Shoe District ready to step ahead

For 43 years, Brad Eiffert has been helping run the family-owned Boone County Lumber in north-central Columbia. It’s an area of the city he likes, and he gives the North Central Columbia Neighborhood Association a lot of the credit for helping it develop an identity.

Eiffert considers his relationship with the NCCNA to be friendly, and he counts its members among his friends. A former member of the group, he occasionally drops in on its meetings. He even helped fund the neighborhood newsletter.

“When you go to any other (Columbia) community you don't see the level of interest and activity as you do in central Columbia,” Eiffert said.

Nevertheless, Eiffert is among several property owners and businesspeople who recently began a push to create their own neighborhood association, arguing that the NCCNA no longer is best-suited to represent their interests. On Oct. 6, the  City Council approved the change, and the Shoe Factory District Neighborhood Association was born.

Getting approval on a new neighborhood association wasn’t an easy process. Some north-central residents and council members were uneasy about the change, particularly in light of the fact that one area will be represented by both the Shoe Factory and the North-Central districts . It was a precedent-setting rift that prompted the council to call for a revision of its neighborhood association rules, but now that the matter is settled, both sides are looking forward to reconciling. And in hindsight, they say, the dispute might even have been productive.