Skip to main content

A Better Forum

Just a friendly reminder: You can discuss ANYTHING related to Columbia, Maryland. Just no spamming for your business or corporations or dating sites, no political campaigning (this is a non-partisan group), etc.

AND BE NICE AND CIVIL PLEASE!

Welcome. Just to clarify this page's creation:

It is not meant to replace the popular "You Know you Grew up in Columbia" FB page, but to instead provide a better forum for more in depth, civil discussions about the future of Columbia, with an eye on the past and inclusive of all views. The posts here will be monitored by admins only to keep the peace, with minimal intervention or attendee changes. Let's help impact Columbia's future!

So begins one of my favorite Group Pages on Facebook: Celebrating Columbia, Maryland and its Future. If you love Columbia, are excited about our community, and love a good discussion, you might want to join. Right now there are several conversations unfolding: one about the possibility of food trucks in Columbia, one about what would be a good restaurant to add to the Wilde Lake Village Center, and one about the New York Times article about dead shopping malls.

In addition, several members are dedicated amateur nature photographers and occasionally share Columbia wildlife shots. I am always amazed at what they are able to find in such a populated area. It has reinforced in me a determination that maintaining our wildlife habitats in our open space areas should always be a part of planning for Columbia's future.

As you may know, people from Columbia can be quite opinionated, and this group is no exception. There have been a few heated discussions, but by and large the tone has been civil and participants have allowed eachother the grace of having their own points of view. I truly believe that we could make much more progress in Columbia as a whole if more residents could learn to do this.

*****

Hint Number 3 for Friday's Givewaway: the years 1971 and 1996 are significant.

 

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...