COLUMBUS, Ga. — Kadie the Cow’s old Best Buy home on Manchester Expressway has finally been released from the city’s ownership.
The release of the property by the city may serve to establish a precedent for the city to release other property it does not have a bona fide need to retain.
The property easement, located at 2925 Manchester Expressway, came into the city’s possession back in May of 2019 when Best Buy was preparing to sell the property.
Since the city had owned Kadie since 2001, it had a vested interest to protect Kadie through the sale. To ensure that protection, the city was provided with a permanent access easement to retain ownership of the land upon which our beloved bovine resided.
A memorandum of understanding was then entered into between CCG and Uptown Columbus, Inc. to relocate Kadie to the downtown area.
After a lengthy debate over where Kadie should be rehomed — as well as how to move an enormous 1000-pound 20-foot-tall fiberglass cow — a proposal was made back in March of 2022 to move Kadie to her new Bay Avenue location.
Through careful planning, Kadie was loaded up and transported to her new home on Bay Avenue on November 29, 2022.
Recently, during the city council meeting held on January 3, 2023, city manager Isaiah Hugley stated that the city’s ownership of the land had strictly revolved around Kadie. Since Kadie has now moo-ved on to her new home, the city no longer needs to own the Best Buy access easement. By a unanimous vote of the city council, that land was relinquished from the city’s ownership through the approval of a quitclaim deed.
Uptown Columbus, Inc. raised and spent roughly $32,000 to move Kadie to the downtown area. Uptown also expects Kadie’s maintenance to cost $8,000 over the next ten years, which seems like a rather small $800 per year amount. Then again, that maintenance cost will only stay that low if Kadie does not fall victim to the vandalism, rising violent crime, and other lewd antics that have spread to the downtown area.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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