Oh, goodness we're playing to a full house with the Ames City Council.  Your faithful correspondant Trent Rice here.  I knew I shouldn't have stopped for the cup of coffee on the way in.  Just barely got my seat.

We begin this evening with an introduction of a delegation from Ames Sister City in Frydek-Mistek on the Czech Republic.  On hand are a number of local officials and business leaders from the former Czechoslovakia.

As for the rest of the agenda, it's a pretty run-of-the mill evening.  The city's sustainabilty committee will update it's work on making Ames more environmentally friendly and reducing it's carbon footprint.  The council will also get a report on how the Land Use Policy Plan may change by 2030 with growth of the city.

7:20P:  An aside, it's getting a little tiring watching these moronic Campustown bar managers come before the council every year and get slapped around for providing ISU students more booze than they can handle, and claiming ignorance when bad things happen in their establishments.  It's equally tiring watching the council vent their collective spleen at these soul-less idiots and not do anything about it. 

8:20P:  The council and the Sustainability Task Force is talking.  And talking...and talking...and talking...  Welcome to our first "council speed bump" of the evening.  At this point, what we know is that the task force want the city to reconvene another task force and bring in the county and city rental housing owners.

9:05P:  The council just wrapped up the Sustainability Task Force discussion, and I honestly don't know what was decided.  I know the council expressed a healty amount of skepticism on obligating itself to...anything, but did tell the group to continue doing it's thing.  My guess is that we'll see more of this when the new council sets it's goals after November's elections.

9:45P:  You know the meeting's going long when your phone just up and dies.  I think it was suicide.  Oh, and we are at our second speed bump of the night.  Who can and can't give away single ounce tastes of beer or wine, and who has to have a license or not.  This discussion has gone circular.