Another Questionable HoCo Hire

No sooner has the dust settled down on the Diane Wilson affair than another HoCo loco organization finds itself mired in personal matter. In January, the Domestic Violence Center hired Annie Burton to be the organizations new President and CEO. Now, according to this story by Lindsey McPherson in the Columbia Flier, Annie “is being scrutinized by county officials, concerned about her ability to lead the organization and reports that she misused thousands of federal dollars in a previous job in Baltimore.”

“An investigation by the Corporation for National and Community Service found that Burton, in her previous position, used five AmeriCorps volunteers sent to help the after-program to work at her rental management and tree trimming business at a cost to taxpayers of $30,634, according to a USA Today news report last month.”

My sources tell me that this is not the first time Ms Burton has found herself hot water either. Some people have even called her a slumlord.

Frisky Business

Frisky’s Wildlife  and Primate Sanctuary was in the news again today. It was the subject of this column by John Kelly in The Washington Post. John reports that “Every animal at Frisky's has a story.”

“Kiko, a rhesus macaque, was given up by his human family in Iowa after he started biting people. His former owner visits Frisky's annually, sleeping on a cot across from Kiko's cage.”

Colleen Layton-Robbins, the preserve proprietor, has a total of 23 monkeys on her three acre property in Woodstock. She has other animals too.

“In the rabbit room are a clutch of baby bunnies, rescued from a hoarding situation. There are pygmy goats, minks, chinchilla, parrots, squirrels, all tended by Colleen and an army of volunteers.”

Frisky’s has been in a long running zoning battle with their neighbors, Julianne and Richard Wyckoff. The Wyckoffs want the monkeys to go, contending that the preserve is both a nuisance and a health hazard. Their fight has gone all the way up to the state Court of Appeals only to be kicked back down to the county. There is another hearing with the Board of Appeals tonight.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. Colleen apparently has all the required federal and state licenses and the help of a cadre of dedicated volunteers but three acres seems like a pretty small piece of land for wildlife and primate operation.

I think I’ll take Peanut over there and check it out. I’ll report back after that.

Stream ReLeaf

The same folks that gave us free trees last year are now offering native plants and shrubs as well for select HoCo homeowners.

HoCo residents whose properties border a creek or stream are being encouraged to participate in the 2011 Stream ReLeaf Program. The program, administered by the HoCo Department of Recreation and Parks provides free native plants and shrubs to HoCo property owners who agree to plant the material within 75 feet of a stream.

“This program was initiated in 2003 as part of the implementation of the Little Patuxent River Watershed Restoration Action Strategy, but has expanded to include all of Howard County. Trees and shrubs planted along streams help prevent erosion; provide vegetative cover; and trap nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus - two major pollutants of the Chesapeake Bay.”

If you are interested in participating in this program contact Laura Miller, the Program Director at ltmiller@howardcountymd.gov. 

And speaking of free trees, the little Dogwood that we got from the county program last fall appears to have it through it's first winter. 

Governor Ulman

Last night a group of HoCo loco politico watchers gathered over drinks to ruminate about the future political aspirations of some our loco politico leaders. This was the third time our little fellowship has come together, the last time was in early October, before the elections. We figured it was time to regroup and take stock of things.

Probably the worst kept secret in HoCo loco politico circles is the fact that Ken Ulman, our newly reelected term limited county executive, is laying the groundwork for a run for governor. The group was divided on his chances but some felt that having Ken in the governors mansion would be good for HoCo. The last county exec to take a shot at the top state job was Chuck Ecker in 1998. Chuck was bested in the Repub primary by Ellen Saurerbrey. Ellen went on to lose a close race with the Dem, Parris Glendening.

Ken isn’t the only Dem with gubernatorial aspirations, Peter Franchot, the State Comptroller and Doug Gansler the States Attorney are said to be preparing their own runs. Of course it’s early and lots can happen between now and 2014. Someone below our radar could emerge upon the scene. In fact, I’ve heard some insiders suggest that this election could go to a woman. She would have to be a Dem of course.

The top job in HoCo is also in play. Right now, the most likely suspects are Courtney Watson and Guy Guzzone for the Dems and Alan Kittleman for the Repubs. One of the participants suggested that Guy may opt to run for Jim Robey’s senate seat instead. Jim is expected to retire after this term and Guy seems to enjoy his role as a behind the scenes power broker. On the Repub side Sandy Schrader may contemplate a campaign to retake that seat. She lost it to Jim in 2006 in a contest that got a little dirty.

Everyone had an opinion about Brian Meshkin too. The consensus was that if Greg Fox decides not to seek a third term that Brian would move to District 5 and run as a Repub for that council seat. On the other hand, if Greg does decide to seek reelection in 2014, Brian may be tempted to take a run for county executive. One of the group thought that, from now on, we should simply refer to Brian as “The Amazing.”

I still like The Amazing Meshkin better.

The public house we chose for our gathering this time was Aida Bistro and Wine Bar. It was perfect, not too crowded, not too loud and Dan, the bartender, saw to it that our wine glasses were never empty throughout the evening. I like that in a public house.

“At the Tone, the Time Will Be…”

I can’t remember the last time I used a regular phone to get the time and weather. For the past 70 years Verizon has provided residents the current time by dialing (410) 844-1212 and the current weather by dialing (410) 936-1212. As of June 1^st that service will be discontinued.

In his column in The Washington Post today, John Kelly suggests that “this is no reason to mourn.”

“After all, the precise time is available on our cellphone screens. As for the forecast, there's "weather on the 8s," not to mention an entire cable channel devoted to rain, wind, sun and snow. Do we really need to employ a 19th-century technology - Alexander Graham Bell's telephone - to decide if we should wear a sweater or carry an umbrella?”

Like I said, I can’t recall the last time I used this service. In fact, until I read his column this morning I didn’t even know that the phone company still provided it. It turns out that we are one of the only places in country that still has dial up time and weather.

“This is the last area where Verizon provides the weather forecast, although you can still get the time in Massachusetts.”

Fat Tuesday

I felt spring today. Mulching crews were out in our office complex, the mercury inched above 50 and I took my car to the carwash.

This month also marks the beginning of the next political season. Our county executive will hold a fundraiser on the 22^nd and Courtney Watson will hold one on the 25^th. Speculation abounds as to what these two are running for next.

The next school board race has started too. This week Corey Andrews announced that he is running for a seat on the board in 2012. Corey had hoped to be selected as the next student member of the board after Alexis Adams leaves this year but failed to make the short list. Presumably that would make him a high school junior. He has reached out to Allen Dyer suggesting they run a "joint campaign". Allen seems to spend a lot of time with high schoolers.

And speaking of Allen Dyer, Tales of Two Cities got credited in this story by Sara Toth in the Columbia Flier and this story by David Greisman in Columbia Patch for breaking the story about his alleged ethics shenanigans. That was nice.

In yet another sign of the beginning of the next political season, our pub politics group will gather tonight at an undisclosed public house in HoCo. We will begin the process of handicapping the races for governor, county executive, and other local races. 2014 is a long way off and lots of things can happen in the meantime but you have to start somewhere. 

Laissez les bons temps rouler. 

Hallowed Ground

Last night Larry Schoen, the chair of the Wilde Lake Village Board, asked Darrell Nevin and I which of two redevelopment scenarios would be more attractive to prospective retailers. This scenario is the plan drawn up by Kimco, the shopping center owner.

Bob Tennebaum and some other Wilde Lake residents proposed this scenario as an alternative.

It was an easy decision. The Kimco plan would be more attractive to retailers because it opens up the visibility of all the retail spaces in the center. This really comes as no surprise. This is Kimco’s business. They own and lease over "1,465 retail properties comprising  150 million square feet of leasable space." This plan reflects their collective knowledge of what makes a retail center successful.

The community plan is more concerned with creating what some have referred to as a  “sense of place.” That is a certainly a noble goal but it misses out on a key component. A sense of place is created not by gardens and benches but by a combination of many elements working together. The key element is what fills the space. Open space gardens and courtyards are nice but they don't draw people on their own. Stores and café’s draw people. The community plan seeks to preserve the original village green but in doing so it walls off the retail surrounding that green space from the main traffic generators for the center. I can honestly say from personal experience that those retail spaces surrounding the village green would be the last spaces to lease. I've heard some community members speak in almost reverent tones about this green space because Jim Rouse himself had a hand in designing it. That somehow makes it hallowed ground in their minds. This is what I call the "Columbia as a museum of sixties planning" mindset.

I’m also not sure why Larry asked us if the community plan was a viable plan for retailers. No one has offered to actually build the community plan. It’s easy to draw up imaginative schemes on a kitchen table when you do not have a financial stake in the game.

The village board should embrace Kimco’s plan. They should realize how fortunate they are to have a developer willing to invest millions into the aging retail center to once again make it a destination. The village center does not exist in a vacuum, there are plenty of options available to retailers in that zip code besides Wilde Lake Village Center. 

Meanwhile, Over in Wilde Lake…

I have been invited to visit with the Wilde Lake Village Board tonight. Larry Schoen, the board chair has asked me to join my colleague Darrell Nevin in evaluating Kimco’s proposed plan for the redevelopment of the Wilde Lake Village Center from a retail perspective. As commercial brokers with some retail leasing experience we’re being asked to look at the plans from a prospective tenants point of view. In other words, real job stuff.

It also could make an interesting post. Apparently there is a group that includes Bob Tennenbaum that is unhappy with the proposed plan. They will likely be in attendance this evening.

I’m thankful for shifting topics. It was beginning to feel like this was starting to become the all Allen Dyer all the time blog. He is very easy to tire of.

Dyers Legal Legacy

Since 2001, Allen Dyer has filed seven lawsuits against the Howard County Board of Education. He’s filed five of these lawsuits since he became a member of the board. So far he's 0 and 7.  The cost to HoCo taxpayers for defending these actions is now over $400,000.00.

In a December letter from his attorney Harold J. Burns, Jr. to the boards counsel seeking to have the ethics complaint filed against him dismissed, Allen sang a far different tune.

“As an elected Member of the BOE, Mr. Dyer is understandably concerned at the time and expense that these proceedings will consume to no useful purpose.”

Does this mean his days of filing frivolous lawsuits are over?

I'm afraid that's just wishful thinking.

The Dyer Files

This weekend, in defiance of ethics panel rules, school board member Allen Dyer released a copy of the ethics complaint against him on howardpubliced. In addition to the complaint Allen also released copies of correspondence between his attorney, Harold J. Burns, Jr and the boards attorney, Andrew W. Nussbaum, relating to this action.

Three things are clear to me after reading these documents. One, Allen did not want this complaint to see the light of day. He and his attorney tried repeatedly to have it dismissed before a hearing was held. Two, Allen really wanted to be board chair. He apparently worked the student member hard for her vote, even enlisting her peers to help. Three, Allen was pretty confident that he had the votes of Brian Meshkin and Cindy Vaillancourt in his pocket. It makes me wonder if this was also some sort of payback for the assistance he gave their recent campaigns.

In a message on howardpubliced Cindy Vaillancourt, asserted I had “gotten a fair amount of it wrong…”. In fact the complaint confirms that this does involve what the student school board member believed to be inappropriate behavior by Mr. Dyer in his attempt to get her vote for board chair, so at least I got that right.

Putting It Out There, Sort Of

Well he’s gone and done it now.  Allen Dyer, the school board member who is the subject of an ethics complaint has ignored the ethics panel rule for confidentiality and released a trove of documents relating to the complaint. His attorney, Harold J. Burns, Jr,, writes that he has “instructed Mr. Dyer that he should feel free to release to public the Complaints, the correspondence between us, the Exhibits Mr Dyer submitted in his defense, the Panel's Rules, and the BOE's Ethics and Handbook.”

He believes that this is justified in doing this because “the leaked information is incorrect and slanted against Mr. Dyer…”

He also assures the panel that neither he nor Allen was the source of those leaks. I am certain that the panel is comforted by this assurance.

Only Allen didn’t release the documents to the public. He released them to his Yahoo discussion group, howardpubliced. If you are not a member of this group you can’t open the attachments. To say that he released this material to a small sympathetic audience would be a gross understatement.

That is Allen’s style. He needs sell the story of him being the true victim here. He wants to sure up his defense before anyone else involved in this action has a chance to speak. Allen, the self professed defender of openness, released confidential information to a closed user group without first making his case to the panel and allowing all parties to be released from their silence at the same time.

Keep in mind that this case involves an adult and a minor. Is this guy a piece of work or what?

This morning I decided to join howardpubliced in order to get a look at this stuff. I am now awaiting approval by the moderator. I am not expecting a quick turn around on that.

UPDATE: A netizen of Tales of Two Cities has forwarded me the files that Allen posted on howardpubliced. I'll post about them later this evening after digesting them with my dinner. 

In This Months Business Monthly

There are two iconic white buildings in Columbia, the former Rouse Company headquarters building and the now former Columbia Flier building. Both are non traditional office buildings; one designed by world famous architect Frank Gehry and the other by local architect Bob Moon.

Both buildings symbolized centers of power in the community, one the developer and the other the fourth estate.

The story of the Flier building is also the story of Zeke Orlinsky, the Columbia lawyer who started the paper on his kitchen table. In the late sixties Zeke was the brash upstart publisher who upended what was until then a rather staid HoCo loco media landscape. He achieved this by simply giving his paper away for free to every home in Columbia, no subscription necessary. By the time the Flier building was completed in the early seventies Zeke had created a loco media empire included other community papers, a magazine and local phone directories.

It’s hard to predict the fate of the building now that its new owners have decided to move out. Its unique design poses some real challenges for the next occupant. Like its white cousin down the road, it will likely require a substantial capital investment in renovations to make it attractive for potential users. The HVAC system for example, has been problematic since the building first opened.

You can read this months column here.

CA Gets A++ Bond Rating

Yesterday Fitch Ratings affirmed an A++ rating for the Columbia Associations $26.9 million senior secured bonds According to this report on CNBC, Fitch noted “Long-range planning efforts are strong, and CA has a solid history of achieving financial and capital development goals.”

Someone should buy a round of drinks for Susan Krabbe and her staff for that one.

“Financial operations and debt management remain credit strengths for CA.”

The report also credited the Columbia Town Center redevelopment for CA’s rosy economic outlook.

“KEY RATING DRIVERS: --Continued commercial and residential redevelopment that supports revenue growth; --Maintenance of sound financial results; --Continued adequate revenue-raising flexibility.”

Dyer Responds

I suppose it is perfectly understandable that Allen Dyer has choosen not to comment here on Tales of Two Cities. I haven’t exactly been nice to him. That is by design of course. I happen to hold an extremely low opinion of the guy.

So this is actually an indirect response. Allen posted a link to the post I wrote about the ethics complaint that has filed against him on his Yahoo discussion group, howardpubliced. In a later comment to his own post, Allen wrote, in all caps, “No complaint was filed by the student board member.”

This is where I make it clear that I have not seen the actual complaint. I attempted to get a copy when I became aware of this. Mark Blom, the boards attorney told me he could not accommodate my request. He referenced Item 10 from the Ethics Panel of the Howard County Public School System:

“The panel, its staff, the complainant and the respondent shall not disclose any information relating to the complaint, including the identity of the complainant and respondent, except that the Panel may release information at any time if a release has been agreed to in writing by the respondent, and the identity of the complainant shall be disclosed to the respondent, at the request of the respondent at any time.”

Allen is technically correct. I did not know that the complainant was not the student member. I now know that former board members Larry Cohen and Pat Gordon are the actual complainants. I know this because Allen Dyer posted that bit of supposedly confidential information on howardpubliced today.

Isn’t that a violation of Item 10?

In any event. I still stand by the presmise of the complaint, that Allen allegedly attempted to improperly influence the student members vote in the board chair election, even though she did not apparrently "file" the complaint. 

Ethics Complaint Filed Against Dyer

An ethics complaint has been filed against school board member Allen Dyer by the student member of the school board. Multiple sources have confirmed that the complaint stems from an attempt by Dyer to improperly influence Alexis Adams vote for the chairmanship on the board. A hearing on the complaint was held last night.

It interesting that the man who has been an outspoken proponent of transparency for all matters concerning the board has been silent on this issue…so far at least.

Bad Bay Report Card

The Chesapeake Bay is a classic underachiever. In the Winter 2011 edition of Save The Bay, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation issued a report card on the state of the bay in 2010 and gave the largest estuary in the United States a D+. In my household that kind of report card results in the revocation of computer privileges.

The low grade indicates that the bay is “still a system dangerously out of balance.”

Still, the CBF sees reason for optimism.

“The numeric index of the Bay's health jumped three points from 2008 to 2010, with eight of 13 indicators rising. The indicator for the health of the blue crab population spiked 15 points, as the Bay's population increased significantly last year. Also, underwater grasses showed steady progress for the fourth year in a row.”

That's kind of like a kid saying "Well its better than a D!"

We've got a long way to go. For example, nitrogen levels went from a D- to an F.

Now where were we again on that new septic tank legislation?

No Love for Mortgage Bankers

We closed on the refinance of our home mortgage this morning. The euphoria we experienced back in late November when we locked in a historically low interest rate had completely worn off by early January. Between then and now it has been increasingly an exercise in anger and frustration. We didn’t even celebrate after closing, we felt beat up. We were simply happy to be done with the process and even now I’m not so sure it was worth it.

Yesterday I had to make a trip to Howard Bank to get a cashiers check. We opted not to roll the closing fees into the mortgage so we needed to fork over a check at closing. While waiting for the check to be prepared I spent some time talking to Tim Kelley, the Branch Manager. Tim said that the bank was “crushed” with mortgage refinancing last fall. It didn’t sound like much fun. Every day he dealt with customers distraught by the underwriting process. He told me that his competence was regularly called into question by customers irate over the seemingly endless requests for more documentation from the underwriters.

It wasn’t his fault either. Howard Bank simply acts as a conduit for the actual lender; they are at the mercy of the lenders underwriters who seem to always want more. Tim is merely a messenger who has to relay these sometimes absurd requests to the customers. Consequently he gets to bear the brunt of customers’ ire.

I can certainly relate. On more than a few occasions we were ready to walk away.

It was inevitable that the pendulum would swing far from the freewheeling lending that pushed the country into recession. In 2005 if you had a pulse you could get a mortgage. Today, even customers with stellar credit scores get put through the underwriting wringer. In a few years it should drift back to a more reasonable center but by then rates will undoubtedly be higher too.

Misguided on Main Street

The negative reaction of some to the news of a Subway sandwich shop landing on Main Street in Ellicott City is puzzling. According to this story by Larry Carson in The Sun, the news of Subways arrival was “very disturbing to some of the more protective independent local merchants, craftspeople and visitors who come to the old mill town for its quirky appeal. What's next, some wonder: Starbucks?McDonald's?”

And this is necessarily a bad thing?

  

Consider this, some of the most successful historic towns like Annapolis and Chestertown thrive on a combination of the familiar and the not so familiar. The very fact that a national chain is locating on Main Street validates the location for others both local and national, especially if Subway knocks the cover off the ball. 

But what about the other local deli’s you say, won’t a national chain hurt them?

Perhaps, but consider that a chain also brings some marketing muscle to attract more people. A good national operator like Subway will also make everyone else raise their game up a notch and, in the case of Ellicott City’s Main Street, that would not be bad thing. Quirky appeal can only get you so far. 

The whole integrity of the historic district argument doesn't hold much water either.

"That's not a direction we want to see Ellicott City go," said Shelly Wygant, a Historic District resident who is also president of the Howard County Historic Society.”

Which direction would she prefer, vacant storefronts?

Similarly confusing is the objection to the proposals for the redevelopment of the Hilltop Housing complex and the Roger Carter Recreation Center. According to another story by Larry in The Sun residents at a recent meeting about the project “complained about the estimated $15 million cost of a proposed larger recreation center, skeptically questioned traffic conditions, worried about school crowding and suggested that mixing low-income and full-price renters in the same complex might not work.”

I suspect the true objection is the fear that this will somehow lower their property values.

"We're more worried about our green stuff," said Tom Marshall, 48, who lives in the Chapelview development on a ridge just west of Hilltop. "I paid $500,000 for my $350,000 house," he said referring to the recession's effect on its value. "It's not going to get any better for us. This is going to impact us negatively." He criticized the recreation center, saying, "I moved out of Columbia. I don't want to be in Columbia north."

Seriously Tom?

It is more likely that his home value will be negatively influenced by maintaining the status quo. This is smart growth we’re talking about here, creating a more walkable community. More people living within walking distance of the stores and restaurants in the historic district is good for the health and welfare of the Main Street merchants. A successful historic district equates to healthy home values.

And if the project ends up looking anything like the housing project that the county is currently redeveloping in Columbia, it will be a significant improvement over the current conditions.

Even if it does looks to some like Columbia north.

Scene This Week In…

My neighbor was born and raised in Egypt. I’m not sure when exactly he emigrated to the United States but he still maintains close ties to the land of his birth. We watched their house when he took whole family went back to Egypt for a winter vacation this past December.

“We missed all the excitement by two weeks,” he told me. 

And he was excited. On February 11^th he hung the Egyptian flag over his garage in celebration of the political upheaval that some have called the Facebook revolution. He told me that this was a very proud moment for all Egyptians. He found it difficult to adequately express how he felt but suggested that February 11^th will henceforth become as meaningful to Egyptians as the 4^th of July is to Americans.

It reminded me of how fortunate we are to live in such a diverse county.

At the risk of eating my words with a topping of grit encrusted snow, I think the worst of winter is now behind us. To be sure, March can be a fickle month as far as weather goes. I can recall St. Patrick's Day celebrations where it was warm enough to wear shorts and others that required snow gear. I’m hoping that this year will trend more towards the former than the latter.

I choose this picture of a snow mound in the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Columbia because it captures how I feel about snow at this point in winter. As much as I enjoy the quiet beauty of a fresh fallen snow in November by now I am so done with the cold white stuff. 

20 Acres in Elkridge

How hard can that be?

Actually it’s proven to be pretty hard because 20 acres of available land in Elkridge doesn’t readily exist. There are a few larger parcels of land and some smaller ones as well. The larger ones may or may not be able to carve out 20 acres and the smaller ones can only work if you “assemble” a couple of them together to get what you need. For an elementary school in HoCo these days, you need about 20 acres, twice as much as The Rouse Company provided for Columbia’s first elementary school.

Elkridge needs another elementary school. They have lots of kids in portables and new families are still moving in. Elkridge has been promised a second elementary school but they don't have a site yet and time is slipping away. If they don’t get one by 2013 most all new residential development will grind to a halt.

That’s why the developers’ offer of 20 acres of land for free in Elkridge was so enticing. It sort of solved the problem. I say sort of because if you were simply evaluating a site based on merit, the Oxford Square site wouldn't make the short list. And that’s even before CSX started focusing in on this area for a new intermodal container terminal. Oxford Square is a 122 acre mixed use enclave in the middle of a rail served industrial district. This is an area for industry, not ABC’s.

I’m thinking that the HoCo public school system is going to take a pass on this site now. While it is difficult to find a good site it is not impossible. It just won’t be cheap.

Train Wrecked

Preston Partners was able to outbid other developers to purchase the Coca-Cola site in Hanover because they saw this as a mixed use site instead of an industrial site. They were betting that they could convince the county to rezone the land for Transit Oriented Development which would allow them a residential component and a higher yield than warehouses would provide. The bet paid off, at least partially, when the county zoning board granted the zoning change.

The only problem is that the zoning change did not alter the basic facts on the ground. This is still, by nature, an industrial site. The property is bordered by the CSX Main line and is surrounded by warehouses. Now CSX is considering the area for a new intermodal transit terminal. According to this story by Larry Carson and Michael Dresser in The Sun, a site in Hanover, which is less than a mile from the proposed Oxford Square development, is “among a dozen possible rail facility locations for a CSX container transfer facility…”

"The rail plan is intended to both free more cargo space at the port while moving the container transfer station south of Baltimore's antiquated 19th-century Howard Street train tunnel to allow CSX to stack containers two-high on railroad cars for movement to Midwestern markets.

"They want to be on the main line, their Camden Line, south of the Howard Street tunnel," said Leif Dormsjo, chief of staff to Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley. The search is on for easily accessible sites of under 100 acres, zoned for industrial use, environmentally suitable, where a big crane could work moving containers from trucks to trains."

Hanover may actually be the preferred site for this facility due to its proximity to highways. This is great news for the warehouses in that area, but it’s not so great for residential development, much less a new elementary school. That’s a problem. As part of their development agreement Preston Partners has agreed to give the school system a 20 acre site in their 122 acre development as well as $4 million to build a much needed school. Without a new elementary school in Elkridge, the development will not be able to satisfy its Adequate Public Facilities requirement. Right now it appears that the Oxford Square elementary school site is dead in the water.

Preston Partners isn’t only developer that’s getting railroaded in their attempt to change the character of the area either. CSG Partners built three office buildings on an adjacent tract of land in 2009. Like Oxford Square, the buildings are bordered by the CSX mainline. The rumbling of trains past the project proved to be a detriment for office prospects. In December the 130,000 square foot project was taken back by its lender. The three buildings remain vacant today.

If the developer had built single story buildings with loading docks instead they'd be leased by now.

HoCo Lags in School Value Proposition

The Center for American Progress determined that the HoCo Public School Systems delivers “high achievement at a relatively high cost.” According to this story by Nick Anderson in The Washington Post an analysis of test scores and spending by the liberal think tank concluded that “Manassas Park and Calvert County have the most efficient schools in the Washington area.”

CAP charted the spending per pupil in the sixteen counties surrounding Washington, D.C.. HoCo had the second highest at $11,439 per pupil. Calvert spends $8,091 per pupil. Then again, it’s a lot cheaper to live in Calvert County.

Still, HoCo also got beat out by Montgomery County where they spend $10,199 per pupil.

“Elsewhere in Maryland, on an index called "basic return on investment" - one of three methods the center used for comparison - Frederick County received a top mark. Schools in Montgomery, St. Mary's and Anne Arundel counties were rated just behind. Then came Howard County…”

Of course a school system shouldn’t give too much weight to it’s value proposition but it does belong in the conversation. 

Sirens Song

Cars don’t always move out of the way when an emergency vehicles blast their sirens. In some cases this is due to the fact that driver may not actually hear the siren because of the din of music inside the vehicle. To rectify this situation the Federal Signal Corporation has developed a new siren device that drivers can feel as well as hear. According to this story by Ariel Kaminer in The New York Times, the new siren makes “ people sit up and take notice — even people accustomed to hearing sirens all the time. Even people wearing ear buds or talking on the phone. Even people insulated from street noise by a layer of glass and steel.”

“Rumblers, as Mr. Bader called his invention, achieve their striking effect with a low-frequency tone, in the range of 180 to 360 hertz (between the 33rd and the 46th key on a standard piano keyboard), which penetrates hard surfaces like car doors and windows better than a high tone does. When it is paired with the wail of a standard siren, the effect is hard to ignore — like the combination of a bagpipe’s high chanter and low drone, or perhaps like a train whistle and the caboose that moves that whistle through space. “

No word yet as to whether HoCo will be adopting Rumblers.

Catholic Church Buys and Sells

Just across the HoCo border in AA county, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has purchased the Blob’s Park polka hall and about 12.5 acres of land surrounding it. According to the Howard/Arundel Report newsletter the church paid $2.5 million for the building and the land. The long range plan is to build a church and a school on the property but for the time being at least, the oompah music will play on and the beer will continue to flow.

In HoCo the church sold property. Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City has sold 14 single family lots adjacent to the school and church for $90,000 per lot to Security Development.

The BRAC Billions

Fort Meade is inarguably the most significant economic engine for HoCo. According to this story by Elizabeth Janney in Elkridge Patch “it is difficult to picture the amount of money the fort brings to Maryland each year, because the number is so large: $18 billion.”

And that is before we take into account the additional growth coming to the fort as a result of BRAC and after five years of talking about it, BRAC has arrived. The first employees of the relocated Defense Information Systems Agency began moving into their new million square foot campus at Fort Meade in October. All 4,300 employees of the agency should be in place by September.

Helping HoCo to cope with this growth is Kent Menser, the HoCo BRAC Director. Until 1993 he was the garrison commander of Fort Meade when he retired from the military. On our podcast he shared his outlook on the transportation challenges associated with this growth. “We have a plan,” he told us.

We also asked Kate Essing, the general manager of The Mall to join us to discuss the newspaper story about the Malls alleged hostility to certain homeless people. She denied that the mall singles out any classification of people and insisted that the banning of an individual is behavior based.

That’s a tough call and I can easily understand that it is a nuanced approached that can sometimes be unfairly applied. On the other hand, the mall is private property. It depends on people feeling comfortable to shop and not being accosted.

Dave Bittner, our producer, also shared some great news with us this week. Each episode of the podcast now gets an average of 10,000 downloads. Thanks to all those who tune in.

You can listen to the 35^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

The Blue Can Dilemma

When I arrived home this afternoon I immediately noticed that my big blue recycling can was missing. When I placed it at the curb this morning the air was calm and the can was full. Later today, when the winds gods let go their wrath, presumably the can was empty.

I rather doubt that anyone would steal our blue can. We’re not the first house on the street with a blue can sitting in front.  Wind was the obvious culprit.

A quick look two doors down from me revealed two blue cans at the end of a three house flag lot driveway. There were no other blue cans within the immediate range. I figured it could be one of those so I went over to take a look.

How could I know if one of these identical blue cans was mine?

I then noticed that the blue cans all have bar codes. I pulled out my Droid X and scanned the barcode on one of the cans. I got nothing. That information is apparently unavailable to us mere mortals.

I looked up the three house flag lot driveway and saw one another blue can in front of a house. These cans could belong to one or both of the remaining houses, or not. I made a decision. I took the can with the bad wheel.

 The thing is I know that the Department of Public Works knows which can was delivered to my house. I recall reading that each of the blue recycling cans has an RFID chip for some odd reason. I watched when it was first delivered. After the guy took it off the trailer he scanned the bar code before putting it in our driveway. DPW knows whether either of these cans was mine but they were nowhere around this afternoon so I took action on my own. As I hauled it back it occurred to me that I was doing so at risk of breaking some blue can covenant. If I was to call and try and get it replaced because of the bad wheel and it is determined that I have somebody else’s can, I could be in some real blue can doo doo.

I think I’ll just live with the bad wheel for now.

The Three Daves of HoCo Blogging

When Dave Kile and I got together to discuss the recent blogging seminar he let slip that he had a blog too.

“I fly fish so it’s a blog about fly fishing,” he told me.

His fellow fly fishers seem to like it as well. Dave gets around 50,000 visits a month to his fly fishing blog.

I am humbled by his numbers and he’s not even the biggest of the three Dave bloggers. That distinction would go to Dave Hobby and his Strobist blog. Dave writes a blog about his passion, flash photography. His blog averages over 300,000 worldwide visits per month and was even recognized by Time magazine as one of the top 25 blogs in the country.

And still another Dave in Columbia, Dave Wissing, writes The Hedgehog Report which covers just about every political poll in the country. Dave’s blog is extremely popular during elections. This past October he had over 100,000 visits.

Of course you won’t get much HoCo loco stuff from these Daves. They have a much more global focus. Still, all three are active in the HoCo blog scene. Dave Kile serves on the HoCo Tech Council, Dave Hobby also maintains a HoCo loco blog called HoCo 360 and Dave Wissing is a regular at the HoCo blogtail parties.

Poster Child for Sustainability

This morning I participated in a panel hosted by the HoCo Tech Council called “Local Blogging: A New Media Voice in the Community.” Actually it's called the Howard Tech Council but Ho Tech Council just didn't sound right. 

Ahem.

This panel was part of a series of monthly seminars that the council sponsors on various HoCo loco technology issues. The seminar was attended by about 20 people from a variety of fields, both in the public sector and private sector. One of them was a guy named Duane St. Claire.

In addition to his real job, Duane is one of the co-founders of Columbia Freecycle. Freecycle is a non profit service that helps people find new homes for items they might otherwise throw out. Instead of adding to the nations increasing solid waste problem the organization gets an extra mile or two out of stuff by connecting those who no longer want stuff with those who could still use that stuff, for free. Hence the name.

Duane said that since he’s been a part of the Columbia group they’ve facilitated in the transfer of something in the neighborhood of 150,000 items. That’s just in the HoCo loco effort. In a little over seven years Freecycle has grown into a global movement. In their own words:

“The Freecycle concept has since spread to over 85 countries, where there are thousands of local groups representing millions of of members -- people helping people and 'changing the world one gift at a time.' As a result, we are currently keeping over 500 tons a day out of landfills! This amounts to five times the height of Mt. Everest in the past year alone, when stacked in garbage trucks!

By giving freely with no strings attached, members of The Freecycle Network help instill a sense of generosity of spirit as they strengthen local community ties and promote environmental sustainability and reuse. People from all walks of life have joined together to turn trash into treasure.”

Duane talked about being inspired after a trip to the dump. He marveled at the things that were being tossed, many still quite serviceable. The second best place to live in the country has lots of stuff.

Ironically, the dump won’t let his group have some sort of presence at the landfill. Duane thinks the HoCo Public Works Department just couldn’t get their heads around the concept. He believes they saw it as more of a trading post type of thing than a viable solid waste reduction alternative.

Maybe Josh Feldmark could look into this. It looks to me like this would hit his sustainability sweet spot.

How to Text a 12 Year Old

I stumbled across this handy little app today. It translates your texts into a language that a twelve year old can more easily relate to. OMG!

Clearance Logjam Broken

It wasn’t that long ago that it could take up to a year for a private contractor to get a security clearance. It wasn’t that much faster for potential Department of Defense hires either. This resulted in a significant backlog in staffing and in some cases caused potential employees to seek work elsewhere instead of waiting. According to this story by Lisa Rein in The Washington Post after September 11^th the “need for clearances for civilians, contractors and service members grew, but the Defense Department was ill-equipped to handle the surge, and it persisted for years.”

‘The clearance wait grew so long by 2005 - to an average of 200 days for Defense Department applicants and 325 days for contractors - that the Government Accountability Office put the program on its high-risk list, a scarlet letter for federal agencies that raised concerns about mismanagement and a big need for change. Congress stepped in, passing legislation that set targets to clean up the problem and requiring the agencies responsible for it to work together.”

Apparently that worked. The wait has now been reduced to an average of 63 days for private contractors. Now if Congress could just pass the Defense budget... 

Back to Lanham

A little over two years ago, Integral Systems announced the move of their corporate headquarters from PG county to HoCo.

Earlier this month they announced that they're moving many of their Columbia employees back to their former facility in Lanham in order to cut expenses. According to this release, the company “has entered into a sublease on February 8, 2011, for the majority of its headquarters facility located at 6721 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, Md. In conjunction with the sublease, the Company will repopulate the remaining portion of its facility in Lanham, Md.”

Things have not gone well for the defense contractor since the move. According to this story by Soyoung Kim in Reuters, the company recently “hired financial advisers to review strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of the defense technology company…”

Though many employees are now headed back to their former digs the corporate headquarters will remain in Columbia...for now.

Dead Presidents Day

This afternoon I made it all the way from New Cut Road in Ellicott City to Lakeside Coffee in Columbia Town Center without hitting a light. Even more noteworthy is the added luck I had of making it all the way back to my office on Dobbin Road with all green signals. I just had to tell someone.

Of course traffic overall was pretty light today. I suppose this was because today is Presidents Day. It’s one of those holidays that aren’t as universally observed in the private sector as they are in the public sector. For me it’s one of those days where the person I really need to talk with is out for the day. I look for the mail before catching myself.

It’s an odd holiday too. In my formative years we celebrated George Washington on his actual birthday, just like the country had been doing for 90 years. By the time I was in high school that changed with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

Seriously, I’m not making that up. This is what Congress was working on while a war was raging in Southeast Asia…but I digress.

What really happened with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was the denigration of one of the most important figures in American history. We took away his birthday. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act degrees that “Presidents Day” shall be celebrated on the third Monday in February. That means that the holiday that supposedly still honors Washington a little more than the other guys will never fall on his actual birthday. This year is about as close as it gets. George's birthday is tomorrow.

To add insult to injury, I just read this story by Hank Stuever in The Washington Post about an interview with Bill Clinton that will air on MSNBC this evening, get this, in honor of Presidents Day. Chris Matthews apparently conducts a one hour love fest with the former president.

“For much of the hour, you'll wonder if you're watching one of Robert Smigel's old "X-Presidents" cartoon parodies for "Saturday Night Live." Matthews, aided by the likes of Terry McAuliffe, Mary Steenburgen and various biographers, remarks again and again how smart Clinton is, how generous, how famous, how friendly, how productive. Perhaps this special is some sort of MSNBC covert-op to cause paralytic apoplexy over there on the right?”

Decorum should dictate that you at least have to be dead to be honored on Presidents Day.

Hank Stuever summed up it well.

“We need more time apart, him and us. Bill Clinton is too young - and too alive - for anyone to make a good one-hour special about, just yet. Matthews has merely made a promotional film for someone who isn't running for anything.”

My colleague TW pointed out that Ronald Regan also has a birthday in February and he’s already dead too.

Happy Presidents Day!

Junk Drawer Forensics

I have a drawer in our kitchen dedicated exclusively to my stuff. It is the repository of my car keys and other essential stuff. Yesterday, for the first time in five years, I decided to clean it out.

I should note that Mama Wordbones also has a junk drawer in the kitchen but hers is decidedly different. It is orderly and logically arranged. There is a place for everything and everything is in its place. Regular cleaning/purging is not required.

My drawer on the other hand is a study in chaos. There were things shoved in the back far reaches of the drawer that had long since lost their utility or meaning. The things I actually still used were being crowded out by the seemingly self replicating detritus of true junk. It was time to purge.

The biggest surprise of the purge was this pile of keys. I can honestly say that I have no idea what any of these keys unlock Obviously, at some point in time I was entrusted with these keys. I suppose the good news for those who entrusted me with them is that I didn’t lose them. The only question now is what to do with them.

One thing is certain though, they are not going back into my junk drawer.

Blowin’ in the Wind

The winds made it sound colder than it was this morning. As I dressed to begin my morning hike I kept it light. I should have also kept it tight. My hooded sweatshirt and warm up pants acted like sails in the wind. The gusts at times were strong enough to completely stop my forward progress.

Still, my body in tight fitting clothes is not something I wanted to subject my neighbors to on an early Saturday morning.

A near miss from a tree limb that came crashing to the street as I passed by reminded me of my main Saturday chore that I needed to tackle when I got home.

Like many other HoCo homeowners, that last heavy snow we had on February 5^th wreaked havoc on some of the trees in our yard. Today was the day to saw off the damaged limbs so that the restorative process could begin.

It actually felt good to get and do some work in the yard, a real harbinger of the approach of spring.

I experienced another “spring” moment when I came back inside.  As I was working at my laptop in the kitchen, a stink bug dropped on my head. This reminded me of the quote from Eric the Red on Frank Roylance’s Maryland Weather blog in The Sun yesterday.

"The only other time I've seen a wind field like this in the models were last year's Feb blizzards and also with tropical storms. Things is gonna be a'blowin folks. Maybe it'll blow all the stink bugs into the Atlantic. One can only hope."

Yes Eric, one can only hope.

Mind-Blowing Speed

Every so often my inner gear head manifests itself and I find myself drawn to check out another car. It happened today on Dobbin Road.

As I was leaving my office I spotted this red Lotus Exige in the parking lot. I stopped. I captured  couple of images. Later I read this description of the car on the US News & World Report website.

“The Lotus Exige is a track junkie's dream come true -- offering mind-blowing speeds and unrivaled handling dynamics. However, it rides stiff and lacks luxury, making it less fit for daily use than some of its rivals.”

This is the kind of car that even looks fast.

Banished from The Mall

The Mall in Columbia made the news today for taking a hard line against some homeless people who congregate there. According to this story by Henri E. Cauvin in The Washington Post, over the past few weeks “at least two homeless people have been banned from entering the mall, and about 20 more have been told that they should stay out during the early morning, according to some homeless people and their advocates.”

Since moving our podcast to the Mall in October, we’ve had two experiences with people who obviously had some mental health issues. On the first occasion, just after Christmas, a woman approached Paul and I at a table in front of Nordstrom discussing our show. The conversation started innocently enough with her asking what we do for a living but soon denigrated when she began insisting that we call the governor on her behalf. (She told us they took her phone away). She did not take it well when we told her that we were not going to call the governor and that we were trying to have a meeting.

A week ago, just as we starting to begin taping our latest show, an older gentleman approached our table and immediately began questioning us about what we were going to do about “Chinese hackers.” Once again we attempted to gently get him to move on which he eventually did after determining that we weren’t going to do anything about them. He continued to stalk around us until we wrapped up the show.

I’ll readily concede that I don’t know if either of these individuals was homeless. Our brief dialogue never entered into that realm. It was obvious to us though that these were not your typical shoppers. Neither of them carried any shopping bags. Both were alone. I think it would be safe to assume that we were not the only people they approached. I think its also safe to assume that their odd and somewhat belligerent behavior would be unsettling to some customers.

I can understand the concerns of The Mall in this case. The reporter notes that The Mall actually contacted Grassroots about the problem.

‘About a month ago, the mall's management contacted Grassroots Crisis Intervention, said Douglas Carl, the nonprofit group's manager of emergency and outreach homeless services. Grassroots was told that residents of the emergency shelter should not enter the shopping center before 10 a.m., Carl said.

The mall management, he said, expressed concerns about incidents involving people believed to be residents of the emergency shelter.’

The bottom line is that The Mall is private property. It is a commercial enterprise that exists for the safety and comfort of shoppers. If that safety and comfort are compromised by a few individuals they would seem to be well within their rights to rectify the situation.

Delegate Liz Bobo was quoted in the article saying that she is “going to be pursuing this for a while…”

Maybe she can call the governor and do something about those Chinese hackers while she’s at it.

And So It Begins…

It is often said that the next campaign begins the day after the last campaign. That certainly seems to be the case with our county executive. First it was the new website, now it’s his first big gun fundraiser.

Yesterday I received an invitation to an event for Ken on March 22^nd  at Turf Valley and the A Team of Maryland Dem politocos are headlining the affair. Barbara Mikulski, Ben Cardin, Elijah Cummings and John Sarbanes have all lent their names to “honor” our county executive that night. Presumably they will have passed a budget by then and thus will be able to make a physical appearance as well.

Could this showing of support be construed as encouraging nods from the Dem establishment towards his expected gubernatorial bid in 2014?

No word yet as to whether Peter Franchot or Doug Gansler will drop by to pay their respects as well.