7th Annual Columbia BikeAbout

Mark your calendars: the 7th Annual Columbia BikeAbout is going to May 5th. This year the BikeAbout will start at Symphony Woods. Here is some background on this great event:

This free event highlights the history of Columbia and its beautiful open space with an 11-mile, well-marked route allowing bicyclists of all ages and abilities to enjoy a self-paced ride.

Organized by the Columbia Archives and sponsored by CA, the BikeAbout is a popular event drawing several hundred bicyclists annually. The route takes advantage of Columbia’s extensive and beautiful pathways while uncovering historic and natural places of interest. Signage and guides at key stops make this not only a bike ride, but a tour that helps area residents find history where they live.

This year’s route will take riders through Town Center, Wilde Lake and Harper’s Choice showcasing the beauty of Columbia in both its developed areas and its prized open space. In celebration of Columbia’s upcoming 40th birthday, the tour will highlight Columbia’s early development in Town Center and Wilde Lake.

This is one of the many great programs that CA puts on. I highly encourage everyone to do it. They would prefer that people pre-register on the CA website.

I hear that this years BikeAbout will end with a picnic at Symphony Woods. I cannot think of a better way to spend a day in early May.

Columbia Elections Open Thread

Now that the filing deadline has passed for all the villages, who is running in your area? Did you see any candidate out campaigning in the past week? What does their campaign literature look like?

I had an amazing time talking to people in Kings Contrivance. I have never campaigned for myself before, only volunteered for other people's campaigns, but the reception I recieved from people when I knocked on their door and asked for their vote was amazing.

Searchable Database

Have you noticed how hard it is to find what decisions the Columbia Council has taken on an issue? Right now you have to go back and read through old minutes. I think the board, staff, and public would be better served if an online searchable database of board decisions were created. It seems much time is wasted and confusion caused over what the board has decided on and what actions the staff should be taken. To clear this situation up and bring organization to the board’s operations and its relationship with staff a unified searchable online database would significantly improve CA’s operation.

I am Running for Columbia Council

I filed today to run for the Columbia Council. My current representative here in Kings Contrivance, Phil Marcus, has decided not to run for re-election so it is an open seat. As some of you may know Phil was the only local elected official to have his own blog. Interestingly this year I will be the fourth local blogger to announce I am running in this years Columbia elections.

The big issue in this election is the role and direction of the Columbia Association. Yesterday I noted that one of the things at stake in this election is the quality (note I said quality not quantity, because I still think the overriding problem with the current downtown redevelopment plan is its slopiness as the post below demonstrates and not some arbitrary number of units, because ultimately the number of units will be a product of the rest of the variables in the plan and the slopiness of addressing these other variable is what is holding back addressing the number of units) of how downtown Columbia will be redeveloped. This is clearly not the only issue, but the current state of affairs with CA's willingness to accept, and sometimes chearlead, the current plan (without asking the serious questions that need to be asked before a plan is approved) is a is a symptom of the larger problem considering the redevelopment will have a major impact on CA's future and the quality of life of those would live and work in Columbia. CA has been adrift without its actions reflected its stated mission.

The Columbia Association is a non-profit public benefit organization, created to nurture the Columbia vision and to enhance the qualify of life for people living and working here.

Yet throughout the downtown discussion and many other decisions in recent years is a lack of commitment to the Columbia vision as laid out by Jim Rouse. The vision of promoting diversity through mixed income housing and then fostering the breaking down of stereotypes by promoting positive interaction at shared community pools, tot lots, interfaith centers, and many other design features. The Columbia Association should be playing a major role in the carrying forward of the Rouse vision and thus fostering ways to bring people together and promote community. The decision not to build neighborhood pools for Columbia's newer neighborhoods is a perfect example of this drift. Pearl Atkinson-Stewart, the Columbia Council member from Owen Brown tells me this was a decision of the Board. The next Columbia Council needs to start returning the Rouse vision back to the core of CA's decisions. It is CA's stated mission and it should follow it.

What Is At Stake

The Columbia Council elections are coming up in a month.

The next Columbia Council will be called upon to have a major voice with what the plan for downtown Columbia looks like. The Columbia Association is the second largest land owner in downtown. In addition, according to the Columbia Association's website:

The Columbia Association is a non-profit public benefit organization, created to nurture the Columbia vision and to enhance the qualify of life for people living and working here.

The downtown redevelopment will have a huge impact on the qualify of life for people living and working in Columbia and as you will see below in my past posts on the subject, there are many aspects of the plan that are directly at odds with Columbia’s vision.

A Rough Review of the Plan Proposed by the Consultants at the End of the Charrette

The Proposed Grid System

Downtown Driving Experience

The Effect of the Road System on the Lake Front and the Grass Amphitheater

Specifics that Matter and Some Details Following the Feb. 27th Public Meeting

Pedestrian Oriented, Walkable Streets?

The Mall to Merriweather Promenade: Part 1

The Mall to Merriweather Promenade: Part 2

Mixed Income Housing: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Parking

Why community planning matters.

Martin Luther King Day thoughts on the impact of community planning and whether new developments are contributing or undermining his dream and Rouses vision.

Let's Not Be Florida

Let's Plan this Right

Why the Community can set the terms of of redevelopment: Market Forces

Will the county use the Focus Group to help restore public trust?

I guess not yet, but here's hoping they will do it this time.

Transportation Solutions: Or How to Exand Metro to Solve Local Road Congestion and Maximize Ridership

Let's Talk Solutions

Open Thread

We will get to more substantial posts later in the week, but for the time being I wanted to put up an open thread for you to share your thoughts about anything going on in the county.

And while we are in open thread mode, what do people think of what has happened in March Madness so far? MD is sadly out after the second round. Personally, I think MD will have a strong team coming back next year with Bambale Osbey and Greivis Vasquez on the roster.

March Madness Last Call

Your last chance to join the Howard County Blog's March Maddness Brackets is at noon on Thursday. I have set up a brackets group at ESPN. Our group name is Howard County Blog and our password is Merriweather.

Maryland plays Davidson at 12:20pm. Any predictions?

Open Thread

What are the main issues you are hearing about in the community?

With the first spring days here, what is your favorite outdoor activity in the county?

March Madness

NCAA basketball time. Please join the Howard County Blog in doing brackets. I have set up a brackets group at ESPN. Our group name is Howard County Blog and our password is Merriweather.

So Maryland got a 4th seat as several commentors predicted a couple weeks ago.

A Howard County Institution is Closing

The Sunny's Surplus on Rt. 40 is having their going out of business sale. I have many fond memories of going in there to pick up camping gear. It is sad to see them close.

Downtown Columbia Redevelopment Recap

I think it is a good time to have another recap of issues involving the current redevelopment plan for downtown Columbia, which will be the biggest change to the county since Columbia was proposed. Here are some past posts on the subject:

A Rough Review of the Plan Proposed by the Consultants at the End of the Charrette

The Proposed Grid System

Downtown Driving Experience

The Effect of the Road System on the Lake Front and the Grass Amphitheater

Specifics that Matter and Some Details Following the Feb. 27th Public Meeting

Pedestrian Oriented, Walkable Streets?

The Mall to Merriweather Promenade: Part 1

The Mall to Merriweather Promenade: Part 2

Mixed Income Housing: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Parking

Why community planning matters.

Martin Luther King Day thoughts on the impact of community planning and whether new developments are contributing or undermining his dream and Rouses vision.

Let's Not Be Florida

Let's Plan this Right

Why the Community can set the terms of of redevelopment: Market Forces

Will the county use the Focus Group to help restore public trust?

I guess not yet, but here's hoping they will do it this time.

Transportation Solutions: Or How to Exand Metro to Solve Local Road Congestion and Maximize Ridership

Let's Talk Solutions

Maryland and the ACC Tournament

Maryland has been on fire winning their last 7 games including beating Duke twice and UNC. Now they head into the ACC Tournament this weekend and will face several teams that they lost to earlier this year. I think the Terps are a much better team now, but the post-season has a lot of potentially tough games for the Terps. The Terps will play Miami on Thursday at 2pm. In early January the Terps lost to Miami 63-58 at College Park. If we get past Miami we will face Boston College, a team that in December beat the Terps 73-62 in Boston.

The Must See Exhibit at the Columbia Art Center

On Thursday I went over to see the “Portrait of Howard County” photo exhibit at the Columbia Art Center. The photos are an amazingly diverse look at Howard County taken by very talented students from the county’s high schools.

The photos will be on display at the Columbia Art Center until March 4th and then will be at several of the county’s libraries.

The Columbia Art Center is at the Long Reach Village Center and is one of the many destinations we have in our community that people seem to forget when they complain we do not have destinations in Howard County. Another such community gem is the Howard County Center for the Arts that is in Ellicott City in a former school in a residential neighborhood north of Normandy Shopping Center. I use to do the lights for my sister’s dance recitals there and have seen several plays there. If you look there is actually a lot going on in Howard County. Please let me know what you hear of stuff going on in the community that you think others might be interested in. You can always post these events in the Open Threads or email them to me.

Upgrading Howard County Blog

So Blogger (the program that powers this blog) was acting up the last two days and would not let me post unless I upgraded to their new version (something I have been putting off since I have been to busy to examine the pros and cons of the new system). The end result is I finally upgraded today and may be playing around with the site in the near future to see how to improve it. The other bi-product of the upgrade is that since I am the owner of this blog it has kicked all my guestbloggers who have not yet upgraded off the list on the masthead. I think that as they upgrade their accounts to the new version of Blogger their names will reappear. Ken, our most reliable guestblogger, has already upgraded so his name appeared automatically on the masthead.

Maryland Beats Duke Again!

Maryland beats Duke at Durham! The final score was 85-77 with MD leading most of the second half. The team has really come together. I have not seen a MD team this agressive on rebounding in years. We could be in for a very interesting ACC Tournament!