Let Summer Be Summer

What do you do to get ready for summer? New swimsuit? Clean off the deck furniture? Stock up on bug spray and sunscreen?

If you are a parent your first taste of summer may come in January when you start booking summer camps for your children. In the many families where both parents work, year round child care is an essential. And, by and large, the better that care is, the more expensive it is.

Thanks to the Governor (and the crusade of Comptroller Peter Franchot) school now lets out earlier and starts up again later. Please make sure you show your gratitude by going to the Eastern Shore and spending money. That's the point, after all.

But what if you can't afford that family trip to Ocean City? What if you can't afford camp? What if you rely on school lunch programs for breakfast and lunch for your children? I have to assume that Letting Summer Be Summer was not conceived with you in mind.

There are summer feeding sites in Howard County for school children. That is wonderful. But what about safe, reliable, enriching childcare? How many kids will be left at home alone with nothing but television as a daily companion?

I continue to be dismayed by the shortsightedness of this decision. Saying that "it was like this when we were young" is a poor excuse. There are plenty of things from our childhoods that have changed over time that we are happy to leave behind. To say that this is a family-friendly or child-friendly decision is disingenuous. It is a white, privileged decision.

You may now return to cleaning your deck furniture.

Make Way

I've witnessed two separate online conversations in the last twenty-four hours about how the addition of local bicycle lanes will pose problems for residents. In one, a resident was concerned about the loss of on street parking in front of her house. In another, a resident feared a build--up of traffic congestion on a busy road.

A variety of opinions were put forth in these discussions. According to posters, the addition of bike lanes would:

Negatively impact housing values
Be dangerous for bikers
Add to time spent in traffic for residents

But also:

Be appealing for new residents
Support a cleaner environment
Reduce congestion by getting cars off the road

Some people see biking as purely a recreational activity. Basically, "There are plenty of places to bike in Howard County. Why do they need to take up space on my road?"

Actually, I'd much rather give bicycles safe, clearly designated lanes on the road because I live in dread of hurting a bicylist with my car every time I encounter one on the road. Where some folks see inconvenience, I see hazard. I'm the one in the enormous killer machine, after all. It's hardly an even match.

Howard County has a Bicyle Master Plan. You can go here to see it.

Bike Howard

On this page there is a handy-dandy list of different types of bike lanes and pathway markings, with accompanying photos.

Speaking of bikes, do you know about Howard County Bikeshare?

Like most change in our community, some people are advocates and have followed it with interest. Some have a general idea but are startled when it happens in their own neighborhood. Some have no earthly idea and are affronted. That's not specific to bicycle lanes. That really goes for everything.

What do you think? Are you a bicyclist? Do you ride for recreation only, or do you use your bike as a regular form of transportation? What kind of bike lanes do you favor?

You can add your comments here.

https://www.facebook.com/VillageGreenTownSquared/?ref=bookmarks

Park-ing Place

Whopping headache this morning. I'm headed back to bed but here's an interesting tidbit from the folks at Inner Arbor Trust.

Celebrate Arts in the Park

From Trust president Nina Basu:

The Trust is holding a contest to transform 10 Adirondack chairs into pieces of art that will be displayed in Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods this summer.  Please share this far and wide! 

Are you an artist? Know any? Pass this along.

Please Hold...

Blog on a delay this morning. Look for something later in the day.

A Question of Leadership

You know that nagging feeling that you've forgotten something, but you can't remember what it is? What with all the good spirits and forward motion these days out at the BOE, I almost missed an important date: June 5th.

On Monday, June 5th, the PTA Council of Howard County will be having its elections for the coming year. The current President, Reg Avery, appears to be the only person who has put a name in for the post. When I saw that, a little warning signal went off in my head. Or rather, a troubling gut feeling turned up, rather like Detective Columbo in his rumpled raincoat.

"Just one more thing, sir. There's just this one question that's been troubling me."

Mr. Avery made the news earlier this year when he made some rather uncharitable remarks about a sitting member of the Board of Education. It seems odd to me that the leader of PTACHC would get involved in a lawsuit against the Board of Education in this way. Does this constitute of a conflict of interest?

Moving on. Or rather, looking back. In an email that turned up in a public information request about mold in Glenwood Middle School, Mr. Avery sounds off to former Board of Education member Ann DeLacy. The focus of the email is a request by Christina Delmont-Small to hold an upcoming meeting somewhere other than GMS, due to safety concerns. In his email, Avery speaks in a derogatory manner of Ms. Delmont-Small, another PTACHC member, and Paul Lemle, outgoing head of HCEA. You can read the email in its entirety here.

Again, it seems strange to see a leader of PTACHC allying himself with Central Office and against other members of his own organization. Does that compromise his ability to lead?

"That question? The one that's been bothering me? Oh, it's just this little thing, really. I just wondered ..."

What comes next?

Perhaps it would be a good time for the members of PTACHC to look at a change in leadership. It has the potential to be a dynamic and valuable voice for good for our schools. Who can best represent and empower that voice?

I understand that nominations from the floor can be accepted during the election process. It should be an interesting evening.

A Story of Service

As a follow up to yesterday's post about a personal connection to military service, I highly recommend this post from HoCoMDcc. Local blogger Harry Schwarz writes about his father,

Lt. William H. Schwarz, and his service during the Korean War. He uses contemporary newspaper articles, photographs, and letters to tell the story. Definitely worth the read.

Quick question before I sign off today: what marks the official start of summer for you?

Service and Sacrifice

Memorial Day is about honoring the fallen. Veterans Day is about thanking those who serve and have served.

I don't really know any of them.

Oh, my late father and grandfather served in each of the World Wars. But that is the sum total of my experience with knowing people in the Armed Forces. Pretty much.

My life has not been personally affected by the loss of a loved one in military service. I don't have close friends or relatives serving today. More and more I think that there exists a cultural divide between those like me whose worlds are insulated and those for whom being in the military or having loved ones who serve is very much a part of life.

This is bound to influence how I experience a day like Memorial Day. I imagine battle and loss of life in a distant sense, like something one reads about in a book. I can't even imagine what that would feel like if it were my husband, or sister, or best friend. Having a volunteer force has created a divide of sorts. And like the other divides in our country--race, political, economic, ethnic--we experience a sense of separateness which can reinforce misunderstanding.

Although I know that today is a day to honor those who died in service to their country, I want to direct you to this article about the new Veterans Monument which will be located in Columbia. The mission of the this monument is to honor both veterans and their families. This vision is remarkable, I think. Most such statues look backwards. This one will be rooted in the present and continue to be relevant in the future.

"The concept for this monument revolves around family," said Gillette, a married father of two sons. "The idea is to create a central place to celebrate and give thanks for our veterans, while also recognizing the service and support of family members."

If you have a family member or friend who never came home, I want you to know I am thinking of you today. For there is sacrifice not only in the valor of the fallen, but also in the love of those they leave behind.