We in Columbia are about to go into that exercise of community-level democracy and expression and politics we call the Village Elections go into action. Later this week, the first village will have packets ready for would-be CA and Village Board candidates to pick up (some will even download them!) and complete by having their neighbors sign, then return.
And this year, some Columbia Council candidates and others will tell you that the Big Idea going on in Columbia is to make every lien holder in Columbia a member of the Columbia Association. So if you pay a fee to Columbia Association for your home or business to exist on CA-assessed property, you would become a member of CA. As opposed to what happens now, where the ten members of the Columbia Council, who also sit as the CA Board, sit as the members of the Columbia Association.
Some will say this will give everyone a say in Columbia affairs. And that same some, will be very, very wrong. Making every lien holder a CA member will make doing anything in Columbia very complicated. Which is kind of what those who support this change wants. So this is not a Big Idea. It is a Very Small Idea.
The CA Board, or at least some members of it, would serve themselves better by thinking bigger and better. There are true Big Ideas to be had out there. And they need to start to be brought to light. If not by some Columbia or village official, how about by some blog? Like, this one perhaps?
And so this week, every day I will write about one of five Big Ideas for the Next Fifty Years. Of Columbia, that is. These posts are not necessarily planks of a campaign platform for a campaign I may enter in 2015 for anything. In fact not everything I present will be things I agree with.
The point is, then, to talk about the things we could, maybe even should, be talking about in Columbia. Things to tackle if we are all to ably steward the Rouse Vision into the second half of the 21st Century.
Here are the themes for the posts for the week:
Monday: To Create One Columbia
Tuesday: Mixed Use Development
Wednesday: Affordability
Thursday: Sustainable Columbia
Friday: Transportation
Intrigued, gentle readers? I knew you would be. Watch this space for much, much more!
And let's be careful out there.
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