It's easy to complain about traffic. I say "Taylor Road," and most of us think about vehicular congestion.

Last night at the city's planning commission meeting, a Halcyon resident made a pretty constructive point about Taylor Road, and traffic management in general. She said that she didn't understand why, at these public meetings, the proposals didn't include an assessment on how traffic would be affected if the development was built.

Any ideas? I'm no engineer, but I imagine that as Taylor Road gets developed, and even as Ray Thorington gets developed, traffic on the corridor between Vaughn and I-85 can only get worse. I also wonder if we only see the traffic through hindsight -- it used to be rural, so of course now we think it's a big problem to be creeping down to the interstate from Publix.

Lester Spencer, St. James UMC's senior pastor, can sometimes be hard to get a hold of. He's a busy man. The last time I tried to call him, he was in Cuba.

A couple weeks ago, he got back to Montgomery and returned my call. He said their most recent mission in Cuba was restoring an old, four-story Methodist Seminary in downtown Havana. Rev. Spencer said the building was the first Methodist seminary in Cuba, and had been controlled by the government until three years ago, when the church petitioned to get it back.

Now, the The United Methodist Church is allowed to send volunteer mission teams, twice a month, to work on the seminary. United Methodist churches from across the United States take turns going to Havana to work on the seminary. While Rev. Spencer said it's complicated to get into and back out of Cuba -- paperwork, paperwork, paperwork -- the experience was worthwhile.

He said the Methodist church is booming in Cuba, and as they traveled around the country, people were very responsive to the message. Every service they had was packed, and Rev. Spencer said there were a lot of young people in attendance.

In today's paper, on 3A, is my story about Pike Road's recent annexations. I'm interested in this, as a long-time resident of the area, and what it might mean for the future of east Montgomery. My main question is if it really affects the city as much as it simply creates a border to which the city of Montgomery can grow, eastward and southeastward.

Also in the paper, and all over the news, is commentary and speculation about the revitalization of downtown Montgomery.

Activity and development of any kind changes the way a city looks, sounds and operates -- but I'm looking forward to watching new projects around the county develop. A lot of people are putting up a lot of investment in Montgomery. I'm not a businesswoman, but it does seem that if people are pouring money into an area, potential has been identified.

For Pike Road, this means growing into a more-viable entity, with a school and retail/ business revenue. For the city of Montgomery, focusing on downtown will, in the words of Mr Bronner, keep us from rolling up the streets at night.

As a reporter, you might be having a lazy Sunday... reading the paper, idly doing some household chores... sleeping in, maybe. And you don't watch tv or turn on the computer until well after noon... but when you do, you're reminded: there's weather coming. After you do a bit of research, you realize the weather might actually be severe. After it all rolls through, you -- as a reporter -- have two options: go to the newsroom, or go to the scene. I knew we had reporters at the scene, so I opted for the newsroom.

Ever since, we've been in the field and in the newsroom. Interviewing people, making calls, fielding calls, typing everything, checking facts, going to press conferences and, finally, publishing the stories. I've been impressed with the stamina of our editorial staff, and the reporters who get out there and see what's going on, to inform all of you through our website, then the morning paper. That's our job. The tornadoes in Prattville made national headlines, but also meant personal upheaval for some. I'm glad that we don't have any reported fatalities, but the devastation is no less real.

From my point of view, when I'm up in the newsroom calling Alabama Power for outage numbers, it's important to stop for a second and think: nearly 11,000 of their customers in Prattville were without power last night. 99% of those have already been restored, but last night, when parents were explaining to children what "tornado" was, they did so by candlelight or flashlight. Or in a hotel. A shelter.

Things seem to be going pretty smoothly with immediate needs and recovery in Prattville. I hope it continues to.

I did some research in the Advertiser's archives today. Here's an excerpt from October 29, 1998:

The southeast parcel of Taylor Road and Interstate 85 is the latest site
proposed for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in recent months. Another
developer, McClinton & Co., will break fround Nov. 4 on a Wal-Mart
Supercenter at East Boulevard and Calmar Drive.

The Wal-Mart didn't go in that southeast corner. EastChase did.

In doing interviews for our series on foreign language church congregations, I learned that we're in the middle of celebrating the Chinese New Year. The last of fifteen days of celebrations will take place on the 22nd. The Chinese congregation at Aldersgate UMC will be gathering on the 22nd to share traditional foods and activities. If you know of any Chinese New Year celebrations, gathering, parties, etc., let me know.
I think it's interesting that the Year of the Rat is so prosperous. As the first sign of twelve on the Chinese zodiac, apparently the idea is that every twelve years, when the Year of the Rat comes around, we get a clean slate.