Scene This Week In...

A year ago I experienced a little health episode that resulted in a thirteen week stint at the cardiac rehabilitation unit at Howard County General Hospital. It was there that I first met Joel. At that time he was still on medical leave from his main job which involved a daily commute from Columbia to Suitland and back. His Nordstrom gig was much more manageable and he had no intention of giving that one up. I wrote about Joel back in January in a post on my other (and recently neglected) blog, the heart attack guy.

This past week I ran into Joel again at Nordstrom. He was happily tickling the ivories for the passing shoppers. He told me that he retired from that awful commute. He obviously still works at Nordstrom, mostly on Friday evenings, but he is also doing some work with his church.

Count me as one of those who enjoys hearing a live person play the piano in a public space which is why Joel is this weeks Scene in Columbia.



Every week my daughter moves between days and evenings at her mother’s house in Catonsville and mine in Ellicott City. We have a developed a sort of rhythm to this and for the most part the transition is seamless. At times, however, we need to improvise on logistics.

The fate of a large stuffed horse provided one of these logistical challenges. It was too big to send to school with her so the horse was placed in a shopping bag and hung on the front door for mom to retrieve before the after school pick up. After I placed the bag on the door I wondered about how other families in similar circumstances handled these things. I also thought it made a great picture and so “horse in a Ralph Lauren bag” is this weeks Scene in Ellicott City.

Hot Grills Go Cold

I was sitting at the traffic light at Rouse Parkway and Dobbin Road today when I spotted this Barbeques Galore closing sign up on the hill by Dick’s Sporting Goods.

As I looked closer I realized that there was a guy standing behind the sign holding it up. Nice job. At least the weather was agreeable.

I guess the market for expensive barbeque set ups has cooled…so to speak.

The Winds Are Shifting Part Two

After a pretty hectic morning it has finally slowed down a bit so I can finish up on the notes I have from last nights meeting. This morning I met Jud Malone at the Lakeside Coffee Shop in Town Center. Jud took copious notes last night and he was kind enough to share them with me.

GGP was represented by Greg Hamm. He bought along two of the town center master plan consultants, Alan Ward and Keith Bowers. They presented a revised plan for Symphony Woods that incorporated some of the concerns of the community. For example, a fire station is no longer included since it turns out that the fire department didn’t want one there anyway. Alan Ward spent some time on the rationale for the cultural connection between Merriweather Post Pavilion and the mall.

After they finished their presentation they took questions from the board. The following is the run down of some of the questions and responses that Jud gave me:

Suzanne Waller (Town Center) voiced concerns about traffic and GGP’s current liquidity problems. Greg acknowledged that times are tough but he was confident that this plan and his company would move forward regardless.

Evan Coren (Kings Contrivance) was concerned about the fact that GGP was suggesting that one third of the trees in Symphony Woods would be removed in this new plan. Keith responded that out of the current inventory of trees in Symphony Woods, 527 would be “impacted.” At the same time, 13,600 new trees would be added, not including street trees. You can see what “impacted” looks like here.

Evan was also concerned about the impact of this plan the on birds and other wildlife in Symphony Woods. There is no wildlife in Symphony Woods, except after concerts.

Cindy Coyle (Harpers Choice) wondered what happened to the fire station. Gregg explained what happened to the fire station.

Cindy noted that there was no connection to the lakefront. Gregg explained that they were not talking about the lakefront in this phase.

Pearl Atkinson-Stewart (Owen Brown) was concerned about a proposed shuttle that would ferry folks around the new town center areas. She recalled the days when CA ran a money losing bus service and she did not want CA to get back in that business. She said she liked the plan.

Mike Cornell (River Hill) noticed that there were more pathways in the proposed plan and thought that was a good thing. He also had questions about the new downtown partnership that would be formed to oversee Town Center. GGP is proposing that a new partnership be created between GGP, CA and Jud could not remember who else, to oversee four non profit agencies focusing on Environmental Sustainability, Housing, Culture, and Traffic in Town Center.

Tom O’Connor (Dorseys Search) wondered if the two barns at Merriweather, that GGP proposes turning into a children’s theatre center could be made “green.”. Alan Ward responded that they could be. He also expressed concerns over the connection to Oakland Mills.

Phil Kirsh (Wilde Lake) wasn’t sure why we needed two buildings ( a new CA building and a new library) in Symphony Woods. He also wanted to be sure that any roads in Symphony Woods would truly be “park drives.” Keith told him they would.

Henry Dagenais (Long Reach) made some comment about toad crossings he had seen in Europe. I wondered if Evan has ever heard of them?

He was also concerned that the planting of all these new trees not make Symphony Woods look like a “tree farm.”

Miles Coffman (Hickory Ridge) questioned whether “reforesting” Symphony Woods would preclude having Wine in the Woods. GGP’s plan envisions closing off the new “park drives” in Symphony Woods for events like Wine in the Woods.

After the board asked some more questions, residents were allowed to speak out. I won’t go the litany of those who spoke and what they said because quite frankly, at this point, I was tired of taking notes. I did want to mention though, that fellow local blogger Bill Santos, got up and spoke about a speech that Jim Rouse once gave about the folly of trying to stop development.

So there you are. If I got anything wrong, please post a comment and set the record straight.

The Winds Are Shifting Part One

The big news out of last nights CA board meeting with GGP is not that it was well attended but that the mood was generally positive. The reports I have received so far from those who were in attendence is that, for the most part, GGP’s plans, specifically the plans for Symphony Woods, were received with “cautious optimism.”

That’s a far cry from an earlier meeting in which GGP’s Symphony Woods plans were discussed.

The bigger surprise of yesterday though was that GGP’s long anticipated zoning regulations amendment was actually sponsored by Councilperson Mary Kay Sigaty. This is the zoning amendment that would clear the way for GGP’s Town Center redevelopment program that proposes up to 5,500 new residential units in the Town Center area. This is the same Mary Kay Sigaty that sponsored that ill conceived legislation directed at stopping the proposed Plaza Residences after they had already secured a building permit. This is the same Mary Kay Sigaty that I have previously accused of being Delegate Liz Bobo’s hand puppet.

It looks like I had her all wrong. Apparently Liz and Mary Kay no longer see eye to eye on all things Town Center.

And what about Liz?

She was there last night with her husband, Lloyd Knowles but they didn’t stay to the end. Perhaps it wasn’t acrimonious enough for them. That didn’t stop The Washington Post from seeking her out for a quote for this article in the morning’s paper though.

I don’t quite get why she was quoted and not Mary Kay. As the story pointed out, Liz is a former county councilperson. She will not have a vote on this zoning regulation amendment, Mary Kay, the current county councilperson representing Town Center will.

Liz says she wants “to be very sure this planned out and planned out well, and I just can’t tell yet how it’s going to work.”

Huh?

How much more plan does she need? This thing has gone through over two years of planning and public meetings where it has been tweaked and refined. At some point you need to stop planning and start doing.

Anyway, other notable no shows last night were Columbia Councilman Alex Hekimian (Oakland Mills) and CoFoDoCo spokesperson, Alan Klein.

I’ll post some more observations from last nights meeting later today

Let The Games Begin!

The CA Board is meeting with GGP tonight to discuss Symphony Woods. The meeting will be open of course which means there will be ample opportunity for pandering and grandstanding from certain members of the board. I just hope that everyone keeps an open mind about what is best for future generations of Columbians.

As much as I’d like to, I am unable to attend this evening due to a prior commitment with my daughter. Because of this I am enlisting citizen correspondents to cover the meeting. If any readers of Tales of Two Cities attend the meeting tonight at 7:00 PM in the CA Board Room (in the CA building just above Clyde’s) and would like to share their observations and comments, please email me afterwards. Tomorrow I will put up a post with whatever folks send me. Though I am admittedly (and openly) biased I will endeavor to be even handed in the post.

And speaking of GGP, my sources tell me that GGP will be submitting it’s long anticipated New Town zoning amendment to the county as early as today.

Let the games begin!

Poor Reception

As I was leaving a clients office on Red Branch Road the other day I noticed a black cord stretched across the sidewalk. Somehow I had missed it on my way in.

One end of the cord led to this curious set up on the grass next to a parking space. The other end trailed into a space in the building. Closer inspection of the parking space set up revealed that this was an XM radio antenna.
Figures.

I have a similar situation at my house. Despite claims by XM and Sirius that their satellite radios can work well inside a home or office, I have often had trouble getting a signal. Moreover, once a signal is successfully acquired, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will stay that way, especially during a storm like the one last night. I have often resorted to sticking the antenna on the ledge of an open window in order to get a signal. This fix could be problematic once the weather gets colder.

I thought about drilling a hole in the wall and affixing the satellite antenna to the outside of the house but Mama Wordbones wasn’t having any of that.

The Subprime Primer

Aside from Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen getting on bended knee to implore House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to keep pushing for a bailout deal, there hasn't been much levity in the current financial crisis on Wall Street.

I happen think Mondays require levity.

This "Subprime Primer" has actually been circulating around the Internet for almost a year as a power point file. It's primitive stick figure drawings actually work for me.

I will caution that the language gets a little earthy so blog reader discretion is advised.

And Now a Word from Chicago…

If you only read this article from The Sun or this one from The Daily Record, you might think that GGP was in some really deep doo-doo.

No doubt there are challenging days ahead for the company but it may not be as dire as those stories seem to indicate. A friend of mine sent me the GGP press release that resulted in these gloom and doom stories.

The exact text of that release is as follows:

CHICAGO – September 22, 2008 – General Growth Properties, Inc. (NYSE: GGP) today announced that the Company’s Board of Directors and management team is pursuing a comprehensive evaluation of its alternatives, both financial and strategic, in an effort to align the market value of the Company’s common stock more closely with the intrinsic value of the Company’s stable, high quality portfolio of real estate assets in good locations with significant barriers to entry. Occupancy reached a record high of 93.2% in the second quarter of 2008 and comparable net operating income continued to increase, even in a challenging consumer sales environment.

The Company currently anticipates that it will be in a position to offer a long-term fixed-rate portfolio mortgage financing to lenders in mid to late November, and in the interim will actively pursue several sources of financing for the Company’s near term maturing obligations. The Company and its advisors are also developing a comprehensive, strategic plan to generate capital from a variety of potential sources including, but not limited to, both core and non-core asset sales, the sale of joint venture or preferred equity in selected pools of its assets, a corporate level capital infusion, and/or strategic business combinations.

General Growth is one of the largest U.S.-based publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) based upon market capitalization. The Company currently has ownership interest in, or management responsibility for, a portfolio of more than 200 regional shopping malls in 44 states, as well as ownership in master planned community developments and commercial office buildings. The Company's portfolio totals approximately 200 million square feet and includes over 24,000 retail stores nationwide. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GGP.

So there you have it.

Wordbones Weekend Words

Visits to this blog drop in half over the weekends. It has pretty much been that way since I started paying attention. Two months or so ago I started making a conscious effort to do at least one post per weekend to see if I could effect that.

I am happy to report that it does make a difference when I post on a weekend. It’s marginal but noticeable. I just thought I’d share that.

I also figured it was a good way to begin a weekend post. Maybe it will become a regular feature, Wordbones Weekend Words!

Last night, I had the rare solo Friday night. Mama Wordbones was off at Parents Weekend at Washington College and Peanut was with her mom. It was just me and our two aging dogs, Mars (black lab) 11 and Lucky (golden) 12. At this point in their lives they really need somebody staying in the house with them all the time. The drop by three times a day dog care services won’t cut it with them anymore.

So anyway, Friday night it was just me and the dogs. Once I fed and played around with them a bit, I hopped in the car and drove over to Clyde’s. I ran into Dennis Dunn. He was the first GGP guy I’d seen since that certain newspaper article came out this past Thursday (more about that in a future post). As promised, I bought him a drink.

Clyde’s was having its Oktoberfest and some of the waiters were walking around in lederhosen. They aren’t letting the rain deter them. They have a tent. The Oktoberfest is on tonight and tomorrow too.

From Clyde’s I swung over to Victoria. It was a happening place. They were standing two deep at the bar. I ran into Randy Marriner, the proprietor of the gastro pub. We spoke a bit about the nasty review in the Post by Tom Sietsema. I told him about my blog post and the some of the positive comments it received defending his establishment. In any event, the review didn’t seem to be affecting business. Randy seemed generally happy.

After that it was back home to the dogs and the debate…in that order.

Today Peanut and I ventured down to the Fall Festival in Downtown Ellicott City. When we parked the car it wasn’t raining. By the time we were at the intersection of Old Columbia Pike and Main Street it was drizzling. By the time we got down to the corner of Main Street and Maryland Avenue it was pouring.

Poor Ellicott City, things don’t look so good on Main Street right now. I counted at least six vacant storefronts right on Main Street. Two restaurants have closed down this year, Annabel’s and the Tiber River Tavern. The weather gods certainly weren’t in its favor today either.

Eventually the rain drove us home.

Down on Main Street

It’s hard to focus today. Last night our president spoke of the economy in grave terms. The early morning television pundits said it is hard for Main Street America to fathom the severity of the credit constriction in the capital markets. I don’t think that’s true with our Main Street.

The lead story of today’s Sun is entitled “Next Crunch?” Below the headline is a large color photo of the Village of Cross Keys in Baltimore. The caption reads “Because of debt, General Growth Properties is trying to sell its Village of Cross Keys and, possibly, other malls in the Baltimore area.”

The Village of Cross Keys commercial center has actually been for sale for several months now. It is a little difficult to get funding for large purchases these days.

It gets worse.

According to the story, GGP’s debt obligations are forcing it to “sell assets or even the whole company.”

That would certainly change the Town Center redevelopment dynamic a bit. The big question right now is, will GGP go ahead and submit its NT rezoning request to the county this month?

…or next month?

…or before Christmas?

There is certainly an argument to be made for doing so, even if they end up “selling the whole company.” An undeveloped property is always worth more with entitlements in place.

Forget at that for moment though. What about the folks who work at GGP?

What about our neighbors, colleagues and friends who work there?

I happen to know more than a few colleagues and friends who work for GGP. A few of them I’ve known since The Rouse Company days. They’ve been through corporate turmoil once before. I’ll bet the prospect of going through it again is not a happy thought.

I’m sure they’ve had better days at work on Columbia’s Main Street.

If I see any of you at the C20 event tonight, I’m buying.

Lipstick on a Pig

I realize this is old news but I just couldn’t help myself. In a happier time this month, before Wall Street melted down, I was driving home listening to All Things Considered on NPR. When I heard this story I laughed so hard I almost ran off the road.

Kimco Seeks to End GGP’s Role as Columbia Gatekeeper

Kimco, the owner of Wilde Lake Village Shopping Center, has submitted a petition to amend the New Town Zoning in Columbia (ZRA-102). Kimco is seeking to end the “gatekeeper” role of Columbia’s developer in approving any redevelopment plans for the village centers. As it now stands, Kimco must first get General Growths approval for their redevelopment plans before they can submit them to the county. In their petition, Kimco claims that the “existing regulations do not permit the redevelopment of the Village Centers to respond to changing market conditions. As a result of the current regulations, the Village Centers can not be redeveloped and reinvestment is therefore discouraged.”

That’s a bit of a stretch.

Back in March, when Ken Ulman announced his legislative initiative to support this type of change in Columbia I was generally supportive of the notion.

I’ve since changed my mind. The more I studied Kimco’s plans for Wilde Lake and their track record with the eight village centers they acquired from The Rouse Company, the more convinced I am that they are somewhat lacking in the whole Columbia vision thing. Once they gained control of the eight centers, they sold off Oakland Mills and Long Reach and kept Hickory Ridge, River Hill, Dorsey’s Search, Harpers Choice, Kings Contrivance and Wilde Lake. While I generally applaud their efforts to reinvest in Wilde Lake, I have now come around to conclude that their plans for 500 apartment units in that center are a little out of whack with the village center concept, even an evolved village center concept.

GGP on the other hand, has a pretty strong interest in maintaining the Columbia franchise. In addition to Town Center they also have significant land holdings in Columbia Gateway. It is in GGP’s best interest to see that the Columbia “brand” stays strong and that means relatively healthy village centers. I suspect that GGP has been a little disappointed in Kimco’s stewardship of the village centers so far so it is no surprise that Kimco would prefer to have them removed from the approval process.

I think I’d rather see a private developer who has “skin in the game” in the role of gatekeeper for the Columbia concept than to leave that function entirely in the hands of local government.

Wegmans Saga Part Seven

click to enlarge

Today I learned that Wegmans has now received the critical Site Development Plan approval for their planned store at the intersection of Snowden River Parkway and McGaw Road in Columbia. They need this approval before they can apply for a building permit.

If you want to see some interesting computer generated renderings of the building and the parking structure, check out the SDP application on the county website. I liked this elevation because it gives you some idea how the redeveloped property will look when you are actually driving by it. You can find the SDP application, with exhibits, here. It’s a big file though so it may require a little patience.

The Laptop Warranty Blues

Three years ago, when I purchased my Toshiba Tecra A4 laptop, I also purchased the extended three year “drop kick” warranty for an additional $254.15. It was my understanding that this would cover any problem I had with the machine for three years.

I should note here that I seldom buy extended warranties.

The laptop though is another issue entirely. I lug my laptop around everywhere. It goes traveling with me, it goes out on the patio, into the mall and god knows where else. I should also note that I am not exactly what you might describe as a gentle person. The point being that I am a little rough on my equipment. Buying a “drop kick” warranty seemed to be a prudent thing to do.

As it turns out, my little laptop has proven to be a fairly tough little machine. With the extended warranty period coming to an end next month, I never needed to use it, until a few weeks ago that is. It wasn’t the computer itself that encountered problems. It was the AC adapter that gave up the ghost. Of course a laptop without an AC adapter is a laptop on limited life support. I dug out my extended warranty papers and called the 800 number. No problem, I was told. They would ship a new AC adapter out to me in 7 to 10 business days.

That’s a problem. My laptop battery life is around four hours. In the past I have given thought to having two AC adapters, one for my office and one for home. I decided that this was the opportunity to do just that so I bought a universal AC adapter. When Toshiba sent me my replacement I’d have two. It’s a plan. So far so good.

After waiting ten days and not receiving my replacement adapter I called Toshiba again to find out what was up. Of course I doubt I was actually calling Toshiba but rather some call center in India. This time the representative informed me that it often takes 10 to 15 business days for these parts to arrive. What happened to the 7 to 10 days I was told previously?

The guy didn’t have an answer for that except to say that the guy who promised a quicker delivery was misinformed.

“Can you at least tell me that it was shipped?”

“It was shipped,” he told me. He couldn’t tell me when though.

I began to suspect that they might be dragging this out. Recall that I only had a little over a month left on my warranty period. I began to envision a month and half of chasing a hundred dollar AC adapter. They were going to try and grind me down.

Taking his word, I waited the requisite 15 business days for AC adapter. It never arrived. I called again. This time, when the representative got on the phone I started right in on him.

“Let me begin by saying that I know this isn’t your fault and I am not angry at you.” I then proceeded to give him my name, address, the serial number of my laptop, the service order that the first guy gave me and the date and time of my last call when I was told the item had been shipped.

After that I simply said, “I'd like to speak with a supervisor please.”

Without any argument he asked me to hold while he got a supervisor.

As it turns out, all the supervisors were busy. He then gave me a different 800 number to call. He told me that this was a Customer Relations number. He suggested that this might be a better approach for me at this point. He also gave me a new “case number.” I imagined my little file at Toshiba was getting bigger and bigger. I thanked him and hung up.

The next morning I called the new 800 number. This time the woman I spoke with politely informed me that the AC adapter wasn’t covered by my warranty.

“Wait a minute, I already have a service number.” This time the fact that I already had a case number meant she couldn’t help. It wasn't her area. She gave me yet another 800 number.

The next live person I got on the phone was immediately subjected the whole litany of my Toshiba travails complete with serial numbers, order numbers, and bad 800 numbers. Once again I told the person that I was certain he was nice fellow and that he personally had nothing to do with my little drama but, despite all that, he wasn’t likely to be able to make me happy at this point either. I asked him to connect me with his supervisor. He readily complied.

I waited no more than five minutes on hold when Betty came on the phone. I immediately took a liking to Betty. She was all business. She had already reviewed my case before she even got on the line.

“Somebody messed up,” she offered.

I told I appreciated her candor.

“The order was booked but never sent,” she explained. In very short order, Betty confirmed that the item was in stock and with a few keystrokes sent it down into the system and to my front door.

My brand new AC adapter arrived two days later.

Before Betty and I parted I asked how I could ever find the real Toshiba customer relations again. I still have six weeks left on my warranty after all.

I wanted Betty’s number.

Freshly Dug Holes

Earlier this week, I was talking with my sister Pat about the turmoil on Wall Street. She told me that she had a conversation with a financial adviser in Birmingham who advised one of his wealthy clients to take all of his money out of the market and bury it in a hole in Montana.

“I’m not wealthy,” she told him, “What should I do?”

“Go to Montana and look for freshly dug holes” he advised.

Scene This Week In...

Driving through Ellicott City the other day I witnessed a sight you seldom see these days. A store owner was actually sweeping the curb in front of his store on Main Street. I believe the man in the ball cap is Tom Shoemaker, the proprietor of Shoemaker Country.

There was a time when this type of thing wouldn’t cause a second glance. Nowadays, it seems that many store operators often can’t see beyond their front doors.

When I was fresh out of college working for The Rouse Company, I was given a valuable lesson by Jim Rouse himself. Jim believed that whenever you were on a company property and you saw trash you should bend over and pick it up. No one was too good to do this simple task and the Chairman himself led by example.

My hat goes off to Tom Shoemaker. He is this weeks Scene in Ellicott City.

Over in Columbia I had the occasion to drop by the Howard County Central Library in Town Center. It was Monday afternoon around 1:30 and the parking lot was packed.

This is a very popular library.

Part of General Growth’s proposed redevelopment of Town Center includes replacing the existing library with a larger and expanded scope facility similar to the one in Cerritos, California. Apparently Valerie Gross the Executive Director & CEO of the Howard County library system is completely on board with this plan. GGP sees the new library as an intregal part of a new group of cultural amenities in Symphony Woods that would include a completely refurbished Merriweather Post Pavilion and a new Children’s Theatre run by Toby Orenstein in one of the existing barns.

The best part about these plans is the prospect that many more people will be encouraged to walk to these facilities rather than driving as they do now.

The existing library is this weeks Scene in Columbia

Looney’s Pub Coming to Columbia?

This morning I received an email from a broker representing Looney’s Pub in Canton. The Irish pub is looking for a new location in Columbia. They are looking for locations of 7,000 to 10,000 square feet that offer “strong daytime and evening populations.”

The former Rocky Run location immediately comes to mind.

It won’t be the first time a Baltimore pub has tapped into the Columbia scene. Last year the Dog Pub in Federal Hill took over the former Hard Times Café location on Dobbin Road and opened Pub Dog.

I wonder if these establishments are simply following their young clientele as they move from urban singles to young families seeking good schools.

UPDATE March 16, 2009: Well they didn't exactly land in Columbia but Looney's Pub is now open in the space formerly occupied by Trapeze in Maple Lawn, just in time for this years St. Patricks Day celebrations!

Another CA Board Meltdown

Last night at a seemingly mundane CA Board Operations Committee meeting, a group of approximately 25 residents showed up to let their voices be heard.

Why such a large turnout for a simple committee meeting?

CA staff had prepared a confidential memo for the board regarding their recent discussions with GGP about Town Center redevelopment plans. Rob Goldman, who was serving as Acting CA president in Maggie Browns place, suggested that the board convene a closed session to discuss the issues raised in the memo before airing it in public.

It appears that CoFoDoCo had been given a heads up about this supposedly “confidential” memo. The larger than usual turnout was a result of them mobilizing their members. They came loaded for bear.

It is not difficult to figure out where CoFoDoCo got its “heads up.” Council members Cindy Coyle (Harpers Choice), Alex Hekimian (Oakland Mills), Evan Coren (Kings Contrivance) and Phil Kirsch (Wilde Lake) were all pushing for an open discussion of the staff memo clearly pandering to their assembled supporters.

Council members Miles Coffman (Hickory Ridge), Tom O’Connor (Dorsey’s Search), Pearl Atkinson (Owen Brown) and Suzanne Waller (Town Center) wanted to have a closed session first. There is actually a legal question as to whether they were required to hold a private session first. This was a “confidential” staff memo after all.

Council members Hank Dagenais (Long Reach) and Michael Cornell (River Hill) were absent.

With four members wanting a premature open meeting and four members wanting a closed meeting, the issue hit an impasse. Chaos apparently then ruled the night.

I say apparently because, in the interest of full disclosure here, I was not in attendance. I received a report on the proceedings this morning from someone who was. Judging from the report I got it was another highly charged evening on Wincopin Circle. If anyone who attended had a different take, please feel free to comment.

In the end, the memo was not discussed in open session last night.

Sidewalk To Nowhere

Sarah Palin may have her bridge to nowhere but Columbia now has a sidewalk to nowhere.

I suppose you could technically claim that the sidewalk connects the Dobbin Square shopping center to the Columbia Crossing shopping center on the opposite side of Rouse Parkway (MD Route 175). The only problem is that on the Columbia Crossing side the sidewalk just comes to a dead end.

What are pedestrians supposed to do at this point?
Their options at this point are to walk on the grass or walk in the street. The truly adventurous can try climbing the steep grassy hill. This will land them smack dab in the loading dock area for Dicks and Staples.

Whoever planned this apparrently did not think it all the way through. Perhaps they ran out of money?

This is not exactly a pedestrian friendly intersection to begin with. The new crosswalk makes crossing here only marginally safer.

Firehouse to House Wine Bar?

I first heard about this from Mike Johnson at the Judges Bench Pub in Ellicott City. He told me he spoke with the person who was planning on leasing the old firehouse building across from his place on Main Street. She told him she was planning on opening a wine bar.

The Main Street firehouse went out of commission as an active firehouse when a new home for Ellicott City Fire Company #2 was completed at the intersection of Montgomery Road and US Route 29. The old firehouse was sold by the county to local attorney, Richard B. Talkin. The sale upset some of the other restaurateurs’ in the old town. They didn’t want the new owner to lease the building to another restaurant.

I’ve never really understood that logic. More restaurants have generally been proven to generate more traffic. On the other hand, they also raise the level of everyone’s game and those who do not meet that challenge could get hurt by the new competition.

Anyway, in order to placate the locals and get the deal done, Richard agreed not to lease to a restaurant for a fixed period of time. I seem to recall that it was around two years. Keeping to his word, he then leased the building to an arts and antiques dealer.

The arts and antiques dealer closed up shop this summer. The self imposed prohibition against restaurants is now over so there is no keeping Mr. Talkin from leasing to someone who wants to open a wine bar.

When I called him the other day on another matter, I asked him about the rumor of a wine bar in his building.

“We are talking with some people,” he responded coyly. I certainly can’t fault him for that. A deal isn’t a deal until the deal is done and the check has cleared. This transaction apparently isn’t quite there yet.

He did let on though, that he thought a wine bar would be a good fit.

Wegmans Saga Part Six

Today, in a comment to this blog, HowChow asked “Any other news on Wegmans? I drive by looking for construction, but I haven't seen anything.”

I thought that was a pretty good question too. So do many readers here I suspect. According to Google Analytics, my last post on Wegmans, on July 31st is still the 13th most popular post on this blog (out of 290) and the keywords “wegman’s howard traffic” are the fifth most popular keywords (out of 388) over the past thirty days.

So there you are. People want to know what’s up with Wegmans.

When I want to know what’s up with Wegmans I call Richard Talkin, arguably the best real estate attorney in Howard County and, just so coincidentally, he happens to represent Wegmans in Howard County.

“They’re moving forward,” he told me today. The company is currently working their way through the county planning and development approval process. They’ll likely need a developer’s agreement, a site development plan approval, a grading permit and a building permit before they can proceed. That all takes time. Lots of time.

“They could conceivably open in 2009,” he told me but admitted that it’s more likely to be early 2010.

There still is that pesky lawsuit to deal with. Dick insists that Wegmans is proceeding to work their way through the approvals process in anticipation that this will be resolved in their favor.

Now you know what I know.

Ulman Abandons County Seat…Moves To Columbia!

Seriously.

Well, okay, maybe not really seriously. The move is temporary. The county will move all employees, including the exec, from the George Howard Building in Ellicott City to 8930 Stanford Boulevard just off Dobbin Road in Columbia. According to this story in The Sun, the move will occur over Columbus Day weekend in October. The county will then commence the $20 million renovation of the Ellicott City building.

The county council chambers will be relocated as well. Courtney and crew will move to the school board headquarters on Route 108.

8930 Stanford Boulevard is the also home to the headquarters of Ascend One Corporation. At one time the company occupied the entire 106,000 square foot building, but apparently these days “most of the firm’s employees work from home.”

The building was built in 1990 for S3 Technologies by Merritt Properties. S3 built mock ups of nuclear plant control rooms.

This property is a good value for the county. The space has been offered for sublease for over two years. It comes with workstations already in place and wired up and ready to go and it even has its own employee cafeteria. The best part though, is that county is not committed to a long term lease.

Still, this change is going to take some getting used to.

Meanwhile, Over in Elkridge…

This past Monday I found myself over by the eastern border of the county near my former office in Hanover. Since we moved the office to Columbia last March I hadn’t traveled back much to my old stomping ground.

When we first located in Hanover about eleven years ago we would often frequent Joe Theisman’s restaurant next to the Best Western Hotel on Dorsey Road in Elkridge. It was the best place in that area for a business lunch and for after work cocktails. A few years back, Joe Theisman’s closed this location and the House of Welch took over the space. The place went steadily downhill and we soon took our clients and our business elsewhere. The restaurant eventually closed.

When I drove by on Monday there was a liquor hearing notice on the door. The new place will be called The Stained Glass Pub. Judging from the progress the construction crews were making I expect that they will open sometime later this fall.

Columbia Tomorrow

Yesterday I attended a press conference in Symphony Woods announcing the formation of new citizen advocacy group for Columbia called Columbia Tomorrow.

I hear you. That’s just what Columbia needs, another citizen’s advocacy group right?

Still, forming a citizens group to promote a particular agenda is a time honored tradition in Columbia going back to the early years of the planned community. These groups have always been part of the social fabric of Columbia.

So now we have Columbia Tomorrow which, according to its president and spokesman Jud Malone, “was established to help create a more sustainable, inclusive and attractive community that strives for excellence.”

One of the other founders is Phil Engelke. Phil is a resident of the Village of Oakland Mills and a Vice President of Environmental Design for RTKL, a global architecture and design firm with offices in Baltimore. Yesterday he commented that he “hasn’t set a foot in Symphony Woods since the Petting Zoo closed.”

That was a very long time ago.

“Columbia is not a museum,” he continued, “The third generation of Columbians is not getting what we got.”

I happen to agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment. Columbia risks becoming a living museum piece of 1960’s community planning.

The press conference was attended by a little more than 50 people, which is pretty good considering that it was in the middle of a cloudy and rainy day. Most encouraging however was the make-up of the audience. Unlike like most of these types of events I have attended, this one had a fair amount of members of that third generation of Columbians that Phil spoke about.
I just hope they stay engaged in the conversation.

Local Heroes

Last Friday Mama Wordbones and I attended a special presentation at Howard County General Hospital. The Howard County Hospital Foundation had invited donors and targeted donors to learn more about the new campus plans for the hospital. In case you haven’t been over to that part of town in the past two years, the hospital is in the midst of a 233,656 square foot expansion that includes a new state of the art surgery center, three new floors of inpatient rooms, and something near and dear to my heart, an expanded cardiopulmonary rehab center.

The development program also includes a recently completed 550 car parking garage. The Friday evening wine reception was held in a tent on the top floor of the new garage. Red wine, in moderation anyway, is good for the heart you know.

The campus development plan is projected to cost around $103 million hence the need to attract new donors. The Howard Hospital Foundation hopes to raise $30 million of that from private philanthropy.

This is where the local heroes come in. Last Friday evening, Vic Broccolino, the president and CEO of the hospital for the past twenty years, announced that the foundation had received a $1 million challenge gift from Evelyn and JP Bolduc which was met by Chip and Cathy Lundy.

Nicely done.

They’re Back on the Streets!

It was shortly after six when the front door bell rang. There, on my porch, stood three fifth graders, all girls. They wore green vests and pretty smiles but they were all business. They were pushing cookies.

Not just any cookies either, we’re talkin’ Girl Scout cookies here.

No, I told them gently. I did not care to hear about this years “new” cookie. I have my favorite’s thank you I told them. Give me four boxes of Tags and two boxes of Thin Mints.

Mama Wordbones bought some too.

The order was placed and we were told we could expect our cookies around the end of October. At such time they’d expect payment. No money, no cookie so to speak. We accepted those terms and, thanking us, they moved on.

Two hours later, while walking the dogs, a third grader approached us. She was wearing a brown vest. Resistance was futile. I went down for another box of Tags and another box of Thin Mints.

I only hope I’m stronger when I encounter other similarly attired young girls in brown and green vests and a serious cookie agenda in front of the grocery stores.

You Just Can’t Make Some Folks Happy

I guess it’s true that you just can’t make some people happy. I think Alan Klein falls into that category.

In this story by Larry Carson in yesterdays Sun, Greg Hamm, the General Manager of Columbia for General Growth Properties, unveiled a program that would dedicate a full 20 percent of the proposed 5,500 new residential units in Town Center to limited income families. Ten percent of those units would be set aside for families making less than $80,000 with the other ten percent going to families making less than $120,000. GGP is also proposing that approximately 200 rental units in the redeveloped Town Center “would be designed for shared use by students, hospital workers and retail and commercial workers.”

While many local affordable housing advocates praised the GGP plan, Alan Klein, spokesman for CoFoDoCo, was quoted as saying “The 20 percent…feels way too small.”

Alan further defined families making more $120,000 per year as “the wealthy few.”

What planet does he live on?

I wonder if any typical family in Columbia with a household income of $120,000 sees themselves as being wealthy.

I seriously doubt it.

I suppose Alan is just continuing to play the role of contrarian in the debate over the future of Columbia’s Town Center.

The 20 percent allocation seems pretty generous to me. More important it appears to be achievable thanks to GGP’s innovative funding mechanism. GGP is proposing to create a new non profit housing agency that would be funded by impact fees on new buildings in Town Center as well as surcharges on commercial and retail tenants in Town Center.

Twenty percent of the 5,500 new residential units equates to 1,100 new limited income housing units. This further equates to 220 units in each of the five new proposed Town Center neighborhoods (Symphony Overlook, Warfield, The Crescent, Merriweather, and The Lakefront).

I believe Alan Klein lives in the Hobbits Glen neighborhood in Columbia. How many limited income housing units are there in that neighborhood?

Scene This Week In...

It has been a few weeks since I last updated the “scene” photos on the right. It isn’t always easy to find the right shots in two separate locales. Alas, even I was getting tired of the two that have been up since August 4^th, so yesterday I set out to find replacements.

With Tropical Storm Hanna upon us today and flash flood warnings throughout the region, I thought this snapshot of a flood water gauge would be appropriate for the Scene This Week in Columbia. This particular gauge is located by the old Cedar Lane bridge near Route 32. When this portion of Cedar Lane was widened years ago, a new bridge bypassed and replaced the old one lane bridge over the river. The old bridge still stands and can be accessed via Harriet Tubman Drive. I sure hope the waters don’t get anywhere near that 26 foot mark today!

After snapping the flood water gauge I drove over to Ellicott City. In a recent post on his blog, Hayduke posted a picture and asked if anyone could identify the location. When I saw this picture it immediately brought back memories of when I lived on Oak West Drive in Ellicott City. Back then, when my Labrador retriever was just a puppy, I used to take her for long walks into woods that eventually ended up on Park Drive where Hayduke took his picture. On one of our many walks in that area we came across this relic from the 1930’s. The WPA was the abbreviation for the Works Progress Administration, a federal program created to build roads and other infrastructure in rural areas. It is safe to say that in the thirties Ellicott City was pretty much a rural area.

 

On an identical monument just across the road from the WPA marker is this monument for Sylvan Lane. I'm guessing that a WPA work crew built or rebuilt Sylvan Lane many years ago. With Barak Obama talking about a new federal program to fix the nations aging infrastructure as a way to help bolster the economy, it seemed appropriate to highlight a remnant of a similar effort in another time when the US economy wasn’t so hot either.

Privatizing Park Land?

click to enlarge

According to this story in the Sun, County Executive Ken Ullman is proposing to allow SunEdison to install solar panels on 7 acres of the former county landfill in Ellicott City.

Larry Carson reports that Ullman “envisions a 7-acre solar array that would produce an estimated 548,418 kilowatt hours of electricity the first year. The power would be sold to the Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Committee, a regional power grid supplier. The county would provide the land, which is next to Worthington Elementary School, and the facility would be built by Sun Edison, a Beltsville company.”

 What the article doesn’t mention is that this land is currently county park land. The former county landfill was turned over to the Recreation and Parks Department years ago and is slated to eventually become Worthington Park.

 Is the county executive now proposing to give away a significant portion of this park land to private solar energy concern?

 Stay tuned.

In This Months Business Monthly

Inspiration for this month’s column actually came from a post written by fellow Howard County blogger, Freemarket. In this post, Freemarket took aim at Delegate Gail Bates for opposing the slots initiative because of her religious beliefs. Upon reflection I concluded that I am okay with Delegate Bates, and any other elected official for that matter, using their religion as a guide for their legislative decisions as long as these officials make that clear. It is up to the voters then to decide whether that is an appropriate guide or not. That’s the way I see it anyway.

More concerning to me is the legislator that seemingly has no guide outside of the weathervane of political winds. In my mind, Delegate Shane Pendergrass fits that description. In an article last month by Larry Carson in the Sun, Delegate Pendergrass was described as being “not sure how she will vote” in the upcoming referendum.

Shane has served in the Maryland House of Delegates since 1995. The debate over slot machines in the Maryland has been going almost as long. It seems safe to assume that she has been exposed to voluminous amounts of information on this issue, certainly much more than the average citizen. Is it unreasonable to expect her to have reached a conclusion on whether she supports this issue or not?

I don’t think so.

I will be voting against the slots initiative but not because I oppose gambling. I would actually support a measure that allowed full casino gambling. Slot machines have been called the “crack cocaine” of gambling. They don’t require the slots player to do much more than insert a coin and push a button. It is akin to sitting and watching television. No real thinking is required. At least the casino games like blackjack and craps offer some challenge for your mind. If you really want to learn more about the world of slot machines I highly recommend this article from the New York Times Magazine.

I was also inspired by this excellent column by Jay Hancock in the Sun. Jay asserts that slots in the state will “hurt economic growth and the collection of other taxes.”

You can read this month’s column here.

Roller Hockey in Ellicott City

The Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks is planning on constructing an indoor sports facility in Meadowbrook Park at the intersection of US 29 and MD Route 100 in Ellicott City. The new facility will be used for roller hockey, basketball and volleyball.

As designed, the new facility will exceed the height restrictions of the R-20 (Residential Single Family) zone in which the park is located. The height restriction is 34 feet and he new building tops out at 36 feet and 3.5 inches. Apparently the steel has already ordered for the building and the cost to modify it to comply with the height restriction would be in excess of $150,000.00.

The County has requested a variance on for the Meadowbrook Park Indoor Sports Facility. If the variance is granted by the council in October, construction could begin by the end of this year.

Stranded

I haven’t posted for the past couple of days because I have been stranded with a limited to non existent internet connection.

Maybe I’m just not trying hard enough. Right now I am sitting on a porch in Avalon, New Jersey enjoying a gentle breeze coming in from the ocean at the end of the street. We are on the Jersey shore for a company strategic retreat. It’s a nice place for a retreat. There are only four of us so we all share a big house. Last night we fried up some nice fresh flounder, steamed a couple dozen clams, threw some skewers of scallops on the grill, and topped it all off with fresh Jersey tomatoes and corn. I don’t know if our planning efforts will bear real fruit but we sure ate good last night.

Today I head back to Ellicott City, a fine broadband connection, the real world and regular postings.

Long As I Remember the Rains Been Pouring Down

So why do we still have so many public buildings that fail to take that into consideration?

Take a look at this picture. There is no cover over the “transition area” from the road to the front door of the store. Target put its big red balls out there to keep the cars ff the sidewalk but they didn’t think about people coming in from the rain. I particularly like the irony of the person in the black hoodie. He or she sits on the concrete planter between two empty benches, supposedly provided by the store, instead of the benches. At least the planter area is partially covered by trees

The rains this past Friday got me thinking again about modern building design. As far as we have come in building design concerning accessibility and comfort systems, architects and building owners remain inconsistent in dealing with the rain and snow. Perhaps they believe that the building vestibule serves the purpose of providing a transition point between the outside elements and the inside elements. In my opinion, the common vestibule is just not up to this task. It is too small and too far removed from the street.

This has always been one of my pet peeves of newer buildings. This shortcoming is not limited to retail either. You can find it in office buildings, libraries and cultural facilities too. When you approach these buildings with an umbrella in rainstorm, you often have to close the umbrella while still in the rain before you enter a store. Inevitably this simple process can give you a decent soaking, somewhat negating the value of the umbrella in the first place.

Some modern buildings, such as this branch of The Columbia Bank, make an attempt to address this failing but even this effort comes up a bit short.

A better example is found in the old aluminum awning covering the sidewalk in front of Yates Market on Main Street in Ellicott City.

Town Center; the Stepchild of Columbia Villages

My recent post about the ongoing debate over the future of Wilde Lake Village Green got me thinking about the village of Town Center. With the current focus and debate on centered on the future of Town Center, it is instructive to look back at the Town Center village that Columbia’s original planners left us with.

Town Center does not have a grocery store. It never had one. It doesn’t have a pharmacy. It doesn’t have a convenience store.

Town Center does not have any neighborhood pools. Not one. The opponents of the Plaza Residences often decried the exclusivity of that buildings rooftop swimming pool but at least it had a pool.

Town Center has neighborhoods that are separated by another village. The Town Center neighborhoods of Amesbury Hill and Creighton’s Run are only accessed by driving through the Wilde Lake neighborhood of Running Brook.

It kind of makes you wonder whether the original Rouse planners had more of a concept than a real plan for Town Center beyond the mall and the office buildings that surround it.

In many ways, the residents of the village are fortunate that General Growth has come along to fill this void in the Columbia vision.

Sun Lite

The “new” print edition Baltimore Sun premiered this past Sunday. It is sad to see how far the paper of H.L. Mencken has fallen. It actually makes USA Today look good.

I guess this is just the inevitable result of shrinking newsrooms and declining newspaper readership.

Grocery Economics According to Kimco

At the Wilde Lake Village Board meeting on August 4th, Geoff Glazer, Kimco’s Development Director, laid out the economics of opening a new grocery store. According to Geoff, it costs $6 million to build a typical store (approximately 50-60,000 square feet), another $6 million to install fixtures and an additional $4 million for staffing and inventory. That brings the total to $16 million.

Within a mile and a half of Wilde Lake there is a Safeway at Harpers Choice, Giant at Hickory Ridge and Food Lion at Oakland Mills. The presence of these existing grocers combined with the lack of visibility of the village center (Twin Rivers Road is not a major artery) make it highly unlikely that a grocer would invest $16 million in a new store in Wilde Lake.

Traditional grocery stores are feeling the same competitive pressure as other retailers. They are now attracted to centers that offer much more than the old village center model. A prime example is the Long Gate Shopping Center in Ellicott City where a Safeway shares space with Target, Kohl’s, Barnes & Noble, an Old Navy, Staples, and Michaels.

As painful as it is for some older residents of the village to accept, it is time to accept this reality and move forward with a new model for Wilde Lake.

Victoria Slammed

It’s nice when one of our big city newspapers writes about a local establishment but alas that can also be a double edged sword.

Victoria Gastro Pub was reviewed in The Washington Post Magazine today. Out of a possible four stars, the locally owned Columbia restaurant received one.

The reviewer, Tom Sietsema, was especially hard on the Sunday brunch. The only thing he complimented was the “eye-opening bloody mary, topped off with Guiness.”

He did have nice words about the bar and its beer and wine selection though. You can read the complete review here.

Owen Brown Village Center Sold

Nellis Corp, a developer based in Rockville, Maryland, recently purchased the Owen Brown Village Center from Winthrop Realty Trust, a New York based publicly traded (FUR) real estate investment trust.

This village center, originally opened in 1979, was originally developed by the real estate division of Giant Foods and is the only village center in Columbia that was not developed by The Rouse Company.

The purchase price was $5 million dollars for the 73,380 square foot shopping center, which seems to be a bargain price ($68.00 per square foot) considering that most commercial buildings in Columbia now trade for well over $200.00 per square foot.

Historic or Just another Old House

Another new subdivision has sprouted on College Avenue just up the hill from downtown Ellicott City. The subdivision, dubbed Maple Cliffe, consists of 21 homesites surrounding a home built in 1912 and commonly referred to as the Hogg home. The builders’ property brochure identifies the home as an “existing historic home.” When I visited the onsite sales trailer I was told by the sales agent that the home is a “registered historic property.”

That is not quite true. According to the folks at the Howard County Historical Society, the Hogg home is an interesting old home but it is not on the Maryland Historical Trust registry or on the National Register of Historic Properties. In the context of historic Ellicott City, 1912 just isn’t that old.

Still, it is an interesting old house. According to an article from the Sun dated May 1, 2005, the developer of the Hogg property told the Howard County Planning Board that “each home would be custom-designed and would reflect the architecture of the historic house.”
This is what Dorsey Family Homes has built so far in the development. Does it “reflect the architecture of the historic house?”

I dunno about that, your call.

Ducking Traffic

Yesterday I convinced Mama Wordbones that it was just too beautiful to spend at home working on the yard. I mean, how may August days do you get in Maryland when the temperature stays below 90 and there is a slight breeze?

In order to entice her further I suggested we check out the Patuxent Branch Trail that connects Lake Elkhorn to Savage. This trail is a unique collaboration between the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks and the Columbia Association. Part of it follows an abandoned B&O rail bed that connected the old quarry’s in Guilford with the branch serving Savage Mill. If you want to know the full railroad history of this trail you can find it here.

The trail passes under Broken Land Parkway, Route 32, Broken Land Parkway South, Guilford Road, and Interstate 95. There is something otherworldly about riding your bike through a bucolic stream valley with the continuous roar of traffic high above on the interstate.

After the approximately 5 mile trek down from Columbia, you can stop in for a nice cold brew at the Rams Head Tavern in Savage Mill before heading back.

We are already planning on making a return visit in the fall. It sure beats doing yard work anyway.

The Blandair Blues

When Nancy Smith died on February 16, 1997, her 300 acre Blandair farm in the middle of Columbia went up for grabs. Over the years Ms Smith had been approached by many developers, including The Rouse Company, to sell her property. She rebuffed them all. She even refused to negotiate with the State of Maryland for the land needed to extend MD 175 (Rouse Parkway) through her property. The state eventually resorted to condemnation proceedings in order to secure the land. The state sent her a check for the land which she never cashed.

Since she died without a will, her heirs were free to dispose of the property as they saw fit. Fortunately, the county and the state stepped in to purchase the farm for county parkland and prevent it from being developed with new homes.

The county appointed a 23 member citizen Blandair Planning Committee to develop a master plan for the park. After 19 months and three public meetings a master plan was approved in 2003.

Since that time, restoration work has commenced on the Blandair manor house and refinements have been made to the master plan. The revised master plan is shown in this post. Not surprisingly, this plan has generated some strong objections from the parks neighbors.

There will be a public meeting to discuss this revised plan on Thursday, September 11th at 7pm at Oakland Mills High School.

Another Hotel Deal in Limbo?

The news of the stalled hotel deal in Columbia Gateway reminded me of another large local hotel project that may be in jeopardy. The Crosswinds Resort at the BWI Thurgood Marshall airport is a $450 million planned development that includes 1,100 hotel rooms, a 125,000 square foot indoor aquatic park (think larger than Lifetime Fitness), a 90,000 square foot conference center and 100,000 square feet of retail off Winterson Road in the Airport Square Tech Park.

The website projects a late 2007 construction start with project completion in late 2009. The photo above was taken last month. Aside from this sign, there was no evidence of any other construction activity. A subsequent email sent to the ASHA Companies in Clarksville requesting an update on the development went unanswered.

I suspect that the current constriction in the capital markets has adversely affected this hotel deal too.

Private Showing

I took the day off yesterday to spend a summer afternoon with my ten year old daughter. She had been bugging me to take her to see Journey to the Center of the Earth so we made plans to catch the 2:45 PM show at Snowden Square.

One of the attractions of this film is that it is shown in Real 3D. Unfortunately for us, the Regal Cinemas at Snowden Square were not showing the Real 3D version. If I had read the fine print I would have seen that it had advised that you call the theatre beforehand to see if they are showing it in Real 3D. Of course I didn’t do that so it wasn’t until I got to the ticket window that I found out that this was one of the theatres that wasn’t showing it in 3D. I stood there wondering why a theatre would not show a movie that was especially made for 3D in 3D.

As it turns out, my daughter didn’t care. She really just wanted to see the dinosaurs and she really didn’t care that it was or wasn’t in 3D. In fact, she isn’t a big fan of wearing those glasses anyway.

So we bought the tickets and entered the near empty lobby. There was no wait at the concession stand. When we entered the theatre we were also the only ones there. In all my years of going to movies, this is the first time that I have been in a movie theatre where we were the only patrons. It was our own private showing.

This morning, as I was reading the Sun, I came across this story about a protest that was held that same morning at Snowden. Judging from the lack of crowds that we witnessed, we both would have been better off at the other Columbia theatre.

Gateway Hotel Plan Stalls

According this story in this weeks Baltimore Business Journal, the response to General Growths Request for Proposals for a new hotel in Columbia Gateway was underwhelming. Approximately a year ago, GGP sent out the RFP to hotel developers for a 300 room hotel on a recently cleared ten acre site directly across MD 175 from the new Gateway Overlook shopping center. GGP had previously envisioned a conference center hotel on this site to service the growing business community in the park.

GGP is also proposing a 340 conference hotel in the plans for the Symphony Overlook neighborhood in the new Columbia Town Center plans. It is unclear if the lack of response to the Gateway hotel site will have an impact on the hotel plans in the first phase of the town center redevelopment plans.

A Home For Old Yearbooks

“Bring us your old yearbook.”

Seriously?

“Seriously!” Apparently they make a nice local resource for historians. I was having this conversation with one of the volunteers at the Howard County Historical Society library in Ellicott City a few weeks ago. I had dropped by to do a little research on another post that I am working on. They were super helpful and pleasant.

When he mentioned the yearbook thing, I immediately knew exactly where my copy of the 1972-1973 edition of The Glass Hour was. As it happens, we had recently built a new bookcase in my home office. In the process of selecting which books would stay and and which ones would be relegated to the donation box bound for the library, I uncovered my Wilde Lake High School yearbook. It has survived numerous moves over the years, some of which was spent in musty basement storage bins. It has a certain smell now. I guess it kind of smells like history.

Anyway, the conversation with the guy at the Historical Society (I am afraid I have forgotten his name) resulted in my retrieving the old book for another look. It had been awhile since I had last paged through it. One of the pages that caught my eye was this one. It lists the speakers that tried to enlighten us during our senior year. In a way it captures what the vibe was in Columbia back then.

Of course the question is now can I part with my old yearbook? I mean we’ve come so far already, how could I let it go now? Then again, this is kind of like sending it off to an assisted living facility.