Belmont to get green this spring – Gaston towns tired of being brown
Bowing to the pressure of local small businesses dependent on public water for their livelihoods, the Belmont City Council water committee has put forth a motion to ease water restrictions in the area.
Residents would be able to hand water, drip irrigate trees, shrubs, and personal gardens. If approved, the watering could be done during the entire day on those three days. “I don’t mind the hand held watering,” said Councilman Charlie Flowers”.
This action is occurring while other Gaston county towns are also loosening restrictions.
It seems that the “squeaky” (re: “leaky”) wheel gets the grease. If City Council passes the recommendation, residents still will not be able to water their lawns.
Other communities throughout the state are still working on further restrictions and closely tracking water use, Belmont gets a bit a rain and Poof! – no more drought — in some eyes.
We admit there has been some improvement in the drought, but the area is still in what is considered exceptional drought conditions. Typically late February and the month of March are “catch up” months in regards to rain. Not this spring – so far.
A special meeting next Monday evening (6:30 PM) will have this discussion and vote. Interested people should attend this meeting and see how council members who have landscapers maintain their personal yards vote on this issue.
More information links: System Status for Belmont
| Basin | Pop | 2008-03-10 | 2008-03-03 | 2008-02-25 | 2008-02-18 | |
| Belmont | Catawba River | 8,974 | 1,676,143 | 1,605,571 | 1,668,286 |
Older table dates
| Basin | Pop | 08-02-04 | 08-01-28 | 08-01-21 | 08-01-14 | 08-01-07 | |
| Belmont | Catawba River | 8,974 | 1,545,286 | 1,672,429 | 1,685,857 | 1,568,714 | 1,744,143 |
Sure doesn’t look like water restrictions have affected Belmont’s use of water. Going back to an earlier article where the Belmont Front Porch reported on the growing practice of new wells being dug throughout the county, the County Health Department repudiated the charge that new wells were an issue with groundwater.
With this information, it seems that local “businesses” would not be affected — according to the County health department — just dig a well.
Good for business, keeps the businesses off the backs of elected “leaders”, and keeps the progeny of local councilmembers with their jobs.
It’s all good.
Gaston: No ICE detention facility
No Doubt!
Both the papers are now reporting that a 1,500 bed federal detention center most likely will not be built in Gaston County.
We kinda wonder why our county officials had to travel to Washington “for discussions” about this project? Wouldn’t have been a bit cheaper for Sue Myrick and former Mecklenburg Sheriff, Jim Pendergraff to have visited Gaston?
The Gazette, ever hopeful for downtown revitalization, expressed an interest for an “ala carte” project that would be less expensive.
Seems to us that the project tab of $150 million fits into “Big Plan” Palenick’s vision for Gaston — right along with the laundry list of a “conference center/hotel”, restaurants, a hidden homeless shelter, and an $18 million baseball field.
This is leaving us wondering what sort of earmarks that Ms. Myrick is planning to dangle for us as her re-election campaign gears up. Our schools who qualify for Title I funding are shrinking even when the number of poor students grows. The estimated $1.6 Billion (yes, billion) “Garden Parkway” is still an apple of David Hoyle’s eye, but without federal funding and passage of a Toll Authority from the state, that will be out of his lifetime. Maybe he and Ms. Myrick could talk – surely there is still a bit of money at the bottom of the pork barrel for good ‘ol Gaston.
March Update – The REAL cost of living
We reported in January about the food prices at area stores. It seemed like a good idea.
Today, with oil prices going as high a $105/barrel, we felt that it was time to do an update on our local cost of living.
We added Walgreens to the mix because their outside sign is advertising milk prices this week. We also added eggs after discussing how much we all use eggs each week in our menu planning.
|
Wed 3/5/08 |
Aldi | Bi-Lo | Food Lion | Walmart | Walgreens |
| Whole Milk | $3.69 | $4.19 | $4.09 | $3.78 | $3.59 |
| 2% Milk | $3.59 | $4.19 | $4.09 | $3.78 | $3.59 |
| Skim Milk | $3.49 | $4.19 | $4.09 | $3.78 | $3.59 |
| White Bread | $.75 | $1.15 | $1.07 | $1.16 | |
| Wheat Bread | $.99 | $1.59 | $1.89 | $1.52 | |
| 1 doz, Large Eggs | $1.75 | $2.19 | $1.99 | $1.82 |
We appreciate the competition between the chain stores on these particular staple food items. But the obscene amount of displayed food at Walmart puts all the other stories to shame and our editors to tears. Our one Walmart over in Montcross has more food on the shelves in one day than many stores in Haiti or Pakistan can display in a year.
We live in a land of plenty and we are thankful for the options and choices that we have in this community.
The Belmont Front Porch 
