Scene This Week In...

I dropped by the Orinoco coffee shop last week. I needed to check my email and I didn't want to run all the back to my office by the airport. I have resisted the temptation to get a Blackberry or a Treo. I find I can get along quite well with my laptop as long as I can find a good wireless hot spot. The Orinoco coffee shop on McGaw Road has become one of my favorites. The coffee is excellent as well, even though I have now been reduced to ordering the decaffeinated brew. It's that heart disease thing.

Anyway, after ordering my coffee I was given a gift bag of sample Orinico coffees. This is their way of celebrating their first year in business. That earned them my Scene in Columbia picture this week. Besides a picture of the very cute Orinico coffee ladies, Jo and Sheila, is a vast improvement over last weeks picture of the Costco gas station. The proprietor of this fine establishment is Juan Carlos (JC). He also makes the best Cuban sandwich in town. Congratulations Orinico!

For the Ellicott City Scene I dropped by the Patapsco Female Institute on Sarah's Lane in Ellicott City. A friend of mine told me that his daughter held her wedding there recently. I was surprised and intrigued so I thought I'd go up there for a look. It is really quite a lovely place and well worth a visit, particularly on a beautiful fall day.

Insiders Guide

I'm not sure how I missed this but this evening, as I was carving a pumpkin in the kitchen, my daughter pointed to a picture in the newspaper I was using to keep the pumpkin mess off the counter. (Mama Wordbones is kind of picky about that sort of thing.)

Anyway, Morgan points to a picture and says "There's the star store." That got my attention.

Lo and behold, she had pointed out a picture of Shoemakers Country store that accompanied a piece in the Sun called an Insiders Guide to Historic Ellicott City!

I'd certainly rather see that kind of story about Howard County rather than this one or this one.

Burying The Hatchet

Larry Carson reports in the Sun today that Ken Ulman has nominated his former political rival, Chris Merdon to head up the “new revenue authority.” The first major undertaking for the authority will be the construction of a much needed parking facility to serve the historic district of Ellicott City.

This speaks well for both men. It is not that often that we see this type of post election collaboration after what can be conservatively described as a nasty campaign. Nicely done!

Rain, Glorious Rain.

The sustenance of life has returned in earnest to Howard County. The trees, shrubs, lawns and wetlands are breathing a collective sign of relief.

Last night Mama Wordbones and I went to Clyde's for dinner. As we left the house, I grabbed an umbrella that was sitting by the garage door. When we got to Clyde's and I opened it for her I discovered that at least three of the support struts were broken and akimbo. We snuggled close under the remaining serviceable portion of the crippled umbrella and made our way to the restaurant. We laughed about the fact that we hadn't had much use for umbrellas in such a long time that we had forgotten that this one was in the garage because it was supposed to go into the trash.

We left it outside the door at Clyde's. Since it was still raining we thought someone might perhaps "borrow" it before we returned. It was still there when we finished dinner. It had stopped raining. We deposited it in a trash can by the hug statue on our way home.

I don't mind this weather at all.

Scene This Week In...

I stopped into the Costco Gas Station at the Gateway Exchange Shopping Center this week. In the time it takes to fill up my SUV I ran into Roger Caplan longtime Columbian and local PR impresario and Bob Shinski, longtime Columbian. We were all filling up on the cheapest gas in town. That inspired me to make the new and architecturally unimaginative gas station my "Scene This Week In Columbia" photo. I mean how often do you run into two different people you know when getting gas?

Anyway, I was inspired.

The Scene This Week in Ellicott City is a different perspective on the Howard County Circuit Court Building. I took the photo from College Avenue just above St. Pauls.

Support Your Local Farmer

Buy a local pumpkin!

In case you haven't picked up this years pumpkin yet please consider visiting a Howard County farm stand that has been in continuous family operation since 1922, Baughers Fruit and Vegetable Stand on New Cut Road (just off Montgomery Road) in Ellicott City. Mrs. Baugher has worked the stand for over 50 years while her husband has worked it for seventy years. They both can tell you a few stories of old Howard County.

The apples they sell are grown in the orchards behind the stand.

Baughers will close for the season on October 31st. It will reopen again the third week of June just as it has since 1922.

Hammer Time At Comcast

I ran across this story in today's Washington Post. Mona "The Hammer" Shaw is gets my vote for heroine of the day.

As I have written before, I dumped Comcast largely because their customer service infuriated me so much. So far, my experience with Verizon FIOS has been the exact opposite.

The thing is, this is nothing new. Customers have been telling Comcast that they have lousy customer service for years and yet they still don't change. There is even a website devoted to the subject.

I think I'll send Mona a contribution towards her fine.

Marketing Slogan or Lifestyle Philosophy

As I was making a quick pass through Town Center yesterday I chanced upon a gathering by the "Hug" statue at the Lakefront. It appeared to be a meeting of CoFoCoDo folks with some county officials. I couldn't stay long since I had a lunch appointment with a client but I was able to make some observations and listen to a couple of the speakers.

Lloyd Knowles made a statement that really resonated with me. He spoke of the early promise of Columbia being "The Next America" and indicated that he was concerned that the new plans for Town Center were going to make it more like the current America. That started me wondering about what exactly "The Next America" means.

Back in the early days of Columbia, the Exhibit Center building (now ironically home to the Plaza condominiums sales center) featured an exhibit on the vision of Columbia entitled "The Next America." Inside the exhibit center was a multi screened slide show and a model of what the future downtown of Columbia might look like. At the time, Town Center consisted of two buildings (Exhibit Center and Teachers Building). The American City Building was under construction. The slide show spoke of a town that would be an alternative to the strip development that was occurring along the suburban arteries leading out from the cities. The bad examples they used looked like the developments along Route 40.

The thing is, I don't recall that there was much detail given about what the future Town Center might look like aside from the model that showed much more density than anyone now would tolerate. To my recollection there was no discussion of height limits. The whole "Next America" focus was more about open space and walk ability. It reflected a time when most households had only one wage earner.

What struck me about Lloyd's words were his attempt to turn this marketing slogan into something much more. I am not certain what exactly he envisions a "Next America" to look like (and when does it stop being "next?"), but he seems passionate in wanting it.

My other observation was the make-up of the CoFoDoCo crowd. It numbered around forty people none of whom was under forty. Many seemed to be long time Columbians who yearned for the old days. They spoke of a vibrant Town Center they once knew with the Columbia Cinemas and the Rusty Scupper.

One other thing I heard that gave me pause was Cynthia Coyle talking about how she was opposed to any roadway running through the little plaza where the "hug" statue now sits. This comment struck me because I believe this area to be private property, not part of CA land in Town Center. It is akin to a neighbor standing on your property and telling everyone he doesn't like your driveway!

I wish I could have stayed for more but my appointment beckoned.

Blogs First Birthday

Today is the first anniversary of this blog. When I started this a year ago I wasn't really sure where I would go with it or whether I could post often enough to keep it relevant. One year later I have have obtained some clarity in direction (though it may not be readily obvious to the reader) and some consistency in posting.

I thank all of you who have read my words here and those of you who have felt compelled to share your views and comments, even those who strongly disagree with some of the things I post. I may not always respond to broadsides but I welcome them none the less.

To celebrate Blogs First Birthday, I have added a few new items such as the banner photos at the top of the page. I chose these two historical markers, one from Columbia and one from Ellicott City because I found a certain irony in each. First of all, the marker in the "new town" looks old while the marker in the old town looks new. The Ellicott Mills historic marker has it's own special irony. It is not even located in Ellicott City. This marker sits at the entrance into the community of Oella in Baltimore County.

The other new features are Scene This Week in Columbia and Scene This Week in Ellicott City. Taking inspiration from Hayduke with his One Daily(ish) Shot, I will endeavor to update these images every week. We'll see how that goes.

Fan Loyalty

Mama Wordbones and I have been shopping for a ceiling fan. After visiting various lighting showrooms and scouring the net we settled on a Monte Carlo Model 5AHR60 RBD. Fortunately for us, this particular model was offered at three Howard County retailers. We could choose between Annapolis Lighting, Industrial Lighting (AKA Lighting By Design) and Lowes.

Our first stop was Annapolis Lighting in Dobbin Center. I don't know what it is about this store but half the time I go there I encounter either rude or oddly indifferent salespeople. Other times they have been very helpful. This particular visit was a mix. Annapolis Lighting had our fan for $540.00 plus tax.

For our next quote we opted to call Industrial Lighting ((410) 796-5535) rather than visit the showroom. Industrial Lighting is located at 8325 Patuxent Range Road in the Baltimore Washington Industrial Park on Route 1 in Jessup. We spoke with Cynthia who happily gave us a quote over the phone. She would sell us the fan for $458.91 plus tax.

The final stop was the new Lowes store in Gateway Overlook. Lowes did not have the fan in stock but they told us that we could order it for $477.00 plus tax. Lowes heavily promotes the fact that they will match any competitors price and take the take an additional 10% off. That sounded like a great deal so we decided to test this policy. What we discovered is that Lowes will only give you that additional 10% off on items "in stock." Since our fan of choice would have to be ordered, they would only meet Industrial Lightings price. No additional 10%.

Since I was already in the store, ready to purchase this particular fan, I pushed. "If you give me that additional 10% I'll buy the fan from you right now."

Sorry was their response. Okay, in my book that gives the advantage to the local retailer which happened to be located less than 3.5 miles from Gateway Overlook.

I thanked them for their time, turned on my heal and headed on over to Cynthia at Industrial Lighting and purchased the fan. She was friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.

So, in this instance, the local merchant prevailed against the big box retailer in both price and service.

Business Person of the Year

Earl Arminger was recently named Business Person of the Year by the Howard County Chamber of Commerce. I can't think of a more worthy recipient. For those who think that developers are the root cause of all problems in Howard County, perhaps they should read this story from the Sun last week.

Congratulations Earl!

Heart Attack

A week ago last Saturday I had a heart attack. At the time I didn't even realize it was a heart attack. I was getting ready to go out for the evening and suddenly felt clammy and a little nausea. Then it passed.

Granted, I still didn't feel that great afterward but I can't say that I felt like I needed to go to the hospital. We decided to stay in for the evening. It was midnight before I decided that something was obviously wrong and that I needed help. In the emergency room I was told I had a heart attack.

I am sharing this information because until this event occurred, I had no idea what a heart attack felt like. Being a somewhat typical guy, I think I need to be unconscious or have a limb hanging on by a thread before I would consider going to the emergency room. I always thought a heart attack would "knock me to my knees." Mine didn't.

Time is the most critical factor in a heart attack. Delaying getting help results in heart muscle loss and as I now understand it, heart muscle loss is permanent. The good news for me was that the muscle loss was minimal.

I was lucky.

Now What?

It looks as if a compromise on the Plaza tower has fallen flat. According to this story in today's Sun, "a three hour meeting failed to produce a compromise...".

Not that I am surprised. I'm not sure how WCI can can make the tower shorter without incurring significant costs (loss of revenue from fewer units, re engineering the design, etc.) and according to the story Alan Klein "said he might reluctantly agree to consider a height up to 180 feet."

Some spirit of compromise, eh?

There were even some theatrics. Lloyd Knowles apparently walked out of the meeting to protest the fact that it was a closed door meeting. How very mature. Tell me Lloyd, how do you expect to get parties this far apart to come together in an open meeting?

Closed meetings are much better for hammering out compromises. They provide less opportunity for grandstanding than open meetings do.

And this notion that somehow General Growth should just go and buy the property back is ludicrous. Let's assume for a moment that WCI would even be willing to consider this (and there is no indication that they would). If I am WCI I want more than the land price back. I would want all of my costs so far covered as well including all legal fees, architectural and engineering fees, marketing fees and so on. I suspect that this makes any buy back cost prohibitive from the get go.

In my opinion, WCI should just go full speed ahead with construction with their already issued building permit. If the county council passes Mary Kay Sigaty's legislation and it becomes law WCI can then come back and sue the county for all of its costs and more. My money says WCI wins that one.

The taxpayers would be the losers. Thank you Alan Klien.

27 Hours In ICU

One of the truly great institutions in Howard County is the Howard County General Hospital. This past weekend I had the opportunity to experience first hand just how great HCGH is by spending 27 hours in the Intensive Care Unit on the third floor of the hospital.

I was also able to compare my experience at HCGH with the world renown Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. I was transferred there after my stint at HCGH. I spent another 27 hours at that institution.

First, let me say that I'm fine. I am now back in Ellicott City. The last few days however, were a bit chaotic.

The nurses and doctors at HCGH were some of the most compassionate and friendly professionals I have ever encountered. That is not to say that the Johns Hopkins people weren't professional and extremely competent, they were. There was just something more comfortable and congenial about the folks at HCGH. The ICU rooms even have windows which allow the bed confined to at least glance outside and experience sunrises and sunsets. The "set down" room at Hopkins had a window that looked out at other windows. It was too far from the bed to see out of anyway.

When you become immersed in the front line of the health care system like I was the past few days you gain a new perspective. My experience in both institutions reinforced my appreciation for how truly fortunate we are here in Howard County.

Sunday Paper Scan

Today's newspapers had a couple of interesting stories. The first story that caught my attention was the Political Notebook column by Larry Carson in the Sun. In "Columbia tower bills a source of differences" he pretty aptly summarizes the prevailing political winds swirling around Councilperson Sigaty's two pieces of anti tower legislation, Council Bills 63 and 64.

What really struck me though were the quotes from Alan Klein, spokesman for CoFoDoCo. Alan posed the rhetorical question of "Why should you vote in favor of these bills?" to the council members during last weeks public hearings on the bills.

Alan answered his own question. "The simple answer is that you said you would. Three of you, along with both major candidates for county executive and many of he candidates who were not elected, announced your support for height limits in Columbia that would include the proposed Plaza tower."

As Larry Carson pointed out none of the council members actually promised to vote for THIS legislation and, ironically, Alan's statement actually lends support to those who oppose this legislation.

Huh?

The very fact that that no candidate came out in support of the tower in the last election meant that pro tower voters had no clear choice of who to support. Most of us, myself included, were left to decide which candidates would use reasonable judgement when faced with legislation such as this. In my case, my councilperson is Courtney Watson and so far I have been impressed with her common sense approach to the issues. I hope she will dismiss these comments from Mr. Klein as just so much whining. "But mommy you said..."

The other Sunday paper story that resonated with me was in the Metro section of The Washington Post. In an article about a fence in the planned community of Montgomery Village Steve Hendrix explored the conflict over a security fence that has been erected between a neighborhood of "low income and subsidized townhouse" and its more affluent neighbors. Though the story did not deal directly with Columbia, it's central premise will be familiar to anyone in Columbia. The more affluent neighbors grow increasingly frustrated with trash and vandalism and seek to erect a barrier in what was previously open space.

The erection of the fence causes an uproar in the less affluent area and the neighbors then look to the courts to resolve their differences.

In the end though, the conflict has served as a catalyst for bringing neighbors together. As a result of this the neighbors may be able to get to the real root of the causes of the trash and vandalism problems rather than trying to put a fence around them.

Another Top 10 List

Dow Jones Marketwatch has come out with a list of the ten best cities for business in the US. The Washington, D.C. metro area was ranked number 7 while Baltimore came in well out of the top ten at number 34.

So where does that put good old Howard County?

Appropriately enough, somewhere in the middle.

The Marketwatch rankings were based on " the number of firms from the most recent Fortune 1000, S&P 500, Russell 2000 and Forbes list of 400 private companies based in its metro area. S&P 500 and Russell 2000 lists are as of Sept. 14. The same per-capita calculation was made on the numbers of small businesses -- companies with fewer than 500 employees -- in these metro regions."

They also considered job growth and unemployment. In this category the Washington DC metro area had no peer. "The region was the only one of all 50 metro areas to post a sub-3% unemployment average for the sample months."

The number one city on this list was Minneapolis-St. Paul. "The Twin Cities region has a high concentration of massive and diverse Fortune 1000 and S&P 500 companies. It also has a significant number of Forbes 400 private companies. Further, Minneapolis-St. Paul has a healthy array of up-and-coming companies on the Russell 2000 index. And it has more small businesses per capita than just about any other city. "

The number 50 city was New Orleans. "Not to kick a city when it's down, but the Big Easy probably would have made this list even if Hurricane Katrina hadn't struck two years ago. It just may not have been on the very bottom."

Plaza Tower Hearing

Last night the County Council held a public hearing on Councilperson Sigaty's legislation, ZRA-79 and ZRA-83. ZRA-79 is an effort to impose height limits on all new buildings in Town Center and ZRA-83 is a less than veiled effort to stop the construction of the Plaza residence tower being developed by WCI Communities in Town Center.

First, let me state that I did not attend the hearings last night. I really wanted to go and testify against this legislation but I was unable to do so for personal family reasons.

Anyway, I was happy to hear that there were plenty of folks who shared my view that this legislation is bad policy. Thanks to Dave Wissing at the Hedgehog Report, I was able to find out what transpired.

It was a good night for the voices of reason. It apparently was a bad night for Alan Klein.

"Even when Alan Klein tried to show the “overwhelming support” for the legislation by asking people to stand in support, only about a third of the room actually stood up,..."

The Ninja Cyclist

I have to admit that I was a bit floored when I found out that the Columbia Bicycle guy has a Facebook fan site with a thousand or so members. I've seen this guy all over Columbia. He has even been spotted in the county seat. Thanks to Jessie, I now have a name to attach to our prolific peddler. He is Athtar.

This, along with an anonymous comment posted on Hayduke's blog, got me thinking about Columbia's original prolific peddle pusher, the "Ninja Cyclist."

Around eight years or so ago I was hooked up with a local group of cyclists. We'd gather for a regular Sunday ride out on in western Howard County. We actually had a group name too. We called ourselves the Howard County Road Surfers.

Anyway...

After our rides we'd hang out for a bit and every once in awhile someone would bring up the Ninja cyclist. We had all seen the Ninja cyclist around not only Columbia but in Ellicott City as well. One time I saw NC standing against the inside guard rail at the merge of Route 29 and Route 40. That is not exactly a fun place to be on a bicycle.

Everyone agreed that NC was an accomplished rider and most of us had witnessed the black rider doing some very trick moves.

Rumors abounded. A bike mechanic at Princeton Sports told one of our group that NC was a transsexual. Another of our group said they heard that NC was a fashion designer.

Whether either of those two things are true or not I think it is safe to say that our NC is a little different. I once sat two stools away from NC at the bar in Clyde's. NC was dressed entirely in black. including a black baseball hat with a BMW logo. NC even wore black gloves while eating dinner. I attempted conversation but NC didn't exactly warm to me. Though I often have that effect on people I still suspect that NC is not as approachable as Athar.

I have not seen NC for some time now. I hope all is well. I consider this person to be part of our quirky local scene and I would be sad to find out if that is no longer so.

Thank you David...

In my post "Battle of the Broadbands" I shared some of my frustrations of migrating from Comcast internet service to Verizons new FIOS service. One of the comments to this post was from fellow HoCo blogger David Keelen. David wrote "If you ever have problems with your FiOS call me."

Well I had problems. In fact I emailed David that I was almost ready to go back to the "devil I knew" rather than "staying the course" with FIOS.

That was two days ago.

Yesterday a Verizon FIOS guy named James showed up at my door. James proceeded to delve into the gremlins that had beset the "House" computer in the basement. This is a computer that I keep just for my daughter and any guests that visit. It was not responding well to the divorce from Comcast. It had issues.

James was soon joined by another Verizon technician named Bill and the two of them worked for about two hours to isolate and fix the problem. I am happy to report that the house computer is now purring like a kitten and all is well. Thank you David. Thank you James. Thank you Bill.

This was a far cry from any service experience I ever had with Comcast. It was enough to convince me to stay the course.

I Just Looked Around & They're Gone...

Last Friday I decided to pick up some flowers for Mama Wordbones for the weekend. It wasn't any special occasion though she is still a bit frustrated with the FIOS/Comcast switch so in the back of my mind I probably thought it wouldn't hurt. I stopped into Howard County's oldest florist, Wilhides Flowers just off Old Columbia Road in Ellicott City. As I was paying for my Irish bells and Snap Dragons I made a comment about helping out my old buddy Lee Wilhide. I've known Lee since serving on the board of the Columbia Business Exchange with him about twenty some years ago. I even wrote a Valentines column once using Lee's front line observations.

"They've moved to Florida."

Huh?

It turns out that Lee and Bev Wilhide are no longer county residents. That is major news to me at least. Besides running the flower shops, Bev Wilhide also once served as Chuck Eckers Chief of Staff. Bev and Lee were a local institution.

Taken alone this news wouldn't have hit me so hard but right after picking up the flowers I drove down the hill to Annabell's on Main Street in Ellicott City to procure some wine. I parked in front of what once was "Oh My Word" , a calligraphy store. I say once was because last Friday the windows were covered up with brown paper. The owners of "Oh My Word" were Colette and Jimmy Roberts. Jimmy was the guy most often in the store. He and I go back to the early eighties when he managed a Rouse mall in Springfield, Massachusetts and I was his regional marketing director. I always enjoyed stopping in his store and trading banter with him about the goings on in our community.

Now the store is gone. There was no information posted on the door explaining where they went. I'll miss Jimmy. I only hope that he and Collette are fine. Maybe they are in Florida now too.