Imel Tweets the Scanner

If you have an interest in what’s going on around BGKY, then you’re missing out if you’re not following Joe Imel on Twitter (@joeimel).

Imel, a photojournalist and assistant managing editor at the Bowling Green Daily News, monitors the police, fire and emt scanner around the clock. When something interesting happens, Imel tweets it. Over 4,500 folks are currently following Imel’s tweets.

Here’s a sampling of some recent tweets:

Report of a drunk driver between the jail and BGPD. A female "that was tweaking really hard" was there to pickup an inmate according to jail

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BGFD calling for BGPD, a green Mustang just ran over their the hose as firefighters battle the fire.

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Report of a white Saturn traveling out Hwy 185 tossing a lot of beer cans out the drivers window. Caller said he is all over the road.

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Juvenile calls 911 because she didn't what to "talk to her momma no more."

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Man carrying a hatchet and mumbling to himself walking toward Smallhouse. Possibly intoxicated. BGPD on way.

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Murder on Rockcreek Drive Body in road. BGPD detectives canvassing the scene. More info as it becomes available.

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Part of Veterans Memorial at Morgantown Rd shut down. Scott Waste truck had garbage on fire and had to dump load.

These are just a few. Some are funny, some are sad, but all are entertaining.

Right Turn Ahead

The sign says there’s a 90-degree right turn ahead. The sign lied.

Driving up Indian Hills Drive recently, I noticed a yellow directional sign indicating that I should slow down to 15 mph for a hard right turn in the road. Since I’ve been driving this road for over 35 years that came as a surprise to me.

Yes, there is a slight bend in the road, but most modern vehicles can easily navigate it at well above 15 mph, and probably at well above 50 (for you scofflaws out there).

If you’re going to plant another sign, at least make sure it’s accurate.

This town is crazy with signs. They’re everywhere. I would like to find the sign salesman who landed in this town and hire that person to sell for me. No, I don’t have anything to sell, but I could come up with something if I had that superstar salesperson.

Having so many signs defeats the purpose. When there are so many, drivers don’t really notice them because they’re just another ordinary part of the landscape. 

Think of a rose bush. If you knew that there were only a couple of thorns, then you’d really be on the lookout for those thorns. But since they’re full of thorns, you don’t notice them individually. It’s the same with signs.

It's a Butt-Ugly Building

Butt-ugly Used Car Warehouse

After driving past the new Martin Monstrosity Mega-Used Car Lot on Scottsville Road a few times, I can no longer ignore its ugliness.

Bowling Green has to have some code on the books to fix that thing because it is, well, butt ugly.

Flora is Missing!

 Flora is missing.

No, not your favorite injury lawyer (though I really can’t say where she is, either).

Bowling Green’s Fountain Square Park has a wonderful, bubbling fountain surrounded by an iron fence that makes a perfect picturesque backdrop for weddings, concerts, senior photos, gay hook-ups, and drug deals.

Reserved for Flora

What are often overlooked by many park wanderers as they face the fountain are the four statues behind them. When the fountain was placed in the park in April 1872, also added for your viewing pleasure were four statues intended to represent the four seasons. It was with great foresight that our city leaders of the time funded all four, since I’m pretty sure our current crop would leave one out; probably winter, since no one seems to like winter here.

(The original fountain rotted out pretty quick and the one you see now was put there in 1881, but that’s another story.)

The city’s website explains the statues thusly:

The statues surrounding the fountain represent the mythological figures of Ceres (goddess of grain), Pomona (goddess of fruit), Melpomane (goddess of tragedy) and Flora (goddess of flowers.) The Fiske Company of New York cast the four statues as well as the two urns at the east and west ends of the park. They are mounted on locally quarried limestone.

Pomona

They’re all nice lookers, but there’s a problem: Flora is missing.

Apparently one of our July storms hit the trees in Fountain Square pretty hard, and in an ironic twist of fate our local flora decapitated Flora. The big old tree next to her finally got tired of looking at her, and dropped its decaying limbs directly on top of her. The city subsequently took the big axe to the offending tree, ensuring the safety of Flora’s remaining limestone mount.

Landscape guy Jay Dougherty

Ceres

City landscape division manager Jay Dougherty told the BGDN that Flora is in three big pieces with about 10 smaller chunks, and she has some bends and cracks, as well. He’s really upset about it, too. You can tell from the BGDN photo by Miranda Pederson that he can barely hold back the tears.

There’s no mention in the BGDN article of a date that a mended (or replacement) Flora will be reperched in the park, only that she’s irreplaceable.

Melpomane

Replacement Flora

Perhaps, just for special occasions, the city can get our other famous Flora to stand in.

Golf for Fun & Profit

Greg Gary wants a tee time.

The Bowling Green Board of Commissioners received an inquiry from Greg Gary exploring the possibility of leasing and assuming operational responsibilities of Paul Walker Golf Course at Covington Woods Park. Old timers still refer to the nine-hole course as "Munie" or "Municipal," as it was the original city-owned course.

Here’s the discussion in a nutshell:

Reports in the Bowling Green Daily News state that the city lost about $180,000 on that course last year, which was about $44,000 less than it lost two years ago. They sold about 4,000 fewer rounds of golf last year than two years ago. Sold fewer rounds, but lost less money.

Gary wants to lease the course for the next 10 years and pour some money into bringing the greens up to United States Golf Association standards. He blames the reduction in rounds on the fact that the course condition sucks, and seems to think that he can make some expensive improvements and still turn a profit.

BGPR golf division manager Bob Jeffers isn’t buying the crappy conditions argument, saying they suffer the same conditions as every other course around. BGPR director Ernie Gouvas and BG Mayor Joe Denning both think Gary could make it work.

No details have been discussed because Gary wants to know if it’s even feasible before paying attorneys and accountants to look over everything. Gary will make a presentation to the parks advisory board, who will then apparently tell the City Commission whether or not there’s any merit to the deal.

That’s the nutshell.

Here’s my opinion.

The city needs to keep Paul Walker. I’m sure Greg Gary could do a bang-up job of running the thing, but that particular course needs to remain accessible to locals. Lots of kids walk that course and get their first exposure to golf there. Many also get their first exposure to golfing by themselves or with their friends – with no adult supervision – at that course. Many “senior” men and women play it weekly, and it’s a great place for the casual golfer to get in a quick nine or 18.

Let’s dump Cross Winds. All three city courses - Paul Walker, Hobson Grove, and Cross Winds - have operated in the red lately, and at $38 for a Saturday morning round, Crosswinds just about priced itself out of reach of the poor local hackers.

Keep Hobson and Paul Walker, and let the lease or sale of Cross Winds subsidize them. There were rumors of packaging the convention center with Cross Winds at one time, and a deal like that could generate a bunch of cash for our city. If properly used to supply cash to Parks & Rec., it could be a great deal.

The land at Hartland is now too valuable for the city to keep as a golf course. Cross Winds’ sale could generate enough cash flow to build another course in a cheaper section of the city - or even expand Hobson to 18 holes – while still turning the golf operations from a cash eater to a cash generator.

Pssst. Wanna Live in City Center?

Ready to hop on the downtown bandwagon?

I noticed a couple of Park Row properties for sale the other day. They’re great old buildings with lots of windows overlooking Fountain Square, and they can be yours for the right price.

Imagine having some friends over on a pleasant Friday night, a glass of Merlot in hand, and having the sounds of Concerts In the Park drift in your open windows. Or watching the wedding of some trendy young couple tying the knot in the park, before you discreetly shoot some bottle rockets from your window and blast your Farting Sounds CD from your speakers that are propping the window open. Good times.

423 and 427 Park Row are adjoining properties in the center of the block, and they’re both for sale.

According to the PVA website, 423 Park Row has a Fair Cash Value (FCV) of $512,900 and last sold for $475,000 in 2005. It’s for sale for $740,000.

427 Park Row has a $525,000 FCV, last sold for $485,000 in 2005. It’s for sale for $860,000.

It would be fun to own those two buildings. There’d be income from the businesses leasing the ground floor, room for a really nice home in the upper floors, and enough square footage left over to rent loft apartments to your friends.

But should you buy now? Real estate prices aren’t expected to shoot up any time soon, and many property owners are just hoping for the downward slide to end. New residential space is in the plans for downtown, too. If you really want to live there, do you want the hassles that come with owning “historic” homes? Worrying about wiring, plumbing, leaky roof, warped floor, and drafty window may not be your thing. But you would own the whole building.

You could wait and buy one of the new places, perhaps overlooking the Hot Rods’ stadium. But then you would only own your apartment unit, and not the whole building.

So what should you do? I don’t know. Even if I had the money to gamble with, I can’t see spending anywhere close to $1.6 million for the two buildings. I’d maybe offer a million for the pair because of our current climate of uncertainty, but I’d hate to insult the owners.

Go downtown and walk around sometime. There’s lots to see.

Bowling Green City Center

Somebody's trying too hard.

Downtown Bowling Green is actually being revitalized, despite the naysayers who swear up and down that the entire effort is part of Gary Ransdell's master plan to take over the city. The Hot Rods are doing fine, SKyPAC is nearing completion, Circus Square is a hit, and Slim Nash's skate park hasn't caused BG to be litigated into ruin.

Cool restaurants and other businesses are paying serious attention to the area, and if it weren't for an untimely dive in our nation's economy they would already be there.

And for well over 200 years, the downtown area had a very catchy name. Can you guess it? It was called . . . wait for it . . . Downtown! A group of our brave founding citizens went out on a limb and allowed nature to take its course and, with no input from consultants nor focus groups, let a descriptor be attached to the area that exactly defined it for centuries to come.

But the 21st century has arrived, and we've fallen under the spell of focus-group wizardry. Now lovely, beautiful, historic Downtown Bowling Green will henceforth carry the moniker of City Center.

I can just imagine the conversations as people try to figure out exactly where City Center is located.

She: Meet me at Barbara Stewart's so we can pick out a unique gift for Sandy and Martin's divorce.
He: Sure. Where is it?
She: It's in City Center.
He: Is that near Rafferty's, where Blockbuster used to be?
She: No, it's City Center, kinda near the center of the city.
He: Near Bowling Green Towers?
She: City Center. You know. Near the courthouse.
He: There's a shopping center near the courthouse?
She: It's not a shopping center. It's City Center.
He: What?
She: It's downtown!
He: Oh. Downtown. Why didn't you just say that?

You know, they hired a consulting firm to conduct focus groups to decide what to call downtown. Then they put some suggestions on their website and had people vote on their favorite. Then they went with City Center.

And the name that was missing from their poll? The name we were not given the option to vote on? That name that was so cruelly withheld from us was none other than Downtown. That's right, we couldn't have had it if we wanted it.

Downtown, oops, City Center will be fine. I'm excited just watching the changes, and look forward to some nice residential areas and grocery stores popping up. But I think I'll just keep calling it Downtown.

(Before I go, what's the deal with the City Center logo? I guess it's supposed to represent water squirting from a fountain, but most visitors will think it's a butterfly. Maybe I'll run into you in City Center, the butterfly capital of Kentucky!)