In the News

What do you think of the Columbia Flier article on the Kings Contrivance elections? I found it interesting that it seems more focused on downtown issues than what I remember the interview being on. I talked in the interview a lot about the need to be a strong advocate for the residents of Kings Contrivance and the need to improve the clarity of communication between the board and staff. I wish the article had mentioned my idea of creating an online searchable database of board decisions. And the issue of the pools only got one sentence and nothing about the sheds for the swim teams. Oh well, I guess when one has a word count some things get left out. The article did get right that I think downtown is a good place for redevelopment. My concerns with the current plan are that the plan will not achieve its stated goals. The infrastructure is not in the plan to meet the community’s needs (roads, parking, schools, etc). The plan doesn’t reflect the values of Columbia because it lacks the full range mixed income housing. Unless it is fixed it just won’t achieve the “vibrant” downtown the plan’s supporters claim. That is why I have been working so hard to fix it for a year and a half.

As to the issue of getting the new Harris Teeter in as quickly as possible, I said in the interview that it is a huge issue. I am very happy the old Safeway is now being torn down so the new grocery store can be built. I wish the article better reflected that this is something Jason and I agree on.