An Evening with Liz: Partie Deux

Last night the Legislation with Liz show was about more than Town Center of course. This was an evening of love after all, a step back in time if you will. Fittingly, there was poetry, politics and pot.

Liz kicked things off with a heartfelt reading of a poem by Lucille Clifton I think. Lucille, who was often in residence in Columbia, passed away last week. I admit that I wasn’t really paying much attention at that point. I was more interested in who was there.

I sat just behind Maryann Maher, one of the Demcratic challengers for a District 9A House of Delegates seat. That seat is currently held by Republicans Warren Miller and Gail Bates. Marianne was sitting next to Angie Beltram. I guess those two are buddies. Marrianne said she hadn’t heard of Tales of Two Cities so I gave her a card with the website URL.

Alan Klein, the spokemo for CoFoCoDo was there as well as Steve Meskin and Frank Martin. I just gotta say that Marty looks great. I went to high school with this guy and he looks a good ten years younger than me. I hate him.

Councilperson Mary Kay Sigaty sat to my left, listening and working her blackberry. There was a little drama at the end of the question and answer period too. Liz didn’t see Mary Kays hand raised for a question and was about to cut off questions before Ann, her legislative aide, intervened. Mary Kay didn’t really have a question though, she just wanted everyone to know about Plan Maryland.

At one point, Liz took a break from questions and introduced Kelly, Kim, Jeff and Davey, a foursome of twentysomethings about to embark on an adventure to help the environment. They have formed an organization called Pick Up America, “a walking adventure to pick up trash around the country and inspire a transition to a zero-waste economy.”

That was pretty cool.

One of the last questions came from an audience member who wanted to know where Liz was on medical marijuana. She first replied that she really “had no opinion on medical marijuana” but then concluded by saying “with her heart she likes the idea.”

It’s a shame no one asked her whether she or Lloyd ever smoked marijuana.

Liz wrapped up the evening with another poem, I think. By this time I was at the door talking to Jon Weinstein, the other Democratic challenger for District 9A. It turns out that we’re neighbors, but then again, aren’t we all?

Liz Love Fest Lite

Last night I attended Delegate Liz Bobo’s Legislative Update at Kahler Hall in Columbia. This is an annual event for the long serving District 12B representative and a regular gathering for her faithful supporters. Last year Larry Carson, The Sun reporter, dubbed it the Liz Love Fest.

This year the gathering was a somewhat smaller turnout of her true believers and there a little less love. Some of those in attendance weren’t her fans at all including those who were unhappy with her behind the scenes support of the opponents of the Columbia Town Center redevelopment legislation. When Chris Tsien asked her whether she felt that that the county council and the county council “abdicated their responsibilities” when they passed CB 58 and CB 59 as the opponents claim, she disingenuously replied that her “number one priority” was state business not county business and that she had “no idea whether they abdicated their responsibility."

Jud Malone asked her point blank if she supported the effort to put the Town Center redevelopment enabling legislation up for referendum. After a little prodding Liz said that she “is not endorsing the referendum” effort. Oddly, she followed this statement by saying that she is not taking any position on this issue.

Isn’t her statement that she isn’t endorsing the referendum effort a position?

Simon Getting Anxious

David Simon is unhappy. The Chairman and CEO of the Simon Property Group thinks the board of General Growth Properties is “inappropriately speculating with creditors' money ,” by not immediately accepting their $9.00 a share bid for the company. In a letter to GGP’s Chairman yesterday, Simon said “the current state of the retail industry and your company’s past history of risky financial choices, your lack of urgency should deeply concern creditors and shareholders.”

This got ugly fast and the rhetoric is becoming increasingly hostile. Simon made the initial offer to GGP’s board on February 8th and went public with the offer on Tuesday when GGP didn’t jump right on it.

“We have not received a substantive response to this offer from GGP or its advisors, nor any indication that you are prepared to enter into serious discussions so as to make our offer available to your shareholders and creditors. Accordingly, we are today making our offer public.”

In response GGP said in essence, thanks, we’ll get back to you.

“We and our board of directors have given considerable thought to your indication of interest and have concluded based on discussions with other interested parties that it is not sufficient to preempt the process we are undertaking to explore all avenues to emerge from Chapter 11 and maximize value for all the Company’s stakeholders.”

Of course some folks, such as GGP’s largest shareholder, think the Simon bid is a lowball offer and that the value of the company is much higher. Today the stock is trading at $12.72 a share.

The CEO of GGP has so far remained pretty cool in this exchange. In a letter to David Simon today, Adam Metz reiterated that GGP is working “to maximize value for the company and its stakeholders and we are engaging in a process that is intended to accomplish that result in an expeditious manner. Understandably, your objectives are not aligned with ours. We hope you will, nonetheless, participate in our process.”

As I said before, this is far from over.

It’s been a Long Cold Lonely Winter

This morning, when I walked outside with the dog to get the morning paper, it seemed warmer. It was still thirty four degrees but after the past few mornings when the mercury hung just below 20, this morning it felt downright balmy.

How sick is that?

This has been a brutal winter. Usually, winters in Maryland are sprinkled with a sixty degree day here and there but not this winter. Since Thanksgiving it has felt like one long cold spell. I’ve even forgotten what nice weather feels like.

I am so done with winter. Even my dog has had it. Last night when we went out for our walk by the time she got to the end of the driveway she turned around and headed back towards the house. Now word comes from Mr. Foot and his forecasters that, as early as Sunday, we could see another major storm.

Arrghh!

At this point we will be lucky if we see our lawns by Easter.

BWI is Flying High

BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport has been recognized as the number one airport of it’s size (15 to 25 million in annual traffic) in the world by Airports Council International, an industry group made up of 1,633 airports in 179 countries. The annual Airport Service Quality passenger survey takes into consideration “the ambience of the airport, cleanliness of the terminal, comfort of the waiting areas, availability of washrooms, cleanliness of washrooms, courtesy and helpfulness of the airport staff, business lounges, ease of making connections, passport / ID inspection experience and good shopping facilities.”

Seoul Incheon International Airport was rated as the top overall airport in the world.

In my opinion, BWI has long been the most passenger friendly airport of the three regional airports. It is a key element in the economic health of Howard County.

Cyber War Game

Yesterday a cyber war game was held in Washington, DC that exposed the vulnerabilities of our nation to a coordinated cyber attack. According to this story by Ellen Nakashima in The Washington Post, the simulated attack was intended “to demonstrate to a complacent public the plausibility of an attack that could in many ways be as crippling as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes. Organizers said they wanted to prod Congress and the Obama administration to act.”

Congress appears to be sitting on its hands. Dr. Robert M. Gates, the Secretary of Defense, had initially intended for the proposed U.S. Cyber Command to be fully operational by this October but so far the necessary legislative approvals have reportedly been held up in Congress over privacy concerns.

Swatek to Lead Petition Drive

The petition drive to put the Columbia Town Center redevelopment enabling legislation up for referendum is being led by Russ Swatek, the leader of a newly formed group that is calling itself “Taxpayers Against Giveaways.”

Taxpayers Against Giveaways is falsely claiming that General Growths plans for Town Center “will increase traffic congestion and impose future additional burdens on Howard County taxpayers and Columbia Association lien payers.”

In truth, the enabling legislation will reverse the declining fortunes of the Columbia’s downtown and, according to an independent study by Bay Area Economics, the proposed redevelopment program “would generate over $4.8 billion in total economic activity and 3,140 jobs in Howard County ” in the construction phase alone.

“In addition, renovation of the Merriweather Post Pavilion would lead to an estimated 46,000 additional visitors per year and support approximately $1.35 million annually in increased revenues and County visitor expenditures.”

The arguments that Russ Swatek and the Town Center redevelopment opponents are making are not backed up my any studies that I am aware of.

Simons Bids $10 Billion for GGP

Simon Property Group ended months of speculation today when they announced a $10 billion offer for General Growth Properties. According to this story in Crains Chicago Business, the Simon offer “includes about $9 billion in cash and would pay off all General Growth’s unsecured creditors…”

“Simon’s offer would provide a full cash recovery of par value plus accrued interest and dividends to unsecured creditors, “the holders of its trust preferred securities, the lenders under its credit facility, the holders of its Exchangeable Senior Notes and the holders of Rouse bonds, immediately upon the effectiveness of a definitive transaction agreement,” the release says. “

This is far from over. I fully expect the GGP board to say that this offer is too low. The Simon bid values GGP shares at around $9.00. GGP’s largest shareholder, Pershing Capital, believes the company is worth more than $12.00 a share. I would also expect that we will hear of a rival bid from Brookfield in the next few days.

Hidden in Plain Sight

It’s one of things that you don’t think about until it’s usually too late. All across the county, fire hydrants lay buried beneath the snow, hidden from plain view. Though the fire department has a general idea where each hydrant is located, do you really want them spending time digging it out while your house burns?

I dug one out this afternoon. It took less than 15 minutes. You can too.

There are several efforts underway to mobilize the population to help out. In a recent facebook posting Ken Ulman even provided a link to find the individual hydrants in your neighborhood. Just type in your address and voila!

I realize everyone has a little snow shoveling fatigue by now but this simple little task could make a world of difference in a bad situation.

Presidents Day 2010

Today isn’t really any presidents’ birthday. Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was last Friday and George Washington’s birthday is a week from today. Prior to 1971, the federal holiday was always celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday on the 22nd. In 1971 the holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February in order to create a three day weekend holiday. As a result, the federal holiday, which is still officially called Washington’s Birthday, doesn’t fall on any our 44 presidents birthdays.

My personal favorite of the 44 commanders in chief was Theodore Roosevelt. For those who are also fans of our 26th president, I wholeheartedly recommend the biographies Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris or Theodore Roosevelt a Life by Nathan Miller.

And just for the record, today is actually a famous world leader’s birthday. In 1710, King Louis XV of France was born on this day. Happy Birthday Louie!

Go HoCo

Tom, a regular commenter here, in responding to this post about Google’s planned broadband demonstration project, made a request.

"Dennis will you submit our proposal? I'm afraid if it gets into the political/public arena a group will form that thinks our networks are already too crowded."

Google is accepting expressions of interest from communities interested in hosting a showcase project of cutting edge super fast broadband internet. Only “elected officials” can formally apply to have their communities considered. Non electeds like me can only nominate.

So I did as Tom asked and nominated Howard County.

Then, taking a page from what I learned from Ilana Bittner on our most recent podcast of “…and then there’s that…”, I started a facebook page called “Google Howard County.” In little over 24 hours 34 people had already signed on.

There are still many unanswered questions about what exactly this project actually entails. It may turn out in the end that it really isn’t a good fit for HoCo but there’s no harm in taking a closer look. The opportunity to be a showcase of the next generation of broadband technology should not be taken lightly.

You can be certain one thing. There will be plenty of competition for this technology plum.

Happy Valentines Day

Forgive my cynicism but I’ve always believed that Valentines Day is a little lopsided between men and women, not to mention florists.

In The Washington Post Magazine today, Gene Weingarten wrote a very funny column about sappy Valentines cards.

"Darling, as I was wandering the aisles in CVS in search of antifungal ointment, I was thinking about the depth of my love for you; but, because I am too lazy or dimwitted or emotionally anemic to come up with an original thought, I decided to spend a buck and a half for a few mawkish cliches hawked up like loogies by a failed writer who has sold his soul for a paycheck from the Humongous Greeting Card corporation, which has then subjected his work to editing by a focus group to make sure it has no inadvertent trace of juice or passion that might offend someone in the suburbs of Des Moines; conversely, it may be an attempt at humor as weak and strained as a jar of Gerber pea and pear baby food. So, here it is! I hope you like it, sweetheart! Can we have sex now?"

And just to dispel any notion that I’m totally heartless, I actually made Mama Wordbones a card this year.

She liked it too. Happy Valentines Day.

Snow Room

It’s a front page above the fold story in The Washington Post and The Sun. Though The Big Kahuna and Kahunageddon 2.0 have left us they left behind a legacy of snow mountains and snarled traffic.

It took me an hour to get from Columbia to Ellicott City last night.

The problem is twofold. One, the roads are operating at a greatly diminished capacity with lanes still clogged with snow. Two, the road crews are still working to open up the roads even as residents attempt to return to some degree of normalcy.

This snow is taking up a lot of space.

In Ellicott City this afternoon there were virtually no parking spaces available on Main Street. The snow was occupying them.

In Parking Lot D the snow was hogging at least 15% of the remaining parking available.

We’re going to be living with this stuff for awhile.

And yes, finally after one week, I got both newspapers delivered today. One was sitting in the driveway when I woke up and the other arrived after lunch.

The later delivery was probably tied up in traffic.

Flat Roofs and Heavy Snow

Yesterday morning I received a call from a tenant in one of our buildings in Annapolis Junction. Another tenant in the same building had called the fire department because they thought the roof was failing. By the time I arrived on the scene the ladder truck from the Savage station was already on the scene.

The tenant had called the fire department when they noticed that some of the sprinkler heads had dropped down slightly from the suspended ceiling tiles. They were concerned that this indicated that the roof was sagging and it was in danger of collapse.

Actually, the roof was actually doing what it is designed to do. The structural steel of the building includes cambered beams which can drop slightly when excessive loads build up on the roof. Since the sprinkler pipes are often attached to these beams they will move with it.

Someone asked if we were going to send up a crew up on the roof to shovel off the snow. No, I answered. That actually risks doing more damage to the roof. The best thing to do is to make sure the roof drains and scuppers are clear so that as the snow melts the water has someplace to go. In this case, the drains and scuppers were clear and the water was draining as it was designed to do.

The county engineers came and took a look. They generally agreed that the roof was fine but still required the owner to bring in their own structural engineer to confirm that the building was indeed safe. After several hours of downtime during which the employees enjoyed a free lunch, the building returned to normal operations.

I can’t really blame the tenant for panicking after our governor went on TV and warned that there would likely be roof failures due to The Big Kahuna.

And there were a few roof collapses in the area, ironically at firehouses in Sykesville and Dundalk.

Google Broadband

Google wants to push the development of “super-fast open broadband networks.” According to this story by Miguel Helft in The New York Times, Google is looking for a few selected communities where they can build demonstration networks that would allow “people to surf the Web at a gigabit a second, or about 100 times the speed of many broadband connections.”

“In Google’s vision of the future of the Internet, the live streaming of 3-D medical images from a rural health clinic to a specialized medical center or the downloading of a full-length movie in a matter of minutes would become commonplace.”

The company will be soliciting proposals from interested communities over the next six weeks with the goal of having a working system in place by the end of the year.

With our history of innovation in fiber optics from local companies like Ciena, I think Howard County would make a nice test bed for this project.

Redemption

The call came late yesterday afternoon. Could I come over to hospital and help get some nurses home with my four wheel drive?

I was being given a shot at redemption after my initial volunteer service failed.

Between the hours of 5:30 and 8:30 PM I ferried Ms. Janet, Ms. O and Ms Lee to their homes in Ellicott City and Columbia. The nurses told me that the hospital was a little jammed with patients who were ready to be discharged yet unable to leave because they couldn’t get picked up. Meanwhile new patients continued to flow in.

I got a short break between my 6:00 assignment and the end of the nursing shift at 7:00 PM so I dropped into Clyde’s for a burger. The bar was full but there were plenty of open tables in the restaurant. I sat at the bar with Bill McGregor, the football coach of DeMatha High School in Hyattsville. He lives in Ellicott City and came over to Clyde’s to cure his cabin fever.

“How are the roads?” he asked.

My stock answer is that the roads are passable but far from safe. You could easily be tooling down the road and without warning the two lanes of traffic become one. Ice is a problem too as well as the fact that at most intersections your visibility of oncoming traffic is blocked by mounds of piled up snow.

I laughed and told him that a teenager would probably say the roads were fine but an old dog like me urges caution.

No Time to Surrender

I made it into my office in Columbia this afternoon. For the most part the roads are clear, though a lane or two are missing here and there. The parking lot at my office is as clear as it was on Tuesday morning.

Our landlord, Mark Shearer, stopped by after he saw my car in the parking lot. Apparently I am one of the only people who came into the office today in the whole complex. I asked Mark how his properties were holding up. Mark oversees over 4 million square feet of commercial space throughout the Baltimore Washington corridor for AMB Property Corporation. Tuesday morning he had told my colleague TW that he thought he might lose a roof somewhere.

“We haven’t lost any yet,” he told me. He has crews up on the roofs clearing out the roof drains and scuppers so that the melting snow has a place to go.

“Thank god for thirty five degrees and sunshine,” he said.

On my way in I spotted this guy stuck in the snow at the end of a driveway. This is no time to surrender. We could get another 4 inches of the white stuff by next Tuesday night.

For veteran snow warriors like us four inches just seems like a dusting.

More Snow on the Way

This is probably the last thing that folks around here want to hear but, as they say, it is what it is. According to Mr. Foot and his forecasters, we can expect another storm on Presidents Day.

“The good news is next week will probably feature just one Big Kahuna, a stark improvement from TWO blizzards over five days, huh?"

At this rate the kids will be in school until the 4th of July and we won’t see our lawns again til Easter.

The Morning After

As I am writing this post the sound of snow blowers can be heard all around me. In my neighborhood, the guy with the biggest snow blower is out helping every neighbor he can get to. Jack is a good man.

Surprisingly, our street was pretty clear this morning at 9:00 AM so after clearing out our drive, I took a spin down to Ellicott City to check things out. Once again, one of the few merchants open was the Little French Market. I stopped in for a coffee with Amy. She has been serving coffee to storm weary patrons since The Big Kahuna first hit last Friday. She hasn’t been to her home in Clarksville in a week. K2, the owner of the Little French Market, put her up in her home on Church Street so she has been able to walk down and open up the shop. She’s been putting in some fairly long days.

“I can use the money,” she told me.

Of course the ones really putting in the hours are the snow removal crews. Most of the plow operators have putting in 18 hour days to try and stay on top of things. According to this story by Larry Carson in The Sun today, that is little consolation to residents who should actually know better like Angie Beltram.

"All I know is, our street is one of the last" to be plowed, Beltram said, though she hadn't fully explored the neighborhood. She paid $200 to a landscaping crew with a snow-blower to clean off her driveway. County officials said Beltram's belief is a common one after a heavy storm, except that of course, everyone can't be last.”

Ms Beltram of all people should know better since she once served on the county council.

The task facing county and state crews is daunting.

“Residents often don't know why a plow left a section undone. The truck might need gas, the plow might break, a parked car might block the way, or a plow might be called to help an ambulance, fire truck or police vehicle, which happened frequently at the height of the storm Saturday and Sunday. The truck drivers also may need rest. Irvin said the county provides cots and food at highway shops and tries to rest the 130 drivers periodically for 4 or 5 hours between shifts. Many returned home Monday night to rest up for the Tuesday night/Wednesday storm.”

In other words Angie, take a chill pill and stop whining.

Snow Dump

This morning as Kahunageddon 2.0 was just starting to kick into high gear, my neighbor Jack and his son showed up at my driveway with his Husqvarna 1827B Snow Thrower. It’s a beast.

No sooner then he starts into my driveway an object spits out the shoot with the snow. It was today’s edition of The Sun. Impressive.

Fortunately the blades didn’t mangle the main sections and so when I went back in and dried off I had a nice fresh newspaper to enjoy with my coffee.

Parking space turf marking warranted this front page story by Timothy B. Wheeler. Though reserving a parking spot on a public street is illegal the new mayor has “pledged not to enforce the ban.”

That doesn’t sit well with everyone.

“A strong public property faction has been given a voice in a Facebook group titled, "Just 'cuz you left a plastic chair where your snow-covered car used to be.." Started by Brian Connelly of Baltimore, it has a photograph showing the front end of a sport utility vehicle bearing down on a plastic lawn chair occupying an empty parking spot on a snowy street.

Group member Chris Farrell commented on the page, "These are public streets we're talking about right??? So if I clear off a picnic table at a public park, that's mine? For how long? I can just kick people off any time I come back?"

Clean up from this storm is going to take awhile and I’m not just referring to the snow. There are trees down everywhere. In our own backyard the Leyland Cypress trees we planted four years ago are getting pretty beat up.

In this story by Susan Reimer reports that “Local arborists have been swamped with calls to deal with damage to historic cherry trees, common oaks and towering evergreens loaded down by the overwhelming snowfall.”

She interviews Frank Fogle, an arborist with Davey Tree.

“Evergreens are suffering most, said Fogle. "Think of all that snow on a fly-swatter, and then think of all that snow falling on a kitchen whisk. The snow is filtering through the oaks and the other hardwoods. But it is lying really heavy on the spruce, white pines, cypress."

Then again hope springs eternal…

"Trees are made to be flexible," Fogle said. "Well, maybe not this flexible. But we are advising clients to just leave it alone. When the spring comes and the sap rises, you'd be surprised how they bounce back."

A Perfect Trifecta for HoCo Bonds

The Fitch Rating service has assigned a “AAA” to over $100 million of new county general obligation bonds. In assigning the top rating Fitch had good things to say about how our local government handles it finances.

“Historically sound financial management and planning has created a level of financial flexibility and cushion that serves to temper the impact of declining income tax and state aid revenues on the county's credit profile.

“Overall debt levels are moderate reflecting the county's controlled approach to growth, rapid principal amortization, and use of pay-go capital.”

This speaks well not only for the current but previous administrations as well since the service also “reaffirmed” over $800 million in existing general obligation bonds.

The higher the rating, the lower the borrowing costs.

Well done.

Scene This Week In…

Given the dramatic transformation that has taken place with the local landscape over the past few days the “STW” pictures in the right column were looking quite dated.

I’ve been taking a ton of pictures too.

First off, is the guy with the shades, cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth, who was spinning a Caterpiller 928G front end loader around a cul de sac with speed, precision and grace. He came within inches of mailboxes and took out nary a one.

He was actually fun to watch.

The CAT Guy was actually part of a hit team that suddenly descended upon our neighborhood late yesterday. Until that point our roads had been largely impassable without a four wheel drive since Friday night. The county wasn’t responsible for clearing our roads either. They have yet to be dedicated to the county by the developer so that means the developer still has to clear the snow.

They tried to keep up with The Big Kahuna but the equipment they bought to the game was not up to the task. By early Saturday morning they were beaten back and not heard from again. Calls and emails to the developers’ management office went unanswered.

Then a neighbor called Dr. Taylor at home. Dr. Bruce Taylor is the namesake Taylor of Taylor Village in Ellicott City. That neighbor then shared Dr. Taylors home number with the neighborhood email list.
Before you know it we’ve got the CAT Guy doing his front end loader snow dance on our streets. CAT Guy had help too. Dr. Taylor himself was piloting a black SUV with a plow on the front.

“I appreciate your patience,” he said to me as I stood watching the heavy equipment performance from my driveway.

“I’m impressed to see you out here too,” I replied.

He further explained that that the phones and computers had gone down at the management company offices, hence nobody could answer phones or emails.

In Columbia some merchants have taken advantage of the new roadside snow mountains to openly flaunt the towns strict sign guidelines.

I spotted this advertisement for Ledo’s on Oakland Mills Road. I was also told that there were others around town as well.

Witness to History

Mr. Foot and his forecasters are saying that this one two punch of snow storms is one for the history books.

“… nothing like this has ever happened before, not even 1888, 1899, 1922 or 1958. Forget 1966, 1983, 1996 or 2003. Two blizzards along I-95 in one week? It can be dangerous living on Earth, and you will be living out history right before your eyes.”

At least we’ve got that going for us.

In This Months Business Monthly

During my teenage years Columbia was a rocking place. The new town was expanding at a frenetic pace. As the first generation of kids who grew up in the planned community, there was no doubt in our minds that this growth would continue and that we’d end up with a real city much like the foam core model on display in the Exhibit Center in Town Center.

That didn’t happen.

For a variety of reasons Columbia got off track. The town grew but it lost its edge of innovative planning. The newer neighborhoods and villages were indistinguishable from new community developments almost anywhere. Columbia's Town Center continued to add office buildings but no character. Reston, which had been overshadowed by Columbia for years, reclaimed the community planning spotlight with a wildly successful pedestrian oriented Town Center.

That will all change now and though this change is good it is none the less unsettling for those who grew comfortable with what Columbia had become.

You can read this month’s column here.

The Big Kahuna Likes Beer

The Big Kahuna provided the perfect beer cooler at my neighbors Super Bowl party yesterday.

Marking Turf

If you have ever lived in a shared parking situation you are familiar with the turf battles that go hand in hand with a big snow storm. Once you clear out your car and the parking space it was in, you believe you own that spot.

Certainly, in many cases each unit has a reserved spot or two but who can see the numbers when the snow is this prolific? While the person in the photo used what appears to be a lovely little café table as placeholder, folding chairs are often the preferred method for marking a claim.

The problem is that the visitor spaces are always the last spaces to get cleared.

As I drove about this afternoon I also noticed that all homeowners associations are not equally up to the task. I saw townhome communities that were cleared and others that looked like they hadn’t seen a plow since Saturday.

Monday Morning Memo

Just as things begin to clear up around here we learn that a second major storm is headed our way tomorrow afternoon. According to Mr. Foot and his forecasters we can expect, “snowfall by 7 PM Wednesday to reach or exceed 12 inches along the I-95 corridor from Baltimore north to Philadelphia as well as southeastern PA.”

Great. Where are we going to put this stuff?

Late yesterday afternoon, just as we were preparing to trek down the street to JD and Danielle’s annual Super Bowl party, my Sunday newspapers finally arrived. As I was perusing them this morning I noted that Elkridge and Savage got a mention in The New York Times yesterday.

“Matthew Kramar, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va., ticked off some of the big regional snow totals, mostly in the higher elevations — 33 inches in Bayard, W. Va., and in Smith Crossroads in Morgan County, W. Va., 32 inches at Howellsville, Va., 29.5 at Frostburg, Md., 28.5 inches at Savage, Md., and 30.3 inches at Elkridge, Md., southwest of Baltimore.”

Fellow local blogger HoCo Rising took this nice little video of the conditions in the Village of Dorsey’s Search in Columbia.
In previous posts about The Big Kahuna I failed to mention the spectacular sunset on Saturday evening. Bob O captured that moment from his home in the Turf Valley Overlook neighborhood in Ellicott City.

I am about to venture out to take Peanut to her moms house in Catonsville. After that I need to swing by the office on Dobbin Road in Columbia. I’ll put up another post when I get back.

Mercy Mission: Fail

I had originally intended to be a volunteer driver for the hospital during this storm. They are always in need of people with four wheel drive vehicles to ferry nurses and doctors back forth from home at times like this. I dutifully stopped by the security office and signed the requisite forms a full day before the snowflakes fell.

Friday afternoon, as The Big Kahuna was just getting cranked up, the security office called me. I was asked what time I would like to sign up for. Since my daughter was with me this weekend I had to consider a time that would work around that. The nursing shifts change at 11 PM and 7 AM so I committed to 5:30 AM to 9:00 AM. I was told I’d be called during that time if needed. When I got home I parked my truck at the end of the drive to make it easier to dig out, figuring that The Big Kahuna would really be hitting is stride about that time of the morning.

I figured right.

I awoke at 4:45 AM. I didn’t need an alarm. An incredibly bright flash of lightning lit up our bedroom and was very shortly followed by a boom so loud it shook the windows. It sounded like it hit the backyard. I could TBK hitting the windows and the side of the house. He was an angry storm

As I came downstairs and looked out the window I noticed that my neighbor Art was pulling out of his driveway. At first I figured this a good sign and that I’d have no trouble getting out too. Then he stopped. He drove about 100 yards up the street and stopped.

I suited up and went outside. Art works at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was trying to get to work. By the time I trudged up to his car he had already decided to abort. He said that the hospital told him to stay home.

I trudged back home. There was no way I was getting out.

The fact of the matter is that the hospital never called me either. I suppose that they were advised that any ride, even in a four wheel drive vehicle, would be ill advised at that point in the storm. That saved me the embarrassment of saying that I was unable to fulfill my obligation.

Sometime during those early hours of Friday, our street was plowed for the last time. A guy in a pickup truck made a valiant but futile effort to hold back the big guy . He soon retreated with his plow between his wheels.

Sunday Morning

The snow has stopped, the sun is shining and it’s cold. I was finally able to get out of the neighborhood and down to Ellicott City. Though our street hasn’t seen a snow plow since the wee hours of Saturday, I was able to push though it. It is Sunday after all and Sunday means spending quality time with the newspapers. I had accepted the fact that home delivery was apt to be suspended for the next few days.

It turns out that we are lucky. Just beyond our house the roads have been reduced to a single track in the snow. Those folks aren’t going anywhere.

In Ellicott City, The Little French Market was open. K2 had walked down from her house on Church Road to open the shop. She said Church Road had not been plowed. They had plenty of coffee and some bread but the pasty supplies were depleted.

Freshly fueled with a large Americano I set out for the Long Gate Shopping Center on Montgomery Road. For the most part the main roads are passable but caution is advised. The highway ramps look dicey and the roads are a little slick.

I couldn’t find a Sunday newspaper anywhere.

Thunder Hill

Chip sent in these pictures from his house in the Thunder Hill neighborhood of Columbia.

“My dog is up to her neck and my daughter Kaylee can change the light bulb in our light post with all of this snow. Then there is a picture of our patio furniture.”

I’ve been getting lots of pictures of patios and decks. It is obvious that these are taken from the comfort of a warm home. How about suiting up and venturing out a little like Doji?

Town Center Lakefront

A blog reader named Doji sent in a couple nice shots from the Town Center lakefront. He writes, “During the Dec blizzard, no one from Columbia was quick to email you photos. This time, Columbia represents! I walked there (with great difficulty) from my apartment. Everything is, of course, closed today.”

Thanks Doji. Great shots.

Mid Day Saturday

So far my plan for being a driver for the hospital isn’t going so well. Though we have dug ourselves out quite nicely our street is largely impassible. Mama Wordbones and I just finished taking a walk from end to end and concluded that while I could probably make it out I could just as probably get stuck I think I’ll wait a little longer.

Columbia Talk informs us that the hospital is still looking for volunteers with four wheel drive vehicles. The number to call is (410) 740-7911.

Courtney Watson sent along some handy tips for dealing with The Big Kahuna.

Remember to try and clear your own gas vents, and heat pumps around your house.

* Shovel snow in layers and in small increments of time.

* Power outage information can be found here: https://secure.bge.com/portal/site/bge/

* Snow plow tracker can be found here: http://snow2.co.ho.md.us/Index.asp

* If you know someone without power, and they have a medical need to be removed from the house, have them call 911

Courtney also reports that a s of 11:30 this morning Elkridge has reported 33 inches of snow. I think Elkridge is the big winner of snowfall total.

I saved my neighbor Karen with a six pack. While Karen had provisioned her home well with “wine and chili,” she came up a little short in the tp department. With two adults and three kids in the house that could get bad fast. Fortunately for her we had only recently made a Costco run for this particular item. We not only had a spare roll. We had a spare six pack.

I am also happy to report that we received some storm photos from readers and I’ll begin posting them soon. Right now it’s break time. We have been shoveling snow for the better part of the day. It’s time to pour a glass of wine.

Pre Dawn Saturday

We’re not going anywhere, even with four wheel drive. My on call shift with the hospital started a half hour go and thankfully I haven’t gotten a call yet. I got up at 5:00 AM and the black dog and I went out to reconnoiter the situation. It was knee deep in the street.

One of my neighbors is an anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He was pulling out of his driveway as I was sizing up the situation. He got about 200 yards up the street and before retreating back home.

I slogged through the snow to talk to him.

“I called the hospital and they told me that basically anyone who was already there was staying there. They aren’t even sending out cars to pick people up.”

I can only assume that the same the same holds true for HCGH.

We even had lightning this morning. That was a little freaky. The Weather Channel is saying that we’re getting three inches of snow an hour.

I’m heading back to bed.

The Big Kahuna

And so it begins. The mega storm has arrived and by all indications we’re in for a real doozy, a storm of historic proportions. I believe it warrants its own category on the left column, “Where I Put Stuff.” We’ll label it The Big Kahuna.

I readily credit HoCoRising for nailing the right name for this storm. Mr Foot called it a Super Kahuna but that didn’t quite feel right. Super Kahuna implies that there will be other storms just like it. I prefer to give a storm it’s own identity. Think about it. Telling people that you were a Big Kahuna baby sounds much more impressive than saying you were conceived during a Super Kahuna. And if the past is any indication, there will definitely be a spike in the babies conceived this weekend.

But I digress.

Here at Tales of Two Cities we intend to be an active chronicler of The Big Kahuna. Much like we did with the Blizzard of 09, we are inviting readers to send us pictures and stories of TBK from your corner of the county.

I’ll be out in the thick of it too with camera and notebook. The four wheel drive wordbones mobile has been enlisted into service of Howard County General Hospital to help ferry nurses back and forth to work during the storm. My shift begins at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning for the 7 AM nursing shift.

So tune in during the storm and share your stories and pictures, and we’ll all ride out The Big Kahuna together. Surfs up. wordbones@verizon.net.

Storm Talk

AccuWeather is calling it a “paralyzing” storm. Mr. Foot and his forecasters are calling it a “Super Kahuna.” Frank Roylance in The Sun, says “Wax down those shovels, Maryland, there's snow on the way.”

Officially, the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm warning for the area from 10 AM tomorrow morning until 10 PM on Saturday.

PRECIPITATION TYPE...HEAVY SNOW.

ACCUMULATIONS...STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 16 TO 24 INCHES.

TIMING...SNOW WILL BEGIN FRIDAY MID-MORNING...AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. CONDITIONS WILL DETERIORATE RAPIDLY FRIDAY AFTERNOON...WITH HEAVIEST SNOWFALL OCCURRING BETWEEN SUNSET FRIDAY TO SUNRISE SATURDAY.

THE MOST HAZARDOUS WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR FRIDAY NIGHT.

VISIBILITIES...THE COMBINATION OF HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO BELOW ONE-QUARTER MILE...PRODUCING NEAR-BLIZZARD CONDITIONS FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING.

Not only are people talking about the big snow, some are being very proactive in their preparations. My colleague Bill told me that the Walmart on Dobbin Road had sold out of snow shovels by noon. I got lucky, Peanut needed a new pair of snow boots and I was able to grab a pair at Nordstrom after school this afternoon. They still had a few pair left at that time.

This morning I went over to the hospital and volunteered myself as a driver with a four wheel drive vehicle. They told me to expect a call.

But what if the forecasters have it all wrong?

It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened around here. I’ll defer to my new favorite forecaster for his take on this:

“A history lesson is embedded in this forecast, that of March 4-6, 2001. Some of you may remember this most colossal bust in the history of modern forecasting: 24 to 36" was predicted for the Northeast corridor. Everyone was on board, from HPC to Accuweather to TV forecasters, and yes even Mr. Foot. The storm did materialize, but heavy snow occurred in northern New England. The I-95 corridor? About an inch. Are we setting up for another colossal bust? You can be your forecast team will be watching THAT potential very closely, but the arrange this time is very different. Being that it is early February and not March, climatology favors the bold.”

One thing is certain, by this time tomorrow we’re going to know one way or the other.

County to Get Merriweather…Eventually

Part of the final deal worked out between General Growth Properties and the county in the enabling legislation for the redevelopment of Columbia Town Center is that ownership of Merriweather Post Pavilion will eventually be transferred from GGP to the county.

Once GGP reaches a benchmark of 5 million square feet of new development in Town Center, the the company will relinquish ownership of the outdoor music venue. This will occur after GGP has renovated the property.

The redevelopment program calls for approximately 13 million square feet of retail, commercial, residential, hotel and cultural development. This transfer would occur at about the midpoint of the development cycle.

Preserving and maintaining Merriweather Post Pavilion has long been a priority of the county executive Ken Ulman and now it appears that he has insured that it will remain a fixture in the county for the foreseeable future.

Legislative Liquor License Limit Lifted

The bipartisan effort to limit the number of liquor licenses in Howard County has been abandoned by the county’s state lawmakers. According to this story by Sara Breitenbach in The Columbia Flier, the delegation “removed the limitation and instead would require the county liquor board to issue a written opinion discussing the criteria that it considers, such as where existing licensed businesses are located, when granting or denying a license.”

The chair of the county delegation and cosponsor of the bill, Guy Guzzone acknowledged that “legislators had worried that limiting the number of available licenses will give those licenses value, thus encouraging the trading and selling of licenses among retailers.”

Duh.

Score one for the consumer.

Stodgy Suburban Malaise

In this story by Larry Carson in The Sun today, the reporter described the current state of Columbia as “a comfortable but stodgy suburban malaise.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

The Fantastic Mr. Foot

Even as we dig out from last nights snowstorm reports are coming in about an even larger storm heading our way this weekend. Of course it has often been said that weather prognostication in Maryland is a fool’s game. Take last weekend for instance. Most forecastors called for that storm to be no more than a dusting and we ended up getting about 5 inches of snow. That’s some dusting.

One forecaster got it right though. Foots Forecast accurately predicted that the storm would be much more than a light dusting.

The real surprise is that Foots Forecast is put together by a group of high school students in Dundalk and their ninth grade earth science teacher, Rich Foot. According to this story by Frank D. Roylance in The Sun the students “do real science. They factor in such weather esoterica as Canadian snow cover, the North Atlantic Oscillation, and the moisture content of the approaching storm. Then they do the math.”

And they are pretty often “spot on” with their forecasts.

So what does Foots Forecast call for this weekend?

They are calling the storm a “SuperKahuna” and that “this storm will not be for the faint of heart.”

“If computer model trends continue as they have in the past 24 hours, this storm has potential to eclipse December 19, 2009 ; February 15-18, 2003 ; January 6-8, 1996 ; March 11, 1993 ; February 11, 1983 ; December 1966, and could rival March 18-22, 1958.”

Better make that trip to grocery store before Friday.

About Last Night

There was no way I was going to sit at home last night and watch this historic council meeting on my laptop. I had to be there to witness it in person.

I wasn’t the only one.

Ilana Bittner was there doing a video report for HoCoMoJo. She told me that her ten year old son wanted to come too. He had to settle for watching it at home with dad. It was a school night after all.

David Yungmann got his mom to watch the kids so he could come, at least for a little while. I think he was there for the vote on CB58 but by the time CB59 came up for a vote he was home tucking his kids in for the night. It was a school night after all.

I soon as I walked in I saw Tim Sosinski and he was all smiles. Apparently the council members, the housing advocates and General Growth Properties worked through the weekend and right on up to last nights council meeting on an eleventh hour compromise on affordable housing. They essentially agreed to go back to the housing trust that GGP originally proposed and drop the MIHU requirement that replaced it.

There are lots of details that still need to be worked out with this housing trust but the basic deal seems to have made the housing advocates happy. I couldn’t help but think that would also make them less than enthusiastic about any referendum drive to further delay the development. At least three of the council members used the words “full spectrum housing” when describing the benefits of the trust. Full spectrum housing is the big thing in affordable housing circles these days. It sounds pretty psychedelic to me.

And speaking of pyschedelic, the eleventh hour housing dealing seem to take its toll on Jen Terrasa. She often appeared dazed and confused with the proceedings. While Calvin, Greg, Courtney and Mary Kay seemed to be able to move through the amendments with relative ease, on more than a few occassions Jen appeared to have trouble keeping up. This caused a little open friction between her and the council chair. Courtney runs a pretty tight meeting and her patience wore thin at times with her council colleague.

I felt a little sorry the staff at Ellicott Mills Middle School. They were being honored by the council for their recent recognition as a Maryland State Blue Ribbon School. The last minute deal on housing caused a one hour delay for the start of the meeting. Thankfully they were at the top of the agenda and were out of there by nine o’clock.

It was a school night after all.

A Thankless Job

Last night, after the Howard County council voted unanimously in favor of the enabling legislation for the redevelopment of Columbia Town Center, each of the council members gave brief comments thanking the folks who put so much time and effort into making this happen. Family members were thanked, council staffs were thanked, the executive’s staff was thanked, community volunteers were thanked and county employees were thanked.

Yet even though Greg Hamm and several members of his staff were still in the room at 11:00 PM, not a single member of the council publicly thanked him or his company, General Growth Properties.

Sure, I know, Greg and GGP were only doing their job. Still, you could say the same about the county employees and the council members and executives’ staffs, they were just doing their jobs too. The fact of the matter is that everyone involved in the process went the extra yard to make this work but none of it would have even been possible were it not for the plan and perseverance of GGP.

It’s been a tough year for GGP. When the company sought protection of the bankruptcy courts a year ago, all of the development projects that the company was working on, except Columbia, ground to a halt. That was no small feat. Greg fought hard for the limited resources to keep the Columbia Town Center program on track and he had to do it with a greatly reduced post bankruptcy staff.

Yes, GGP the company does stand to gain financially from this effort but that does not diminish the hard work that individuals put forth in this effort. They poured their hearts and souls into this effort and then when it was finally over no one on the council had the courage to thank them in their post vote remarks.

Choose civility indeed.

After the council members concluded their remarks, a number of those in attendence stood and first applauded the council members and then turned around and applauded the GGP folks in the back of the room. At least they understood.

Meet Maryann

One of the more interesting tidbits in Larry Carson’s article about hoco politicos and their bank accounts, was the amount of money raised by Maryann Maher, a Democratic challenger for the House of Delegates in District 9A. The political newcomer has “reported raising $40,679, and had $35,332 left, more than either of the incumbents. Maher got nearly half her money from five large donations from her father and siblings in Florida, the Dominican Republic and Quebec.”

She’s raised more than any challenger for local office including county executive candidate, Trent Kittleman,

Maryann is a pretty interesting lady. She was born in Puerto Rico, holds both a bachelors and master degree in Computer Science, has two kids in the Howard County Public Schools (just a little younger than Peanut) and a yellow Labrador retriever named Amber.

I’m a sucker for anyone with a Labrador.

The incumbents in 9A are Republicans Gail Bates and Warren Miller each report having raised a little over $27,000. They also have a joint account with just over $4,000. Gail and Warren pretty much run as a team. They even share a campaign website.

But why is Warren wearing a blue t-shirt?

Get to Know HoCoSo

I recently discovered a new local blog, HoCoSo, which describes itself as “specifically devoted to the needs of young (or young at heart) professionals in Howard County.”

“If you live in or near Howard County and would like to experience networking and fun right in your own backyard, then this group might just be for you. Support local business and make new friends at the same time.

So, give it a look, and help spread the word to other local professionals and let’s have fun right here in Howard County.”

At Tales of Two Cities we’re always glad to welcome a new voice to the local blogosphere. Welcome HoCoSo, we’ve added your link to left hand side under “Other Local Stuff.”

Protractor Ready Projects

The State Highway Administration is restarting a project to look into the widening of U.S. Route 29 in Columbia. According to this story from WBAL-TV “a big part of the project is widening the road to three lanes from Middle Patuxent River to just south of Route 175.”

It still could be two or three years before any actual work begins. So far this highway project has only been funded for the design phase.

The SHA is actually in the design phase of six other major projects in the county too. These include a wetlands mitigation study at Nixons Farm on Route 32, engineering a new “full diamond interchange” at Route 32 and Linden Church Road, and replacement of the bridge deck on Patapsco River bridge on Route 40 at the Howard County / Baltimore County line. The original bridge was built in 1936, and while the SHA says it is “structurally safe,” this work is intended to add 30 to 50 years of life to the structure.

It takes a long time to get these highway projects to the “shovel ready” stage.