 Hello, Columbia. Welcome to City View, where we bring you an inside view of the City of Columbia. I'm your host, Alicia Yuzzi. In our top story, we bring you Mayor Steve Benjamin talking about donations for citations, a new initiative that was introduced in the City of Columbia after this great idea worked in another city, where for parking citations instead of paying the citation, you can donate school supplies. We believe firmly that while statistics tell us that geniuses live in every single zip code, every single community, we know that opportunity is not as broadly dispersed among communities. So making sure that kids have what they need to go to school and live up to the guide given potential. And speaking of the Mayor's initiatives, we recently had a chance to get a sneak peek at another one of Mayor Steve Benjamin's programs for younger citizens called Drills and Skills. We caught up with some of the kids practicing and learning some new skills in soccer and basketball as well as other sports. Mayor Steve Benjamin also connected with some of our younger citizens for a program called Books to Boys and Girls. Mayor Steve Benjamin has definitely been on the move and we moved from some of our younger citizens to city staff and also officials from AT&T and FirstNet, announcing a new initiative that brings new technology for communications to our first responders. This technology will allow our first responders the ability to communicate more effectively than ever before. Efficient communication is important day by day, but it's even more important during times of emergency. With FirstNet, our city's first responders will have priority access to a fast and secure network when they need it most, when we need them most. Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook recently held a press conference with other local law enforcement officials to focus on gun violence and how they can work together to stamp it out in our community. I think we've got to have some ownership of the problem. We haven't had any meaningful gun legislation since I've been here. We've had some pretty horrific events occur in our city and elsewhere in this state. There is no consequence, essentially, with the exception of federal charges for people that are in possession of farms. You know, you've heard me say this before, third offense shoplifting carries 10 years in prison. You can get caught 50 times with the gun and your sentence never gets serious. You're not going to go to jail. That's absurd. City of Columbia is just one of hundreds and thousands of cities that are getting ready for Census 2020. The U.S. Census Bureau has visited the City of Columbia and part their career coach here at City Hall. During this time period, there were seeking those who might be looking for jobs as census takers. If you missed the career coach and you would like a job as a census taker during the 2020 Census, please contact the number on the flyer on your screen. Again, job opportunities are still available for those in our community who would like to be census takers for the Census 2020. The Greenview community, along with Councilman Sam Davis and other local officials, recently joined together for the street renaming in honor of Reverend Tryon Ackelberger in the Greenview community. The City of Columbia is happy and felt honored to honor the great man that did serve this community and this city. And we know that life has been better for a lot of people around this city because of his efforts. And as we close out City View, we bring you our last story, which is a big one. National Night Out 2019. Our Council members, along with the mayor and our chiefs from police and fire, as well as law enforcement, first responders, and city staff from all departments joined together with our local community leaders and residents to celebrate National Night Out in multiple neighborhoods across the city. We are celebrating community, public safety, the relationships that our communities and neighbors have with the city. And so we look forward to this night every year. And I'm really proud of the fact that our Columbia Police Department takes the lead on helping to organize and work with all the different neighborhoods, neighborhood leaders to make sure that each of the stops in all of our communities have activities and good information sharing and just fellowship with each other on this night where we promote that we got to look out for one another. Well that wraps up this episode of City View, where we bring you an inside view of the City of Columbia. On behalf of the City of Columbia and our public relations, media and marketing department, we hope you found this program informative and you can find out more information about the city and upcoming events and news by visiting our website at columbiasc.gov. Follow us on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and make sure you stay tuned right here to City TV on Spectrum 1301 and also you can visit our YouTube channel and watch some of our shows on demand. We appreciate you following the City of Columbia, make sure you stay connected and remember we are Columbia. Also while you're here, be sure to check out one of our other videos or follow on our social media platforms. Thanks again and remember we are Columbia.