Columbia Votes! But not where I live

 

Let’s start with quick look back from Priorities, April, 2017:

First things first. If you live in Columbia and your village is having an election, vote.

VOTE.

If you live in Oakland Mills you can also buy Spring plants, see an art show, and get a homemade cookie.

And of course, there's that whole concept of civic duty. The People Tree can't be passive, folks. Those people are all actively reaching for better things, right? I hate to think what a passive People Tree would look like. Seriously droopy. Wilted, even. An embodiment of community failure.

And that's not who we are. Show me that's not who we are.

I tell myself every year that I'm not going to get worked up over Village elections. And yet I do, because I feel strongly that we could be doing a much better job at getting residents involved in Columbia community building. Year after year the winners are more than happy to claim victory without acknowledging the ludicrously low turnout. We move through the cycle again and again without improving it.

From HoCo Rising, April 28, 2014:

Wouldn't it be amazing if one of these candidates humbly said "My village has nearly 10,000 residents and we only heard from about 300 of them.  I see it as my job over the next year to broaden our outreach and increase engagement." 

I take a dim view of residents raising the spectre of Rouse whenever it suits them. But really, when I look at what CA elections have become, I do have to wonder what he would think.

*****

Columbia elections are this Saturday. If you live in Oakland Mills you can come to the OMCA Earth Day Celebration, 11 am to 2:00 pm, in the Courtyard at the Other Barn.

But you can’t vote. Why? Because the OM election is uncontested. That means no one is running against current CA Rep Karen Emery, and none of the Village Board seats are in contention, either. I haven’t heard much buzz about this year’s elections until this week when the Columbia Association started running promotional material on social media. 

Image from Columbia Association social media accounts

Thank goodness for The Merriweather Post blog for putting together this piece:

Columbia Association Board Elections - - A Rundown of the Three Contested Races, Jeremy Dommu, The Merriweather Post 

It is thorough, and - - I think - - very helpful. If you live in Harper’s Choice, Owen Brown, or Wilde Lake you should definitely take a look. Even if you don’t, it’s a good jumping-off point as to how these things work.

I find it disheartening to see people running on old, outdated, and unhelpful issues. And this is not always limited to incumbents. In particular, running to 1) reduce the annual charge and or to 2) return the control of Symphony Woods to CA. 

As to item number one, everything around us has become significantly more expensive over the last four years. How can we see that it is more expensive to purchase goods and services but claim that the Columbia Association can run successfully with less money? Does your personal budget work like that?

Item number two: while the Symphony Woods property (now known as Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods) was controlled by CA, it did nothing but languish. Since its establishment in 2014 the Inner Arbor Trust has done more to care for the land and make it enjoyable and accessible to Columbia residents than CA ever did while it was under their control. 

“We did a terrible job, now give it back to us” is not a campaign slogan I am willing to take seriously.

I was reminded by a reader of this blog that these elections are worth caring about because the newly elected board will be selecting the new CA President. That’s certainly something to think about. UPDATE: Have since heard rumblings that this is not the case.  

UPDATE OF THE UPDATE: CA Names new CEO., Friday, April 19th, 2024.

If Oakland Mills had a contested election I would definitely be learning about the candidates and would not miss the opportunity to vote. 

But…

I don’t know. My gut feeling at the moment is that we’re just going to keep celebrating our old futility rites because we don’t know what else to do or how to create something better.

What do you think?

Village Green/Town² Comments