Our census form arrived in our Ellicott City mailbox this week. Ten years ago when I last filled out the census form I was living in Columbia Town Center.There are some folks who will not fill out their census form for a variety of reasons. Some believe it to be an invasion of privacy while others has less defensible reasons for dissing the decennial document. The bottom line is that when you fail to fill out the form you cost the government more money. According to this editorial in The Sun today when someone doesn’t fill out their census form “the government will send someone to your door, and that costs an average of $57 for every response. The Census Bureau estimates that each percentage point increase in the mail response rate to the census saves $85 million. In 2000, about 72 percent of Americans (and 73 percent of Marylanders) mailed back their forms; if everyone did it this time, the government would save $1.5 billion.”
While in The Mall earlier this week I noticed that iconic antique clock that has graced the mall promenade since the very beginning was stuck at 9:00. It struck me that this could be a metaphor of sorts for Columbia Town Center.Columbia Town Center is stuck in time.
Hopefully, in the next several months we will get beyond the rancor, misinformation and false claims of those who are still smarting from the overwhelming support the redevelopment plans received from the community and get the clock moving towards Columbia’s future once more.
