Loose Ends

Recent blog posts have produced some interesting feedback. Here’s a sampling:

A Teachable Moment: Apparently asking people to come back to a playground later if all the parking spaces are full is highly offensive. So far it has mostly been men who are offended. And - - oh my! - - they are quite an authoritative bunch. I’d like to remind readers that the post was intended as food for thought, not a demand, and that my blog very likely has no influence over Howard County policy. 

Small Town Feelings My comparison of Columbia, Maryand to Wetumpka, Alabama, inspired by a show on HGTV, ended up being more of a learning experience for me than for readers. Not only is Columbia’s population far more than ten times the size of Wetumpka, it looks like many if not all of Columbia’s villages have larger populations. Thanks to Jeremy Dommu of The Merriweather Post for pointing me towards this report from the Columbia Association. I expect to return to this topic in a future post, once I digest the full report.

Finding My Way Judging from the response I got to this post, many people have gotten lost in Columbia. Reading reader responses to this was some of the most fun I have had in a long time. Some advice from locals:

• Everything is in a circle.
• The Mall is at the Center.
• You can get anywhere in Columbia in ten minutes. Or twenty. (Varying opinions on this)

Midtown Mystery Many thanks to readers who offered information on the puzzling broken yellow line on the sidewalk. From one: It’s part of an expanded bikeway/pedestrian route, and I think connects to the similar stuff on LPP near Merriweather and the library. Another suggested: Those are the awesome wide paths/sidewalks that were part of the Complete Streets Project. I did see a post on Facebook about improvements to the multi-use pathway on Twin Rivers Road in Wilde Lake, which is where I was driving that day, so there does appear to be some connection.

A friend in Oakland Mills discovered what looked like a new pathway off the Walgreen’s side of Thunder Hill Road. Now I’m curious about that. I think that’s the spot where I recently noticed a sign from CA about pathway improvements. I should have stopped to read it, I guess.

A recommendation for your Sunday: listen to the June 9th episode of Elevate Maryland: Belonging Before Belief: Prisms of the People with Hahrie Han.  It’s a manageable length and filled with insights that you will want to jot down and think about later. One of my favorites:

Often in Democracy the work that is most important is the work that is the most invisible: it’s that invisible work where people develop the kind of habits and skills that it takes to work with each other to solve problems that we often can’t see.

I have a feeling that I’ll be coming back to this interview in another post in the near future.

By the way, sorry about yesterday. I apparently had a date with some extra sleep.