The Never-ending Story

Wandering into weird territory this morning, I present two completely unrelated stories which have been hanging around in my consciousness for quite a while now.

1. The stream restoration projects being carried out by CA (the Columbia Association.)

2. The continued digging up of Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park.

What do they have in common? Both involve digging. Both have been going on for several years. Both have provoked a good deal of local pushback and distress.

And yet they just keep marching forward. In both cases it appears to me that nothing is getting any better. Every so often one reads a disturbing account describing what has transpired, and then - - nothing happens.

Possibly a good deal of life is like this and I just haven’t been paying attention.

A quick Google search of Columbia Association stream restoration yields the following:

Here’s one for Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park:

What brought this to mind today? Two things.

1. A post by the Howard Courier account on Facebook asks “What exactly changed with the Wilde Lake stream restoration project?”

Strangely, there’s no story attached. It’s simply a photo and a question. It yielded a stern and thorough response from HoCoLocal environmentalist and historian Wayne Davis. Seeing this exchange reminded me how often I have seen similar concerns - - that these projects cause destruction to the natural environment and have poor short-term and long-term outcomes.

2. This article in the Baltimore Banner.

Pet cemetery’s mystery owner may swap graves for gas pumps, Tim Prudente, Baltimore Banner

Image from Baltimore Banner, Caption reads: Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park, a pet cemetery in Elkridge established in 1935, occupies a little over 11 acres along Route 1. (Jerry Jackson/The Baltimore Banner)

I am not an expert on either of these topics but I am mightily perplexed by how long both of these stories have been dragging on with no discernible resolution to community members’ concerns.

Today I’m putting this out there to my readers. Do you have some information to add that would help explain what is going on in either case? I’d be grateful if anyone could help make some sense of this for the rest of us.

Let me know.

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