Looking out for the future...

I’m honestly not trying to butter up General Growth’s new Columbia GM, Douglas Godine, in hopes that he’ll give me what I want. Over the past few months, I’ve written several pieces that have been complimentary of him, which some may say reeks of blatant brown-nosing. But I swear it’s not. He just keeps saying the right things, like this:

Godine said he hopes the revival of Town Center will appeal to the next generation in Howard County.

“We’ve got to show them that change can be good and beneficial. We’ve got to address the young people; they are the future of Columbia,” he said.

Thus far, whether we care to admit it or not, the the voices of Howard County's tomorrow have been mostly silent in the discussions over Town Center. Although the initial process was open to all, something -- apathy, disengagment, ignorance, lack of time, different priorities -- kept the younger people away; meanwhile, the current process has made things worse, actively marginalizing citizens under 35 -- even those sitting right its nose -- because not enough of them showed up for the auditions.

At least Godine's looking out for us (yup, there's my admission of bias). The question is, what do you do about it?