An Omen

Fairly early this morning, a bird flew right into our freshly cleaned windows at PJP Nifong and DIED. And while I’m not completely certain, the superstition in me recalls that Jeanne believes a dead bird outside the door to be a bad omen. (Or maybe it is a dead crow in the house.) And so when our first food delivery of the day arrived and the driver stacked all of our boxes of dairy items before retreating to his truck for the second load of dry goods and then the tower fell over and blew buttermilk across the kitchen, I immediately thought…YEP, THE BIRD WAS AN OMEN.

But then, this:

Not long ago, I noticed that the castle car wash at the corner of Peachtree Road and the outer road that runs along South Providence was being demolished and the ground leveled for a new building. And I was hopeful that it would be something at least marginally interesting, especially given the prime location next to Sophia’s and just down from Rock Bridge High School.

And today I noticed that a sign had been added to the construction site announcing the soon to-be developed property. Get this - it’s a marijuana dispensary.

WAIT A HOT MINUTE.

So, let’s all recall that the old Macy’s store on Stadium was slated to be a Home Goods/TJ Maxx store, thereby making most of my adult dreams come true. Except the city council wouldn’t approve the building plans because the parent corporation of Home Goods/TJ Maxx wanted to include several decorative towers on the building, thereby violating the height restrictions for that portion of Stadium Boulevard.

Oh, and wait - remember how CVS wanted to build a new store at the corner of Providence and Broadway, but that building plan was also rejected because the building was too tall? And so CVS refiled plans and was again rejected…so many times that they eventually left to go build stores in other cities?

Gaaaaahhhhhh. Our city is willing to let major corporations walk away from the creation of new stores - and obviously the creation of jobs, the generation of sales tax revenue, and the lure of great shopping to consumers outside the immediate Columbia area - because of height restrictions. And also, our city is fine with adding a large dispensary just a quarter of a mile from a large public high school? Someone please explain.

(I’m also going to add here that it will be called the Shangri-La Dispensary. 0/10 stars for the name. Unless you are a motel in 1967, the Shangri-La ship has probably sailed. Please google it and take a look at the new building and then come back to discuss.)

To be clear, my feelings aren’t about the legality of medical marijuana. My feelings are all self-motivated, primarily that I would like to shop at Home Goods without driving to Jefferson City, Kansas City, or St. Louis and we can’t seem to figure out how to make that happen, even as 2021 approaches. Personally, I do think the building location is in a high traffic, poorly designed intersection that is flooded with teenagers walking and driving when Columbia Public Schools is in regular session. And that would be true for almost anything put in that location, including the Chipotle that I guessed would be taking the spot. So my indignation isn’t about the building sitting there and what it sells (name aside), but the fact that some building projects are super easy and some are super difficult and there is absolutely no basis for which way it is going to go with our city. I like regulatory consistency.

And shopping. Ahem.