able to give to their cause at the end of it.
32:51
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to open myself up for tomatoes to be hurled my direction I'm all in with these fees as long as they're straightforward and they're up front.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: Here's why name a number what's what's my fee to use the main auditorium out there at the Trotter$750?
33:08
SPEAKER_02: No, no no it's not that low.
33:10
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
33:10
SPEAKER_04: I think the main auditorium the big one I think is$1550 I think.
33:14
SPEAKER_04: Sure.
33:15
SPEAKER_02: Well we'll say that's all I need.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: We'll let that be it.
33:19
SPEAKER_02: But if I have to rent the kitchen the kitchen makes a mess.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: The kitchen is going to increase custodial cost.
33:26
SPEAKER_02: There's appliances in there.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: There's no reason I shouldn't have to pay extra if I'm using the kitchen.
33:33
SPEAKER_02: As long as it's straightforward and it's on a list why can't I pick and choose which amenities?
33:39
SPEAKER_02: Obviously the bathrooms are included okay isn't there like a a back part of the trotter the courtyard area.
33:47
SPEAKER_02: What if someone just wanted to use that?
33:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah there's a there's there's a special rental fee for that now too in this proposal.
33:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah so I don't see anything wrong with breaking it down so as to make the cost more manageable for these lower tier entities lower in terms of how many people are involved to use the facility because if you just say well it's three thousand dollars take it or leave it I think that would be the t deterrent actually.
34:15
SPEAKER_04: Well I mean I hear what you're saying and I agree to a certain extent but when we get down to ice well they they knew an an internet meme was coming when they said that ice machines cost a lot of money though.
34:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah I mean I I get that I get that and where there's ice there's also beer and where there's beer there's money being made.
34:39
SPEAKER_04: Right.
34:40
SPEAKER_04: This place is supposed to be useful to the public it's supposed to be yeah you pay for it because it's got to s be sustainable but it's not a business.
34:49
SPEAKER_04: It is a service that taxpayers support already and you gotta view your if you're Regina if you're uh Stephen Jones if you're the counsel if you're the police chief you've got to view this that way.
35:01
SPEAKER_04: If you don't you're you've you've lost sight of your mission and you should not be worrying about how much money somebody renting the place is making.
35:14
SPEAKER_04: Especially if they're raising that money for a nonprofit.
35:17
SPEAKER_04: That you shouldn't be charging for ice because they do.
35:22
SPEAKER_04: Like that that doesn't to me that doesn't make any sense.
35:26
SPEAKER_02: Well you don't want to turn into the place that requires you to stick quarters into the machine to rent the cart and then take the cart back and get your quarters back.
35:34
SPEAKER_02: I get that let me ask you this I'm thinking out loud here if you say if you are a legit nonprofit your fee is this if you are a business it's more it's this does that get too weedy?
35:47
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm thinking if you do that then somebody's going to say well we're going to have a raffle at the end of the night and we're going to give away a glock okay or or whatever, right?
35:58
SPEAKER_04: And so yeah there that would be abused I suppose right and it would also be you know deeply unfair to delineate between taxpayers what they're going to pay for the same space that all citizens pay for already to a certain extent.
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36:52
SPEAKER_00: The Good for Business Podcast features interviews, tips and tricks from owners, operators and innovators hear the inspiring stories of growth and life lessons from guests in Mississippi and around the world.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: Hosted by entrepreneur, fundraiser and real estate broker Colin Krieger, the podcast is based right here in the Golden Triangle community.
37:10
SPEAKER_02: Ladies and gentlemen we are pleased to have in the studio today Lieutenant Rhonda Sanders who is here to tell us about the 2025 horror at the fairgrounds that sounds specifically exciting.
37:22
SPEAKER_02: How are you today Miss Rhonda?
37:24
SPEAKER_01: I'm wonderful and thank you for inviting me.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
37:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah yeah so this thing here uh that's it is that they still call it the Lavender Coliseum right there or does it still hold that name?
37:36
SPEAKER_01: Well it's the fairground that's all I know.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: Indoors or outdoors?
37:40
SPEAKER_01: It's indoors we're going to use both Coliseums.
37:44
SPEAKER_04: All right now this is in what is this the seventh eighth year of this?
37:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes we've been doing it in about well if you count the years that we did it in the city it's about 11 years.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: But being out in the county yes eight years we've been doing it.
37:58
SPEAKER_04: Well I mean uh what do you credit for the sustainability and the continued interest in it?
38:04
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately it's the need.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: There's always a need for um help for Christmas and help for Thanksgiving and um you know somebody in our community is in need.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: So we use this fundraiser to help run the nonprofit to help with the nonprofit and that's a community benefit committee.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: The community benefit committee uh in order to help people so and you know it's sad to say that but yeah it's a need and it's always a need and I'm not sure if it's never gonna be a need.
38:38
SPEAKER_04: All right well run us through you know when it is how much it costs what it's gonna be and then and how y'all are going to use the money.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: So we are going to start um this Friday on the 24th it will open to the public at 6 p.m at the Columbus Fairgrounds tickets are$10 and$5 for the hunted hayride.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: Some people don't like hunted houses so we have decided to um we put on a hayride on it for the younger kids and the older kids but we added some people or some monsters may I say out in the woods.
39:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah yes so you can expect to get a little scared with the hayride this year.
39:24
SPEAKER_01: Miss Jane who owns the fairground her husband Bo and one of his friends will have two hay rides because we had such a big uh demand for it last year and it was kind of bagged up so we got two um hay rides going at the same time this year.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: So come on out if you don't like hunted houses.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: But what I know everybody likes to do is eat Zach.
39:48
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: We will have and if you know me and people know I love food and I like good food.
39:56
SPEAKER_01: So we've gotten um some of our grill masters some people who do some serious grilling to donate their time to come out and host our concession stands this year.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: So they're gonna be cooking the food along with me and we're inviting the public to come out and eat dinner each one of those nights with us.
40:18
SPEAKER_01: But the money is not for the community benefit committee is not for um for uh toys or anything we've picked four families out of our community that's going through chemo treatment, cancer treatments and and footing a bill of gas and meals for the parents that's sitting at the hospital with their kids or going through some kind of uh you know financial issues dealing with cancer this month.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna donate that money from the concession stand to those families.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: So if you come out and eat just know that money will be going towards four camp four families in Lyons County to um to help foot the bill with their cancer uh treatments.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: That's fantastic on both ends.
41:08
SPEAKER_02: First off this is legit food you're not coming out there like candy corners and then what a great great purpose what else do we need to know about it?
41:19
SPEAKER_01: Well um come out and have a good time uh our sheriff's department will be there and doing security for us it's a good safe event and we want people to come out happy and as far as the the proceeds from just the the haunted house and the hay rides that's gonna support your uh community benefit committee's Christmas programs like what all does that entail okay so Lowndes County have a lot of foster children um here and I like to touch on that for a little while we need homes we are short of foster parents so these kids we want to shut a day down for them give them Christmas you know you already gotta worry about not having a forever home so why not be able to have a a beautiful Christmas so we take this money some of the money and buy these kids a nice Christmas have a party let them eat good sweet food and send them back to their foster parents yes and spoil them I think every child sh deserves Christmas.
42:29
SPEAKER_01: And also we use the money we um do like 2,000 turkeys every year.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: And we give them out at the um bank first um yards we'll do that this year and we use some of the money for that and also just different things that we do in the community with the community benefit committee the money will be used for it.
42:53
SPEAKER_01: And you were talking about the need I remember when y'all did the the the turkey thing last year I was driving down 82 coming into Columbus and I saw that line going down the frontage road for quite some time coming into Bank First it did and we gave over over 2,000 turkeys that day and um people always say well how do you know and these are Lyndon County residents you must have an ID to do that.
43:17
SPEAKER_01: So we don't give out to Knoxaby and other places, you know, Macon and uh Starzful we try to keep it right here in Lyndon County of doing it.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: Now one day the Lord may bless us that we are we can afford to do all the counties and I wouldn't mind that but right now we try to keep it in Lyndon County.
43:34
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
43:35
SPEAKER_04: Now I want to go back to this haunted house because I've heard I have heard tales of this thing over the years.
43:41
SPEAKER_01: This isn't just uh a haunted house like you've got people that uh like David Chisholm uh jumping out uh from corners and scaring children now this is this is this is a legit haunted house that's pretty scary to go through right very scary we it takes us about a month a month and a half we build props alone let me put this in with our trustees um from the from the jail they come out we build props we have volunteers to show us how to do it also and when I tell and we have some of our deputies our our investigators come out and help us too I don't know where they minds come from to come up with some of this stuff y'all I really don't even want to talk about them but uh you you've got to be very creative in the mind if you know what I'm saying to come up with some of this stuff and it's scary I'm at the point of like don't want to go all the way through it at this point since we've got the top on it that it's dark and I'm like okay let me just promote this thing and get the people here I don't I just don't even want to be in there.
44:54
SPEAKER_02: It is maybe prestige teaser.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: Right right so we don't know what's going through the mind when they're building these props so it's scary.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: It's scary.
45:06
SPEAKER_04: All right was there anything you want to add?
45:07
SPEAKER_01: Well I just want the community to know that this is not just a sheriff department thing this is not a just a community benefit thing.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: This is a community thing.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: So we try to create something that everybody can be involved in.
45:23
SPEAKER_01: I've had people that say well I just don't like hunting houses.
45:26
SPEAKER_01: I don't like this and that well come out and eat or come out and trick a treat.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: Even on the 31st it's an organization that's gonna be there that's going to have a trunk a treat in front of the front of the fairground.
45:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
45:40
SPEAKER_01: So once you go out and get your free candy come in and pay$10 and help somebody.
45:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
45:46
SPEAKER_04: Well one more time uh here on the dates you've got uh October 24th and 25th as well as the 29th through Halloween proper 6 p.m nightly 10 per$10 sorry for admission and uh$5 for the haunted hayride.
46:04
SPEAKER_02: Yes then David Chisholm will jump out at you less our special guest has been Lieutenant Rhonda Sanders who's been with the force since 1996 is that correct we appreciate your service thank you all right anything else on that Zach?
46:22
SPEAKER_04: Nope uh got three things to know well tell me.
46:27
SPEAKER_04: All right number one the city council looks content to ride the ride with Worth Thomas consultants through at least the end of the year when its contract with the Jackson based lobbying firm expires.
46:37
SPEAKER_02: A word on that one I did have a word with the Speaker of the House I asked him do you know Worth Thomas consulting?
46:44
SPEAKER_02: And he said yes those are legit people.
46:47
SPEAKER_02: He did say that.
46:48
SPEAKER_04: Okay all right well on Tuesday when uh Ward 6 Councilman Jason Spears brought up the topic discussion on the point was brief no vote was taken so I guess the can is kicked to the end of the year.
47:00
SPEAKER_04: All right number two an$800 million energy plant outside of Caledonia broke ground Wednesday ceremonially they've already been working out there.
47:09
SPEAKER_04: The combustion turbine plant should produce up to 500 megawatts of power for the Tennessee Valley Authority system.
47:15
SPEAKER_04: Estimated to be online by May 2028 the plant will employ 10 workers.
47:21
SPEAKER_04: Number three it looks like Rhonda Hayes Ellis headed back to the bench in municipal court.
47:26
SPEAKER_04: The Columbus Council on Tuesday appointed the retired judge as judge pro temporee joining Dorothy Colomb in hearing cases on an interim basis until a new permanent judges are hired.
47:36
SPEAKER_04: Hayes Ellis replaces Shane Tompkins who is also serving in a temporary capacity.
47:42
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening today be sure to follow and share the page and just help us get the word out not just about um the podcast but also about the events that we promote this haunted house being among them.
47:55
SPEAKER_02: Make our hometown a better place and as always send us your feedback tips at cdispatch.com or leave us a public comment on X or Facebook at the Chisholm DoubleZero.
48:06
SPEAKER_02: Signing off until next week from Catfish Alley Studio in historic downtown Columbus your host has been Zach Player and I am David Chisholm y'all keep it friendly we'll keep it real dispatch