Skip to main content

Elections Again?


 

I saw this post yesterday from the Village of Wilde Lake and thought - - yikes! - - Columbia elections are coming. 



Should I have said something? Would anyone take it to heart? I’ve become increasingly disillusioned about the entire process. I sure hope there are other folks out there with the kind of energy and idealism that I used to have.  

To their credit, the Columbia Association has a dedicated space on their website pertaining to elections. I went there this morning looking for deadlines. That’s a little more complicated. This is because each individual village has its own election process. So, no unified deadlines. This is not a problem for most people because you only need to be informed about what’s going on in your own village. 

If you are a blogger attempting to convey the big picture (and having put it off until the last minute) it’s rather frustrating. But I digress.

If you want to know what the process is for your particular village, go here. Two things: 1) some deadlines may already have passed. My apologies. 2) if you don’t live in Columbia I apologize for this entire post. Hopefully tomorrow’s post will be more relevant to you.

I wrote recently about how the general public seems perfectly happy to be disconnected from the entire “Columbia thing” until some new controversy arises. Then everyone gets Columbia fever and becomes an expert. Another way to say this is that most people are happy enough when things are going well. That’s not so surprising.

Right now CA and the CA Board are examining changes to how Village facilities will be operated. Is this the next big fat controversy? I don’t know. But I’d encourage you to learn more about it. 


I admit that it’s hard to get riled up about this kind of thing given the current state of national affairs. I’m just putting this out there in case folks had missed it. 

One last thing. The CA Board positions are often seen as the Big Deal prizes in Columbia elections. I’d like to put in a word for serving on Village Boards. It’s not glamorous work but it’s solid, helpful, relationship-building community work. In most cases they are honestly striving to do good and in too many cases they take a lot of unnecessary guff. I salute them. 

Where we are headed we will need a good deal more relationship building and community support. If you’re the kind of person who wants to help, this might be a good place to start.


Comments

Post a Comment

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...
1 comment
Read more

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...
1 comment
Read more

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...
1 comment
Read more