Friday, March 23, 2007

Where have all the cowboys gone...

Even though I really don't like that song and felt like changing the lyrics to something more appropriate, dogma dictates against such things.

What I would have said -- and what you may be thinking yourself -- is: "Where have all the bloggers gone?" Blogging in Howard County, once a cool thing that everyone was doing, appears to have jumped the shark, or at least fallen down on the priority list. Granted, a large percentage of us are involved in one way or another in the Columbia elections, but that's no excuse!

Actually, it kind of is, but still...

Since we're on the topic of cowboys, how about a Friday Round Up?

I don't think anyone can question my commitment to affordable housing, but the more I read about the situation in this county, the more hope I lose. To be sure, there are many advocates dedicated to the cause and the new county housing director seems genuinely concerned about finding solutions. Yet, as I've found myself doing a lot recently, I agree with Tim Sosinski, architect and former co-chair of the affordable housing task force.

"I'm on the edge of disappointed. The level of movement is not impressive," he said. "We're not going to solve this overnight, but the question is, when are we at least going to start?"
To be perfectly honest, I didn't really read this story. I just saw the headline -- "Councilman takes aim at developers" -- and found it peculiar, given that the "councilman" in question is Courtney Watson. Is that really how we're supposed to refer to the three women serving on our council? I seem to recall talking to someone who said the council had agreed on calling themselves "council members" or some such. Any thoughts?

An e-mail arrived from my local village manager today informing me that pre-2001 Honda Civics and Acura Integras are targets of choice for local car thieves. Indeed, according to the county police, last year these two models made up 24 percent of all vehicles stolen. As the owner of one of these models, I suppose it's time to put an alarm system in The Maroon Dragon:


Notice the "flames" on the hood; it's not easy to get the clear coat to chip off in just the right pattern like that. Yeah, you're jealous.

Finally, Oakland Mills has created a website with the pictures and statements of all the candidates for the upcoming election. Scroll down to the bottom to see the candidates for Columbia Council. For those who wondered who I meant when I said "some" the other day, I think that question can be put to bed.

Yee-Haw!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was that the only thing about that title that you found peculiar?

Isn't the title inflammatory ("takes aim") and misleading since she's pursuing cleaning up some development regulation loopholes to protect neighborhoods, not specifically hunting developers?

My guess is they had a fixed amount of space, too, and providing both a more accurate and still compelling title would have reduced the space left for the article itself. The Examiner's articles, in my opinion, are often too short to properly cover most topics anyway.

Anonymous said...

Regarding Columbia elections and bloggers, what's the prediction?

Maybe if Hayduke wins, that means that people want high rises in Columbia, and affordable housing.

Maybe if all the bloggers loose, it means that the majority of readers who don't comment don't agree with any of the blogger's positions.

If two of the three bloggers loose, maybe it means that blogging is clustered around a few readers who frequent the sites, and does not impact voting.

I don't know what it will mean, but where are the theories? This is important, and we should be talking about it.

Anonymous said...

You seem to actually care about what's going on in your village. I hope to hear more about how you plan on representing your potential constituents and dealing with Oakland Mills issues.

Anonymous said...

High rises don't always equate to affordable housing. Aren't all the condos in the latest proposed high rise going for $600,000 to $2 million?

6:30 a.m.
- Highrises' parking garages begin their daily geysers-o-traffic onto the roads.

6:30-9 a.m.
- Pedestrians hope geysers-o-traffic coming up from under the highrises remember who has right of way on the sidewalk at the top of the garage ramp. (Remember, always swim across the channel of an urban rip tide, not against it.)

- Geysers-o-traffic flood surrounding roads and accompanying proliferation of traffic lights thwart commuters from ever again hoping for what was once a couple minute, unfettered cruise to the highway.

- Commuters now get to split their time between watching for the red light to turn green and looking at all the pretty luxocruisers now surrounding them.

6:45-9:15 a.m.
- Upon reaching the higway, most of the luxocruisers dash off in the exclusive toll lanes while others remain creeping along on the "public" highway.

Anonymous said...

What does this post have to do with high-rises, aside from a brief, off-hand mention by one of the commenters? Please try to stay on topic.

Anonymous said...

Well, one effect of the blogger campaign is that Hayduke is now tense. The comment was on topic, and is what many people are already thinking.

Are there four bloggers running?

Hayduke said...

I still don't see what this particular post has to do with high rises, aside for the fact that, for some people, it's all about the Tower.

But you're correct. I'm a little tense.

Anonymous said...

There is just ONE tower proposed at this point, correct? Does ONE tower create "geysers o' traffic." Anon- are you failing to see the actual scale of the development that you are opposing? And if so, where were you when the condos adjacent to the proposed tower were planned? What about the condos, apartments, and townhomes build around the mall?