As the Howard County Council moves towards a final vote on the enabling legislation (CB 58 & CB 59) for the redevelopment of Columbia Town Center in just over two weeks from now, some have noted that Ken Ulman, the county executive, has been uncharacteristically silent on the subject.
Though Ken was an early advocate for creating a new master plan to guide the Town Center redevelopment process, he is also on record as having said that 5,500 residential units in Town Center is “ludicrous.”
To be fair, he did say before the completed plan was fully worked out and presented to the county.
But lately he has barely uttered a word of support for the legislation. What’s up with that?
True, he may be showing his respect for the council by staying out of the middle of their deliberations, but on the other hand that never stopped him from cheerleading for Healthy Howard funding or anything else he’s really wanted.
It sure would be nice to know where he stands on this
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9 hours ago
8 comments:
I recall that when Ken was first elected, it was noted that Robey was always "above the fray" whereas people expected Ulman to be more in the middle of things. I guess he's learned to shut his mouth.
Or more aptly, Ulman knows that this whole proposal is controversial and not necessarily supported by a majority of the County. That being the case, he doesn't want to be too associated with it if it blows up. He's a spineless, finger to the wind politician.
There are plenty of shady dealings going in relation to this whole project. Like the County suddenly spending MILLIONS of dollars to upgrade the sewage treatment facility so that GGP doesn't have to. What an abuse of tax funds. GGP is creating the additional usage so GGP should have paid for ALL of the upgrades.
I should become a developer, shove a bunch of money in Ulman's pockets and then he can help me use tax dollars to make me rich!!! Isn't this the cronyism that people are supposedly tired of?
PZ, there isn't a taxpayer in the county that is oblivious to your point. But when election time rolls around, they don't know the people so they vote based on party.
It's possible to change that. Hocorising has started an anti-incumbent movement that could well take off later in the election year. If this sentiment caught on, no one would be safe in their seat.
Ken is smart. He's going to sign the bill but he also knows that voters are going to be angry about his passing it. His strategy is to lay low, minimize exposure, and as always, the voters will forget by election time.
Why don't opponents keep lists and communicate these issues to voters at election time?
Joan Becker for county exec in 2010.
WB
Have you ever thought about running against Ken? You certainly have enough opinions and we can trust you to be politically expedient. What do you say? WB for County Executive!
HH
I checked out the HOCORising blog. It is not anti-incumbent. It's a GOP (mainly Anthony Jordan) blog. Name the incumbent republicans on the local or state level it's against?
"Ken is smart."
Gridlock is neither smart nor smart growth.
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