51-51 split

By Derek Simmonsen
Posted: April 10, 2009

If you spend any time at all listening to people talk about General Growth Properties’ proposal to develop downtown Columbia, it’s clear people are divided on the issue.

Now we have numbers to back it up.

Out of the 103 people who testified to the county Planning Board on the proposal, they were split, 51-51, among people who support the General Growth Plan and those who oppose it, want modifications or think it should be withdrawn and resubmitted once changes are made.

The leftover person spoke only about Columbia incorporation and did not actually address the plan.

That rundown from the Department of Planning and Zoning backs up what I observed at several of the Planning Board meetings. Every time I heard one person get up and praise the plan, I’d then hear the next person talk about all the problems associated with it.

Community organizations, on the other hand, were mostly against the proposal. Eight representatives from community groups said they liked the General Growth plan, while 17 thought it needed more work.

To get an idea of what those problems might be, the county put together a handy, 31-page sheet that outlines some of the major points raised by members of the community.

With this much to discuss, I’m sure the Planning Board — which starts debating the plan Monday — will have its work cut out for it.

Comment on this entry • View all 12 responses

user independent says...

Fantastic! Thanks for the numbers. The Chamber of Commerce is more active than any other 'activist' group, so it's good to see regular voters taking back some of the noise.

Posted 4:04 PM, 04.10.09 | Permalink

user david14750 says...

I'm active in the Chamber of Commerce and always considered myself to be a "regular voter." What irregularity am I missing?

Posted 4:36 PM, 04.10.09 | Permalink

user independent says...

That response is a case in point. No commenter can put forth an idea or opinion that counters a Chamber position without an immediate and forceful response. It's intimidating for most people, and David, you are the worst offender here. You call names which is an aggressive manner of silencing healthy deliberation.

Posted 2:23 PM, 04.11.09 | Permalink

user david14750 says...

How was my response "forceful"? What "name" did I call someone? How was my question "aggressive"? You're the one who implied that members of the Chamber were somehow not "regular voters.

Posted 6:18 PM, 04.11.09 | Permalink

user horace says...

independent, you are kidding, right? David didn't call anyone a name. You, however, chose to call the Chamber an, "activist" group. The quotes imply a mocking tone, which is childish, rude and just plain annoying.

Posted 9:27 AM, 04.13.09 | Permalink

user independent says...

Horace, you are right. He didn't call anyone a name here, but he did call names last week on another thread on this site. It's difficult to be objective, fair, and unemotional when you are so deeply vested in an outcome. I understand this, Horace.

Posted 9:57 AM, 04.13.09 | Permalink

user says...

Independent, I've searched all the threads I can find and still can't find where I called someone a name. And if I have, it's not on behalf of the Chamber. The fact is that I was being a smart-ass when I initially relplied to your "regular voter" comment. I knew exactly what you meant. You, Jane and a few others are all over this message board trashing the Chamber, our elected officials and anyone else that doesn't agree with you. The FACT is that the 800+ members of the Chamber AND our most prominent elected officials: have families; are active volunteers on non-profit boards, PTA's, youth sports leagues, etc.; live in the county; pay lots of taxes; plan to live here for a long time; want our kids to have a bright future here; care about the quality of life; understand that a strong business community must exist to maintain everything we have here. You guys take every opportunity to malign the Chamber and discredit the opinion of its members when they speak as private citizens. You paint our government officials with the broad brush of distrust when they choose a path that differs from yours. I've only been on this message board for a couple of months but have realized in this short time that it's merely a tiny forum for extreme views. I've allowed myself to get sucked into that nonesense at times which is a silly waste of time. Since this will be my last post, please do us all a favor and stop vilifying the Chamber and county council. Even when their views differ from yours, these people work every day to make Howard Co the best it can be and some are even your neighbors.

Posted 11:20 AM, 04.13.09 | Permalink

user david14750 says...

Not sure whay my post showed up as USER. IT was david 14750!

Posted 11:21 AM, 04.13.09 | Permalink

user columbiablogproject says...

Thanks Derek, keep up the good work!

Posted 11:46 AM, 04.13.09 | Permalink

user columbiablogproject says...

Oops, the third link doesn't take me where it says it does?

Posted 12:03 PM, 04.13.09 | Permalink

user dereksimmonsen says...

I just tried the link and it worked OK for me - it should pop up as a separate PDF file in Adobe. If you're still having problems, let me know and I'll see if I can link to it in a different way.

Posted 1:24 PM, 04.13.09 | Permalink

user dereksimmonsen says...

Ok, the link should be the correct one now ... while it was working, it wasn't linking to the correct document. Thanks for letting me know.

Posted 2:16 PM, 04.13.09 | Permalink