COLUMBIA, S.C. — Speed humps in the Rosewood area are among the things the Columbia City Council is considering at their upcoming meetings.
The councilmembers met for a work session Tuesday afternoon, where they discussed the changes.
Rosewood Traffic Measures
There are proposed “traffic calming measures” for the traffic in the Rosewood community. These measures include 17 additional proposed speed humps and signs, along with three raised crosswalks and two four-way stops.
The placement was based on neighborhood requests and high speeds. The locations for the speed humps recorded 85 percent of the speeds above the speed limit of 35.
Some of the roads for the speed humps include S. Bonham Road, S. Edisto Avenue and S. Woodrow Street. The locations for the two proposed stop-signs are at Montgomery Avenue and S. Holly Street, and Montgomery Avenue and S. Bonham Road.
The focus of these traffic measures will be to enhance Columbia's neighborhoods and reduce traffic speeds.
Update on Homeless Court
According to the most recent report on the Homeless Court in Columbia by Teresa Wilson, the court works for many people and has “created positive results for its various stakeholders in the majority of cases.”
After being proposed in 2013, the first session of Columbia Homeless court was held in January of 2015 at Transitions. Since then, court sessions have been held continuously on the third or fourth Tuesday of the month around 2 p.m.
The offences, usually misdemeanors, and each homeless defendant has a caseworker and service provider. They sit with the public defendant before a city court judge and two uniformed officers. The assigned assistant solicitor and assigned assistant public defender also sit before the judge.
After the public defender stated they did not have the personnel to staff a homeless court, the city provided partial funding for two public defender positions in the amount of $100,000 a year.
Spartanburg, after visiting Columbia Homeless Court, is now seeking to start one of their own, which would be the fifth homeless court in South Carolina. The other three courts are in Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Florence, and they are modeled after the Columbia Homeless Court.
Homeless Court is meant to allow someone who is homeless the opportunity for the defender to ask the court to dismiss the charges and clear the defendant's record so they can get employed or gain housing.
Hospitality Tax
The budget to be approved for the 2019-20 year is the same as last year, $2,109,500.
18 groups were given a slight increase, seven groups were given a slight decrease, eight new groups were awarded funds, and 29 groups were "kept whole."
Some typically funded groups did not apply for funding. North Main Business Association, Eau Claire Neighborhood and Greenview Neighborhood did not apply for funding.
There were six new projects.
Finlay Park
The Council will discuss the future of Finlay Park during the meeting.
Last December Whitewater Holdings in Charlotte answered a request for a proposal to develop in the downtown park.