Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To set a proper tone for this day of all things Irish I offer a story from this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. It is an Irish tale, complete with an ailing mother, a starving widow, mermaids and scoundrels.

Cheers!

In honor of the patron saint of Ireland, our office will likely close around noon today. I expect, at some point in the day, to stop by Clyde’s. They have put on a pretty good St. Patrick’s Day celebration for as long as I can remember. I was four years out of college when I picked up this button. I know some folks in town have Clyde’s “Irish Power” buttons that are even older.

So…,if anyone comes up to me at Clyde’s today wearing a button older than this one, I’ll buy you a drink.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

What Would You Have Me Do Two

Earlier this week I posted about a sign that was nailed to a tree on College Avenue. The sign said that there was a “beautiful waterfall” next to an “open dump” just ahead in the woods. It called upon residents of Taylor Village to “wake up and unite.”

Whatever that meant.

In any event, I also wrote that, this weekend I would venture beyond this sign to see what it was all about.

The first thing I noticed was that the sign was down.

The next thing I noticed was this terrain is very hilly with many bramble patches. You cannot move “straight ahead” as the former sign suggested.

My daughter and I wound our way down the slope until I spotted an abandoned vehicle and a pile of rubbish. What was noteworthy about this “open dump” was it’s age. This is not a new or current dump. I can’t make out the model of the car but it is definitely a 50’s vintage.

The beautiful waterfall turns out to be a bit of an exaggeration. It is beautiful but it is also rather small.

The old dump was actually pretty interesting. At one time people lived back in here. We discovered a few old foundations and other evidence of the former inhabitants.

Again, I am not certain whether this is private property or part of the Patapsco State Park. As I mentioned in the original post, the boundaries are little fuzzy around here.

All in all, my daughter and I enjoyed our investigative hike. It was a great way to spend an early spring afternoon.

Jamming a Square Peg Into a Round Hole

Allow me to begin this post by stating that I happen to like our county executive, Ken Ulman. I voted for him and so far I think he has done a pretty good job for the citizens of Howard County.

That doesn’t mean I always agree with him.

The Meridian Square issue is a case in point. Ken has proposed that the county purchase 15,000 of office space in a 60,000 square foot office condominium building being developed by Metroventures in the Oakland Mills Village Center on the site of a former Exxon gas station. County Councilperson Calvin Ball and the village board believe this project is crucial to the revitalization efforts in the village. Ken recently defended this proposal in this article by Larry Carson that appeared the Howard section of the Sun this week.

While I agree that the county can be an important catalyst for rejuvenating the village center this is not, in my opinion, a very good vehicle for doing it.

Why do I think that?

The main reason is that no market exists for a 60,000 square foot office condominium building in the Oakland Mills Village Center. Oakland Mills is not an office market and a 60,000 square foot building is a pretty big building. It is twice the size of the Columbia Association building in Town Center (where Clyde’s is located). The Stevens Forest Professional Building (9650 Santiago Road) located right next to the site for this proposed building struggled for years to attract tenants. This 25,000 square foot office building was built in 1984 and it took until 1997 before it finally reached 100% occupancy. Today there is a 1,100 square foot office suite available that has been vacant for two years.

When The Rouse Company redeveloped the village center for Food Lion they eliminated the office component for just this reason. There are just too many good alternatives for office tenants in nearby Town Center and around Columbia in the established office parks. If the county moves forward with this plan they run the risk of being the only tenant in the building for years. What happens then?

Does the county then feel compelled to buy the remaining floors in order to protect their investment?

A better solution would be for the county to buy the site from the developer and put up whatever building best fits the needs of the agencies that it wants to be located there. That is a much better approach than having the county be the only tenant in a building that is simply too big for that area.

Produce Galore No More

It appears that once again the blame for the demise of yet another local retailer is being laid at the doorstep of “the developers.” Delegate Liz Bobo has even gone so far as to suggest that “with the support from the local government, we could prevent something like this.”

What kind of support does Liz envision that to be?

I remember when Produce Galore first opened in Wilde Lake Village Green. At the time I was working for The Rouse Company and my boss, Kemper Sullivan was approached by Kent Pendleton who at that time wanted to set up a roadside fruit and vegetable stand in Columbia. Of course there was no room in the Columbia “plan” for a roadside stand so Kemper convinced Kent that a better alternative would be to open a simple fruit and vegetable stand in the Lynx Lane annex of the Wilde Lake shopping center. Kent soon opened a bare bones operation in approximately 1,500 square feet in a space that is now part of David’s Natural Market. It was the smallest retail space available in the center at that time.

It wasn’t long before Columbians discovered how much fresher his produce was than the produce found in the Giant grocery store across the parking lot. Produce Galore soon expanded when the adjacent retail space became available. The business continued to grow and prosper. Before long, Kent made the big jump and took over the space that was originally occupied by Columbia Hardware which went under soon after Hechinger’s opened in Dobbin Center (in a building now occupied by a Havertys furniture store). Columbia Hardware was a local retailer.

About ten years ago, Kent decided he’d like to get out of the business. He enlisted Darrell Nevin, a local commercial real estate agent, to help him find a buyer. The word on the street was that the stores labor costs were too high to justify the price he was seeking. Though Darrell was unsuccessful in finding a buyer, it was widely understood that Kent remained interested in selling.

So now the end game is here. Unable to find a buyer he has opted instead to throw in the towel. I don’t blame him but he should not be blaming the loss of Giant and the arrival of other new retailers as the reasons for his stores declining sales. Much like Bun Penny, Produce Galore did not adjust well to the demographic changes in Columbia. New competition will either make a store better or it cause its demise.

The people in Columbia and Howard County have many choices as to where they spend their money. Every day shoppers make decisions as to where they will shop. Mama Wordbones and I discussed this last night. I had stopped by the grocery store on my way home to pick up a few items including fresh fruit. The most convenient grocery store to my office on Dobbin Road was the Safeway in the Long Reach Village Center. I drove right past it on my way to the Giant on Centre Park Drive.

Scene This Week In...

With the move of our offices from the airport area to Columbia I have settled into a new commute pattern. I always stop for coffee somewhere along the route because the decaf stuff in our offices doesn’t quite cut it. On my old route my preferred stop was the Dunkin Donuts at Route 1 and Montgomery Road in Elkridge. With my new route I pass a Dunkin Donuts, Donnas, Riverside, and Orinoco. So far I’ve made Orinoco my new regular stop. I really like their coffee.

When I was coming out the coffee shop earlier this week I was stuck by a the sight of these birds all nicely lined up along the roof line of 8830 Stanford Boulevard. I decided to make this aviary hangout my Scene This Week in Columbia.

Driving through Ellicott City the other day, the red caboose that is part of the B&O Railroad Museum: Ellicott City Station, stood out in the crisp March afternoon sun. This little museum is well worth a visit whether you are a train buff or not. This was first caboose I ever climbed inside of. It is this weeks Scene In Ellicott City.

Enough Is Enough!

Appropriately enough, that is the cover headline on today’s Howard section of the Sun. The article discusses Barbara Russell’s decision not to run for reelection to the Columbia Council. I could not have said it better.

I usually put aside my differences when someone announces that they are retiring from public service and thank them for their service to the community. In Barbara’s case I make an exception. Enough is certainly enough.

The article cites Barbara’s proudest accomplishments during her eight year tenure as establishing a cap on assessments and preventing the community of Emerson from becoming Columbia’s eleventh village. The legacy of those “accomplishments” is the sad state of affairs of Columbia’s public spaces. She also led the charge to remove Maggie Brown as the Columbia Association president which will create a serious leadership vacuum just as she leaves office. Barbara’s tenure on the CA board has been divisive and highly detrimental to the health and well being of Columbia.

Her departure does not mean that things are likely to get better either. Alex Hekimian, the president for life of the Alliance for a Better Columbia (or as Jud Malone calls it “The Alliance of Bitter Columbians”) is running for her council seat in the village of Oakland Mills. That is akin to jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

What Would You Have Me Do?

I came upon this sign on College Avenue in Ellicott City last week. It is`nailed about eight feet up on tree at the intersection of High Castle Road and College Avenue. The boundaries of Patapsco State Park are little fuzzy through this stretch of road so I am not certain whether or not this sign and the “beautiful waterfall” it refers to are on park land or private property.

That is almost beside the point. What gets me is that someone went through a good deal of effort to create and post this sign that is essentially meaningless. If the poster wants to gain support for rectifying this situation this is not a very effective way to do it. This is merely a shout in the wilderness not a call to action. A call to action would have a name to contact or directions on who to contact. It calls to mind the logic of certain anonymous blog commenter’s.

In any case, I hope to take a hike behind this sign this weekend with my camera to see what it is all about.

Stay tuned.

Dispatch 2 from Spring Training

I meant to post this picture with my earlier post about my "spring training" trip with my college buddies. This is a shot from Thursdays drubbing of the Orioles by Minnesota Twins here in Naples.

Dispatch from Spring Training

I blew out of town Tuesday for five days of “spring training” with nine of my buddies from college. We have held this annual gathering for at least twenty years.

Our spring training is only marginally about baseball but we do take in a game. Yesterday we saw the Minnesota Twins take on the Baltimore Orioles. The hometown boys lost to the Twins 8 to 7.

The rest of the time is spent golfing, boating, eating, and drinking. The boys come from Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, New York, Charlestown and Baltimore. It is not easy to carve time away from family, work and other obligations but I would not miss it for all the tea in China.

For the record, it is partly sunny today, current temperature is 76, the high will be around 85.

In This Months Business Monthly

The title “General Manager of Columbia” has always intrigued me. Some towns have a city manager, some have mayors but Columbia is the only town I know of that has a general manager. Of course it is a little misleading. The general manager of Columbia is not an elected position and the only thing the general manager manages in Columbia is private real estate owned by General Growth Properties. The Columbia general manager is essentially a development director.

Since Columbia is a town that was conceived by a real estate development company the towns’ main development person has always been a pretty high profile position. Each general manager has dealt with a unique set of challenges over the towns forty year history. Greg Hamm will certainly be no exception. I thought it would be fun to dedicate a column to welcoming him.

Scene This Week In...

Jessie and I connected on some weird coffee shop vibe this week. I had decided to do a post about the Starbucks Café in the Barnes & Noble bookstore in the Long Gate Shopping Center in Ellicott City. I needed to park someplace for a hour before I went back to my daughters elementary school. This bookstore is my favorite local bookstore and one of my least favorite coffee shops. The staff is friendly enough but the wifi costs four bucks for two hours. At 9:30 AM on a Thursday morning the place was dead.

I am willing to bet that was not the case in downtown EC. As previously reported here and further confirmed in today’s post on Hometown Columbia, the place to grab coffee and free wifi connection in Ellicott City is the Bean Hollow coffee shop. On the other hand, Bean Hollow isn’t a very good bookstore.

The Scene This Week in Columbia is the sculpture “When The Wind Comes.” I was driving through Thunder Hill last weekend when I noticed this large sculpture in front of Thunder Hill elementary school. The plaque at the base of the sculpture identifies the sculptor as Rodney Carroll and indicates that it was erected in 2000.

I love discovering stuff like this. When I was a senior at Wilde Lake High School one of my best friends lived in a house directly across the street from the school. I was in that neighborhood all the time. It was fun to drive through it again and discover this piece of public art.

The 30th Annual

Last week I received a mailing for the 30th annual Clyde’s American 10K race in Columbia. Today I’m filling out the application and sending in the check. Of course that will only mean that I am “signed up” for the race. That doesn’t necessarily mean I will actually run in it. I do have certain limits.

Still, I have always looked at this race as a way to gauge how I fared through the winter. I don’t run against anybody but me. Running in the middle to the back of the pack doesn’t bother me at all. I’m just happy to participate with all the other 1,200 or so runners. Simply finishing this race is its own sweet reward.

This year’s race will be held on Sunday, April 20th right in Town Center. The course takes runners through Town Center, around the mall, up to Fairway Hills golf course and out to Route 108, then it's up to Centennial Park and back down through Running Brook to the finish line at the pedestrian bridge back in Town Center. It’s a hilly course.

It is fun though and Clyde’s puts out a nice spread of food and beverages after the race.

Last year the weather was awful; rain, wind, cold, but the race still went on. Look for those sporting 29th annual t-shirts this year. They will be wearing them with pride.

I, on the other hand, happen to think that they’re just a little nuts.

Moving Day

They are dismantling the office cubes around me. My laptop is perched on a recycling bin laying on the top step of a step stool. I am hoping I can keep this chair for just a little longer.

My company is moving today. Actually, we will be moving over the next three days. After 10 years in the BWI Business District we are moving to new offices in Columbia on Dobbin Road.

It will be good to be back in Columbia. Ironically, the space we are moving into is the same space that my old firm occupied about 17 years ago. You stick around here long enough and you can end up back you started.

Barbarians at the Gate

I attended the Columbia Association Board of Directors Planning & Strategy Committee last night. I went to show my support for increasing the annual contribution that CA makes to the Columbia Festival of the Arts. For as long as I can remember, the CA contribution to festival has remained static at $95,000.00. This money is used primarily to help fund the free, three day LakeFest program of the sixteen day festival.

This year, the Board of Trustees of the festival requested a $15,000 increase from CA. As I have previously written, this years fundraising for the festival has been directly impacted by the slowing economy. Festival volunteers are pulling out all stops to make up for the shortfall. The request to CA was one of these ongoing efforts.

First, the good news; CA will not reduce this years contribution. That was actually proposed by Councilperson Cynthia Coyle (Harpers Choice). After watching Ms. Coyle in action last night I can honestly say that she is either the dimmest bulb on the council or simply an obstructionist. Councilperson Coyle and Councilperson Barbara Russell believe that the festival is “flush with cash.” They believe this because they erroneously misinterpreted a contribution made to the festival from The Rouse Company Foundation.

The foundation made a contribution to an endowment for the festival in lieu of continuing to make annual gifts. The object was to establish something more long term to insure the festivals long term survival. The intent is for this endowment to produce an annual income that would be equal to the previous annual gifts. Unfortunately because the endowment fund has not actually earned much money yet (it was only established this year), this had the resultant effect of actually reducing the amount of money that the festival would have received this year from the foundation. Instead of being “flush with cash” the festival is like a Columbia homeowner. Our home is worth more on paper than it would be in readily available cash. That is hardly being “flush with cash.”

Both Ms. Coyle and Ms. Russell said they got their information from “the newspaper.” A statement from Steve Sachs, the former chair of the festival Board of Trustees detailing the facts of The Rouse Company Foundation gift was read by CA president, Maggie Brown, at the meeting. The statement claimed that the CA board members had injured the festival fundraising efforts by these statements. Both Ms. Coyle and Ms Russell remained unapologetic for their previous statement and simply reiterated that they believed what they had read in “the paper.”

The bad news is that the CA Board voted 5 to 4 to deny an increase in the annual contribution. Those voting against the increase along with Ms. Coyle and Ms Russell were Councilpersons Evan Coren (Kings Contrivance), Phillip Kirsch (Wilde Lake), and Henry Dagenais (Long Reach). Evan Coren, who also chaired this particular committee was blatantly pandering to both Coyle and Russell all evening, not just on this issue. It was quite obvious to the very small audience (less than five people including myself) that Coyle, Russell, Kirsch and Coren are all under the influence of the Alliance for A Better Columbia. I am beginning to question what a “better Columbia” actually means to these people. I don’t think it looks like any place I’d want to be.

It wasn’t all bad. There are good people on the board too. There just aren’t enough of them. Last night the festival friends were Tom O’Connor (Dorsey’s Search), Miles Coffman (Hickory Ridge), Pearl Atkinson-Stewart (Owen Brown) and Michael Cornell (River Hill). After listening for an hour and a half to the discussions about staff salaries, the sister city program (it now has some new multi cultural name) and the festival funding request, I would have to categorize these four councilpersons as the guardians at the gate. We are very lucky to have them on the council. Right now they are outnumbered and it is getting harder to hold back the barbarian hordes.

Just my opinion of course. Still, I challenge anyone to attend a CA board committee meeting and draw your own conclusions. It is high drama of Columbia politics. This particular meeting even had a surreal nature to it. Ms. Russell was unable to attend in person (I know not why) but she was present on the speakerphone. I guess that is at least better than Gail Broida (Town Center) who was not in attendance at all (again I know not why).

The bottom line is that The Columbia Association has seemingly been taken over by a people are closely aligned with The Alliance for a Better Columbia. That should scare anyone who cares about Columbia.

The Alliance for a Better Columbia is a darling of the local papers. Alex Hekimian, the president of the organization is often portrayed by the papers as a spokesman of a leading community group. The problem for me is that this organization is basically Alex Hekimian. For at least fifteen years he has been the only president the organization has ever had. I would be very surprised if the ABC board of directors hadn’t changed that much in so many years either. I am willing to bet that their active membership does not exceed 300 people. Three hundred people led by one guy, having a major influence on the direction of an organization that touches the lives of the majority of people in Howard County. Scary.

Real citizen’s organizations have succession in leadership and dynamic boards. In this way they attempt to more accurately reflect a wider range of opinion and thought. That just ain’t happening at the ABC.

In my opinion of course. This is my blog after all. You don’t have to read it if you don’t like it.

For those who agree, we need to do something. We need to do something big. We need to act soon before it is too late. The barbarians are at the gate. We are outnumbered.

A Call to Arms for the Arts

The Columbia Festival of the Arts needs your help. I know I’ve already made that pitch in this post but now the festival also needs your voice, particularly voices of those folks who live in CPRA lien assessed properties. This Thursday at 7:30 PM the CA Planning and Strategy Committee of the Columbia Association Board of Directors will be meeting to consider the festivals request for this years funding. The CA contribution to festival has always been earmarked for the free three day Lakefest festivities. So far, Councilpersons Miles Coffman (Hickory Ridge) and Tom O’Connor (Dorsey’s Search) have been supportive of the festivals request. Councilpersons Barbara Russell (Oakland Mills) and Cynthia Coyle (Harpers Choice) have been somewhat less so. Ms. Coyle has gone so far as to suggest that the CA contribution be reduced this year.

If you believe the Lakefest celebration is worthy of CA support the festival needs your help at this critical juncture. If you can spare the time please try and attend this meeting and let the CA board know how you feel.

It’s Good To Get Away

Mama Wordbones and I just returned from seven days in the British Virgin Islands or more specifically, Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda.

Little Dix Bay was created as one of the first “eco resorts” back in 1964. The buildings all blend in nicely with the environment (none is over two stories) and the majority of the land has been set aside as a permanent conservation easement. It was originally developed by Laurence Rockefeller in an attempt to preserve as much as the island as possible. If you like to hike and experience the natural beauty of a Caribbean island you won’t be disappointed in this place. There are no TV’s in the rooms.

It is a small place (population around 2,000) that is 1,600 miles from Baltimore yet we still met six people from Maryland while we were there.

Did y’all miss me?

Scene This Week In...

The Howard County Blogtail Hour came to Ellicott City this month. The local blogosphere landed at the Ellicott Mills Brewing Company. Jesse Newburn and Frank Hecker “sponsored” the gathering which was also attended by Bill Santos, David Wissing, Mike Morucci, Ed C., Cheri Beck, Susan Coghlan, and Mary Kate Murray. This auspicious gathering seemed appropriate for my Scene This Week in Ellicott City.

Before the blogtail hour I stopped by the mall for a haircut with long time Columbia barber, Wayne Shepard. Wayne has been a fixture in the mall for as long as I can remember. In the early days his shop was called Rex’s Place, today it is known as Cavallaro & Company. Wayne is another one of those long time Columbia residents who recently relocated to Ellicott City. That kind of makes him a poster child for this here blog.

Never Gonna Happen

A few months back I was standing in line for coffee at the Mad City Coffee stand in the main lobby of the Howard County General Hospital. In front of me in line was an African American male who appeared to be in his late sixties or early seventies. Unprompted, he turned to me and asked “So who do you think is going to be our next president?”

“If I were a betting man I’d put my money on Barak Obama,” I replied.

“Never gonna happen,” he shot back.

I think about that response quite a bit these days. Keep in mind that this coffee line conversation occurred before the Iowa caucuses. Obamamania had not yet taken off. To this gentleman, the notion that our nation could embrace an African American as president was just too farfetched.

I initially believed that this was a generational thing. His generation had experienced the hard edge of race relations and discrimination for too long. His cynicism was well entrenched. My generation, though not that far behind him, grew up a bit more enlightened in this area, particularly in Columbia. For me, an African American president is very conceivable.

Columbia has always been a little ahead of the national curve in this regard. My first realization of this came when I went away to college in Cleveland. The campus was primarily white with very few minority students. It was a bit of a culture shock for a kid raised in Columbia. Today, John Carroll University is much more diverse than it was in 1973.

While we may live in an area that is progressive in race relations we are behind the times in how our primaries work. Maryland is a closed primary state meaning that participation in the primaries is largely limited to registered voters of the two parties. As a registered independent the only vote I can cast in the election on Tuesday is for the school board. It is time for Maryland to get with the program and open up its primaries to independents.

In This Months Business Monthly

I took a departure my usual commentary to make an unadulterated fundraising pitch for the 21st Annual Columbia Festival of the Arts. The festival needs some serious help this year.

You see, as much as some people like to beat up on the developers and the home builders in Howard County, they are the ones who have been disproportionately represented in sponsorships for the festival. As you may have noticed, the real estate business isn’t doing all that great lately. That in turn has had a negative impact on festival fundraising.

A few facts are in order here. The festival costs in excess of a million bucks. That doesn’t count the value of the time that the hundreds of volunteers add to the equation. In our business we call that leveraging up. The community gets a great deal. It gets a free three day Lakefest (which still puts the best stage at the lakefront), artists workshops and masters classes for the schools, a community art project (this year it’s the birdhouses), a parade, and world class performances in the intimate 700 seat Rouse Theatre.

Even if all the paid events sell out (which occurred about three times last summer) it would not cover the cost of the performances. Donations by corporations and individuals subsidize the entire sixteen day festival and keep ticket prices generally affordable. A business can participate for as little as five hundred bucks and an individual can “join” the festival for as little as fifty bucks and yes, membership does have its privileges.

In addition to the corporate and individual donors, the festival holds a raffle and a special fundraising event. Last year the fundraiser was a dinner in the Spear Center atop the General Growth Building in Town Center. The guest appearance last year was John Waters. It was a pretty wild evening.

This year’s fundraiser will be held on Friday May 9th in the Spear Center and will feature comedienne Paula Poundstone. The theme for the evening is Black Tie and Bling Bling. The entire sixteen day festival schedule will be made public in mid March.

If you could see a way to help the festival this year it would be greatly appreciated. You can contact Leigh Murphy at the festival office to learn how you can help. The festival office is located in Town Center at 5575 Sterrett Place, Suite 280. The phone number is (410) 715-3044.
Or drop me an email.

And to show that I put my “bones” where my words are, I have donated all of my 2008 income from the Business Monthly to the festival.

Requiem for the Tower

The site is stabilized, the deposit money is being returned and the sales center is now by appointment only. The Sun reported today that everyone who had a reservation with a deposit for the Plaza Residences would receive their deposit back. WCI will continue to honor the reservations.

“"We appreciate their patience as we look forward to the continued successful development of the Plaza Residences," Robert H. Grabner Jr., vice president/senior project manager of the tower division of WCI Mid-Atlantic U.S. Region Inc., said in a statement.”

They say the earliest the project could get going again would be around mid 2009. Of course this isn’t the result of any local pressure. The condominium market is taking the biggest hit in the housing downturn. Ironically, WCI may be thankful that the anti tower legislation and lawsuit held them up for awhile. Right now the last thing that company needs is unsold units.

Liz Bobo was even strangely compassionate in her quote. "It's an example right in our own community of the impact of the housing slump,"

How very insightful.