Village Green/Town²

I have a confession to make. Every day, Monday-Friday, when my daughter walks out of the house to go to school, I close the door, but I don't lock it.  I don't lock it because a little voice in my head says she might run back and say, "I can't do it, mom. Please don't make me go." She never has. But I persist in this habit because of what happened to her older sister in middle school. She was miserable. I didn't really understand the extent of it for quite a while. I look back with the guilt that I should have helped sooner; I should have known. She was bullied. She was bullied for being different, for not being rich enough, thin enough, cool enough. For not wearing the right clothes or thinking the right thoughts. For being too smart. Day after day I drove her to school and as we got closer, she'd be overcome by stomach aches and nausea. I had no choice--I had to go to work and she had to go to school. She didn't tell me what was h...

In the aftermath of the Columbia Elections, nothing has meant so much to me as this post , by Bill Santos at Columbia Compass: "For those not elected, they need you most of all.  In the past few weeks, they have been subjected to accusations that no one would ever think of prior to their declared candidacy.  I have been there.  The feeling of loss is expected, but what is really jarring is trying to integrate back into the community. There is a pariah effect.  Do people in the neighborhood really believe those things that were said?" That is exactly how I feel.  My opponent won, in large part by tapping into a long-nurtured well of fear in a specific group of residents who were willing to believe lies about me. Here is a list of the ones I know about; I'm sure there are more. I was taking money from Howard County elected officials. I was a front for big developers. The vote for the Inner Arbor Trust was only a first step to turning CA into a big 501(c)...

Young children are full of energy and enthusiasm. They love to sing, move to music, tap out a rhythm on the arm of a sofa or your pots and pans. They eagerly sign up for Band, Chorus and Orchestra in elementary school. But, by the time they get to high school, only twenty per cent of students are still involved in traditional school music programs.  What happens to the other eighty percent? Have they simply ceased to be musical? Last night the Howard County Board of Education took a moment to recognize someone who cares deeply about the other eighty percent.  This guy: Yes, that's my husband, Richard McCready. He teaches Music Technology at River Hill High School. He's also the Music Technology Facilitator for the county, so he has been working to get music tech labs up and running in all of the high schools. He writes curriculum, evaluates software, troubleshoots glitches, and travels from school to school supporting other teachers. But most of ...

Yesterday felt like the Spring day of my dreams.  Say what you will about our on- again, off-again Spring this year. It has produced a few stellar days for us, and yesterday was one of them. Time to look at my yard, sadly neglected over the last month. Dandelions have started having a wild party in my neighborhood.  I've had a great time going out and pulling their heads off. Yes, I know you have to dig them up by the roots to make any real progress, but sometimes violent decapitation is more rewarding.  I saw a recipe online yesterday for an all-natural dandelion spray; that will be next. In the meantime, working out my aggression weed by weed will do just fine. I have a tiny yard, and the grass is cut by our HOA. I have a small front flower bed which contains a hodgepodge of plants that my daughter and I have picked at the Farmer's Market from summer to summer. They're annuals, but they keep coming back.  There's one large bush that the deer chew on...

We don't have a television station. We don't have hard-hitting investigative journalism. We don't have a newspaper that wants to go beyond the surface. And the people in power like it that way. There are approximately 9,900 residents in the Village of Oakland Mills. 511 households were represented by votes in Saturday's election. Of those, 382 were for my opponent. You're not going to read this in the newspaper, so I am just going to have to say it bluntly. The story here is not who voted, but who didn't vote. Just look at the numbers. In order to retain power one must make the business of Columbia look incomprehensible, unpleasant, and irrelevant. In so doing one can prevent greater participation. And, my friends, it's working. Retaining power is the name of the game, and it doesn't matter if you have to lie, intimidate, and manipulate to do it. But none of us are immortal. The time will come when those in power are gone. Thanks to ...

The following is reprinted with permission from the Oakland Mills Village Grist Newsletter. It Begins With A Conversation – March 2013 Sandy Cederbaum, Oakland Mills Village Manager This past year we have had many important community conversations.   Some conversations start by one neighbor talking to another or by a resident attending a board meeting and giving remarks.   Other conversations are take place over a cup of coffee or in the produce aisle at Food Lion.   It is great to start the conversation and awesome to have that conversation spark action.   Conversations that led to community discussions and ultimately became issues we are actively involved with include but are not limited to:   Blandair Park and the impact of park activities on the resident of Oakland Mills; traffic and pedestrian safety; CA aquatics initiatives; CA Open Space management, mowing and reforestation; community safety; environmental issues; Bridge Columbia and Co...

Today's post is dedicated to the people who believe: Margaret, 69 Phil, 67 Bill, 61 Karen, 59 Rick, 59 Kevin, 55 Marcia, 54 Greg, 51 John, 50 Peter, 50 Christie, 47 Mary Kate, 46                                                                           Bill, 45 Richard, 45 Abby, 42 Miranda, 38 Lena, 37 Kristin, 37 Ian, 35 George, 28 Alice, 26 Margo, 12 Anna, 6 Chris, 5 Penelope, 4 Lily, 3 Chrys, 2 Daphne, 1 Daisy, 6 months "This is my goal: to participate fully in the process with an open mind,and to represent all of the residents of Oakland Mills: children, teens, young adults, young p...

Once upon a time there was an elementary school that had a window right in the middle of the office. The window looked out onto a grassy courtyard. I imagine it must have been a refreshing view for teachers and staff as they hurried by, or a quiet place to catch one's breath while waiting to make photocopies. It was a window in an unlikely place, an unexpected flash of green and sky. But one day the little school needed to become a bigger school. The courtyard needed to become a part of an expansion so that there would be more room for students to learn. So the courtyard was no more.  But the window remained. One one side, the window, on the other, a wall. And into this seeming impasse came someone with imagination and resolve. And what had become a stumbling block became something new. Build Bridges, Not Walls Break 'em on down, Break 'em on down, Break down these walls between us --Harmony Grisman As we come to the end of this campaign for CA...

You hear and see it everywhere. " If you elect me, I'll fight for you." "I'll fight special interests." I'll fight those who seek to destroy our way of life." "I'll fight increases in costs." "I'll fight decreases in services." "I'll fight for what's right!" How much good is all this fighting doing for us? You elect someone that will fight only for your point of view, and then, so does the other guy.  How is that working out in Washington? How does it work out in Columbia? Candidates who see themselves and portray themselves as fighters must paint the entire process as a war.  There must be enemies, traitors, battles. The conflict must be endless. The end justifies the means. And residents?  Where do residents fit in? We must be afraid, very afraid.  There is evil hiding behind every tree and only the Valiant Candidate can protect us. Without him or her, we are nothing. I have news ...

Here's a question for you: What happens if you are running for office but there is widespread misinformation about what that position actually entails? It means, in effect, that you and your opponent are running for strikingly different offices. How does that work, exactly? The Columbia Council Representative positions were designed to be held by ordinary citizens.  They are volunteer positions. The only official training that exists for them is proven dedication to community involvement, knowing how to work well with others, and being able to learn and make decisions about community issues. Yet I hear that I am not qualified to hold this position because I am "a musician".  Were there no music teachers in early Columbia? Can music teachers not bring lessons learned from professional experience to the CA and OM boardrooms? What about plumbers? Administrative assistants? Photographers? It has also been suggested to me that this a full-time position which ...

I SUPPORT I support the implementation of the Downtown Plan. http://www.columbiamd.com/ plan/faq/ I support the Inner Arbor Plan and Trust for the revitalization of Symphony Woods http://www. columbiaassociation.org/ SymphonyWoodsPark/ InnerArborFAQ.pdf I support the Bridge Columbia Project as a positive step contributing to the revitalization of Oakland Mills through an enhanced connection to Downtown, with significant improvements to walkability,bikeability and transit. http://bridgecolumbia.org/ I support the work of the Oakland Mills Revitalization Task Force, and the ongoing implementation of the Village Master Plan. http://www.oaklandmills.org/ pdf/OM_Master_Plan_Final.pdf   I WILL ADDRESS   I see our biggest challenges as:        rethinking our infrastructure as we choose how to use our available funds: to make it sustainable for generations to come, as well as new and exciting for those who have ye...

Lately I have been doing something both time-honored and generally disliked:  going door-to-door. It has its ups and downs.  Meeting voters and having the opportunity to experience actual human contact is extremely valuable. Intruding into people's home spaces is a delicate matter, though. In our society we don't encourage or even accept a door-to door approach anymore. I asked my friend Greg to answer the following:  I am excited to answer my door when _______________. "When it's a package from Amazon," he said. We laughed. When I was little, the slogan, "Ding-dong, Avon calling!" was as familiar as the most popular Internet memes of today.  In my neighborhood the milkman came right into your house in the morning and put the milk in your refrigerator while you were eating breakfast. Mother bought brushes from the Fuller Brush man, and the knife sharpening man came rolling down the street several times a year. And no, this was not in ...

One year ago I posted this as a satirical protest to foot-dragging and naysayers on improvements to Symphony Woods. Do you know what plan was on the table?  This one: the Cy Paumier Plan, the plan we are now being told that everyone liked, everyone agreed upon.  I keep reading that it was voted on, approved, and "shovel-ready." Except that isn't true.  As late as July, when the matter came before the Planning Board, residents turned up to protest the removal of mature trees which would be necessary to fulfilling the design of this plan. Letters to the editor are also on file, one suggesting a petition with "600 hundred signatures." Shovel-ready?  I think not. The Plan as it was submitted was not acceptable. The Columbia Association paused this process to respond to residents concerns. The Inner Arbor Plan is a response to those concerns, clearly striving to meet the spirit and the letter of the already approved Downtown Plan. Why exactly are people out ...