Village Green/Town²

The hearing held last night by the Howard County delegation was so mind-boggling that I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I did go, but left at around 9:15 because I had a sick kid at home. They had only just started to hear the education portion of the evening. I think it ran until midnight. About that. I thought it was just a Columbia thing, but apparently not: asking people with kids to turn out for meetings and then putting off their issues until late in the evening. This needs to stop. Parents have childcare issues to juggle. Don't put everyone else first. Last night I am guessing that plenty of folks gave up and went home and did not get to have their say. A large part of the reason that the meeting ran until midnight was that the school system trotted out two groups to testify in defense of the status quo and against the legislation. Two rather large groups who, as individuals, each had to be allotted his or her own three minutes. Group one: students. Group two:...

Tonight is the first of two meetings where you have an opportunity to voice your opinions and concerns about the Howard County School System. Tonight's meeting, which will be held in the George Howard Office Building, will adress (among other agenda items) two proposals: Bill to elect Board of Ed members by district (Weinstein,Atterbeary) Bill to address transparency and access to documents (Miller, Turner) I'm sharing the photo above because I think it says a good deal about where many people are right now in regards to the school system. For the most part, people just don't reach out to elected officials for redress if they feel that their concerns are being handled respectfully and in a timely manner. The momentum which brought about this kind of intervention is significant. We do know that the Board is aware of these goings-on because they a) tried to prevent any Board members from testifying, and b) voted to condemn the legislation before the meetings were ev...

"What to do with the Columbia Medical Plan campus?" muses Bill Woodcock over at The 53 . If you are not familiar with the location, it's more or less at the corner of Thunder Hill Road and Route 175, across from the Walgreen's. From Wikipedia : The Columbia Medical Plan was founded in 1967 as a health maintenance organization (HMO) available to citizens of Columbia. In more recent years, however, this plan has divided into separate medical groups that simply share the Twin Knolls buildings. Bill suggests a more mixed-use approach over there. I was interested to read his ideas. I love brainstorming and I think Columbia can benefit from fresh ideas. Through the years I have suggested a variety of suggestions (some more serious than others) for local sites, including turning Wilde Lake Village Center into a haven for children's birthday parties, or, a living history museum of Columbia's earliest years. I've imagined buying the Patuxent Publishing building and...

Rain, rain go away. Come again some other day to wash pollution in the Bay. rain, rain go away.   What a dreary day. We're either recovering from over-eating or over-shopping plus dreading going back to work or school. And, what's worse, it's raining. The issue of Howard County's storm water fee and how we will meet our obligation to care for the Chesapeake Bay was back in the news this week. County Executive Alan Kittleman, working with the lone man on his home team, Councilman Greg Fox, is proposing to end the fee and pay for the County's obligation some other way. (Not a direct quote, but close enough for jazz.) I haven't written about this in the past because it's a complex issue and all the noise seemed to me to be about "It's a rain tax" vs "No it isn't". But something here makes my scratch my head. There's only a finite amount of money in the budget. And that comes from our tax money, yes? Mr. Kittleman says, I felt ...

To be filed under fun, but not an essential read, this piece in the Sun about Maple Lawn turkeys. If you don't pay for the digital subscription you may already be out of your free reads for the month. So I'll give you a little tidbit. "We had a man call and say, 'I'm in trouble with my wife and need a turkey.' We ask what happened. He says, 'Well I took it home and put it in the washing machine in ice to keep it cold. And she ran a load of laundry.' So he needed a new turkey." And not a new washing machine? Or a new wife? I'm taking my daughter to see "Guys and Dolls" and the Olney Theatre Center this afternoon. Steve Charing's review is definitely encouraging. It's a long and winding road to Olney, though. I've enjoyed every show I've seen there, but I find myself wishing there were a better way to get there. Suggestions? Is there a "quick" way to Olney? Finally, a little hyperlocal human interest story. I...

Tom Bodett posted this poem to his followers last night on Twitter. I like it. It makes its point in a gentle way. It nudges, rather than rants. And yet, as I read and re-read it, something by bothered me. So I wrote a companion piece. Perhaps Perhaps if there were women It might be so. Perhaps the female humans will burst forth, finally be seen - partners triumphant when men alone might fail. Sometimes men just forget that women are - exist, succeed, live, work, and win. They leave them out, the story wanders far. But without women we cannot yet begin. Perhaps the year ahead will bend toward love and hate and fear will lose their tempting hue. But not without both men's and women's equal work and worth. May it at last come true. Yesterday was the first Thanksgiving in which I was painfully convicted of the greater truth: that the celebration of one history, one culture, one abundance, is predicated upon the painful silencing of thousands upon thousands of na...

Family Friends Community Music and the Arts Writing I'm thankful. There's my list. It's my "right off the top of my head" list of things I'm thankful for. But there's another list. It's almost a shadow list, an invisible list. It's the "enough" list. I am thankful for enough: Food for me and my family to eat Adequate shelter, clothing, healthcare Money to pay the bills Time to be involved in my children's lives Respectful treatment from the powers that be in our society There are so many people in our community (and the world) who long for just this, just enough. Not a free ride, not excessive luxury, just "enough". We love to watch videos of newly adopted pets experiencing for the first time the joys of having a true home. It's thrilling to see them celebrate being clean, fed, cuddled, played with. For the first time in their lives they have "enough". And for them it is hitting th...