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  • City of Aiken
    • Holiday Shopping in Downtown Aiken
    • City Council
      • “Not Subject” to Ethics Laws
      • Election Night: Teddy Milner is Next Mayor of Aiken, No Party at Democratic Party HQ, and the Future of Aiken Brown Water
      • The Arboretum, Development Road, Lab Project Meetings, and Project Unicorn.
      • Citizens Speak: Tom Clements, Vicki Simons, Mary Camlet-Agresta
      • Waves of Protest
      • Much More than a Figurehead, Far Less than a King
      • Aiken City Council Rules of Order
      • “Order of City Council Agenda”
      • A Brief Primer on 2023 City of Aiken Elections
      • The First and Last City Council/AMDC Meeting?
      • The Local Politics of No-Bid, Pu $ Culture
      • A Postponement, Repeal, Park Lease, Official Response, and Behind the Closed Door
      • The Aiken City Attorney: No contract
      • Aiken City Council Reimplements Citizen Input Rules
      • The City of Aiken’s Mattie C. Hall Property: Another Curious, Questionable Aiken City Property Deal
      • The Cleaners: How Aiken City Council Got Taken to the Cleaners by the Wyatt Family
    • City Parks and Recreation
      • Fencing After the Fact
      • Resident Input Requested For Smith-Hazel Park
      • More Overlooked Absenteeism
      • Daily Youth Recreation Fees Waived
      • Aiken’s Disappearing Parks
      • Aiken City Parks to Remain Open
      • Divesting of Parks and Privatizing Open Space
      • “Taking $2 from a child to play a game.”
    • Elections
      • The Ins and Outs of Aiken Mayoral Campaign Finances
      • Right Now, Aiken Needs Teddy Milner
      • Online Forum for City Council District 1
      • Cast Your Votes for Aiken Mayor and City Council Seats: What You Need to Know
      • ELECTION DAY LETTERS OF SUPPORT: TEDDY MILNER FOR MAYOR OF AIKEN
      • Teddy Milner on the Issues: 12 Questions, 12 Answers
      • The Campaign Flyer 
      • More Letters of Support: Teddy Milner for Mayor of Aiken
      • Teddy Milner for Mayor
      • The People’s Choice: Teddy Milner for Mayor of Aiken
      • Local Endorsements for Teddy Milner for Mayor of Aiken
      • What Went Wrong in the Primary (and How to Get it Right in the Runoff Election)
      • Online Mayoral Forum
      • Cast Your Vote for Mayor! Here’s What You Need to Know
    • Letters
      • Decisions First, Criteria Second?
    • Miscellaneous
      • News Release: Aiken Corporation Issued Notice of Violation
      • Aiken Chronicles Update: August 11, 2023
      • A Hearing on Business License Taxes
      • Aiken Corporation Registration Expired
      • Aiken Chronicles Update: Week of January 23, 2023
      • Ed Woltz’s Business License Citation
      • The City of Aiken’s Information Games. Part One.
      • The City of Aiken’s Labor Day Lawsuit, 2001
  • Horse Creek Valley
    • Horse Creek Valley: Aiken County’s Waste Receptacle 
    • Christi Koelker Film: Horse Creek Valley – A Tale Worth the Telling
    • Labor Day Reflection: 120 Years Ago in Aiken County
  • Aiken County
    • Aiken County Government
      • New Shopping Opportunity and Tiny Lots.
      • More Than Pennies: The 2024 Confluence of One-Percent Sales Tax Referendums.
      • Another Verdict of Gross Negligence
      • Aiken County Council
      • Obscuring the Present
      • Rumblestripe
      • “Gun Violence Survivors Awareness Week”
      • A Verdict of Gross Negligence
    • Elections
      • Cast Your Vote in the County Council District 8 Special Election this October: What You Need to Know
      • Online Forum: County Council District 8 Candidates
      • Cast Your Vote for County Council Seat 8! Here’s What You Need to Know
    • Miscellaneous
      • The Fireworks Forecast
    • Parks & Recreation
      • Introducing Misty Lake State Park
  • South Carolina
    • South Carolina Government
      • Don’t Mess With Carolina Gas, Oil, or Coal
  • Planning & Development
    • New Developments
      • The Realtors Association’s Unreality
      • Who Determines What Goes in Our Backyard?
      • Dust Storm in an Incentive Zone 
      • Question: Is Google Coming to Aiken County? Answer: Aiken County Council Can’t Say.
      • Introducing: Parker’s Kitchen Convenience Store, and “Whiskey Road Apartments.”
      • Introducing: Powderhouse Crossing and The Parker at Aiken Apartments. 
    • Development Issues
      • Blight & Neglect
        • Two Attractive Nuisances, Two Standards
        • A Shrub Grows In Aiken
        • The Old Aiken County Hospital: Demolition by Neglect?
      • Deforestation and Clear-cutting
        • Four Well Lit Trees
        • Changes in Urban Forest Conditions at Farmer’s Market
        • Farmer’s Market-Williamsburg Street Parkway Revitalization Underway
        • Dust Storm in an Incentive Zone 
      • Demolitions
        • DEMO 200 Profiteering
        • Homes Demolished under DEMO 200
        • City of Aiken Demolition Index
      • Legal and Money Trails
        • “The Zoning Has Been In Place Forever”
        • Who Bought This Property?
      • Over-development
        • “Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus“
      • Stormwater and Flooding
        • Information Release: The Woodside Plantation “Ravine” on Hollow Creek.
        • Waves of Protest
        • Proposed Southside Development Raising Concerns of Flooding
      • Traffic & Safety
        • Gas Stations, Vice Stores, and Public Safety
        • From Fuel Tanker Fires to an Overdue Report
        • Development First, Public Safety Second?
      • Water Usage
        • Shaw Creek: Aiken’s Limited Surface Water Source.
        • Aiken Takes on Exit 18
      • Wastewater
        • Sewage Capacity Makes the News
    • “This is Wrong for That Property.”
    • Development First, Public Safety Second?
    • Aiken Planning Commission Asks Developer for More Pavement,
    • Self-Stored Regrets
  • Project Pascalis 2022
    • Project Pascalis Lawsuit
      • Read: Full Text of Lawsuit
      • Read: Answer of Defendant Gary Smith
      • Moot or Not Moot
      • Read: Answer of Defendants Osbon, Brohl, Diggs, Girardeau, Gregory, Price & Woltz
      • Read: Notice of Motion and Motion for Protective Order on Behalf of Defendants Osbon, Brohl, Diggs, Girardeau, Gregory, Price and Woltz
    • The Alley Series
      • Project Pascalis Includes the Alley (A Three Part Series): Part One
      • Project Pascalis Includes The Alley (A Four Part Series): Part Two
      • Project Pascalis Includes The Alley (A Four-Part Series): Part Three
    • In the Demolition Zone
      • Aiken City Council Revises AMDC Membership Ordinance
      • Aiken City Council Stumbles on AMDC
      • Pascalis Properties on Aiken City Council’s Closed-Door Agenda?
      • Acts of Neglect
      • Demolition by Neglect Back on Agenda
      • The $9.6 Million AMDC “Land Bank,” One Year Later
      • “This is the first time I’ve seen it.”
      • What is the Status on the Pascalis Developers?
      • Overlooked Opportunities: Looking Back at the May/June 2021 Project Pascalis Request for Proposals
      • A Tree Disappears in Aiken, and a Work Description Reappears
      • The Project Pascalis Evictees 
      • The Chairman’s Bias
      • When No Info is Good Info: A City Not Listening, the Antique Mall, and Newberry Hall
      • Project Pascalis Demolition Applications Withdrawn (Not Postponed)
    • Hotel Aiken
      • The City’s Management of the Hotel Aiken:  All “Reasonable Measures” taken to ensure safety, except inspections and alarms. 
      • Barely Insured: The City of Aiken’s Management of the Historic Hotel Aiken
    • Laws & Rules of Order
      • The City of Aiken’s Information Games, Part 3
      • Chamber President Blames State Law for AMDC Failings
      • AMDC Resignations
      • The City of Aiken’s Information Games: Part II
      • State Ethics Law Makes Three Appearances
      • Cancelled, Stopped, On Hold, Terminated, or Ongoing?
      • “Portions Rescinded,” But No Cancellation.
      • The Project Pascalis “RFP”
      • Demolition is not part of the legally approved downtown redevelopment plan 
      • A Vote Without a Decision: A Transcript
      • The Aiken City Attorney: No contract
      • “The AECOM Plan”
      • The Gary Smith Defense: An Admission, Inconsistencies, and More New Questions Than Answers
      • The Pascalis Attorneys
      • The Aiken Planning Commission and Project Pascalis: More Ethical Dilemmas on the Horizon?
      • No Evidence of Intent: The City of Aiken’s Proposal to Change the Law to Fit the AMDC’s Bylaws. 
      • Project Pascalis Lawsuit Alleges an Abundance of Violations of State and Local Law. 
      • Project Pascalis Transparency Index
      • Reminder of the Day: The AMDC Cites the Law, Then Sets its Own Rules
      • Letter from Don Moniak to the City of Aiken Design and Review Board, June 28, 2022
      • Reminder of the Day: Project Pascals is arguably proceeding in violation of South Carolina municipal redevelopment laws. 
    • Meeting Law Violations
      • The Project Pascalis “Influencers” Meetings: Yes, the AMDC Violated Open Meeting Laws
      • Update to: “Did the AMDC Violate Open Meeting Laws?” (1) 
      • Toast of the Town: The January 4th ”Social Business Gathering” at Prime Steakhouse
      • Citizens Release Project Pascalis Meeting Transcripts  
      • Correspondence To/From the City of Aiken Design and Review Board (DRB)
      • Did the AMDC Violate Open Meetings Laws?
    • Money Trails
      • Downtown Aiken Half Price Sale
      • Project Pascalis Has Exposed Aiken City Officials as Lousy Real Estate Investors
      • The Cleaners: How Aiken City Council Got Taken to the Cleaners by the Wyatt Family
      • Is TIF Still an Option for Project Pascalis?
      • How Much Project Pascalis Can Aiken Taxpayers Stand?
      • Reminder of the Day: Project Pascalis and the Wyatt Factor
    • Municipal Building
      • Pascalis Properties on Aiken City Council’s Closed-Door Agenda?
      • Letter to Aiken City Council: Public Meetings and Misinformation from the AMDC
      • Why is the City of Aiken Toying with 113 Downtown Jobs?
    • Parking Garage
      • “It doesn’t look like Aiken”
      • “Structured Parking Solution” for The Lab
    • A Project Pascalis Timeline
      • Timeline: Feb 2019-June 2022
      • Timeline Updates: June 2022-August 2022
      • The Changing Views of Project Pascalis
    • Letters to/from Local Officials

      • Questions to the AMDC Regarding WTC Investments, Newberry Street, and the Aiken Chamber of Commerce. 
    • A Citizen’s Statement on Project Pascalis
  • Plutonium Settlement
    • FOIA’ed Again: A $65,000 Question
    • Pu Funds Con Game?
    • Letter to the Joint Bond Review Committee
    • “Off-Site Infrastructure”
    • “There’s a Joke in There Somewhere.”
    • Project Pascalis and the Plutonium Settlement
  • Pascalis 2023 – SRNL Lab
    • City of Aiken to Move Forward on Pascalis Properties. 
    • Information Release: Hotel Aiken Stabilization Study and Other Downtown Pascalis Project Buildings Analytical Documents and Reports now Available.
    • Gathering on the Rooftop Terrace
    • Editorial: Project Pascalis 2.0 – The Bomb Plant Lab Reveal …Bombs
    • Letter to Battelle Regarding the Proposed Downtown Savannah River National Laboratory Office Building
    • In the Demolition Zone
      • 45,000 Square Feet Without a Tenant?
      • The Future of Warneke Cleaners
      • The First and Last City Council/AMDC Meeting?
      • The Local Politics of No-Bid, Pu $ Culture
      • “Off-Site Infrastructure”
      • Competing Headlines, Competing Errors
    • Laws & Bylaws
      • Spirit of Anti-Corruption Law “Under Siege”
      • Keeping Up Appearances: City Attorney Gary Smith’s $9,600,000 Project Pascalis Bond Opinion
      • In the Courts: Pascalis and the Regional Dump
      • The Pascalis Attorneys Part 2: The Petition.
      • Rebranding Project Pascalis
      • The AMDC’s Most Inane Legal Bill?
    • Money Trails
      • Project Pascalis Legal Costs
      • $148,000 for What? And Other Pascalis Properties Management Cost Findings
      • Three Missing Pages
      • The Agenda-Setting Aiken Corporation
      • Project Labscalis* Annual Operating Costs
      • Project Pascalis Conference Center Costs
    • Parking Garage
      • “It doesn’t look like Aiken”
      • “Structured Parking Solution” for The Lab
    • Security Issues
      • A Question on Security
    • What is the status of the Savannah River National Lab building downtown?
    • Aiken Chronicles Update: Week of January 23, 2023
  • Farmers Market – Williamsburg St. Project
    • Whose Project is it again? …. Bueller?
    • June 26, 2023 Citizen Statement to City Council
    • Plan A and Amended Plan A: Seventy Percent Tree Removal Was the Plan.
    • The Williamsburg 10
    • Poised for the Next Phase of the Farmers Market-Williamsburg Street Demolition
    • Four Well Lit Trees
    • Farmer’s Market-Williamsburg Street Parkway Revitalization Underway
  • Aiken Corporation
    • The Aiken Corporation-City of Aiken Relationship: Partners, Not Cousins.
    • The Aiken Corporation’s Amentum Model: An Afterword
    • Aiken’s Cousin Problem – The Aiken Corporation Targets Newberry Street for SRNL Spec Project
    • The Monkey in the Room
    • $148,000 for What? And Other Pascalis Properties Management Cost Findings
    • The Amentum Model: “Loosey Goosey”
    • The Amentum Model: A Corporate Coup
    • The Aiken Corporation’s Amentum Model: From Corporate Coup to Loosey Goosey
    • “The Devil is in the Details” – The Aiken Corporation Study Missed the Most Essential Detail of All
    • Editorial: Thoughts on the Aiken Corporation
  • Savannah River Site
    • Humana or Humana?
    • No Fear of Plutonium Shavings. 
    • Offsite Insights 2023-4: The DOE-DHEC-EPA Radioactive Waste Public Relations Collaboration
    • “Plutonium is not for Amateurs.” Part 2:
    • “Plutonium is Not For Amateurs” Pt 1.
    • Feds Propose ~27 to 34 More Tons of Plutonium for Processing at Savannah River Site
    • SRS Watch News Release: October 27, 2022: Delay at SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant
    • How Safe were “Millions of Safe Hours?”
    • Offsite Insights 2022-2: SRS CAB Might Quit Snubbing Barnwell and Allendale Counties
    • Offsite Insights (2022:1)
  • Equine
    • Horse Sense: Safety
    • Performance Equine Delivers an Early Christmas Present by Providing Access to Life Saving Colic Surgery in Aiken
  • Nature News
    • The Ways of the Waxwings
    • Snowbirds
    • Trick or Treat! It’s the Bradford Pear
    • The Ants at Our Feet
    • The Mystery of the Painted Buntings
    • In Celebration of the Sand Pear
    • Aiken’s Yellow-Billed Cuckoos
    • Webs of Life
    • Last Days of Summer, with Mantis
    • Yonder in the Pawpaw patch
    • Blue Jay Ways
    • Fireflies: Nature’s Own Fireworks
    • The Cats Among Us
    • Feral Cats
    • People Watching
    • Passionflower: A Summertime Soporific
    • A Few Butterfly Mysteries Solved
    • Kudzu: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
    • Plantain: Good for What Ails You
    • The Return of the Chimney Swifts
    • It’s Smilax Season — Grab a Fork!
    • From Howard’s Pond to Misty Lake
    • The Year of the Wasps
    • The Eastern Box Turtle
    • Pokeweed
    • The Carolina Wren
    • The Return of the Hummingbirds: A Rite of Spring
    • It’s in the Stars
    • Florida Betony: An Enigma Wrapped in a Weed
    • Pondering Pollen
    • One Sweet Tree
    • Yard Weeds
    • Love Amongst the Branches
    • From Mighty Oaks
    • Midwinter Blues
    • About Those Joro Spiders
    • No Fear of Plutonium Shavings. 
  • Editorial & Opinion
    • Letters to the Editor
      • ELECTION DAY LETTERS OF SUPPORT: TEDDY MILNER FOR MAYOR OF AIKEN
      • More Letters of Support: Teddy Milner for Mayor of Aiken
      • The People’s Choice: Teddy Milner for Mayor of Aiken
      • Proposed Southside Development Raising Concerns of Flooding
      • Letter to the Editor: An opportunity to take back our beloved city
      • Local Residents Speak Out On Parker’s Kitchen
      • Letter to the Editor: Hoping for Better City Leadership After 2023 Elections
      • Letter to the Editor: Regarding Parker’s Kitchen and Stratford Drive
      • Downtown Aiken: What are the Priorities?
      • Letter to the Editor: A Citizen’s Views on Civility and City Council
      • “Mr. Mayor: Answer Our Letter”
      • Pascalis or SRS Downtown: Following a Snake Through Brush
      • Letter to the Editor: The Aiken Land Conservancy: Profit over Protection
      • Letter: Silver Bluff Joins Whiskey Road
    • Editorials
      • Guest Editorial: West-Side Development Has Created Traffic Hazards and Stormwater Issues
      • “What is Reasonable?”
      • Editorial: Thoughts on the Aiken Corporation
      • Citizens Speak: Tom Clements, Vicki Simons, Mary Camlet-Agresta
      • Trash Can, Please?
      • A Clinic in Civility – Aiken’s Mayor, Rick Osbon
      • Failed Project Pascalis – A Mayor’s Legacy
      • Uncertainties Plague Downtown Lab
      • APRIL 10TH CITY COUNCIL MEETING RECAP
      • The Old Aiken County Hospital: Demolition by Neglect?
      • Editorial: My Letter to Aiken City Council About Aiken’s Parks and Northside
      • At What Cost Transparency?
      • An Argument for Funding Local Newspapers 
      • Aiken City Council Meeting
    • Historical Perspectives
      • Ninety-Seven Years Ago Today: The Lowman Lynchings
      • Editorial: When Citizens Were in the Driver’s Seat
      • Special Series of Five
        • The Virginia Acres Question: 1951-1962
        • Aiken’s Early Parks and Recreation: A Historical Perspective
      • A Northside Story
      • Labor Day Reflection: 120 Years Ago in Aiken County
      • The Rumors of Aiken’s Early Demise are Greatly Exaggerated
    • Humor
      • Aiken Memes
        • Monday News
      • Pigs of Pascalis Gallery #3
      • Pigs of Pascalis Gallery #2
      • Pigs of Pascalis Gallery #1
      • About that Brick Wall….
      • The Ballad of Rond Point
      • BREAKING NEWS! Failed Leadership Snuffs Out Public Opinion in the Commission on Blight and Morality’s Memorial Challenge
      • Councils Defense Handicap 2022
      • The Pascalis Cup
      • Working Overtime
      • Gull Talk
      • Plutonium Money
      • Lessons Learned: #1 in a Series
      • On Cronyism
  • Archives
    • August 2024
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    • December 2023
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    • October 2023
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    • April 2023
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    • December 2022
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July 2026
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