Jubilee

May 06 2008 – Courtesy of our friends in Montgomery, residents of Baldwin County will have a chance on June 3 to vote on a Proposed Constitutional Amendment allowing for collection of up to four additional mills in ad valorem taxes to pay for transportation infrastructure improvements.

Apr 22 2008 – So it’s April 22. Earth Day. No biggie. Not much attention – especially since it comes just a week after Income Tax Day.

Apr 08 2008 – The hard-fought and fairly won aerial tanker award is under attack from all sides.

Mar 25 2008 – This potpourri of announcements and commentary leads with the Fairhope mayor’s race.

Mar 11 2008 – "Jubilee" in the last Lagniappe got unexpected (and rare) kudos for describing and praising the Fairhope City Council’s strategy for separation of the mayor from Public Works.

Feb 25 2008 – Hot stuff here in ESho-land. Local politico to get 200 percent pay raise.

Feb 12 2008 – Well here we are in an election year and for Alabamians that means: Pay-Raise Time.

Jan 28 2008 – There’s an old aphorism, "Be careful what you wish for; you may just get it." It may be old, but it seems to apply to the current situation here in Baldwin County with respect to the new areas designated as flood-zones.

Jan 15 2008 – I’ve got a modest proposal concerning our school children.

Jan 01 2008 – Let me extend a big Jubilee column New Year’s greeting to all our ESho Lagniappe aficionados.

Dec 18 2007 – When I finished last edition’s Jubilee column, I expected to revisit the issue of zoning changes in Fairhope in mid-January.

Dec 04 2007 – "Just Say No" is a commonly heard bit of public advice.

Nov 20 2007 – The phone was ringing. I picked it up and a female voice on the other end queried, "Mr.

Nov 06 2007 – Fairhope City Councilman Mike Ford is hoping there’s an operatic soprano somewhere in the wings – one who’s about ready to advance on stage to sing the last aria and finally bring the curtain down.

Oct 23 2007 – Yancey Branch was just a small meandering stream passing through Daphne’s Village Point Park on its way to Mobile Bay.

Oct 09 2007 – If asked to rank the importance of a city’s annual budget, most folks would put it at #1 – top priority.

Sep 25 2007 – Pining for those artsy films you read about but can never hope to see in a theater within a day’s drive (maybe two) of Mobile?

Sep 11 2007 – At the national level our two major political parties are in the midst of a fight to see which state will go first in the 2008 primaries.

Aug 28 2007 – Announcing that your community is NEV-friendly is a sign that every town or city should display with pride.

Aug 14 2007 – "Mr. Gleszer, your transportation to the coast will leave at nine o’clock," advised the greeter, after consulting the printout on her clipboard.

Jul 31 2007 – The big new Wal-Mart opened July 17 with Mayor Tim ("I didn’t think they were serious about coming here") Kant doing the official honors.

Jul 17 2007 – Now I wouldn’t go so far as to call Fairhope’s Mayor Tim Kant a liar, as business owner and activist Karin Wilson did in her recent citywide e-mail.

Jul 03 2007 – The most recent Fairhope City Council meeting sure looked like it was going to be an easy evening.

Jun 19 2007 – I buy into the proposition that great public architecture helps to make great communities.

Jun 05 2007 – "In two months, we’re going to have a nightmare on our hands," predicted Fairhope Street Committee member Cecil Christenberry, speaking of the July opening of the new Wal-Mart.

May 22 2007 – Let’s pretend that you’re the manager of a major high-end resort property that brings thousands of visitors into the local community each month.

May 08 2007 – Quick, tell me how many people does it take to change a light bulb in Fairhope?

Apr 25 2007 – Psst. Hey, listen up. This is your lucky day. I’m offering you a chance to become a full-fledged resident of (fill in the name of any immediately adjacent Eastern Shore city) and enjoy all of the benefits and privileges associated with that coveted status.

Apr 10 2007 – The citizens of the Eastern Shore have watched with fear and frustration as giant, ugly power poles have spread relentlessly further and further south.

Mar 28 2007 – Education is getting a lot of attention over here in Baldwin Country.

Mar 13 2007 – Affordable Housing on the Eastern Shore has been a hot topic for years – more words expended than housing units built.

Feb 27 2007 – I recently did a feature article for Lagniappe that examined the health of Fairhope’s downtown businesses.

Feb 13 2007 – Let’s start by stating the obvious: I’m no Bobby Troup and Alabama Route 181’s no US Route 66.

Jan 30 2007 – Right now the MBA types are thinking "Venture Capital" while the old soldiers have reached back and pulled up "Viet Cong." But my context is urban planning and VC means "Village Concept." This is the subject of my second column on the just-completed update of Fairhope’s Comprehensive Plan.

Jan 16 2007 – Today’s column is brought to you by the letter "C." Yes folks, by the good letter "C." It’s number three in the alphabetical order and is featured in the lead position in our word for the day, "CONNECTIVITY." And it’s a way cool word.

Jan 02 2007 – I’m not talking sugar in your tea. I’m talking coal in the Daphne politico’s Christmas stockings.

Dec 19 2006 – 2006 – Let’s see what’s memorable. Or at least what I can remember.

Dec 05 2006 – When Lagniappe last visited the Eastern Shore, transported there by the Jubilee column, readers learned about the Daphne City Council – a quick look at this cautiously deliberative body.

Nov 21 2006 – Just after the last edition of Lagniappe hit the newsstands and appeared in avant-garde venues around the Eastern Shore, someone – a Lagniappe in hand – asked me why I didn’t write more about Daphne.

Nov 08 2006 – Ain’t it grand that The Grand Hotel is totally back on line?

Oct 25 2006 – There are a whole bunch of vast and half-vast political activities and projects I have been commenting on over the past year and I think it’s about time to recognize the heroes and villains of our ever-playing Eastern Shore drama.

Oct 10 2006 – Spin the wheel and take a chance on getting a new development approved in Fairhope.

Sep 27 2006 – Who’s watching the budgets? I’m talking about the city and county budgets.

Sep 13 2006 – Once upon a time there was a pretty little city, so small some would call it a village.

Aug 29 2006 – When wife Barbara and I moved from Los Angeles to Fairhope, we marveled at how little traffic there was.

Aug 16 2006 – The setting was the Fairhope Planning and Zoning commission meeting – and public hearing – where they would consider a new Planned Unit Development (PUD).

Aug 01 2006 – Planning is bustin’ out all over lower Baldwin County.

Jul 19 2006 – Dick Charles, Fairhope’s Lord High Commissioner of Planning has a really nifty plan for the city: The Comprehensive Plan of 2000.

Jul 05 2006 – It’s hard to come up with a relevant title for a hodge-podge column like this one – and harder yet to get something catchy.

Jun 21 2006 – The first round of Politics 2006 has just finished – the primaries.

Jun 06 2006 – If real estate in LoDa and WeMo is perking right along, then over in the ESho it’s in full boil.

May 23 2006 – While the Feds are continuing to cut taxes (and we hope to good effect), Fairhopeans are looking at a first-time-ever city sales tax.

May 09 2006 – DATELINE FAIRHOPE Just before Fairhope would have to declare a work halt on the new library, or start writing hot checks to the contractors, the city council came through with money.

Apr 26 2006 – Imagine you’re standing on the corner of Fairhope Avenue and Bancroft Street in downtown Fairhope.

Apr 11 2006 – As the Daphne city council plods along on enacting a high-rise ordinance – a seemingly endless process, now well into the second year of revisions and near-decisions….

Apr 06 2006 – A brief summary of the written questions submitted to the Fairhope City Council by citizens’ representatives and answered by representatives of the firm that prepared the individual studies.

Mar 29 2006 – It’s spring and in Fairhope one’s thoughts turn not to love, but to ARTS & CRAFTS!

Mar 14 2006 – Surprise! At the first meeting in March, for the first time in months, the high-rise ordinance wasn’t on the Daphne City Council’s agenda.

Mar 08 2006 – In Fairhope, a few determined folks are trying to fight the quick deal and the impending arrival of Wal-Mart.

Mar 01 2006 – The Daphne Little Theater production of "Passing a High-Rise Ordinance," featuring the Daphne City Council Players, was on stage again at The Council Chambers.

Feb 14 2006 – It certainly was a really big show. The Nix Center ballroom was packed with 500 or so concerned citizens (and likely some others: "Is this the beginning Spanish class?

Jan 31 2006 – By Pete Gleszer Lagniappe columnist The year opened with a bang on the Eastern Shore.

Jan 18 2006 – Here in our two cities of the Eastern Shore, we started 2006 much like we ended 2005.

Jan 04 2006 – In a last minute rush, the Eastern Shore city councils and planning commissions finished up business for 2005 and shut down until 2006.

Dec 21 2005 – In recognition of the season, let’s start with a bit of music — the tune is that old favorite, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.- OK, all together now: Oh you better watch out; You better not buy; Get ready to fight, and I’ll tell ya why, Wal-Mart is acomin’ to Town.

Dec 07 2005 – The year is winding down and with the holiday break just a month off, the politicians and citizens in Daphne and Fairhope are thrashing through the convoluted process of developing and approving their 2006 operating budgets.