More Bad News for Creig

Occasionally I get asked about a post I wrote back on December 20, 2011 concerning a lawsuit filed against HoCo über realtor, Creig Northrop. “Whatever happened with that?” they’ll ask.

I had no idea. It seemed to have faded off into that silent world of negotiated settlements.

Until today that is. In his column in The Washington Post, Robert McCartney writes that an unrelated new suit, filed in federal court, alleges that Creig “received hundreds of thousands of dollars of illicit payments over a period of 13 years to send settlement business to a local title firm.”

That would be Lakeview Title. McCartney also mentions them.

“The agreement provided that Northrop would “designate Lakeview as its exclusive preferred settlement and title company,” and would not “designate or endorse any entity” other than Lakeview for such business.

The new lawsuit alleges that the marketing deal was a clear violation of a U.S. law, known as RESPA, which prohibits a firm from receiving compensation in exchange for referrals for real estate settlement services.”

The column also shed some light on the case from my earlier post.

“Much of the earlier lawsuit, in state court, was defeated on technical grounds. A judge ruled that the complaint didn't qualify as a class action and that the statute of limitations had expired. The plaintiffs plan to appeal.”

Now you know.

Awesome Guests

Jean Parker has served as General Manager of Merriweather Post Pavilion for almost thirty years. She’s held the same job even as the operators changed from Nederlander to SFX to Clear Channel and now I.M.P. She started working at the outdoor theater part time while still a high school student at Mt. Hebron. After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in computer science, she did a one year stint with Arthur Andersen before returning to Symphony Woods. This is the third time Jean has been on our show.

And speaking of Symphony Woods, Jean told us she “loves the Inner Arbor plan.”

“CA is doing lots of great things…it’s all good.”

The future looks bright for Merriweather too, particularly now that the Maryland General Assembly has codified the permitted noise levels within a quarter mile of the facility.

 And speaking of the future, we also invited Ian Kennedy to join us to discuss the upcoming elections for the Columbia Council. Ian launched the Let’s Make Columbia Awesome website to support those candidates who support visionary initiatives like the Inner Arbor Plan.

Ian also has a Merriweather history. He and his friend Justin Carlson launched the Save Merriweather effort back in 2003 when the future of Merriweather was in doubt.

Ian made a pitch for Regina Clay in Wilde Lake, Mike Cornell in River Hill, Julia McCready in Oakland Mills and Ed Coleman in Long Reach, pointing out that these people are more interested in “pushing Columbia forward rather than holding it back.”

In other words, these are the candidates that can make Columbia awesome. “They’re all awesome,” he suggested.

You can listen to the 87^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

All about the Trees

Michael McCall says that his epiphany on Symphony Woods occurred as he was leaving a concert at Merriweather one night last summer, “For about fifteen seconds I got disoriented” in the dark woods.

“What a wonderful thing that that you can be right next to all this development yet feel like you’ve escaped”

That set Michael on a path that radically changed the future direction of Columbia’s central park.

"The worse thing I think you do is to start drawing straight lines through the woods."

Michael is the president of Strategic Leisure, a Columbia company that has designed the Inner Arbor Plan. He and his wife Barbara are also longtime Columbia residents though he readily admits he knew very little about local politics before deciding to get involved with Symphony Woods. It was his old boss from Enterprise, George Barker, who introduced him to Ken Ulman.

This rest is history.

And speaking of Ken, our county exec was recently honored by Government Technology Magazine for his One Maryland Broadband Initiative. We talked about that in our local news recap along with the new storm water management fees, Wilde Lake Village Center redevelopment, the Merriweather noise legislation  and the political ascension of Laura Neuman.

You can listen to 85^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Upping Her Game

Tomorrow night loco celebrity status will be measured by the amount of tips given to six loco luminaries. Tom Coale, Mickey Gomez, Paul Skalny, Vicki Goodman, Dick Story and Pam Klahr will serve as celebrity bartenders for the HoCo library’s black tie fundraiser, Sparkles and Spurs. They will use charm and wit to see who among them can cajole the most tips to benefit the library.

Last year, when it was my chance to be measured against other loco standouts behind the bar, Mickey Gomez won the night. That got her invited back for another stint this year.

She is a very formidable competitor. Last night, on her blog “Life & How to Live It”, she wrote an open letter to one of my favorite humorists, Dave Barry. In the letter she tells a tale of a canine caper that reduced her autographed copy of his book “Insane City” to shreds.

“On Thursday I brought the book home. I took it out of my bag – worried about it getting crushed or torn there – and placed it in the middle of the dining room table. The large dining room table. My husband and I went to dinner and returned less than ninety minutes later to find the book laying open on the floor. The cover had been removed and – how shall I put this? – artfully redesigned by Shiloh, Mischief Dog. He even ate part of it.”

It’s a very funny read.

The best part though is that instead of appealing to the author for another signed copy of his book, she asks for a donation to the library.

“If you happen upon this message and are so inclined, I’d like to ask you to consider helping to promote our local libraries. They are top-notch, but – as with all libraries – there are programs that need support in order to continue. I’ll be raising money this weekend as a Celebrity Bartender during Evening in the Stacks, their annual fundraiser that supports two exceptional programs: A+ Partners in Education and Project Literacy.”

Nicely done.

HoCo EDA Chief Becomes AA Exec

After three rounds of balloting tonight, Laura Neuman, the CEO of the HoCo Economic Development Authority was elected to fill out the remainder of John Leopolds term as Anne Arundel county exec.

The victory stunned many AA politico observers. Shortly after the vote Allison Bourg, a reporter for the Capital Gazette, tweeted “I think it's fair to say no one saw this coming.”

The top three candidates were thought to be Delegate Steve Shuh, former first lady Kendel Ehrlich and interim exec, John Hammond. Ehrlich didn't even make it to the final four.

Neuman won by sweeping the three Dem votes on the council while three of the four Repubs split their votes between Shuh, Hammond and Annapolis Alderman David Cordle. The lone Repub voting for Laura was council chair Jerry Walker.

Divide and conquer...it's an old cliche but this evening it served Laura well...

Neuman Covets Exec Job

Laura Neuman, the CEO of the HoCo Economic Development Authority, has tossed her hat into the ring for the Anne Arundel County Exec seat.  John Hammond is currently serving as acting exec since John Leopold resigned after being found guilty of misconduct in office. John has also applied for the non acting job.

I guess she determined that after serving under Ken Ulman she could just as easily do his job.

She has some formidiable competion for the job though. According to this story by Robert Lang from the Associated Press sixteen people have applied for the job including “former Anne Arundel County Executive John Gary, former Maryland First Lady Kendel Ehrlich, current Anne Arundel County State Delegate Steve Schuh and former Delegate Phil Bissett.”

Laura was appointed CEO of the EDA by Ken in 2011 after Dick Story retired. Curiously, the AP story made no mention of her current job instead describing Laura as a “former interim director of a county homeland security incubator…”

She does have one important qualification for the job in that she actually lives in Anne Arundel County, not the county she's paid to promote. 

Local Weatherman

As a self professed weather geek I am happy to share the news that a HoCo loco has been named the new director of the National Weather Service. According to this story by Jason Samenow in The Washington Post, the service “appointed 24-year NWS veteran Dr. Louis Uccellini as its next director.”

“In addition to his federal government experience, Uccellini, a resident of Columbia, Md., is one of the co-authors (with Paul Kocin) of the book “Northeast Snowstorms”, a definitive account of the region’s most impactful snow events. With a possible historic blizzard slated for New England Friday, the timing of his appointment is certainly fitting.”

In hearing this news, Ian Kennedy, another loco weather geek wrote on Facebook that he'd like to meet his Columbia neighbor and  "maybe we can just hang out and talk about snow and cold fronts and stuff."

Count me in for that. I'll even buy a round...or two.

Congratulations Dr. Uccellini.

Stifling Dissent

Alan Klein showed his true colors today when he circulated this survey to his supposed supporters. It may be the best example ever of HoCo loco political hubris.

Thank you Alan, for demonstrating so clearly how you really feel about dissenting opinions from your own "so-called" supporters.  I could not have done better if I tried.

Battle of the Bulge

When Howard County General Hospital became part of the Johns Hopkins Health System fifteen years ago, included the deal was the establishment of a foundation “to improve health and wellness in Howard County.” The Horizon Foundation now doles out approximately $4 million annually to a variety of initiatives to advance this goal. Sitting at the top of this foundation is Nikki Highsmith Vernick.

Nikki joined the Horizon Foundation about a year ago and soon began focusing her efforts on childhood obesity. According to Nikki, over twenty thousand HoCo children are dangerously overweight. To draw attention to the foundations efforts to promote healthy snacking, they recently staged an event at Burleigh Middle School dumping 9.6 tons of white sand in the schools parking lot to dramatize “the amount of sugar the school’s students would consume if each drank one 12-ounce soda a day for a year.”

The same day, HoCo Exec Ken Ulman announced that he was banning the sale of sugary drinks on county property, a move that immediately bought criticism from State Senator Allan Kittleman saying that “is not a function of government to determine what you should and should not drink.”

In our podcast yesterday Nikki offered a defense of the execs ban pointing out that since we are paying for county employees healthcare we have a responsibility to promote healthy snacking in their workplace.

In our news recap we discussed Ken’s state of the county address, Symphony Woods Inner Arbor plan, and the legislation to allow HoCo public library employees to form a union.

We also briefly discussed the new parking system in Ellicott City which debuts next week. Paul told how he got a ticket last week on Main Street, despite assurances from the client he was visiting that parking was still free. Paul’s offense was that he parked twelve inches over the marked lines. That little indiscretion cost him thirty five bucks, meters or not.

You can listen to the 83^rd episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Toby’s Rocks Helen Hayes

Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia received eight nominations for musicals in the 29^th Annual Helen Hayes Awards, more than any other theatre in the metro area, dinner or otherwise. According to this story by Nelson Pressley in The Washington Post, the “production of “The Color Purple” scraped the buffet clean with eight nominations, followed by seven for “Dreamgirls” at Signature Theatre.”

In addition to the nod for Outstanding Resident Musical, Toby Orenstein was also nominated for Outstanding Director. The other nominations were Dayne Quincy for Outstanding Lead Actress, David Little for Outstanding Supporting Actor, Theresa Cunningham for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Anwar Thomas for Outstanding Choreography, Lawrence B. Munsy for Outstanding Costume Design and Christopher Youstra for Outstanding Musical Direction.

“The nominations, announced during a low-key, brightly lighted event (it was live-streamed online) in the National Theatre’s Helen Hayes Gallery, were compiled by a floating panel of 48 judges who evaluated 201 eligible productions during 2012. All shows are now closed, making the affair ceremonial and celebratory — not a Tony Awards-style rush for box-office gold. The 29th annual awards, administered and presented by the service organization theatreWashington, will be April 8 at the Warner Theatre.”

Moshin Man

The Wine Bin in Ellicott City regularly offers tastings of their wines for customers. Usually the pours are handled by the staff but yesterday they had a celebrity bartender. Rick Moshin, owner of Moshin Vineyards, was on hand to pour samples and answer questions about his wines. He also shared a few stories that you won’t see on the labels or his website like the fact that his 2009 Pinot Noir, Lost Ranch is named for the grapes from a ranch that a friend lost in a divorce. For me, a good story often makes a good wine taste even better. I bought a bottle of Lost Ranch.

The Wine Bin was also rolling out its new growler service and like the wines, they were offering tastes of their growler beers too. Though I've become a fan of the craft beer movement, I’m not certain the growler thing will work for me. The smallest size is 32 ounces and once you open it, you better plan on finishing it. I enjoy having a glass or two of beer at home but with the higher alcohol craft beers, I tend to drink them much slower than the lighter brews. I am concerned that the beer in the growler will have become flat by the time I get to that second or third glass.

But I am the adventurous sort, particularly when it comes to adult libations, so I purchased a 32 ounce growler for six bucks and filled it with the Lagunitas IPA. Right now it is awaiting its debut in my naturally cooled garage.

Stay tuned.

A Question of Legitimacy

Tonight, at the resident speak out portion of the CA Board of Directors meeting, Alan Klein testified as the spokesperson for the Coalition for Columbia’sDowntown (CoFoCoDo). He continually used the collective “we” as he leveled attacks at the CA Board and staff for the new proposed plans for Symphony Woods. “Nothing we've seen or heard…as far as we can tell…we know…we do not agree…we oppose this plan,” and so on.

Who is this “we?”

Alan claims CoFoCoDo has "almost 500 supporters" yet when Dorsey’s Search board member Tom Coale asked if there was an actual list of these supporters, Alan admitted that the only public list was “a little old” and numbered closer to 400.

That’s an understatement. The list of supporters is over five years old, going back to the fall of 2006. It’s never been updated. There is no way of knowing whether any of these original supporters support the current statements and positions put forth by its spokesperson.

But that’s not the worst of it. Alan makes a big deal about what he perceives as a lack of transparency on behalf of CA but his own organization is downright opaque. The website lists no officers or board members. There are no minutes of meetings where the organizations positions are discussed and consensus reached. While Alan claims CoFoCoDo supporters oppose the Symphony Woods plan there is no evidence that the organization even met to discuss it or that these 500 supporters were polled.

In other words, the Coalition for Columbia’s Downtown does not have any attributes of a legitimate community organization. It’s a sham, nothing more than a hollow shell. Any positions put forth by such a group should be considered in this context.

Mr. Easy

Doug Gansler comes across as an easy going guy, belying his Ivy League background. Within minutes of him sitting with us yesterday it felt more like we were meeting for beers with a buddy than preparing to have a far reaching conversation with one of the most powerful politicians in Maryland. Then again, he is a former college lacrosse player.

We covered a wide range of topics with the attorney general from chicken waste to gun control before we even touched on his future political plans. Perhaps indicative of his front runner status, that is the subject he seemed least interested in exploring. “I love being attorney general,” he told us, “and I’m not term limited.”

“Does that mean you will run for reelection?”

Though he was forthright in answering all the other questions we asked, that particular question he deflected with the ease of a lift check. That being said, he twice reminded us that he considers himself to be a “moderate pro-business centrist Democrat.”

That would seem to be more campaign slogan for governor than another term as AG.

At the end of the show we were also joined by Michelle Jose, the marketing manager for The Mall to discuss the “wall breaking” for the malls expansion that was held earlier this week.

As we were packing up to leave, Korva Coleman, dropped by to say hello. She didn't realize that the middle of The Mall was our regular studio. "You're brave," she told us.

Not so much. Unlike a well known broadcaster like her, most folks who pass by us during our show have no idea who we are or what we're doing there. There is a certain safety in being unknown. 

You can listen to the 82^nd episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

Can He Win?

Last night approximately 125 people turned out at a fundraiser at Apple Ford to hear Senator Allan Kittleman talk about the upcoming General Assembly and his own future political plans.

Most of the attendees were primarily interested in his political plans. Though he hasn't formally announced his intentions, it is widely understood that Allan would like to be county exec in 2014. On the surface, he would seem to have a pretty good chance. He’s smart, likable, and a political moderate with deep roots in Howard County. There’s just one problem; he’s a Republican.

It’s not so much an ideological problem as it is a numbers problem. There are 90,072 registered Democrats in HoCo and 56,330 registered Republicans. In order to have a shot, he’d need to win over the 38,799 unaffiliated voters and perhaps a few of the 3,567 “others” as well (Green Party, Libertarians, etc.), not to mention a Dem or two.

No doubt he is somewhat heartened by precedent. In 1990 a similar moderate Repub named Chuck Ecker squeezed out a victory over incumbent Dem Liz Bobo in the exec race. He easily won reelection in 1994. Chuck won because Liz had lost the center.

That won’t be the case this time around. There won’t be an incumbent and the presumed Dem candidate, Councilperson Courtney Watson, has played to the center in her six years on the council.

It could come down to the likability factor.

Allan understands all this of course. Last night he quipped that he’s a Republican that doesn't scare Democrats. This is true and it may get a few Dems to take a harder look at him rather than dismiss him out of hand due to his party affiliation. In order to win, however, he’ll need to put forth a vision for the county that gets voters to pay attention. In a county where, on the whole, things are pretty good that may not be so easy to do.

So Long Sarah

One of the benefits of writing a loco blog is meeting other writers with an interest in loco issues. That was certainly true almost three years ago when I met Sarah Hussain. Sarah was the new girl in a local blogosphere dominated by men and, being a writer, she wrote about that too.

I immediately liked her.

I wasn't alone either. In very short period of time, Sarah cast a wide net because she didn't just write about stuff from a bystander’s perspective. She jumped into the loco scene with both feet, serving on the HoCo General Plan Task Force and the Owen Brown Village Master Plan Committee. She also joined the HoCo League of Women Voters and together with her husband Chris, created a series of You Tube videos on the candidates for the school board for the league.

In her own corner of Columbia she also organized a block party and was one of the first town home owners to participate in the Columbia Association rain garden program.

In other words, Sarah and Chris were the kind of neighbors that make great neighborhoods even better.

She even helped changed some loco perceptions of bloggers when she participated in the wine summit with Doug Miller from Explore Howard.

Now they are leaving. As Sarah explains Chris got a “great job offer in California and we are moving at the end of the month. We've liked our time here, and we hope to be back. But for now, it's goodbye East Coast, Maryland, and Howard County.”

The left coasts' gain is the east coasts loss.

Record Sellout

It may have taken them 35 years to get there but last night the Columbia Orchestra had its first sellout performance at the 747 seat Rouse Theatre. They rocked the full house with a powerful performance of one of my all time favorite pieces,Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1. I can’t recall where or when I first heard it but it soon became a favorite. I've always been a fan of big piano music and Concerto No. 1 is big piano music. Last night Anne Kosclieny tore up the keys of a twelve foot concert grand as conductor Jason Love whipped the orchestra through its paces.

They rocked.

We almost missed it. Earlier in the week I had noted that the orchestra was a having a concert on Saturday night. We considered it a Saturday night option. I really didn't think it would be necessary to purchase tickets in advance. 

I was wrong. We were lucky to snag the last two seats together and only because someone turned them back in.

Is it just us or does anyone else find the seats in Rouse to be a little tight? 

Anyway...

Last Tuesday, as I was heading back to my office, I heard this story on All Things Considered, by Shankar Vedantam, about whether orchestras really need conductors 

“They seem important. After all, they're standing in the middle of the stage and waving their hands. But the musicians all have scores before them that tell them what to play. If you took the conductor away, could the orchestra manage on its own?”

It’s a great story. The bottom line is that they have now scientifically concluded that a conductor, particularly a good conductor, makes the music better.

Jason Love is a good conductor. They've even made a bobble head of him.

To cap the evening off the orchestra treated their record audience with Sleigh Bells.

Good stuff.

Fun with Numbers

The story about the county’s plan to build a new apartment complex for the homeless provided a surprisingly target rich environment for us this week. Preparing for the show earlier in the day both Paul and lamented that our selection of local stories for this news cycle were a little weak. As we talking I received an email from George Berkheimer, a colleague at The Business Monthly. He pointed out that in order to build this new complex the county would be replacing an existing 38 unit mobile home community called Beechcrest. The new development would have 33 individual apartments.

“That’s five in the hole, the way I count it,” he wrote.

Or more. Consider that most of those 38 units house more than one person. It seems as if the county housing department is just creating more work for our guest, Bita Dayhoff, the president of the Community ActionCouncil.

Bita is a gem and we are lucky to have her. She’s smart and incredibly charming. Three years ago I had the opportunity to work with Bita on renewing the lease for the Food Bank in Columbia. I found her to be a tough negotiator and a constant advocate for the less fortunate in HoCo. She sits on the front line of HoCo hard times.

We also talked a bit about Courtney Watson's anti bullying initiative. Courtney had proposed a resolution to “Encourage the General Assembly to provide the necessary resources to appropriate agencies to implement the use of multidisciplinary teams to address bullying, harassment, and intimidation among students.”

She has since tabled the bill. At best it had lukewarm support. The school board didn't even endorse it and it is questionable whether she had the votes on the council to get it passed. It was widely criticized as lacking any substance. As one of her colleagues on the council pointed out to me, even the people who testified at the public hearing in support testified more about the problem of bullying than about supporting the actual resolution. For example, Brian Meshkin spent his most of three minutes giving a campaign speech telling the council about everything he’s done about bullying. Courtney’s resolution merely provided him a jumping off point for another self promotion pitch.

You can listen to the 79^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

No Bull on Bullying

Last night, during a marathon legislative public hearing, Christine McComas, the mother of Grace McComas,  testified during the consideration of Council Resolution 169-2012, an anti-bullying initiative introduced by Courtney Watson. The bill calls for “encouraging” the General Assembly “to provide the necessary resources to appropriate agencies to implement the use of multidisciplinary teams to address bullying, harassment, and intimidation among students.”

Christine told the council that the system is a big part of the problem. In scathing testimony she indicted the states attorney, the police and especially the school system for failing to help her save her daughter.

When she was finished Courtney asked her if she was in favor of the resolution.

‘When I wrote my statement last night my intention was to fully support Resolution 169. However, as I went to bed and thought about it more…the very groups that are supposed to help, the police, the states attorney, and the courts, didn't.”

She never did say whether or not she supported the resolution.

Teacher on Special Assignment

After pointing out that she was at the helm of an operation with a budget approaching a billion dollars, 50,000 students, 8,000 employees and 82 buildings, Renee Foose responded that she “is just a teacher on special assignment.”

She probably knows a thing or two about special assignments. She’s a former state trooper too.

Dr. Renee A. Foose is the first female superintendent of the Howard County Public School System and if I had to pick one word to describe her I’d go with genuine. There is something that seems very grounded and honest with her and that made conversation and discussion easy.

We talked about redistricting, grant monies, testing and the apology that the system made for promoting segregation ten years after the Supreme Court outlawed the practice in public schools. HCPSS may be the first school system in the country to apologize for what was then a pretty widespread practice. According to this story by Joe Burris in The Sun, “a historian with the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, said he recalls many apologies for slavery and segregation, but he could not think of one that specifically addressed segregated schools.”

Dr. Foose told us that school board member Allen Dyer was particularly passionate about this. Is it just me or does anyone else notice that Allen is becoming more agreeable now that his board days are numbered?

In the loco news recap we discussed speed cams, zoning issues, parking and Twinkies.

So if you are looking for something to listen while driving to Alice's Restaurant for a Thanksgiving dinner, you can download the 78^th episode of “and then there’s that…” here.

In This Months Business Monthly

I first began writing a column in The Business Monthly in the very first issue back in the earlier nineties. We were in the midst of an earlier recession and that first column focused on the changed landscape of HoCo loco commercial development. Almost everyone in the business was handing at least one of their properties back to a lender. For the up and comer developers like Peter Issel, Chris Kurz, Pete McGill and Fred Glassberg, the down turn took them down.

That’s what I should have written this month.

Instead I banged out a pretty weak effort at the absolute latest deadline of deadlines. I wrote about how next year, 2013, nothing much is going to happen except building towards 2014. 2014 is when everything happens: Whole Foods, the Metropolitan, Mall expansion and the gubernatorial election.

I’m not proud of it.

A better story would have included some historical perspective like the story of the office building that the county government owns in Columbia Gateway, 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive. It was built by Peter Issel in 1990 when the Gateway Corporate Park was the hottest business campus between DC and Baltimore.

And then, just as the building was completed, that no longer meant anything. Even a great building in a great location is powerless against a retrenching economy. That’s the greatest risk in the development business and a highly leveraged developer doesn't stand a chance when financing constricts.

And perhaps that would help create some appreciation for the exposure that at least at five developers are now taking on as they begin the creation of a real Columbia downtown. They have the right product and location but other forces, beyond their control, could alter their outcomes. I might have even thrown in something about another term limited county exec back in the nineties who had gubernatorial aspirations .

Unfortunately, that’s not the column I wrote. Now that I've warned you, if you still care to, you can find this month’s column here.