Village Green/Town²

The playground is at Lake Elkhorn. Have you been there? Our youngest grew up playing there.  Image from Maryland Kid Adventures  The problem? You can’t see it. It’s public restrooms - -  there aren’t any. Well, there are restrooms way on the other side of the park, far from the playground. And they aren’t reliably open to the public. A poster on the Columbia Reddit ( Lake Elkhorn Restrooms ) notes that people are relieving themselves in the woods behind the Pavilion. They note: What hasn't been great, is that no one has a solution to having accessible restrooms (even a Port-a-Potty) at Lake Elkhorn. In a related thread in Columbia Reddit, here is a photograph entitled “Desire Path.” Image from Reddit thread, Columbia Reddit One response jokingly called it a “Pee Path.” If you aren’t familiar with the area, this shows the straight shot from the playground, across Cradlerock, to the McDonald’s at the Owen Brown Village Center. When there are no public restrooms it’s your c...

  In a rare occurrence, I learned something worth knowing in an article in the Baltimore Sun.  River Hill High student’s handbook for immigrant students gains regional attention , Kiersten Hacker  The student is high school junior Roselyn Bi.  With input from the Howard County Public School System student success team and about 10 to 20 young people at a multilingual fair, Bi drafted a guide designed to help ease immigrant students’ transition into American schools. She has also established a nonprofit called Tulip’s Promise.  Tulip's Promise supports immigrant and refugee youth through educational resources and creative programs in collaboration with school districts, refugee resettlement agencies, and community partnerships. The website lists their national and international partners. I’m curious about their local partners. Do they work collaboratively with Luminus, for example? I’m interested to learn more. Have a great Monday. I’m looking forward to spending...

  I’ve been known to indulge myself with “what if?” posts over the years. What if I could own the Columbia Flier Building and live there? What if I could redo it along the lines of the HGTV show “Extreme Homes” or “You Live in What?”? What if the Wilde Lake Village Center could be turned into a History of Columbia theme park? What if the Lakefront could be transformed into a kid’s birthday party paradise? What if the students in Howard County schools could begin each day by writing a thank you note? This is why I absolutely have to hand it to Jeremy Dommu of The Merriweather Post for taking that concept and running with it. Buc-ee’s is Heading North , The Merriweather Post  Dommu takes the what if… Is Maryland's I-95 corridor its next exit? Does Howard County have the land? Does it want the beaver ? …and gives it the full Merriweather Post treatment.  It’s delightfully speculative yet still backed up by the kind of well-laid out assessment of the available facts for which...

  Today: Sunny. High of around 66. Pollen levels will be trying to kill you  high. It’s Saturday and you’ve got things to do. Perhaps: Howard County Green Fest at HCC Autism in the Park, Blandair Return of the clock, Old Ellicott City Children’s Discovery Fair, East Columbia 50+ Center Fostering Hope Summit (youth mental health event) Harriet Tubman Cultural Center  Columbia Orchestra: Cinematic Pops *, Jim Rouse Theatre All these and more can be found in the listing at the Visit Howard County website. Got plans? Something fun I’ve overlooked? Let me know. Village Green/Town² Comments  *This is a $ ticketed event. 

This photo appeared on Bluesky with these words:  Science lady is excited. Alt text: Screenshot from the nasa stream when their science ops person learns that the astronauts observed impact flashes on the moon  This week has provided many opportunities to see moments like this - - where we can see the sheer joy of those involved in the Artemis II mission. Joy in discovery. Joy in seeing the thing that you deeply love - -  and have worked so hard for - - finally come to fruition. Joy in sharing these moments with others. Never forget this joy. Never underestimate the power of joy.  Photo property of ABC News More joy this week from New York City mayor Mamdani as he highlights the importance of public workers. Mayor Zohran Mamdani:  Beautiful day to fill the 100,000th pothole of the year. Screenshot from Mayor Mamdani’s Bluesky account Chad Loder:  Mamdani is not just filling the potholes with the crew. He's creating a visual and personal reminder of the dign...

  I haven’t done a HoCo Holler! post for a while. I’m happy to share this story (with permission) about someone who used their personal influence to make a difficult moment better - - inviting community members to see things in a different way and to feel empathy for people they may not know. ***** We love our restaurants in Howard County, don’t we? We love to eat out, we love to talk about our restaurant meals, we love to try new restaurants. We eagerly await the opening of new places and get cranky and impatient if there are delays.  The dark side of all this is the tendency of some folks to use their social capital to go online and snipe about imperfect restaurant experiences, encouraging others to pile on and validate their views. These amateur reviewers can be savage.  The damage they may do is significant.  There’s no law that says you can’t go online and vent. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Recently one of our independent resta...