Ducking responsibility...

The Absent October continues unabated, with the Hayduke family leaving now for a short sojourn to the Delaware Flatlands, not quite the shore, where the likely topic of discussion among The Gathered Few will be babies, both born and yet-to-be. Which is fine, if a little uncomfortable. (whoops, too personal.)

In other travel news, I'll be in Hollywood all next week, conferencing with over a thousand people who care more about affordable housing than most folks. Unlike this weekend, however, I'll still be watching and writing about what goes on here in Howard-wood. So, don't get any ideas.

As for right now, I've got a few things to share. If these items or the picture above leave you wanting for inspiration, catch up on some ongoing discussions about The Website That Shall Not Be Named and Affordable Housing/Young Slackers. In related news, it's good to have Mary Smith back in the fold; she is easily the most enigmatic commenter to ever put finger to keyboard in Howard County.

Now, then, on to the Soy-Based Protein of the post...

Although I sympathize with their situation, I think residents are unfairly targeting the Lincoln Tech students in this story. Since anecdotes and generalizations seem apropos, here are mine: I used to live very close to the Hopewell Park a couple years ago, a time in my life when free time was fairly abundant (read: graduate school). Many warm spring and fall afternoons were spent playing basketball with these guys, and the only illegal things I ever saw were rough fouls and traveling.

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Bucking convention, I agree with this Flier editorial supporting "planning in small bites," something that was proposed and lambasted several months ago by Democrats on the county council. It's also kind of similar to my idea about creating shorter-term plans for Town Center to implement the 30-year vision. The debate over Town Center has spent considerable time talking about scale and what is or is not "human scale." Making plans smaller, whether spatially or temporally, serves to concentrate our efforts at a level that is both more tangible and more workable.

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Finally, for those of you who made it to the General Growth forum tonight, please share your thoughts on the speaker (and the event in general) in comments.