Awesome Times in Howard County!

The last several days have brought great happenings and considerable honor to Howard F'n County!  There have been several noteworthy happenings which augur well for our community's future.  Let's check them all out!

The first item comes to us from our local school of higher learning, Patuxent University-- oh, wait, sorry, it's still called Howard Community College for now.  But within 20 years..... anyway, HCC broke ground on a huge new Science, Engineering, and Technology Building last week.  You can read about it here.  This building is a great investment in the future of Howard County's young people, and indeed, HCC is a jewel among its peers.  It will take nearly three years to build, but when its completed, it will be able to immediately and precisely serve the needs of students wishing to broaden their skills and abilities in technology, so they may be more competitive and marketable in the workplace.  No pun intended, but its a wonderful development for HCC.

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development has an interesting program called "Main Street Maryland", in which "Main Streets" from around the state are recognized, highlighted, and promoted as destinations for shopping, dining, exploring history, and much, much more!  Ellicott City has been recognized as the first Howard County "Main Street" in the program, and you can learn more about it here.  Seems like a cool program and a nice kudo for Main Street.  I'd love to improve upon this and have Catonsville's "Main Street", along Frederick Road, also be included in the program, so there could be two Main Streets located five miles apart, on the same road!  Ball's in your court, Councilman Quirk and County Executive Kamenetz!

Back in Columbia, Lake Kittamaqundi is finally enclosed by a trail, bridge and boardwalk!  Yep, after decades, one can finally walk, jog, or bike around the lake without risking death by misadventure.  On this coming Friday, November 21, at 1pm, there will be a dedication to mark the completion of this pathway loop.  Be at the location at 1pm and take part.  And if you can't manage that, no problem.  There will be shuttles going to and from Sushi Sono starting at 12:45.  I'm wondering if these will be the same types of shuttles that may ultimately carry passengers over an enhanced bridge over US29?  CA President Milton Matthews will be presiding over the festivities.

And speaking of Milton Matthews, he is the subject of our fourth piece of awesomeness!  You may recall that at the Planning Board meeting on November 6th about the Inner Arbor, Matthews spoke as CA President, eloquently in favor of the Inner Arbor vision.  And you may also recall that CA Board members Russ Swatek and Alan Klein spoke later in the meeting to slap the big dis on the CA President for speaking out of turn.

So, sources close to the camp of the Marshmallow Man told me that at the November 13 CA Board meeting, Matthews spoke up, and wondered what his role was to be, if not the voice who is authorized to speak at public meetings and be the voice of the CA Board?

I commend CA Board members Michael Cornell and Nancy McCord, among others, for their support of Mr. Matthews.  The sentiment of the support was so overwhelming that Russ Swatek and Alan Klein both apologized to Milton Matthews for their hasty, off the cuff, devoid of vision remarks.  (They didn't say their remarks were hasty, off the cuff, and devoid of vision.  I did.  But they should have too!)

And I have to say, I applaud the CA President for standing up to his board like that.  Could be we have a President who takes good pride in what he does and isn't going to be a pushover!

Our fifth and final piece of awesome: on Monday evening the fields at Blandair Park were dedicated for State Delegate Frank Turner.  I think this is a very fitting way to honor a public servant who has done much for East Columbia.  And he is a next door neighbor of Blandair Park in Oakland Mills!  An honor well-deserved and hard-earned.

November 18 is independence day in both Latvia and Morocco!  Go eat at your favorite Moroccan or Latvian restaurant today.  Uhhhh, are there any Latvian or Moroccan restaurants?

And let's be careful out there.

#columbiaMD #EllicottCityMD #hcc #CABoard #Catonsville 

Comments

[Harry Schwarz]

Great post, Bill. Kind of makes one proud to be living in Columbia. And the future is bright.

[steve hunt]

Well done, sir! Good to hear about the Lake, though I have no tales of death by misadventure (unless you count the marriage proposal I made there).

Congrats also to Mr. Matthews for laying the smack-down on those CA jabronies (over/under on people getting this = 1).

Pax U - Home of the Fightin' Columbians?!? Okay, maybe another nickname...