Consignment Shop Coming to Kings Contrivance

Greenberries Company, a high-end consignment shop of women’s and children’s clothing will be opening soon in the Kings Contrivance Village Center. It is scheduled to open on or about May 16th. It will be taking over the space formerly home to State Farm Insurance.

First Listening Session

Last Sunday I had my first listening session at the Bagel Bin. I think it went very well. Eight Kings Contrivance residents stopped by to say hi and talk. I got some reading material suggested to me and I got to talk to serveral residents about issues in the community that concerned them. Owen Brown's Columbia Council Rep Pearl Atkinson-Stewart also stopped by to say hi. I look forward to seeing everyone at my next one which will be in late May. If you were unable to stop by, please feel free to use the comments in this post as a continuing listening session.

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.

It Is Really Happening

I know many in Kings Contrivance had begun to doubt if our grocery store was really going to get replaced. Here are some of our local elected officials starting the process of knocking down the old Safeway so that the new Harris Teeter can be built.

From left to right: Barbara Seely (Village Board Chair), Jen Terrasa (County Council), Guy Guzzone (House of Delegates), and Ken Ulman (County Executive).

I know all of these elected officials have worked very hard to get the new grocery store in as soon as possible. As a Kings Contrivance resident I want to thank all of them for their hard work and persistence.

Kings Contrivance Grocery Store News

The old Safeway will begin being knocked down Tuesday morning at 10am. The new Harris Teeter will then be built and is scheduled to open in the spring of 2008.