No Comment

Big news! I learned it in a tweet:

The Baltimore Sun has closed the comment section on its articles and my satisfaction with life has already significantly increased.

Yes, it’s true.

Certain local folks, especially a particular former BOE member, are going to have to get a new hobby.

I shut down the comments section directly attached to the blog a while back. I was no longer willing to tolerate trolls who could easily create false identities to say things they’d never dare say in daylight. I direct all my commenters to the blog’s page on Facebook. It may have cut down on the overall quantity of comments, but it has made a difference for the better. 

In order to comment here, you have to be willing to stand behind your words with your identity. I don’t think that, in the case of a small, local blog, that this is an overly burdensome hurdle to clear. 

The ability to post under pseudonyms can be extremely useful for protecting privacy. I get that. These days an employer can scan your social media for unsuitable opinions. And there are crazy people who will trace your name to your location and do you harm. 

Be that as it may, a very dark side of humanity turns up in the comment section. And these people are “why we can’t have nice things” as the saying goes. This is the second recent change to the BaltSun comment policy. Clearly the structure they put in place to monitor the problem was not as successful as they had hoped.

I have read the occasional insightful comment on the Baltimore Sun website. On the other hand, I also learned to my surprise that I was married to a wealthy Howard County developer and that I was a moron. And that’s mild compared to what other locals have endured. 

You may be able to get a refund for your “points”, whatever they are, but you will never, ever, get back the time you spent reading the comments. In the meantime, feel free to comment here:

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

Good Stuff

Congratulations to Tom and Cindy Quick, of Cindy’s Spirits, who have, at long last, received the license for the Loft. This is truly a testament to their persistence. I was also heartened by the folks who gave testimony on their behalf at the Liquor Board hearing. The Quicks have clearly earned a trusted place in their community and I feel good about the work they will do in Columbia in their new venture.

Congratulations, too, to Dan Medinger who has purchased the Baltimore Business Journal from owners Becky Magnus and Cathy Yost. I’m all in favor of anyone who believes in local newspapers these days.

I see that the Howard County Library is bring the Undesign the Redline exhibit to their Central Branch. I highly recommend it. Beginning August 16th you will be able to tour the interactive exhibit, which:

...explores the history of structural racism and classism, how these designs compounded each other from redlining maps until today, and how we can come together to undesign these systems with intentionality. (Taken from HCLS event announcement)

I had an opportunity to visit the exhibit when it was at the Enterprise Foundation’s headquarters, and it is truly fascinating. The library is hosting it as a part of its Choose Civility initiative. Please go and tell me what you think.

A belated congratulations to local podcaster extraordinaire and friend of the blog Candace Dodson Reed on her appointment as Chief of Staff at UMBC. You may recall she spear-headed the HoCoForward slate for Democratic Central Committee, which swept the primary. This week she announced her resignation from the DCC, which I know will be quite a loss for the team. I very much admire her ability to make this wise choice in the face of her new job assignment and not overextend herself. It can’t have been easy.

Tomorrow evening I will be braving the wilds of Western HoCo to attend the Howard County Fair. Please send me your suggestions as to what I should see and do.

Lighten Up

I can’t remember what the subject was, but one of my oldest, dearest friends recently responded to something I said by replying, “Lighten up.”

Boy, did that ever tick me off. For some reason I don’t appreciate being told to lighten up. Perhaps that is a sign that I take myself too seriously. Perhaps I have a good reason. Who knows?

At any rate, as an attempt to follow this sage advice, I am opening a completely unofficial search for new topics for the Howard Readers’ Poll. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

Best local place to get out of the house with an infant if you are just losing your mind:

Target

______ write-in vote

Best local place that doesn’t exist anymore that you are still mad about:

Welcome Center

______ write in vote

Best Columbia pool to go to if you hate kids:

_______ (not my wheelhouse)

_______write-in vote

Best Non-traditional place to watch Fourth of July Fireworks:

Talbott Springs Elementary School

______write-in vote

Best local Bouncy Castle:

Do they even have bouncy castles any more or have they been replaced by trampoline towns?

So, there you have it. Can you think of some addditional categories that would make you and your friends burst out laughing if you saw them in the Howard Readers’ Poll?

Submit them here:

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

Category 61

Ahhh...category 61. It sounds vaguely mysterious, like Area 51. It’s actually quite straightforward, though. Category 61 is the newest incarnation of my annual attempt to put this blog in the win column in the Howard Readers’ Poll sponsored by Howard Magazine.

This is the link to the poll.

This is category 61.

  

I can’t explain why I continue to pursue this particular accolade. It has become my yearly Charlie Brown/Lucy/Football experience. Perhaps that should have taught me that some things are not worth caring about, but, here we go again.

I care deeply about the work I put in on the blog. I value the opinion of my readers. It’s that simple.

You can vote once per device, so it won't be a major time commitment. While you are there you can vote in plenty of other local categories as well. At the end of the poll you have an opportunity to write in your ideas for a new category. I have a suggestion: how about best Howard County Podcast?

The Most Precious Thing

I have not led a perfect life. I didn’t do particularly well in school. My first marriage crumbled. I had extreme difficulty making ends meet during my years as a single parent. My house is not ready for visitors at all times, shall we say. I’m not the best at going out and socializing.

But I have my good name.

People who know me from blogging, or teaching, or my work in the community have heard generally positive things about what I stand for. I feel good about that. I have worked hard in my career and in the community to be helpful, honest, supportive, trustworthy. I’m constantly trying to improve, but at my core I feel good about what I do and why I do it.

What happens when someone steals your good name?

Imagine that you woke up to discover that you were falsely accused, those accusations were leaked to the press, and everyone in town was reading about them. Imagine that these accusations negated everything you had worked for years to stand for. Imagine that there was no way to refute the claims without violating the terms of legal agreements and confidentiality concerns.

Got that? Do you feel that hot shame of seeing horrible and untrue things about yourself in the newspaper? Do you feel the sense of helplessness at being unable to defend yourself?

Probably not. If we are lucky this will never happen to us. But, thanks to whomever leaked a confidential (and highly unprofessional) report to the Baltimore Sun, and to the reporter who shared it without adequate research, Board of Education members Cindy Vaillancourt and Christina Delmont-Small are doing just that. Everything about this smacks of careful direction from a former disgruntled employee whose hallmark was bullying and spreading falsehoods about perceived adversaries. Anyone who has done their homework and put this into the context of the much bigger picture sees this.

The stories that ought to be all over the pages of the newspaper are about misappropriation of funds, bullying of staff, mistreatment of special education parents, coverup of mold in schools that was causing chronic illness for students and staff. Now that would be real news based on actual facts. The reason you aren’t reading about it is that 1) the Board of Education entered into a non-disparagement agreement with the former superintendent, and 2) their priority is doing their actual job taking care of the school system.

Keeping your word and doing your job aren’t front page news, apparently.

I have to believe that the truth will come out and that Ms. Vaillancourt and Ms. Delmont-Small will be thoroughly vindicated.

But where do they go to repair the damage to their good names?

The Neighborhood of Make Believe

I wrote a tongue in cheek piece a while back about what fun it would be to have action figures of the People Tree. It’s safe to say that not everyone thought that would be a good idea. I still think it would be cool to be able to collect one’s own Neighborhood of Make Believe play set which included the People Tree, a few other Lakefront Sculptures, The Chrysalis, Merriweather, the Rouse Building, and perhaps even the Mall. And a little Colum-bus as the Trolley? Exquisite.

Clearly my recent viewing of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”, which is a documentary film about the legendary children’s program creator Fred Rogers, has influenced my view of Columbia as the Neighborhood of Make Believe. Sometimes it feels as though we are living in that sort of stylized Make Believe world and just moving the pieces around to see what will happen.  Although I’d say that most of the time we do this with far too much seriousness and no where near enough of a sense of play.

Mr. Rogers knew how important play was in the life of children. He understood the value of creating a pretend environment where children could safely examine their feelings about new or challenging happenings or ideas. I’d argue that adults need to allow themselves the same opportunty. We all become so serious about our particular issues and it is hard to be flexible or have a sense of humor about them.

Oh how difficult it is for grown ups to take ourselves less seriously. To allow for other points of view. To imagine other solutions.

We don’t play enough. Adulthood doesn’t encourage it. We need to push back and make room for it. People who allow for the “what ifs?”and “what would happen if we?” are the great creators we all admire. Rouse, for instance. Or Disney, his well-known contemporary. But folks like that seem to do better being admired in retrospect. When we bump into someone in the here and now who is trying to bring joy into the picture and challenge the status quo we hardly give them the hero’s welcome.

All of this is a rather roundabout way of saying that, if you want a People Tree Action Figure, you will have to use your imagination and make your own. I saw a few possibilities at the new Home Sense store in Columbia Crossing.

Classic:

Rustic:

 

If you want to be a part of a better Columbia you will need to use your imagination to make that, too.

Trying Trifecto

I was headed home from a meeting at work and thought I might pop in the Dunkin Donuts in Clarksville for a large iced coffee when I remembered that there was a new place in town that I had wanted to try.

Trifecto.

It’s a part of the new Common Kitchen concept going in at Clarksville Commons. One of the owners is a graduate of Howard County Schools, I hear. I knew I could get coffee there. I checked their website to see if I could perhaps get something to go along with it. Hmm...grilled cheese wasn’t really what I had in mind. Maybe some kind of pastry?

I decided to go and find out.

When I walked in it didn’t much look like anything was open. There’s construction going on in the space at the front, but I spied what looked like a shop in the background, so I kept going.

A friendly fellow greeted me and I was happy to see a case of scones on the counter. 

  

He directed me to a menu. They clearly intend to specialize in a few things and do them well.

 

I chose a mocha chocolate chip scone. It was just right. Not too sweet. I decided to stay right there instead of taking it with me.

 

I had a nice chat with my server about the other spaces that will be going in the Common Kitchen. It sounds amazing. I can’t wait to see it all in action. I’ve been impressed by all the activity in Clarksville Commons: farmers market, school groups performing, live music nights, movies in the courtyard and so on. I love their commitment to community place-making. It is shaping up to be what I think a real Village Center ought to be.

Trifecto is getting foot traffic from the other businesses in Clarksville Commons, but they are looking forward to getting the word out to the larger community. I’m thinking that once school starts Trifecto will see an influx of River Hill students looking for a cool new hangout.

Give Trifecto a try. Let me know what you think.

It’s Not in the Article

We all love the the press until they write something we don’t like. I certainly read something that I don’t like this morning.

Howard County human rights investigator accuses some school board members of discrimination, homophobia by Tim Prudente

Here’s the thing. It’s not “Fake News”.  It’s not all of the news. It certainly appears that Mr. Prudente has had certain people driving the narrative as his work progressed. I’m sure he did the best he could. I’m trying to be charitable here.

The flaw in these accusations against board members Christina Delmont-Small and Cindy Vaillancourt is, quite frankly, the two witnesses themselves. I’m not going to name names because you can read the article for yourself and I don’t want anyone to sue me. These two individuals have proven themselves to be anything but credible witnesses. They have a body of work in the community that proves otherwise.

I know this, and a lot of other people close to the school system know this, but apparently the human rights investigator doesn’t know this and neither does Mr. Prudente. Let me put it this way: if I wanted to go up against the Board of Education and the school system, these are not the people I would want championing my cause.

As to the Board members themselves, well, how can you look at this accusation against Cindy Vaillancourt in a vacuum? Where is the connection between this example and all the other examples of the former administration and its allies alleging impropriety or malfeasance? This is a thread sadly neglected here. (Condoms, anyone?)  Time and time again Ms. Vaillancourt was the target of false accusations and the record of them is probably in the Howard County Times.

But it’s not in this article.

As for Ms. Delmont-Small, I suspect her real “crime” is persistently pressing the former administration for a financial transparency that they had no intention of providing. The record shows that her concerns for the finances of the school system were well founded. It also shows that those  who were running the school system during this time period did everything they could to thwart Ms. Delmont Small’s efforts to re-establish Board oversight.

But that’s not in this article.

It is my personal opinion that there are things that occurred during the former administration at hcpss that are very likely actionable. But a part of the severance agreement with the former superintendent stipulated that both sides would cease all litigation. The Board has moved on and is addressing the many challenges left on its plate.

It looks to me as though the former Superintendent has found a way around the “no litigation” requirement. After all, it probably doesn’t say anything about allies, co-workers or friends.

It’s not surprising to see the past administration come back into the news to make false claims about Board members. This action is right out of the playbook that marred our school system and damaged relationships with teachers, parents, and students. This is how people who disagreed were treated. This behavior is not new.

But that’s not in this article.

Again, it’s not “Fake News”. But it is absolutely not “all the news”. These accusations do our community a disservice. I sincerely hope to see them discredited thoroughly.

And then I’d like to read all about it in the newspaper.

Breakdown

CNN’s Jim Acosta posted a brief video clip of crowd reaction to media coverage at a recent Trump rally.

https://twitter.com/acosta/status/1024467940257738752?s=21

Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy.

Closer to home a member of the Republican Central Committee has been wreaking havoc on the Howard County Facebook page, encouraging a confrontational social media “takedown” of a group member whose opinions differ with his own. The attitudes between the group Mr. Accosta shows us and that of the locals who consider it their mission to troll the Howard County Facebook page seem frighteningly similar.

But there’s a difference to me. And that difference is proximity. The fact that we have folks who are willing to go on the attack right here in Howard County is horrifying. It means that, wherever we are in our community, we may be sharing community space with people who are filled with hate, who want to destroy instead of build up. 

Angry and narrow-minded people have always existed but social media and the current presidential administration seem to have weaponized them to such a degree that the normal boundaries for accepted social behavior have disintegrated. When that happens, bullies seize control. 

Whether a working journalist or a long-suffering admin of a social media group, a person taking a stand for the rights of everyone to be heard without fear or persecution becomes a target for these bullies. They’re angry that their perceived truth is not accepted as the only truth, and they laugh at accepted social boundaries because they see them merely as tools used by the “losers” who disagree with them.

Respect for and kindness to our fellow creatures is for everyone. This is not some artificial construct designed for the purposes of social control. It is a way of living that allows people of many differing views to live and work together. It is a thread that runs through our Democracy, whether on a large scale or small.  

When we lose it our Democracy is threatened. Journalists work in fear and neighbors turn on neighbors. 

Shifting the Balance

Two articles that are on my mind this week:

Parking has eaten American cities by Richard Florida

and

Is Wheaton Ready for an Arts Center? A Woonerf? by Danielle E. Gaines

Both articles have a common underlying theme even though they address different topics. How do communities which have been built primarily around the needs of automobiles wrest themselves free of the tyranny of said automobiles?  This is definitely worth considering as we move forward in Downtown development and revitalization projects.

Is Columbia forever stuck being a place where you absolutely must have a car to function successfully? Are there meaningful ways to shift the balance and integrate more bicycle and pedestrian use, especially Downtown? Certainly this is on the mind of folks like
Open Steets Howard County and Bike HoCo .

But what about you? Do you wish that you had more opportunities to part once and then enjoy what Columbia has to offer? Do you want to see a better mix of cars, public transit, bikes, and pedestrians?

Do you just want to know what a woonerf is?

And one more question before I go: what might we do with the massive amount of land that we now have tied up in parking spaces if we didn’t have to adhere to that model?

A Bedtime Story

Well, here’s an unusual post this evening. Call it a bedtime story, if you will.

Before we tie up all our loose ends for the day and make that mental transition into letting go of all our mental gyrations, I want to plant a seed. Just one. I’ll be brief.

This little garden we have here—Howard County, Columbia, your own little neighborhood—we are its stewards. We must be. We can’t just turn our heads away and expect that someone else will do it.

Someone else may very well do it, but without care, or thought. Oh, they may be nice enough but not very able. Or forceful but unpleasant. Or incredibly well organized but inflexible. Or maybe no one will make the effort to do those community things at all. And they will languish. And so will we.

So: politics. Local politics.

I’m not a big fan of “political season” because I am not a big fan of politics as sport. Oh, it has its aficionados, to be sure, who have players and scorecards and stats. They analyze, predicts, recap, and then, for dessert, there’s snark and sarcasm. Biting wit that indicts the opposition and delights the cognoscenti.

We all do a bit of that out of frustration perhaps. It’s funny when you know enough to get the jokes and are sure they aren’t on you.

But back to the garden.

I have some pretty strong feelings about what we should be growing in our garden and I’m looking for people who want to get in there and plant, and weed, and share in both the work and the vision. And, if I decide I want to be an advocate for change, I think it’s my responsibility to focus on how we can make things better. What is worth believing in? Who has earned my trust, and why?

Take this bit of my bedtime story with you. I hope that you will engage enough and learn enough about local candidates that you will go to vote in November full of the excitement and enthusiasm of supporting someone who has earned your trust. Not because anyone told you to fear “the other guy”, but because you are a faithful steward of this garden and you have a vested interest in what we reap and what we sow.

Good night, Howard County. Sleep tight, and dream big dreams.