Hamm Leaves Howard Hughes

Greg Hamm, the General Manager of Columbia for the Howard Hughes Corporation, has left the company as of today.  Greg successfully ushered the Columbia Town Center redevelopment legislation through the county council this past year and kept the Columbia development program on track through the bankruptcy of General Growth Properties. GGP spun off the master planned communities into the newly formed Howard Hughes Corporation this fall.

Greg did a great service to HoCo and Columbia and he will be missed.

Catching Up with “The Hammer”

It’s funny how much things can change in three years. Back in October of 2007 when I wrote this post about Mona “The Hammer” Shaw, I had recently switched from Comcast to Verizon FIOS, after years of putting up with awful customer service from Comcast. Mona had achieved national fame when her frustration with Comcast customer service drove her to act of civil disobedience; she demolished a Comcast customer service reps computer with a hammer.

This past Sunday, in The Post Magazine, Neely Tucker caught back up with Mona who still “doesn't have any regrets about laying waste to her local Comcast office with said construction tool”

“Her celebrity began when Comcast couldn't provide her steady service of its Triple Play option, which combined phone, cable and Internet service. After the Shaws' many complaints, Comcast cut off service entirely. She went to the office to speak to a manager, Comcast had her wait two hours and the manager left for the day. The next Monday morning, it was hammer time. Shaw demolished the customer service rep's monitor, keyboard and telephone. While people ducked under desks and called the cops, Shaw bellowed: "Have I got your attention now?"

The funny thing is that she remains a Comcast customer.

“She has Verizon for the telephone service and Comcast for the Internet. "To tell you the truth, I have fewer problems with Comcast than I do with Verizon."

I can certainly relate to that. I wonder if she’d let me borrow that hammer…

In This Months Business Monthly

Getting the cooks tour of the former Rouse Company headquarters in Town Center last month was akin to visiting a place I used to live. Our work places after all are where we spend most of our day and they hold memories both good and bad. A workplace like the large open Frank Gehry designed lakefront building was a community in its own right. When I worked there in the early eighties I was one of 500 or so employees who populated the space. I was also fortunate enough not to be always confined to just one area. Our department interacted with other departments and I had friends in other areas as well. It was a neat building to move around in. It remains one of the nicer environments I have ever labored in.

These days it is a different place. No longer the corporate headquarters of a public company with nationwide operations, it is now a bit of a white elephant, inefficient and underutilized. Though Gehry himself once suggested that it be torn down, instead it is poised to become a signature building in the redevelopment of Columbia Town Center. Plans are well underway for the repositioning the building for a new role.

You can read this month’s column here.

More Renter Bashing

In yet another affront to renters, Max Read reports in Gawker that Judson Phillips,,the president of a “prominent Tea Party group” believes that that renters should not be allowed to vote.

“The Founding Fathers... put certain restrictions on... the right to vote... you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense."

Of course those same founding fathers felt the same way about blacks and women.

The Prince Georges Handshake

When your county political culture is shrouded by a federal investigation of bribery and corruption, you tend to make some adjustments to your interactions with your colleagues. According to this story by Paul Schwartzman in The Washington Post the recent arrest of the outgoing county executive and his wife and three members of the county police force has “fueled speculation about who will be next - whose home and office will be raided and whose records will be subpoenaed.”

"Tom Hendershot, a former Prince George's County Council member, ran into a buddy the other day, a zoning lawyer he has known for years, and gave him what he likes to refer to as the "Prince George's handshake."

"You know," Hendershot said with a throaty chuckle, "you rub each other all over and make sure there's no one wired." 

And just like that, our loco political lexicon gains a new phrase...

Hanging with the HoCo Politicos

Loco politicos were drawn to last nights swearing in ceremony for the county council and county executive loco politicos like bees to honey. Not only were the friends and family of the new council members and executive in attendance, a host of other politicians were there as well. They even had their own seating area as I suppose they feel more comfortable with each other than the unwashed masses in the general audience.

There was plenty of time for socializing before the festivities got underway and the first person I ran into was James Howard. Jamie was there because he was being confirmed for his new appointment to the HoCo Alcoholic Beverage Hearing Board.

I also ran into loco politico kingmaker Roger Caplan. I had the pleasure to introduce “The Rog” to Tom Coale. I was actually surprised they hadn’t met before. Rog sort of surprised me when he said that Tom was the loco righty blogger and I was the loco lefty blogger. I told him that some readers of Tales of Two Cities would beg to differ with him. Tom then insisted that he was actually more progressive than me. I suppose that would make me regressive then.

One thing I’ve learned over years of loco politico observation is that elected officials like to be recognized, even when they are just sitting in an audience. They also don’t mind being recognized more than once. Last night, Korva Coleman the moderator for the evening, was running through the litany of officials in the room. Towards the end she also recognized the former county executives in the audience including Jim Robey who had already been recognized as a senator but then failed to mention Liz Bobo for a second time. I suspect Ms Coleman suddenly noticed the steam rising from the a seat in the VIP section and quickly apologized while recognizing Liz for a second time. Liz stood up and took a bow.

The use of the bees to honey metaphor was also fitting because last night, in the new council’s inaugural session, the legislation to revise the zoning for HoCo beekeepers was formally read. The first public hearing for the bees will be on December 20^th.

After the ceremony was over I had the opportunity to speak with Allan Kittleman. Allan was upset that none of the council members had the courtesy to second Greg Fox’s motion to reintroduce his veterans’ commission legislation. He claims that seconding a motion, even if you plan to subsequently vote against it, is a courtesy that was regularly extended when he served on the council. “Then again we had two Republican council members back then,” he reasoned.

Sushi to Shipley's

The East Moon Asian Bistro is coming to the Shoppes at Shipley’s Grant. According to this report from Citybiz.com, the Asian fusion and sushi restaurant has signed a lease for 4,154 square feet and plans to open in the spring of next year.

The locally owned chain has existing restaurants in Bowie and Alexandria.

Familiar Faces

This evening the new county council and county executive were sworn in at a ceremony at Howard High School. The five new council members and executive are identical to the old council and executive as each and every one of them won reelection.

I didn't attend the festivities four years ago so I don't know if the speeches were new but at least they were new to me.

Courtney Watson reflected back on her nine years as an elected official that began with a seat on the school board. She said that among her proudest accomplishments were the hiring of Dr. Sydney Cousin when she was on the school board and protecting the future of Doughoregan Manor and the establishment of an affordable housing trust fund as a council member.

Calvin Ball, the philosopher poet of the council, channeled Plato as he referred to the Allegory of the Cave and the role of guardians as servant leaders. He reminded the audience, and perhaps his fellow council members, that a true leader serves the greater good not the individual. His remarks were easily the heaviest in thought. 

Jen Terrasa took a cue from Academy Award speeches, thanking all those who helped her in the campaign. She particularly singled out Ken Ulman for his support. She was the only council member to thank the executive for helping her get reelected.

Mary Kay Sigaty told the assembled that besides being a mom, being a council member was the best job she’ s ever had. She spoke of the “hopes and dreams” of our children and the importance of seeing to the needs of the next generation. She made extensive use of her hands and arms to accent her points.

Greg Fox noted that the audience was smaller than four years ago because this was more like a sequel. He made it a point to thank his staff. He also paid homage to Maggie Brown and his grandfather who both passed away this year. He also used the opportunity to promote the establishment of a county veteran’s commission, noting that HoCo is the only county in Maryland that doesn’t have one.

The proposed veterans’ commission was actually the subject of a little drama later in the new councils first session which followed the ceremony. The council had tabled his veterans commission legislation at the last meeting and so tonight Greg moved to reintroduce it. When none of the other members of the council seconded his motion, which would have at least allowed a vote, there followed an awkward moment. The Democratic members of the council favor establishing a task force first to determine what a HoCo veterans commission would look like.

The best speech of the night was given by Jaki Ulman who introduced her husband. She noted that Ken is always reminding anyone he speaks to that HoCo is the second best place to live in the country. Jaki said that in their home Ken is also number two.

Ken Ulman spent his time at the podium reflecting back to what he had promised four years ago and then explaining how his administration had accomplished everything he promised they would...and more. In addition to eliminating spending, Healthy Howard, expanded recycling, weathering back to back blizzards, planting 50,000 trees and the broadband initiative, HoCo is the only county in Maryland where you watch county council meetings live on your computer!

Take that Eden Prairie!

It’s Always the Other Guy, Not Me

In listening to the Ron Smith Show on WBAL this morning I was struck by an exchange between Ron and his guest, Matthew Olshan. Ron had just finished railing about the bias of the so called “mainstream media” when Matthew called him on it.

“But aren’t you the mainstream media?”

“No, I’m just a talk show host.”

and then there's that...

Laptopistan

In a post from February of 07, I referred to the Dobbin Road Starbucks as Laptop Alley. On any given weekday the tables and chairs are usually filled with a variety of folks hunched over their laptops. After reading this story by David Sax in The New York Times yesterday, I realized that this particular coffee shop is Columbia’s version of Laptopistan, “an entrepreneurial economy, driven by solitary thinkers.”

David’s Laptopistan is actually the Atlas Café in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While there are immediately recognizable similarities between the two, hooking up to power in Columbia’s Laptopistan is less cumbersome than its New York cousin.

“The floor presents an obstacle course of power cables snaking their way around coffee cups, over chairs, and around table legs, eventually finding a home in one of two power strips that look as though they came from a Soviet coal refinery. Whenever a plug is inserted, the outlet sparks, and certain movements can cause all the plugs on a given strip to simultaneously eject.”

The reporter is a freelance writer who usually works from home. He readily admits that prior to conducting his anthropological study of Laptopistan he dismissed this laptop coffee shop culture as “just unemployed hipsters and their unpublished novels, or screenplays, or Facebook stati.”

He now sees Laptopistan in a different light.

“At home, the slightest change in light is enough of an excuse to get up, walk around, clip my nails or head into the kitchen. Though home offices seem like the perfect work environment, their unrestricted silence, uninterrupted solitude and creature comforts breed distraction. In Laptopistan, I focused with intense precision, sitting motionless for hours at a time. At home, when the Internet goes down, I feel professionally castrated, and usually retire to the sofa until the connection is restored. When the wireless network at Atlas seized up two afternoons in a row, I just switched to off-line tasks without breaking stride. No one else seemed fazed, either. If anything, the place got more crowded. Laptopistan provides structure, and freelancers, like children, secretly crave structure. You come to work, for two or four or eight hours, and you take comfort in the knowledge that everyone else is there to work as well. There’s a silent social pressure to it all.”

Class Warfare in Normandy

It appears that some folks in the Normandy neighborhood of Ellicott City hold a pretty low opinion of apartment dwellers. The owners of the Normandy Shopping Center are attempting to rezone their property for mixed use that would include about 200 apartments. The property owner’s attorney, William Erskine, was asked by the HoCo Planning Board if he had received any negative feedback from the surrounding community. According to this story by Kellie Woodhouse in The Columbia Flier, Erskine testified that “the biggest fear is concerns about the type of people that … live in apartments. ... I don’t know if that’s a proper concern, to me that’s a little bit of class warfare.”

“Normandy Heights resident Thomas Kasuba told the board he was “highly insulted” by Erskine’s comment. He said residents were concerned about increased traffic, about the high-rise being an eyesore and about property values.”

“Kasuba also said he did not want to live by apartment-dwellers — “you know, college kids and stuff like that.”

While Mr. Kasuba may have been “highly insulted” other residents were pretty blunt about their feelings towards “apartment people.”

Ellicott City resident Kellie Mason said she was worried about “the transient nature of typical apartment people and what that is going to do to our schools.” 

Nice people!            

Throngs Descend on EC for Midnight Madness

Mama Wordbones and I headed down to Midnight Madness a little after six last night. I realized that parking would be a challenge so my stategy was to find a space across the river in Oella.

Apparently others had the same strategy. Cars were parked everywhere, along Frederick Road, in the public lot behind the Trolley Stop and every available spot along the river, including sidewalks. I found a spot I could squeeze into and we walked across the bridge into town. I was surprised to see that there were cars parked along Main Street even though there were signs saying that they’d be towed.

There wasn’t a tow truck in sight.

Our first stop was the Ellicott Mills Brewing Company to grab some dinner. Though the place was packed we still were seated right away and in short order I was sipping on a Dunkel. After dinner we stopped by The Wine Bin, sampled some chocolates and then started working our way down the hill.

In the Tongue Row Courtyard we ran into Motorcycle Santa. We were unimpressed. Motorcycle Santas shtick is that he rides a BRP Spyder. Big yawn.

On the other hand the courtyard was hopping with a live band and lots of people. Though it was cold outside there was very little wind.

As we navigated through the crowds on Main Street we spotted an Elvis impersonator in front of Shoemaker Country and a woman wearing a white wig with Christmas lights in it. You gotta love holiday street life.

We popped in for a glass of wine with our neighbors Paige and Brian who operate Ellicott City Weddings & Events and then topped our evening off with a little more wine with our friends at The Obladi.

By any measure, the 33^rd Annual Ellicott City Midnight Madness was a resounding success. 

The Latest Buzz on HoCo MoJo

We wrapped up the 29^th episode of “and then there’s that…” at The Mall yesterday with our guest Beverly Francis, the executive director of The Columbia Foundation. Beverly replaced Barbara Lawson who retired after leading the HoCo loco philanthropic foundation for nineteen years. This was the first time I’ve really had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Beverly and I found her to be both passionate and funny.

I probably overused the “buzz” pun after talking about the pending legislation to change the zoning for HoCo beekeepers but I couldn’t help myself. We also discussed the Wildecats gridiron victory, the Clarksville funeral home, Four Loko, Billboard magazines recognition of Merriweather Post Pavilion and Melvin Yates.

The last two shows we didn’t have any guests for our shorter two minute segment at the end of the podcast, a stark reminder that this third segment of the show is still very much a work in progress. This week we used the time to chat briefly about the stresses of the holiday season.

We are actually considering bringing back our “man on the street” interviews that were in our original format. Now that we are in the mall there are more people around us and more of an opportunity to randomly talk to folks. Of course we will need to get The Malls permission to do this so stay tuned.

You can listen to our latest podcast here.

Melvin Yates Dismissed

Remember the story of the barber who was arrested this past summer on the night of a memorial party for his father?

After the incident, Melvin Yates filed a $50 million federal lawsuit against the Howard County Police department claiming police brutality. According to this story by Luke Broadwater in The Columbia Flier, Yates “said he now lives in fear of the police and he worries they will harass him even at simple encounters like traffic stops.”

Mr. Yates was subsequently found not guilty of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest but guilty of disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer.

Yesterday, United States District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz dismissed his $50 million lawsuit. Back in June Yates attorney, Anitha Johnson,  said the multi million dollar was intended to “get their attention and let them know we’re serious.”

I’m sure it wasn’t about the money. This time it was the barber who got a haircut.

Shaken, Not Stirred

Last night I attended one of my absolutely favorite holiday celebrations, the Davis Agnor Rapaport & Skalny Holiday Soirée. Besides enjoying the opportunity to spend time with so many people I know, they always have a martini bar.

I like mine straight up, dry enough to blow the dust off the top, with three olives.

Among the many folks I caught up with was Mary Kay Sigaty. We spoke briefly about her pending legislation to alter the zoning regulations for beekeepers. Though the HoCo Planning Board unanimously rejected the proposed change, Mary Kay and Greg Fox are pressing ahead. I asked Mary Kay if this was simply another example of the ineptness of the planning board.

“I can’t understand them either,” she told me. “Out of about one hundred people who testified before the board on this issue only two were in opposition." Apparrently one of the board members did her own research on the internet and convinced the others that this wasn’t a good idea. They totally ignored the expert testimony.

This is the same planning board that held the Columbia Town Center redevelopment legislation hostage for nine months.

After talking to Mary Kay I had a brief conversation with Nicole Hickey, the executive director of the Columbia Festival of the Arts. Nicole is none too pleased with the column I wrote about the festival this summer. She makes the point that she could do more if she had more money. I have some additional thoughts on that but I’ll save it for a separate post.

I also spent some time talking to Dennis Schrader about his unsuccessful attempt to unseat Jen Terrasa in Council District 3. Many loco political prognosticators felt he had a good chance of winning back the seat he held in the mid nineties. The fact that Jen won reelection by a wide margin came as a bit of a surprise.

“The reason for that was the support she received from Ken Ulman,” said Chris Oxenham. Chris pointed out that Ken did not provide the same support to Courtney Watson in District 1 and that is why that race was much closer. Chris told me he is now working to help further Allan Kittlemans future political aspirations. I told him that if Alan wants to be county executive in four years he better resign as Senate minority leader.

I got home in time to catch some of the Wilde Lake state championship football game on television, which was very cool. Unfortunately, right at the beginning of the second half I received a phone call from a loco community activist who objected to one of my recent posts about him. I’ll spare the gory details here but suffice it to say I was not pleased with having this conversation while I was trying to watch the game. I suggested that if he didn’t drop this I’d write a detailed post about our phone conversation, fueled by martinis. That seemed to settle it and I returned to watching the Wildecats roll to victory.

In the end, I was shaken, not stirred.

Go Wildecats!

The Wilde Lake High School Wildecats will play Franklin High School tonight at M&T Bank Stadium at 7 PM for the Maryland Class 3A state football championship. As a member of the first graduating class of Columbia’s first high school I’d like to wish all the players and coaches good luck.

Go green and gold!

Bundle Up and Come On Down

This Friday night marks 33^rd annual Midnight Madness celebration in Ellicott City. Though the weather is likely to be cold, it’s worth putting on your woolies and coming on down for the fun.

It all kicks off at six o’clock with a tree lighting in front of the old post office building on upper Main Street.

Among my favorite stops will be The Wine Bin which will be showing “It’s A Wonderful Life” on the big screen in their parking lot complete with hot cider and popcorn. Inside the store will be wine and chocolate tastings.

The Good Life Market is promoting performances by Motorcyle Santa. I have no idea what that’s all about but knowing Randy and Steve it will likely be worth checking out.

Actually, there will be live performances all over town with performers at the old Post Office, at the Courtyards of Tongue Row, down by the B&O Railroad Museum and all along Main Street.

Parking is free, as it will be throughout the holiday season but on Friday night there will be no parking on Main Street. I received an email from Courtney Watson today will the following suggestion for the parking challenged.

“The earlier you arrive, the easier the parking.  If you arrive later in the evening take advantage of two options for parking – valet parking will be available at each end of Main Street and a shuttle service will be provided between the Howard County Court House parking lot and Main Street.”

So bundle up and come on down!

Defending Vanilla

Last night, on our way home from Baltimore, Mama Wordbones and I somehow began debating whether vanilla is a legitimate flavor. This topic seems to always come up when we are discussing ice cream. She is a big chocolate fan while I can find joy in vanilla.

“Vanilla doesn’t taste like anything,” she insisted.

I beg to differ. Before long I was telling her how I first discovered my love for vanilla when I was first introduced to vanilla coke in the early sixties in Columbia. I’m not talking about the stuff you can buy in a can; I’m talking about an honest to god soda fountain vanilla coke.

Back in those early years of the new town, there was a pharmacy in the Wilde Lake Village Green where the Melting Pot restaurant is now located. When it first opened, the pharmacy also had a small lunch counter and soda fountain in the back called The Eagles Nest. Working behind the counter was a young Dave Thomas who mixed me up my first vanilla coke concoction. Until that time I had never considered a coke to be anything but a coke.

I've been a fan of vanilla ever since.

MD Ranks Third in New Economy States

Maryland has been recognized as one of the top five states in the country “at the forefront of the nation’s movement toward a global, innovation-based new economy.” A report issued by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, ranked Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut as the top five states in their 2010 State New Economy Index.

“Maryland remains third (as it was in 2007 and 2008, as well), in part because of the high concentration of knowledge workers, many employed in the District of Columbia suburbs and many in federal laboratory facilities or companies related to them.”

Though third overall, Maryland ranked second in technical jobs, workforce education, broadband telecommunications, and non-industry investment in R&D. Our lowest ranking was 36^th in health IT, the “total number of prescriptions routed electronically as a percentage of total number of prescriptions eligible for electronic routing.”

Panhandling Columbia Style Part 4

“He’s becoming a regular.”

My colleagues and I were crossing Route 175 at Dobbin Road yesterday and I commented when I saw him in his regular spot in the median. He wears a sort of olive green suit uniform and ball cap, He carries a sign saying he’s hungry or something to that regard and tries to make eye contact with drivers waiting at the traffic light. I believe his sign also says “God Bless You.”

He’s a big guy and moves with a pronounced limp.

I haven’t given him any money, yet. It gets harder to resist his entreaties as the weather turns colder and the holidays approach. I’m really not as hard hearted as I appear to be from some of my previous posts about loco panhandling. I often recall the line from the Tom Waits song, Cold Water, “beggin on the freeway’s bout as hard as it gets…”

I thought of olive uniform man this morning when I read this column by Petula Dvorak in The Washington Post about the “parade of broken humanity that's an in-your-face part of daily life in our region as the numbers of homeless and unemployed remain stubbornly high.”

She also feels increasingly guilty this time of year.

“So what should we do when we encounter panhandlers? The constant assault of their woe is painful, and doing the dead fish gaze and ignoring them can be brutal on your humanity, especially during the holidays.”

There are no easy answers. Giving them money may assuage some guilt for us but it isn’t always the best course of action for the panhandler. Linda Kaufman, the executive director of Pathways to Housing, told Dvorak “Every study around says that cash handouts don't help, she said. The top uses when they get cash are always alcohol, tobacco and drugs."

Perhaps the simplest act of humanity is the best approach.

“Acknowledge is a word I heard a lot while talking to panhandlers in our region.”