Postman Foster Goes to Jail

Last March, Marvin Foster was arrested for stealing over a half million dollars worth of postage stamps from the Elkridge branch of the US Postal service. It was an inside job. Marvin was an employee at the time. Now he’s a former employee.

Yesterday Mr. Foster entered into a plea agreement that will make him a guest of the federal prison system for thirty months. He also now owes the government $300,000 in restitution that he will presumably pay in cash instead of stamps.

2009 Midnight Madness

This Friday night is the 32nd Annual Midnight Madness holiday celebration in Ellicott City. Most stores will stay open until midnight and there will be live holiday entertainment throughout the old town.

Last year, when Mama Wordbones and I ventured down the hill to the Midnight Madness festivities we dined at the Diamondback Tavern which had just opened. This year, some of the folks behind that restaurant have opened a new Italian American restaurant named Portalli’s in the space formerly occupied by Jordan’s Steakhouse. We’ll probably try to get in there on Friday night to check it out.

We’ll also plan on checking out my neighbor’s new venture, Ellicott City Weddings and Events right across Main Street from Portalli’s. I believe they are having an open house Friday night to show off their new facility.

The festivities kick off at 7:00 PM with the tree lighting in front of the old post office on Main Street.

GGP Gets Preliminary Approval of Bankruptcy Plan

According to this story by Erik Larsen, Edvard Pettersson, and Dan Levy in Bloomberg today, General Growth Properties received preliminary approval of its reorganization plan for 70 business units from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper yesterday.

"The mall owner said units for which mortgage holders had agreed to new terms will exit bankruptcy by the end of the year. The deal didn’t include $6 billion in mortgages for other properties, which will stay in bankruptcy. "

This move may trigger bids from rival mall developers, Simon Property Group and The Westfield Group according to James Sullivan, a senior analyst with Green Street Advisors. “This sets the stage to make a pitch for the whole company,” Sullivan said.”

This relatively quick turnabout of the largest commercial real estate bankruptcy in the country bodes well for the both the company and the commercial real estate industry as a whole.

Good Life in the Spotlight

I actually meant to post about this last week but got distracted with all the Thanksgiving stuff going on. The Good Life Market in Ellicott City was the subject of the Second Glance feature in the Post Magazine two weeks ago. Very cool.

The owners of The Good Life Market, Steve Archuleta and Randy Neely, have really transformed this little corner of Parking Lot D in the old town. It’s nice to see them get this kind of exposure.

I got 11 out of the twelve. One of the roosters tripped me up.

A Reason for Optimism

When I last visited this development I commented that, though the posted sale price had been revised upward, no homes had actually started construction. That is no longer the case. At last count there were actually at least six new homes in various stages of construction on this street in Ellicott City.

Apparently more will be starting soon.

This is a good sign that things may be finally turning around for the homebuilders. It will be interesting to see if the posted sales price changes again.

Top Dog

A wag of the wordbones tail goes out to Dave Bittner for this one.

Our Howard Brethren

Today, as I was listening to some talk radio program talking about Michaele and Tareq Salahi, I wondered whether this story was getting any play in the middle of the country. The whole party crashing affair and the resultant avalanche of news coverage seems so East Coast.

That got me wondering if there might be a sort of Bizarro World Howard County out there, in the middle of the country somewhere, where this sort of thing wouldn’t even get play on the front page, much less above the fold.

It turns out that there is another Howard County, in Indiana. And here’s the first “bizarro” part. Their county seal is almost identical to ours.

And the Salahi’s are nowhere to be found. Not on the front page at least.

As HoCo Goes so Goes The State?

Apparently Larry Hogan thinks so. Larry is contemplating a run for governor against incumbent Martin O’Malley next year. Of course “contemplating” is a bit of an understatement since he is already raising money and has the requisite website up and running. He set up an “exploratory” committee in September.

Earlier this month he gave his first stump speech to the Howard County Republican Club as part of what he referred to as his “listening” tour. According to this story by Laura Smitherman in the The Sun, Hogan considers Howard County a “swing county.”

So goes Howard County, so goes the state?

That’s what Bob Ehrlich believes. According to this story by Len Lazerick in Maryland Reporter when Bob spoke to the same club back in October he told the party faithful that “As Howard County goes, so goes the state of Maryland.”

So what about Bob?

He is in the “listening” and contemplating mode too. This may be his last chance to hold a major political office. According to this analysis by Todd Eberly in the Gazette, the future beyond 2010 looks pretty bleak for Bob.

“Ehrlich will likely never have a better opportunity. A Republican presidential victory in 2012 would make 2014 a less hospitable year. An Obama re-election may make 2014 a good year for the GOP, but after eight years out of public office, would Ehrlich still be viable? Ehrlich could consider a run for the Senate, but Sen. Barbara Mikulski seems invincible. That would leave 2012 and Sen. Ben Cardin's seat, but Obama carried Maryland 62 percent to 37 percent in 2008 and would share the ballot in 2012; I would expect down-ballot coattails. For all the challenges, 2010 presents Ehrlich with his best chance for reclaiming the governorship. That's the reality that he must grapple with.”

Whoever ends up as the Republican nominee it looks like we can expect to see more of them in Howard County in the coming year.

No One Objected

It looks as if the bipartisan effort of Delegate Guy Guzzone and Delegate Warren Miller to limit the number of liquor licenses in Howard County is moving forward. According to this story by Larry Carson in The Sun this weekend, “The 11 state legislators heard no discouragement at Tuesday night's annual hearing at school board headquarters for bills that would apply only to Howard County.”

They heard plenty of encouragement from liquor store owners. Corinne Gorzo of Glenwood Liquors, Eric Kaufman of Village Green Spirit Shop, and Bill Boarman all testified in favor of keeping out any new competitors. Boarman even went so far as to predict that this bill “would also help cap the rising number of drunken-driving arrests in the county.”

That’s a stretch.

What these liquor store owners really want is protection from competition and it looks like Guzzone and Miller are going to help them out.

On the other hand, if you think competition is actually good for consumers you could always drop a note to Warren or Guy letting them know that you think this is not good lawmaking. Guy Guzzone’s email address is guy.guzzone@house.state.md.us and Warren Millers is warren.miller@house.state.md.us.

You might also consider letting these liquor store owners know you don’t appreciate their lack of respect for the free market.

Vanishing Icon

I know this has been going on for quite some time now but when I saw this decommissioned “double wide” phone cluster at a gas station in Columbia today it really hit home.

Public phones used to be all over the place. Now they are a vanishing icon of the pre cell phone period. It won’t be long until the antique dealers in Ellicott City will be offering vintage coin operated phones.

It really hasn’t been all that long since they dotted local landscape either. I can remember when the main entrance to The Mall, just inside the doors, was flanked by two futuristic pay phone pods. Of course that entrance is long gone too. It’s now a J. Crew store.

Here’s to the pay phone. It was nice knowing ya.

Lets Get this Guy

This is a police composite sketch of the guy who is suspected of molesting a 14 year old girl at the Kohl’s store in the Long Gate Shopping Center in Ellicott City.

According to this story from Explore Howard, the suspect is described as a Hispanic male “in his late 30s or early 40s with a mustache. He was wearing dark sweat pants, a dark-hooded sweatshirt, a ball cap and muddy shoes, possibly boots. The girl reported that he had brown hair that stuck out from under his hat.”

This guys a real pig.

“The girl, 14, told police that she was shopping in the Kohl’s store on Montgomery Road, in Ellicott City, when she was approached by a man she didn’t know, police said. The man, who police say spoke only Spanish, kissed her hand, fondled her and exposed himself, police said. As the girl’s grandmother approached, the man fled from the store, police said. A witness outside the store told police he saw the man running away.”

If you have any information about anyone who matches this description you are urged to contact the Howard County Police by calling 410-313-STOP.

Bridging the Gap

The local press and blogs have been all over the story about Bridge Columbia, the grassroots effort to create a “transit” bridge connecting Town Center and Columbia points west to the Village of Oakland Mills and Columbia points eastt. The new bridge would theoretically replace the existing pedestrian with a widened version to accommodate mass transit vehicles along with pedestrians, cyclists, and perhaps others. The key distinction of this proposed bridge is that it would not permit regular automobile traffic.

Of course this is a good idea long overdue.

One of the founders of Bridge Columbia is Fred Gottemoeller. Fred is an architect and engineer specializing in bridge design. He is the president of Bridgescapes, LLC which is based in Rivers Corporate Park in Columbia. He is also my old neighbor from Town Center. Fred and his wife are quintessential Columbians. Pat tends the flowers surrounding the community sign and Fred helps out with other homeowners association tasks. I mention all this because I think it’s important to understand that Fred and the two others behind this effort really “get” Columbia.

Joining Fred in Bridge Columbia is John Slater. John has been a landscape architect in Columbia for almost as long as there has been a Columbia. After leaving The Rouse Company in 1974 he started Slater Associates, Inc.. After years of running his business out of suite of offices above the stores at Wilde Lake Village Green he moved his team to Town Center. This is another guy firmly rooted in Columbia.

Rounding out the group is Dave Bittner. Dave and his wife Ilana run Pixel Workshop, a Columbia multi media production firm. Dave grew up in Columbia and ended up purchasing his childhood childhood home on Lake Elkhorn. I don’t think Columbia roots can go much deeper than that.

Bridge Columbia is not just about a bridge either. Its really about intelligent transit planning to weave a redeveloped Town Center into the very fabric of Columbia.The group made three specific recommendations in their public testimony to the county council on CB 58 and CB 59.

1) Start all transit feasibility studies 60 days after legislative approvals of the GPA, ZRA and APF changes, before the First Final Development Plan.

2) Include a test for transit capacity in the APF ordinance and give APF credit for the necessary transit improvements.

3) CEPPA # 3 should be revised to test the need for a third interchange against improvements at the existing interchanges and proposed and required transit improvements.

Scene This Week In…

Yesterday the Main Street of Ellicott City was peacefully quiet in the morning fog. It also marked the first day of free parking for the Thanksgiving weekend. Free parking will also return on the weekend of December 4th through 6th to coincide with the 32nd annual Midnight Madness celebration when most of the stores will stay open until midnight on that Friday night. Santa arrives on Main Street with a parade the following day at noon.

The return of the poinsettia tree to The Mall in Columbia is always a cause for celebration. After its one year exile to the Symphony of Lights display in 2007, the Columbia tradition returned last year. I’m still not crazy about the car dealer advertising that surrounds the tree.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Eat, drink, indulge, converse and get home safely.

More Troubling News about Newsgathering

The continuing decline of the newspaper business has claimed another victim. According to this story by Howard Kurtz in The Washington Post yesterday, the paper has decided to close its remaining national bureaus in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

“The money-saving moves, coming on the heels of four rounds of early-retirement buyouts and the closing or merging of several sections, are the clearest sign yet of the newspaper's shrinking horizons in an era of diminished resources.”

In an attempt to put a positive spin on this development, Executive Editor Marcus W. Brauchli, claimed that the paper can still effectively cover these major US cities with reporters sent out from Washington, DC.

Perhaps it can. There is no doubt that technology has made it easier to gather information and file stories. Still, there is something to be said for having local reporters who possess a deeper understanding of local issues.

Then again, perhaps the paradigm for local news gathering is changing.

You Can Get Anything You Want…

My sister Kelly and I believe that Thanksgiving is not complete unless we hear Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie. As I was searching for the song on the Internet tonight I ran across this NPR interview with Arlo from four years ago. Enjoy.

On The Road

Many of our friends and neighbors are hitting the road today to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday in other locales. The rain today will not make that journey any easier.

This year I’m staying put. After enduring a slog through Atlanta’s airport on my way to Magnolia Springs, Alabama last year I am looking forward to keeping it local this time around.

For those Tales of Two Cities visitors hitting the road today, be safe. We’ll keep an eye on things while you’re gone.

Update for Road Warriors 11:22 AM:

In the event that you are one of those trying navigate the nations highways over the next couple of days, here are some useful links from Michael Dresser in The Sun for helping you get around.

Of course you would also need a better phone than mine…

Alan’s Army

In his testimony during the public hearings on CB58 and CB59, CoFoCoDo spokesperson Alan Klein asked the members of the county council to “envision” all 450 purported supporters of the CoFoCoDo “lined up behind me” when he called on the council to reject this legistlation.

I imagine the council had a little difficulty doing that. The supporters Alan was referring to were people who signed on to a CoFoCoDo mission statement over three years ago, long before General Growth Properties even unveiled their plans for Columbia Town Center.

It’s hard to imagine this group of people, which includes three of the five current council members, lined up squarely behind Alan today.

Memo to CoFoCoDo: Time to update that supporters list.

Molasses in January

This winter, icy roads in Howard County will be treated with a new product called Ice Bite which is a combination of salt brine and molasses. According to this story by Michael Dresser in The Sun today, this product “will be used in a pilot project in Frederick and Howard counties to test its effectiveness in pre-treating highways before spraying salt.”

It is apparently better for the environment too.

“Christopher P. Swan, an ecologist and associate professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has studied the impact of rising salt levels in streams - frequently attributed to heavy road salt application. He said he's found subtle but potentially significant changes in the development of grey tree frogs, aquatic insects and zooplankton, the microscopic animals in water that feed on algae.

Swan says he thinks using the molasses-based product as a supplement to rock salt would probably help reduce the amount of salt that is getting into area streams.”

I guess it’s not just for baking anymore….

Pulling Columbia Together

I won’t say how I came across this plan but perhaps some folks think it’s important for everyone to see the possible. This plan shows how a revitalized and expanded path system, as part of the proposed Columbia Town Center redevelopment program, could actually pull the community together.

Speaking for myself, Mama Wordbones, and Peanut, we’d love to ride our bikes on this trail system.