Things have been quiet around here...

Compass faithful, I have not had a chance to post here in a while, and I apologize. I have been trying to find some time to put up some posts, but I recently took a new job in College Park, and I'm still tweaking the schedule.

The b.santos family also took a great vacation. We had a lot of fun, and while I was there, I took this picture:



I thought it looked like a great idea for a new Columbia Association headquarters.


As many local bloggers have posted (really too many to link to, just go to HoCo Blogs and check them all out), it's really hot out there. I wanted to share my own personal heatwave story. After arriving at work this morning, I left an Altoids tin on the dash of my car. The tin sat on my dashboard all afternoon. After work, I got in my car and popped two Altoids in my mouth. It was like putting peppermint flavored hot coals in my mouth.

In the fond memories catagory, one of the coolest fad buys from the early '70s, Wacky Packs, is the subject of a new book. How did I come across this tidbit of info (take the time, have a listen "centimeter-stones," very cool), from only the best NPR show that you can't hear on terrestrial radio in the Baltimore/Washington area. OK, I could have just hyperlinked to the Bryant Park Project, but the show really deserves to be mentioned by typing it out. The BPP currently can only be heard via Sirius satellite radio or online, but it is well worth a listen. For those who are social network minded, they also have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and they have a blog.

Oh, and speaking of books, the book premier of "Oh, You Must Live in Columbia!" is coming up Friday. I encourage anyone who loves Columbia street names to stop by.

Anyhoo, I have a lot of stuff to talk about, but need to find the time soon. Keep checking in, the words should flow shortly.

Resident? Guess Again

Maybe it’s the monsoon-like rain. Maybe it’s the brilliant sunshine and clear skies. Maybe it’s the ebb and flow of the weather patterns over the last two weeks. The bottom line is, the Columbia Flier got it terribly wrong this week.

Of course, I am referring to the story, “Building Plans Worry Wilde Lake Residents,” that found itself on the front page of the Columbia Flier this week. After reading the story, one might get the impression that all the residents in Wilde Lake are named Lloyd Knowles.

But let’s not get too crazy here. Lloyd does get his name mentioned six times in the article (cha-ching). The reality; however, is that Lloyd does not live in Wilde Lake. He lives in an out-parcel (non-lien assessed property) in the middle of Harper’s Choice. The truth is, Lloyd and his wife (State Delegate Bobo) own a number of condos in Wilde Lake. I suppose the front page headline “Building Plans Worry Wilde Lake Landlords,” isn't as sexy.

The reality here is that Lloyd made a comment (he did not “testify”) that took up about two minutes of a two-hour event. What the Flier has discounted was many of the comments (that were positive with respect to downtown development) of residents that actually lay their heads on pillows in Wilde Lake.

Let’s hope in the future, there will be some balanced reporting, and maybe a correction next week.

2008-2009 CA Board Leadership Decided

Based on reports from the field, Tom O’Connor (DS) has been elected CA Board Chair for this year and Michael Cornell (RH) has been elected vice-chair. Congratulations to Tom and Mike.

Village Election Results – Unofficial

Initial reports indicate an elevated turnout for Village Board and CA Board elections. Nine of the ten Columbia Villages had elections for Village Board. Because the election in Owen Brown was not contested, Owen Brown did not have elections this year. Columbia Council Representative (aka CA Board Member) elections were held in Town Center, Wilde Lake, Oakland Mills, Hickory Ridge, and Harpers Choice.

In Oakland Mills, the CA Board contest proved to be quite close. The Alliance for a Better Columbia President Alex Heikmein defeated former Oakland Mills Board Member Phil Engelke by eight (8) votes. Voting in Oakland Mills was up over last year. I have no specific total from OM, but I believe it is in the neighborhood of 535 votes.

Town Center elected Suzanne Waller over Steve Meskin.

In Harper’s Choice, Cindy Coyle bested Lynda Maxwell 315-200, a more than 500 person turnout.

Early results from Hickory Ridge indicate a less than quorum turnout for the Village, and the lowest turnout (at lest in terms of percentage) in Columbia for an election with a CA Board position on the ballot.

In Wilde Lake, the CA Board position was a closely contested race between Linda Odum and Phil Kirsch. Phil took the day 260-225, with 499 people voting. Once again, this contest was overshadowed by Liz Bobo’s machine. Her emails, notes left on resident’s doorsteps, and an election day phone bank operated out of her house shows the level of dedication (or interference) that she holds for a Village that she does not even call home. Bobo asserts that her involvement in the Village elections stems from her ownership of rental property in Wilde Lake. Collectively, Bobo and her husband Lloyd Knowles are one of the largest property owners (in terms of number of units) in the Village of Wilde Lake. Anyhoo, her candidate Phil Kirsch, and the four Village Board members she backed won in the Wilde Lake election this year.

Incidentally, I received enough votes this year (thank you, brave people of Wilde Lake) to win the fifth spot on the Wilde Lake Village Board.

Thanks to everyone who ran and thanks to all that voted in Columbia.

Columbia Elections - Open Forum

Well, tomorrow is election day (and it has already started in Kings Contrivance). I would like to hear what people are thinking. Is there any juice about this year's election? Any races in your village that are interesting? Is there any particular candidate with new and interesting ideas? Anyone have any predictions?

Some topics to keep in mind on the CA level:

Hiring a new president.
Watershed management.
Downtown development.
Board infighting.

Let's hear what you think!

If the Wilde Lake Village Center is Discussed, Can the Slate Candidates Hear It?

Last night, I attended the Columbia Association Planning and Strategy Committee meeting to hear Kimco representative Kevin Allen discuss the Columbia Village Centers. For the record, Phil Kirsch, the current CA Board member from Wilde Lake serves on the Planning and Strategy Committee. Other than Phil, no other Wilde Lake slate candidate (Marando, Pivar, Simons, Mikkelsen) attended this informative meeting with Kimco.

Kevin began his discussion with a brief history of the Columbia Village Centers. He stated that the early Village Centers had relatively small grocery stores and as Columbia grew, new Village Centers had larger stores and those Village Centers that renovated saw an increase in the size of their grocery stores. As this happened, the larger grocery stores began to “poach” customers from each other. In addition, the Giant placed outside, but immediately adjacent to Columbia at the former Palace 9 movie theatre site has been problematic for the Village Centers.

Turning to the Wilde Lake Village Center, Mr. Allen stated that due to the uncertainty surrounding Wegmans, the uncertainty of Town Center development, and the relatively close proximity of the Safeway in Harpers Choice and the Giant in Hickory Ridge, potential grocers (both major national retailers and smaller regional establishments) have been reluctant to sign a lease.

Given this persistent response over the last eighteen months, Kevin said that Kimco started looking at other ways of investing in the property. He stated that their concept right now is a mixed use retail component of approximately 50,000 square feet, an office space component, and a residential component.

The meeting then progressed to a question-and-answer phase. Planning and Strategy Committee member Phil Kirsch stated that his wife did not like shopping at Safeway (in Harpers Choice) and Giant (in Dorseys Search) because they were too big. He followed this up with a question about the viability of a small grocery store. Kevin replied that Kimco would consider putting a small grocer in Wilde Lake, but a typical (50,000 square foot) grocery store was more than likely out of the question. He also stated that plans for Wilde Lake are evolving and most ideas are still on the table.

Evan Coren then asked about David’s Natural Market. Kevin replied that he had talked with David earlier in the day (Tuesday) and David did express an interest in having a larger presence in the Village Center. Kevin went on to say that he had seen David’s grow from a 3000 square foot storefront to its current size, and he would work with David’s.

Phil then countered with a question about attracting people to the Village Center, he asked why people would come to the reconfigured Village Center. In response Kevin stated that Giant had pulled out of Wilde Lake because they were not satisfied with sales and that some merchants in Wide Lake today are exceeding the sales of Giant before it left. Looking to the future, Kevin then expressed a desire to have restaurants, and smaller anchor stores in Wilde Lake. Later in the evening, I asked Kevin if the close proximity of Cheesecake Factory, Chammps, and the other restaurants nearby would result in restaurants being shy about signing a lease in Wilde Lake. Kevin said that he would like to see local restaurants in Wilde Lake, not national chains.

Questions were then opened up to the audience. Jay Bonstingl (a Wilde Lake resident) asked if Kimco was really committed to the concept of the Village Center as the “heart and soul” of the community. Jay went on to say that he had viewed renderings from Kimco and in his opinion, he saw upper income housing that did not take into account Slayton House.

Kevin answered by saying that the renderings were only concepts and the design will evolve and change. Kevin went on to say that Kimco is looking for input from the county and the Wilde Lake Village Board, and that Kimco has heard “let’s not lose sight of the core of the village.”

Upon reflection, many topics regarding the Wilde Lake Village Center were discussed. There were plenty of revelations, and at least for me, some new information was brought to light. I just wonder how the Wilde Lake Village Board slate candidates (Marando, Pivar, Mikkelsen, and Simons) are going to “enhance and protect the Village Center” if they continue to miss these types of meetings.

Columnist Claims Rouse Practiced Discrimination Before Building Columbia

Today columnist Antero Pietila of the Baltimore Examiner details the discrimination practices of several organizations James Rouse either led or was part of during the early 1960's. I would like to hear the comments of the Compass readers.

For Some in Wilde Lake, Diversity Stands in the Way of Getting Things Done

Last night, the Wilde Lake Community Association sponsored a Candidates Night for the upcoming Wilde Lake Village Board and Columbia Council Representative Elections. The event (based on past Wilde Lake Candidates Night standards) was well attended, with about forty residents and property owners in the audience. After opening statements of each of the candidates (including myself), a vigorous question and answer session ensued. Much of the discussion centered around the Wilde Lake Village Center. Other topics of discussion included the Plaza Tower in downtown and the recent Interfaith Center architectural decision.

At the end of the evening, a Wilde Lake resident asked about the mailer sent out to select people in the community that advocated for a “slate” of candidates. The question posed (and I’m paraphrasing here) was “Why should I vote for a particular slate of candidates, rather than vote for people based on their individual merits?” Wilde Lake Village Board Chairperson Vince Marando was first to answer the question and replied as follows (again, paraphrasing here) “I reached out to people of like mind because the only way to get things done is to have people who have the same opinion.”

As a statement of fact, the candidates running as a slate are Vince Marando, Mary Pivar, Lisa Mikkelsen, Phil Kirsch, and Elliott Simons. Lisa Mikkelsen was unable to attend the Candidates Night event. All five are Caucasian, with four of the five (Marando, Mikkelsen, Pivar, Kirsch) living within a few hundred yards of each other. A majority of slate candidates (Simons, Marando, Pivar) have lived in Columbia for more than thirty years. Phil Kirsch has been in Columbia for about twenty years and I believe Lisa Mikkelsen has been in Wilde Lake for a few years. Most are retired.

Given the racial, geographical, tenure and current occupational similarities of this group, it appears that Chairperson Marando has an additional requirement, a similarity between the ears.

In this time of great change in our Interfaith Center appearance, the continued Village Center concerns, and downtown development at Wilde Lake’s doorstep, it appears that Mr. Marando (and by extension, all other candidates that chose to sign on to the slate campaign), through the slate of candidates, seeks to limit ideas and input to the process. Certainly, residents are encouraged to speak out at meetings and contact elected representatives of the Village Board to voice their concerns, but Mr. Marando has implied that a single mindset should control the votes of the board.

I take the opposite view. Wilde Lake needs diversity in order to effectively address the current and future needs of the Village. By excluding differing viewpoints, the tools available to the Village Board will be diminished, and the solutions rendered will not fully address the needs of the community.

Attention to Detail – Wilde Lake 2008 Election Update

Well, once again, the Wilde Lake Village election machines are out there. One of the most interesting is a coalition of five candidates running (Vince Marando, Mary Pivar, Lisa Mikkelsen, Elliott Simons, and Phil Kirsch) that published a flier and mailed it to people all over the Village.

Figure 1. Mailer Page One

Figure 2. Mailer Page Two

I have to say, the graphics are pretty impressive. The mailer does have the look and feel of a ballot. They have a great picture of the gazebo on Wilde Lake. It shows a lot of time and effort put into the presentation.

That said, for all the sizzle, there is very little steak here. The “Open the Process” on the exterior of the tri-fold flap has no connection to any of the propaganda on the interior of the flier. What process are they talking about? What specifically needs to be open? Given the flier indicates support for mostly current and former board members, are they currently operating in a “closed” process? I suppose which process, and what needs to be “opened” is ultimately left up to the recipient.

The broad statement that “Together we will enhance & protect our Village Center” does not provide any specifics on how the Village Center is to be enhanced or protected. Given that four of the five candidates listed have been on the Village Board since the Giant closed, I believe a reasonable voter would infer the status quo would be maintained.

One last thing, if you look a little closer at the flier:

Figure 3 Mailer, Detail

C-O-L-U-M-I-B-A? Given that there are five names on this flier, I would have to think that each reviewed the content before allowing their name to be used. So what kind of “community focused leadership” can we expect from those who can’t even identify the correct spelling of the town name? At a minimum, it demonstrates a lack of attention to detail. I encourage all Wilde Lake voters to take this lack of attention to detail, the lack of detail in their platform, and the overemphasis on visuals (as opposed to message) into consideration before voting this year.

Wilde Lake Village Board Election – 2008

This month, each of the Columbia Villages will hold elections for their Village Boards. I am running for the Wilde Lake Village Board. As I have been talking to people in Wilde Lake, the Wilde Lake Village Center is the biggest issue this election season. The prolonged grocery store vacancy and the recent closing of Produce Galore have heightened the concerns about commercial viability in Wilde Lake.

As a candidate for the Wilde Lake Village Board, I wish to make clear my Village Center position: I want to see a food store in the Wilde Lake Village Center; however, the current “wait and see” policy of the incumbent Village Board can no longer be tolerated. Last August, Wilde Lake Village Board Chairperson Vince Marando was quoted in the Columbia Flier :

Vincent Marando wants a grocery store to open in the Wilde Lake Village Center
as much as everyone else, he says.

But while several business owners are desperate for a new market to open as soon as possible, Marando, the chairman of the village board, thinks a new market should wait until the grocery store and retail picture in Columbia comes more into focus.

Since this article, Produce Galore has closed its doors and Anthony Tringali of the Anthony Richards Barbershop is considering doing the same. I believe the continued loss of retailers in the Wilde Lake Village Center will make the case for a grocery store even harder.

Now is the time for proactive steps to be taken to ensure the Village Center remains commercially viable. If elected, I will do the following:

Work with my fellow elected board members to write a letter to the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning regarding the installation of signs directing people to the Wilde Lake Village Center.

Currently the Harpers Choice Village Center, Owen Brown Village Center, and
Oakland Mills Village Center have several signs that direct people to these Village
Centers. I wrote about the number of signs for each Village Center and their locations last year. I also contacted Mary Kay Sigaty, the County Council member that represents Wilde Lake. She indicated the Village Board needed to write a letter to get the signs put up. I communicated this to the Wilde Lake Village Board last November, and no action was taken. It is unclear whether the signs would have put off the Produce Galore closing, but I believe helping people find the Village Center could only improve merchant sales.

Establish a committee to write commercial architectural guidelines.

The need for commercial architectural guidelines has been known by the incumbent
Village Board for some time. In fact Vince Marando, the current Wilde Lake Village Board Chairperson, has contacted me by phone and during Village Board meetings about forming such a committee.(I cannot confirm, but I believe he has asked me repeated times because I have chaired past committees that rewrote/updated the Wilde Lake residential architectural guidelines and the Wilde Lake Architectural Procedures.) At each turn, I have indicated my willingness to serve on such a committee. The time has come to stop talking about commercial guidelines and to start writing the commercial guidelines.

Establish a protocol for communicating information to residents.

As the Wilde Lake Village Center issue has become more prominent, I have been concerned about the lack of information that Village residents possess. At a recent Wilde Lake Village Board meeting with Kimco representatives, a Wilde Lake resident offered that the Village of Wilde Lake has a population of 15,000 people. United States Census data indicates that Wilde Lake has a population closer to 5,300 people. Other residents have put forth particular grocery chains (Trader Joes, The Fresh Place, Grauls, Eddies, Macgruders…) that they believe (and quite frankly, I believe too) would be a good fit for Wilde Lake. Lamentably, Kimco has spoken to many (if not all) of these grocers (and many more), and each has declined to locate in Wilde Lake.

This information has been communicated to the Wilde Lake Village Board, but it has not been communicated to residents. To minimize repetition and reduce frustration, the Wilde Lake Village Board must adapt a structure to communicate the status of the Village Center to residents. Be it an email list, blog, web page, or printable flier available at Slayton House, there must be a means to update residents. An informed public can help make better choices.

Looking Beyond the Immediate

The three initiatives outlined above constitute what I believe should be enacted as soon as possible. However, I do not believe they will resolve the problems at the Wilde Lake Village Center. Other initiatives will take longer to implement, and need to be clarified. I respectfully submit the following, longer-term initiatives that I believe will help restore the Village Center.

Local Business Zoning

I have written about this idea before (here and here). It originated with towns that were being over-run by food chains like McDonalds. Simply said, zoning was enacted that stated if a business had at least eleven places of businesses that shared the same layout, architecture, menu or uniforms, they would have to undergo an additional round of review before being allowed to build. This allowed local businesses to thrive. I believe that the loss of many local businesses (Produce Galore, Bun Penney, Blue Cow Café, Fire Rock Grill…) in the last few months demonstrates a need to look at the zoning to ensure local entrepreneurs have a chance in the market. I believe a committee should be commissioned to study this type of zoning and make recommendations to the board. If favorable, the board may work with County officials to enact such zoning.

Commercial Sector Education

I believe it is critical for as many people to know and understand the mechanisms behind how a grocery store (or any other merchant) picks a location. Only with good information can good decisions be made. I believe this is so important that I would champion an initiative to bring in local experts on commercial retail leases, market segmentation, and demographics (and others) to Wilde Lake such that board members (including myself) and residents can understand what is in play when a retailer is deciding whether or not to locate in the Village Center.

I believe that taking these steps will start the process of revitalizing the Village Center. A place where local residents can meet their daily needs and also a destination place that draws from the entire Columbia/Howard County community. Please join me in this endeavor, and vote for me on April 26, 2008.

Last Night, the Columbia Community Changed

Last night the Wilde Lake Village Board, serving as the Wilde Lake Architectural Committee, reversed an earlier resident committee’s recommendation and approved the architectural style of a 48-foot tall church (that’s almost five floors high) with a 16-foot cross facing Wilde Lake residents and traffic on Twin Rivers Road.

Up until last night, it was the practice in Columbia (for more than 35 years) that Interfaith Centers did not have any religious symbols on the exterior of the buildings on New Town property. Promotional material from the early days of Columbia stated “You will be glad to know that people come before buildings in our Columbia Religious efforts.”

The evening featured a powerpoint presentation demonstrating the prominence of many corporate logos that are visible in the vicinity, to include the Columbia Association logo in downtown, the Exxon gas station at Banneker Road, and the Melting Pot restaurant in the Wilde Lake Village Center. The presentation concluded with the picture zooming in on the Wilde Lake logo on the Slayton House building.

This was followed by many people speaking out, in 3-minute bites, and relating their difficulty in finding the church in the current interfaith center. Some stated it took hours to find the church, others weeks, and one who stated months. Another participant stated that having churches without religious symbols was akin to taking the names of schools off the exterior of the surrounding school buildings.

After the decision was rendered, I heard many people quietly saying, “It’s not an Interfaith Center anymore, it’s a Christian Center,” as they departed the meeting room.

Regardless, in the near future, Columbia will be a different place. The magnitude of this difference will be hard to measure. Is this “new street sign” different? 22-story condo tower different? I believe it probably depends on who you are and what your perception of interfaith was. In the end, it is a difference, and it should be noted.

Ignorance

The CA Board of Directors recently approved the budget for 2008/2009 fiscal year. One of the casualties of the budget was the axing of funds to address maintenance and structural problems along the Kittamaquandi Lakefront. This budget item was removed over the protestation of the CA Open Space Division. Now, I understand that members of the highly influential Alliance for a Better Columbia (ABC) have been wailing for years that the CA Board should not give much weight to CA Staff requests, so I took some time the other day to assess the material condition of the lakefront.

One of the first things I noticed were the pylons at the Town Center Boat Docks and along the warf to the bell tower. Long ago, these pylons were decorated with vertical strips of wood (balusters). Today, not a single pylon has all of the wood intact.

Here is a picture of one that is nearly intact:



In addition, many of the pylons have a substantial coating of green mildew on the north side:



There are also several pylons that have the tops bored out:





On a related note, some of the lights attached to the pylons are in disrepair (safety issue?):







Over at the boat docks, mildew has become a prominent feature:





And it appears that this mud has been around long enough to allow for some of the dock to be reclaimed by nature:



Over at the bell tower (which, by the way, when I have the occasion to watch Baltimore TV news, I love the shot of the bell tower and the lakefront during the opening), this ramp looked a little odd to me:



Upon closer inspection (another safety issue?):



Moving on to the bell tower, I took a look at the wooden cross bracing, and found this:



And this:



It appears to me that the only thing that is holding this bracing to the tower is paint and hope. I would think that with no money for repairs in the budget for the next two years, there may (and hey, I have not run the wind loading numbers here, but really, look at the pictures) be a good chance that this thing could fall over within the next two years. And wouldn't THAT look good on the Baltimore evening news.

The Howard County Framework document calls the Kittamaquandi Lakefront “the heart of downtown Columbia,” and in my opinion, it is our front porch. It is along these lakefront promenades that Presidential Cabinet Secretaries and Royalty once strolled. Today, it is in a sad state of disrepair, has some serious safety issues associated with it, and has one of our landmarks in danger of falling into the lake. I think it is time for the CA Board of Directors to come down from their ivory tower of a board room and listen to their staff. There is a real need for corrective maintenance and repair now. I think the board should listen to Evan Coren (KC) who stated at a recent board meeting (paraphrasing here) “this isn’t the same thing as providing towels at the athletic club, ignoring these issues will get you voted out of office.”

Hmmm…there is an election coming up next month.

Oh, and I didn’t even mention the trash, I just wish we had a place to put it.

Call to Service 2008

It’s election season again in the Next American City. All Villages will hold elections for Village Board and CA Board elections will be held in Wilde Lake, Town Center, Hickory Ridge, Harpers Choice, Owen Brown and Oakland Mills. I encourage anyone who wants to contribute to their community to get a nominating petition, have your neighbors sign it, and run for office.

Clearly, each Village will have its own issues; the Village Center in Wilde Lake, Wegmans in nearby Owen Brown and Long Reach, revitalization and the recent departure of businesses in Oakland Mills.

The one issue I hope that does not come up this year is downtown Columbia. For the past few years, some candidates have made a career out of stating that downtown Columbia is the NUMBER ONE issue. I for one have not seen any results from any of these single-issue candidates. Years of service, and very little to show for it.

It seems to me that the downtown Columbia issue is a bit like a scary movie. Initially, there is a lot of buzz and excitement, and you go and see the movie (and it scares the crap out of you). People leave the theater genuinely scared, and some have bad dreams. When the sequel comes out, there is another big circus, and you buy the ticket again. But this time, the movie is not so bad, there are some unexpected moments, and you might even jump out of your seat. By the third time the movie comes around, you realize it is really just a sad guy in a hockey mask. So let’s hope this fear-mongering about downtown will subside this year.

Let’s also hope that this election season will be about issues that can be addressed by the elected boards. Some topics might include those mentioned above and the high number of closed meetings at the CA level, the high CA legal fees, and the inability of the current CA board to get along with each other. Addressing these issues will allow Columbia to be better prepared for future.

Back from Vacation

Just a quick mid-day note: The Compass will be back to posting more frequently starting this week. I suppose it was time for a break. Mind you, no big trips to the Caribbean or the American Rockies, just a little mental time out that has now passed.

In neighborhood news, a quick shout-out/howdy to the Tolson family of Oakland Mills. The Tolsons were featured in the Washington Post Magazine yesterday and it is well worth the read. The story includes several quotes from Evan Tolson (blue shirt, hand on head). Evan and my wife were classmates (K-12) in Oakland Mills. After graduating, Evan found his way into the Navy about the same time I enlisted. He and I were in the same Navy schools in Orlando, Florida. Sometimes the world is very small.

An Unprecedented Victory

Yes, the primaries last night did provide wins for Barak Obama and John McCain, but the big story last night was that Uno, a beagle, won the Westminster Kennel Club Best in Show at Madison Square Garden Last night. This is the first time that a Beagle has won Best in Show in the history of the event. When asked for comment, Boomer, the official beagle of casa de Santos, said ROWRRWWRRRWWRR!

Primary Observation

My son and I made our usual trek to daycare this morning underneath a subfreezing oatmeal sky. We were both a bit sleepy, so we opted for the Sirius satellite radio kids music channel this morning to ease us into the day. Rolling from west to east, we listened to the Dora the Explorer theme song and the Winnie the Pooh theme song. The commercialism was starting to get to me, but with my finger hovering above the radio button, on came Debi Derryberry’s rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” as we passed Thunder Hill Road on Rt. 108.

I know my son has heard the song before, I started singing, and he quickly picked up on the chorus. The car had warmed by then and we were having fun singing and driving. As we passed Howard High School, I noticed a woman, I would guess in her twenties, leaping, jumping and waving while clutching an Obama sign.

There was something that just hit me and made me smile. The folk music, the diffuse morning light, the woman waving her sign. From my brief observation, this woman was dancing with joy. I did not realize it, but I had stopped singing, leaving my son to carry the tune. As we passed the school, my eyes misted over just a little bit, and I heard from the back seat, “C’mon daddy, ‘this land was made for you and me.’” All I could say was, “Yes it is son.”

CA Board of Directors Violates Bylaws, Watchdog Appear s Silent

The Columbia Association issued a press release yesterday announcing a Special Meeting scheduled for Monday, February 11, 2008:

The Columbia Association (CA) Board of Directors is inviting Columbia residents to attend a public forum on Monday, February 11 to share their thoughts on what background, experience and qualifications the next CA president should possess. The search for CA’s next president will soon begin and the Board is eager to receive community input to aid in creating the job description. Each resident will have three minutes to share their thoughts. The meeting will be held at 7:30pm at CA Headquarters, located at 10221 Wincopin Circle in Columbia.

Currently, this notice has been posted on the CA Website and has also been picked up by the Explore Howard website. A search of the Washington Post, Baltimore Examiner, and Baltimore Sun reveals no notice of this meeting. This is in direct contradiction to meeting notices as spelled out in the Columbia Association Bylaws, Section 2.07(a):

Section 2.07. (a) Notice of Meetings. Except in the case of a closed meeting as provided in paragraph (b) of this Section 2.07, notice of the place and time of every regular meeting and, if time permits, of every special meeting, shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in Columbia, Maryland at least one week prior to such meeting, and may state the business to be transacted thereat.

Given that the press release was issued after 3:30 PM on the afternoon of February 5, 2008, the February 11, 2008 meeting time is less than one week, even considering that it has not been placed in a newspaper as of yet.

Now, to be fair, the section does provide an “if time permits” caveat for Special Meetings. However, the selection of a new CA President is the most important issue this board will face. Public input on this issue is particularly critical, and to provide less notice for the meeting then is spelled out in their by-laws is bad form. I personally do not smell any foul play here, but a rigorous explanation of why a shorter period of notice is the least that the Board of Directors should provide. Even more appropriate would be for the Board of Directors to follow their by-laws and provide proper notice for the meeting.

Lastly, I am concerned that the Alliance for a Better Columbia (ABC) has not said anything on the matter. Granted, the press release is a little over 24-hours old, but in my opinion, ABC typically is quick to respond and loud in volume when CA is perceived to be violating their own rules. The HOA open meeting dust-up of last December comes to mind. I hope that ABC, with their considerable resources, comes out and denounces CA for violating their by-laws. On the other hand, if ABC remains silent, what is the public to think of a group that unevenly applies its voice?

One of Columbia’s Favorite Sons Endorses Obama

Pulitzer Prize winner and former resident (Longfellow, Phelps Luck) Michael Chabon, provides his perspective on the presidential candidate.

From the editorial pages of the Washington Post today.

Gettin' Bloggy

With an engaging football game tonight and Super Tuesday Right around the corner, the time to blog has been pretty limited. But I wanted to take a moment to call some features here at the compass to your attention. First off is a new tagging widget called Jiglu. Located over there on the right, this widget automatically searches my blog for different things and people that I have been writing about. It is not perfect (it thinks Kendall Ridge is a person), but if you wanted a quick reference search, its there for you to use.

I am also exploring a few applications that will allow people to rate the comments posted on the blog here. Stay tuned for this to appear in the coming weeks.

In other news, if any of you out there are registered Yahoo or Flickr users, you can now use these ID's when posting comments on blogs. Please refer to this press release.

Talk to you all soon.

Planning Board Approved most of Wegmans Plan

Last night the Howard County Planning Board held a worksession on the proposed Wegmans site development plan. The discussion, in front of a full house of onlookers, was marked by the serious tone of the board members and the wide range of topics covered. Ultimately, the Planning Board approved the SDP, but refused to allow a 92 foot clock tower.

The basis for denying the tower height lies within an apparent disconnect between New Town Zoning and the height restrictions in the Final Development Plan.

The Howard County Zoning Regulations, Section 125 – New Town District, Part E(4) states:

4. Adjustments to Bulk Regulations for Individual Lots

Upon the request of the owner of a particular lot, the Planning Board may approve parking, setback, height, lot coverage, or other bulk requirements for such lot or parcel which differ from those required by the applicable Final Development Plan, in accordance with the following procedures:

The procedures detail review in a public meeting, required drawings, and part C states:

In addition to the notice for public meetings required by the Planning Board’s Rules of Procedure, the property that is the subject of the application shall be posted with the date, time, and place of the meeting for at least 15 days immediately before the public meeting.

This was contrasted with the text regarding height in the Final Development Plan. The test states (and I am paraphrasing here):

The maximum height limit will be 50 feet, except that height determined by the Planning Board.

So the discussion by Planning Board members oscillated between the Zoning Regs and the Final Development Plan. Was a height limit beyond 50 feet on this lot different from what was required in the Final Development Plan? Ultimately, the Planning Board decided that signs should have been posted to allow a change in height.

So the Site Development Plan has been approved and (at least for now) the clock tower has been dis-allowed. I suppose moving forward, Wegmans will most likely seek building permits for the site. Meanwhile, the Final Development Plan change is on appeal and will be heard by the Howard County Hearing Examiner in the next few weeks.

Super Sunday vs. Super Tuesday

Well, the dual colossus is upon us. Super Bowl Sunday and the political cousin Super (some say Tsunami) Tuesday. Both these events could have millions glued to their TV sets for hours at a time. So now is the time to prepare.

Menus

Any favorite snacks and/or beverage suggestions? Which will hold over between the two events? Chex mix comes to mind. Does one fire up the grill for either occasion?

Places and Spaces

Are there any good house parties scheduled for either event? Does anyone know of a good pub for Sunday? Tuesday?

Entertainment

Will there be any high-concept commercials developed specially for broadcast on MSNBC, FoxNews, and CNN?

I’m certain of PBS coverage on Tuesday, but will they send Bill Moyers to Arizona this weekend?

What will the halftime show on Tuesday look like?

Your thoughts on either event, or both, are welcomed and encouraged.

Inflated Expectations

In the lead-up to General Growth Properties regional vice president Greg Hamm’s first public meeting with the CA Board of directors, the following was posted on the Chicago-based Baltimore Sun's website Explore Howard (23JAN08):

Although officials of the Chicago-based General Growth are working with a team of planners and architects to create a 30-year master plan for the redevelopment of downtown Columbia, Hamm will not make any specific presentation to the board on the emerging plan, according to CA officials.

However, the board is interested in learning from Hamm how the two organizations can work together on planning downtown’s future, said Barbara Russell, the board’s chairwoman, who represents Oakland Mills.

“The whole board wants to talk to General Growth about downtown and any plans they have that would involve (CA) land,” Russell said.

It is also important to note a similar press release was on the CA website, but has since been removed.

In reading June Arney’s report today (Hamm visits association board meeting – Members would have liked more information but appreciate first appearance by Columbia manager), I was puzzled by the following quote from CA Board member Phil Kirsch (WL):

"I thought it went all right for the first meeting," said Philip W. Kirsch, vice chairman of the board. "We were happy to see him. It would have been nice if he would have come with a few more details of what he wanted to talk with us about."

I am uncertain what details board member Kirsch was referencing. Although I arrived a little late, I attended the board meeting last week. Even after my arrival, it was clear that there had been a discussion of a watershed plan (Full Disclosure Notice: I am a member of the CA Watershed Resident Advisory Committee). This topic, at least in my mind, does reflect the expectations of the press release that preceded the meeting, considering that a good portion of the land that CA owns in downtown is under water.

With regard to detail, it seems that scheduling handcuffed any further discussion of watershed issues. Later that same night, the CA Board of Directors was scheduled to approve the Watershed Residents Advisory Committee charter. They were also scheduled to discuss two different letters (here and here) welcoming Mr. Hamm to Columbia.

I also find it interesting that during the Q&A portion of the discussion with Greg Hamm, no CA Board member specifically asked for more detail on downtown.

The inflated expectations of the evening spilled over to others present at the meeting. The Alliance for a Better Columbia President Alex Hekimian was quoted as saying:

"I think people were expecting more information than they got," he said. "There have been a lot of private meetings, and those people have gotten a lot more information than was available in public sessions. That's troubling. If the information was good enough for the private groups, why isn't it good enough for the public session?"

I always get concerned when Mr. Hekimian speaks in generalities. I am not sure which “people” he is talking about. I cannot understand how he (or the aforementioned “people”) could get confused by “Hamm will not make any specific presentation to the board on the emerging plan, according to CA officials.”

I am also uncertain as to how Mr. Hekimian can quantify what information was disseminated at the so-called private meetings. How many of these private meetings did Mr. Hekimian attend? If he has been to these meetings, why has he chosen to remain silent all these weeks?

In summary, I am concerned that “CA officials” state in a press release before the meeting that “no specific presentation” was to be made and CA Board Chair Barbara Russell (OM) states that the discussion will focus on how the two organizations can work together. Then after the meeting the Vice-Chair (Kirsch – WL) states that there was not enough detail. This is followed up by an officer of a local watchdog group stating that there was an expectation of more information, and an assertion that information was purposely kept from the meeting. If I were to give in to my cynical side, I would call that sandbagging.

A Rhetorical Shotgun Blast

A recent post on the Hometown Columbia blog revealed an email circulating throughout the county. For the sake of discussion, the email is reproduced below:

As many of you know developers like GGP are gaining an
increasingly larger control over development in
Columbia, while Howard County Officials and the County
Council have turned a blind eye.
The County Planning Director and her staff have
recently approved several traffic studies that have
mistakes or are simply inaccurate. And even though
county planning staff admitted in internal documents
that the traffic study for the controversial Wegmans
big-box grocery store on Snowden River Pkwy had errors
in it, they refuse to demand a new study from the
 developer. It is no surprise that the county is
 siding with the developer, since it was GGP that
advocated for changing the zoning at this property.
Now GGP will wants us to accept and believe their
traffic studies for downtown Columbia when they won’t
even stand up and ensure that an accurate traffic
study is used on the Wegmans site. Regardless if you
support the proposed grocery store or not, we must all
demand that the county planning staff require honest 
traffic studies and accurate development plans. They
work for us, not GGP and other developers.
Please email or call - Barbara Nicklas and Gregory
Hamm at GGP and ask them to support accurate traffic
studies for downtown Columbia.
Barbara Nicklas - barbara.nicklas@ggp.com (410)
992-6262
Gregory Hamm - Gregory.Hamm@ggp.com
Be sure to include County Executive Ken Ulman’s Chief
of Staff, Aaron Greenfield, so the County knows that
residents are getting tired of the County putting
developers first.
Aaron Greenfield - agreenfield@howardcountymd.gov
Please to forward this email to your friends and
neighbors who care about over development and the
growing traffic problem in Columbia. We have to speak
up or nothing will ever change.

From the first sentence, there is a demonstrated lack of history. When shareholders of the Rouse Company willingly voted to be acquired by General Growth Properties (GGP), the development of properties in Howard County also transferred. In the months preceding the sale to GGP, the Rouse Company was engaged in a proposal to develop downtown Columbia. As I see it, GGP has continued in the tradition of Columbia development that the Rouse Company started over 40 years ago.

The assertion that the county has turned a blind eye to Columbia development is equally void. Since the turn of the century, the county has been actively engaged in the development process. It was a County Councilperson that initiated the changes in downtown Columbia to encourage mixed use. The county chartered a committee to look at Merriweather Post Pavilion’s viability. The county funded and sponsored the Charrette. The county worked hard to keep big box stores out of downtown. The county brought forth legislation to limit building heights in downtown Columbia. Sounds to me like the county has been pretty involved.

In the second paragraph, there is a reference to “several” traffic studies. Could these be named? Why not stipulate the number of traffic studies that are known to have mistakes? Why hide behind vagaries? In addition, what is the character of these “mistakes” and inaccuracies?” Are these pagination errors? Number transposition errors? What are the specifics? Do these errors amount to real concern? Said a different way, are these errors (in these “several” traffic studies) large enough to change the level of service in the study area?

The last sentence in the second paragraph marks the departure point from reality.

It is no surprise that the county is
 siding with the developer, since it was GGP that
 advocated for changing the zoning at this property.

A little history lesson for the author of the email: It is written in the Howard County Zoning Regulations that the Rouse Company (or its successor) is the only party that can ask the county to change any zoning in the New Town District. Before being acquired by GGP, it became known that the Rouse Company would charge companies money to make the request for a change. In fact, the Rouse Company had created a plan in which it would sell “development units” to future developers if it had gotten the density in Columbia changed.

This left a bad taste in many people’s mouths (myself included). Recently, a task force of Columbians sought to review New Town Zoning and made several recommendations. The chair of this task force was (to the best of my knowledge) Owen Brown resident (and Owen Brown Village Board Chair) Andy Stack. I believe Andy’s participation on the task force was as a resident of Columbia and not in his capacity as OBVB Chair.

Regardless, Andy has been a community leader since (I believe) I was in high school (Hammond, Class of 1984), and this task force recommended that GGP be taken completely out of the New Town process. Now, given the public backlash against the development unit scheme, and the New Town Zoning Task Force recommendation to remove GGP from the process (Executive Summary, Recommendation 3). GGP appears to have taken the position that if someone is looking for a change in a Final Development Plan, they are willing to fulfill their obligation to initiate the process. There is no evidence that GGP receives any benefit from this process and there is no evidence to suggest that GGP played any significant role in bringing Wegmans to Columbia. There is evidence that Wegmans has been talking to the property owner, Science Fiction, for some time.

Moreover, the change sought at the Wegmans sight was not a change in zoning. The land is still zoned for industrial use. The change sought was to amend the FDP such that a permitted use on the industrial land site was to include a large grocery store. These are two distinctly separate actions.

This half-baked logic continues on to the next paragraph in which the email states that:

Now GGP will wants us to accept and believe their 
traffic studies for downtown Columbia when they won’t
even stand up and ensure that an accurate traffic
study is used on the Wegmans site.

Not to belabor the point, but a review of recent history helps to clarify the issue. GGP did a traffic study for downtown Columbia in 2005 (Wells & Associates). The county then commissioned a second traffic study in 2006 (Glatting Jackson), and then commissioned a third traffic study in 2007 (Sabra Wang). So GGP and the county have commissioned three different reports, from three different firms, in three successive years regarding traffic in downtown. I have no supporting evidence, but it may well be that downtown Columbia traffic has been the most studied traffic area in the State of Maryland over the last five years.

I would like to close by saying that for all the flaws, I admire the folks who are sending this email around. That being said, the vagaries, inconsistencies, and lack of knowledge of history greatly diminish the impact of this letter. When it comes to trying to effect change, a lucid, rational argument will carry the day. Banging drums only makes noise. It is my hope that those at the county realize the distinction. If you agree with me, please contact the county and please tell them to ignore the noise.

Traffic Update

Merely a data point, no need to look too deep here; however, I was taking my son to a doctor appointment this morning (about 8:40 AM), and had to drive through downtown Columbia. We were traveling along Little Patuxent Parkway, southbound between Sterrett Place and the Howard County Central Library, and half the lanes were blocked due to road construction.

For a moment I held my breath. Here we were in downtown Columbia, during rush hour, and half the lanes were blocked. Would we make it to the doctor on time? Turns out, there was no delay, traffic flowed without hesitation (even with the 50% lane restriction).

Driving back through the area (in the opposite direction) at about 10:30 AM, the lanes were still closed (one lane through) and there was no backup.

Has anyone else experienced free flowing traffic in downtown Columbia?

Now You Can Hear “It Could Happen Here”

I recently came across a library of audio recordings on the web which has all of the featured speakers at the 1963 “Metropolitan Future Conference on the Metropolitan Future” from Berkeley, California. This conference is where James Rouse gave the “It Could Happen Here” speech.

Here is the link . Getting to the audio file takes a little bit of work, the conference audio files are pretty far down the page. You can scroll down until the scroll bar is about an inch off the bottom of the screen, and you will come upon the following:

The Metropolitan Future Conference on the Metropolitan Future ]1963 :
Berkeley, Calif.]).
Recorded on September 26, 1963 in the Peacock Court of the Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco and on September 27, 1963 in Pauley Ballroom, Student Union, University of California, Berkeley.

There are 11 numbered files that follow, Jim Rouse can be heard on file 4:

4. The good environment--Introduction / by William M. Roth--Lessons from modern urban design / by Steen Eiler Rasmussen--The private developer / by James W.
Rouse.

Another quick way to find it on the page is to use the “Find” function in Microsoft Explorer (Control-F). Search for the term “Peacock”

Note: Audio files are in the RealAudio format and require a RealAudio player, the player can be downloaded for free online.

Sun of a Son of a Sailor

Today’s post comes from my son. We were talking the other day, and he asked me “Daddy, what house is the sun house in Columbia?” Intrigued, I pushed for more info, “What is a sun house?” “The sun house” he replied, “is the first house that sees the sun in the morning.”

Beyond the “Where does a four-year-old get this” line of questioning running in the back of my brain, I think it’s a pretty cool question. What house in Columbia sees the sun first? An obvious start would be in the Eastern half of the city. Given the topography, most of Kings Contrivance is in the Patuxent River stream valley. The ridge of the Owen Brown neighborhood of Hopewell is a good prospect, as well as the Eastern parts of Long Reach (Kendall Ridge and Snowden Overlook).

The Spring Equinox is coming up pretty soon, which I think would be a good date to mark the path of the sun (as well as the autumn equinox and the solstices). Is anyone willing to do some pre-dawn excursions with me in March?

The Dimension of Scale

Over the past year, much has been made about downtown and “human scale.” This discussion of human scale is often in the context of building height. As many know, James Rouse is known for criticizing other communities (both cities and suburbs) for being out of scale with people. This post provides the background information to determine the context of Rouse’s comments and how he viewed scale. This research was first spurred on by a post on the Tales of Two Cities blog and Wordbones longtime friend Jim Binckley.

The following excerpts were taken from four speeches made by James Rouse at Berkeley, California (1963), Chicago, Illinois (1965), before Congress (1966), and in San Juan, Puerto Rico (1967). These speeches are important because of their place in Columbia’s history. In each instance, James Rouse discusses scale as it relates to people.

The first excerpt of the speech comes from the James Rouse speech “It Could Happen Here.”

I believe that many of the most serious problems of our society flow from the fact that the city is out of scale with people; that it is too big for people to comprehend; to feel a part of; to feel responsible for; to feel important in. I believe this out-of-scaleness promotes loneliness, irresponsibility, superficial values.

“IT CAN HAPPEN HERE”
A Paper on Metropolitan Growth
By James W. Rouse
at Conference on The Metropolitan Future
University of California at Berkeley
September 23, 1963

Here, the term scale is introduced, but it is more aligned with feelings (loneliness) and social capital (to feel a part of) than any particular dimension or entity within a city. By this time, Rouse has already purchased most of the land in Howard County for Columbia, and within six weeks (November 1963), will have brought together the work group.

From Berkeley, we move on to Chicago, Illinois in the spring of 1965. During the intervening months between Berkeley and Chicago, James Rouse has been busy in Howard County. The work group has come and gone, he has presented his intentions to the Howard County Commissioners, and has worked with county officials for a year to get the zoning for Columbia.

At Chicaco, James Rouse spoke to a different audience. Rather than a conference on growth, this speech was presented to “The Annual Honor Awards Luncheon of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects,” at a time when the John Hancock Center was approved for construction. This building has 100 floors and rises 1,127 feet in the air. Commenting on the building, Rouse said:

Of more immediate interest to all of us is this recent manifestation of happy wedlock between good business and good architecture – The John Hancock Center. So contagious is the Chicago spirit that it has infested a Washington developer, an international architectural firm, and, most important, a great New England life insurance company to bring to your city a new landmark that may well become one of America’s greatest buildings.

Later in the speech, Rouse comes back to Columbia, and the issue of scale:

Forgive this amateur excursion into architectural philosophy – this audience and this platform produced a temptation that was irresistible. I was invited to talk about the City and the City I know best is Columbia – one that doesn’t even exist, but which has already brought to those of us who are working towards it, experiences and hopes we yearn to share.

We were drawn to the idea of building a City by our intensive involvement in suburban sprawl. As mortgage bankers and developers, we have financed for others or built for our own account most of the components of a City – but they have been splattered over the countryside in the unrelated bits and pieces that mark the accidental, fractured growth of our cities.

We have seen, as has each of you, the desperate need for comprehensive planning in metropolitan growth. We have made speeches about the loneliness and sterility of stratified, incomplete suburban sprawl and pleaded for communities in scale with people and responsive to the need for beauty, space, nature, culture, education, entertainment, and involvement. We have mourned the annihilation of streams and forests; cursed the bulldozer; fretted over the lack of mass transit and wrung our hands in despair as our cities surge toward the infinite Los Angeles that we have come to call Megalopolis.

April 8, 1965 – Chicago, Illinois
Great Cities for a Great Society
The Annual Honor Awards Luncheon of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects

Here, we find an expansion on the subject of scale and its relation to sprawl. Beyond the feelings and social capital, aspects of nature, mass transit, and civic purposes (education, culture, entertainment) are introduced. Moreover, scale is related to an “infinite” Los Angeles and Megalopolis. Even in the 1960’s, with the John Hancock building in Chicago and the World Trade Center in New York under construction, I do not believe the reference to infinite was in a vertical sense. Los Angeles is known for expanding far and wide across the California countryside. Similarly, the term Megalopolis refers to the merging of distant cities.


From 1965 Chicago, we move to Washington DC in 1966. During this year, James Rouse testified before Congress in support of the New Communities Section, Title II of the Housing Bill. The following quote comes from a paper written by Morton Hoppenfeld, “The Columbia Process – The Potential for New Towns,”

The following statement by James W. Rouse, the founder of Columbia, before a committee of Congress in support of the New Communities Section, Title II of the Housing Bill for 1966, expresses a real personal commitment on the part of the principal decision-maker in the effort to build a better city; his values are shared by the entire Columbia staff.‘

Our cities grow by accident, by the whim of the private developer and public…By this irrational process, non-communities are born – formless places, without order, beauty or reason, with no visible respect for people or the land…The vast formless spread of housing, pierced by the unrelated spotting of schools, churches, stores, creates areas so huge and irrational that they are out of scale with people – beyond their grasp and comprehension – too big for people to feel a part of, responsible for, important in…

From “The Columbia Process – The Potential for New Towns,” page 3,by Morton Hoppenfeld. The Garden City Press Limited, Letchworth Hertfordshire, England

Here we see a further evolution of the term scale. Scale is unequivocally equated with “the vast formless spread of housing.” Without question, Rouse has now identified development over large areas as the dimension of scale.

The final speech looked at here is the speech “Cities that Work for Man – Victory Ahead.” This speech was delivered in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the Lions International/University of Puerto Rico Symposium on “the City of the Future.”

[t]he bits and pieces of a city are splattered across the landscape. By this irrational process, non-communities are born – formless places without order, beauty or reason with no visible respect for people or the land. Thousands o’ small separate decisions made with little or no relationship to one another, nor their composite impact, produce a major decision about the future of our cities and our civilization – a decision we have come to label suburban sprawl. What nonsense this is! What reckless, irresponsible dissipation of nature’s endowment and of man’s hope for dignity, beauty, growth.

Sprawl is inefficient. It stretches out the distances people must travel to work, to shop, to worship, to play. It fails to relate these activities in ways the strengthen each and, thus, it suppresses values that orderly relationships and concentration of uses would stimulate.

Sprawl is ugly, oppressive, massively dull. It squanders the resources of nature – forests, streams, hillsides – and produces vast, monotonous armies of housing and graceless, tasteless clutter.

But worst of all, sprawl is inhuman. It is anti-human. The vast formless spread of housing pierced by the unrelated spotting of schools, churches, stores, creates areas so huge and irrational that they are out of scale with people – beyond their grasp and comprehension – too big for people to feel a part of, responsible for, important in.

[and later in the speech]

Sprawl is thought to be better than slum because it is greener, cleaner and less crowded. We accept the deficits of non-community; the scatterization of facilities, the frantic, fractured living, the loneliness amidst busyness, the rising delinquency among middle-class children, increasing neurosis, alcoholism, divorce; the destruction of nature and the dull monotonous man-made replacement. We accept it all as if it were a pre-ordained way of life beyond our capacity to significantly influence, shape or control. Lacking images of urban growth in communities that are in human scale and sensitive to both man and nature, we take what the developer gives us and we think we have to like it.

Cities that Work for Man – Victory Ahead
The Lions International/University of Puerto Rico Symposium on “The City of the Future”
San Juan, Puerto Rico
October 18, 1967

It is in this speech when it all comes together. James Rouse directly links “scale with people” with sprawl. The reference to loneliness recalls Berkeley. The reference to nature brings to memory Chicago.

What we do not find is any reference to scale and building height. It may well be that at sometime in future history a document may surface that spells out James Rouse’s position on height, but for now there should be little doubt that Rouse equated scale and sprawl, not height.

New Towns, New Friends

Greenbelt Museum Curator Jill St. John (left) and
Education Coordinator Megan Searing Young

This evening, I went down to Greenbelt to attend a lecture on New Towns. The lecture was sponsored by the Greenbelt Museum and held at the Greenbelt Community Center. The Greenbelt Community Center is a converted elementary school. As I walked the halls, the center was busy with activities from basketball games to craft classes.

The lecture, entitled “New Towns,” consisted of a viewing of a WETA produced documentary called “New Towns” and a Q&A session. The lecture was well attended, with I would estimate 40 people in the audience. This included the Mayor of Greenbelt. Coffee and cookies were provided.

The documentary was a little less than an hour in length, and featured the New Towns of Greenbelt, MD, Columbia, MD, and Reston, VA. The documentary featured extensive interviews with James Rouse and Robert Simon (Reston). Topics of discussion included the basis for each new town, walkability, racial integration, and affordable housing.

Personal favorites of mine where black and white footage of Mort Hoppenfeld (and I believe Bob Tennenbaum), a discussion of how Greenbelt residents ultimately bought their town from the U.S. Government, and a great explanation of sculptures in downtown Reston by Robert Simon. He explained that the criteria stipulated to sculptors for downtown Reston was simple, the sculptures in downtown Reston had to give the public the ability to crawl/climb on them. The footage then showed a child crawling on a sculpture of a rowboat. It was pretty touching.

After the documentary, the chairs in the room were then rearranged in a circle for a discussion led by Greenbelt Museum curator Jill St. John. The first question asked was if there was anyone from Columbia or Reston. I put my hand up and said I was from Columbia. A man across the room from me then stated that he went to church in Columbia and that Columbia was built for adults and small children. He then went on to say that there was nothing for teenagers to do and that there was a high usage of drugs in Columbia. His third statement was that teenagers in Columbia lounge in million-dollar homes and want to do nothing more than live in the ghetto. Clearly, we were off to a good start. With all eyes on me, I (as best I could) calmly stated that I had moved to Columbia in 1972 and have experienced the city as a young child, a teenager, a young adult, and now as parent. I said that yes, there is a drug problem in Columbia, but it was my belief that the drug problem, specifically related to teenagers, was not any more prevalent than in any other community. I went on to say that when Columbia was founded, there was a teen center in Wilde Lake, and there is now one in Oakland Mills, and that there is an upcoming dance competition at the teen center.

I suppose if I had my wits about me, it would have been illustrative to ask what teen centered activities were available in Greenbelt, and could that be tied to a lack of drug use; however, I was not that quick on my feet. Maybe this could be a future collaborative point of discussion between Greenbelt and Columbia: “Keeping teens involved in New Towns.”

The next question came from a gentleman who referenced a point made in the documentary. In 1987, Greenbelt was in the process on upgrading a commercial center. An architect interviewed (I did not get his name, my apologies) said that he had heard from the community that gentrification was a concern. His quote was something along the lines of “This will not be a sushi, quiche, white wine crowd.” The gentleman in the discussion group asked “What is the white wine crowd doing in Columbia?” I responded by saying that as an integrated community, rich people need places to hang out too. I then followed up by saying that there are a variety of establishments for all types of people to shop and dine, and that one of the biggest concerns in Columbia was the loss of independent merchants and the prevalence of chain establishments. I mentioned that Bun Penny had recently closed, there were several audible gasps in the audience (note to the Ditters, if you are still reading the blogs, let me tell you, love for your shop runs wide and deep. Find a way to get the doors back open.)

The next question I got was about pedestrian access in Columbia. The question came from a very nice lady who had recently viewed a movie at the Snowden Square cinema. She then said that although restaurants were nearby, they felt that they had to drive to the restaurants.

The last question of the night came from Curator Jill St. John. She asked the group if New Towns where still relevant, and do people still want to move to New Towns. This question hung over the audience and remained largely unanswered. I believe this was probably the most important question of the evening. Maybe we can hold a seminar up here in Columbia, invite the Greenbelt faithful, and discuss in more detail.

In fact, I would hope we could have a Greenbelt contingent come up for the spring Bike About. I believe the Bike About would provide a better view of Columbia.

I hope I represented Columbia well.

In a battle between Leprechauns and Sorcerers, who wins?

Ok, forgive the Dungeons and Dragons title, but in the last 48 hours the Washington Wizards have defeated the Boston Celtics, twice. For those of us that are fans of the local professional basketball franchise, this is HUGE. The Boston Celtics currently hold the best record in the NBA, and at 30-6, one-third of their losses have been to the Washington Wizards. Conversely, the Washington Wizards have been forced to take on the role of scrappy contender after losing their sometimes starting center, Etan Thomas, to heart problems in the preseason and their high profile guard, Gilbert Arenas, to a knee injury.

The Wizards have spent the last two months playing a team basketball and have seen good results. This was displayed on Saturday, when the Wizards snapped the Boston Celtics' 10-game road winning streak in Washington and was affirmed when the Wizards traveled to Boston to win last night. To be fair, both contests were not showcase examples of athleticism, neither team managed to surpass 90 points in the two game series.

I have been a long-time fan of the Bullets/Wizards. This was formed early in my life when the Bullets won the NBA Finals in 1978. That achievement had special meaning back then when Bullets stars Elvin Hayes and Phil Chenier lived in Columbia (Mr. Chenier still does). I can remember a time when I was in elementary school, we were given four-foot tall cutouts of a human silhouette, and asked to draw a person of note that lived in Columbia. These drawings were placed in the mall to celebrate Columbia. I remember going to mall and seeing dozens of figures drawn as I (and most of my friends) had done, the signature red, white, and blue Bullets uniform with a No. 11 on the chest.

Over the years, I have remained a fan. After each home game, whether if I’m in attendance or watching at home, I always make a point to look for Gheorghe Muresan standing in the tunnel at the end of each game (Gheorghe ROCKS!!).

Tonight, the Wizards play the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. This will be their fourth game in five nights. Since the writer’s strike continues, and if you can tear yourself away from the Michigan primaries (my prediction, Ron Paul breaks into double digits), give the Wizards a look, and cheer this team on.

Road Trip – Short Notice

I received word about this not too long ago, but the Greenbelt Museum is showing a film about the towns of Greenbelt, MD, Columbia, MD, and Reston VA tonight. The film is free and open to the public. I am trying to clear my schedule to shuffle-on-down the BW Pkwy, anyone want to join me?

From the Greenbelt Museum website:

Please join the Greenbelt Museum for a viewing of the film “New Towns” on Tuesday January 15 at 7:00pm in the Greenbelt Community Center, Room 201. This program is free and open to the public. The film, “New Towns” was produced in 1987 by WETA and compares and contrasts Greenbelt, Columbia MD and Reston VA. Twenty years later all three communities have changed and developed in different ways. Highlights include interviews with pioneering residents of all three communities and Robert Simon the founder of Reston. Following the viewing museum staff will lead a discussion of the film.

Company Town

Last week Martin Berdit of Harpers Choice had the following letter “What fills vacuum as county forfeits planning function?” published in the Columbia Flier. I submitted a response that was published this week “County, developer should collaborate on downtown” (scroll all the way down ). Please share your thoughts on the issues raised in these two letters…

You Can Pick Your Friends…

But you can’t pick the next CA President. That is up to the Columbia Association Board of Directors. Hiring the next CA President will probably be the most important decision of the currently constituted board and the board elected this spring.

Did you want to provide input into the new CA President’s Job Description? Your last chance will be during the January CA Board Meeting (27JAN08). Currently, the CA Board has rejected public input beyond resident’s speakout. The draft job description can be read here. According to the CA Board of Directors timeline, this draft will be finalized in two weeks. Take a good look at the timeline. The only prescribed public input occurs when the field of candidates is narrowed to 2-4 people, one year from now.

I would think that a board that has positioned itself as the vanguard for openness and transparency would encourage public participation during each stage of the process. Apparently this is not the case.

We Are (Bun) Penny-less

Page One, Barry’s Pizza, Harmony Hut, Taco Bueno, Patowmak Toy Shop, Jade Palace, Paper Carousel. We will have to add Bun Penny to this list of other stores that we all loved at the Columbia Mall (and while we are at it, let’s remember Mrs. Z’s, Columbo’s Pizza, The Little Red Caboose, JK’s Pub, the Last Chance Saloon, and Leidig’s Bakery, all from the Columbia area). Locally owned family businesses have always had it tough and Bun Penny demonstrated success for more than three decades.

The Coverage

I received word of Bun Penny’s demise on Christmas Eve. McKenzie Ditter sent emails to many of the local bloggers revealing the pending demise of Bun Penny. Freemarket was the first to get on board, publishing the email and providing context (well done Freemarket). The day after Christmas, Columbia Talk weighed in with a brief mention. By late on the 26th, word had reached Evan Coren over at his blog. Evan also posted McKenzie’s email, and provided his view (co-opting Bun Penny’s situation to rail against proposed street extensions).

This morning, the major news organizations were on board, with the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun publishing articles on the story. Each quotes employees and shoppers at length all unanimous in fond memories and a sense of loss.

The Washington Post article, written by William Wan
 Washington, contains this passage:

Rouse died in 1996, and his company was sold to Chicago-based General Growth in 2004. In recent years, residents have accused the company of failing to adhere to Rouse's vision of mixed-use development and inclusion of people from all walks of life.

To my knowledge, there is only one mixed use development in all of Columbia, and both Howard County and GGP have been actively advocating for mixed use development in downtown.

Oddly, Baltimore Sun reporter June Arney chose to quote local spokesperson Alan Klein. Alan also weighed in on the subject over on Freemarket’s blog, equating rising rent at the mall with sprawl (?????). Hopefully, Alan is not trying to use the Bun Penny situation to further his agenda, much like he did with the Poinsettia Tree dust up (as quoted from the CoFoCoDo website):

We are pleased and proud that about 200 community members, many of them CCD supporters, took their values (and poinsettias) in hand, made a statement, and were successful!

Some Personal Memories:

I can still remember back in the early 1970’s; taking the Columbus to the mall and being dropped off right in front of Bun Penny. It was the first thing everyone saw when they walked into the mall and the last thing they saw as they left. As I recall, most did not only walk by, they often shopped, buying lunches and taking home wine, chocolates, and coffee. It was a magical time, walking down the corridor to the main part of the mall, Bun Penny to your right Barry’s (and later Beefsteak Charlie’s) to your left, and water fountains shooting water straight up to the second level in a deafening roar of white noise.

Over time, the mall evolved, but Bun Penny was still there. After graduating high school, it seemed that any and every business function I attended had sandwiches and platters from Bun Penny. I was dating a girl named Kristen who lived in Longfellow and worked in the Bun Penney liquor store. Apparently, Bun Penny had a contract with Merriweather Post Pavilion, and she would tell me what the bands playing would order. Coffee was also becoming a more of a gourmet item and Bun Penny had expanded their offerings.

After serving in the Navy, I came back to Columbia and the mall had made its current makeover, exchanging brown tile or gray carpet for the beige marble, the fichus trees for palm trees. After this makeover, Bun Penny was no longer directly in the traffic flow. The bus stop was moved out in the middle of nowhere next to Sears Automotive (how wrong is that). Lord and Taylor was added as an appendage. The result was that Bun Penny was not as accessable as before. Still, to have it there warmed my heart in the face of all the change. When my wife and I moved back to Columbia, her parents would often stop by Bun Penny and bring sandwiches when they visited.

Where do we go from here?

With so much uncertainty about the future of Bun Penny, It is hard to say what will come. Certainly there is a lot of support for the business. I have talked about this with about three dozen people, and many expressed a desire for Bun Penny to move to Oakland Mills or Wilde Lake Village Center. Although I would prefer Wilde Lake (its closer to me), I do not think a village center featuring Bun Penny, Produce Galore, and Davids would be good for all three businesses. One enterprising young friend even suggested Bun Penny wait until the downtown plan moves along, and get a good street level location. Wouldn’t that be a great rebirth?

Beyond the immediacy of Bun Penny, there is a lot of hand-wringing about the fate of local business. I am no economist, but it seems that many businesses, local, chain, or otherwise are encountering rough times. CompUSA, Scan furniture (another Columbia Mall original store, now located [at least for a week or two] near Dobbin Center), and 84 Lumber are all going out of business.

If the focus is to be on promoting local business, I wrote about some possibilities here and here. The first post deals with how Clarendon, Virginia maintained a local retail flavor in the midst of constructing a mixed use project near its metro station. Basically, Clarendon worked with developers to allow for more building height in exchange for local merchants in the retail areas of the project. The second post deals with the “slow food” zoning movement. In slow food, if a business has more than a certain number (typically less than 15) of establishments in which the architecture, uniforms, or menu are the same, the business must go through an additional level of county review.

Lastly, we can all collectively choose to frequent local businesses. The power of the purse is the most powerful. We don’t have to buy coffee, wine, or good sandwiches from chain stores.

Stir Crazy

A four-year old with a full leg cast and a walker will break your heart. This has been the scene here in casa-de-Santos for the past week. All-in-all, my son has been a trooper. He has adapted fairly well, with some expected bouts of frustration. Our greatest challenge this week has been keeping occupied and engaged.

Days are the sunniest

Jokes are the funniest
Rabbits are the bunny-est

Hives are the honey-est
Elephants the ton-iest

Troubles - they're the none-iest


Everywhere I go! 



We have done our best. Coloring books, puzzles, moon sand, play-doh, writing letters and words.

Straws are the bend-iest

Time is the spend-iest

Cards are the send-iest

Books are the lend-iest

Fun's the pretend-iest 

Friends are the friend-iest 


Everywhere I go! 



But eventually, everything breaks down, and the videos play. In a normal week, my son gets a few hours of children’s television. I always make a point to sit through the shows with him. We talk about the plot and characters. I encourage him to ask questions, and answer as best I can. However, being home for the entire week presented a challenge in limiting time in front of the magic box.

Berries are the fruit-iest 

Shoes are the boot-iest

Puppies are the cute-iest 

Treasure is the loot-iest

Teams are the root-iest

Horns are the toot-iest


Everywhere I go! 



We started off the week strong. I dusted off my Electric Company (once again, thank you Morgan Freeman) and “Free to Be You and Me” DVDs. We tried to identify similarities between the "Kimba" series and “The Lion King” movie (there are quite a lot). After a while, we needed to find some variety.

Birds are the tweet-iest

Candy is the sweet-iest

Socks are the feet-iest

Tricks are the treat-iest

Drums are the beat-iest 

Lunch is the eat-iest 


Everywhere I go! 



We ventured into the world of PBS kids and focused on some pretty good shows: “Between the Lions” has lots of phonics, storytelling, and reading skills. “Cyberchase” involves math skills. “It’s a Big Big World” has a scientific premise, and Snook the Sloth reminds me of several of my friends. “Super Why”, my son’s favorite, features fables and provides wordplay, spelling, rhyming, and problem solving. All of those shows are great, but we needed another source of variety.

Flowers are the smelliest 

Jams are jelly-est

Rain's the umbrell-iest 

Tales are the tell-iest

Wishing is the well-iest

Buttons are the belly-est


Everywhere I go!



We rolled over to the Noggin franchise (HoCo Comcast channel 131). Noggin is the home of Diego, Dora, The Wonder Pets, and an Australian show called the Upside Down Show. Dora and Diego are good for simple identification and mixing in Spanish phrases. The Wonder Pets emphasize teamwork. All in all, not bad shows for a four-year old. However, between shows, a cartoon character named Moose A. Moose provides hosting duties. Most of his stuff is inane, but every so often, he sings this “Everywhere I Go” song (click on the horizontal arrow buttons until you see the flower, click on the flower, then hit play). It has penetrated my brain to the core. I can’t get it out of my head. It is so bad that I can’t even remember any other songs that I could not get out of my head.

Skies are the blue-iest

Cows are the moo-iest

Gum is the chewiest

Ghosts are the boo-iest

Goo is the gooey-est 

You can be your you-iest 


Everywhere I go!

I once heard on NPR (although I cannot find it in the archives) that if you can’t get a song out of your head, you should hum “The Girl from Ipanema.” Apparently, it cancels out all other tunes.

Tall and tanned and young and lovely
Hmm Hmm Hmm Hm Hm HmmHmm …..

Compass Update

For those who have been peeking in over the holiday week and not seen much going on here, I apologize. This holiday season has seen the family on the road, followed by a stomach virus sequentially working its way through the entire family. The culmination has been my son breaking his leg on Sunday and his convalescence. I will be back on track here shortly, stop by soon.

Happy New Year