My Mother and the County Executive

Lovely photo opp this week over in Gateway for the County Executive. It appears he has great things in mind for this area and is kicking off an initiative to enhance Columbia's corporate park.

The vision, which will be crafted with input from property and business owners and in partnership with the Howard County Economic Development Authority, the county's business incubator and economic development agency, aims to transform Gateway into the top business center in Maryland, Kittleman said.

Now, not everthing makes me think of my dear departed mother, but this certainly did. Remember when you asked for more spaghetti at dinner and your mother said you needed to finish everything else on your plate first? Or you asked for a new toy and your mother pointed out that you had never really played with the last one you asked for? Or perhaps you wanted to have a friend over but Mother had a vivid memory of how you weren't finished cleaning up from the last play date?

I think Mother would have something to say about this Gateway venture. She'd say, "Now, Allan, what makes you think you can have that Gateway project when you haven't finished Long Reach Village Center? Maybe if you do a nice job with that, we'll think about Gateway."

The Kittleman administration came into office and pretty much halted any existing agreements pertaining to the Long Reach Village Center. Whatever the Ulman administration had laid the groundwork for was scrapped. The new administration was going to do things "the right way." That was in 2014.

Have you been to the Long Reach Village Center lately? I'm not seeing any evidence of things being done "the right way." And I would really like to see progress there, because that Village Center should be serving the racially, ethnically, economically diverse village of Long Reach.

Let's imagine that the County Executive were saying this about the Long Reach Village Center:

The vision, which will be crafted with input from property and business owners and in partnership with the Howard County Economic Development Authority, the county's business incubator and economic development agency, aims to transform {the Village Center} into {a vibrant retail and community gathering place in Columbia} Kittleman said.

Pretty cool, eh?

My mom would say, if you want people to trust you with Gateway, you have to prove you can do things like Long Reach. You have to show your work.

Does the demographic surrounding the Gateway project appeal to Mr. Kittleman more than that in Long Reach? I think it's an important point to consider. Mr. Kittleman' friends have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to discredit County Councilman Calvin Ball, in whose district LRVC is located. But let's be honest: the most stunning rebuke to Dr. Ball would have been the vibrant revitalization of the village center. 

It just hasn't happened.

And now we're supposed to shift our attention to a different, exciting initiative. I don't think so. I think Colonel Gateway can hold the fort until Mr. Kittleman and his team finish what they started in Long Reach.

As always, comments are welcome here: https://www.facebook.com/VillageGreenTownSquared/?ref=bookmarks