The Way He Sees It

I like this guy!

Caffeine Fix

Caffeine Fix

I freely admit to being a coffee shop guy. These are great places to meet a friend, catch a break between meetings, or simply to observe the ebb and flo of life in these two towns.

It wasn't that long ago when your choices for coffee shops in Columbia and Ellicott City were limited to Riverside Coffee and Roaster's shops on Main Street in Ellicott City and on Dobbin Road in Columbia. This was in the pre-Starbucks period.

Today we have an abundance of places to get a daily caffeine fix in Columbia and Ellicott City. The old Riverside on Main Street is now Bean Alley and the Riverside on Dobbin Road is under new ownership. There are Starbucks on Route 40, Dobbin Road and The Mall In Columbia (did I miss any except those Starbuckettes found in Targets, Safeway's and Barnes & Noble?). We also have Bun Penney, Mad City (another former Riverside), Lakeside (also a former Riverside),Old Mill Bakery, and Orinoco.

Are there others?

I like Bean Alley in Ellicott City as a place to meet, have desert and purchase bulk coffee. I have noticed that the Starbucks on Dobbin Road is often laptop alley and Lakeside is a great place to connect in Town Center and have a light lunch.

What's your favorite?

Choices

It just occurred to me that, as a supporter of the Plaza Residences tower in Columbia Town Center, I had no pro tower choice in the last county election. Candidates from both parties uniformly came out in opposition to this development.

Every candidate, regardless of political party, pandered to the Coalition for Columbia's Downtown as if that group represented the majority view. I think that remains to be seen.

Now that more and more people are finally coming forward and stating other opinions about Columbia's future downtown I wonder who will speak for them?

Comments?

The Vision Thing

I just read Barbara Russell's letter to the editor in last weeks Columbia Flier. My first reaction?

Please!

For those who may not know, Ms. Russell is currently the Columbia Council representative for Oakland Mills. She also counts herself as being one of Columbia's pioneers (first 100 residents) and at other times has referred to herself as Columbia's first mother.

In her letter she wrote:
I have never been confused about Mr. Rouses vision for his new city.

Certainty is good but in this case I am afraid it is woefully misguided.

She went on to say:
In the concept plan that Mr. Rouse presented to the county leaders for approval and later in the concept plan/map that was distributed at The Rouse Co.'s visitor center, which was located on the Kittamaqundi lakefront, there was no typical traditional cityscape anywhere to be seen, including in the designated downtown area. As a matter of fact, Mr. Rouse presented his plan for Columbia as the antithesis of the typical urban environment and said Columbia was meant to be a new kind of city, "a garden for growing people."

I think she missed the key word here which is "concept." Concepts are very broad based ideas that allow for liberal interpretation. I also recall the concept plan. In fact, I remember the scale model that was made of what Columbia's future looked like back in 1966. Aside from Lake Kittamaqundi, there would be very little recognizable to a visitor today. For example, that original plan had a mini bus road bisecting the lake connecting Oakland Mills to Town Center.

The statement that I believe really misinterprets James Rouses intentions is:
It most definitely did not depict 20-story residential and other buildings casting long dark shadows over pavement and other buildings as in a traditional cityscape. The downtown was basically designed to service residents, not house them.

Let's be realistic here, concept plans do not depict specific buildings so claiming that Jim Rouse never intended a 22 story building to be built in Town Center because he didn't have one in his concept plan is just plain foolish.

I had the honor of working for Mr. Rouse both in Columbia and later as he set out to open malls all over the country. Though I would never claim to know his mind I was able to observe one critical thing; James Rouse was an evolutionary thinker. His ideas changed over time. This is evident to anyone who followed his career. After Columbia he determined that was better to focus on rebuilding existing cities rather than creating new cities in the suburbs. I highly recommend his biography by Joshua Olsen, Better Places Better Lives - A Biography of James Rouse to anyone who wants to know what this man was all about.

Today, I could easily envision Jim Rouse hunched over plans with Doug Godine at General Growth Properties mapping out the next evolution of Columbia's downtown. I think he'd be pleased that the community had matured to the point that it could attract the attention of developer such as WCI Communities.

New Columbia Blog

A new blog, specifically targeted to Columbians (past and present) in the 25 to 45 year old age group, has entered the local blogosphere.

Welcome!

Blogger Anonymity

My last post seems to have raised the ire of one Cynthia Coyle. It seems that she has taken umbrage at blogger anonymity. In fact she has gone so far as to label the practice of blogger anonymity as cowardice.

I disagree.

Anonymity in public discourse is an honored tradition in this country. One need only look to the founding fathers of our country to understand this. The Federalist Papers, the 85 essays that successfully argued for the ratification of the Constitution of United States, were all written anonymously. Names such as "Publius" and "Cato" masked the true identities of Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. These writings may have been the most influential documents in the formation of our country. I would hardly characterize these gentlemen as cowards.

So why do I choose to blog anonymously?

There are a variety of reasons mostly personal. My opinions are my own and not a reflection of my family or my business. In the past people have taken potshots at others associated with me because of something I have said. I don't think that is fair.

That being said, I also do not take great lengths to hide my true identity. Others have easily discerned who Wordbones is. I am often seen about the county sporting a black ball cap with "wordbones" emblazoned on the front. As it stands, my blogger profile already offers more information about me than most local bloggers.

So why don't I just come out and say who I am?

Well for one, I would never do that just because someone like Cynthia Coyle doesn't like it. Personally I could care less whether she, or anyone else for that matter, takes offense with it. Someday I may publicly reveal myself but I will do so at the place and time of my own choosing.

How do you feel about blogger anonymity?

Just Wondering But...

What gives Delegate Liz Bobo (MD House of Delegates District 12B) such stature in the debate over Columbia's downtown. Her duty as a state delegate is to concern herself with matters affecting Howard County on the state level. Issues such as Town Centers redevelopment are the responsibility of our local politicians. Granted, Liz was once County Executive but the voters were so unimpresseed with her performance that they denied her a second term choosing instead a then political neophyte named Chuck Ecker (who went on to easily win a second term). Liz does not even live in a CPRA assesed property so she isn't really even a Columbia resident (any more than I am!).

And who is Alan Klien. Until now, no one I know of in this town had even heard of him. What has he done to earn his stripes as a spokesperson for Columbia future downtown?

Does he live in Town Center?

Has he served on any community boards?

How long has he actually lived in Columbia?

I don't mean to be malovent but I am wondering why these two seem to get so much attention in the press. And it is not just me that is wondering that either. Others in the community have begun to raise the same questions.

As for Liz , she has a long record of public service for Howard County and I both admire and respect that. At the same time, however, her husband, Lloyd Knowles is one of the plaintiffs seeking to block the construction of the Plaza Residences in Town Center.

Does anyone else have a problem with this?

Snow Day Musings

I took a break from blogging after my last post on January 20th. I guess I had a case of bloggers writers block or perhaps I just had the blogging blahs.

You know, sometimes it all just seems so much like blah, blah, blah.

Anyway...in the interim I took a little trip down to an island in the West Indies and recharged my blogg strokes. Wordbones is back.

Since today was the first snow day for Howard County schools and I found myself being a stay at home dad with my eight year old daughter, I had a little spare time to get back to blahhing...err...blogging.

I stopped by Howard County's most prolific blogger, Hayduke, and was surprised to find a comment posted by Councilperson Courtney Watson. She was clarifying remarks attributed to her in a newspaper story about Brantley Developments proposal to build duplex housing in Elkridge. I leave the discussion of that particular topic to Hayduke but I was surprised to find one of our council people weighing in on a blog. Could it be that the bogging universe is expanding?

Are local blogs gaining credibility as legitimate forums for public debate?

I have always been curious as to the demographics of our local blogging scene. Up until now I suspected that it was largely composed of angry men (with apologies to numbersgirl!).

Could I be mistaken?

I also wanted to comment on a story I read in today's Sun about the proposed Centennial Gardens housing development. It now appears that this affordable housing project is officially dead in the water. The community opposition to this development was strong with the arguments being that it was "the wrong project on the wrong site" and "the lack of compatibility and the density of the project."

Okay.

So where is affordable housing compatible in Howard County?

Apparently anywhere but my back yard.

Weighing In

The other night I had dinner with my friend Jim Binckley at the Greystone Grill. We were collectively celebrating our 52nd birthdays this month with red meat and red wine. We got into a discussion about the various local blogs and the ongoing debate about the Town Center redevelopment plans. We both felt the local blogging conversation on Town Center was pretty much one sided.

So I thought I'd weigh in...again.

Jim and I grew up in Columbia. We have both watched the town grow from two villages (Wilde Lake and Harpers Choice) to the ten village community it is today. We easily recall a Town Center that merely consisted of the Teachers Building and the Exhibit Center. A lone silo stood on the site that is now The Mall In Columbia. Jim's family were among the first residents of Longfellow. My family lived in Bryant Woods. I worked for The Rouse Company when I was in high school picking up trash and mowing the grass in Columbia and continued to work for them after graduating from college. Jim Rouse has always been one of my heroes. To this day I have remained active in the affairs of Columbia serving on a wide variety of community boards.

I mention all this because I believe I have some street credibility when it comes to a discussion of what may occur in downtown. Prior to moving to my new home in Ellicott City, I even lived in Town Center in the Vantage Point neighborhood.

Here then, is what I think of the current Town Center debate:

1. The majority of the undeveloped land in Town Center is private property now owned by General Growth Properties (GGP). GGP paid a premium for this land when they purchased The Rouse Company. They are very motivated to see that this land is developed in a manner that will bring the highest return. They have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to do that as well. I do not see this as a bad thing. They have the resources to make Columbia's downtown a very special place. The Voices of Vision speaker series that they are sponsoring also demonstrates to me that they understand the unique opportunity in front of them. I trust the judgement of their professional architects and planners much more than I do the untrained "citizen planners" who seem to get the most press these days.
2. The demand that a significant percentage of housing in Town Center be set aside for "affordable housing" is laughable. Sure, make Town Center take on the burden of the county's affordable housing crisis. No other part of the county wants it and since Town Center currently has the smallest constituency in the county, it is easy to be for "affordable housing" in Town Center. I believe that affordable housing should be spread around the county equally. When we are willing to mandate that 15% of the housing in River Hill be converted into affordable housing I'll support the same standard for Town Center.
3. The real problem facing Columbia is not the Town Center redevelopment. Contrary to what some of these citizen groups such as CoFoDoCo would have you believe, the real crisis Columbia faces is one of governance. The other major property stakeholder in Town Center is The Columbia Association which is run by a highly dysfunctional board of directors. There was even an initial reluctance by the CA board to get involved in the discussions of the Town Center planning process. Forget GGP, CA is the organization that will most greatly impact what the general public experiences in the parks and plazas in Town Center.

I know that many others in the community feel as I do. I suspect that in the coming months more groups like Fair Play Columbia will begin to come forward and that the voices of reason will help focus the debate of Columbia's future on the real issues that will most affect our quality of living.

Big News for Local Company

A Columbia company, Martek Biosciences was featured in a story in yesterdays New York Times.

The article points up the trials and tribulations of marketing their "omega 3 fat or DHA" food additive to the food industry. Martek believes that their additive will help people have "healthier hearts, sharper minds, and better vision."

I could sure use all three of those!

Now matter how you feel about this it is still nice to see a local company generating this kind of national press for a cutting edge product.

A Million More By 2020

A Million More By 2020

This afternoon on the Kojo Nanamdi Show on WAMU a group of panelists discussed the projected growth of the Washington region between now and 2020. The consensus was that the area stretching from Northeast Maryland to Hampton Roads, Virginia will add a million more people in that time period. One of the panelists suggested that the region will soon be referred to as the "Chesapeake Crescent."

This weeks Kiplinger Letter also talked about growth. Kiplinger forecasts a national growth rate of "almost one percent per year, adding one person every 11 seconds. By 2030, there'll be 60 million more people living on U.S. soil, a total of 360 million."

Scary?

I don't think so. I happen to subscribe to the notion that growth is both healthy and desirable. Sure, it presents challenges but it also presents a wealth of opportunities. Managing the two is key to maintaining a high quality of living.

We are doubly blessed in this area as I said before. Our location smack dab in the center of the Chesapeake Crescent bodes very well for our local economy. As Jay Hancock pointed out in his column in today's Sun, Maryland is likely to weather any recession in the coming year due to increased defense spending and the growth in health care. Our proximity to Fort Meade means that we will see more than our fair share of those defense dollars.

We got it good indeed!

Holiday Movie Night: Part Two

Holiday Movie Night: Part Two

Last Friday night we made the decision to see a movie first and go to dinner afterwards. Often, when I eat dinner before a movie, I'll get sleepy midway through the film, especially if it is a chick flick. We caught the 6:30 PM screening of the The Good Shepherd at the Regal Cinemas in Snowden Square.

Of course, the movie rarely begins at the posted time. This fact coupled with the 2 hr 40 minute movie meant that it was a little past 9:30 PM when we got out of the theatre.

Finding a place to grab dinner at 9:30 PM in Columbia on a Friday night is a bit challenging. The last time we found ourselves in this situation we went to the Macaroni Grill at Columbia Crossing.

We won't do that again.

It was easy enough to get a table. It was almost impossible to get service. After waiting at least 15 minutes for a waiter to come to our table I ended up leaving my seat and going in search of someone to help us. It did not get any better after that.

This time we headed over to Aida Bistro in Columbia Gateway. Though the sign on the door said they were open til 10 PM, the door was locked at 9:45 PM.

We ended up at Cafe De Paris. There weren't many people in the dining room but they happily seated us and served us a delicious dinner, even though it was 10 PM.

This quest for a late after movie meal made me ponder the thought; Is this indicative of weekend night life in edge cities such as ours?

Saved By A Flood

There was a nice article about Ellicott City in todays Washington Post.

-wb

Holiday Movie Night: Part One

My lady and I were out for movie last night.

Our theatre of choice was the Regal Cinemas at Snowden Square . We went there even though:
1. It's in the back of a Home Depot.
2. You can't buy tickets online.
3. The soda machine stinks.
4. There are no paper towels in the men's room.
We chose it because it is relatively easy to get in and out of the parking lot and the theatres are less crowded. I like the AMC theatres in Town Center but the mere thought of battling post holiday shoppers and the holiday movie crowd was enough to steer us to the back of a home improvement store.

As I maneuvered into a fairly convenient parking spot, adjacent to the handicap spaces, I mused to my green eyed lady that what we need in this town are special reserved parking spaces for SUV's. I reasoned that since these cars are bigger and, theoretically at least, they are capable of carrying multiple passengers, SUV's should be accorded some select close in spaces. Of course these spaces would need to be larger too. It is nice to have lots of room to open our big SUV doors without bumping into a Camry.

We could make up for this added space by creating some smaller than normal parking spaces for little cars like the Mini. These spaces could be added to the fringes of the parking lots. The reasoning here is that since these cars tend to be most popular with young people they are much more capable of handling the long hike to the theatre.

We saw The Good Shepherd. It's long but good.

Maggie Browns Contract

Jud Malone, former Columbia Council Representative from Town Center gave the following testimony at Tuesdays meeting of the Columbia Council Committee charged with exploring Maggie Browns contract extension.

My name is Jud Malone; I live on CA assessed property at 5651 Vantage Point Road. I wish to speak tonight on the subject of renewing President Maggie Brown’s employment contract. I am not sure to whom I should address my comments since five of the CA board members in a public statement announced that “we oppose, and as members of the Board will not vote for, any new contract that is for a term of more than one year.” They have also stated that “now is the time for CA to move on to modern, measurements-based proactive management in a technology-driven era”, whatever that might mean.

In any case, for the benefit of the remaining board members still wanting to hear from the community, I would strongly advise that Maggie Brown’s contract be renewed for three years, the same term as her current contract.

Maggie Brown has been an excellent president. She is a well respected ambassador to the community, she has effectively led a highly qualified staff and she has achieved all the objectives set out for her by the CA board in all of her five years of service.

Under her leadership, the quality of CA's programs have improved year after year, consistent with the objectives set by the board of directors and CA is in the midst of a major migration to the very latest technology for its information technology system, again at the direction of the board of directors.

At some point it will become necessary to think about a transition of leadership in the organization but it cannot be accomplished in only one year and certainly not under a freelance decision making process.

The next three years should be devoted to:

1) Working on the board’s own ability to function responsibly. This is the most immediate concern for the community – not the performance of the president.
2) Working towards a more effective relationship where the Board understands that its role is to govern and the President role is to manage the organization.
3) Implementing a rigorous professional process for the selection a new president that all board members will respect and abide by.

I would urge the board - don’t mess up this important responsibility of selecting a new president. CA has an unfortunate history of doing it wrong – learn from the past and take the time to do it right.

Mailbox Locator

The other day I was in the Mall in Columbia and went looking for a mailbox. I asked several merchants and though they all seemed to know about the mailbox in front of the American City Building, no one knew of any in the mall.

I don't believe there is one. If there is, I certainly couldn't find it. The closest I came was stamp machine by the entrance near LL Bean. How come the mall has a stamp machine but no mailbox?

Anyway, my search led to the discovery of a cool little website. The mailbox locator lets you simply input your zipcode and it will identify all of the mailboxes in that zipcode. Click on any of the locations and it will tell you the pick up times. It also has a Google map to help you find it.

Very cool.

And, incidently, mailbox locator shows no mailboxes in the mall but there is one at One Mall North.

Out of Touch

Judging from the letters to editor in yesterdays Sun, the members of the CA Board of Directors who met as a "caucus" and decided to oppose a three year extension to Maggie Browns contract, are seriously out of touch with the community.

Not a single letter was written in support of their position.

The Board Members calling for Maggie's removal are Phil Marcus (Kings Contrivance), Gail Broida (Town Center), Cynthia Coyle (Harpers Choice), Philip Kirsch (Wilde Lake), and no surprise, Barbara Russell (Oakland Mills).

Though I have often been a critic of CA, I firmly believe that Maggie has bought stability and leadership to that organization. The present Board is split and dysfunctional. It is hard to fathom how they will be able to find and agree on someone who is more capable than Maggie.

It's time for the voting lien payers in Columbia to say enough of this nonsense.

The North Pole In Ellicott City

If you have never visited Mumbles & Squeaks Toy Shoppe in Ellicott City, you are missing one of the best toy stores around.

Two years ago The Washington Post even did a story on the place in their "You Haven't Lived Here If You Haven't..." series.

If Santa is looking for something beyond the standard fare found in the national chains, this is the place to go.

Places like this make toy shopping fun.

Task Force Sham

I have just learned that in a meeting last night of the CA External Relations Committee, Barbara Russell reported that her 40th Birthday Celebration Task Force had decided to hold a City Fair on the weekend of June 29th through July 1st.

Nothing could be further from the truth. No consensus on what the birthday celebration might include was reached by the Task Force and certainly no dates were set.

I attended that initial Task Force meeting. There were many ideas bantered around, some good, some not so good. After everyone gave their input Barbara Russell pretty much told everyone at the meeting that none of this discussion really mattered because she was going to go ahead and do what she wants to do which is to hold a City Fair.

For those readers who were not around twenty years ago when the last City Fair was held, I can only tell you that it wasn't pretty. It was as if all of Glen Burnie descended on the lakefront.

The thing is, it wasn't always so. In the beginning, the City Fairs were truly community events. It was more like a Village Fair. Everyone in Columbia went. There was even a "Ball in the Mall."

Back in those early days, Columbia was a town of with a population of about 15,000 people. It is much different now with a population of over 100,000 but some folks like Ms. Russell haven't come to grips with that.

It is irksome that she created a "Task Force" only for window dressing. It wasted a lot of peoples time. Make no mistake. The entire celebration of Columbia's 4oth birthday is being soley orchestrated by someone who is living in the past and who does not want to listen to anyone who disagrees with her.

On top of it all, she thinks she can pull together an event of this scale in just six months!

Having planned and executed large scale events in the past I can tell you that it takes a full year to do it right, not to mention a fair amount of money.

There is a viable and well proven alternative. For the past twenty years, The Columbia Festival of the Arts has hosted a LakeFest celebration which included the birthday celebration. The Festival has a full time year round staff and they have been working on the 40th birthday LakeFest for a year and a half now. They have been raising mpney through corporate sponsorships and individual donations. They have over 200 volunteers committed and ready to work.

Apparrently Ms Russell is not even listening to Maggie Brown on this. Aside from being the President of the Columbia Association, Maggie served for several years as the chairperson of the old City Fair. Her advice and counsel is being totally ignored.

We Got It Good

I realize that many are worried about the ramifications of growth but the bottom line is that most communities would love to have the problems that we are dealing with. The front page article in today's Sun outlines the opportunities and challenges that BRAC presents us. Personally I think we are up for the challenge. If we can tone down the rhetoric and work together to find that ever elusive middle ground between those who want to stop all growth and those who want to "pave paradise and put up a parking lot" we will become the envy of the nation.

And...given that we are are also facing a budget shortfall, this projected growth in employment is very good news indeed.

Think about it. We have a state that is growing with "knowledge workers" instead of a state that is bleeding from the drain of an aging population coupled with the loss of manufacturing jobs.

We got it good.